[HAM] XK3 and Pro145

[William Mark Bristow]

Guys,

Took the XK3 and Pro145 to one of our Prison Tent Crusades in Las Cruces
last weekend.  (We do these several times a year in Texas and New Mexico,
and I usually carry a Hammond XB-5 (2 manual XB-2 with full pedals and 2
High Powered JBL equipped 760’s – I also own a stock B2 & stock 145 and an
EIS B3 chop with full pedals and 2 Bill Beer High Power 122’s.)  

 

The band from Oasis Christian Center in Carlsbad was with us and uses a
sound system of 4 Peavey self powered 550w mains (2 forward – 2 back of the
tent) plus 2 Crown 400w amps to power 4 Peavey monitor wedges with 15”
woofers.  There were 4 guitars all with high power amps, 1 bass with high
power amp and 1 keyboard run thru the system and 5 singers, Roland digital
drums, and a horn player.  I decided to try the smaller rig to see what it
would do.  We had about 300 men in and around the tent – and were using the
sound to cover about a 5 acre yard.  The services/concerts are
set/preaching/ministry/set most of the day Saturday & Sunday.

 

As I was playing bass only when “padding” altar services when the band
wasn’t playing – I didn’t use any sub (my Pro-145 does have the Eminence
Delta 12LF upgrade from the stock Beta 12).  

 

The thing did amazingly well.  (I had never been really happy with the
Pro145 since I bought it about 8 months ago and have used it very little.
Finally realized the best sound is to turn OFF the tube pre-amp in the XK3
and utilize only the tube in the Pro145.  After fiddling with the controls
on the Pro145 thru two sets – I finally settled on all controls at “N” or
“5” except gain which was at “6” and when playing bass, I had BASS set to
about “6 ½” (As I was not using a Subwoofer – the Sub Out was “0”).  

 

The Pro145 was able to be heard quite well without miking – (real outboard
mics are preferable to the onboard mics in the Pro-145 in my experience).
The XK3 was at about ¼ to ½ volume.  Treble/MID/Bass on the XK3 were all at
0 – no plus or minus.

 

I’ve fiddled with the XK3 enough now to be able to split the keyboard and
set the bass to “mono” and thus play “little” finger bass lines – and chord
with the other fingers of the left hand (adjusting the drawbars so I can
play an octave lower to accommodate the manual bass in the bottom octave).
Thus with a little adjustment to my style of Gospel, I can play bass lines,
left hand chords, and right hand – all from the keyboard without pedals.

 

If I were leading with the organ, I might want my larger rig – but playing
pad, licks, and occasional leads with the band – the Pro145 and XK3 were
great.

 

When I first got the Pro145, I posted quite a gripe about it being really
muddy – now I realize that was my doing by trying to use the Tube preamp in
the XK.  

 

Unloading today, I set the unit up as I had it set at the prison – and
played it next to my 1953 B2 and 1966 145.  The differences are negligible
in an A/B test to my hearing.

 

Although I’ll probably keep my Leslie 2101 (top) for air travel – the Pro145
will now go for all my other setups with the XK3 (I’ve used the Leslie 2101
top Rotary unit and run the bottom thru a Roland KC-550 Keyboard Amp with
180 watts – and it will handle the Prison Band – but I like the real bottom
rotor of the Pro145 rather than the sim of the 2101). 

 

I have tweaked all the speed controls in the Pro145 until it sounds
identical to the Leslie 145 I have.  The fast/slow speeds and ramp up/down
times were not at all to my liking out of the box. 

 

Hope this helps those of you looking at the Pro145.  Of course, I’m waiting
to hear the new Leslie 3300 – who knows – my 760’s and 2101 and Pro145 may
go bye-bye on eBay if the 3300 is all it claims.  

Mark Bristow