Dirty keys

Mentaltossflycoon

Mentaltossflycoon

Well-known member
The discussions here are unsurprisingly guitar based and I like to think I help add to the bass player perspective. What about the pianists among us? I'm planning to build a dirt box for a pal who plays in a duo w drums. He uses a nord and sticks to a lot of rhodes/wurly/accordion like tones. He seems to favor the ds1, he has one next to an mxr custom badass '78 on his rig and I'm hoping to dethrone one of them.

Any keyfolk round here have suggestions for dirt you find useful? I'm thinking nobels odr1 with its big ass and I personally love and use the fairfield barbershop. I figure one of these could really improve his low gain sounds.
 
Funnily enough, that MXR is a tweaked DS-1. I’ve run my Minibrute 2 (totally different from the Nord) through my PPCB Defouler, which is also pretty much a DS-1. I think it’s a pretty versatile circuit, and it spices up softer sounds really nicely. It can be set to subtly beef up the harmonics, or be full blown distortion.

I think something like the Barbershop would be a nice change, giving him access to more driven preamp sounds.
 
For synths I really like fuzzes, especially silicon fuzz faces. For electric piano stuff like Rhodes and Wuri, something like a simple Electra circuit is surprisingly good for a mild grit.

I’m still trying to find info of any kind about the homemade fuzz circuit that Mike Ratledge used on his Lowrey organ in Soft Machine— by far my favorite distorted keyboard sound.
 
vigilante398 said:
It really depends on the style you're playing. I like a nice light crunch like a Bluesbreaker on keys, but I only ever use it at the same time as a wah. Keys need wah.
Click to expand...
As far a style, he's pretty grimey and funky. Dark boogaloo? Genres are hard. I know he doesn't use a tube amp or anything at this point so that trims the fat a little I guess. I like all these suggestions though.
 
In a moment of 🤔🤔🤔🤔 this morning, I ran my keyboard through my current pedalboard with some cool results but it got me thinking that the needs are fairly different. My Mel9 has also been on keyboard duty for a while once I realized the Mel9 can process 5 notes simultaneously. I'm gonna end up putting together a keys specific board here
 
Yeah, needs are more different than I would've assumed. I look forward to seeing what you land on for your keys. Currently, my favorite dirt for rhodes tend to be bmp/rat types but I need to experiment with this more on synth tones. My buddy who usually gigs that baby rhodes has started trying to be happy with a nord/blues Jr. rig and it's leading to a pretty drastic pedalboard overhaul.
 
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Thanks to a fair amount of elbow grease, my dirty keys are now clean!
Last time I gave the Rhoades Rhodes a good scrub & vacuum :

FGQs0UE.jpg


That rag was white before I started.. ☝️

AasLehy.jpg


As far as effects go, I didn't find much I didn't like, but my favorite was a SWAH auto-wah, but chorus was great, fuzz was awesome, YATS really highlights some nice frequencies, delay and reverb are obviously super. Oh, I almost forgot about tremolo and phaser- the MBP Wavelord is really, really good.
 
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dawson said:
Thanks to a fair amount of elbow grease, my dirty keys are now clean!
Last time I gave the Rhoades a good scrub & vacuum :

FGQs0UE.jpg


That rag was white before I started.. ☝️

AasLehy.jpg


As far as effects go, I didn't find much I didn't like, but my favorite was a SWAH auto-wah, but chorus was great, fuzz was awesome, YATS really highlights some nice frequencies, delay and reverb are obviously super. Oh, I almost forgot about tremolo and phaser- the MBP Wavelord is really, really good.
Click to expand...
Sexy rhodes gutshots
 
I have little to add here, but using a cheap Yamaha keyboard or my mother32, fuzz is always king for dirty and pretty much any modulation, chorus is a fav. This is just my own shitty opinion, but just ab anything that works for bass seems to work for keys/synth.
 
Mentaltossflycoon said:
Sexy rhodes gutshots
Click to expand...

Right??

Get ready for some TLDR tooting of my horn

My bandmate buddy always wanted one so when I saw this on Craigslist for $250, I called him right away and we went to look at it. The owner of a local piano shop said it'd been sitting broken in his garage/barn since the 80's. It seemed a bit risky, not knowing if I could get it working or not, so the guy let it go for $200.
I got it back home and did some research- it was the keyboard half of a combo unit so we were missing a massive a proprietary amp/speaker/stand unit, and on-top of that, the tremolo/vibe/EQ circuit was toast. Like- TOAST. As-in it looked like somebody had been arc-welding up in there, so I trashed any idea I might've had to get it back to what it used to be, however, I did find a schematic for the EQ of this keyboard's passive sibling, the "Mark II," I believe.
I had all the parts I needed so I built-up the Mark II circuit on strip-board and installed it in the existing panel and now it sounds like any Mark II!
The original owner gigged hard with this piano, so it took a lot of work just to get it clean, plus the wooden case is dangerously wobbly and missing the top, but for less than the price of a Squire*, we got a fixable Rhodes, and my friend never paid me back for it, so I guess it belongs to me!

*Oh, I also had to DIY a sustain pedal out of some plywood, a scrap of steel, and a broom-handle. Works great.
 
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