Hi

Does anyone know why Roland have included the new PHA II keyboard only in the Mahogany finish of the HP-201 and deemed it only to be sold in the U.S. but left the Rosewood & Maple finish with the old PHA ALPHA II technology only to be sold in Europe.

I live in the EEC and would like to purchase the HP-201 with its new PHA II keyboard but looks like I will have to place an order from the states to have it shipped over, which is crazy!! why have Roland done this?

Hi Musicmad,

Which finish did you want? By the way, the Alpha action is not older, just lighter (for portable boards)

Jonathan

Actually, the ERW and EMP versions have the older PHA, not the PHA alpha II.
I don't know why they did this, seems to me like a pretty stupid move.
I would've gone for the HP201 if the MH version was available in Europe.

I'm looking to purchase the HP-201 with it's new PHA keyboard but it seems only the mahogany finish sold only in the U S supports this feature, being in europe I'm reduced to the ERW or EMP finish which only supports the older PHA ALPHA keyboard, its crazy! why Roland have done this, do they really think people who live in the EEC dont like mahogany or somthing???

Like I said, the European two have the PHA NOT the PHA alpha II.
BIG difference.
Also, the PHA on those two is not THAT much different from the PHA II on my HP 203, except for the escapement.

Hi vid, sorry for the confusion, it seems that i have got this totally wrong? correction.. so the europian HP-201 in RW & MP finish both have the PHA II action keyboard NOT the PHA alpha II ?

No, they have the older PHA.
There's currently 4 Rolands basic actions:
-PHA: Progressive Hammer action
-PHA II: Progressive Hammer action 2
-PHA III: Progressive Hammer Action 3
-PHA alpha II: Progressive Hammer action alpha 2

The PHA was Rolands first hammer action, that had heavier keys in the lower registers and lighter in the higher registers. It is a bit old, and was replaced by PHA II, which is the most common action in Rolands DPs nowadays.
The PHA III is only used in the V-piano sofar, but the soon-to-be released HP 307 also uses it.
The PHA alpha II is the lower end action, currently used only on the F-110, RP101, RD300SX and FP4.
Most of the HP line pianos have the PHA II action, except for the European versions of the HP 201, which use the older PHA action. The PHA II action also has 3 versions: the normal PHA II (FP7), the PHA II with escapement (HP203) and the PHA II with escapement and ivory feel (HP 207, RD700GX, fantom G8).

The HP 201 is the only model that uses different actions in different versions:
-PHA - the Rosewood and the Maple versions (ERW & EMP)
-PHA II - the mahagony version (MH)

I hope this helps!

Vid that is exellent news thanks, could i be right in saying then that the PHA action is better then the PHA alpha action ?

Yes, it's deffinately better!
But PHA II is the best.

Vid thanks for all your help, much appreciated

Musicmad.