Rhodes/KSR Orthos Review

[Stealthtastic]

I finally got around to testing my Orthos 50 that I received back in October. My experience is inline with most reviews I've read online ---- Kyle makes a killer amp.

The best thing about this amp is the fact that the master vol actually works, and you can get good tones at only medium-low volumes.

I'm mostly a death metal guy, and the first thing I noticed is the amount of usable gain with this amp. As you crank the gain, it doesn't get overly mushy, just kind of saturates more. That being said, I keep the gain at about 10 or 11 o'clock as I'm not a fan of playing with excessive gain. The guitars I use are all equipped with a hot PAF style pickup, which works really well with this amp. I tried some of my EBMM JPs, Parkers, and Ibbys out with this too, which all sounded great

I'm running this amp into a VHT cab, which sounds punchy as hell. Super tight in a good way!

The other nice thing about this amp is the clean channel, which doesn't get overly bassy like I find a lot of amps do.

Also, the faceplate changes colors which is the coolest fucking thing ever.

 

[Stealthtastic]

Also as you can tell from the pic, the LED indicator for the channel is really really really insanely bright, which is obviously great if you are playing out a lot.

 

[longfxukxnhair]

Damn!!! Nice amp

 

[Revson]

Clipz!

 

[hstlaurent]

What's the guitar beside the 2 Teuffels?

 

[Clayspun]

I don't think we will ever hear a bad review on a rhodes/Ksr. I went from a peavey xxx to a rhodes colossus and what an amazing change it was. So punchy and harmonically rich and such a distinct sound, kyle really voiced his amps like no other. I mean you could say its a mix of a slo, 5150, and a recto but you can get tons of different tones out of his amps. Can't even make them sound bad. It's cool you got the rhodes logo on yours. I like the Ksr logo aswell but the rhodes logo is like part of history now. One day his amps with the rhodes logo will be worth a lot. I mean, I know there's a lot of them out there but eventually it will be one of those things like the pre500 rectos. I need to do a review of mine. If it wasn't for camrock I would've never owned a Rhodes unless I hit the lotto.

 

[Rev]

KSR amps are the best around. They are so versatile and full of tone. They match well with any cab, speaker, and guitar. That is nice since a lot of amps tend to discriminate.

The best amp I've ever plugged into from any builder has to be the new Ares. It is an amp for both British/Marshall players as well as Mesa/5150 players. It also has this percussive bouce that I've never found in another amp.

 

[mooncobra]

cool man, I hope to try one of his amps someday!

 

[Stealthtastic]

What's the guitar beside the 2 Teuffels?

Hartung Caligo. Sick guitar!

 

[technomancer]

Damn dude you JUST got around to playing this? How many months was it sitting there? lol

KSR amps are the best around. They are so versatile and full of tone. They match well with any cab, speaker, and guitar. That is nice since a lot of amps tend to discriminate.

The best amp I've ever plugged into from any builder has to be the new Ares. It is an amp for both British/Marshall players as well as Mesa/5150 players. It also has this percussive bouce that I've never found in another amp.

Glad to hear this since I have an Ares on order

 

[firejack]

Wow what a cool rig!
Dunno how the hell you managed to not play through it all this time without going insane.
Clips if you can. It'd be awesome to see that rig in action.

 

[Mklane]

Teuffel Death Metal?

 

[hstlaurent]

What's the guitar beside the 2 Teuffels?

Hartung Caligo. Sick guitar!

It look awesome! You have killer taste in guitars... And gear...

 

[7 Stringer]

Nice Amp man and sick guitars

I have a Gemini myself, killer amp. How did you setup your clean controls? I'm finding it very bassy and dull, I'm wondering if my pre tube is faulty??? I'm running my bass control all the way off. I was hearing a scratchy sound before on the clean channel, but it stopped. So I think this might be a tube issue. I know it has dedicated slot just for the clean. I'm gonna check this out tonight.

The gain channels though



Chris

 

[hstlaurent]

Nice Amp man and sick guitars

I have a Gemini myself, killer amp. How did you setup your clean controls? I'm finding it very bassy and dull, I'm wondering if my pre tube is faulty??? I'm running my bass control all the way off. I was hearing a scratchy sound before on the clean channel, but it stopped. So I think this might be a tube issue. I know it has dedicated slot just for the clean. I'm gonna check this out tonight.

The gain channels though

Chris

How does it compare to your Peters?

 

[7 Stringer]

Nice Amp man and sick guitars

I have a Gemini myself, killer amp. How did you setup your clean controls? I'm finding it very bassy and dull, I'm wondering if my pre tube is faulty??? I'm running my bass control all the way off. I was hearing a scratchy sound before on the clean channel, but it stopped. So I think this might be a tube issue. I know it has dedicated slot just for the clean. I'm gonna check this out tonight.

The gain channels though

Chris

How does it compare to your Peters?

Hmmmmm, the Peters is more raw, aggressive and open. More in your face, leans towards a Marshally roar.

The Rhodes is more polished, smooth and compressed. More tonal options of course but the Peters is more dynamic with your picking technique. More responsive let's say. The Rhodes has a unique tone all its own as does the Peters, so I need both and love both.

The clean, as of now, is a lot better on the Peters, it is the nicest clean i have ever heard too by the way. But I'll know better when i play with the pre tubes.

On a side note, the clean on my latest BE100 is fuckin' killer. Way better than the older version. Very chimey and open. It gets in the Peters category. Though the Peters has a gain knob making it more versatile. It gets nice overdrive tonEs too if you want.

Chris

 

[Candiria]

Sweet! Great amps man. The cleans are very nice and gain channels are perfect. The only thing I'm not a huge fan of is the crunch channel, but Kyle has actually revamped his crunch mode recently.

I need an excuse to post a pic of mine

 

[Stealthtastic]

Nice Amp man and sick guitars

I have a Gemini myself, killer amp. How did you setup your clean controls? I'm finding it very bassy and dull, I'm wondering if my pre tube is faulty??? I'm running my bass control all the way off. I was hearing a scratchy sound before on the clean channel, but it stopped. So I think this might be a tube issue. I know it has dedicated slot just for the clean. I'm gonna check this out tonight.

The gain channels though



Chris

Yeah that's odd. I keep the bass at like 9 o clockish I think. You should just message Kyle on FB or call him. He helped me run through the amp because I'm stupid like that even though he was about to hop on a call with one of his dealers.

 

[7 Stringer]

Nice Amp man and sick guitars

I have a Gemini myself, killer amp. How did you setup your clean controls? I'm finding it very bassy and dull, I'm wondering if my pre tube is faulty??? I'm running my bass control all the way off. I was hearing a scratchy sound before on the clean channel, but it stopped. So I think this might be a tube issue. I know it has dedicated slot just for the clean. I'm gonna check this out tonight.

The gain channels though



Chris

Yeah that's odd. I keep the bass at like 9 o clockish I think. You should just message Kyle on FB or call him. He helped me run through the amp because I'm stupid like that even though he was about to hop on a call with one of his dealers.

Yeah, but I'll change the pre tube first and see the results. If it fails to improve! I'll contact him for sure. He's pretty cool to deal with. Great dude for sure.

Chris

 

[hstlaurent]

Hmmmmm, the Peters is more raw, aggressive and open. More in your face, leans towards a Marshally roar.

The Rhodes is more polished, smooth and compressed. More tonal options of course but the Peters is more dynamic with your picking technique. More responsive let's say. The Rhodes has a unique tone all its own as does the Peters, so I need both and love both.

Thanks for the info. I saw a clip on youtube comparing the Rhodes to a bunch of other amps including 2 Peters. But it's really hard for me to tell the differences just from clips.

We can't have too many amps.

The clean, as of now, is a lot better on the Peters, it is the nicest clean i have ever heard too by the way. But I'll know better when i play with the pre tubes.

On a side note, the clean on my latest BE100 is fuckin' killer. Way better than the older version. Very chimey and open. It gets in the Peters category. Though the Peters has a gain knob making it more versatile. It gets nice overdrive tonEs too if you want.
Chris

I hear you. I like when I can get my cleans a bit dirty.

All these threads about Rhodes and Peters give me serious GAS. Can't do anything about it until I get my tax return.