Yamaha P-125 Portable Digital Piano

Description

• 88 keys – graded hammer standard (GHS)
• 24 voices including Yamaha grand piano
• Piano sampled from the famous Yamaha CFIIIS 9′ concert grand piano
• 20 rhythms – including accompanying rhythm section
• USB connectivity to tablet, laptop or desktop PC
• 4 types of reverb
• Sound boost
• 50 preset demo songs – Mozart, Chopin and other famous performers
• Record and playback function

Yamaha P-125 portable digital piano review

Digital pianos are very affordable nowadays and you no longer have to fork out thousands of pounds to learn. The Yamaha P-125 is a premium digital piano, and whilst you can spend a lot more you probably don’t need too. This has everything you need to begin your journey, but isn’t aimed at anyone in particular. It suits all levels and all ages, no matter what you want a piano for.

I’ve been very excited to get my hands on one of these as I used to have a Yamaha P something or other about 20 years ago when I used to gig all the time. I can’t quite remember what the model number was, but I remember paying something similar to this. It’s very hard to believe that you can still spend around £400-500 on a digital piano, but the sound is of course far more superior to what it was 20 years ago.

To find out what I thought about the sound and all the features, please read on for my review!

Sound

If you spend over £400 on a digital piano you should expect nothing less than a great sound. Of course, you can’t expect the sound to meet the standard of a grand piano worth as much as a house, but you can certainly demand a high quality sound for your money.

Most people will play this piano and gasp at the inexpensive price, but I know what you can get for your hard earned pennies these days, and I can confirm that the Yamaha P-125 is the benchmark of all benchmarks. It does deliver, it does sound amazing, and it is less than £500. Not only that, but it isn’t too heavy and is very easy to transport, so you can put it in any room you want and take it to gigs, band practice, or on holiday if you can’t stand the thought of a week or two without playing!

Obviously you will be looking to buy the P-125 for the piano sound and feel. We will get onto the touch of the keys further below, but for now let’s focus on the sound. It has to be one of the best grand piano samples I have heard in a long time for this price. Having said that, I own a Kawai ES7 which cost me around £1,200 a few years ago, and I think the Yamaha gives it a good run for its money.

There are also lots of other sounds which you can take advantage of if you get a bit bored of the piano – strings, electric piano, harpsichord, organs and much more. I love to play around with these sounds on my own digital piano, and it keeps things sounding fresh and entertains you after a long classical practice. Take the piano and strings layering for example – this is the perfect way to play some of your favourite movie theme songs.

You really do have to hear this to believe it.

Touch and feel

This is again where the P-125 shines. I’ve always loved how the Yamaha’s feel to play – a little on the heavy side, graded hammer standard, and an overall very professional feel. If you are worried about the weight of these keys, then don’t. The GHS action means that they are heavier at the bottom and lighter at the top, which makes for a very authentic acoustic piano feel.

The keys are not too heavy that it would put anyone off, but that very slight extra weight feels very nice when comparing it to other makes that tend to be a little lighter. The weight for me is just right, and the way the keys fly back up to allow a fast piece to be performed means it is suitable for all levels – even a concert pianist.

Features

The features of a digital piano are not always a concern when someone looks to buy one, but I think it’s worth taking a look at what this has to offer because it’s quite amazing. There are a total of 24 voices which I believe is the most that you can find at this price point. Even if you don’t like to use anything other than the piano sound, it comes with this anyway and you are not paying anything extra for it.

There are also a total of 20 rhythms that you can jam along to, and you can also split the keys and play an accompanying chord at the bottom like you can a keyboard to create a fuller sound. And if you want to sit back, relax and let the piano do the hard work for you, you can listen to a total of 50 demo songs from famous composers.

Other notable features are record and playback, and you can also connect the P-125 to a tablet, laptop or home computer. There are lots of great teaching apps out there that you can connect to and play along, or you may want to record and save your performances for YouTube or your own pleasure.

Price and summary

Priced at around £450-£470 at the time of writing this review, the Yamaha P-125 isn’t cheap if you are looking for a budget piano, and there are other options out there for around the £200. But it really does depend on what you want to get out of your experience.

For an advanced player I would highly recommend this, both for the home and on the road. You can buy a stand for the home if you want to make it a more permanent feature called the L-125. But this isn’t just for advanced players and I would recommend this to anyone wanting to learn. It’s a digital piano you could keep forever if you wanted, unless it blew up of course after about 100 years!

This is everything you need for a really good price. You can record, compose, learn, practice for ABRSM exams, and much more!