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Good day EP Forum,

Hope you all doing well...Just wanted to let everybody know that I put together this ambient electronic song recently...might be great to study, work, or relax to! Please feel free to check it out if you have an opportunity and maybe tap the like or subscribe to my YouTube channel for future uploads. Any feedback or comments would be greatly appreciated and thanks for your time!

The 12" alone have never been able to match what I hear in the headphones or direct line-outs.  I'd probably recommend getting the amp situation figured out via headphones or line-out, and move onto speaker shotgun tests

Did some digging around and I think these may be the best solution for those trying to get a little more brightness out of the Janus suitcase cabinet. Here are some full-range/PA drivers I found with a much greater frequency response for Janus era cabinets:
1. https://www.parts-express.com/eminence-beta-12lta-12-full-range-pa-driver--290-409?
utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pla
2. http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/55-5305

Those seem like good speakers, but they have fairly large values of Vas, which means that you need a pretty large enclosure to put them in or you end up with a boomy bass, which no Rhodes needs.  The suitcase speaker cabinet is large, but it also has 4 12" speakers in it, so volume/speaker isn't as big as one might imagine.  Does anyone know  the interior dimensions of the suitcase?

Found an older post on the forum here about the outside dimensions of the suitcase cabinet. The width & length, and depth are 45" x 23" x 12" respectively (or 3.75' x 1.917' x 1'). All that together would be about 7.1875 ft^3, so I guess the inside dimensions would be somewhat less than these. Don't know what the relationship would be with <7.1875 ft^3 to the Vas value.

The 12" alone have never been able to match what I hear in the headphones or direct line-outs.  I'd probably recommend getting the amp situation figured out via headphones or line-out, and move onto speaker shotgun tests

Did some digging around and I think these may be the best solution for those trying to get a little more brightness out of the Janus suitcase cabinet. Here are some full-range/PA drivers I found with a much greater frequency response for Janus era cabinets:
1. https://www.parts-express.com/eminence-beta-12lta-12-full-range-pa-driver--290-409?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pla
2. http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/55-5305

pno's right about the EQ settings being set to zero, however I do believe daisy-chaining a Dyno and a Janus together would be unpleasantly noisy.  With a naturally hissing Dyno on top of a high-end hissy Janus preamp, you might be able to scare away alley cats with that setup.

An easy way to test it would be to use the accessory jack - power up and loop that mono Dyno preamp in like an effects pedal, using a 1/4" adapter on the rear Dyno RCA cable, and see how it sounds.  The accessory jack comes before the Rhodes preamp, right off the harp, so it would be Harp > Dyno > Janus.

It is possible to wire up and run the Dyno preamp off the Janus suitcase, instead of the factory preamp, because that vintage of Rhodes preamp and the Dyno preamp both handle 15 volts.  However, in your case you'd need to power both separately because both are needed to perform a function - EQ and vibrato.  You'd have to dig into the janus preamp schematic and figure out (or have a tech figure out) how to jumper over the EQ section.

Thanks Ben, I'll have to try that out when I get it! As far as 12" speakers go are there any appropriate brands that come to mind as far as bringing out the most of the high frequency EQ characteristics of the Dyno preamp (i.e. JBL, Celestion, etc...)? I'm just not real sure if my stock speakers will be able to handle these higher frequencies.

It's truly simple to disable the Janus tone controls--simply set them to their midpoints.  They provide no equalization at that setting.

I'm not so sure if that would sound too good, as Ben Bove pointed out in an earlier post that EQ on top of EQ is not a good idea--i.e. poor signal to noise ratio. Looks like the light next to the Janus volume pot is not on, which tells me that the power to that part of the preamp along with the EQ is getting bypassed to power the Dyno.

So I've recently acquired an original 1979 Blue label Pro Piano Dyno preamp from a gentleman named Linwood Bell out of Las Vegas (link: http://linwoodbell.com). I'm planning to place it on the far right side of my '78 73 key suitcase Rhodes namerail and use it as the main EQ. I'm wanting to find a way to inactivate the original janus EQ but still use the suitcase vibrato along with the Dyno EQ. Is it possible to power the Dyno preamp with the five pin cable or will it need to be replaced with another type of multi-pin? Looks like it's been done before as evidenced by this screenshot of Rob Mounsey's suitcase Dyno but I don't know for sure how it would be done. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

I happen to have a Rhodie preamp as well that I plan to have installed in my '78 suitcase Rhodes at some point as the primary EQ circuit. Have never been very satisfied with the Janus EQ. Does the attached schematic have mods done to the original Rhodie preamp and is this frequency response the one of the modified Rhodie? Or is this an original Rhodie with no mods? I'm a little confused. 

Vintagebua's instagram page had this:

Someone will be able to design this in photoshop for silk screen printing.

Thanks for the response tjh392. Do you know what I'd be looking at as far as cost on someone printing this? Btw how is the Dyno nameplate decal coming along?

Does anyone know where I can get either the nameplate or decal for the Major Key MKHC-1 like in the images posted below?

Do any Dyno My Piano enthusiasts on the forum here know about any well known songs that feature the Dyno My Piano Studio Model 4000? Would love to know a little more about this mysterious Rhodes. 

I have the later red mk2 and also the even later blue design decal on my pianos... Would you like to make decals of those too?

As requested here's the red mk2 label with the '79 flying keys logo. Will take a look at the '82 blue label design and try to start on replicating that soon. 

I have the later red mk2 and also the even later blue design decal on my pianos... Would you like to make decals of those too?

I definitely could redesign those!

Thanks gwike, that is perfect!

No Problem! Glad I could finish what you started on this design

Fellow Rhodes enthusiasts,
I wanted to share with you all a replica design I modeled after the original 1979 Dyno My Piano Pro Piano decal. I think all of the dimensions are pretty spot on so feel free to submit my design to any decal company for any possible Dyno decal replacing. Enjoy!

It's difficult to say exactly because I can't quite make out what's on the right side from the clips.  What appears to be going is, I don't see 1/4" cables and I don't think I see a cheek block switch mod.  So, unless I can't see the separate power supply cord, everything is running through the factory suitcase preamp.

A suitcase with a Dyno amp installed is definitely quite rare, as 99% of the time I see stage pianos.  Seeing here that the 5-pin cable is still running to the factory preamp, my guess is that the audio signal is being sent to the dyno and then back out to amp.  I would assume the factory EQ is bypassed, as EQ on top of EQ isn't a great idea.

So if the EQ was bypassed, then how would it be possible to have the stereo vibrato working and not bypassed as well? I believe Rob Mounsey's stereo vibrato worked after the mod as evidenced by this Michael Franks recording he played on with the same Dyno from the previous clip.

Michael Franks- "When Sly Calls [Don't Touch That Phone]"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uek94URoGwk&index=9&list=PL1g0mjTv_7Xtt49XwCNPCgIR7Ef1jNCtK

Check my avatar ;-)

Speaking of later era Dynos, Jon, do you know what's going on with the original eq and stereo vibrato of this 73 key Janus suitcase Rhodes in this clip? Are they completely bypassed and the Dyno mods are just being powered by the original speaker amp cable or is something else going on? Thinking of possibly dynoing my '78 73 key suitcase model like this. 

Joe Cool- "Trans-Himalayan"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e62Cj4YjL-A

What a sound ...and great playing.
My early 1975 suitcase may need some tweaking for this...
Or perhaps it doesn't have the potential at all ?

Thanks for the kind words. In my opinion most well maintained Rhodes made from the "Golden Era" of '73 to '76 have good potential to sound great. You just have to have the right tech with a great set of ears for voicing the piano and a good sense of dynamics. You can get close to the E-model sound with a '75, but if it's a 73 key suitcase you are probably better off doing the Eddie Reynolds trebel boost mod in the Peterson preamp; however, if its an 88 key suitcase you might want to consider the Dyno preamp or a multi band EQ pedal (I think MXR makes one). Eighty eights do sound darker than 73s, so thats the main reason why I hunted down an original Dyno preamp.

So right on! That is such an iconic sound you have there.

Can you tell us which dyno that is, settings and what you're running through?

Thanks for the kind words! It's a '73 88 key Fender Rhodes with the later version of the Dyno Pro EQ from 1982. I am running the mono output of the Dyno into a presonus audio/midi interface into Logic Pro X. I do have an Amdek (transitional Roland/pre Boss CE-2) CHK-100 "stereo" chorus, but it really tends to shave off quite a bit of the top end sparkle in the 10KHz range and ends up sounding nothing like the E model at least to my ears in mono. Here's what I've been able to gather from the recordings of the E that I've listened to. If it's one of Jay Graydon's sessions, he'd have the E model recorded direct in stereo. That's the big limitation of my piano is that it does not have a set of balanced, stereo outputs. But I can kind of make it stereo if a pan one side hard right and then copy the track and pan it hard left. The other thing that makes a huge difference is making one of the panned sides have a chorus effect on it , while the remaining side is dry/unaffected. Some dyno users who I have heard mimic this panned dry/wet effect would include Terry Trotter on Larry Carlton's album "Sleep Walk", Russell Ferrante on the Yellow Jacket's tune "Sittin' In It", and Bob James' tune "Spunky". Next time when I'm able to record some more listening samples, I'll try recording my Dyno with no effects and then copy the track and run it through the Amdek chorus and then pan them out. As far as the settings on the Dyno,  I've basically cut out some of the midrange, cut the bass completely, and bumped the treble up some. The funny thing with the Dyno EQ is that the trebel sweep is absolutely ridiculous so I used it pretty sparingly. It sounds like its got a little more of a transient edge to it than the trebel boost on the E model, but its probably as close as I'll ever get to it.   

Have a link to some listening samples of my 1973 Fender Rhodes with a Dyno preamp that was restored by Tim Warneck of Retrolinear. Tim and his team did a fantastic job bringing out the best in this golden era Rhodes in terms of dynamic response and the overall voicing of the piano. I originally got the piano because I had been after creating the tone of the famed 1971 E model Rhodes. I think this piano comes pretty close to that particular sound. Have a listen by following this link https://soundcloud.com/user-437528611

That is amazing, I thought that these smaller chorus modules were developed by Chuck Monte (not the famous tri-chorus ones) in fact it's just a Boss CE-2 chorus PCB added on.

Thanks for posting.

Chuck Monte did develop a stereo version of the CE-2 chorus known as the Dyno-My Piano 1215 Dual Chorus. Then the dual was later developed into the tri-stereo chorus rack mount module.

And pnoboy is right. The layout for these preamps did change over the time Dyno-My-Piano was in business. This is my Pro EQ and Chorus unit from 1982 that I'm having placed in my 1973 stage Fender Rhodes. Notice that it's much more compact than the '79 one.

I have a picture of the preamp and a schematic of of it. I think this one is an original from 1979.

That's a good point that I had forgotten about. So you're saying the shielding was meant to keep other keyboards from interfering with the high frequency hiss of the Dyno preamp. I guess the next step would be to maybe look at noise reduction options. I have experimented with a noise reduction plug-in from Waves but it's pretty limited in what it can do. Are there any hardware noise reduction units that are worth looking into?

So I recently purchased an original 1982 Dyno-My-Piano Pro EQ and chorus in a rack mount unit from a gentleman in Belgium. I'm now planning on having my technician, Tim Warneck of Retrolinear, remove the PCB from the rack mount and put it in my 1973 88 key stage model Fender Rhodes. I've attached some pictures below of the DMP unit. So after the restoration is done I'll have an awesome sounding, brand new Dyno-My-Piano that will able to get something close to that coveted Leeds E-model tone. One thing that I noticed about the unit is that there is no copper shielding around it. This will be my first Dyno and I've heard they are kind of notorious for high frequency hiss. What kind of copper shielding options might be best at reducing the noise and at the same time not cost that much? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

I used to listen to the Mwandishi Herbie era stuff quite bit and actually have an original LP of "Sextant." Almost sounds like his Rhodes has the felt hammer tips in the "Sleeping Giant" clip. I think this was during the same era when Harold Rhodes came to see one of the Mwandishi shows only to find that Herbie had taken the top off his Rhodes. It was then that Herbie along with several other Rhodes players told him an effects loop was needed for fuzz-wahs, echoplexes, phasers, etc. instead of plugging directly into the RCA jack on the harp.   

Ok,so I did figure out that the 3 1/4 in pickups were used from 1970-1973;although, I'd have to say my '78  73 key suitcase model does sound brighter than my '73 88 key stage model when it's plugged straight into an amp from the harp output. I do think tines have a lot to do with the sound but I think whether or not the Rhodes is a 73 key or an 88 key model is a tonal factor too.

So what exactly is the difference between a 3-1/4 in pickup vs 3 in pickup in terms of tone? All I know is that the 3-1/4 in pickups were used on the earlier Fender badge Rhodes.

Here's a site based out of Norway http://www.vintagebua.no

Hey,
I know this is an old thread but you can purchase a DYNO MY PIANO power supply from CAE Sound for about $40, http://www.caesound.net/dynomypianopowersupply.aspx. I don't know what the power supply is for the Tri-stereo tremolo though. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the replies guys. Finally got them on my '78 73 suitcase model.

Speaking of choruses, if anyone is in the market for one check out the Amdek CHK-100. Just bought one off of Reverb and it sounds phenomenal--very thick chorusing. It's essentially a pseudo stereo CE-2 that was made when Roland was getting bought out by Boss. It's also a little cheaper than a CE-2 as well at only $100.

Even though Herbie started off with a thicker Rhodes tone, his 1982 album "Lite Me Up" marks a pretty dramatic tonal transition with brighter overtones, less low midrange, and some stereo chorus. The track "Give it All Your Heart" is a great example of this change https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9MWbYfP-qo. I wonder if he was influenced by the sound of the E model by the time he worked with Rod Temperton on this release.   

I think some of the Rhodes Leeds Rentals owned tended to be from the golden era of Fender Rhodes production (i.e. '71-'76). Perhaps this was a preference on his part, but the 88 key Flattop sounds like a golden era Rhodes with an Eddie Reynolds modded preamp-- probably by this time he was using the floating blue perf boards in the Peterson amps. I know Eddie Reynolds put a flattop with a copper shielding kit on Victor Feldman's 1974 Rhodes as shown in this link: http://www.fenderrhodesla.com/74-eddie-reynolds-suitcase.html. I suspect there's probably some midrange cut going on in the "Thriller" Rhodes and would also say it's going through a Rivera modded CE-1. The CE-1 tone is so unmistakeably thicker than the CE-2 that was typically installed in many Dyno modded Rhodes. As far as some of the other models that Leeds owned I know that letter A was for sale a few years ago. I think it was a pre-1973 stage model with later era hinges and latches. Would be interesting to know if it had Eddie Reynolds' active electronics in it. 

Also George Benson's song "Being With You" from his 1983 album "In Your Eyes" features Robbie Buchanan on his 1970 73 key suitcase with the Dyno My Pro Piano amp. It does sound similar to the E model but the sustain of the Raymac tines is definitely shorter than the Torringtons in the E model.

I think one of the earliest recordings to have the E model was from the Steve Kipner album "Knock The Walls Down" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY6dqoCLBnk which was produced by Jay Graydon in 1979. Also to answer the question about the Grover Washington Jr. album "Winelight" that was not the E model. In 1981 Richard Tee was playing a Mark II suitcase 73 Rhodes. He may have had some hammer tip mods or some revoicing done to make it sound clankier/brighter but those are definitely Schaller tines not Torrington tines like on the E model.

I spoke with the owner, George, about this and he said the hammer tips were stock neoprene. Eddie could have put harder wood core tips for the last few tines so this could have altered the sound some too according to Steve Woodyard who I also emailed. I wonder if one could get similar sounding eq results if they got a pre-CBS era Fender Rhodes and voiced the piano with a Dyno Preamp using only slight amounts treble boost and midrange cut eq? The one major difference I tend to hear when I compare the E model to early 70s Fender Rhodes with Dyno Preamps is that the Dyno users of the early 80s tended to cut out too much midrange so that's why the E model sounds thicker and bright at the same time. You don't just hear a really sparkly attack with little sustain like in the Dyno modded Fender Rhodes pianos. Both of these elements are working together. I've tried getting the owner to send me a picture the underside of the preamp so I could possibly have Tim Warneck of Retrolinear (who restored Donald Fagen's rhodes) reverse engineer the additional components that were soldered in by Eddie, but he's been pretty reluctant to send me anything. If Tim does crack the code I will make sure to post some schematics on here if he is ok with that.   

The chorus effect you're hearing is a Boss CE-3 that his piano's output is plugged into. The recordings of this piano from the late 70s and early 80s were typically done with the output going to a Rivera modded Boss CE-1.The Rivera modded Boss CE-1 allowed you to dial in the right amount of input volume so your tone would not distort. According to the producer, Jay Graydon, one-half of the signal was dry (without chorus) and the other half had the ce-1 chorus on it when the piano was used on his recordings/productions. The only major mod in regards to the preamp is that there is a major treble boost which brings out the bell tone from the late '71 Torrington tines that are voiced to bring out the overtones. The pictures that I have seen of the preamp look like Eddie Reynolds placed or replaced certain caps in the preamp and wired their signal to a flip switch to engage the treble boost or turn it off to have the stock Peterson eq according to Tim Warneck of Retrolinear. 

Great website and listening examples!!

So I bought these new suitcase speaker box legs from Ken Rich Sounds https://kenrichsounds.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=54&zenid=8e93f0b56c92c10d08a474d34af13e27. I tried getting the washers off the old screws holding the original legs in for about 2 hours and was unsuccessful. The screws and washers just kept spinning in place. Anybody have any ideas as to how I can remove these and get these new legs on?

email:
gavinwike@gmail.com

Thanks for the reply guys. Retrorentals, I really like the sound of your Dyno. I heard it on the Down The Rhodes webisode with Brenda Russell. Its sound reminded me of the Dyno that's on Earth Wind and Fire's Raise album. Love the tolex on it too. Who did that for you all?

Hey everyone,
I'm having my Rhodes tech install a Dyno My Preamp and I'm in need of an original Dyno My Piano Pro Piano faceplate. Does anyone have one of these faceplates they'd be willing to sell? If so, you can email me at gavinwike@gmail.com. Thanks!

Just saw a Stage model rhodes with a Stewart Stage preamp. What exactly does that mean?

Anybody have just a list of the parts that are needed for the DYNO MY PREAMP?

That Eighties Rack Chorus would also be a great choice as well. It's basically a clone the dyno my tri-stereo chorus made by fulltone
http://www.fulltone.com/products/80s-rack-chorus