Buying suitcase rhodes, but without cabinet

[leoandorion]

Hello..I'm new to this forum.  I've wanted a rhodes for many years now and it looks like i'm finally in a position to get one.  The one that I am most likely getting is a 78' suitcase rhodes.  But with no speaker cabinet.  I was wondering if i can use this keyboard with my 70's fender amplifier with it..without having any problems...or do i need to do any modifications...and also what would be a good place to get a sustain pedal for it?...thank you

[Ben]

If it's a suitcase without the speaker cabinet, I think you'll have to buy power supply for the preamp - in other way you'll probably (but I may be wrong) not be able to use any of the preamp controls such as volume, equalizer or vibrato - only raw sound without processing. Also, you'll need the stand for it.

www.majorkey.com - that should be good place to buy the sustain pedal i think.

Regards
Ben

[Freddan]

Hi all!
Ben is absolutely right.
I just wanted to add that if you have an original Rhodes stereo-vibrato preamp which Ben mentioned, you can bypass it by attaching an RCA male cord to the output of the pickup-rail in the upper left corner of the harp. Just unplug the wire that goes to the preamp ( usually grey ) and connect the other end of the RCA-cord to any instrument-amp. The signal here is direct from the pickups and slightly lower than a regular instrument signal.


The other thing you need to know is that the push rod assembly wooden dowel ( see pic. part Nr.33 )
is longer than that of a Stage, so a regular Sustain Rod might not stay in place as well as supposed. Maybe you can secure it by glueing some felt with a hole in the middle, or come up with something else that works.
Here's an exerpt from the manual about the sustain function :

# The Damper Push Rod, in its rest position, should bear solidly against the back surface of the Damper Release Bar. An ideal setting would be that where all play between the Damper Release Bar and the Damper Arms is removed. This can be accomplished by adding felt either to the top of the Push Rod or to the mating surface of the Damper Release Bar. Extreme care should be exercised to avoid possible disengagement of the Dampers. Conversely, it can be seen that excessive play or lag in the linkage will result in a loss of touch sensitivity by the foot.

# SUITCASE PIANO ONLY:

In its rest position, the bottom surface of the Push Rod should be reasonably flush with the outer surface of the bottom of the Piano. There is a slot on the top surface of the Sustain Rod providing screwdriver adjustment on the top of the Amplifier Enclosure.

All the best and Good luck,
Freddan