What phasers sound "best" with electric pianos?

[Mark Hammer]

Listening to an old Sea Level concert at work right now, and also thining about the so-so Steely Dan concert I went to back in July.  There's just something about the spongy chewy sound of an electric piano, whether Rhodes or Wurlitzer, or digital equivalent, through a phaser.  It just has this....low growl that I love.  My sense is that in most cases this was a Phase 90, but I'm sure there are plenty of folks who are better informed about such matters than I am.

So, to the best of your knowledge, what 70's-era phaser (or 21st century for that matter) do (or did) keyboard players prefer when processing their pianos?

[MikeH]

I recently recorded a Rhodes through a Small Stone using some pretty dramatic settings.  But I'm biased; I'll try a Small Stone on anything. 

[David]

IIRC, I had been told by a keyboard player back in the 70s that the Supertramp piano sound came from a Mutron Bi-phase. I had always wanted to find out what was used to get the piano effects on "Frampton Comes Alive" and "Babe" by Styx.

[Mark Hammer]

Our piano player in the late 70's used a Small Stone, but it was a Lesage 'Bug' piano that used strings, rather than a tine-based piano like a Rhodes.  I wasn't too impressed, but I gather it was not a match made in heaven.

[Rodgre]

"Classic" electric piano tones came in all of those flavors. Small Stone, Phase 90 and Mu-Tron (bi-phase and phasor II).  Any one of them would sound great (save for the Small Stone's volume drop, unless you accommodate for that). Most any phasor on an electric piano will sound cool.

Roger

[aron]

I used to use my Small Stone, but later on I went for the black plastic MXR command series flanger. I liked it a lot. Then it was to the Boss Chorus and then the Memory Man Deluxe.

[zombiwoof]

I used to have a Mutron Phasor II, for guitar it was too high-fi sounding to me, but when I had my girlfriend use it with her Wurlitzer electric piano it was awesome!

Al

[Nitefly182]

I would think a phase 90 would clip really really easily with a keyboard or piano.

[David]

Did anyone ever hear of a keyboard amplifier called "RVS"?  It was made by Yorkville Sound during this same period.  What I remember about it is that it was the only one I had ever seen.  The online Yorkville/Traynor history indicates they did actually make one, so I didn't imagine it.  It just must be made from unobtanium!  It made her Rhodes sound terrific, and its onboard phaser was thick and lush.  My foggy memory is that it sounded like a Leslie.  So much so, I've been looking for one ever since.  Along with a cabinet that Cordovox made that was less than three feet high and contained a Leslie.

Someday...

[frequencycentral]

I would think a phase 90 would clip really really easily with a keyboard or piano.

My Rhodes output is about the same level as a humbucker equipped guitar. My Wurlitzer EP200a has a screwdiver adjustable pot next to the line output to attenuate the output level independant of the internal speaker's volume (which affects the headphone output).

+1 on the Small Stone, and -1 on it's annoying volume drop, I have half a dozen metal can 3094's - I must get round to building one without the volume drop.

[gmr1]

I love the Akai Intelliphase on Rhodes. The touch sensitivity control allows more phase the harder you play.

[cpnyc23]

My personal all-time favorite is a Rhodes Stage 88 running through a Maestro PS-1A:



Just thinking about that sound makes me start to drool....

Or run a Clavinet D6 through a wah, into a Tube Screamer (just barely touching the gain), and finally through the PS-1A....  oh man.  I gotta start playing keys again.

-chris

[StephenGiles]

MXR 100 modified to run off 15 volts, it sounded very good indeed.

[alex frias]

Piano sounds I forced my keyboard player to use:

1 - Fender Rhodes Mark I + MXR Phase 90 Script Clone
2 - Yamaha CP-70 + Boss Dimension C Clone
3 - Hohner Clavinet + Small Stone Clone

[axg20202]

On my Rhodes I use a genuine Small Stone that has been modified with a volume control (to get unity gain) and a feedback control, but you might prefer to keep yours stock, or should I say "just the way you are (it is)".      I don't use it on Rhodes very often (because it always reminds me of said cheesy song!), but it works very well.

Don't go changin'

Andy.


EDIT: I should add that I can play a very nice No Quarter with it, which is a far superior track.
EDIT2: ...although I think my Univibe clone is better for this purpose.

[SonicVI]

I saw Steely Dan on TV a few years ago and there was a Phase 90 sitting atop the Rhodes.

[Mark Hammer]

I saw Steely Dan on TV a few years ago and there was a Phase 90 sitting atop the Rhodes.

That's sort of what I thought, and is sort of the sound I had in my head, too.  I'm wondering if that pairing recommends a certain range of speeds and location of notches when it comes to electric pianos.   In other words, if you were going to make a phaser that was "plug-and-play" for a piano, you'd design it to have X amount of regeneration (very little), sweep the notches between frequency A and B, and only aim for speeds between Y and Z.

[axg20202]

Definitely, although I think X, A, B are the key - I find that my speed Y-Z preferences for use with a Rhodes are about the same as my preference for guitar. I've also found that the notches/frequency of the Small Stone are well-matched for the 'high traffic areas' of a Rhodes.

[Mark Hammer]

Makes sense.  Actually, my comments about speed were really more one of not needing to be able to dial in the unused speed, and consequently not needing any special speed pot taper.  If one only uses speeds between, say 1hz and 3hz, and has no need of long slow sweeps or fast bubbly ones, then it may be a simple matter of replacing a larger value speed pot with a smaller value on in series with a fixed resistor.  That way, the difference between 1hz and 1.5 hz may be 25% of the rotation, instead of 5%.

[notchboy]

There was a feature on Steely Dan in Keyboard magazine a while back.  Fagen said that if you want "that" sound, use two Phase 90s or Phase 100s ("the little orange box or the bigger orange box") in parallel (i.e. stereo) set to slightly different speeds.  It even gave the approximate sweep speed, which I don't recall off the top of my head.