Stage Pianos

[SumOne]

I've been gtting  into the dangerous territory of keyboards (dangerous for the wallet!), speciafically Stage Pianos and I'm looking for recommendation in the <£2k sort of price rage (new or second hand).

 

The things I want:

 

• Good sounding Piano, EP, Organ (ideally with drawbars), and synth would be a bonus but not essential.
• 73 Keys (semi-weighted), good keybed. 
• 'Hands-on' design for the controls (for live use without menu diving).
• Relatively light/portable.
• Tough/reliable for live gigs and moving around: Gigs every couple of weeks, rehearsals each week, set up at home in-between.
• Decent professional level type connections and power supply (including a tough IEC type power cable rather than barrel would be ideal).
• Budget: £2k 

 

I've owned a Yamaha CK 61 for 18 months and it has has had a decent amount of use - both at home and for gigs, it shows me this isn't just a flash in the pan or quick impulsive decision for something that'll gather dust. The CK 61 is good start for a decent enough Stage Piano but I'm starting to feel it is lacking in a couple of areas: Mostly as I'd prefer an extra Octave (especially for split points) and  it is starting to feel a bit on the budget end of being a professional instrument e.g. things like a barrel power connector are not as roadworthy as I'd like, the keybed is just 'okay' and the keys are slightly smaller than standard, and as I get more into playing I think I'd start noticing an upgrade being worthwhile and noticable for playability, sounds, robustness.  

 

Any recommendations? That £2k sort of price seems to be the level that most manufacturers have their entry-level of professional stage pianos: 

• Nord Electro 6D 73 (this is my front-runner)
• Yamaha CP 73
• Viscount Legend 73
• Korg SV2 
• Roland Fantom 07
• .....or second hand could get to things like a Nord Stage 2.

 

Or is this just me wanting new stuff?!  A: Yes! ...but I think something like a Nord Electro 6D 73 would be quite a significant upgrade to the CK 61 in terms of feel, sounds, robustness.

 

My 'buy stuff justification' maths says:

• £1,920 for the Nord Electro 6D 73. (or about £1,500 with part-ex for my CK-61, and I do also have a MPC Key 37 that could potentially get sold/part-ex for about £500, but I thik of that as a different thing I'd like to keep - as it's more for home production, sampling, sequencing and synth sort of stuff).
• After 10 years (about the time that updating a Nord seems worthwhile) it'd still be worth about £1k (given that the asking priice for an Electro 4 from 2015  is about £1k). So that'd cost me less than £100 per year (or £50 per year if you include the CK-61 being sold...or free if I also sell the MPC!). Who can argue with that?! (I'll give you a clue: I'm married to her!).

 

In a word that is increasingly asking for subscriptions/pay monthly and throwaway stuff/things with planned obsolescence I do find that my 'buy stuff justification' for musical instruments a wonderful thing!

 

 

 

 

Edited 5 minutes ago by SumOne