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#357036 - 12/20/12 04:20 AM Re: That Hammond sound? [Re: Diki]
cgiles Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/29/05
Posts: 6703
Loc: Roswell,GA/USA
Originally Posted By: Diki
that reminds me of an old joke...

What does a German organist do at the most tender, heart wrenching, emotional moment of the entire evening?

He briefly puts the Leslie to slow..!


Hilarious! Gosh, I can't stop laughing.

chas
_________________________
"Faith means not wanting to know what is true." [Nietzsche]

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#357055 - 12/20/12 08:19 AM Re: That Hammond sound? [Re: cgiles]
captain Russ Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 01/02/04
Posts: 7305
Loc: Lexington, Ky, USA
I regularly use a 147RV and a 145 with a B-3...maybe 4 times a month.

I also use a Nord (usually, an Electro) or old XB-2 with a Motion sound top box. I love doppler sound, but I think that 10 feet from the amplification, it's hard to tell the real thing from some simulators.

It's kind of like tube vs. transistor amplification. While I'm playing, I think I can really tell the difference, but when someone sits in on my gig, it's not so obvious from out in the crowd.

I just get a sound that will work and go on with it.

Each Hammond is different and each player is different.

However it's done, I LOVE those rotating horns!


Russ

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#357058 - 12/20/12 08:53 AM Re: That Hammond sound? [Re: Tonewheeldude]
Tony Hughes Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 01/30/06
Posts: 3944
Originally Posted By: Tonewheeldude
I will definitely ask them Diki.

Regarding the illusive "Hammond Sound", having worked for Hammond for 13 years and now with KeyB (My Father imports them into the UK) I can testify that...

Chas is totally right...and also totally wrong.

I quickly learned the Hammond sound is different from one person to another. For instance the retired Gentleman who owned a Hammond Elegante for 40 years will have a very different 'benchmark' to the young wippersnapper who owns an L100 and a beaten up 145 leslie running to the point of signal breakup (overdrive) and very different to the middle aged guy who used an X5 with a 760 for 10 years in the 70s.

And then you also have to consider the benchmark of the old Korg BX owners, XB2 owners etc.

So chas is right..peoples 'benchmark' of the Hammond sound (just like the electric Piano sound) is something personal to each player depending on their own instrument and favoured artis (e.g. Jimmy Smith vs Klaus Wunderlich)...but..

In dealing with literally hundreds of players across the face of the earth, there is one truth, one undeniable fact that all agree on and not a single one of these players will argue that a nice condition B3 through PR40 does not have the Hammond sound. And there is your point of reference. Even before the Leslie is added the fundamental sound generation has to be addressed.

Any Hammond clone needs to first emulate everything about the analogue nature of a B3 (or A100/C3), not just pure sinewaves as the B3 was anything but pure, but all the tiny details that build up the sound (the sligh random slap of the currect as contact touches bussbars, the gentle overtones as signal leaks through the resistance wires etc, etc, then effect such as vibrato and chorus need to be properly addressed. Only then can you think about simulating or reproducing the final effect..a Leslie.

So is Chas right when he says the Audience does not know when your using a reasonable hammond immitation? Yes he is right!

But, you put that exact same Audience in front of a B3 and Leslie and watch the difference in their response to the sound..boy do they know it! They might not know why its different, or even what is different but the reaction is completely tangible and electric. I have seen this happen so many times over the years.


TWD,

To be honest I don't know of anyone out there who knows more about Hammonds than you do and I agree with everything you have said here, hence your SZ name TWD. If you want the Hammond sound buy an old lump and a good Leslie speaker and start practising left hand, stop trying to pretend your KB sounds and feels like a Hammond, yours was made in Italy rotf2

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#357066 - 12/20/12 10:14 AM Re: That Hammond sound? [Re: Tom Cavanaugh]
Dnj Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/21/00
Posts: 43703
A Hammond is a Hammond....Period....Nuff said!

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#357072 - 12/20/12 10:43 AM Re: That Hammond sound? [Re: Tom Cavanaugh]
ianmcnll Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 07/27/05
Posts: 10606
Loc: Cape Breton Island, Canada
Yes, a Hammond is a Hammond, alright...425 lbs. of furniture, and most, if not all, in the listening audience couldn't tell it from a well done clonewheel that weighs less than the music rack on a B-3.

Ian
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Yamaha Tyros4, Yamaha MS-60S Powered Monitors(2), Yamaha CS-01, Yamaha TQ-5, Yamaha PSR-S775.

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#357077 - 12/20/12 11:02 AM Re: That Hammond sound? [Re: ianmcnll]
Dnj Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/21/00
Posts: 43703
Originally Posted By: ianmcnll
Yes, a Hammond is a Hammond, alright...425 lbs. of furniture, and most, if not all, in the listening audience couldn't tell it from a well done clonewheel that weighs less than the music rack on a B-3.

Ian


Ian you are so wrong and Yamatized..... surprised
nothing sounds like a B3 w/a 147 Leslie.....everything else is part of the GREATNESS that is the HAMMOND Sound! headphone

As a kid this was and still is one of my favorite group the vanilla Fudge doing the BREAK SONG....listen to the Hammond solo at 9:30.....this was rock and roll this was Mark Stein on Hammond Organ yeah!!



Edited by Dnj (12/20/12 11:15 AM)

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#357079 - 12/20/12 11:19 AM Re: That Hammond sound? [Re: Dnj]
ianmcnll Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 07/27/05
Posts: 10606
Loc: Cape Breton Island, Canada
Originally Posted By: Dnj
Originally Posted By: ianmcnll
Yes, a Hammond is a Hammond, alright...425 lbs. of furniture, and most, if not all, in the listening audience couldn't tell it from a well done clonewheel that weighs less than the music rack on a B-3.

Ian


Ian you are so wrong and Yamatized..... surprised
nothing sounds like a B3 w/a 147 Leslie.....everything else is part of the GREATNESS that is the HAMMOND Sound! headphone


Words such as these coming from a true Korgian devotee, Donny...I'm impressed. I think you owe it to yourself to buy a B-3 and start carting it around, and use it to hold up your little Korg. wink

In the real world, most of the audience wouldn't know a real B-3 from a good clonewheel, even though a Hammond is a Hammond. In fact, in a blind test, most of us who even played Hammonds for many years, would have a tough time discerning the genuine article from one of the more recent clones.

I'm just glad that lugging around that big piece of furniture is a thing of the past. My Tyros4 does an exemplary job of mimicking a Hammond and it's only 390 lbs lighter!

Ian
_________________________
Yamaha Tyros4, Yamaha MS-60S Powered Monitors(2), Yamaha CS-01, Yamaha TQ-5, Yamaha PSR-S775.

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#357080 - 12/20/12 11:26 AM Re: That Hammond sound? [Re: Tom Cavanaugh]
Dnj Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/21/00
Posts: 43703
Ian ...funny you should say that as yes I carried around a customized B3 & cut in half 147 Leslie,...plus other Synths & Rhodes EP with my bands many years & played hundreds of shows in the 60's 70's..as an everyday thing for small jobs it's not feasible...but with a touring band or house jobs it's a must for the player and the audience which deserve the best which is HAMMOND! Even though the clones are pretty good in my mind I always am thinking of what a REAL B3 sounds like.....enjoy.

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#357085 - 12/20/12 11:33 AM Re: That Hammond sound? [Re: Tom Cavanaugh]
ianmcnll Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 07/27/05
Posts: 10606
Loc: Cape Breton Island, Canada
Not many touring bands using a real B-3 anymore, with the exception of the real big name groups, perhaps, but most are using clonewheels.

Ian
_________________________
Yamaha Tyros4, Yamaha MS-60S Powered Monitors(2), Yamaha CS-01, Yamaha TQ-5, Yamaha PSR-S775.

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#357086 - 12/20/12 11:39 AM Re: That Hammond sound? [Re: ianmcnll]
captain Russ Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 01/02/04
Posts: 7305
Loc: Lexington, Ky, USA
Several years ago, I bought a C from a church in my hometown...pristine condition, with a Hammond cabinet and C 60 cabinet. A well-off member bought the church a Rogers.

My B stays at a Faculty/Alumni Club, where I play it with a duo or trio for jazz nights-usually, about 4 nights a month.

There is another faculty club on campus (The original one is in an old mansion on a historic horse farm now owned by the University), and the members there want jazz Sunday afternoons.

I'm thinking about refinishing the C and cabinets in white. It will sit at 90 degrees to an ebony Steinway grand.

The B has to be moved into position for each gig. The C will stay in one place in a large lobby/reception area...thus, the refinish job.

I'll probably use a Synth over the C (probably a "slightly used" Roland SH-201) and something like the Nord Electro over the grand, for strings, Rhodes and Vibes.

GOTTA LOVE IT!


Russ

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