Was your Soprani compact too? CBA or PA? Do you like your Nemo?
It was a CBA, and it was not compact. I was a bit reluctant to trade it in as it was (and is) my only full-sized instrument... but I consoled myself that I would get the (96 bass) Petosa 4100 C in March (next month, now!), and could "tide myself over" with the Nemo II in the meantime. I was also trading in a C-system converter Pigini Studio B2, which is very nearly identical to the Nemo II, and in fact has one additional row of bass keys, at 78 versus the Nemo II's 72.
The two instruments are so very similar, in fact, that Joe was strongly urging me to reconsider trading in the Pigini for it, as the two instruments are so similar, and I'd be taking a significant financial loss in doing so. But I was at the shop specifically because I was feeling frustrated at what felt like an extremely narrow window for dynamic range in being able to phrase my music expressively (I'd been arranging a Chopin Waltz at the time, and a very expressive, bluesy rendition of Amazing Grace). To my fingers and ears, the Nemo II was a significant step up from the Pigini on that front (though it's unclear to me right now if I might have remedied my issues with some expert maintenance on the Pigini valves or reed spacing or something?), and it was worth it to me to pay a few thousand dollars to have effectively the instrument I already had, but with better expressive power.
Now, the difference in expressive power is significant, but not dramatic. The prize for "dramatic" goes to the 4100 C that I played there. But as I was trading toward both the (expensive - it is a converter after all) Nemo II and also a Roland FR-1xb (basically the same instrument but digital), I couldn't quite afford to also get the Petosa 4100 C. I could afford it if I dropped either of the other instruments (even the FR-1xb, which had just dropped to an insanely low price - the website currently says $2099 but I feel like it was lower than that), but I
really needed a digital instrument so I could expand my practicing hours outside of the ones that are "safe" for other people at home, perhaps attempting to sleep late at night, even if I don't love the sound and feel of the instrument. And I also really wanted an analog converter instrument with better expressive range than I had, as it's useful to me in the largest variety of situations. But I can tell you I've been chomping at the bit for the 4100 C, with its improved range, and
much improved expressiveness.
Okay, on to how I like the Nemo II. As I said it gives more range for expression than my Pigini had, but that's a low bar, and it's still not nearly as great a range as I might hope for. Like the Pigini it's a simple LM, with no register switches in the bass (just a converter switch). I don't know how many reed sets are employed for the bass (my guess is 3?), but I can tell you that I can clearly hear the octave changes between applicable notes (unlike the "master" setting on a more fully-voiced instrument). I've had very occasional trouble with one or two of the bass notes sticking (they had
literally just received these instruments from factory, and removed one from box for me, and I didn't ask them to check over the internals before I bought it, which I will certainly do next time), so I'll have them look at that (for free) when I'm there in March to buy the Petosa.
The free bass notes only really sound good within a narrow range. The treble notes definitely have an annoying timbre in some ranges as well - but I think that's probably the price you pay for compact instruments, and the Pigini suffered from this at least as much.
My biggest complaint about the Nemo II, is that the bass C row is significantly higher than I might expect (certainly, higher than the Pigini had it, or my Roland FR-1xb, exact same number of bass and treble buttons). It is high enough that the topmost bass row is the (divoted) E row, with the result that I can't comfortably play anything in the key of E or B (it being a 72-bass with no redundant rows), and usually the key of A is out as well, unless I
really want to jump to reach the B row. Now, since this is a CBA it's simple enough just to change keys for the most part, but...
When I play the Nemo II, I'm not "in love" with playing it, the way I was with the Soprani. The Petosa 4100 C gave me that feeling hugely, so I'm very much looking forward to feeling that again, with the added benefit of much better potential for musical expressivity/phrasing, than the Soprani had. The Nemo II, meanwhile, remains an excellent "grab-and-go", "jam" accordion, and comes with a carrying case that's effectively an oversize backpack. I use this case for both the Nemo II and the Roland, as they are the same size.
The CBA Nemo II that I have, has 36 (unique) treble keys in 5 rows. I imagine the PA version of it is more like 26 or thereabouts.
