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Rough sound

Started by Dan Belcher, March 18, 2011, 08:08:49 PM

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Dan Belcher

I've noticed more and more lately that my Rhodes has a bit of a dirty, distorted type of sound in it. I don't think it's always been this bad, but it has gotten more and more noticable. At first I assumed it was my amp, but even if I run straight from the harp directly to my M-Audio Fasttrack Pro to record it, it still has this sound. (In this clip, it's going from the harp output to a Boss EQ pedal to cut down on the low end, and going through my Hot Rod Deluxe amp. I'm running one of the amp's outputs to my recording box. Also, I just upgraded from crappy cables to some Monster cables, but that made no difference in this particular noise, though it did get rid of some white noise which is nice)

Here's a sample recording. No noise reduction, no compression, no EQ aside from the Boss EQ pedal. Turn up the volume and you'll notice what I'm talking about right away.
http://soundcloud.com/dan-belcher/20110318-rhodes

Any thoughts on how I can get rid of this sound and get a cleaner, more natural tone?
Proud owner,
1978 Rhodes Mark I Stage 73

coachdobbs

I would say drink your big black cow, and get outta here :)
1978 Fender Rhodes Stage 73 (3978) 
Roland JC-120 
BBE Sonic Maximizer 
Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble/1982 Boss CE-2/1982 Ibanez CS-9
1978 EHX Small Stone/EHX Polyphase
MXR Analogman Dyna/Ross
1974 Thomas Organ Wah

jus

I had a similar problem and what it turned out to be was a few of the pickups were touching the tines. I don't know why it made the noise, but it was very similar to what you're getting.
1976 73 Key Rhodes Suitcase
Chopped Hammond C2 with percussion
Leslie 147

Dan Belcher

Quote from: jus on March 19, 2011, 12:05:58 PM
I had a similar problem and what it turned out to be was a few of the pickups were touching the tines. I don't know why it made the noise, but it was very similar to what you're getting.
I went through and revoiced my piano a couple weeks ago, and no tines were touching pickups before or after the revoicing, and I've had the problem before and after that revoicing as well. Any other thoughs? One thing I just thought of is that I have a couple pickups that occasionally stop working, and I have to touch them with a screwdriver to get them working again. Could that somehow be related to this problem? I know nothing about electronics and circuits and so forth...
Proud owner,
1978 Rhodes Mark I Stage 73

pianotuner steveo

Just as a simple experiment, try this. Find a note that is making the noise, loosen the pickup bolt, and move the pickup away from the tine while playing and see if this changes.of course it will get quieter, but see if the distortion stays or goes away.

Another thought is that maybe your output is too hot for whatever amp you are using. I believe you said you are using a guitar amp, if so, this can happen. ( not always, it depends on the amp) this is why some amps are marked for guitars, and some for keyboards,etc. It has to do with impedance.

Some sort of a trim control should eliminate this problem if that is what it is.
1960 Wurlitzer model 700 EP
1968 Gibson G101 Combo organ
1975 Rhodes Piano Bass
1979 Wurlitzer 206A EP
2009 73A Rhodes Mark 7
2009 Korg SV-1 73
2017 Yamaha P255
2020 Kawai CA99
....and a few guitars...

Dan Belcher

"Find a note that is making the noise" -- Not sure what you mean here since I get the noise on every note. Just go through every pickup one by one and see if moving any of them cleans it up?

And re: output being too hot, I have tried running direct from the harp to my USB audio interface (and even trying the crappy line-in on my PC to make sure it wasn't my audio interface) and even then I still get the rough sound.
Proud owner,
1978 Rhodes Mark I Stage 73

Dan Belcher

...and nevermind. I am an idiot. This was a case of PEBKAC (Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair). When I switched over to my audio recording software, I accidentally hit the scrollwheel on my mouse and put in the wrong recording settings, so it was trying to record at the wrong sample rate! My piano sounds fine now. ::) The rest of the issue was just bad cables that I recently replaced creating a lot of scratchiness and noise in the past month or so. New cables cleared that right up.
Proud owner,
1978 Rhodes Mark I Stage 73

jus

Hey at least you figured it out. Enjoy it!
1976 73 Key Rhodes Suitcase
Chopped Hammond C2 with percussion
Leslie 147