Peterson Preamp Harsh Overdrive

[Mansfield]

Hi all,

I've been browsing the forum for information for quite a while and have learned a lot here. I'm a fairly new owner of an old Rhodes piano - a '76 suitcase top with a peterson preamp. I primarily play through a Fender Twin Reverb and was curious what people's experiences are with using the peterson with the twin reverb. When I just plug in to the passive output on the piano I get a nice clean tone, but when I use the active preamp out (through vintage vibe's cheekblock power supply) it's really overdriven and quite muddy. I'd like to be able to take advantage of the onboard volume, tone and vibrato controls on the piano, but the tone is just a too distorted.  Is this to be expected when using a preamp into another amp? I also noticed that only one of the outputs from the preamp seems to be working, not sure if it's the left or the right. I'm assuming it's in the preamp since the cheekblock power supply is the newest piece of chain, but I'll double check. Has anyone ever experienced that issue and if so, is the fix fairly DIYable? I'm really enjoying playing the Rhodes, and I'm also finding it to be quite a project to get it playing and sounding the way I'd love it to. I'm sure that all the effort will just add to the appreciation that comes from working on something so personal and creative. Thanks for the time and help.

-Adam

[Tim W]

Your Twin Reverb expects an instrument level input, i.e. a passive electric guitar, or a Rhodes harp.  These have very low output levels and need a high impedance input.   The output of your Peterson is line level.  The Twin reverb has too much gain in the front end for a line level input.  You either need to pad the output of the Peterson to use it with the Twin or select a different amp with line level inputs.  The Peterson already colors the sound of the piano, so I am not sure putting it into a Twin (even at the right level) will sound all that great.

Good luck!

Tim
retrolinear.com

[Student Rhodes]

If you're running the Peterson into the Twin, I assume you're fine with not having stereo vibrato? 
Are you using the vibrato (actually tremolo) at all?

If not, you may want to consider just taking your signal straight off the harp.  With an RCA adaptor on a 1/4" cable, you can run it directly into the input on your Twin.  I think you'll be happy with the tonal results.
Ray

[Mansfield]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, I am using tremolo, though obviously not in stereo. Fortunately the Twin has vibrato, so no big loss if I just take the output directly off the harp, which I've been doing lately and I do like the tone I get. Sorry for the kinda silly question here, but so that I understand: does almost everyone who uses the preamp built into the suitcase pianos run it into either the suitcase speakers or a direct input into a PA or similar speaker set up? Finally, in the event that I do eventually want to use the preamp in some way and take advantage of the stereo tremolo are there any common problems that cause one side (left or right output) to not function and if so what is the fix?

Thanks,

Adam