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Keyboards in the days before great PA?


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Depended what you could afford. ;-)

And there you have it. Back in those days, I never really achieved the sound I wanted because by the time I had forked out $$ for my keyboards I was B.R.O.K.E. and had to beg borrow or steal whatever crappy amp I could get my hands on.

 

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

-Mark Twain

 

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My first portable keyboard rig was 1971, given to me as a graduation present from 8th grade by my grandmother, A Farfisa Compact Duo through a Sears Silvertone 100 Solid State with 2-12s. I was a hit in the garage band scene because I was about the only teenage keyboard player that could bring my rig with me.

 

When I went on the road in 1978, I started with a Rhodes Stage 88 through a Fender Bassman 50 with a 2-15 cabinet, loaded with Eminence speakers.

 

Then I changed to a Yamaha CP70B through a Fender Super Twin with 2 12" JBL speakers. Tubes changed from 6L6 to 5881

 

Then I went to a Peavey KB 300.

 

From there I went to a Boss mixer, a Crown D150 in mono, and an Electro Voice S15-3 3-way passive cabinet.

 

 

"In the beginning, Adam had the blues, 'cause he was lonesome.

So God helped him and created woman.

 

Now everybody's got the blues."

 

Willie Dixon

 

 

 

 

 

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I got my Rhodes 73 Stage in 1975, and played through a Twin Reverb first as others did. I bought a Fender Phaser about a year later and always had it hooked up and sitting on top of the Rhodes.

 

I then bought a used Galien Kruger head, and my dad came up with a JBL D140F somewhere and we built a cabinet for it. I added a Mini Moog around 1981.

 

That rig lasted me until my mid-20"s (1985 or so) when reality set in and I had to go out and work for a living.

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if i remember correctly , our piano player ran his rhodes 88 through an accoustic amp , i think it was a bass amp , a tall cabinet with a separate head . i ran my chopped hammond l through a 147 which i had to mike .the miked signal went to this thing i rigged up , a cabinet with 2 15's with a bass head sitting on top of it .that was for me on stage so i could hear myself . i think just the vocals went to the PA . that was the mid '70s . every thing was king size
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I knew I had some pics of my older stuff. Here they are in no particular order:

 

Korg CX-3 original

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL96/792815/4063775/414388732.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL96/792815/4063775/414388733.jpg

 

Haynes Bass King II from 1968 - bought in Sam Goody at the Garden State Plaza in Paramus, NJ:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL96/792815/4063775/414388734.jpg

 

My Tuck and Roll Kustom 250:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL96/792815/4063775/414388735.jpg

 

The MTI Rotophaser that actually moved air:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL96/792815/4063775/414388736.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL96/792815/4063775/414388737.jpg

The home made stomp box controller I made when the original plastic one went tits up:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL96/792815/4063775/414388739.jpg

 

How I used them on gigs:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL96/792815/4063775/414388740.jpg

 

The Yorkville RVS II that replaced all that stuff:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL96/792815/4063775/414388741.jpg

 

Jake

 

 

 

 

 

1967 B-3 w/(2) 122's, Nord C1w/Leslie 2101 top, Nord PedalKeys 27, Nord Electro 4D, IK B3X, QSC K12.2, Yamaha reface YC+CS+CP

 

"It needs a Hammond"

 

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Wow thanks everyone - these are some GREAT stories and pictures!!!

 

It makes me wonder when you hear a Rhodes emulation (etc.) on a modern Synth if they sample/model it through an amp or the direct out.

 

One thing I've always wanted to do is a project with all the players on Fender gear - real Rhodes, now I know through a Twin or similar, P-Bass or Jazz through a Bassman or similar, and Guitar through one of the many choices (maybe drums, maybe not, but I don't know Fender ever made any kits!).

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Nobody who was serious had a Leslie 122 back in the day.

 

They had four...or six of them.

dead51279-stage.jpg

Hammond: L111, M100, M3, BC, CV, Franken CV, A100, D152, C3, B3

Leslie: 710, 760, 51C, 147, 145, 122, 22H, 31H

Yamaha: CP4, DGX-620, DX7II-FD-E!, PF85, DX9

Roland: VR-09, RD-800

 

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if i remember correctly , our piano player ran his rhodes 88 through an accoustic amp

Oh, yeah, that was another common brand.

 

t makes me wonder when you hear a Rhodes emulation (etc.) on a modern Synth if they sample/model it through an amp or the direct out.

Companies have done both. Nord has samples like "Rhodes Amped" which is, well, a Rhodes through an amp. But I think it's more common to sample them direct, and then emulate the playback system separately. Korg SV1/SV2 has a front panel knob to rotate through emulations of different specific classic amps (as well as assorted specific classic effects). Other times, there are more "generic" amp emulations and effects, that aren't so specifically modeled on particular vintage gear.

 

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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These are great pictures. I got one more. This is my first keyboard which my grandma bought me for my 13th birthday. May I present the [font:Arial Black]"WHITEHALL GRAND PRIX DUO"[/font]:

 

WHGPDsmall.jpg

 

$549 in 1969 at Montgomery Wards. $3859.00 in todays dollars. That was a hell of a gift for a 13 year old....

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Nobody who was serious had a Leslie 122 back in the day.

 

They had four...or six of them.

dead51279-stage.jpg

 

My brother played quite a bit of organ live, and he always took at least two. "I drive the guitar guys nuts" He used to tell me.

 

Fantastic thread.

 

The issue of amplification so intregal to how popular music developed. Buddy's horn, Bing's baritone, Leslie and Fender....leading to the black hole of synthesis LOL

 

Now I have so much choice I can't get to work!

 

RT-3/U-121/Leslie 21H and 760/Saltarelle Nuage/MOXF6/MIDIhub, 

SL-880/Nektar T4/Numa Cx2/Deepmind12/Virus TI 61/SL61 mk2

Stylophone R8/Behringer RD-8/Proteus 1/MP-7/Zynthian 4

MPC1k/JV1010/Unitor 8/Model D & 2600/WX-5&7/VL70m/DMP-18 Pedals

Natal drums/congas etc & misc bowed/plucked/blown instruments. 

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Stages are so less cluttered now for many bands that they feel the need to put some "fake" amps out there just to make it look like a show :) Guitarist is using a kemper offstage, puts a marshall stack or two out front just to look more rock 'n roll!

 

Direct and in-ears, and powered speakers for the PA, have really a boon to small-time bands like mine, who get packed onto postage stamp stages. We still have acoustic drums though so that makes for a challenge...most of our shows the managers say something along the lines of "can you keep it down, people still want to be able to talk." (and personally when I go out, that's the volume I prefer too!)

 

Awesome pics everyone, I wish I'd taken and kept more of mine.

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These are great pictures. I got one more. This is my first keyboard which my grandma bought me for my 13th birthday. May I present the [font:Arial Black]"WHITEHALL GRAND PRIX DUO"[/font]:

 

WHGPDsmall.jpg

That is what my guitar player's two-year-old son would call "two pianos!" :roll:

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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Once my Fender Bassman stopped being sufficient, I cobbled together my own small PA system and used that onstage. Went from two 3-Way Carvin cabinets to two very large McCauleys with the metal lenses, and am now using two powered DXR8s.

 

When the sound guy has me in the mix, I only use one cabinet and turn down.

 

When sound check reveals he doesn't, I'll quietly set up the full PA and make sure I'm heard.

..
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I've heard it described as a Farfisa clone though I don't remember thinking of it like that. It also had a "paddle" you worked with your knee (!) that functioned something like a swell pedal.

Farfisa also had a knee lever.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Stretching my memory on the amplification, but I think my first rig in high school (late 70's) was:

 

Hammond C3 -> Leslie

Wurlitzer EP and MicroMoog -> Carvin powered mixer -> homemade ported PA enclosures with "full range" 15" JBL speakers.

 

I'm sure the latter sounded like shit...but we weren't really gigging anyway at that point :) I also vaguely remember borrowing an Acoustic Bass Amp from someone for the Wurly/Moog.

 

I know the high school jazz band had Fender Rhodes Stage -> Fender Twin Reverb. It was loud and had that specific vibe but I would never have a guitar amp now just for that particular sound. I know other people would still do it.

 

It's good to revisit those memories. Sooooooooooooo much easier and better sounding these days. Even the cheap stuff is better than anything mortals could buy back then.

 

Yamaha CK88, Arturia Keylab 61 MkII, Moog Sub 37, Yamaha U1 Upright, Casio CT-S500, Mac Logic/Mainstage, iPad Camelot, Spacestation V.3, QSC K10.2, JBL EON One Compact

www.stickmanor.com

There's a thin white line between fear and fury - Stickman

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This is the first specifically designed Keyboard amplification system I remember seeing. I used one at a rehearsal studio around 1976. I believe the mixer had a channel optimized for Rhodes Piano.

 

http://www.preservationsound.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Acoustic_Model_500.jpg

C3/122, M102A, Vox V301H, Farfisa Compact, Gibson G101, GEM P, RMI 300A, Piano Bass, Pianet , Prophet 5 rev. 2, Pro-One, Matrix 12, OB8, Korg MS20, Jupiter 6, Juno 60, PX-5S, Nord Stage 3 Compact
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I OWNED ONE I GIGGED FOR ABOUT A YEAR IN 1968...WE MUST BE CLOSE IN AGE, I WAS ABOUT 14... GIGGED IT WITH A 145 LESLIE+ PREAMP THEN WENT TO A HAMMOND M3/145 - FUN DAYS!

 

These are great pictures. I got one more. This is my first keyboard which my grandma bought me for my 13th birthday. May I present the [font:Arial Black]"WHITEHALL GRAND PRIX DUO"[/font]:

 

WHGPDsmall.jpg

That is what my guitar player's two-year-old son would call "two pianos!" :roll:

 

 CP-50, YC 73,  FP-80, PX5-S, NE-5d61, Kurzweil SP6, XK-3, CX-3, Hammond XK-3, Yamaha YUX Upright, '66 B3/Leslie 145/122

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Sooooo cool!

 

When I was a Kid we had an "organ" that had "one finger play" and "magic chords" or something like that in the lowest octave (blue, yellow, and red stickers for like C, F, and G7) and had all these cheesy sounds. It's still at my parent's house and the grandkids have done some damage to it. But this organ looks like the kind of thing that spawned some of these home organs like this. It was, in effect, my first "synthesizer".

 

I just tried to find a picture of it, and couldn't but came across a VSTi of a Lowery version, and I'd love to have that!

 

Do you know of recordings using one of these Reezekeys?

 

 

 

These are great pictures. I got one more. This is my first keyboard which my grandma bought me for my 13th birthday. May I present the [font:Arial Black]"WHITEHALL GRAND PRIX DUO"[/font]:

 

WHGPDsmall.jpg

 

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None of the pics I've posted in this thread are of my actual units. Sorry llatham I have no recordings of myself playing my Whitehall â but in a way I'm kinda glad, I can only imagine how cheezy it sounded! I was 13 in 1969 so I was in 8th grade. I played left hand bass on this beast in a trio that included drummer Adam Nussbaum (kinda well-known jazz drummer for those who don't follow that music). What makes me shake my head is that we used to play songs by Cream, Hendrix, and the west coast band Cold Blood (they're still around!). Can you imagine those songs on a farfisa-like organ? I can't!! My dream then was to own a Hammond, which never happened. I was way into Lee Micheals and his duo record with his drummer "Frosty" playing "Stormy Monday."

 

Legatoboy, wow â funny to hear you had the same axe. I'm sure it sounded better through your Leslie than my Heathkit "combo bass amp", lol!

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