Recording a Wurlitzer Electric Piano
In an age when we have digital versions of almost every keyboard instrument ever made, it can still be fun to go back to the source and record the original instruments. The iconic instruments that were such a large part of the sound of the ’50s through the ’70s — Hammond’s B3 organ (coupled, naturally, with a Leslie cabinet), Hohner’s D6 Clavinet, and the electric pianos of the era — were an integral part of pop, country, and jazz records.
So let’s talk about electric pianos. The Wurlitzer electric piano was first introduced around 1954, with the classic Model 200A making its appearance in 1968. RMI’s Electra-piano followed in 1970. This instrument should be very familiar to fans of Genesis, Yes, and Deep Purple because of those groups’ extensive use of it in the mid ’70s. Next came the Fender Rhodes in 1975, and finally we have Yamaha’s CP-70 Electric Grand Piano, which replaced the RMI on Genesis records after its introduction in 1978. It was also used by Billy Joel, Elton John, Jethro Tull, and many other groups.
All of these electric pianos are still used today; after all, when you want the characteristic sound of those instruments, why not go to the source rather than a copy? We’ll discuss recording techniques for some of the other electric keyboards in future issues, but today we’ll talk about a couple of different ways to record one of the legendary electric pianos — the Wurlitzer electric piano.
The Wurlitzer electric piano, usually referred to as a “Wurly,” uses a single steel reed for each note; this is one of the two defining characteristics of the Wurly sound. The other is the tremolo, which has a fixed rate but a variable depth. (As a comparison, the Fender Rhodes electric piano uses tines that have more of a bell-like tone, and some models have a tremolo control allowing you to control both the tremolo rate and intensity.) Though early Wurly models had tube-based amps, including the Wurly that Ray Charles played on “What’d I Say,” the solid-state Model 140 was introduced in 1962. In 1968 the Model 200, with removable legs, a plastic body, and two speakers that faced the player, was introduced.
If there’s a standard way to record a Wurly, it’s to follow this process. First, locate the two 1/4″ jacks underneath the piano, which are on the left (from the player’s perspective) or bass side. The jack closest to the keys is a headphone jack, labeled “Phones” the other is an unbalanced output, labeled “Aux.” Turn the Wurly all the way up, plug the output jack into your DI of choice, then route it to a preamp and into your workstation. Since the speakers will still be working, you’ll need to take a dummy plug (or really, another guitar cable) and plug it into the headphone jack to interrupt the signal to the speakers on the front of the piano.
Back in the day, engineers might put a mic on one of the speakers on the front of the piano. Because of the small size (and low wattage) of those speakers, the sound is somewhat bandwidth limited — and possibly a bit more distorted. Listen to pianist Barry Beckett’s performance on the Staples Singers’ “I’ll Take You There” for a great example of the miked speaker sound.
A third approach to recording the Wurly is to plug it into a separate amplifier. While most engineers will gravitate toward a Fender amp like a Deluxe or a Vibrolux Reverb when recording a Wurly through an amp, experimentation may lead you to something that works even better — maybe a classic Marshall or perhaps something like a Leslie cabinet.
We’ve used all three approaches when recording the Wurly that lives in the Sweetwater Studios. Though not all engineers have regular access to classic keyboards like the Wurlitzer Model 200, this little primer will at least give you a head start if one does show up in your studio.