[HAM] Chopped Leslie and the xk-3

[William Mark Bristow]

Steve,

--My first thought on the XK-3 is that is certainly is brighter sounding 
> than my 40 year old C-3. ... [snip]
--No matter what, it's not a tonewheel, and I guess I shouldn't expect 
> to replace a real console. . . . [snip]

I'm curious to your age and experience with Hammonds?  Playing M-1s, M-3s,
A-100s, B2s, B3s, RT-3s, etc., since 1965 -- Hammonds and Leslies varied all
across the board in degrees of brightness and mud.  The 1970's produced some
very bright thin (terrible) sounding brand new B3s and siblings to my ear.
Much depended on the tone control setting by the tech when the organ was
installed in a home or church.  Some depended on the resistance wires, the
caps, etc.  Some depends on the room acoustics.

In Louisville, KY there is a very large church with an RT-3 and 2 122's of
very different age.  One 122 is probably from the early 1960's and the other
is from the mid 1970's.  They have different age crossover networks (one wax
caps, one mylar) -- and they sound very different.  One is very bright and
one is very muddy.  Both have the stock Jensen v-21 and the PL15 bass. --
played off the same organ.

I have a 1953 B2 and a 145 Leslie dating to about 1968.  Both are stock --
and sound nearly identical to the XK-3 run thru the 145. 

To my ear, the XK-3 - New B3 and siblings sound like the best of the
tonewheels I've ever played.  Will they still be playable 50 plus years
later like my 1953 B2 or my 1962 C3 EIS chop?  I doubt it -- but as you
said, "I can carry it under my arm."

Use the tone control eq and set the thing the way it sounds good to you.
That's what we did with the tone pots on the old B3's and siblings -- and
that's why my EIS C3 Chop has full active eq -- when playing in different
venues, the acoustics make the organ sound very different.  Tweak the eq to
the sweet spot you want to hear.

It took me a while of playing with the XK-3 to master the controls and get
to where I could tweak the settings on the fly while playing -- but it can
produce any Hammond sound you want -- and there are internal settings to
play with to change the characteristics of the tone generator itself - so
you can hear exactly what you want to hear.
Good luck,
Mark Bristow