The following three reviews appeared in the December 2003 edition of Keyboard Magazine, and on their web site. They are reproduced here in their entirety.
Speakeasy Vintage Music Preamps
Tube Keyboard preamps
By Ken Hughes & John Krogh
Suitcase Vintage Tube Preamp
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Pros: Spot-on recreation of Suitcase Rhodes tremolo. Flexible gain controls make it usable with lots of different gear. EQ is organic and pleasing. Build quality is impressive.
Cons: No back-panel input or footswitch jack. Crunchy distortion not available without help from Fat Box.
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Speakeasy Vintage Music, 717-292-0814, www.speakeasyvintagemusic.com.
$749.99
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Suitcase Vintage Tube Preamp
Class A Tube Preamp with EQ and Stereo Tremolo Effect
Like the B3, the Fender Rhodes is imitated in just about every current workstation and stage synth. And while the emulations get more and more playable, musical, and satisfying with each passing year, the trademark square-wave tremolo of the real thing is often under-scrutinized and rendered underwhelmingly. A “suitcase” Rhodes sits on top of a huge amp cabinet loaded with four 12" speakers, which adds much thickness and a specific resonance to the sound. The Suitcase Vintage Tube Preamp aims to give you that sound whether you're using the real thing or a sampled/modeled imitation.
You may note with dismay that this is a mono-input device. It’s less than ideal if your synth doesn't have multiple outs and you need to play other sounds on it during the set, but it’s perfectly fine if you're dedicating a keyboard to Rhodes duty or have the ability to assign your digiRhodes to a separate output on a keyboard or module you use for other sounds as well.
Vital Stats
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Inputs
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1/4" mono input
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Outputs
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1/4" A and B outs
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Tube complement
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12AU7 x 2
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Tone controls
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treble, bass, notch filter
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Footswitchable features
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vibrato [tremolo] on/off
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Vibrato controls
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speed, intensity
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Much of the circuitry in the SVTP is designed after the classic blackface Fender Twin. Speakeasy has changed the EQ a little to better tailor it for keyboards; specifically, the high EQ point has been brought down to around 6 kHz, which is more useful in sculpting the Rhodes tone, which is far mellower than electric guitar.
The Dyno Filter interacts with the EQ in cool and useful ways. Together, the filter and EQ offer everything from mellow Rhodes pads perfect for ballads or loungey vibes to snarky comping tones that are deadly in a funk context.
The tremolo circuit is the headline act here and it gets a standing O. Just like the real thing, it pans back and forth in such a way that you perceive a little chorus or some kind of pitch modulation where there’s actually none. Also like the real thing, there’s a split second during each cycle where the sound is in both channels; this is the key to the realism and something the simulations built into multieffects units and workstation synths don't always nail. Handily, the tremolo is footswitchable from a front-panel jack.
 Fat BoxWhat do you do when you want to plug a Rhodes into a mixer? Crank up the gain and endure the noise? Shell out big bucks for a nice recording preamp? How about this little goodie: Speakeasy’s $100 Fat Box. Offering a 500% rise in gain, it’s just the thing to get your Rhodes D.I.’ed without breaking the bank or putting up with oceans of hiss. There’s also a version with the Suitcase preamp’s vibrato circuit built in. Yum.
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I connected a few different axes to the SVTP. My Rhodes, bearing its own battery-operated Dyno-My-Piano preamp, had plenty of gain to drive the SVTP into a lovely, blooming, fat tone. Now that’s the stuff. There was clarity, there was meat, there was thunk. The tone lacked nothing.
The Clavia Nord Electro 2 was, to borrow from a favorite TV chef, “kicked up a notch.” With its chorus or phaser operating in tandem with the preamp’s tremolo, the sounds were things of majestic beauty. Results were the same with the Yamaha Motif Rack’s excellent Rhodes sounds. With tremolo intensity set at a moderate level, even leaving the Motif’s reverb active didn't completely ruin the illusion.
I was a little disappointed that I couldn't get more beastly textures out of the SVTP. For maximum grunge, you need to really pump the level of signal you're feeding into the box; on its own it offers overdrive of the “warming and fattening” variety but stops well short of rabid. Speakeasy says it wasn't designed for crunch, but putting a Fat Box inline between your source and the preamp can give you that mad-dog tone.
Dead-accurate tremolo and wonderfully organic EQ make the Suitcase Vintage Tube Preamp a joy to use. Construction quality is right up there with hand-built boutique guitar amps. While it might be nice to have a rear-mounted input and footswitch jack for touring applications (as it is, the cables can get in the way of other devices racked up near the preamp), and it'd be nice not to have to use an add-on device to get animalistic distortion, neither of these criticisms has that much weight. This is a great-sounding box with lots of potential for creative abuse and tone doctoring on non-Rhodes sounds. It doesn't exactly come cheap at $750, but hand-built devices like this usually don't. Take a listen to the online mp3 and see if the oh-so-vintage but impossibly clean tone doesn't inspire gear lust. (And see if you can determine if it’s the Rhodes or one of the clones I'm playing.)
KEN HUGHES
Stereo Vintage Tube Preamp
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Pros: Warms up digital synths and samples tremendously. Clean, quiet, and transparent enough for general-purpose studio use.
Cons: Controls can't be ganged for stereo use (But you can order it so configured). Inputs on front panel only.
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$649.99
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Stereo Vintage Tube Preamp
Two-Channel Class A Tube Preamp with EQ
Like the Leslie preamp John played with, the stereo “Keyboard Classic” model contributes girth, character, and clarity in the upper and lower audio registers. The lovely-sounding Alesis Ion gained another thick layer of tonal blubber, and the sharp, precise tone of the Nord Lead 2X was treated to a once-over with 1200-grit sandpaper — its glossy sheen was replaced with a lovely satin patina.
Vital Stats
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Inputs
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1/4" A and B ins
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Outputs
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1/4" A and B outs
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Tube complement
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12AU7/ECC82 x 2
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Tone controls
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treble, bass x 2
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It might be nice to be able to gang-control both preamps’ gain and EQ with one set of controls for use with stereo synths, but this way you get the charm of not-quite-exact duplicate settings across both sides; a very vintage touch. And you can use it on two mono sources, which I did; one side was patched between a Korg BX-3 and a Motion Sound rig, the other side between the output of a Roland RD-700 and the D.I. box. The BX-3 got a skosh more realistic (especially up high), and the piano, EP, and pad sounds I played on the Roland gained richness that no amount of board EQ could have given them.
I played a little bass and guitar through the preamp as well and came away thinking that it would make a lovely general-purpose sweetening box for the studio as well as a great way to “vintage up” your digital synths onstage. Try it on a vintage DX synth or the output of Native Instruments’ FM7. Delicious.
KEN HUGHES
Clone Vintage Tube Preamp
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Pros: Rich, present tone. Improves the musical character of any B3 clone. Solid construction. Custom orders can accommodate any combination of two Leslie connectors.
Cons: Proprietary preamp-to-Leslie connector required.
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$339.99
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Clone Vintage Tube Preamp
Classic Tube Organ Preamp with Leslie Speed Control
While keyboard manufacturers have made huge strides in developing modeled organs that rival the sonics of the real thing, no instrument quite nails the tone you get from a Hammond organ running through a Leslie. To get even closer to B3 bliss, many players run their B3 clones into real Leslies, which can significantly increase the vibe factor and authenticity. To get even closer to the ultimate tone, Speakeasy has a line of tube preamps specifically designed for “clonewheel” organs.
There are several models to choose from; I checked out the original mono Vintage Tube Classic preamp, which has a single 1/4" line input and a single 1/4" line output in addition to a Leslie out. It’s a Spartan design, with two tone controls — treble and bass — plus two more knobs, Volume and Gain. The later is essentially a drive control for the tube, and you can choose between a 12AU7 (Classic model) and a 12DW7 (Howler model). According to Speakeasy, the Classic is geared toward mellower or creamier shades such as what you'd want for jazz, smoky blues, country, and so on. The Howler is hairier — think Deep Purple overdrive.
Vital Stats
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Inputs
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Inputs 1/4" mono input
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Outputs
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Leslie 122/147 out, 1/4" mono out
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Tube complement
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12AU7 (Classic model) and a 12DW7 (Howler model)
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Tone controls
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treble, bass
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Footswitchable features
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Leslie speed
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I paired my two test subjects — a Hammond Suzuki XM-1 and a Voce Micro B — with my Leslie 122, which has all stock internal components. I could immediately hear the difference between the Vintage Tube preamp and the Keyboard Products pedal I normally use. VT’s tube and Class A electronics obviously contributed a good deal of character and clarity, especially at the extreme high and low registers — areas where clones tend to be underwhelming. With the Speakeasy, though, it was smooth and creamy on top, and thick and detailed down low. Sweet.
I also patched my Rhodes into the 1/4" in and patched the preamp into my computer’s audio interface. I wanted to hear what kind of tones I could coax. I wasn't disappointed. The results were sparkly and warm — definitely challenging the sound I can get from my Universal Audio 2-610 tube preamp.
My criticisms are minor: A short non-standard “pigtail” connector is used between the preamp and Leslie, which means if you break or lose it on a gig, you're sort of screwed. No going to your local organ repair center for a replacement. This minor gripe aside, the preamp delivers grit, warmth, and detail in spades. And it’s great that you can get a model with your choice of any two Leslie pinouts. Short of a real Hammond through a Leslie, I haven't heard a better way to get “that sound” than Vintage Tube.
JOHN KROGH
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