Yamaha P35B 88-Key Digital Piano with L85 Keyboard Stand and BB1 Padded Bench

This review is from the perspective of a brand new piano player, aiming to teach myself to play without committing to buying an actual piano.I love the feel of this keyboard, the weighted keys have nice resistance and obviously sense a very wide range of pressures. The ability to change the keyboard’s tone is a nice but non-essential feature for me, though the built in metronome is useful. As a complete beginner, this keyboard is a fantastic entry point at a relatively reasonable price, and the headphone jack means only I can hear my poor playing, though the built in speaker is loud and produces a nice sound.Two things to note are, the keyboard is heavy and a bit awkward, I wouldn’t want to be hauling it around all the time. Also, the headphone jack is a 1/4” stereo plug, so you’ll need an adapter to use standard headphones!Very happy with this purchase!

This piano is very nice. Right out of the box I could tell this was a high quality product built to last. A few nice features this has it the fully weighted keys which make it feel close to a grand piano, they are even heavier keys as the notes go lower. It has a realistic grand piano sound which play louder and softer based on how hard you play on the keys. It also has 10 sounds including; grand piano, piano, 2 electric pianos, 2 organ sounds, strings, 2 harpsichords, and vibra phone as well as a built in metronome.This is the first piano I have ever purchased and wasn't sure which one to buy being a beginner. The 3 main things I looked for were the key count, weighted/semi weighted keys, and the number of sounds it could play. For the money this is by far the best option I found. You can buy an 88 key piano for around $200 dollars, but most are non weighted or semi weighted keys. There is a huge difference between semi weighted and fully weighted keys from the pianos I played. Most $200 also don't come with touch sensitivity (hitting the keys harder makes them play louder) which will make a big difference later on. And finally the sound of the piano and grand piano options on the P35 is very realistic. If you can afford to spend a extra $150 on a piano I would recommend buying this piano over the Williams or any other semi weighted piano.

Generally satisfied but low octaves sound too bassie...I am enjoying and still learning

Don't think you have to spend six or seven hundred dollars to get a great-sounding digital piano. The P35B at $450 may be basic by digital piano standards, but the grand piano sound is very rich and warm. I bought the P35B to use primarily as a keyboard controller because I have a vast library of computer-based virtual instruments which includes some high-end pianos, but the P35's built-in sounds are nice enough that I may record with them as well.This P35B replaced my Roland HP-100 (an old 76-key digital piano from the mid 1980's.) The Roland has semi weighted keys which I have gotten used to for over 25 years, but after playing the P35 for just a few minutes, I knew I'd never go back to semi-weighted keys. I really like the key action of the P35B.The piano has a couple of drawbacks... one minor, and one rather significant:The minor drawback is that Yamaha's choice of sounds for this piano is a little on the antiquated and impractical side. All ten sounds are of top quality, but some of them are obviously just "fillers" with limited applicability. For example, you get two different harpsichords (isn't just one harpsichord enough when there are only ten sounds offered?) both of the organs are pipe organs (what? no rock or jazz organ?) and the second grand piano sound is just a monophonic version of the first. I know this is obviously not a keyboard you would buy for an array of sounds, but Yamaha could have easily made a better effort. Also, the strings and pipe organs don't remain sustained with the sustain pedal, which is understandable but quite unconventional.The more significant drawback is that the keyboard's keys are used to adjust the piano's various functions and features such as reverb, pitch transpose, touch sensitivity, demo songs, etc. There's nothing wrong with that, except Yamaha didn't label those keys' functions anywhere on the piano casing. They labeled the ten voices and metronome adjustments, but for all of the other functions, you'll either need to keep referring to the manual or else create your own labels and tape them to the piano casing. If you're on a gig somewhere and, for example, need to adjust the tuning of the piano to match an accordion... if you didn't bring the manual with you, you're screwed.Despite the drawbacks, I still highly recommend this keyboard for its simple functionality, the way it feels, and its stunningly beautiful, warm grand piano sound. Even if this piano came with nothing but the grand piano sound alone, it would still be worth $450.UPDATE MAY, 2023: After a decade, the piano is still functioning just fine. No problems at all.