[HAM] why are tonewheels superior?

[Magnus Enorson]

joe d wrote:
> eh...hmmm, actually not entirely "enough" in my opinion (but it can 
> sound great).
> I still prefer the real deal (and can hear/tell the diff).
>
> Plus, it's cheaper (real deal).  Yikes, that pricetag needs some 
> re-working.
You must be an amazingly good listener. I had a new "B3 portable" on a 
tv gig the other day, and I can honestly say that it's the first clone 
that could easily fool me completely. I can really only think of ONE 
single thing that didn't work/sound like the real deal, and that annoyed me:

When you play a big chord with all the drawbars at 8 and vibrato C3 on, 
like for an ending, and you back off the expression pedal all the way to 
zero - my tonewheel consoles still maintain a nice sizzling quality to 
the treble register; even though really soft volume-wise. The new B-3, 
however, lost the glow at the end of the pedal travel. The last half 
inch or so sounded like rolling off the passive tone control on an 
electric guitar. This is the one and only flaw I found in the thing, 
other than that I totally loved the way it played and sounded. In other 
words: Glue a rubber stop on the expression pedal to not let it go into 
the "dullifying" last bit of travel and I could never, never ever hear 
the difference. Honest to God.

I do, however, prefer the tonewheel versions still. No longer because of 
the unique sound - to me it no longer is unique, they finally nailed the 
cloning - but because of the tons of charm within its mechanical soul.

/Magnus