First CBA - any suggestions?

[Daddy Long Les]

Ok - been tinkering with a CBA set up on my Roland FR-18 for a day or so now. Really loving it.

Can you suggest to me what might be a good starter CBA (5 -row C system)?

Please indicate possible price if you can.

Many Thanks

Les

 

[donn]

I can only guess, your Roland might be able to vary the left hand stradella setup? The 120 bass system favored by CBA players in France, Portugal, and to some degree elsewhere has an extra row of bass buttons, and one fewer row of chords. The third bass row is simply another half step lower than the second row, just as the second row is a half step lower than the first. The outside chord row is a dominant 7, but voiced 3/5/7 rather than 1/3/7, so it may also serve as a diminished for an adjacent column.

 

[Adam-T]

I`d recommend the very recent Weltmeisters - usually 2 voice with 3 couplers , 72 bass about the size of a regular 48 bass 2 voice 26 key PA .. I think Martyn White is sitting on a used one for around £600 and has been forever so maybe worth going in with an offer - these new Weltmeisters are a better than Hohner Novas and way way better than the 70s and 80s weltmeisters .. this model punches far above its weight in sound and playability - the treble action, amazingly is closer to a Pigini than weltmesiters of old . the bass end is rather plasticky but plays well .

I had one of these and it took a Pigini of the same spec to prise it from my grip.