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Apparently the company Rhodes has relaunched the instrument and are manufacturing a new version of the authentic instrument with tines (tuning forks) and pickups. They're dead sexy too and you can customize the look and fx options.
That's really great that Rhodes is making real new versions of the instrument. I've always thought it was unacceptable for getting the pro standard of the instrument to have to use 50 year old jankity old instruments like Hammond. Hammond needs to follow suit and make new tonewheel organs, not only digital. They won't tho.
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05-04-2024 11:53 AM
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It’s $9500. Even Brother Ray would be using a Nord for half of that price.
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Hope they at least make the new Rhodes a little lighter in weight.My back still has bad memories of transporting them to a gig.
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^ They are lighter. I looked it up and it weighs 75 lbs which is much lighter than the vintage ones which were around 130 lbs apparently.
For the price of the Nord, you can get a real Vintage Rhodes. Regardless of the price, I think it's great that new real ones are being made. There needs to be new versions of the pro standard of the instrument. Not force people to either use digital or a jankity old 50 year old instrument like Hammond.
Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
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Through the '80s and '90s, I worked with a piano player who used a Rhodes and the matching Fender amplifier / speaker cab that also served as a base for it. We could never convince him to consider a more portable rig. Originally Posted by nyc chaz
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^ What was that thing, like 300 lbs?
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The vintage sound is definitely there.
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I spent around 4 years in a band with one of those. Horrible thing. Both the amp and keyboard over 100lbs each if I remember. Speakers pointed at the player's knees meant he was almost always too loud. He did change to the one with legs and an outboard amp placed where he could hear it. Much better for all. Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
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Don't get me wrong, it's cool... but at almost 10k...
If they just remade the 73 Rhodes at a reasonable price, they would have sold truckloads of them. That being said, this is an inspiration for my playing.
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^ I'd just get a vintage one for 2k if I were to buy a Rhodes. But I'm happy that the new ones are out there. I think it's morally wrong to force people to use a grotty old vintage instrument to get the pro standard or resort to sub-standard digital like with Hammond.
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You're always badmouthing the digital Hammond. Unless you're gigging with one, you probably don't have the experience to make such harsh judgements. I've been playing an XK5 Pro through a new Leslie 3300 for a few years, and it's a fine instrument with the right sound and feel. It's also completely trouble free, needs no maintenance, and will sound the same after 25 years of hard use as it did the day we got it. Originally Posted by Jimmy Smith
My trio had a B3 in 1964, and I've probably played 100+ since then. I played one for Larry Garner at the Hudson River Park Blues Festival in NY a few years ago. The festival rented it from a top NY provider, and it died when I turned it on for our sound check. Within 90 seconds, a guy comes running over with a tool box to fix it. The rental company sends a tech with each B3 they rent to major events because they're so unreliable. This one was fully restored and sounded great, once its personal physician attended to it.
Yes, a well restored / maintained vintage B3 sounds a little "better". It's a hair richer, with just enough imprecision among the many components of its tone to sound and feel a little more alive than the faintly clinical vibe of the XK5. But the XK5 is a very convincing Hammond that does the job well and simply makes sense for most professional users (players, club owners, etc). I do not feel or sound second class on it, and I'd buy one myself if keys were my main instrument. But then again, I force myself to use a Henriksen to amplify my second class Eastman archtops while my own Twin and Princeton live comfortably under my piano at home.
You need to walk a mile in those shoes before criticizing.
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So it's like with certain cheeses - if it does walk out of its packaging on its own it's probably become a bit too much alive? Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
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Yes indeed - you clearly understand! I like to think of it as terroir like the barnyard funk of an earthy teroldego. But Rogue River Blue is a decent cheese comparator. Originally Posted by RJVB
So it's like with certain cheeses - if it does walk out of its packaging on its own it's probably become a bit too much alive?
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There's actually a family anecdote of my dad opening a packaged rommadou cheese from his hometown (Maastricht), telling the guests that you can tell if it's properly ripe if it's "walks out of the package on its own". Upon which the guests turned a little green because it indeed "walked" a little too vigourously because it had grown a multi-cellular biotope
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Speaking of cheesy keyboards, I also had a Farfisa back in the 1960s. That's how every review of them described the sound - and they were right Originally Posted by RJVB
There's actually a family anecdote of my dad opening a packaged rommadou cheese from his hometown (Maastricht), telling the guests that you can tell if it's properly ripe if it's "walks out of the package on its own". Upon which the guests turned a little green because it indeed "walked" a little too vigourously because it had grown a multi-cellular biotope
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I don't like it. It's a free country, I'm entitled to my opinion. The whole rig is 13k. For that price, the sound better be epic, but it still has the plastic toy aesthetic to it. I think that warrants a poor review. Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
Don't be ridiculous. Keys is my main instrument, been playing 20 years. Your perspective carries weight because of your pedigree, but you don't get to put me down and completely discredit me because I don't gig right now and you do while I've owned the rig for 3 years and you play it occasionally.Unless you're gigging with one, you probably don't have the experience to make such harsh judgements. I've been playing an XK5 Pro through a new Leslie 3300 for a few years, and it's a fine instrument with the right sound and feel. It's also completely trouble free, needs no maintenance, and will sound the same after 25 years of hard use as it did the day we got it.
That's why Hammond needs to make new tonewheels! They could make both. Digital for if transportation or adjustability is a priority, tonewheel for if quality sound is the priority. Tonewheel will always be the standard for pro sound. You even hear it in pop records when the part is no more than a few chords and moving the leslie from slow to fast. You think they're gonna put a digital on a top end record? Never.My trio had a B3 in 1964, and I've probably played 100+ since then. I played one for Larry Garner at the Hudson River Park Blues Festival in NY a few years ago. The festival rented it from a top NY provider, and it died when I turned it on for our sound check. Within 90 seconds, a guy comes running over with a tool box to fix it. The rental company sends a tech with each B3 they rent to major events because they're so unreliable. This one was fully restored and sounded great, once its personal physician attended to it.
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Of course you're entitled to your opinion! I'm not putting you down for it. I'm saying that your harsh criticism of the XK5 seems grossly exaggerated to me. Calling it a plastic toy suggests that it's no better than a Casio and this is both untrue and unfair, especially since you've never played one in a band. It's a proper professional instrument that holds its own on any stage. Originally Posted by Jimmy Smith
Read the Sound on Sound review. Here are just two of the many positive takeaways:
"The result is a remarkably effective solution that really does recreate the crucial interactive playing response amazingly well, and I doubt any player could reliably tell the difference between this arrangement and the classic nine-busbar system — it’s that good."
"The latest and arguably Hammond-Suzuki’s best yet emulation of the classic vintage B3 benefits from an all-new sound engine and an ingenious bespoke keybed which feels and plays exactly like the original. "
Many artists I respect use and record with the XK5, starting with Corey Henry. I've played one for about half of a 3 hour gig every Thursday and Sunday since well before Covid, which is far more than enough to know it well. I also use it to back touring acts playing our area. My next gig as an organist is backing Robert Lighthouse on June 8.
I've used many clones over the years and still have a Kurzweil and a Nord. I think the XK5 is a true professional quality instrument and an excellent substitute for a B3. You're absolutely entitled to your opinion, but I really think you are misjudging it and perhaps leading others who should consider one to overlook it.
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Made or designed in Québec then, where they have cheese that does Skouik Skouik (for one of their national dishes not named after a Russian president) Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
That's how every review of them described the sound - and they were right
Or you are the one misjudging ... I mean, how else will Hammond ever be convinced to model tonewheel wear, tear and what more? Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
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I really do not like it. I think it's inadequate and it's bs to tout it as professional quality and have that as the only new option. It works as a stage rig, but that's it. I played the XK-3 in a band but I don't know how that has anything to do with my ability to evaluate the instrument. I can evaluate it better playing solo than with its fake tone covered up by a band. If someone wanted a home organ, I would tell them spend a few k and get a tonewheel, not spend 13k and get that pos. I'd only recommend the XK-5 if someone is a real gigging organist who needs a portable rig.
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It's not a free country. It's a jazz guitar forum. Any moment now, the moderator might wake up and ban discussion of keyboard instruments.
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I often wonder about this myself, but it continues unabated. I suppose I'm guilty of aiding and abetting it, if only by responding to a few statements with which I strongly disagree and that I fear could adversely affect a forum participant's decision-making. Originally Posted by Litterick
Truth be told, if the keys held the same attraction for me that the guitar does, I never would have taken another lover at 9 and stayed with her for life. But a bit of keyboard knowledge and facility are very helpful to a guitarist or other instrumentalist. So there's value in some such discussions here, although the relative merits of old vs new Hammonds are probably not prominent among them except in the context of being open to new ways of achieving old goals.
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I imagine a really good vintage B3 would be like Casu Marzu... Originally Posted by RJVB
There's actually a family anecdote of my dad opening a packaged rommadou cheese from his hometown (Maastricht), telling the guests that you can tell if it's properly ripe if it's "walks out of the package on its own". Upon which the guests turned a little green because it indeed "walked" a little too vigourously because it had grown a multi-cellular biotope
Casu Marzu, the Illicit Cheese of Sardinia | The Cheese Professor
Eat it? I can't even read about it without getting queasy.
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You know figs are by definition full of tiny little maggots too, right?
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