HI Scott,
have you checked with the solton dealer if there are any stores in Sacramento?
There is a big Store on buisness 80. I forgot its name, but it used to carry high end KB's. Worth checking out. The drive is not to bad, and certainly worth it.
I also agree with Andrea, that the excitment can wear off pretty fast. I also prefer more naturally sounding instruments. As some 9000/Pro owners already stated, Yamaha is a little bit on the other side of the spectrum with their sounds. It takes a little bit of tweaking before the board becomes alive. It depends deffinately on taste and the type of music you are playing. Before I started playing KB I used to play guitar. I must say though that Solton does have much better guitar strums that I miss sometimes on my Pro. I loaded a couple of VA-7 styles into my Pro, and the guitar strums are much better, so I know the board can do it. Yamaha just didn't program the styles that way. We'll see what the next generation will bring.
Eric

[This message has been edited by Eric, B (edited 06-28-2001).]