Hohner Pianet T

found a manual on the web- took about 0.5 seconds to download the four pages. some useful info on the last page, but most of what you need to know is here somewhere. clavinet.com will sell you new "hammer" pads if you need them. I have developed a couple of other maintenance tips which follow. it is easier to set up & look after than a fender esquire. very basic, & immediately satisfying.

fully polyphonic 5 octaves. hasn't even got a volume control. I'd suggest a comp/limiter for starters, then add tremelo, reverb &c to taste. once set up, though, the as-nature-intended sound is quite sweet on it's own.
it's about the size of a rectangular guitar case & about twice as heavy as same when holding a les paul or something of that ilk. easy to schlepp, therefore. lid opens back to reveal keys. some instances still have the optional legs, though many have lost them. there are holes in the lid for a music stand but I've never seen one.

not quite as expressive as a rhodes, but then it isn't quite as heavy or expensive either. far less grief than a rhodes or a wurli, & to be honest, if it's set up properly & run through a nice valve amp, you'd be hard-pushed to notice the difference.
the feel is a bit odd- light-ish action, notes sustain while a key is held but shut off instantly when a key is released because of the strange mechanism.... no sustain pedal possible. the key lifts a rubber mallet off of the tine & the stiction is what "plucks" the note. the tine has a small brass weight at the end, glued or soldered, while the pickup responds to the steel of the tine itself. each key has it's own bit of pickup coil underneath, but it's a single large pickup in reality.

mine worked after being through the normal british post with a decent swathing of bubble-wrap. I'd imagine it would survive anything that a regular wooden guitar case would.

ok... here's MY customer support.
1) clean the tines, especially where the rubber mallets touch them. the stiction is how this thing works. get rid of all the rust, make a nice smooth area for the mallet.
2) check the pickup distance to each tine by plucking them with the keyboard removed. make sure the tine doesn't foul the tip of the pickup. bend the pickup arms gently. keep the gap free of metal fragments left over from tuning/filing.
3) clean or replace the mallets- use warm soapy water.
4) make sure that the mallets are free from grease & exactly perpendicular to the tine's upper surface. again, maximum stiction is the goal here. if a note goes weak, turn the mallet around & give it a quick wipe, then turn it back.
5) if you have a weak note that sounds ok acoustically, it's possible that the tine has been slightly demagnetised. this can happen with age or as a result of filing it to pitch... I know, I didn't believe it either, but it's true. you can restore the magnetism & thus the volume of a weak note by removing the tine & resting it's tip against one pole-piece of a strat/tele pickup for ten minutes.

there. hope this helps someone.

fab. smaller, lighter, cheaper & easier to look after than a rhodes or a wurli. probably won't get nicked because it looks like a scruffy guitar case. sounds mellow at the top & centre of it's range but with a nice bark at the bottom end- this is apparent even without distortion in the amp because it's due to the pickup coil being saturated by the mass of the low-end tines. good solid engineering & it fits exactly on top of my mellotron 400.
could go on all night about other stuff I have, but I know this little piano's a keeper.

simple as it gets,one output, no knobs, very easy to maintain and work on if needed.

Again no, features except its amazing sound. This is electro-mechanical..hit key..key lifts pad off tuned metal tine causing it to vibrate over a pick up. I recommend replacing the pads with the Super Sticky Pianet T pads at www.clavinet.com .
Yes it only makes one sound but that sound is extremely usable in many many types of music.

This is the best all around electrical-mechanical piano you can buy. I play through the Route 66 comp/overdrive and it works great.
Ive owned a Rhodes 73, and all things considered (including that a Rhodes weighs 110+lbs and this weighs 40 lbs)I like the Pianet better.
The only thing mechanically better on a Rhodes or Wurli is the action, these are spring loaded keys instead of hammer.
But its action is still suffice!
All this malarkey about it being a poor mans rhodes is BS, its a SMART mans Rhodes. You have to be smart enough to realize theres no pre-amp and you need one in your effects loop or a really good amp..
Hohner Rocks.Get over brand names and prestige...
then you can go out and get an electric piano for $150 instead of $850

Yes I would and will gig with this/ thats why I got it instead of a wurli or rhodes, you just pick it up by its handle and your off.
I wouldnt worry about gigging with it without a back up,because just like my clavinet, I can fix any problems myself on the spot. No electronics to fry, like workin on old Ford, just open the hood and it all right there.

N/A calvinet.com is best the best resource for this pianet, I ve found all I needed to know there.

If anyone touches my Pianet T I'll mutliate um', I would replace it though because there is no other option for an affordable real electrical-mechanical piano, I hope they stay reasonable priced.

Addendum to my previous post: I bought a cheap, 9vac powered tube preamp, and was amazed at the improvement. Running into my solid-state Roland kc300 results in loud, warm, clean sound. I suspect a more expensive tube pre would be even better.

Haven't used them for this, but they've been amazingly helpful with other hohner products.

The Hohner Pianet T is completely idiot-proof. It's the most portable, road-proof electric piano ever built.

There's just one output (Hi-Z, kind of) and black and white blocks which produce sound when you push them (what a surprise). Keyboard action is quite nice, not like pushing a pack of molten butter like most synthesizers. Instead of a lot of mediocre tricks, this instrument does one trick very well. Versatile? No, but it doesn't have to be.

All pianet models are a bit less expressive than Wurlitzers and Fenders. There's no sustain pedal, and the velocity is a bit less accurate. The aftertouch has a small "click" in it. This isn't a problem, these things make up the unique "Lo-Fi" sound of the Hohner. The sound ranges from the sweetness of a music box to a barking Rottweiler. It is a real instrument and it feels like you're playing a real instrument (which is inspirational).

I play a T model live, in the studio I also play a Pianet N. These instruments, especially the Pianet T, are diamonds in the rough. The key to making any Pianet sound good, is using the right amp. Overdrive pedals, compressors and equalizers can be solutions, but they are still a compromise.

My advise? Get a proper tube amp. Stay away from transistor and solid-state stuff, unless there are tubes in the power stage. In my experience, especially Fender, Musicman and Hohner amps sound good. 10 inch speakers tend to flatter the sound, and a tremelo is always a plus for EP's. Some recommendations: Fender Blues series, Fender Bassman, Hohner Orgaphon, Dynacord Twen and Amigo, and any tube Vox or Musicman amp will do fine. I use a Musicman RP 112 Sixty-Five amp, which is especially good because it has a five-band EQ. Most guitar amps don't have this feature, while most of the attack in the Hohner pianet T is in the upper frequencies.

With the right amp, you get an instrument that sounds like you're in EP heaven. The pianet T IS NOT the instrument you hear on "I am the Walrus", "Lazy Sunday" and "Chinese Checkers", but with the knobs of your amp in the right positions it does have an unmistakable sixties/seventies charm.

The T model is more dependable than other Pianet models, since there is no pre amp which you can blow up. Just a month ago, I was recording with a pianet N when the transformer broke down and all fuses blew out. I just got out my pianet T, and continued recording. I play gigs with it every week and use it without a backup all the time. I strike the keyboard quite hard and I've never broken anything, plus it NEVER detunes. This is because of the excellent "plucking" mechanism.

Don't know, but I think you'll never need them. You can get new sticky pads online. Don't try and tune an pianet yourself, because you can easilty remove too much material from the tines which is irreversible. Get someone experienced to do this, this is a good investment because pianets only require to be tuned once every ten million years ;-).

If it were lost or stolen, I'd lay down on the kitchen floor and cry for a week. Then I would travel over mountains and seas to replace it. I've been playing saxophone and keyboards since I was a kid, I also own a Roland RS-5 Synthesizer and have some old sixties organs on loan. I use my Hohner Pianet the most, I love everything about it. I just wish it had a hand so I could put a ring on a finger and marry it. With the right amp, it's truly inspirational and absolute joy to play. Email me if you want to hear a pianet in action, I can send you mp3's of my band.

So easy. Easier than a guitar. Real electric piano sound that you can carry by yourself.

Action is not piano-like, but smooth. It's easy to play fast and light on these, but you can play as hard as you like and never break a reed. No way to sustain except manually holding the note. Demands a good preamp, or a good amp with lots of clean gain. I use a Roland KC 300, plugging in to the mic jack for a little more gain without too much noise.

Sounds great. It's not really fair to compare to the Wurli or Rhodes, since it has it's own sound, but it has the wonderful low end bark of the Wurli and the high end bell tones of the Rhodes. With a tremelo and distortion pedal you're in electric piano heaven.

You cannot find a more reliable keyboard. Simple mechanics, easy maintenance. Wash your hammer pads in soapy water once or twice a year. That's it. No tuning, no broken reeds.

No need.

Totally underappreciated. These things are virtually impossible to mess up, and sound better than any electronic keyboard. Lighter, simpler, and easier to maintain than a Wurli or Rhodes. Cheap to buy, cheap to maintain, why would anyone ever lug around anything else when this thing sounds so good?

The easiest of all electric pianos to use. No mains leads, no tone controls, no nonsense. It always sounds good.

It doesn't have any features beyond its great sound and ease of use. This is a proper musical instument, not some transistor driven simulator. It should come with a music stand which fits on top of the keyboard when packed away. It has a key cover built into the case.

There is not much to distinguish it from a Wurlitzer when you play them side by side, which I have. Most Rhodes, Wurlitzer recordings you hear have, of course, been heavily treated with effects/production. No two instruments ever sound the same. This is of the same quality. A sustain pedal would have been nice.

Much more reliable than other electric pianos I have used. There isn't much to go wrong. Unlike its contemporaries, it can be easily transported with no effect on tuning or performance. Miles better to gig than a suitcase 54.

If you should ever need support, it's very easy to locate. All service parts appear to be available. Like other electric pianos, parts do seem quite expensive.

I bought mine quite cheaply some years ago (I suspect from the prices quoted by other reviewers that they, too, haven't bought one recently). To get a nice one, you will need to spend about ?250-300. I saw a very nice one for ?500. They make these prices on ebay, and more through private deals, which is probably the best way to buy one.

You get a classy, authentic electric piano sound with a Pianet. There are no transistors, circuit boards or mains leads. If you record with one, everyone will think you used a Wurlizer or Rhodes. It has that sound. Though, make no mistake, it is a true classic in its own right. Being so compact, it is a great instrument for gigging. It will also leave you valuable space in your studio for that Hammond, CS80 etc that you have been promising yourself. Reliability is also a big plus point with the Pianet.

In terms of sound, portability and reliability, the Pianet is very good news. A much better overall proposition than its contemporaries, in most ways. It is also a much cheaper purchase, though I suspect that, as with the Wurlitzer, prices soon will/are speeding skywards.

As others have already commented - It's about the simplest intrument on earth. Take a jac lead from the output on the back into an amp or the auxiallary input of your stereo - And play!

It's also very easy to service, but I'll come onto that later.

It's fully polyphonic - (one of the reasons it weighs so much...) - as you'd expect from a reed/hammer electric piano. It doesn't really have any features as such. There are no volume/tone pots or anything external on the unit itself.

Given that these were made from the mid 70's to the early 80's they're not MIDI compatible, but then no electric pianos are - They are all too old.

THe keys are pressure-sensetive, but no to the same degree as a Rhodes or Wurlitzer - Nonetheless, they are responsive, and do react to the player's touch. THe action is nice - Not really fully weighted, but like organ keys with a partial weight effect. I think it's fair to say you'd buy one of these for the tone & the sound rather than the features, but what it has is nice. THe one thing I wish it had that it doesn't have the facility for is a sustain pedal.

Now you're talking.

I love te sound of the pianet T - It's quite variable if you have a decent amp. The lows are quite clunky & metallic, the mids are like other electric pianos but with almost more of a jazz guitar touch & the highs get almost vibraphone-like. You can't properly mask the tone with digital equipment - You can get quite close, but you don't get the feel or response of the mechanism. It's limitations dictate it's sound, if you see what I mean. On it's own, it's fairly plain-sounding, but a very nice sound. As I've said earlier, the keys are reasonably responsive, so you can get some funky tones out of this machine if you have the ideas.

Where the Pianet T really scores is when you attach some external effects through an amp with it. I use a little Danelectro Tuna Melt tremolo pedal with it, which gives similar tones to the vibrato effect you find on Rhodes or Wurlitzer electric pianos - Similar, but nicely different, if you see what I mean.

Effects work so well with the Pianet T because the electronics are passive, so where another electric piano would be overdriven by a distortion effect, they work with the Pianet beautifully!

The tone isn't really like a Wurlitzer or a Rhodes, but that doesn't make it bad - I really like it myself, and given they are considerably cheaper, I'd say if you find one in good nick, you'd be a fool to miss out!

This is another plus.

The internals are really simple to fix even if it does go wrong. If you're getting a low output on a note, just take the top off, re-adjust the angle of the rubber hammer on the reed and/or wash the hammer in midly soapy water, and BINGO! - sorted.

Genius.

My one's in concert - I'm not too sure how you'd adjust tuning if it's not - I noticed there are screws on the pickups themselves, but given the simplicity of the design I can't imagine it would be as hectic as a Rhodes or Wurlitzer to change if need be.

Mine needed a little TLC when I got it, but after an hour or two spent on it, it's great. They are made for gigging too, so I'd be pretty confident in saying that it's not kaput anytime soon!

Hohner don't make these anymore, but as I've said above, you don't really need it.

If the parts go wrong, new parts can be ordered off www.clavinet.com anyway.

I really like this instrument - And that's the thing - Like other good electric pianos, it IS an instrument, rather than just a keyboard. I'd get another one if I somehow lost mine, but I'd do well to get another one in such good condition.

I'd say if you find one in good nick under #200/#250 or equivalent you should go for it - I doubt they are going to depreciate anytime soon.

Plug a guitar cord from the Pianet T's output to an amp and that's it! No knobs, switches, buttons ... not even a power cord. Mine also has the original legs, which according to the manual were optional.

Features? What features? 60-keys and an output jack - that's it. Like others have said, it's all about the cleanliness of the reeds and pluckers and location of the pickups in relation to the reeds. Keyboard action is decent.

Fortunately, I play it through a Mackie 808M power mixer. With the EFX off, the Pianet T is pretty plain-sounding, BUT nice for jazzier playing. When played through the Mackie's delays, flanger, phaser, chorus, etc. this thing suddenly becomes a lot more fun. Other people have complained about the low output, but since i cleaned the pluckers and reeds, and got the distance between the reeds and pickups right, i have no problem with excessive hiss or rumble at higher volumes.

Since i cleaned up the internals, i've had no problems with keys playing at lower volumes. Overall, this Pianet T is pretty rugged and reliable.

N/A

If you want an "electric" piano that has a 1970's-ish sound, is portable, has easy up-keep and is pretty reliable, then i'd recommend the Pianet T. If your looking for sound characteristics from earlier model Pianets, Wurlitzer 200's or Fender Rhodes, then buy one of those, but be prepared to pay for it.

It IS simple, because there are no knobs, no clutter (just plug and play), but I will admit that since the volume is so unbalanced, you will have to figure out how to defeat this tendency, which is probably not so much the case with more modern keyboards.

60-note polyphony, and probably the most portability you'll ever find in a real electric piano. But that's it . . . sustain pedal is not even an option. But it does what it does well, and just like an electric guitar, it works nicely with a lot of external equipment.

I'm getting the impression that the sound of the Pianet T really varies. Some equipment does that. I've heard recordings and samples of the Pianet T that didn't impress me at all. I was therefore pleasantly surprised when I got mine (through ebay). I wouldn't stress TOO much that the Pianet T doesn't sound like a Wurly or a Rhodes. They're all electric pianos and use metal reeds, so there ARE similarities. My friend has a Wurlitzer 200A (nice!), and he thinks I can get a better sound for the opening solo to Floyd's "Sheep." It's not as "nasal" as the two more famous electric pianos, and you can't get it to "bark" as well by hitting the keys harder. The lower notes are also admittedly muddier and less defined (and a little too loud on mine). Having said that, it still sounds pretty. The highest of the notes become more and more like a vibraphone as you go up, while the middle register is more of a classic EP sound. Then again, if you bang out a chord, it starts sounding like an organ. A big improvement can be derived from using reverb and tremolo--warms it up a lot and gives it more of a classic sound. The others are right! It really sounds like an electric guitar if you add distortion! In short, no, it doesn't sound exactly like one of the more expensive electric pianos, but it sounds close enough for the money you're spending. These are cheap and they're never going to be as expensive as the other two. And it does sound awfully nice.

Built like a tank, no complex electronics to go on the fritz, and the most simple key mechanism an electric piano can offer. Like the others have mentioned, this is the one model of Pianet with the rubber pads instead of the treated leather ones, so you can wash them instead of having to replace them.

Not sure about Hohner's support for this older , discontinued gear, but some parts are now available through third party companies.

For just about anyone, I guess this could be a stepping stone towards one of the more classic (and expensive!) electric pianos, but if you simply have a passing interest, or don't care if you don't get those classic sounds EXACTLY, or if you see one for a good price, the Pianet T is a worthwhile and enlightening purchase. Don't worry, if it's working right, it will most certainly SOUND like an electric piano. That's a nice sound. Expect to do some nooding with preamps, compressors, etc, if you want to get an even sound or if you want to be able to record well with it. I do love it, though--it's got a lot of character and it's really nice on the ears.

This is the simplest keyboard (other than acoustic pianos). No controls or even volume, only an out jack. Plug and play !

It's a simple reed based electric piano.

No very dynamic but very beautiful sounding. It's not a rhodses and you cannot make it crackle like such. The sound it makes is quite "plain" but very beautiful actually !!

I find it's strong point in using is just like as electric guitar.

Being similiar in it's electronics to an elec. guitar (pickups, sound type) it has got it's real power when plugging it into a tube guitar amp, through a fuzz, delays or any other guitar peadals !!

You won't beleive what sounds it can make when used this way !!

Have you ever heard "The Retrun of the Gient Hogweed"?
That amazing sounding "guitarish" arpeggios on the begining is a Pianet T run into a germanium Tonebender. Tony Banks used to use it a lot on those records and it's just sounds amaing used in that context.

Still sounds very nice and gentle the conventional way, plugged into a monitor. A fantastic instrument !

Being old, mine has got out of tune due to age of parts, expecially the reeds which has oxided over the years. The pluckers loose the adhasive layer at their bottom, which is responsible for driveing the reeds when you push the keys. Most pianets found these days needs a new set of pluckes to be able to work correctly, otherwise many notes will sound weak. Reeds should also be replaced if you'd like to have it in tune.

I found a few resources on the web for replacement parts and they're not cheap.

Ther than that it's a very robuhst and steady instrument, very heavy as well.