Went to buy a Yamaha P95 and came home with a Korg SP250

[B3_borne]

I gave my old DP to the grandkids for Xmas (4&6) .. I wasn't gigging with it anymore because it was just to dam heavy. So I've been looking at light weight 88 DP's for a couple of months.

 

Casio PX 130 that I played sounded good on AP but the EP's sucked ... keybed action was ok, it also didn't have a line out ... had to use the headphone jack and sum it to mono.

 

Yamaha P95 that I played had nice keybed action and I thought the sounds were quite good but I didn't spend much time with it. I was also reading that the Yamaha P series has had some problems with keys sticking (broke)... it also had the headphone jack and sum it to mono for an amp. But the price and weight was right

 

So I went to Long and McQuade this weekend to look at the P95. The sales man powered it up and I started playing. I liked the AP sounds but when I started attacking the keys on the EP sounds they went from a nice warm sound to some cheese snyth'y sound that just killed for me. I felt it also lacked variation on the sounds 2-AP's & 2-EP's and 1-Clav ... Strings and Choir

 

So I sat down in front of this Korg SP250, the weight was about 10lbs more (I can handle that) than the P95 it was mark down (floor model) on price so it was only $100 more than the P95 and it came with a stand and a real damper petal. I start playing it and it spoke to me .. love the sounds on the AP's(2x3), EP's (2x3) Clav (3) ... Strings and Choir. The keybed action is a little stiffer the the P95 but it OK ... I can live with it ... so I now own a SP250 Korg ..

 

 

 

 

[Skinny]

Never mind.

[Ken Beaumont]

I start playing it and it spoke to me ..

 

I couldn't ask for more than that!

 

I was looking at that when I bought my PX-330. I couldn't find one to test so I went with the casio. I just purchased a Korg Radias from Sweetwater, can't wait till it arrives.

[Jason Stanfield]

The SP250 is a nice unit - great price, decent sound, and pretty good action once it's broken in.

 

I'm considering one as an at-home-practice 'board, leaving my main stage piano (whatever that will be - the RD-700NX is the front-runner right now) in its case for gigs.

[Dave Ferris]

Whenever I was going into W. LA Music (which for awhile there was on a weekly basis ) to play the SV-1 and its "soundpack 2", I would play the Korg 250 they had over in the corner as another point of reference..

 

I was always pleasantly surprised with the nice piano sound and action. I MUCH preferred it to any Casio I'd played. Can't remember the weight off hand but for someone just looking for a lightweight AP substitute, I think for some reason the 250 is too often overlooked. A lot of people don't dig Korgs for piano but I have always generally liked their sound, it has a different character to it then Yamaha or Roland. So I guess it kinda speaks to me in a way too.

 

Congrats and have fun with it.

[Floyd Tatum]

I'm not sure I'd call it a lightweight - it's almost 42 lbs. That puts it in the same range as several other 'middleweight' dp's, like Yamaha P155. I think of light-weight as 25 lbs, like the Casio or P95.

 

We need more weight classifications. Let's see, Roland FP4, that's 35 lbs, that makes it a welterweight

[Dave Ferris]

Oh that much ?! See I told you I wasn't up on the exact weight.

 

Well in that case to quote Gilda Radner, "never mind".

[B3_borne]

I'm not sure I'd call it a lightweight - it's almost 42 lbs.

 

Well it's light compared to my Technics PX7. I think it was 75 lbs. and the sounds were very dated.

[Adan]

I think the SP250 is a bang for the buck gem. Supposedly it is the same RH3 action as the SV1, but to me it feels like a deeper throw, better for piano technique. It has a nice dark piano option which sounds very good through it's speakers. I think the speakers are a little more powerful than the P95, which might make a critical difference if you're using them for performance.

 

The SP250 is 42 lbs and the P95 is 25, which is a pretty substantial difference. To my mind, the SP is more of a home piece that you might take out once in a while. The P95 is more the "have DP, will travel" type board, for piano-only situations.

 

edit: also, I believe the SP250's speakers remain active even when you use the line out, so you can send to a bigger amp and still enjoy the feeling of vibrations through the keys, which some feel help them play better.

[Dave Ferris]

I do remember one instance in my W. LA demos in which I was totally frustrated with the weight and UI on the CP5. I thought to myself...I just want something REALLY simple for just piano and that's light or lighter then the CP5. I played the 250 first and thought, this would be perfectly fine, sounds very good , plays smooth, it's all I really need. Then I started futzing with the SV-1 and its new sounds and felt they were a cut above the 250..... and then that infamous overly critical, self-doubt process set in.

 

I should've just bought the 250 straight out, quit the Keyboard Corner, Piano World Forums and any other gear related sites, totally unplug from the internet, get back to more practicing and just do my gigs.

[David Loving]

I like the ep's on the 250. I think it's a good deal. Nice piano sound, excellent action.

[Dana.]

Not too keen on the fugly faux wood paneling.

[frogmonkey]

That's reassuring. I was recently asked for DP recommendations for several students, and I told them I thought the PX330 was the best bang-for-buck, and the minimum for a pro keyboard. I also like the way it plays and sounds.

 

Much to my dismay two different sets of parents reported that they had gone to the local music store asking for the px330, where they were told the SP250 was "just as good, and similarly priced," and bought the Korg. I asked one of the salespeople about it, and told him I was irked, and that when I sent the students there with a specific model number I expected that they would offer to order it for them. He responded "well, everyone's got an opinion". I'm actually pretty mad about it, and I might even warn students away from that store in the future.

 

Anyway, I'm glad you're finding that it's a good instrument- it makes me feel better about my students who recently got it. I didn't think it was as good as the PX330, but that could have been my mood. That extra 15 lbs is hard to ignore, though.

[AnotherScott]

That's reassuring. I was recently asked for DP recommendations for several students, and I told them I thought the PX330 was the best bang-for-buck, and the minimum for a pro keyboard.

I think that the Yamaha P95 sounds and feels more like a real piano than the PX330. If you want more sounds than that, I think the PX3 is much better than the PX330.

[percussion boy]

Weird, I ended up doing exactly the same thing as the OP.

 

The Casios didn't have long enough note durations in some places above middle c, and the Yamaha didn't sound enough like an instrument, somehow. All subjective basically . . .

 

I'm just a humble piano student, and the Korg is my first hammer-action keyboard, but I found it makes me practice . . . a lot. Shutting off the effects on the piano sound feels better to me, fwiw. The action doesn't seem to hurt my body, just works the upper arms a little.

[Mike Warren]

I start playing it and it spoke to me ..

 

Scary! When I was a kid, a neighbour's organ used to speak to her whenever I transmitted on my CB radio.

 

Congratulations on your new purchase.

 

[Marillo]

Hmmm, I own an SP250 and I find the piano sound pretty awful. It's really tinny at the top end and the decay is laughable.

 

HOWEVER it's got a great action, decent speakers - which are invaulable for practice I find, I just get sick of headphones - and comes free with a stand, music stand and pedal.

 

As someone said, bang for buck it's hard to beat.

[frogmonkey]

That's reassuring. I was recently asked for DP recommendations for several students, and I told them I thought the PX330 was the best bang-for-buck, and the minimum for a pro keyboard.

I think that the Yamaha P95 sounds and feels more like a real piano than the PX330. If you want more sounds than that, I think the PX3 is much better than the PX330.

 

I like the P-series, but the p95 doesn't have line outputs, and I really want my students to be able to take their keyboard and jam with people. Using the headphone outputs to go to the PA or an amp is problematical in my experience.

[B3_borne]

Not too keen on the fugly faux wood paneling.

 

Yea ... I may paint the wood and speaker grills flat black in the future

[Mr. Nightime]

I played an SP 200 for a long time. Still have it, just retired. It was a great piano, with a really good DP sound and feel.

 

When I bought it, I looked at the Kurzweil, Roland, and Yamaha models that were available and comparible at the time, and like the Korg best, both for sound and feel.

 

They get dissed quite often, but I like the Korg DP sounds.

 

 

[AnotherScott]

I like the P-series, but the p95 doesn't have line outputs, and I really want my students to be able to take their keyboard and jam with people. Using the headphone outputs to go to the PA or an amp is problematical in my experience.

I understand the concern. But I didn't have any problem running the P-95 headphone jack through the appropriate cable to split it into a pair of 1/4" left and right outs. I wouldn't use that as a reason to pay more for a PX-330, especially since I don't think it feels or sounds as good. Though I do like the step-up, the PX-3, for its higher quality sounds (i.e. EP, organ, strings) and strong MIDI functionality. It's a shame that model doesn't have speakers, though.

[frogmonkey]

I like the P-series, but the p95 doesn't have line outputs, and I really want my students to be able to take their keyboard and jam with people. Using the headphone outputs to go to the PA or an amp is problematical in my experience.

I understand the concern. But I didn't have any problem running the P-95 headphone jack through the appropriate cable to split it into a pair of 1/4" left and right outs. I wouldn't use that as a reason to pay more for a PX-330, especially since I don't think it feels or sounds as good. Though I do like the step-up, the PX-3, for its higher quality sounds (i.e. EP, organ, strings) and strong MIDI functionality. It's a shame that model doesn't have speakers, though.

 

The only times I tried to use headphone outputs for PA/amp connectivity was on a flying tour where the gear situation got all screwed up, and I ended up playing all week on a borrowed Yamaha DGX620 (yuck). I found it very difficult to get the gain right at the various stages (i.e. the keyboard, my submix, and the PA) so that it was loud enough without distorting. I figure that if a geeky gearhead like me had trouble with it, my poor students would be totally lost.

[MonksDream]

When I was last looking for a DP I was attracted to the SP250. It had a nice feel and a decent piano sound. The deal-killer for me was that I thought any sound other than the piano was pretty weak. Still, as a basic piano, it's a decent choice, although I'd likely prefer a Casio in a head-to-head comparison.