I have seen a number of discussions on here about digital pianos and pros and cons of various brands as substitutes for conventional pianos. I was wondering if anyone could advise me about stage pianos.

I am looking for an 88 key digital stage piano that is as close to an acoustic piano sound as possible. I am interested in having a graded hammer action which replicates the touch and tone and 'feels' right.

As I will mostly be using it for accompanying the facility to transpose would be helpful. Obviously it must be transportable - sit on a stand rather than have fixed legs like most digital pianos.

So far the Kawai ES3 seems about the best but I would really like to hear from anyone who has a stage piano or has played on one.

many thanks.

If it were me, I'd buy a Roland like this - I've heard samples from their earlier models and they sound fantastic and it says this one's very light & portable.

I agree, Roland pianos have a great sound. The only thing you should watch out for that some of them also have a very light touch, and not everyone likes that. So you might want to try it first to see if the touch of the piano is right for you.

I have a 12 year old Roland fp8 - superb! - but unfortunately these are not made any more. Fully weighted, touch sensitive keys - 3 different touch settings (light/medium/heavy - ish!) and a superb sound quality. My only problem now is, when I come to replace it, I have no idea what to replace it with! It was the absolute top of the range back then but because it was, they didn't sell too many of them which is why it's discontinued. Fortunately it was well made so it's only been away for repair once - and that was fairly recently - so I'm hoping it will go on for a good few years yet. But yes, I think Rolands are great keyboards.

I practice on a Yamaha P-80, the action and the sound are both excellent. It has a transpose function although I've never used it. I think the P-80 is out of production now though, AFAIK the current equivalent model is the P-90.

Thank you everyone for your advice.
I elected, after trying, Korg, Roland, Kurzweill, Yamaha, Casio, to proceed with purchasing a KAWAI ES3.
It had the features I needed, including the internal speakers so I don't have to lug an amp. everywhere. In my opinion the 'advanced hammer touch 'action was the closest to an acoustic piano - the feel is heavier in the lower keys and lighter on the upper as with acoustic piano. The piano sound is excellent and it has numerous other features and sounds including a USB port to directly interface with a computer.
I hope that if anyone else is looking at stage pianos they will get a chance to try this one.
The price was reasonable at $2600NZ which is 988 UK pounds. Interestingly I see the UK recommended retail price is 999 UK pounds although some places in the UK were selling it for a bit less.