LD Systems ANNY powered speakers
LD Systems will feature the ANNY Series of portable battery powered PA systems. There are two models: a small 8″+1″ carry-about (8.8kg) with tiltback and a larger 10″+1″ roll-about (18kg) model. Buskers should check these out.
Both models have well-featured mix and effect capabilities. The ANNY 8 is $550 in black. You get to choose your color for a small up-charge.
Headrush FRFR GO
Yeah, the Headrush FRFR GO is intended for guitar and bass. “FRFR” means full range flat response, and keyboardists should give FRFR products a test when looking for amplification. Headrush, BTW, are part of the InMusic product conglomerate and the Headrush amps have more than a passing resemblance to models by Alesis and Alto.
The FRFR Go is 30 Watts (24 Watts on battery) into two 3-inch speakers with rear bass port. No, you won’t shake the walls. However, you will save your back:
- 12.6″ x 7.2″ x 5.9″ (32 x 15 x 18.4 cm)
- 7.4 pounds (3.35kg)
The 1/4 inch input is LINE level because the FRFR GO expects to be driven by a direct amp modeler. Why not a line-level synth? There is a 3.5mm AUX input, too.
Controls are simple: INPUT volume, bass, treble and MAIN volume. The bass and treble allow adjustments for the room/venue. Frequency response is 75Hz to 20kHz (-10dB) and maximum SPL is 109.4dB.
The one big unanswered wish is an XLR output. Oh, to be able to use the FRFR GO as a personal monitor tied into a PA! Alto, are you listening?
Oh, yeah, $149 USD. 🙂
On-Stage, again
Still more from On-Stage.
The On-Stage OS TGA01 is a rechargeable (via USB-C) travel amp with up to seven hours playing time. It’s 4 inches tall and weighs 0.65 pounds. The TGA01 is not much bigger than tiny plug-in headphone amps.
The TGA01 drives 5 Watts into two 1.75″ full-range speakers. A button selects overdrive (OD) or clean. There are three knobs: gain, tone and volume. This baby clearly targets guitar. The TGA01 has a headphone OUT and Bluetooth IN.
The KS1355 is a new single-tier keyboard Z stand:
- Height adjustment: 20.5″ to 33.5″
- Width adjustment: 21″ to 34″
I like the smaller width as it’s difficult to find an X stand that works with mini keyboards. Weight capacity is 400 pounds — over-kill for a mini keyboard!
No prices for the TGA01 or KS1355 at this time.
Whither new keyboards?
So, where are the new keyboards? I’m not seeing any interesting keyboard rumors for NAMM 2025. I expect the daikaiju to feature their most recent releases:
- Yamaha
- SEQTRAK music production studio
- CLP-800 series Clavinova digital pianos
- Korg
- Grandstage X stage piano
- microKORG2 synthesize/vocoder
- multi/poly analog modeling synthesizer
- nanoKEY Fold foldable MIDI keyboard
- Roland
- Earth Piano software instrument
- JUNO-D6, D7, D8 synthesizer
- Bridge CAST ONE dual-bus streaming mixer
- BOSS KATANA-MINI X, GX-10, SDE-3, etc.
Yamaha are teasing new announcements to be made on January 23: winds, drums and percussion, and PRO audio. I think they will be focusing on the TransAcoustic (TA) guitars and the gee-whiz TA technology within. TA guitars have built-in looper, reverb, chorus and Bluetooth.
Kawai will show the ES60 entry-level slab piano. Kawai are teasing two new “groundbreaking” products.
You won’t have any trouble spotting the orange ASM Hydrasynth Explorer 888 models. The 888s are a compact 37-key Hydrasynth with a mid-sized polyphonic keybed. We’ll find out what “mid-sized” means. The 888 Units edition is $650 USD.
Odisei Music are rolling out the electronic Travel Clarinet. The Travel Clarinet joins the successful Kickstarter Travel Sax. It has 50 internal sound presets, USB-C connectivity, battery power, and an internal reference speaker.
Copyright © 2025 Paul J. Drongowski