Yamaha P-85 digital piano through external amp/PA

[Steve Freides]

Anyone else notice that, while a Yamaha P-85 sounds great through its
built-in speakers, if you run it through an external amp, it sounds
very, very bassy? I assume this is due to some sort of bass boost being
added to compensate for the small built-in speakers, but I would much
rather have a flat output at the headphone jacks than what I'm getting.

Just curious to know if anyone else has noticed this - maybe it applies
to all digital pianos with built-in speakers?

-S-

[Frisbieinstein]

Post by Steve Freides
Anyone else notice that, while a Yamaha P-85 sounds great through its
built-in speakers, if you run it through an external amp, it sounds
very, very bassy?  I assume this is due to some sort of bass boost being
added to compensate for the small built-in speakers, but I would much
rather have a flat output at the headphone jacks than what I'm getting.
Just curious to know if anyone else has noticed this - maybe it applies
to all digital pianos with built-in speakers?
-S-

It is because the P-85 has true stereo, which is one of the reasons it
sounds so nice with headphones. Unfortunately when you smash true
stereo down to mono you get phase cancellations and it doesn't work,
which is why true stereo is rare.

I think you need two mono amps or a stereo amp. I can't think of any
other way around it. A stereo PA that should be good enough.

[Steve Freides]

Post by Frisbieinstein

Post by Steve Freides
Anyone else notice that, while a Yamaha P-85 sounds great through its
built-in speakers, if you run it through an external amp, it sounds
very, very bassy? I assume this is due to some sort of bass boost
being added to compensate for the small built-in speakers, but I
would much rather have a flat output at the headphone jacks than
what I'm getting.
Just curious to know if anyone else has noticed this - maybe it
applies to all digital pianos with built-in speakers?
-S-

It is because the P-85 has true stereo, which is one of the reasons it
sounds so nice with headphones. Unfortunately when you smash true
stereo down to mono you get phase cancellations and it doesn't work,
which is why true stereo is rare.
I think you need two mono amps or a stereo amp. I can't think of any
other way around it. A stereo PA that should be good enough.

and

Post by Frisbieinstein
Aha, you are just plugging in a mono jack? So you are getting the
left hand side of the piano only.

To be very clear about exactly what I'm doing, I have a cable that's
exactly right for the job - it's a stereo 1/4" on the end that plugs
into the keyboard, and _two_ mono 1/4" on the end, labeled. I have a
two-channel amp, and a very good one at that, an AI Clarus 2R Series
III, driving an AI Contra-EX cabinet.

Experimentation yielded that the way to get the _least_ bass out of the
thing was to use only the right side of the stereo, not both, so that's
what I did, but I still had to roll off the bottom end using the amp's
bass control all the way down, and also turned the midrange down a lot
as well. I did try one channel of the keyboard into each of the two
channels of the amp - too bassy, still. There are three options - use
the left side of the stereo, use the right side, or use both sides into
a two-channel amp.

I will try all three things again tomorrow or Sunday and report back,
but we tried it more than once a few weeks ago.

-S-

[Frisbieinstein]

Post by Steve Freides

Post by Frisbieinstein

Post by Steve Freides
Anyone else notice that, while a Yamaha P-85 sounds great through its
built-in speakers, if you run it through an external amp, it sounds
very, very bassy? I assume this is due to some sort of bass boost
being added to compensate for the small built-in speakers, but I
would much rather have a flat output at the headphone jacks than
what I'm getting.
Just curious to know if anyone else has noticed this - maybe it
applies to all digital pianos with built-in speakers?
-S-

It is because the P-85 has true stereo, which is one of the reasons it
sounds so nice with headphones.  Unfortunately when you smash true
stereo down to mono you get phase cancellations and it doesn't work,
which is why true stereo is rare.
I think you need two mono amps or a stereo amp.  I can't think of any
other way around it.  A stereo PA that should be good enough.

and

Post by Frisbieinstein
Aha, you are just plugging in a mono jack?   So you are getting the
left hand side of the piano only.

To be very clear about exactly what I'm doing, I have a cable that's
exactly right for the job - it's a stereo 1/4" on the end that plugs
into the keyboard, and _two_ mono 1/4" on the end, labeled.  I have a
two-channel amp, and a very good one at that, an AI Clarus 2R Series
III, driving an AI Contra-EX cabinet.
Experimentation yielded that the way to get the _least_ bass out of the
thing was to use only the right side of the stereo, not both, so that's
what I did, but I still had to roll off the bottom end using the amp's
bass control all the way down, and also turned the midrange down a lot
as well.  I did try one channel of the keyboard into each of the two
channels of the amp - too bassy, still.  There are three options - use
the left side of the stereo, use the right side, or use both sides into
a two-channel amp.
I will try all three things again tomorrow or Sunday and report back,
but we tried it more than once a few weeks ago.
-S-

Well, I don't know. I do know that with Fender two-channel amps that
the two channels interfere with one another and are pretty much
useless. It's just a marketing gimmick to make you think you can play
two instruments through it. The only thing I can think of is some
sort of impedance mismatch, but I wouldn't expect that with an active
output.

[Steve Freides]

Post by Frisbieinstein

Post by Steve Freides

Post by Frisbieinstein

Post by Steve Freides
Anyone else notice that, while a Yamaha P-85 sounds great through
its built-in speakers, if you run it through an external amp, it
sounds very, very bassy? I assume this is due to some sort of bass
boost being added to compensate for the small built-in speakers,
but I would much rather have a flat output at the headphone jacks
than what I'm getting.
Just curious to know if anyone else has noticed this - maybe it
applies to all digital pianos with built-in speakers?
-S-

It is because the P-85 has true stereo, which is one of the reasons
it sounds so nice with headphones. Unfortunately when you smash true
stereo down to mono you get phase cancellations and it doesn't work,
which is why true stereo is rare.
I think you need two mono amps or a stereo amp. I can't think of any
other way around it. A stereo PA that should be good enough.

and

Post by Frisbieinstein
Aha, you are just plugging in a mono jack? So you are getting the
left hand side of the piano only.

To be very clear about exactly what I'm doing, I have a cable that's
exactly right for the job - it's a stereo 1/4" on the end that plugs
into the keyboard, and _two_ mono 1/4" on the end, labeled. I have a
two-channel amp, and a very good one at that, an AI Clarus 2R Series
III, driving an AI Contra-EX cabinet.
Experimentation yielded that the way to get the _least_ bass out of
the thing was to use only the right side of the stereo, not both, so
that's what I did, but I still had to roll off the bottom end using
the amp's bass control all the way down, and also turned the
midrange down a lot as well. I did try one channel of the keyboard
into each of the two channels of the amp - too bassy, still. There
are three options - use the left side of the stereo, use the right
side, or use both sides into a two-channel amp.
I will try all three things again tomorrow or Sunday and report back,
but we tried it more than once a few weeks ago.
-S-

Well, I don't know. I do know that with Fender two-channel amps that
the two channels interfere with one another and are pretty much
useless. It's just a marketing gimmick to make you think you can play
two instruments through it. The only thing I can think of is some
sort of impedance mismatch, but I wouldn't expect that with an active
output.

I just emailed the company and asked about this - will post again when I
hear back. The amp sound spectacular with my upright bass, and also
with my electric guitar and electric mandolin, but those are all similar
levels and straight mono feeds.

-S-

[i***@gmail.com]

Hi, i just wondered what the end of the story is. I have a very very old pf85 and am just wondering what , if anything, is worth plugging into the external output sockets.
Nick

[Frisbieinstein]

Post by Steve Freides
Anyone else notice that, while a Yamaha P-85 sounds great through its
built-in speakers, if you run it through an external amp, it sounds
very, very bassy?  I assume this is due to some sort of bass boost being
added to compensate for the small built-in speakers, but I would much
rather have a flat output at the headphone jacks than what I'm getting.
Just curious to know if anyone else has noticed this - maybe it applies
to all digital pianos with built-in speakers?
-S-

Aha, you are just plugging in a mono jack? So you are getting the
left hand side of the piano only.