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Saw a friends jazz group last night and the keyboard player was kind enough to let me sit in on the last set. I played five or six tunes on his CP33, some ballads some burners all standard american song book tunes.

I just don't get it.

The main piano sound is overly bright in my humble opinion. Tinny almost. I thought the action on the piano was very nice but didn't care for the sound too much.

Funny how I loved the p250 piano sound but the newer CP33 didn't do it for me. My friends all seemed to like the sound of it though. Of course the sound could have something to do with his Roland keyboard amp, but I had one years ago and I always thought it made theverything sound bassy.

Did it sound different when your friend was playing vs when you were? I've heard lots of folks make comments like that with several makes & models of DPs. ie, "it sounded like arse to me when I was playing it, but the rest of the band and the audience loved it."

Also, the mono pianos are suited / tweaked for combo / band settings. Perhaps a better tone than stereo piano 1.

Just curious ...you may very well hate the CP33, and that's okay if you do.

Could "overly bright" be fixed with an EQ adjustment, or a "tone" adjustment in the CP33 menus?

Or is it something more fundamental than that?

. Charles

I always judge the sound of a stage piano using headphones.

I've played the CP33 and have heard others on jobs using it ... and it always sounded just fine.

I've found that there is sometimes a disconnect between the player and the sound. When I experience that, I'll have someone else play the piano (or I'll use the record\playback function) and the piano in question then sounds just fine.

The sound system is the last link in the audio chain. I never understand why players will spend a small fortune on the piano but not spring for an expensive and excellent sound system.

The CP33 is a fine sounding stage piano. It has the same default grand piano as the CP300.

Pianos always sound different when you listen to `em rather than playing them. Acoustics are the same, thank goodness . . . But really, it`s set for the audience rather than the player. Or should be. They pay the money . . .

I should have mentioned that from the audience I thought the piano sound was too bright as well. I don't know my way around that piano so not sure if it was set to use the mono piano sound - and I definitely agree that the amp could have been the issue. Those Roland keyboard amps are among my least favorite. The guy whose gig it was loved his set up and raved about the keyboard feel, which I thought was very good just a little bit heavy but ok.

I didn't think it sounded terrible. Just bright. It was just weird that within one week I played the CP33 and p250 and thought the p250 sounded better.

Charles above asked about EQ'ing the CP33. I haven't dug into whether you can fine-tune individual freqs, as I haven't found the need to.

There is a switch on the panel for Brilliance, which adjusts to a predefined eq between Normal, Mellow, and Bright. I typically leave it alone at the default Normal.

For further tweaking, you'd have more control over the amp.

The Roland keyboard amps I've heard have been brittle and bright, to my ears. Was the P250 also through a Roland amp?

I also find the CP33 to be a little heavy feeling, and I agree that Roland amps generally don't serve pianos very well. Really, you can't compare piano sounds unless you hear them through the same amps. Dave is right that good headphones are the best way to evaluate the sound, it at least tells you what the potential is. Then if you like it through the headphones, you can focus on finding an amp that deteriorates that sound the least. ;-)

.

Yes, my experience of using KC amps with my Nord hasn't been much better.
However, I've heard the same amps connected to an RD-700NX and the sound was actually pretty good.

James
x

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I played two KC-100's for years. I went that route after owning a KC-350 and deciding not to ever carry one heavy mono amp. Two smaller ones, running in stereo made those Rolands fine for my ears and pocketbook.

As far as CP33. I owned a P80, then P90 and was ready to go with CP33 but I started to hear the Yamaha as a sterile sound. I instead bought FP7 (got tired of weight and action) then Casio Previa 120 (light but action and sound wore on me very quickly.) Finally got my dream DP - Roland FP4.