Do I need a Rhodes Piano? 

I've never owned a Rhodes, but I've played one on occasions and it's one of my favorite keyboards to play. The sound just brings you back to the 70s instantly. If I could afford it, I would love one in my home, but for stage use - I'm not so sure. They are a bit bulky and delicate. Until then, my Hohner Pianet T and the Rhodes sound in my Roland RD-64 will have to do. Thanks for an interesting video.

I love my Rhodes Mark I Eighty Eight! 🎹🥰 I got it for $1800 USD, replaced the old Tolex, grommets & felt washers and it sounds and plays great!

"Ofc you do, Goodbye" ! had me with that one hehe :)

Love my MK1, extremely lucky to have one, the RetroFlyer preamp is amazing and affordable and I love having stereo tremolo on the stage. I say if you have the opportunity to get one, jump on it, they’re easy to work on, so you shouldn’t have to hire anyone, a least for stage models. A real Rhodes just has so much character and magic, and with some voicing you can set it up exactly as you want it to sound. Put up a “wanted” ad in your local area and you’ll be suprised what you find. Mine came from the original owner who bought it brand new, and I’ll probably own it for the next 50 years as well unless I eventually get my hands on a MK8 😅

I gigged with a Rhodes for several years. and ended up selling it in the late 80’s. Currently I’m gigging with Fantom synth since it has a wider tonal palette. It’s a trade off now, but I don’t miss carting all of that gear nowadays. Check out the Kawai MP7se if your local music shop has one. They’re much lighter and have several EP variations as well as acoustic pianos and some pads.

Nick, thanks for the Rhoades demo. I played one a few months ago through a Neo Vent II and it sounded fantastic! I would love to have one in my life. But, for my money ($4K), I'm glad I invested in another new Hammond, the SKX PRO. The piano patches on it are great for my purposes. At this point, if I add another keyboard it would likely be a Mellotron M4000D (also very pricey) to achieve sounds that otherwise I cannot get.

NO.. I had a 73 key suitcase Rhodes, all 70-80 pounds of it, for years. My 30-lb. Yamaha P90 digital piano has a GREAT Rhodes, with the velocity-switched overdrive, and a switchable chorus. Good for live or recording, very high quality samples. PLUS it has a Wurlitzer EP, and a great, funky Clavinet.. and four great stereo grand pianos, stereo strings, organ, choir... ALSO, the Rhodes occasionally needed voicing and/or tuning! Did I mention it was f*cking HEAVY?

Thank you for making this video. I love real electro-mechanical pianos like the rhodes and wulitzer. However im not well versed in the world of (vintage-)synths, and am curious: would there be any synths out there that can make a similar sound. Like maybe not truely EP-sound but something like an electronic piano sound which is still pleasing to the ears. Jusy my curiousity.

I'd love to hear you compare it to your skx-pro, particularly the action/keybed... Thanks to your videos, I bought the skx-not-so-pro instead :-) but the Rhodes's on there are nice !

Before even watching this it's a yes. I do love the Mark 2 for it's bell tones better than the Mark 1

well, i need one. saving up for mine...

Just got myself a suitcase one from 77. It needs some love on the speaker amp side done by an electrician, but overall any one can maintain them easily to keep them going. No software can touch that feeling. Do I need it? Probably not. Do I wanted one? Hell yeah. Is it gonna be used? Hell yeah!!!

Simple answer for a simple question: yes, yes, YESSSS! 🤣😁

I think u need one for home/studio, but not to take out. They’re just too darn cumbersome.

At this point in my life, I’d be happy with 5.3 octave Wurlitzer.

Beside being heavy, costly to maintain... nothing beat the real thing! all the synth version whether romplers or the latest modelings make them too clean or exaggerating on noise levels or focusing more on the effects (phasers or trems or choruses). I mean still the tech is really improving...Roland super Natural,Korg latest modelling and Yamaha to think of it! It would be interesting to compare the juno DS electric piano ! I also think what make these rhodes hard to beat its the imperfection noises related to the condition of the instrument! I noticed the slight bref noise or pitch it produce when releasing a note for example!

What is that u are playing from 2:08 to 2:40!!??? Awesome!

Never been happier than since I got my mk2 XD

Hell yes!

Short Answer for me: I don’t need a Rhodes Piano. I do need the sound of the Rhodes. For that I’ll probably buy one of the new Yamaha CK Stage Keyboards, which also has Wurlitzer sounds among many others.

Sounds great! What’s your signal chain?

much like the clavinet - they're really fun to play....for about 3 minutes

As much as like a Rhodes Sound, it doesn’t quite do it for me against a Wurlitzer EP.

But seriously, yeah of course you do!

Lots of latency with this Rhodes.

in the future i'd consider raising the mic level/audio level on the video. its hard to hear/understand what you're saying on a volume that 99% of other videos would be blaring at.

I had a Rhodes that was made in 1984. It was disappointing: clacky and noisy. The manufacturing quality was cheap and imprecise. A small part of me regrets getting rid of it, but mostly because I might have got more money if I'd sold it better.