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Yamaha CP-70(B)CP-80 CP-60m etc.


niclaslyk

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hello everyone,

 

Here i want to start a new Yamaha CP thead, where we can speak of everything about these vintage pianos. Tell about some fun or about you CP and what you use it for, about the sound etc.

 

Now i wanna start:

 

I recieved a Yamaha CP-70B for a week ago. I have been looking for one in a year now, and I wanted a showroom condition only.

So i have been talking to everyone from Germany to America about these pianos.

For a moth ago i founded a Perfect condition CP-70B with everything in plus the rare Amptown cases. And of course is was pretty expensive!!!

So now i have had one for a week and i looooove it. I love the sound soo much, the warm and matallic sound it just fantastic. The tolex is with no scars and there is nothing els to say that it is "like new".

 

So tell about you're experiences with these pianos.:)

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This is my HC review about the CP60M I own:

 

 

Product: Yamaha CP-60M

Price Paid: US $600

Submitted 06/27/2005 at 03:44pm by Gil

 

Ease of Use : 10

 

The Yamaha CP60M is an electroacoustic piano, which means it's a real piano (strings and hammers...) which has a piezzo pickup laying under the strings making it ideal for studio / recording work. It has two outputs, a built in 7 band EQ and a Tremolo effect which sound great, 2 EFX loops (in/out and MIDI out (and MIDI split) !! Generally, it can be considered as the upright version of the older made CP70 and CP80, with the MIDI addon, which makes it actually more similar the the CP70M and CP80M models (those are made like grand pianos, more Rohdes like in construction).

 

Features : 10

 

This amazing sounding piano is 100Kg weighted, but is beautifully and elegantly built. It has 4 handles built into it, two at each side, for easier transportation. It also has wheels and can be transported easily by 2-3 people. Except for the mentioned above, it has 76 keys which appears to be very similar to the U1 keys, and a rather low action. The CP70 for comparison seems to have slightly bigger keys and higher action, which makes playing them both quite different.

The sustain pedal is not as robust as on most acoustic pianos, but not as spongy as on the Kawai EP608 for instance.

 

It feels GREAT to play and sounds pretty amazing !

 

 

Expressiveness/Sounds : 10

 

This is to my ears (along with the CP70/80 models) the best electroacoustic piano ever made. I'd actually say it is also the best elctric piano ever made, simply because it delivers the entire experience of an acoustic (Yamaha) piano perfectly !! The sound is SUPERB, crystal clean bell like - especially on the higher octaves.

 

To my ears, the CP60M sounds a bit more "acoustic" when amplified than the CP70 and CP80 model (which sound superb to my ears, yet has a bit more "electric" flavour to them). Although it is VERY similar to CP70/80.

 

One point that is very important to make - Other manufacturers which tried to build instruments using the same concept didn't succeed much. For example, the Kawai EP608, which is as well an uright electroacoustic piano, tends to sound weaker at the high notes and play double notes for every key stroke, mainly because it uses a single string per note, all over the keyboard. This doesn't happen in the CP series as Yamaha have used 2 strings per note for the major (higher) part in of the keyboard - which simply keeps volume matched all over the keyboard.

 

The construction is robust and it is a very well made instruments - still it's more suitable for studio/home use and not for touring.

 

It doesn't split into two units for "easier" transportation, like the CP70/80, and being an upright piano it simply takes much less space (1.30m width, about 50cm depth).

 

If you're not familiar with the sound of the CP, simply listen to some Tears for Fears (Songs from the big chair)/ U2 (October)/ Billy Joel (Nylon Courtain), Peter Gabriel (So), Tony Banks, Crime & the City Solution, Simple Minds ("Alive and Kicking" and all over "Once upon a Time")... These amazing sounding instruments were played on so many records in the 70s and 80s, the classical rock piano !!!

 

Reliability : 10

 

10 for that !! Very well made. Yamaha is known for their great built quality. Mine is 20 years old and looks and plays like new !

 

Customer Support : 5

 

I send an email to Yamaha some time ago, asking what would be the exact size of tuning lever I should use. They didn't gave me an answer, telling that I should refer to the local dealer which had no idea... only after a few emails I got a clear answer.

 

Overall Rating : 10

 

You're invited to join the Yamaha CP pianos Yahoo group at:

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/yamahacp

 

;)

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I'll just add that I've always wanted one of these but have never been able to find one, especially with MIDI as I understand that a rare few had. Bet it would make a fine MIDI controller. Plus the general size/weight has been prohibitive. I finally gave up and bought a new CP300, which is not the same thing but at least it's a member of the CP family.

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I have mine now for about 3/4 of a year I guess and I love it. It's just a beautifully made and well thought out piece of gear and it inspired many songs. The main feature for me is that it is so quiet, which means that I can actually play piano without upsetting the neighbours, and record stuff in a second, I just switch it on and you're go. I love the dreamy tremolo sound, though you have to admit that the piano does not have the "depth" of a normal piano, and the lower notes are absolutely awful. When you play harder, it will be more clangy which works great in the context of a rock song, but it doesn't really fit well in classical music or jazz.

 

But what really sets it apart is the feel of the keys. The keybed is absolutely stunning. I am "in love" with the sound of the Rhodes, but the feel of the keys of the CP70 makes me noodle around on that most now!

 

check my CP70 review including mp3s on www.bluesynths.com and check the following songs on my soundclick site www.soundclick.com/jointfunkture

 

Continuity

Coincidence (the "overdriven guitar" sound is actually CP70 through a virtual Marshall stack!)

Where You Are

Unlike Denmark (CP70 solo...)

 

cp70_4.jpg

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I must note that the CP60M keys and feel are totally different from the ones of the CP70/80. I favour the CP70/80 action much better !! The action of the CP60M is shallow and the keys feel a bit smaller - I think this is the result of CP70/80 using grand piano mechanism while the CP60M is really an upright. I also feel the CP70/80 sound a bit more "electric", while the CP60M sound a but more "acoustic".

 

Check out a song on which I use CP60M through an Ibanez UE405 stereo chorus Here

(JX8P's "Soundtrack" and JV2080 on intro)

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Those lyrics (in Hebrew btw), and which are written by a girl I know, talk about how someone should find his/her own path once they're get out of a love affair ("Listen to the wind..."). I wrote the music for her (she's a singer) but she didn't like *her* lyrics so I just used them myself ;)

 

Thanks, btw !

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Thanks Funk !


Noa ?
:rolleyes:
I don't really think so
;)

The JX8P I used at the time is the one to have the Sharp opamps... sound is more clear and open than the one I got now.

 

 

Noa is cool... or at least the stuff I've heard has been good. I saw her on TV at some jazz festival back in 1999.. it was like acid jazz mixed with world music grooves...

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Man I love the CP70 sound.

I 'm pretty sure that that's what Keane uses...I'm a big fan of those guys.

I found a pretty surprisingly good CP70 sounding patch on my Alesis Fusion but I would love to have a real one...

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I have to say I was a little worried to see this thread when it first came up... I thought "oh no! yamaha cp's will become more popular and thus harder to find!", as I have been looking for one for a little while now. I may have a lead on one here in Portland, but the guy I talked to about it really lambasted the CP series! This is the guy I bought my Hammond and Wurli from. These days he plays an accordion because it is easy to amp and easy to get around, so I know he is biased a bit against heavier instruments these days. He was basically saying that the CP is not only extremely heavy but also difficult to have it keep tune; e.g. moving it around will exacerbate the issue but that there is no getting around the fact it has a wooden pin block that eventually has a hard time keeping the strings in tune. Well, some things I read online say the CP has great tuning, other times not, so some of this is obviously subjective and depends on a lot of factors like the individual instrument and the conditions it is in. Can the pinblock be replaced if necessary, though?

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In my experience, changes in temperature affect the tuning more than moving the unit, as long as it's done with care. I love my CP80 too, I'm constantly considering adding a Moog PianoBar for midi out, the keybed is nothing short of great. For virtual duties, I use the Prominy CP80 which is very true to the original. :)

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I'm a big fan of the CP series too- I don't think digitals sound as good or expressive and it seems to be getting more commonplace for live players to use Rhodes or Wurli patches in place of AC samples. Are there any CP's or any other electric grands, for that matter, that don't have that tubby bass register sound (due to the shorter strings)?

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In my experience, changes in temperature affect the tuning more than moving the unit, as long as it's done with care. I love my CP80 too, I'm constantly considering adding a Moog PianoBar for midi out, the keybed is nothing short of great. For virtual duties, I use the Prominy CP80 which is very true to the original.
:)

 

You might also consider this;

http://www.midi9.com/products.htm

 

Not sure how the price/performance compares... been meaning to start a thread on that

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that don't have that tubby bass register sound

The KAWAI EP308 was built with the same principles. I have never seen one in reality, let alone played it, so I don't know, but it has a more standard grand shape so I guess the bass strings were not shortened

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I have to say I was a little worried to see this thread when it first came up... I thought "oh no! yamaha cp's will become more popular and thus harder to find!", as I have been looking for one for a little while now. I may have a lead on one here in Portland, but the guy I talked to about it really lambasted the CP series! This is the guy I bought my Hammond and Wurli from. These days he plays an accordion because it is easy to amp and easy to get around, so I know he is biased a bit against heavier instruments these days. He was basically saying that the CP is not only extremely heavy but also difficult to have it keep tune; e.g. moving it around will exacerbate the issue but that there is no getting around the fact it has a wooden pin block that eventually has a hard time keeping the strings in tune. Well, some things I read online say the CP has great tuning, other times not, so some of this is obviously subjective and depends on a lot of factors like the individual instrument and the conditions it is in. Can the pinblock be replaced if necessary, though?

 

 

Yamaha Electric Grands have Humid-A-Seal pinblocks in them. These are very high quality pinblocks that were specially designed for the rigors of touring. The absence of a wooden soundboard, which shrinks and expands with temperature changes, makes them pretty stable for an instrument of this type. My CP-80 is much more stable than my Clavinet, or what I used before... a Baldwin Electro-Pro. There are people who never liked the feel or sound of a CP, and that's fine because there are other choices these days.

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The KAWAI EP308 was built with the same principles. I have never seen one in reality, let alone played it, so I don't know, but it has a more standard grand shape so I guess the bass strings were not shortened

 

 

If that's the Kawai electric grand, I've actually played one of these Roald, although 25 years ago. They used to have one at American Music when I lived in Seattle. It's bass notes were better, but it's still a short scale so they weren't like a good grand. What a huge touring piano! It's all in one piece. And a huge price! Over eight grand if I remember right. I don't know who eventually bought it... it was way too much in both respects for any of us local musicians.

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