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Key B Organs, what's happened to them ?

Chris Towns

By Chris Towns
in The Keyboard Corner

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ElmerJFudd

ElmerJFudd

Posted
Posted
That's a pretty good marriage. Expect something nice to come off this. And of course possible sales in the US through the same distribution we are able to get the Physis Piano and K4/K5 controllers.

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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Jg53

Jg53

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That is pretty big news. This could be a great year. KeyB becomes available and new Hammond XK5. Kraft Music is a distributor for Viscount / Physis products. In the US.
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Chris Towns

Chris Towns

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Hi,

 

I spoke with Pat Bianchi last week (a really nice down to earth guy, and a stunning player). He has gigged with a Key B live for two years and it hasn't missed a beat in all that time. He particularly liked the warm sound and solid bass he get's from it.

 

It's a real shame DLQ and Elvio struggle with distribution and manufacturing problems, as the organs this company produce are superb. Hopefully this latest 'Legend' is a massive success.

 

 

Quick question, can anybody send me a link to another 'clone' that sounds as good as this.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdaOnNgDQEg&nohtml5=False

 

Listen when the internal leslie sim kicks in on 10 seconds, and again from 1 minute 24 seconds. Makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up !!

 

Chris

 

p.s. The video is Pat Bianchi playing the Key B live organ.

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lophiomys

lophiomys

Posted
Posted
With the new Hammond XK 5 coming it will be way to risky to go KeyB if you are in the USA. There is no support even if you could get one here and he could go out of business at the drop of a hat. Shame as the KeyB is absolutely the best sounding clone I ever heard. Hoping Hammond finally gets the B3 sound right. We will see soon.

I would not worry about the service. It is mostly exchanging parts and simple mechanical repairs or Firmware updates. Every technician can do that. I had problems repairing a keyboard of big brand in the middle of Europe, even under full warranty cover. So you a are never save. If you know a good technician and get a warranty voucher from your selling shop, you should be fine.

The better sound would rule out everything else for me.

 

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ElmerJFudd

ElmerJFudd

Posted
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With the new Hammond XK 5 coming it will be way to risky to go KeyB if you are in the USA. There is no support even if you could get one here and he could go out of business at the drop of a hat. Shame as the KeyB is absolutely the best sounding clone I ever heard. Hoping Hammond finally gets the B3 sound right. We will see soon.

I would not worry about the service. It is mostly exchanging parts and simple mechanical repairs or Firmware updates. Every technician can do that. I had problems repairing a keyboard of big brand in the middle of Europe, even under full warranty cover. So you a are never save. If you know a good technician and get a warranty voucher from your selling shop, you should be fine.

The better sound would rule out everything else for me.

 

I know you feel this is your experience, and this is just a suggestion, so take it or leave it. But imho it's not a good idea to promote the idea that it's easy to get a digital instrument repaired in the US when the manufacturer has no distribution and no dealers carrying,. Also, the end user has no access to authorized service centers and even if they use a non-authorized service center, they don't have access to parts.

 

How smooth this goes for the end user is entirely dependent upon that network. Depending what is wrong with the instrument it is highly likely that you're just sh*t out of luck - particularly for things like a dead PCB which is more than likely propriety silicon, fried flash memory during firmware update, and a myriad of other things that go wrong with keyboards beyond re-soldering a connection, or replacing something standard like a screw. YMMV

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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Al Quinn

Al Quinn

Posted
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Hi,

 

I spoke with Pat Bianchi last week (a really nice down to earth guy, and a stunning player). He has gigged with a Key B live for two years and it hasn't missed a beat in all that time. He particularly liked the warm sound and solid bass he get's from it.

 

It's a real shame DLQ and Elvio struggle with distribution and manufacturing problems, as the organs this company produce are superb. Hopefully this latest 'Legend' is a massive success.

 

 

Quick question, can anybody send me a link to another 'clone' that sounds as good as this.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdaOnNgDQEg&nohtml5=False

 

Listen when the internal leslie sim kicks in on 10 seconds, and again from 1 minute 24 seconds. Makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up !!

 

Chris

 

p.s. The video is Pat Bianchi playing the Key B live organ.

 

Sounds fantastic and the layout looks awesome! Unfortunately, at 57 lbs. it's too heavy for me.

 

On a related note, I saw Pat Bianchi for the first time at the Newport Jazz Festival this past August. What a great player! He was playing with the Lou Donaldson quartet. What a treat :)

https://alquinn.com

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vanderSchoot

vanderSchoot

Posted
Posted

Yeah !!!!!!!! played the KeyB legend today at the Messe.

Some facts according to the rep. :

 

Price around 2400,- for the dual legend ,the new KeyB live dual manual a bit cheaper.

Newly develloped sound, not based on either the Numa 1/original KeyB engine or the Numa 2

State of the art new reverb.

Three distinct models ,.. a model of the thirties, fifties and seventies.

EQ expanded with Mid. ..... low, Mid (new) and high

Fatar keybed

 

It sounded very good indeed without the use of a leslie, a very good 3d effect.

Keys felt like most of the compitition with similar fatar keybeds. ( Hammond xk5 did feel the best i ever encountered in a clone.....i only felt the keys for a minuet or so and today the public wasn't allowed to even touch the xk5 dual manual........... lucky me that i did feel it yesterday and even without sound....... the thing was off yesterday it felt extremely good..... much better than the xk3c and sk2 they had on display also)

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JohnDoe

JohnDoe

Posted
Posted

Re. the feel of the keys;

can you find time to compare the "keyfeel" between the XK-5 and the Crumar Mojo?

"This is my rig, and if you don´t like it....well, I have others!"

 

"Think positive...there's always something to complain about!"

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Chris Towns

Chris Towns

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Hi,

 

This is the Key B Live mk2.

https://www.facebook.com/166116646869/photos/a.206107456869.131328.166116646869/10154060560661870/?type=3&theater

 

And this is the new Key B Legend.

https://www.facebook.com/166116646869/photos/a.206107456869.131328.166116646869/10154058578156870/?type=3&theater

 

Reading Vanderschoot's post, Elvio certainly gets his pricing right. 2,400 euros for the Legend, and I would expect the live Mk2 to be nearer to 2000 Euros. That equates to £1,614 GBP for the Live Mk2.

 

My only issue would be, is the newly developed sound source as good as the original Key B sound engine? One can only hope.

 

Chris

 

p.s. For what it's worth, I think the pedals and the stand on the Live Mk2 look awful !!!

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Chris Towns

Chris Towns

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Hi,

 

I really take my hat off to Elvio for the new organs he is launching at Frankfurt.

I knew the new Legend was coming, but the Live Mk2 was a pleasant surprise.

I think he's priced the Live Mk2 very competitively to compete with the Nord C2D (which is higher priced) and the Mojo 2 manual (which is slightly cheaper). We don't know the actual price but it should be around 2,000 euros, assuming that the new Legend is 2,400 Euros.

Hopefully with DLQ joining Viscount people will actually be able to get hold of these instruments and get some kind of quality support.

 

I was hoping to pick up a used Key B live, but I will probably go for a new Live Mk2 (at that price) assuming that it sounds equally as good as the original Live.

 

Chris

 

p.s. Come on Vanderschoot, any chance of a video?

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ElmerJFudd

ElmerJFudd

Posted
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Well there we have it, ain't that something....

 

"DLQ è lieta di annunciare di essere entrata a far parte della famiglia Viscount, storica azienda italiana famosa nel mondo. La Viscount si occuperà della produzione, distribuzione e vendita di tutti i prodotti KeyBorgan.

 

DLQ is happy to announce its partnership with Viscount, world famous Italian musical instruments makers. Viscount will build, distribute and sell all KeyB products all over the globe."

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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JohnnyB3

JohnnyB3

Posted
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p.s. For what it's worth, I think the pedals and the stand on the Live Mk2 look awful !!!

I thought the same thing - looks real cheesy.

BTW I saw Pat Bianchi (playing with Chiara Izzi) a few months back at a place called La Lanterna Caffe: Bar Next Door. Within 30min he set up, by himself, the KeyB Live, pedals and (I think) a Motion Sound Pro amp in a very small space. Not unlike this space:

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37KzZ9vvtEE

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vanderSchoot

vanderSchoot

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Will they sell through Viscount?. And will this give them access to Viscount's US distribution and US dealers?

Yes they will..... i told then about the frustration of many KeyB fans, but they told me their distribution would be much better in the future, also in the US......

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Mitch Towne

Mitch Towne

Posted
Posted

Jg53, do you know if the new KeyB Live 2 is based upon the same Ultrafunk platform as the Legend?

 

I have been told that it is.

Endorsing Artist/Ambassador for MAG Organs and Motion Sound Amplifiers, Organ player for SRT - www.srtgroove.com

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vanderSchoot

vanderSchoot

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I spoke to Elvio Priviati this morning...... what a NICE and humble person he is who i wish every bit of succes possible..... I asked him if i could take notes and he explained what i needed to know about the Live and the Legend for half an hour. A video will be coming soon after i told him about our desperate requests over at thw music players forum. So i took a truckload of notes and will post them tomorrow when i am home again behind a normal keybed instead of an IPhone. Stay tuned ..........
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