Went to a jazz jam tonight, the host, a sax player, had a Yamaha CP250 so I all I showed up with was my Real Book. And I have to say:

I get it.

Sweet board. I only played a couple of the piano sounds but I can see why so many people like it. Nice feel, nice sound.

but it would win the Laurens B Hammond award for portability. Yikes. It looks like it weighs 100 pounds though I think it weighs in at 72. Still for at home you could do worse. Nice board.

Yes, I believe the CP250 is the precursor to the CP300, which despite its vintage, still receives very favourable reviews - especially for its powerful speaker system.

James
x

I think you mean the P250 not the CP250? If so, I have one and it's a mighty beast (heavy!). It has sounds which are a bit dated (no comparison to my Nord in terms of sound quality), but they're still useable. I don't play in a band, but the P250 seems to have a good reputation for cutting through a mix. What I can say is that it has a wonderful action. It also has a huge flat surface area with unobtrusive buttons that make it perfect for resting a laptop on it. I was actually playing around with it this weekend trying to run pianoteq into its speakers but was getting some obnoxious ground loop that I'm going to have to sort out. In any case, I agree that it's a great board.

P-250:

p-250 not CP250 - I knew that! Yamaha threw me off when the next model was the CP300.

Played my old PF500 a few months ago when I was in the UK. That was the home version of the P-250. Even though the samples seem a little crude by today's standards, it is still very playable, and beautifully constructed.

I still have my p250, but I mostly play the galaxy pianos through it. Mine has an updated keybed... i liked the original keybed a little better. It wasn't as fast but it had a better connection to the onboard yamaha sounds... but the funny thing - the new keyboad has a better velocity curve and feel for the galaxy stuff. And I run my VST's though the onboard speakers too and it sounds really good and you get the vibration through the keys.

I'm thinking of the CA65 or AvantGrand N1 to replace what I have someday. Played the AvantGrands the other day and they were pretty awesome. Played a real C3X and that was even better - wow what a piano. the only thing nicer in the store that day was a certain Steinway B and there were some serious pianos in that store.

I could live wi that. How much will it sting me for?

.

peterws,
They occasionally show up on ebay, and typically they sell for around $700ish when they do. Yamaha (I think it was them) also used to sell a customized hard travel case for it. Sometimes those show up on ebay as well, but they remain rather pricey.

I was actually playing around with it this weekend trying to run pianoteq into its speakers but was getting some obnoxious ground loop that I'm going to have to sort out.

i have a p-250. its built like a tank and weighs in slightly less than one. I'm thinking about having it recycled into a small car.

it still sounds very nice and offers a lot of flexibility. i really liked its 16 track sequencer and it has sophisticated layering capabilities that are reasonably intuitive to set up. i took it to my church to play christmas hymns for our Sunday morning church class. its still sitting in the classroom because i cant motivate myself to lug it home. right now its doing a great job working as an end table for our visiting speakers.

I'm thinking about selling it wholesale to guitar center/sam hash or giving it to my class to replace the piece of junk upright that resides in the room. Just too much of a beast and i already have another beast that i use for a controller. my wife has warned me not to turn our recreation room into an electronics museum. i'd like to get something under 40 lbs to replace it one of these days. Am hoping the P155 gets an update soon that gives it the same piano samples in the P105. i think that would be a nice board and light enough to travel.

i saw Michael McDonald on a video playing the predecessor P-200 and i really liked it and that's how i wound up with the P250. very nice piece of equipment- was fairly priced and obviously made to last a long,long time. but just too much weight.

I still have a CP300 lying around .... Very nice board ... Fantastic controller and the only slab with decent speakers

yes, the onboard speakers are outstanding. hook up a subwoofer to complement them and you've got a nice full-range sound.