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Stage Rhodes 88 restore preamp unit

Started by Byard03, October 29, 2007, 01:48:06 PM

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Byard03

Hey all,

my Rhodes Stage 88 seems to have been havily modified or at least so i think. I bought it used off of ebay and although I have played Rhodeses for years this is my first own Rhodes so I am extra confused.

It works great and sounds great.

BUT there are a few oddities about it. For one, the front pannel looks as if someone had taken out a preamp section with the Vibrato and the Effect channel. The volume knob works but the treble/ bass one doesn't do anything. There is an XLR input that serves no function an is hooked up to nothing. Neither is the switch. It looks like there was actually never a preamp installed since there are no screw holes or anything and the panel has the original black plastic blancs in the holes where the jacks should go.

Also I thought the Stage doesn't come with a preamp unit.

So my questions (and I realize they are newbie Questions) are:
How does the preamp section work and what does it do? Is it worth restoring it?
What kind was it originally or should I buy an authentic panel instead?
How can I make the teble/bass knob work again?

Thank you for your input.

Here are some pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gerritroessler/1800294720/" title="Photo Sharing">http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2275/1800294720_0be4d7f29f.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="rhodes 002">
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gerritroessler/1799453075/" title="Photo Sharing">http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2376/1799453075_d595c81f2f.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="rhodes 008">

Marc-Etienne HUNEAU

On the top of my head: you got a suitcase namerail with only the passive parts needed for a stage model used.

This is my guess.