Fender Rhodes: amplification, effects, reverb

Fender Rhodes Mark II: amplification and effects

Amplification

The Fender Rhodes (with or without effects/reverb) can be directly fed into the mixing desk to use the amplifier/speakers hooked up to the mixing console. However, many players prefer to use a guitar amplifier for its sound. Although there remains discussion about the best amplifier to use, the Fender Twin Reverb was used by most Rhodes players in the 1970’s, and it is now regarded as the ultimate Rhodes amp. Several amplifiers were available for the Stage models over the years, the original (and still preferred) being the Fender Twin Reverb. This was the amp used in the factory to test the pianos, and consequently they were engineered to sound best through it. The Twin Reverb was a 2 x 12″ guitar amp with a tremolo effect, giving it a sound similar to the Suitcase, but with the added features of tube overdrive and spring reverb.

The Fender Twin Reverb has two independent channels, labeled Normal and Vibrato. The Normal channel has two inputs, a “bright” switch (which compensates for loss of brightness through the volume control when the control is set lower than about “6” on its 1-10 scale), a volume control, treble, middle and bass tone controls. The Vibrato channel has a duplication of the same controls as the normal channel, plus the addition of reverb, tremolo speed and intensity controls. This vibrato channel is generally used with the Fender Rhodes. Reverb is accomplished with a tube/transformer driven low impedance spring reverb tank (made by the Hammond company) or its spin-off company Accutronics. The addition of the reverb circuit requires an additional “gain” stage in the preamp, and as such, the Vibrato channel is capable of a bit more distortion when the volume is set high.

Images: Silverface Twin Reverb (1968). The YouTube video shows a nice demonstration with the Fender Rhodes.

I do not own a Twin Reverb (yet) but instead used the Line6 POD HD in the past to simulate the Fender Twin Blackface (based on the 1965 Fender Twin Reverb. The POD HD can simulate the Normal and Vibrato Channel. However, currently I use the Fender Mustang GTX50 guitar modelling amplifier. The XLR stereo output of the Mustang GTX50 go to my mixer (Behringer X32). On the X32 channels I sometimes use the Lexicon MX200 as an insert to add a little spring reverb.

Effects

I use a range of guitar stomp boxes that provide flexibility and to in real-time adjust the effects while playing.  Currently I use:

• Electro Harmonix Stereo Pulsar Tremolo
• Barber LTD Black overdrive (is not produced anymore)
• Boss Stereo Chorus Ensemble CE-5 (the CE-1 is  hard to get and also very expensive)
• Mooer Mod Factory MK2 (chorus, flanger, tremolo, phaser, but I mainly use for the ring modulator)
• Electro Harmonix Wiggler (Tube vibrato, Tremolo)
• Behringer UV300 (Vibrato)
• Electro Harmonix small stone phaser (the classic!)
• MXR M108 10-bands graphic EQ
• Boss Digital Delay DD-8
• Boss Reverb RV-6
• The Warden Optical Compressor

Images: TrueTone power supply

Images: Stomp boxes and the POD HD on top of my Fender Rhodes.

Images: Close-up of the different effects that I am using. The right picture shows the Line6 POD HD which I replaced with a Fender Mustang GTX50 guitar amplifier.

Images: Update October 2020. New configuration with Mustang GTX50 amplifier (+GTX-7 footswitch on top of Fender), Boss DD-8 Delay, and Boss RV-6 Reverb. To allow different configuration I use the ART TPatch patchbay. 

Addtional Reverb (and other effects)

Sometimes, I use a little spring reverb from the Lexicon MX200 that I have as an insert on the Fender Rhodes channels of the Behringer X32.

Images: Lexicon MX200 Effect processor

Routing

With the Mustang GTX50 the routing became little bit more complex since this modelling amplifier has pre-amp and post-amp effects itself. To have sufficient flexibility with the routing I use a small 8-point balanced patchbay  from ART TPatch. This allows me to switch part of the effects between the amplifier input and the effects loop. The TPatch only has (half)normalized connections while for my application I need open connections. There is, however, a trick that was described in the Sound On Sound magazine:

“Usually, the panel with the switches is the back, and is used for the permanent connections to the gear you want to access. If you turn the unit around, so the switches are on the front, as long as you have jacks connected to both sockets in each vertical pair (on what is now the rear panel) the normalising path between the upper and lower sockets will be broken, allowing the patchbay to function as eight independent access points rather than four linked pairs. You can then plug your patch cables into the new front panel (now with the switches), to access the eight jacks without having to worry about the automatic linking feeding an output back to an input.”

Images: ART TPatch patchbay. Front, rear, and top view respectively. 

Images: ART TPatch with my Fender Rhodes.

For the routing of the effects I follow a order that is common for guitarist (here). Basically, this order is shown in a general way in the next image.

Images: Typical order of guitar effects.

Having this in mind I came up with a configuration in which I have 3 sets of stompboxes. Within each set I cannot rearrange order using the patchbay. The first set is the EQ, Delay, and Reverb that are always the last effects (in the Effect Loop) of the complete chain. The second set comprise the auto-wah and distortion that general become before the third set of modulation effects. Using the patchbay I can reverse the order of set 2 and 3 and, in addition, I can switch the auto-wah/distortion and modulation effects between the amplifier input and the effects loop. This provides optimal flexibility to combine it the the pre/post amp effects of the Mustang GTX50.

Images: To typical routings I can make using the TPatch patchbay.