who wants to join "HFZ" and stop talking behemoths? are there others out there who have decided there needs to be a weight limit for guys like us that carry kb's to gigs w/o benefit of roadie, weightlifting chops, or masochist tendencies? under 30lb is where i'm drawing the line in the sand!!! (gotta draw it somewhere or it's always: yeah, but what's just x more lbs if you like it?) So bye-bye me thinking about sd1, sd5, T2, g70, E80, genesys Pro-----

I need to upgrade and happy now that my trial months w/genesys ProS, and store demos of G70 and T2 were less than euphoric. excited about new under-30's, namely pa800 and E60 and wondering when they will both be in major outlets to sample (Ash, Gtr Ctr)..anybody had a chance to try both to give a preview comparison? or want to opine based on specs and descriptions so far? or want to argue that psr3000 will still be better choice?
Miami Mo

I'll stick with the PSR-3000--it's all I need and the weight is just fine.

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

I must agree with Gary...the PSR-3000 is a great little workhorse of a keyboard....very light, easy to use and it has all the necessary features for my use.

Plenty of styles and support available as well.

Ian

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Remember to leave good news alone.

I think the Casio p575r is under 30lb and it has 88 keys for you piano purist.

Gary,

I give you a lot of credit for sticking with the 3000 all these years resisting the temptation of getting "the latest and greatest" keyboard. I with I had that discipline!

Al

Al,

If the Tyros2 had speakers, I would have a pair of them. I love those little speakers right in my face while playing, thereby providing me with a monitor while performing.

Granted, the Bose does provide me with the same sounds, and at the same level the audience is hearing, but there are times, especially when doing very small jobs, the only sound system I'm using is the onboard speakers. Next week I have a 4-hour job at a Diamond Center, one where I'll be providing mainly background music for a couple hundred ladies shopping for extravigant jewelry that will be paid for by their husbands, boyfriends, lovers, etc.. For this one, the only sound system will be the onboard speakers. This will be my 6th year at this place, and at the end of the evening I usually get a hefty bonus in addition to the paycheck. And, everyone raves about the music coming from those tiny, onboard speakers.

Years ago, when I was using a PSR-5700, I always felt the onboard sound system was awesome. It was a full 50-watts RMS and you could play lots of small jobs with nothing more than the keyboard. The only drawback was the keyboard weighed a ton.

Cheers,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

I agree with Gary about the speakers. I've got the T2, but miss the speakers from the 3000. In the studio, they were a quick reference on a song, a style, or a sound without having to turn-on all the other gear that the T2 is interfaced with. Fooling with headphones is a pain. I wish the T2 was in a smaller frame with speakers. And, in my application, 76 notes are not necessary, even if that were available.

I'm thinking the pa800 and the E60 are both going to be better than the 3k. but the 3k is lighter by 6 lbs and it's a
fine kb. any good artist can sound good on any of these.
The E60 will have the 76 advantage, and the pa800 will
just have more and better sounds and styles, and probably a much better internal speaker option.

Not an arranger (wish it was) but the yamaha ypg 525 is
a superlight 88 that just blew me away..has great keyfeel,
great live! grand, and a super suitcase Rhodes sound. and
you can buy it for $599, or even $499 at some discounters.

76 keys is not always an advantage. For guys like me, it's a definate DIS advantage. I set up in some really tight spaces and I choose the room over the luxury of a few keys that I use very seldome.
As for "better sounds" .... woah, Nelly ! Don't start THAT discussion !
All the cheerleaders will go berserk!

uncle, it's always about choices for needs , right? i too get along fine w/61 but if i had 76 i'd sure find a way to use
that , especially playing the piano and rhodes sounds, and setting up splits that allowed me to use the very bottom for bass transposed up an octave to avoid muddiness, or as trigger for arranger bass lines, and have another octave lower available to use w/right hand, and 3 more notes on top to boot. i haven't played anywhere where space is so tight that the difference in size would be a problem. others may have no requirements such as i do for under 30 lb weight. I never use a sequencer or midi files, others use those in small or great degree. i'm not trying to start a war w/yamaha fans, am just making a reasonable guess from what i've read and samples i've heard that the pa800 will outflank the 3k..but have not tried it yet, of course. I have always preferred the Korg nav system--harder to learn at first but faster playing live once you get the hang of it.

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Miami Mo

Hey Mo,
All good points. I made an early inquiry about the pa800, and there's a good chance that I'll give it a whirl very soon.
I played with a blues trio over the weekend as piano/organ with LH bass and never missed a thing ! The guitarist was excellent, the harmonica player was right on the money and I had a ball playing live bass all night long. I split my 61 note kb at D below middle C, and transpose the RH 3 octaves down an octave, so I have 2 full octaves for bass and three for chords. I like having that extra D in the LH for certain melodic bass lines that need to stretch a bit. As long as I'm the bass player, three octaves have always been plenty for my chords. I can always hit the octave UP button if I need a higher range to solo with too, so that's an option that's there, as well.

First time I ever played an "energy" gig without a drummer ( live or otherwise )...never missed it ! The bass lines carried the rhythm and the guitar filled in all the holes. It was really a lot of fun!

right on, unc..all that jive about smaller groups not sounding "full" enough..is just that, jive. good playing always carries the day. i ran into a folksinger I know who is pretty good, and he set up for his acoustic solo sets with a monster pa head, 2 giant 15" speakers about 20 ft apart on tall stands about 8 ft high..all in a small space.
i don't know what these cats are thinking..why sound like
a dj? I'd have used one 8 or 10 in spkr at shoulder height,
right next to me, and it would sound like what it looks like..a solo acoustic performer w/ volume boost...