Tell the difference: Rhodes vs. Wurli

[El Lobo]

Fun video. I'm guessing that those of us who got 2 of them wrong (including me) probably got the same 2 wrong – they were unusual Wurly sounds that I thought had to be Rhodes because they didn't sound Wurly-ish enough. What's interesting to me is that most people in this thread, as well as the guy in the video, are Wurly people (again, like me). I had a Wurly in the 70's (gave it up in the divorce) and it's the go-to sound I use on my keyboards, especially my gigging Nord 5D. I always try the many Rhodes sounds but they never satisfy. The Rhodes sounds never quite sound like the Rhodes I hear in my head. But when I play the Wurly sound, it sounds like what I want a Wurly to sound like and I settle in and just play. 

[Jim Alfredson]

22 hours ago, Dave Weiser said:

I did a ton of research into EPs when I worked for Kurzweil...and I'm pretty sure I remember Queen's Best Friend being a Hohner Pianet. It's often mistaken for Wurly as the sounds are very similar - sometimes very hard to distinguish. Listen to the Zombies' She's Not There - it's a Pianet but could easily pass for a Wurly. The giveaway is that usually the Pianet is even brighter than the Wurly, with less overdrive (unless it's being run through an amp with some drive.)

It's a Wurlitzer all the way. The low end bite and sustain, the hard attack of the notes... those are the hallmark of the Wurlitzer sound. I have a Pianet here in my studio and while similar, it doesn't have that low-end thing and the attack is much softer.

The Zombie's She's Not There is definitely Pianet. You can really hear the soft attack; it's like a little puff of high frequency as the sticky hammer tips lift off the tine. But no hard attack because nothing is striking the reed.

 

I got all the example right, btw. Easy peasy. But as @SMcD mentioned, each is the definitive example of that instrument, with the exception of the Childish Gambino track.

[Bobby Simons]

LOL, I thought it was just me who couldn't always tell. I did pretty well here, got Dancin' in the Moonlight wrong. (In my defense, I'm listening on my Mac mini speaker.)

Funny how Rhodes and Wurlie patches on most digital boards are miles apart from each other, no mistaking those.

[jerrythek]

18 hours ago, Floyd Tatum said:

The two I got wrong were Heard it Through the Grapevine by Marvin Gaye, and Breakdown by Tom Petty.

 

1) HITTGV: He played the moving L.H. fifths, then a R.H. rolling octave.  Sure, I've heard HITTGV a million times, but I couldn't remember seeing it performed live.  When I heard the LH fifths, I knew it was HITTGV, but I though "Ya know, sometimes Rhodes-es can have a low-end clunk like that".  I think it's the same clunk you were talking about, Piktor.   Then he played the high rolling octave - which again, a Rhodes rolling high octave can sound like that.  So, I wasn't sure.  So I said to myself "Rhodes", then the screen said Wurly.   If I'd heard those midrange chords, which he played next, I might have got it.

But HITTGV track was the Donny Hathaway version, not Marvin.

[Docbop]

26 minutes ago, jerrythek said:

But HITTGV track was the Donny Hathaway version, not Marvin.

I never heard Donny do "Heard it..." so I tried to look it up and a lot of people recorded "Grapevine" but don't find any of Donny doing it.    Now Donny did do Marvins What's Goin' On.    

[jerrythek]

1 hour ago, Docbop said:

I never heard Donny do "Heard it..." so I tried to look it up and a lot of people recorded "Grapevine" but don't find any of Donny doing it.    Now Donny did do Marvins What's Goin' On.    

Whoops, you’re right… I crossed the two, because we discussed “Going On” earlier. My bad.

[Iconoclast]

I mean, below middle C, the differences can be very small, especially with some Rhodes pianos. Some of the models in the Nord Stage are vey similar in that range too.  I think I only missed 2, but then a lot of them I already knew before he started. I mean, one of my favorite patches on the Kurzweil is Beck's Wurly, and no way a Supertramp song would be on a Rhodes!

[sam6599643]

9 hours ago, Iconoclast said:

I mean, below middle C, the differences can be very small, especially with some Rhodes pianos. Some of the models in the Nord Stage are vey similar in that range too.  I think I only missed 2, but then a lot of them I already knew before he started. I mean, one of my favorite patches on the Kurzweil is Beck's Wurly, and no way a Supertramp song would be on a Rhodes!

I’d put it the other way - for me the Rhodes is very distinctive at the upper end and rarely confusable with the Wurlie.