Know what a Fender Rhodes electric Piano can do? Let’s agree a lot. These units are expensive and generate lots of repairs if played a lot and gigged. The secret is each one of these birds sounds different. I mean a lot of difference. I would also suggest it is not possible to get two units to sound the same. Some units are gorgeous on a lot of things and some maybe only do one sound perfectly. Don’t buy one of these pianos. Someone will give you one if you are meant to have one. Buy a modeler instead and save yourself headaches. But eq your rompler. Nothing below 60hz is useful. No real highs are useful. Eq those part of the signal dead quiet. If we then add a couple three more cuts in Upper mids and mids we will reach Don Fagen heaven. Nuance is an instrument in itself. Eq your Rhodes until it sounds like a career. Don’t be afraid to experiment.
I have a Rhodes that I bought second hand around 1992, it lives under a bed and I haven’t played it for about 2 years. I love it dearly but I do use patches instead including the Nord sample “Nefertiti Mk1” which was sampled from a beat up Rhodes in a German club.
In the 80’s I played a Rhodes in a band and got very used to tuning it, voicing it and changing broken tines. It ran through a Boss GE-7 equalizer pedal into a Fender Twin Reverb amp with some tremolo dialled in. The amp was miced up with a Shure 57 slung through the handle. The bass was cut as you advocate and it was voiced to be very mellow and chimey when played softly but started to bark when played hard. The sound it had was unique and I have never been able to replicate it.
I notice that the Rhodes Mk8 is now being manufactured in the UK. Vintage Vibe in the USA also make a replica which comes with a “variable voice control”. This changes the voicing for all the notes by moving a lever. On the original the pickup for each note had to be adjusted by hand. Once you had the voicing you wanted you stuck with it.
Every Rhodes player have similar stories. We love to hate the things. The thing is once you get one that does something cool you are hooked. Even the one trick ponies are beloved. That trick with the 57 in the handle is not unknown to me. I prefer not to add off axis though. I would suggest four or five inches off the cone on a twin for more bite. Thanks for sharing.
