Rhodes Suitcase - Al Jarreau

[dhbp-nord]

I have seen versions of this story about one famous Rhodes Suitcase model that was a sought-after rental on many studio dates in LA back in the day, below is Jay Graydon talking about that particular piano - this is a sound I have been trying to emulate ever since I first heard it on several of Al Jarreau's albums.

"The Rhodes sound was special and was also on used on many more records. "Leeds rentals" had about 10 Fender Rhodes suitcase models. The best one was labeled "E". This one was even, thick and bright. It was discovered in a store in Hollywood (Wallach's Music city) in the back room and had not sold for years! It was like they had forgotten they had the unit until Andy Leeds made the discovery while looking at old stock.
Eddy Reynolds was a local tech/ piano tuner in those days and discovered a way to "voice" the Rhodes in a very desirable way. He voiced all of LEEDS Rhodes but this one was the best. All the cats knew this was the best Rhodes, and when doing tracking dates, I reserved this unit way in advance.

George Duke once called me about the sound and I told him that "E" was the one to rent. Now for the added details. The treble, bass and volume (on the Rhodes) were set to maximum. No vibrato. One output of the Rhodes was sent to a ROLAND BOSS CHORUS with the chorus "setting" set to about 11 o'clock. The non effected and chorused signal were sent to direct boxes routed into the console.
It is important to have the piano player play chords as hard as possible when setting the input gain on the "chorus" so as to eliminate possible distortion. Get the unit to distort and then back off the gain a little.
If I remember correctly, the output on the BOSS CHORUS was the "stereo out" so only the "chorus" was sent and not mixed with the dry source.
At the recording console, we added a lot of EQ. I do not remember exactly, but I think around 2K and 10 K.

The "Stage model Rhodes" will not give you this sound since it is a "passive unit". The suitcase models have active electronics. I have a stage model as well and had Eddy or Paul Rivera (I do not remember) add the active electronics. Eddy voiced this Rhodes but it does not sound as good as "E".
"E" Rhodes was sold to a guy in Santa Barbara when LEEDS sold his business. I would have purchased this Rhodes but was not aware of the sale.
This Rhodes was used on many records of the era. "

[lordy]

...interesting story dhbp-nord, Levi's pants had their "best" jeans, called the big "E".

This E-rhodes, dhbp-nord, makes me think of the EP3 MK II, Shallow Close, from Nord. You add a little chorus, less bass, etc... Easier to do
than a real Dyno-Rhodes. I am restoring a stage mk1, and a mk2. I'll try to emulate this sound once i finish with the mark II.

..Bravo Nord for the Nefertiti, it sounds good, and it seems it has the punch and attack for jazz, fusion solos, more than earlier rhodes, i can't wait to try it on
my nordpiano 3.

[Rusty Mike]

The "E" Rhodes used on those AJ recordings was one of the catalysts that kicked off the Dyno Rhodes phenomena. I remember that distinctly, because I wanted my 1976 MkI Stage to sound like that, and was taken aback at the cost of doing the modifications.

The challenge with the shallow/close character of EP3 is that the body of the sound suffers as a result of the shallow tine setting. You get the overtone, but at the expense of the fundamental tone. I find that the EP5 Bright Tines is a better sample to use, as it has the ping and the body similar to those recordings. You can get pretty close with the EQ and effects.

Another way to get closer is to play it like Tom Canning did. *joke*

I'm a big fan of that sound and that era of Jarreau's career, by the way. Tom Canning's playing on those recordings is just amazing.

[dhbp-nord]

I had a Sparkletop way back - tried tinkering with but never got anywhere. Maybe Nord next will be a Dyno.

Yes Tom Canning was amazing. Larry Williams was another on some of those tracks, love his solo on Spain.

DH

[dhbp-nord]

Spectrasonics now has a very convincing Model E as part of their new Keyscape instrument. The MKS-20 sounds great too. Choices choices...

DH

[Rhodie73]

Would love to see Nord sample the famous Leeds Model "E" Rhodes. So far I'm loving my Piano 3 and can't wait to see what Nord has to offer for pianos and electric pianos in the future.

[fregot]

Hi guys.
After having found the E at its present owner, I did some thourough comparison with the Rhodes patches I have provided for the Clavia Nord ePiano library.
The stunning result is that all the files I got from the owner in LA all sound almost identical to the "Bright Tines" patch I did with extra hard hammer tips to emphasize the bell and attach.
Since then I have always used and experimented with that patch using different effects- anmd EQ settings.

It's probably the closest you can ever get to the E, so the idea of sampling the very E would not really add or contribute enough to justify the resourses needed.

Try it yourself. According to George Duke he liked to tweak 2k and 10k and using a Boss Chorus , but that was taken from memory.

Regards,
Freddan

[dhbp-nord]

I was using the Bright Tines along with a layered key-click sample that I found on this forum, that worked pretty well. the on-board Nord chorus for this purpose I found to be so-so with not a lot of tweakability. Could probably do better with a chorus pedal.

Now using the Keyscape E which is pretty sweet.

DH

[lordy]

i have a dyno rhodes here (that i sell), and it is different than the E rhodes. But a E rhodes is just a mark 1 with full overtone tines/mic position. Pretty easy to do actually. The E rhodes can not play on all types of music, cause he haven't that mellow sound, and plenty fundamental tone of a good rhodes.
With the nefertiti, you can really approach that sound, with wah wah and high position, bass + 15, chorus, etc

[baekgaard]

With the nefertiti, you can really approach that sound, with wah wah and high position, bass + 15, chorus, etc

Sorry, I don't fully get what you mean here with the "high position" -- coming from a Stage and an Electro! I assume this refers to triggering of notes and not any treble adjustments?