kurzweil or roland

[bun]

hi, i am brand new to this forum. i just got permission to buy a

keyboard for $1000 or less. i am a classical music pianist and is

also interested in jazz. i want a 88 key, weighted, w modulator. i

found a package: kurzweil sp 88 x, roland amp 60w, stand, case for

$1204. however, i was told kurzweil is MUCH unreliable than roland.

any thoughts or suggestions, please, i need it ASAP before july 4th to

finish the deal. thanks and please email. btw, is there any good

forum/faq to look up this topic? thanks again

[Robert Smedberg]

Hello and welcome.

 

You can first do a search on this forum, and then also check out Sonikmatter .

But sonik is mostly about K2?00.

Worth a try though.

[Byrdman]

Originally posted by bun:

hi, i am brand new to this forum. i just got permission to buy a

keyboard for $1000 or less. i am a classical music pianist and is

also interested in jazz. i want a 88 key, weighted, w modulator. i

found a package: kurzweil sp 88 x, roland amp 60w, stand, case for

$1204. however, i was told kurzweil is MUCH unreliable than roland.

any thoughts or suggestions, please, i need it ASAP before july 4th to

finish the deal. thanks and please email. btw, is there any good

forum/faq to look up this topic? thanks again

Lots of pro keyboardists play Kurzweils day in and day out and I don't think they would be doing that if there were reliability problems. Very few people can afford to carry a spare 88 in case of trouble! The only way you could answer this question for sure would be if you had the service data for both pieces of gear you are considering and then again the particular unit you are considering (given that you are buying used) would differ from the average.

 

So I would do due diligence concerning the unit you are looking at. Ask about service history (and take the anwer with an appropriate number of grains of salt). Check the keys for any problems (make sure you play every key and all the controls). Look for signs of physical damage.

 

And see if you can independently confirm the price you are paying (ebay maight be of help - there used to be used gear prices posted on the web too). If all looks ok, go ahead.

 

Personally I have never seen a Kurzweil arrive at a gig damaged but I have seen a Roland keyboard come out of the case with a key broken in transit. As a guide this is a single data point and therefore totally useless but it might serve to at least cast doubt on the original assertion that Roland's are the more reliable.

[Dave Pierce]

"Reliability" opinions are difficult to trust.

 

Most manufacturers make thousands of units of any particular model, yet most of us are unlikely to see more than a dozen of them. Any manufacturer will have a predictable failure rate, but the sample size we see is too small to determine it. The exception is when several users known to you have an identical, unusual problem.

 

Now, don't get me wrong, none of this prevents me from avoiding equipment that has failed on my before! I'm only human, after all. Being a techie guy, to this day I avoid Western Digital hard drives like the plague, and wouldn't buy Cabletron devices if you paid me to. All based on personal experience failures which are statistically insignificant.

 

--Dave

[keyoctave]

I have been playing an SP-76 for 6 months now and have had no problems with it. It has been played at gigs about every 2 weeks. I use a custom fit padded bag by Modern to protect it.

[lrossmusic]

I have been using a Roland RD 250 digital piano with weighted keys since 1987 and have only had minor problems which I could fix myself.(replaced a couple of contacts and one key)

Last year I put it in the shop for the first time to replace my midi out jack. I believe my bill was around $50 or $60 dollars.

[Beekay]

I have used Roland keyboards for the past 10 years, I currently have a JP90, an XP10 and XP80 workstation. I use these keyboards all the time for different gigs, i.e. church, gigs, solo playing and find them to be extremely reliable and easy to use. I have dropped them, thrown them in my car in a hurry and use them in my home studio and in outside gigs all year long. Previous to using Roland keyboards, I used Korg. I found key breakage to be an issue and have only had one key break on my Rolands - my fault because I didn't wrap the cord up and it found it's way under a key and snapped it. I also was classically trained (12 years of lessons) but taught myself pop/jazz/rock idioms and have worked professionally since 1982.

[SurrealMcCoyJazz]

I have used Roland, Korg, Kurzweil products professionally, onstage,studio etc;

While I've had a minimal amount of problems, I have seen a major difference in product support. Thumbs up to Kurzweil......I'm still waiting to hear from Korg & Roland???

 

Surreal

[RABid]

I think finding a dealer that gives good service will have more effect than the brand. If you are worried about reliability choose a dealer first, then choose a keyboard.

 

Robert

[Cap]

I get this question quite a bit. At under a grand, I'd go with the Kurzweil SP88x. I don't think of it as quite as trouble-free as the Roland RD150 or Yamaha P80, but it's more satisfying to play and listen to. And though I saw my repair man every other week when I had a Kurzweil K1000, I've been toting a Kurzweil SP76 in a soft gig bag for 2 years and have yet to see a problem with it.

 

I gave the above advice to a friend, who told me yesterday that he'd purchased a Korg SP200, so what do I know.

 

Cap