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An enormous talent. Saw him live twice just before Covid. He was great, coming up on 90 at that point. It's like a time machine for me going back to the late 60's in front of my parents stereo. Timeless music, sophisticated yet poppy. Great arrangements, wonderful lyrics from Hal David....hard to argue when even the Beatles cover you. Amazing how many of hits were hits with different artists..like the same song. And the Elvis Costello album with him was awesome. Loved this song especially..

I have a pair of the Harbingers (maybe the dumbest name for gear) that I bought for my school. They're perfectly fine, and sound pretty good, but don't have nearly the headroom you'd get with more expensive units. I've used both directly into the back panel inputs as well as using an Allen & Heath mixer. Hard to beat the price, but I don't think these or the Alto's are in the same league as, say, a QSC K.8. But again, for the price, pretty darn good and appropriate for many applications the don't require the punch of $700+ speakers.

As a kid listening to it in the day it was way above my head to try to cop it. As an adult, I recognize that's it's a great tutorial on rock n roll and New Orleans piano playing. Great player and great and inventive playing within in a guitar oriented band...

I'm seeing 2 USB ports on these?

This is a succinct response and why I am in the process of looking to cover up my Nord and Kurz front logos and put some other graphics on it. Amps I don't care about because they're not front and center on stage.

I know there are others here that feel the same way I do, which is an unabashed admiration for the hooks and sounds Greg came up with in The Cars. So memorable and identifiable. Perfection.....

I'm getting ready to upgrade my Wurlitzer 200A, and have seen that Vintage Vibe and Retrolinear (Warneck) both offer replacement amps. I'm sure both are great and know of both companies, but wondering if anyone else has pondered one versus the other, and which you went with and why?

Sheesh...looks like they're out everywhere. I went to the Yamaha web site and punched in an LA and NY zip code and nada. You might just try calling Yamaha directly and ask them if anyone in the US has one. They probably would know if some retailer would have one...

Happy KP-610s owner here. I kinda see what MOI is saying, but I wouldn't say it's much different than a lot of amps being manufactured these days - at least the guitar amps. Granted, this one is more pricey, but I think anything from Fender, Vox et al these days, short of pricey reissues of classic amps, are built with the same quality. I wanted a simple, single box with stereo. I play in a fairly loud rock band, and this amp keeps up admirably. Sounds great, the weight isn't too bad, and it's quite clean at even very loud volumes. And as many have said, it's smaller than you might think. I do have K10's, but for me setting up two speakers, a mixer etc. is a pain. The Motion Sound fits the bill for my needs.

Fascinating posts indeed. My career has been...weird. First 20+ years after college was as an executive at various major record labels; Warner Bros. Records, Giant Records, American Recordings, Capitol EMI, Universal. Also did a brief stint as a video games producer in there as well. When the recorded music business cratered around 2008, I stuck around and did some freelance stuff, and then.. ....became a public high school teacher, currently teaching agriculture and managing a district farm on the campus of a continuation high school. I also manage my family organic ranch/farm growing citrus and avocados here in SoCal. I also am the board president of one of the water companies in the town I Iive in, and am involved in regional ground water management as part of that. I also do a number of side hustles in radio, including hosting a syndicated show for Sound & Vision magazine for 8 years, and now do a lot of radio specials for NPR and public radio stations around the country. I also do a podcast on the "new" music business called Your Morning Coffee. Currently playing in an original band as well, and gigging whenever possible. Oh, and married and father to now adult-ish daughters...:)

"Bye Bye Love" still gets quite a lot of airplay on Classic Rock stations; at least in SoCal I hear it as much as "Just What I Needed", so I assume that accounts for many people knowing it. Elektra really should have released it as a single - it's better than "Good Times Roll", which was the the third and last single from the debut album.

I picked up a Casio CT-S1 just for a backup for potential situations like these. Battery powered! I played a gig in the 80's on a barge in San Diego with generator power for AC, and my old Prophet 600 and Mini Korg did not like that. They drifted way out of tune as to be unusable. I played tambourine that night. No one (sadly) noticed.

Really? That sure sounds like a CP-30 to me on the tune? Not that this is the definitive source, but it says he did use it on the first album? https://equipboard.com/pros/greg-hawkes

I started with a used E2 and got an open box E5D new a bit after they were released. I've loved them both for the relative simplicity, and I appreciate the form factor and with the 5D the ability to tap into the Nord sample library. I think of it as a Swiss Army knife. Kinda most of the things I need in a single package. Funny thing about the sounds, at least to me: when I'm playing them solo, they sound good but not great? Or some great but many others good? But in a rock band setting, they sound really fantastic! They seem to sit in the mix or in the room with a loud rock band...not sure why that is, but that's a big plus for me. The E6 has too many features for me at this point; the E5D (73) with the drawbars, low E key had all the stuff I needed and need, so it has really been the sweet spot in terms of their models as of late. They have an elegance in their design and interface that appeals to me for sure. I'm also a Mac user for the same reasons.

To put it in perspective, in 1974 a Mini Moog cost $1595, a fair chunk of change considering the minimum wage was $2.00/hr. - at least here in California. In 2022 dollars that $1595 translates to around $9500.

Why not a pair of inexpensive studio monitors?

Regardless of what you get, I would echo the suggestion that you get studio monitors rather than stage amplification or powered PA cabs as were those things originally mentioned. The quality of studio monitors, even at the lower price points, are really pretty damn good these days. Put them on some nice stands at head level and you'll get excellent quality sound, great stereo spread, and far more headroom than you'd likely ever need.

https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20221107/tributes-tyrone-downie-ex-wailers-musician-dies-jamaica

Damn..only 66. Gone way too soon. The Hammond (and then Clav at the end) parts in this live version are absolutely fantastic. Clearly either influenced or a past history in the church, those parts on NWNC are text book Hammond playing; soulful, mastery of the instrument, prominent, and yet not in the way. Everytime I hear that track I just melt. Godspeed brother. Your soulful playing lives on.....

I would concur. To put it in perspective, the 610 is very close (almost exactly) in size and weight to a Fender Deluxe Reverb guitar amp.

I put my hands on the 7000 for just a couple of minutes with Mike at SynthPlex (Casio/Mike had a small booth). The action on these is really stunning. At least to me, its the best I've felt on a digital piano. It feels like an excellent acoustic piano. Super smooth, even, just the right amount of tension. Not at all fatiguing. An absolutely gorgeous keybed. Kudos to the designers at Casio; this is a really a joy to play.

I'm a big fan of the new Motion Sound amps as I have the 610 like Al's. There is an argument to be made to get one as you will likely need a good sounding amp/powered speaker no mater what keyboards you use moving forward. I think the world of keyboard amplification has changed dramatically since you last played out. I also see stoken6's point about getting a decent yet less expensive powered speaker instead to keep up front costs down. Since you have the Hammond already I would focus on amplification to prepare for gigging and not worrying so much about keyboard upgrades? Having a consistent playback amp/PA speaker will help acclimate to the keyboard in rehearsals and gigs. Learn the Hammond, and maybe add an iPad and use one of the myriad of great iOS apps with it to supplement the Hammond if need be. Then get a few gigs under your belt and re-assess you needs; it's really hard to decide needs before you have gigs....to me at least.

What did you use back in the day when you were playing live? That might inform a direction now. And how important is playing a weighted action, piano feeling keyboard for non-organ material?

You might consider getting the Kurzweil PC3KC spring kit that Syntaur sells and install it on your Nord. That will lighten the springs to a more Hammond-like action. Someone here on the forum has done it, and I have used them on my Kurz Artis with great success. I have a second set that I've been meaning to put on my E5D but just haven't gotten around to actually installing. Hoping to do it over the Xmas break though.... They will not, however, give you better synth capabilities.

The guy literally was onstage from age 3 on. Multifaceted amazing talent for sure... And of course the fun fact is the Band's second album (the "brown" album) was recorded in his pool house.....