how to simulate rhodes vibrato with a non suitcase model

joninc · Post by **joninc** » Sat May 21, 2016 1:10 pm

i have a fender rhodes 73 - i want to make it sound like a suitcase model with it's amazing stereo vibrato thing...

are there any effects - plug ins? pedals? that can get me close to that swirling?

i have a CE1 chorus/vibrato which is awesome but not really the same motion...

hogfish · Post by **hogfish** » Sat May 21, 2016 4:00 pm

Its a hard effect to replicate without a stereo speaker setup. At some point, Fender started making the Trem on the suitcase pianos stereo. A suitcase amp has 4 speakers, 2 inboard facing the player, and 2 outboard, facing the listener.The intensity knob on the panel intensifies the effect of the sound moving between the 2 speaker sets, and can get super throbby. Definitely its own thing. I am currently using a Musicman 210-65 for all my electric piano sounds. It has a weird shaped Trem and at high intensity levels, ALMOST gets you there. To REALLY make it happen, it should be stereo, with 2 amps involved. There are lots of crazy Trem EFX out there, so you might stumble on something that gets you closer....

Injured Ear · Post by **Injured Ear** » Sat May 21, 2016 7:03 pm

hogfish wrote:Its a hard effect to replicate without a stereo speaker setup. At some point, Fender started making the Trem on the suitcase pianos stereo. A suitcase amp has 4 speakers, 2 inboard facing the player, and 2 outboard, facing the listener.The intensity knob on the panel intensifies the effect of the sound moving between the 2 speaker sets, and can get super throbby. Definitely its own thing. I am currently using a Musicman 210-65 for all my electric piano sounds. It has a weird shaped Trem and at high intensity levels, ALMOST gets you there. To REALLY make it happen, it should be stereo, with 2 amps involved. There are lots of crazy Trem EFX out there, so you might stumble on something that gets you closer....

I may be mistaken, but on the MkIII we used at my old studio it worked surprisingly similar to a panner device. I never heard any pitch modulation, just amplitude modulation which cancelled out in mono. If you're looking for a similar plugin for a panner effect, look at Waves MondoMod (which can also do frequency modulation) and Soundtoys Panman.

analogika · Post by **analogika** » Mon May 23, 2016 1:53 am

Jens L?pke of Taste und Technik in Germany builds a fantastic 1U rack-mounted Rhodes preamp with the original stereo trem, called the TRamp.

http://www.tasteundtechnik.de/135501.html

Sound demos on the page.

Since he's a full-time Rhodes/Wurli tech and one of the busiest in Germany, he has very little time to build these things, and there's only a handful around ? I had to wait over six months to get mine.

But well worth it.

markjazzbassist · Post by **markjazzbassist** » Mon May 23, 2016 7:12 am

just get a stereo pan/tremolo it's the same thing.

EHX stereo pulsar
Dunlop TS-1 Stereo Tremolo/pan

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Mon May 23, 2016 11:12 am

Another vote for the EHX Stereo Pulsar.

Or, if in DAW land, get completely batshit crazy and build a fake Stereo speaker setup with emulators and plug ins for the tremolo.

Sky's the limit.

joninc · Post by **joninc** » Mon May 23, 2016 4:17 pm

thanks - i will look into those.

you're right - it's not pitch modulation, it is more volume and panning but the shape of the tremolo is not typical guitar amp or pedal trem. it's shape is called "cat's eye".

vintage vibe make a sweet preamp with it eq and trem built in but it's $$$

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Tue May 24, 2016 12:11 am

joninc wrote:thanks - i will look into those.

you're right - it's not pitch modulation, it is more volume and panning but the shape of the tremolo is not typical guitar amp or pedal trem. it's shape is called "cat's eye".

vintage vibe make a sweet preamp with it eq and trem built in but it's $$$

You can make that shape with a modern tremolo pedal. Seymour duncan makes it, the Shape Shifter. It is only mono though...

Cheers

Jim Williams · Post by **Jim Williams** » Tue May 24, 2016 8:43 am

Rhodes panners used a triangle wave pan effect. I also designed a version of that triangle wave panner into the Mk7 Rhodes. It used vactrol opto elements.

Fender guitar amp vibrato is a sine wave effect, very different.

Mk1 and 2 Rhodes set the panners so the left and right speakers would be affected. When I designed the Rhodes Mk7 bottoms I set the pan to work front to back, more of a percieved effect to the player. That also allowed the player to set the amp volumes seperately so the player would get more or the audience out front.

Any Rhodes bottom can re-set the speakers that way by pulling and replacing the speaker lugs.

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Wed May 25, 2016 8:41 am

Jim Williams wrote:Rhodes panners used a triangle wave pan effect.

I have the TL Auto Pan for Pro Tools HD. It has different wave shapes, so that one could give you the panning effect.

Cheers

RoyMatthews · Post by **RoyMatthews** » Wed May 25, 2016 10:36 am

Get one of these? ($6k)
https://youtu.be/3gwZ2lHtG0Y

joninc · Post by **joninc** » Wed May 25, 2016 6:17 pm

RoyMatthews wrote:Get one of these? ($6k)
https://youtu.be/3gwZ2lHtG0Y

i'd need 2 to make it stereo

losthighway · Post by **losthighway** » Mon Jun 20, 2016 3:52 pm

Strymon Flint

At least that's how my bandmate does it. Doesn't hurt that it's one of the best sounding reverbs in a stompbox as well as tremolo.

joninc · Post by **joninc** » Tue Jun 21, 2016 10:49 am

i actually just had a friend bring one of these Flint pedals in... gorgeous, luxurious reverb on pedal steel.... now i want one

i didn't try the stereo out on the trem, will have to soon.

Jim Williams · Post by **Jim Williams** » Tue Jun 21, 2016 3:58 pm

Try using a Bricasti M7 live, you will never go back. I'll bring a lexy if I don't want to risk taking the M7 with me. Patch it into my tube amp line level effects loops and it's like Pink Floyd live.

John Mayer uses a pair of M7's in his live rack. Must be great to have that ability.

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how to simulate rhodes vibrato with a non suitcase model

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