The Harold Rhodes and Rhodes electric piano story dates to 1942 when Rhodes devised a portable piano aimed at rehabilitation therapy for wounded soldiers in WWII. Flash forward to current day where Rhodes Music UK re-established the brand with engineering and production based in Leeds, U.K. Their flagship Rhodes MK8 released in 2021 honors the original sound while introducing modern, artisanal manufacturing techniques. Currently, Rhodes Music UK manufactures a variety of Rhodes Pianos and is very active in the digital plugin market.
The new Rhodes Vari-Amp plugin features six historic Rhodes preamps, seven amplifiers, and seven microphones modeled for analog color and versatile tonal shaping. Rather than emulating a single piece of vintage hardware, Vari-Amp offers a selection of classic preamps, amps, microphones, compression, EQ and reverb—each with mixer and bypass controls—to produce an enormously powerful and versatile “best of all worlds” plugin taken from the best Rhodes preamps. The Vari-Amp is extremely comprehensive and well thought out and can provide thousands of sounds efficiently.
The preamp section contains designs dating back to the ‘70s up to modern day. The six choices include Stage Passive, Hot Rod (a popular ‘70s mod), ‘79 Suitcase, ‘82 Suitcase, and the current Mark 7 and Mark 8 models. A pulldown menu offers starting points for all the preamp models, and they are all distinctively different from each other. The preamp section offers a simple Low and High EQ, a wet/dry Preamp Mix control, and a variable drive control that is switchable from MK8, Saturate or Overdrive types. A tremendous amount of sonic variation is available in this section alone.
The next area in the signal chain includes a combined amplifier and microphone section. Here is a selection of classic amplifier models paired with several microphone types covering dynamic, condenser, and ribbon designs. The amps and mics are mentioned by name and provide a large amount of tonal variation in areas that you would expect according to that name. There is also an Amp Gain control, an Amp-Mic Mix control, as well as Mic Phase Invert. This area, like all the sections, can be bypassed.
A Compressor module provides dynamic control with a Pre/Post Switch, which places compressor before or after the Amp/Mic section. A Wet/Dry Mix control enables variations of parallel compression. In use the compressor seemed to be rather mild.
The Vari-Amp also includes global EQ and Reverb sections positioned at the end of the processing chain. The three band sweepable EQ has ± 20dB of low, mid, and high bands and allows broad tonal adjustments that affect the final sound. The reverb module features Spring, Plate, Room, and Hall reverbs with reverb time, predelay, LPF and HPF EQ, and a Wet/Dry Mix control.
In practical use, the Vari-Amp can enhance a wide range of sources including keyboards, guitars, bass, drums, and synthesizers. The combination of saturation, amplification modeling, and microphone simulation makes it a powerful choice suitable for subtle or extreme tonal shaping. The Rhodes Vari-Amp is an incredible plugin that is easy to use and can improve your sounds quickly and efficiently. Highly recommended. Compatible with VST, AU, and AAX, on macOS and Windows systems.
“The reason a piano isn’t in an orchestra is because the piano doesn’t blend,” said Rhodes icon and pioneer Herbie Hancock. “[The piano is] a soloist instrument…because it doesn’t mix with anything. But the Rhodes, the Rhodes can hide in between the character of the acoustic instruments, or it can be on top.” $124.95
