My New Rhodes

  • Thread starter Thread starter Flamin Lip
  • Start date Start date
Flamin Lip

Flamin Lip

New member
I have been jonesing for a nice Fender Rhodes for about a year, I watch em on ebay, and was willing to pay around $450 for a nice 73, but they always go way above that, and I cant justify paying over 5 bills for something I cant even touch or hear.

Anyway, on a whim last week, I called a local piano tech to see if he had one in disrepair for me to get fixed up in working order. He said, no, but my freind is cleaning out her rehearsal space and wants to get rid of hers.

I call her and end up getting a 1973 suitcase model that looks like it just came off the showroom for $150. I get it home and it sounds killer. w/ the help of the rhodes supersite, I quickly learned how to tune and tweak it like a pro.

This vintage machine makes me play w/ more soul than i ever thought I had in my whitebread fingers. Bottom line? Im stoked!!!

If youve never messed around w/ one of these things, you owe it to yourself!!
 
What is it so nice about rhodes keyboard?? I've hear a lot of people mention it...
 
Whats so great about it?

The action on this thing is crazy, it is far from easy to play, but the heavy slow action forces you to be funky! You dont play it, it plays you.

The dynamics are amazing, if you play light, you get a nice mellow tone in the lower registers, and a tinkly winkly timbre up top. If you really lay into it, the lower keys get a really funky barking overdriven sound and the top ones just scream.

It has a 4x12 cabinet attached to the bottom of it w/ killer ping pong tremelo/vibrato.

It is actually hammers hitting tines, not plastic hitting membranes.

No sample can come close to the way it sounds and feels(not debatable!).

It weighs 130 lbs. I cant gig w/ it, but there is no way it will ever get ripped off.

If it breaks down, and that doesnt happen often, you dont need to have a masters in electronics to fix it, just common sense.

In conclusion, four words will sum up what is so cool about my new Rhodes...

RIDERS ON THE STORM

Go check one out while you can still get em cheap!
 
You're right Flamin Lip. Rhodes sound great. I almost got one with the cabinet a year ago. Wish I had now. Oh well...someday.
 
and how can you record it??
I suppose it isn't MIDI compatible... does it has line outs or do you have to mic it??
 
I have had good luck mic.ing it. I put a SM57 on a 12 in the cabinet and run an extension cable thru my silverface Princeton w/ a LD Condensor(CAD M37), and record it in stereo. By the way, these things sound killer when run thru a nice old Fender tube amp. The suitcase amp that comes w/ it is solid state, and a little muddy for my taste, but the effect of having the(4x12) ping pong tremelo shooting and shaking all around under the keyboard is well worth the extra bass response. When i use the Princeton in conjunction w/ the suitcase, it pretty much solves my EQ problem.

remember this thing has actual pickups on every tine(string), so running it direct would probably the same as running an electric guitar through a mixing board. Never tried running it direct. I am a firm believer that letting a speaker breathe is almost always going to get better results than going direct(Modern keyboards excluded).
 
Well that's a good data to know in case I ever learn to play the keyboard and buy one of these :D
 
hurry up, record the beast and post some mp3's!!!im begging ya!jeez i want one....
 
Rhodes Suitcase

I have had three of these things over the years....I never learn, and keep selling them. The last one I found in a little pawn shop in provo utah for 75 bucks(a suitcase, with the cabinet). I am gonna keep this one(I keep telling myself this). Your right, nothing beats the real thing, but the General Music real piano pro does a damn good job. Of course the action is still not there. I love having it in the studio, but when I play out, I take the General Music.

Compared to my Hammond, the rhodes is lightweight.
 
I own a Stage73 w/ the flat top

I've owned this puppy for a few years - my Dad bought it somewhere in the 80's. It has the flat top on in, and still works like a charm. No one has been able to "synthetically" reproduce the sound to my liking yet. Roland has come "relatively" close with some of their patches (XP- series), but nothing else.

Anyone else have any miking ideas? I've been playing it through an old Fender "Super-Reverb" amp from the 60's, but I think the tubes need replacing on the amp. I tried an SM57, and also had an Alesis GT condenser - didn't sound too bad with some fiddling.

I imaging if you find one of the Rhodes on eBay, it'll probably cost a crapload to ship - I know mine is quite heavy.
 
What I have been really digging about my new Rhodes, is all of the sonic imperfection that go to tape. The little buzzes, chirps, thunks, pings and overtones all make it sound unique. Its also been making me write some righteous retro music as of late!
 
What I have been really digging about my new Rhodes, is all of the sonic imperfection that go to tape. The little buzzes, chirps, thunks, pings and overtones all make it sound unique.

I agree with this one! The best thing is the sound you get when you "spank" the keys.....I also have an old phaser pedal that I run the Rhodes through.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top