Korg SV-2SP 73-key Stage Vintage Piano Reviews

The SV-2 has some of the best electric piano sounds on the market, hands down, and at a more competitve price than nord keyboards. Yes, nords will give you more variety of sounds especially for those ambient folks. However, if you're looking for classic and vintage EP sounds and the daily comfort of a songwriter's keyboard this is exactly the keyboard to buy. There is a reason the SV-1 has upheld such a great standard for so long, the SV-2 will do the same.

I picked it for the electric piano sounds that are supposedly the best around. They were not lying, the EP sounds in here are just phenomenal, from simple Rhodes and Wurly sounds, to fully decked out effects (omg the phaser and chorus and tremolo are just SO good), not to mention the ability to simulate a bunch of amps, there is nothing that you can't do on the electric piano front. Of course we can critique how 'authentic' they sound, but if you want the real sound, you should really get the real thing. I just love the way it looks, the way it sounds, and the way it plays. This keyboard is AWESOME, I absolutely love it!!

The only 'downside' I can comment on are the speakers. When I got this keyboard, I was a total beginner and I knew nothing about keyboards in general. I had seen a youtube video (the Anderton one with the Korg guy) where the guys were commenting on how good the onboard speakers are. Based on that I went for the one with the speakers, because I didn't want to invest another bunch of money. The SV2 is not super expensive to begin with but we're still taking about $2K.

Don't get me wrong. The speakers are awesome and they sound great, I just wish they had a little more volume. I was always around maximum on them and it was not quite enough for my room. Just as a fun experiment I plugged it into my bass amp and I was blown away by how much better it plays when you're properly amplified. I ended up getting a set of 5" powered studio monitors, and I am so much happier with the keyboard now. The difference is night and day, it's just a lot more immersive, and even the regular piano sounds are so much better. I will never gig so this is enough for me.

This keyboard is just so great, I am super happy that I got it. If you're on the fence about the speakers like I was, I would say go to a store and try it out in person to see what they can do, and try some other options while you're there. Just to re-iterate, there is nothing wrong with the speakers besides the volume. BUT, if I had to do it over, I would have gotten the one without speakers. It's like 3-400 less expensive, which goes a long way to pay for the studio monitors.

I've owned a number of different synths and stage pianos over the years, including Roland, Nord, Yamaha. I've found the Korg sv-2sp to be the most expressive, responsive keyboard I've owned or played. I generally prefer acoustic piano, and I'm not really a nob twiddler, so I'm using stock patches most of the time and don't really bother to learn all the more complicated things my instruments do - so take my review under advisement. But, I can say with certainty this instrument brings me sheer joy. Love exploring the various pianos and EPs and the way they respond. I read or watched a review calling the two harpsichord patches "throw away", but actually I find them to be quite realistic and enjoyable as well (I listen to a ton of harpsichord music). The clavs are amazing! Action is adequate, and really nothing compares to sitting in front of an actual box, but playing the Korg has kept my acoustic chops up nicely. The onboard speakers are good, surprisingly loud and detailed, though as you may imagine, the patches sound different and require different EQ and reverb depending on how you are amplifying. Stereo separation of the stock piano patches is a little intense at times through headphones, though I'd suspect there is a way to tweak that in the software editor. Love that it comes with a music stand. Overall great value. Before purchasing, I was looking at the newer Nords, and just the separately sold music stand costs a lot, let alone a good amplification solution.

We have several keyboard / pianos in our studio from Roland, Nord, Vox, Hammond, Yamaha and Korg but the SV2 does the best EP sounds I've heard - and that includes the Nord Grand 88. Trust me. I do all the mixing and post so I hear them all. I always breathe a sigh of relief when I hear the SV2 on the track. It sits perfectly. The effects are spot on. It's the true vintage vibe. If you're looking for that perfect 1970's yacht rock / Ray Manzarek / Michael McDonald piano sound, this is the one.

If anyone out there is experiencing a vibration with the new Korg SV2S (73 or 88 versions - I have the 88) contact your seller/local distributor. I'm based in Australia, CMI handled the claim, but ultimately K-Array needed to make a anti-vibration kit that stops the speaker cabinet from vibrating for certain harmonics. It happened to be about 14 keys mostly A's and F's to start that would have a very loud vibration with above volume 6. Especially noticeable on Piano sounds. I imagine since this being a new product line with speakers, the team at Korg and K-array had to work out the kinks to stop the vibration. My local authorised repair made the simple fix and now BEUATIFUL sound of this machine. Absolutely love my 88 key version. Great feel, awesome control, amazing retro sounds. So good to touch and feel what your changing with effects, eq, amplifier. Gave me a whole new appreciate for playing. Love this keyboard, and the team at Korg/K-Array for addressing the vibration issue.

I played the Korg SV-1 for nine years and was thrilled when I saw that Korg had made this new SV-2. I always loved the Rhodes samples on my SV-1 but I felt that the acoustic pianos were not very useable. I am happy to say that the acoustic pianos are really well done on the SV-2. They are very playable and sound really nice.
The Rhodes patches for the Mach 1, 2 and 5 are great!
The biggest surprise so far is the Wurlitzer patch... very expressive. Feels great to play.
The clavinet samples are really good - all four pickup variants are there.
Very nice pre and post effects... only thing lacking is a ring mod.
I don't plan on keeping the organ patches because I have a Crumar Mojo for those needs and there are is no drawbars to tweak on the SV-2.
I appreciate the upgrade in the number of favorites that I can store. The software editor is really easy to use (very similar to the SV-1).
The keybed is weighted which was a must for me.
The internal speakers on this model are really good for practice and don't add much weight. Sound fine. This model has the same form factor as the SV-1 so I can use my old stand and gig bag with the new model.
The tube does add lots of grit and drive to the samples.
It's very clear that the SV-2 has had a sample memory upgrade over the SV-1 as all the samples just sound richer and full. You don't need to run everything through the tube to make it sound good.

In conclusion.. just a fantastic collection of electro mechanical and vintage instruments that can be really tweaked with really nice sounding acoustic pianos.

I owned the original SV-1 for years. I always loved the form factor, but some of the sounds weren't up to modern standards. The new SV-2 addresses all of my critiques of the original. Plus the added speakers really are great for just some quick messing around with ideas. They are just loud enough to act as monitors in a band situation. I do wish they had a separate volume control for that use though. In quieter settings, you could probably use the on board speakers for accompanying a solo instrument or voice. The acoustic piano sounds are now top notch, and there are a lot of them. The organs are better than the previous version and quite usable. You really can gig with just this one board in a top 40 type band.

I Own a sv2 s 73. Right out of the box the G3 was completely stuck up... impossible tu push down... and from A#5 i noticed a very disturbing vibration under the hood. They repaired the G3 but they did not find where the noise come from...

Other than that, the speakers sound great. Actions are good...take a few time to get into the many settings, nice looking...
I asked for a replacement cause they can't find the origin of the vibration which is not tolerable from a piano of that price.

If you buy one make sure to test it at the shop, in a quiet place before leaving.