16
« on: March 01, 2019, 04:08:43 PM »
The suitcase piano has a bassy sound due, in part, to 4 12" speakers in a closed cabinet. Additionally, in some years, Fender supplied the same speakers used with the Fender Bassman amplifier, which were dull sounding. Years ago, I had great success in taking out the 4 original 4-ohm speakers and putting in 2, 8-ohm speakers facing the audience. I left the other openings where the 2 rear-facing speakers were, empty, which was critical to the improved sound. The Peterson preamp has a 33k input impedance, which isn't horrible, but the piano will have more sparkle with an input impedance above 100k. Also, the Peterson preamp has a treble rolloff built in. Perhaps the preamp was noisy, and the rolloff was to diminish some of the noise. Also, the Peterson power amp, even by 1980s standards, was an anachronism, and IMO entirely unworthy of a rebuild. In general, the Peterson electronics might have been a competent design back in the mid to late 60s (?) when it was designed, but by today's standards, it doesn't have much to recommend it, IMO. BTW, I am a highly experienced and qualified EE with lots of experience in analog and audio design, so I'm not just shooting off my mouth. I can't comment on the VV preamp, as I have never seen its schematic.
I might also mention that most Rhodes pianos will sound better with a preamp that has a filter that puts an adjustable notch in the preamp's frequency response around 200 Hz or so. I believe there are some Rhodes preamps, either old and out of design, or new, that offer this feature. I believe that Avion Studios' newly announced preamp may have this feature.