Electric piano - any suggestions

[maturin23]

Hi all,

My son is starting piano lessons at school - I need to get him something to practise on.
I do know I don't want a cheap upright 'real' piano.

It's also an excuse to buy another musical instrument to add to my collection and a chance for me to play again!

I've not played much piano since I was studying and have no idea what's out there and how to much pay for something that won't need upgrading if he takes to it. I remember playing some lovely Yamaha keyboards back in the early 90s with lovely weighting and some nice 'extra' features (in particular a very-well executed double bass sound map).

Budget is flexible and I'm quite happy buying second hand.

Any suggestions?

[timbob]

I don't think you can go far wrong with something from Yamaha. I don't have any specific model recommendations, but a digital piano (as opposed to a keyboard) for a few hundred quid will have proper weighted hammer-action keys and 2 or 3 pedals.

[stephen300o]

Kawai are also worth a listen, they have an excellent key action.

[kooky guy]

I bought a Technics quite a long time ago. It has been excellent and the action and feel is superb. It only has two voices though - piano and grand piano. I guess I was paying for the action and the quality of those two voices (It cost £1200).

One slight issue is that the midi interface doesn't seem to work correctly though - recording via midi doesn't seem to get the note velocity correct so the track is quieter than it should be. Playback is fine, however.

A friend has a more recent Roland. Now that truly is superb, with many voices and other features. In my opinion the key action is even better than mine.

[Alex]

We've got a Casio AP80R and it feels, plays and sounds like a real piano.

[anonymous-user]

I brought a casio CDP-100 for my wife who is just beginning, basic, properly weighted, full size 88 key digital piano, looked at all the yamaha, kawai, korg etc.. options all of them were far too much wedge for a beginner who just wanted a basic piano with out all the additional controller/memory recording requirements at this stage.

It's relatively small so fits snuggly in the chimney alcove, came with a double x stand and does the job very well, if it takes off and she gets good we'll look at a proper upright in the future, for now it's ideal and it means I'm not too precious about the 4&5 year olds having a play on it. It's not too loud, however if I ever wanted to I could put the headphone lead into the line-in on my guitar amp to get more volume from it.

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 12th September 15:33

[maturin23]

Thanks chaps, I'll follow up on those suggestions.

His teacher has recommended a Yamaha NP11, but that doesn't have a piano action so will surely only be useful for a limited amount of time.

Any other suggestions?

[maturin23]

Hi all,

I bought a Yamaha YDP-141 this afternoon. Just set it up and sounds and feels pretty good.

Paid £400 for it - lightly used but nearly new condition.

Can't wait to see my son's face when he sees it this evening.

thanks for the advice,
cheers
Ian

[Ding Dong]

Yamaha every time. I have had Korg, Roland, Nord etc, but Yamaha is used at the Royal Academy and is cheap, good & used by pros. Their uprights are also excellent.