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Do you have problems with loud clacking noise, particularly in top 2 octaves? I have, and I want to get rid of them. It' not like that noise is bugging me really bad, but when playing quit, especially at night clacking noise is more present than actual Rhodes sound, and it's annoying.
So , here's the idea: I'll buy some insulating material and glue it on the inside of the plastic cover. That should do the trick because I think most of the noise leaks through the cover ( since thick wood is a good sound insulator ).

Any thoughts? You see any downsides I can't see, or am I good to go?

Here's a treat for all you Rhodes lovers. I don't know how many of you watched the movie "A different kind of blue", a movie about Miles Davis, but since I watched it yesterday, I figured there might be other people who haven't seen it.
There's a part of it where Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock talk about the Rhodes ( and play a bit ), so I made the effort to cut the clip,edit it,upload it so you can all see it. Consider it a gift for holidays

Here's the link:

http://www.box.net/public/plr34cmgoh

There's a website whre people here sell various instruments. And I've been watching it daily, no...I'm lying, I've been probably  checking it out 2 times per day since March this year ( hunting for various bargains ).
And, figure this out, I had some personal stuff to do on Friday, a gig on Saturday, and I was sleeping the gig off yesterday, so I wasn't checking that webiste for 3 days.
And now the punchline: in those 3 days I was away form a comp a guy posted an add - he was selling a Mark I for 130€ !!! I called him as soon as I've read the add, but it was too late, the Rhodes was sold.

I'm so sad right now...I was so hyped when I saw the add,I couldn't believe my eyes -  I would've bought it on the spot without even asking about condition.

I think I will be depressed for the rest of this day.Maybe for the rest of the week

You know the Black Capricorn Day song ? ( Jamiroquai ). I'm interested how to achieve that Rhodes sound - you can hear it clearly on the beggining of the song. It sounds like some kind of overdrive...but I'm not sure which one. Perhaps a fuzz or overdrive pedal?

I have an idea I want to realise, but I though I might consult with the general Rhodes population before actually starting the work. I want to make a box with a couple of effects integrated, and I was wondering what would you put in it?

I was thinking about something like this:

box:[ phaser->tremolo->parametric EQ (or dyno-my-piano copy preamp)->compressor->preamp]


Of course, all effects would be by-passable, so no signal is lost when not using a particular efect.
Do you have a better idea or a suggestion? I also thought about making a ring-modulator and a chorus, but I don't have that much money right now.


I made a MXR 45 phazer yesterday, it works like a charm. I'm too lazy to record some clips, but I will do so if someone is interested.

I somehow managed to lose the knob you use to screw crossbraces to the Rhodes. could someone please give me the dimensions of the screw, so I can go to a hardware store and buy an alternative.
Ordering a replacement part is not an option ( closest Rhodes store is way too far, and a knob+shipping+everything lese would be way too expensive )

Has anyone tried how Rhodes sounds through one of these amps ( either Acoustic 164 or 165 )? I am in position to buy Acoustic 165 amp for 400€, and I'm wondering is it a good bargain. I've read some good reviews on harmony central, and it seems like a excellent tube amp. I would like a second oppinion before I go to try it ( I don't want to lug my Rhodes for nothing ).

Amp has one 12'' speaker and 100W of tube power. Reverb, equliser, accessory input and output, and a nice full wood enclosure. I should be getting fresh tubes included in price.

I just went to Major Key's site, and I found they are about to release a new gadget for us Rhodes freaks. I wonder how much will it cost. Check it out:



http://www.majorkey.com/cgi-bin/home.html

How about we all ( ok, all interested ) record a few clips of our precious toys and upload them somewhere. I listened to whole bunch of recordings where people used Rhodes, but it's not the same if I listen to Herbie Hancock,Joe Sample etc, or a "real" person who I can talk with. Cos, let's face it, I'll never get the chance to talk with Herbie about his setup. And on recordings you never know was it EQed, or was that a customised RHodes, or just "out-of-the-box" setup.

I'm very interested how all of you guys did your setups, how close your pickups are, how much overtone you got... how does it all look inside your Rhodes, and how does it all sound.

The idea is to gather a lot of small ( or large, whatever your pleasure is ) clips with various music styles, on various equipment and discuss all the recordings, the sound, maybe even quality of playing ( but I think we should focus on sound, or have another topic about quality of playing and suggestions to improve it ).



I myself am a begginer in the Rhodes tuning and maintaining, and I think there are others like me who would benefit from this kind of a small project.

Any other suggestions?

Who's in?

Well, I just finished retolexing the bottom part, and I'll take a break now ( top part will be retolexed soon, I hope so ).

Here's a link to another forum where I posted the process of restauration. Unfortunately for you, it's in Croatian, so you won't understand anything I say ( or other ), but there are some pictures that are pretty much self-explanatory.

http://www.glazbeni-forum.com/index.php?topic=78719.msg392051#new

I'm in search for an amp for my Mark II stage Rhodes. I recently bought it, so I'm a bit limited with cash ( still a student ). I'm limited to 200-250 euros, and I have to buy something. I do some gigging, but not very often,so I plan to mic the amp, or use the output from it and go through PA ( and use the amp as monitor ).

A guy offered me JC-50 for a decent price ( around 200 euros, I could maybe lower the price a bit ). The problem is that it's chorus circuit does not work. Everything else works.
Is it worth buying it, and how difficult can it be to repair ? ( I am an electrical engineer student, so I know something about electronics, just don't know much about repairing amps ).
Other alternatives are Yamaha DG60-112 , Ibanez toneblaster T50R,  RathAmp Retro80, peavey special 130 , Roland Cube 60, whole array of crappy solid state Fenders and Marshalls.

Any advice is welcome.

Well, since I bought my Rhodes recently, I still don't have the adequate amp to run it through, so I'm using the temporary,cheap alternative - running it through my home HIFI system.

Here's the setup : Rhodes ( stage ) -> bass/volume output-> (6.3mm jack to 2*RCA) cable -> amp - > speakers.

Keep in mind it's the jack to double RCA cable, as my amp has 2RCA inputs ( red and white ).
The problem is that only one of my speakers works, the other one is completely silent. If I switch the red and white RCA jacks the other speaker works, and the first doesn't. I thought Rhodes had a stereo output?
Same thing happens if I connect it to PC, only one side speakers work, while the other side is silent.

Any help is welcome.

p.s. I'm searching for the real amp, but I'm a bit short on the cash ( 200-250 euros available ), so if you have a suggestion in that price range, I'll be glad to hear it. Keep in mind that prices in Europe are a bit higher than in USA, so JC-120 or Twin Reverb isn't something that can be found for such amount of cash.

Hello,

just wanted to say hi to everyone! I recently bought a 1980. Mark II stage 73. It's in pretty good shape, tolex is a bit torn on a few places, a few white keys are cracked ( not broken ) and  the support legs knob is missing. The rest is in good shape. I live in Croatia, and I payed 700 euros for it ( after 2 months of searching ). I believe I made a good deal, cos all the other I found were over 1000 euros ( and I found only 2-3 ).
I plan to do retolexing, to replace corners and other metalic bits.

Besides my brand new toy I own a Yamaha P-120. I'm 23 years old and I've been playing the piano since the age of 8. That's it for now, I'm off to enjoy playing my new toy