Stage Pianos

[SumOne]

I've been doing some nerding on Nord Electro 73 prices new vs second hand:

 

• V1, 2001, ? Now £600
• V2, 2006 £1,400. Now £900
• V3, 2008 £1,500. Now £1,000
• V4,2012 £1,600. Now £1,300
• V5 2015 £1,700. Now £1,400
• V6 2018 £1,900. Now £1,600

 

It doesn't seem to make a whole lot of financial difference to buy new or second hand if you plan on owning for 10 years then selling as they start to de-value more once they are a few versions old. If fact, buying new is perhaps financially better in some ways. e.g.

• a 13 year old V4 today = £1,300, in 10 years it'll be worth roughly £700 (if it is ballpark equivilant to a 23 year old V1 price today), so that'll cost £600 for 10 years use.
• V7 is quite overdue, if history is any guide then it'll be about £2,200 and would be worth roughly £1,700 10 years later, so that'll cost £500 for 10 years of use.

 

A selling point of the Nord is how well known they are and how well they hold their value. I think the Viscount Legend One 73 is still my favorite though (and is a bit cheaper at £1,555), but I imagine that if I went to sell it after 10 years there would be a much smaller market and probably more devaluation than a Nord. But in an ideal world I'll still be happy with whatever I get and it'll last me longer than that. 

Edited 7 hours ago by SumOne

[Hellzero]

Buying a Nord Electro 73 new is a very good idea indeed.

[LawrenceH]

I tried a lot of stage pianos before PMT closed their doors.

 

My 2p:

The Nords sound good and have great interfaces, the samples are all somehow more musical and characterful than a lot of the competition. But, the nicest Rhodes samples tonally are lacking depth/richness because the samples just aren't big enough. Keyscape absolutely runs rings round them. Likewise, the Steinway D sample shows its age which is a shame because it's nicer tonally than the bigger 'White Grand' (Steinway A). The Yamaha grand sample is better than any of Yamaha's own. One general criticism of the piano samples is lack of 'ppp' samples, they could have a softer tone at the bottom. Hammond sounds great. The key to pricing stability is their sound library, but get a model with resonance modelling. Crap actions on the electro, weighted or otherwise, passable on the stage but far from the best.

 

Yamaha YC/CP: VERY disappointing pianos, just bland digital-sounding. Shame as the organs on YC were good and the interfaces are great. Didn't like the action on the 73 or the 88.

 

 

Looking at 88 key models which I appreciate you're not sold on:

 

Yamaha p525: much better samples and action vs CP. Good if you don't want all the organ stuff

 

Roland, all the pianos sounded awfully dull except the RD2000 'German Stage' Expansion which was actually good (also nice action). The rest haven't surpassed the old 700NX IMO.

 

Kawaii: pretty good sounds, certainly musical, decent action too (88 note weighted tho). I ended up with an MP7SE. Organ/FX not as good as the Nord but the piano key/sound connection is the best of the bunch. Not light though!

 

Something I'd like to take a punt on, but haven't tried, is one of the Studiologic Numa X - either the 73 or the GT. Demos/reviews of the EPs and the downloadable Steinway D sound superb to my ears. Not sure if they have organ sounds though

Edited 42 minutes ago by LawrenceH