I have a Rhodes Suitcase electric piano from the early 80s which I haven't used for a while but would like to re-visit. I would like to connect to my L1 because the built in speakers are in pretty bad shape. Not sure where to go out of the Rhodes to go into the L1. there is an output on the top where the piano cotrols are that says it's for a "Special effect Accessory" and there is a pre-amp out on the speaker panel that also says it's for special effects in the user's guide. I don't want to damage anything by going out of the wrong output.

Does anyone know what type of cable it is that connects the two pieces together. I have never seen one before. it almost looks like a midi cable.

How would the vibrato work once connected to the L1?

Would the chorus on the T1 be a good effect to use once connected.

Hoping some of you long-time keyboard players can help with this one.

Hi Tony,

I'm pretty sure that you are describing my first keyboard.

I found a pretty comprehensive resource including schematics here:

http://www.fenderrhodes.com/org/manual/index2.html

I don't think you want to do anything with that multi-pin output.

Maybe someone else with a a better memory or confidence reading schematics can tell you about the special effects outputs.

Tony

You never know about the Rhodes. Some of them sound great and some didn't and there's no good reason for this, other than it's a very complicated collection of mechanical parts that are all individually adjustable. Sort of like a race-car engine. Tune it right and it flies. I used to have a side business, when I was playing music full-time, of tuning and voiceing Rhodes and Wurlitzers, the latter being true alchemy (turning lead into gold, if you know what I mean). The Rhodes is a very tune-able and voice-able instrument, so you can probably make it sing if you have the patience or you can have someone else make it sing if you have the money (and if you can find that someone).

That's an old instrument, so I'd try any of the outputs and see which one is the least noisy (both hum and buzz). Actually, first I'd tighten all the jacks and spray contact cleaner on all the pots and rotate them some. My tech advisors tell me Radio Shack has the best spray. I don't think you can hurt the T1 by any input you connect to. Both the chorus and the vibrato on the T1 are simply great for the Rhodes, based on what I hear on my fake (and low carrying weight) instruments (Nord and GEM RPX). I'm partial to the vibrato for the Rhodes but both are real sweet and deeep. There's also a ToneMatch preset for a Rhodes that I did on the original L1 and I think it made the cut onto the T1. It was a nice bump in the upper midrange that brought out the tines real pretty.

I love a real Rhodes. Nothing quite like it, of course. Get that little darling working right over the L1 and you got yourself a real electric love-machine.

You know Rhodes is back, right?

http://www.rhodespiano.com/

Thanks to Allend and ST for the resources and to Cliff for the advise. The Rhodes need some work done to it and I don't have the technical know-how nor the patients to do it. I talked to a guy who restores them who told me it would cost between $1,800 and $3,600 to do it. I don't know if it's worth it and if I want to spend the money. I think I'll at least try the contact cleaner idea. It has been sitting in storage for a long time and maybe play it for a while it will get better. I will report back with my opinion of the sound quality when connected to the L1. A nice project to work on to get rid of the winter blues.

Tony

Stop. Come back.

Tuning and voicing the Rhodes is simple and easy, and cheap to do. You don't need to be a "qualified Rhodes repair professional" or anything sounding like that. It's like being a guitar player. YOu can and should tune it yourself and voicing is the same as adjusting pickups on a guitar, like moving the pickup pole piece extensions in and out to balance the level and tone of each string. Fooling with the action is another thing and you really do need to know what you're doing here. But my guess is the action is fine, and it will get better the more you play the instrument.

But I'll bet you can get that sucker sounding just as sweet as can be by yourself. You need a good tuning meter and there's a fine one on the T1. Are you and L1/T1 owner? If you do some looking around on Google, there is probably a wealth of articles on tuning and voicing the Rhodes. Tuning is totally easy: you just slide these little metal coil springs out (to go flat) or in (to go sharp) on the tines to tune the instrument. I'll bet you can find a tuning chart, but as I remember, a Rhodes has a pretty flat tuning curve (as opposed to a piano which gets sharp on top and flat on the low notes). Voicing is all to do with what you hear and how you like the instrument to sound. The Rhodes is basically an 88 (or 73) note piano with cantilever springs instead of strings and, basically, electric guitar pickups to get a signal (one per note).

You can do this. Plus, tightening up connectors, repairing bad solder joints and cleaning controls with cleaning spray all will be very rewarding. A sure cure for the winter blues. You do have to have patience, but it's actually something that will put you much more in touch with your potentially beautiful-sounding instrument. Plus, check out the preset for the Rhodes on the L1.

I found this in a minute on Google

http://www.fenderrhodes.com/org/manual/ch5.html

Hey Cliff -I sent you a PM about the module. Roy

Thanks for the help and encouragement Cliff. I'm not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed but I may give it a try.

Hi Tony,

I spent several hours (well, days actually) getting to know my Rhodes in exactly the kind of exploration that Cliff described.

It was an oddly satisfying activity, and it felt good to get to know and really understand how everything worked. Ultimately it turned out that I have no talent for playing keys, but I was still glad to have taken the time to do this.

Hey there Cliff, thanks for reminding me.

Tony - believe me, if I can get in there and do it, I am sure you can too.

Ditto for me too re: "If I can do it, so can anyone". Typically, the people that do things are the ones that put in the work. There doesn't seem to be any way around this. If you suck and you know it and you want to not suck, all it takes is putting in the work. Even the naturals have to do it. Go get 'em Tony.

quote:

If you suck and you know it and you want to not suck, all it takes is putting in the work

Unfortunately, there are people in life that have "A Reverse Midas Touch".
No offense to anyone, but I have seen it in practice and the result is often not very pretty.

Having spare parts left over when finished is usually a sign, along with reduced or non functionality.

I did that too Joel. There was a time in my life when friends wouldn't let me near their calclulators and computers, because they would sort-of "deprogram" when I was around. Some kind of magnetic field I seemed to broadcast. Not so much any more. I think computing things have gotten better at EMI. Either that or I stopped broadcasting.

Well, I'm sorry to say that I chickened out. The guy who used to tune my accoustic piano had "regulated" my Rhodes a long long time ago. I didn't realize he was still in business. He offered to take a look at it for me. I'm sure he'll charge me something but it won't be anywhere near the restoration charge of the first guy I talked to. I am visually impaired, actually legally blind and don't usually like to get into things like that. I was afraid of making it worse. I'd rather pay someone to do it. Besides, It helps his business and he is a nice guy. I think I will have him show me some things while he's there and then maybe I could do it in the future. Saturday is the day!

quote:

I think computing things have gotten better at EMI. Either that or I stopped broadcasting.

You know Cliff, that doesn't surprise me in the least.
I had a friend who could not wear a watch, without it stopping or messing up.

Tony

I wouldn't call that "chickening out". I'd call that an intelligent, practical choice. The "legally blind" part is a pretty vital but missing piece of info here. Work on a Rhodes is not the job for anyone with bad eyesight. If your buddy knows how to do it, you should have a sweet machine to play. Try the Rhodes preset.

What L1 do you have?

I'm not sure which L1 I have I know it's a Model 1 but don't know if it's a "Classic" got it in October of 2004. I have done no updates to it because it was working fine and I play keys and use an SM58 so the presets were already there.

Hi Tony,

That's definitely an L1® Classic.

The Model I was announced in March 2007.

Here are some notes:


Different Models - How to Tell

Thanks for clearing that up. I never knew which one I had. And it's amazing to me how fast time flies. I can still remember getting the L1 like it was yesterday; as well as the last gig I had before it where we sounded like **** and I decided I couldn't take any more... I had to have something new and different. And then there was the anticipation of waiting to see how much better we would sound and the let down when my order somehow didn't get processed and I hadn't recieved it for a while. All of this was capped off by the fun and excitement of the many gigs I had shortly after getting the L1. And now I realize it's been nearly 4 1/2 years!

Hi Tony,

We're just about the same vintage in the L1® experience. I still get excited when headed off to a gig with my L1®.

It's funny, that hasn't gotten old in all this time.

I hope it is the same for you.