JPerry

Considering Brenner's post, it might be worth mentioning that I've been a Yamaha keyboard guy for 25 years (except for my beloved Roland D-50 back in the 80's) and there were never any problem with the actions or the sensors in all that time. I played for years in rock and roll and country bands, and my old P120 and P100 suffered lots of abuse without complaint. My old Rhodes held up pretty well too, come to that.

Another vote for the CP4 here. I have had one for five years now, and have been happy with it. The user interface is great for live performance - the five band EQ sliders are great for quick adjustments for different rooms, and the ease of switching between dual and split modes is appreciated too. The action is one of the best ones out there, imho - it's quick, responsive, and not tiring. Great AP and EP samples, great acoustic bass sample. The auxiliary sounds are just ok, but usable. Organs are a bit weak. I sometimes wish there were onboard speakers, but appreciate the relatively light weight of under 40 pounds. The newer Yamaha P45 and P125 acquit themselves pretty well too - reliable actions and solid samples for the most part. I would happily use a P125. The old previous generation CF piano samples still hold up really well for live work, I think. Not as detailed and rich as the newer CFX and Bosendorfer samples, but solid in the mix, and collapse to mono fairly well. As others have said, the Yamaha samples seem to work very well for live work, being bright enough to hold their own. Having said all that, I just spent some time with a Kawai ES8, and liked it a lot. Not enough to replace my CP4, but the action is superb, and some great acoustic piano samples. Detailed and quite sophisticated sounding. Might be a great choice for recording and live solo work, especially if playing classical selections. Good luck! We're lucky as musicians to have so many good choices to pick from.

Thanks for the report, cdom. Too bad that it didn't work for you, but that's useful information for the rest of us. I'm happy with my SSv3 as is, although like most I wish the bass was more present. Looks like Aspen has addressed that with his new XL model. Lots of choices for amplification these days!

Thanks, Jazzooo. That sounds promising.

Thanks for the first impression, Jazzooo. I'll be very interested in reviews of acoustic piano patches through this. I have no doubt that EPs and organs will sound great, just like with the SSv3. APs are the acid test.

My back is still pretty good at age 55, so 65 pounds would be doable. But as a satisfied SSv3 owner, the sound quality would have to be substantially more satisfying for me to schlep 65 pounds on a regular basis. The original small footprint/manageable weight concept is one reason I went for the SSv3 in the first place, Still, this is pretty intriguing - can't wait for a review!

Interesting question, Aspen. It seems like a natural product for those who want to do some experimenting. It seems to me that it would appeal to those of us who already own some high quality powered speakers, as the buy in might be prohibitive otherwise. I have experimented with using my SSv3 in conjunction with an Eon 10 G2 and a Yamaha DXR12, as outlined in the recent posts. The DXR12 especially seemed to get good results. It's a nice detailed sounding box with good bass response from the 12" woofer that the SSv3 isn't capable of. The SSv3 worked its usual magic in providing the 3D effect that a conventional box can't provide on it's own. My conclusion, however, is that the SSv3 sounds pretty good by itself, and adding extra speakers defeats one of the reasons I bought the SSv3 in the first place - good results from one plug and play box. I'm with CP Hollis on this one - for most situations the simplicity and schlep factor of just needing one box is pretty great. Like a lot of us on this forum, I'm getting older and lazier!

Another bass amp user here - I sometimes pair a Gallien Krueger MB112 with my SS and it works very well. The MB112 is light for its class, much lighter than the SS itself, so I feel the schlep factor isn't too bad. A word on SS placement, however - if you can use a wall or especially a corner to set up the SS next to, you might be surprised at the difference in bass response. I like to set mine sideways (side speaker facing down) on an amp stand, or even directly on the floor with a wedge under the front to angle the front facing speaker up 20 degrees or so. This really makes a difference, and often I don't feel the need to use the bass amp at all. Give it a try!

I sometimes use a bass amp, a very light GK. I forget the model number, but it's a single 12. Normally this is for a duo in which I'm the stand in bass player, and it works very well for this application, providing some needed extra clout. AP patches are hardest for any amplification system to deal with, including the SS which I find to be a bit mid heavy for AP. For EP or organ, it sounds great without much fiddling. Easy to deal with on my CP4, as it has a built in five band EQ. I do find that adding a bass amp "rounds" the sound and reduces the boxyness to a degree. That said, for solo gigs, I just use the SS and try to find a corner to place it in. That makes a huge difference, to the point of having too much bass! Every room is different, but to me the one box solution (or even two box, with the SS sitting on top of the bass amp) is too big an advantage to ignore.

Lots of gig reports detailing how well the SS works with a loud band/loud guitarist - here's one from a different perspective. Our local public library hosts an informal concert series. This time around it was a rather excellent local choral group - 16 voices. I was asked to provide a piano for the event. I showed up with my new CP4 and the SS. I knew it would be tight quarters, and sure enough there was barely room to squeeze 16 people and a keyboard in the corner "stage" area. No room for a speaker on a pole, let alone two to run stereo. The SS went on the floor in the corner, with the CP4 off to the side about ten feet away. The choir stood in front of the SS. Bliss! Nice stereo effect from the SS reflecting off the bookcase walls, and plenty of bass from the corner placement. I ran directly from the CP4 using two 20 foot cables (as above, no need for balanced signals even using the 20 footers). The five band eq on the CP4 is great for this - no mixer necessary for eq! Out in the house it sounded wonderful - very three dimensional, like a real piano. Truly a one box solution - simple setup, tiny stage footprint, and great sound. And gets plenty loud when needed as well.

I recently got a bass amp to use with my SS on duo gigs where I am holding up the bass line. Haven't tried the subwoofer approach, but the bass amp works well. I just run a line from the sub out and use the eq on the bass amp to kill the higher frequencies. You don't have the advantage of a crossover this way of course - the subwoofer approach might be cleaner, but I like the results with the amp very much. I'm using the same amp as timwat - a Gallien Krueger MB112. $200 off Craigslist.

I am a member of a small church as well, hatricklov - an old fashioned traditional building from the 1920's, with a high ceiling sanctuary and small balcony. Seating for about 150, including the balcony. Acoustically it's a pretty friendly place to play. I spent an evening there with my SS and a 10" JBL Eon for comparison purposes. Both speakers were placed on the floor near the altar, leaned back against a wall as per Aspen's instructions. No subs used. Both speakers filled the space just fine - The JBL sounded pretty good, with a touch more clout in the lower frequencies. But the SS filled the space in a different way - very spacious and three dimensional as advertised. The difference was striking - I used my trusty old Yamaha P120 in demo mode as the sound source, while I listened in various places throughout the sanctuary. Through the JBL it sounded fine, like you'd expect through a decent speaker. Like an average piece of recorded music. Through the SS it sounded "live" instead of canned. Really present and enveloping, no matter where I was in the sanctuary. It sounded best from the balcony for some reason - the farthest away from the speaker. Other posts have talked about needing some distance to get the full effect of the SS, and I concur. As an aside, I did a duo gig the other night - Female vocals and rhythm guitar with myself doing light comping and solos while attempting to also cover the bass lines. My partner's vocals and guitar was through the PA, and I was just running keys through the SS. Since I was covering the bass lines I was also running a small bass amp from the sub out of the SS. I was sitting in a corner with the SS/bass amp about two feet behind me. I had my rig turned way down, and was wondering if they could even hear me in the audience. I asked a couple of friends in the audience about any balance issues, and they both said the piano was a little loud! So it's true that this unit fills a room differently than a "conventional" speaker does. It also colors the sound a bit (to my ears anyway), with emphasis on the midrange. A little EQ fixes that nicely. My two cents. Enjoy your new amp!

Regarding adding a bass cabinet - I decided to try Timwat's solution here and try a small bass amp rather than a sub. I had tried pairing the SS with one of my Yamaha DXR 12s - it sounded great with plenty of low end authority but I thought the full range cabinet also obscured the stereo effect of the SS, which was not what I was after at all. After trying out a couple of bass amps and playing with the eq settings, I got what I think is a very effective and musical result. I wound up with a GK Mb112. It seemed to be the best combination of size, low weight, good sound, and reasonable price. GK is a solid company and make good quality amps. For rehearsals I just use the SS - works great for that. Originally I had thought I would use the SS by itself for gigs with a bass player and only bring the GK along when I need to carry the bass with the keyboard, but I think I'm with Timwat in that I really like having the extra bottom most of the time. It's a nice round, muscular sound - very pleasing. Used with discretion of course - a little goes a long way. Also, I keep it as simple as possible. Straight to the SS from the keyboard, and sub out from the SS to the GK. No headaches so far!

sleepngbear - yes I could see needing a sub if you were using a drum machine or kicking bass all night. I still might pick up a used bass amp for fun.

Another gig report - did a local fundraiser auction last night - medium sized hall with a nice roomy stage. This was the first time I had tried setting up the SS horizontally using a Gator stand (discussed many chapters ago). I also tried it just sitting on the floor vertically to compare - and for this venue anyway I am a convert to the horizontal approach. Nice reflection of the side speaker from the hardwood stage floor, consistent and even sound for the rest of the band. (Jazz quartet with piano, bass, drums and saxophone) 90 percent AP, 10 percent EP - both sounded great. The band was hired as background to the auction and there was a lot of room noise to compete with. I think the SS could have done the job on its own but to keep the stage volume reasonable I used the line out to put a little piano in the mains as well. I am one of those who initially thought I might need a subwoofer or bass amp to use in conjunction with the SS, but I never once thought it was lacking in bottom end. Solo piano might be different, but with a bass player on the gig there is absolutely no need for a sub. So great to just unplug from one compact box and throw it in the trunk when the gig is over! Thumbs up.