[HAM] Jimmy Smith's B3

[William Mark Bristow]

Guys,

When I purchased my High Power 122’s and other equipment from Bill Beer – we
talked extensively about his available products and mods.  Among other
things, Bill told me Jimmy Smith had one of his portables with 2 of his HP
122’s.   It was purchased in the early 1980’s.  It had volume, active
treble, bass, reverb, percussion boost pots and had Bill’s “wire-down” mod
where the 16 foot drawbar went all the way down on the lower manual for a
heavier keyboard bass.  The Leslies had either 2482 or 2485 JBL top drivers
(same acoustics) and JBL E-140 bass drivers.  Both had Bill’s KP-180
bi-amped 100/100 watt custom amp with solid-state switching.  The organ had
an extra toggle switch near the slow/fast which enabled you to change
slow/fast to stop/fast.  The Leslie 16 ohm treble driver and 8 ohm bass
driver gave the amp about 100 watts bass and 80 watts treble.  The solid
state Leslies improved reliability for touring and play roughly 2 ½ times
the volume of a stock 122 for large venues.  

The organ had the original pedal keyboard portabalized and was connected by
a long cable which came out the left end of the pedal switch box and ran
along the ground then up the left front leg to a connector behind the left
front leg.  The volume pedal was connected by cable – it was a light powered
Hammond volume pedal from an X66 or X77 and the cable attached behind the
right front leg.  The organ had one of Bill’s propriety solid-state
pre-amps.  The output panel on the back of the organ had effects loops ¼
jacks, 2 122 outputs (Bill’s Leslie amps appear to the organ as stock 122),
a jack for Bill’s add-on AC line conditioner cycle converter which provided
60 cycles from 50 cycles or from an unstable gas power generator and could
transpose the organ in discreet half-steps.  There was also a ¼ line out
jack.

The organ was covered in black tolex and had Bill’s trademark aluminum
trough under the lower manual where the start/run was mounted above the
right cheek block, and the treble / eq pots / Leslie slow-fast mounted above
the left cheek block.  The preamp was a card behind the nameplate in the
lower left cheek block.  The organ and upholstered bench had the RMI style
metal nickel-plated “hair-pin” folding legs.  At the time these were
manufactured by the Woodstock Metal Company in Woodstock, Illinois which is
now out of business.  Bob Schleicher bought the patent on the legs and
hinges and has a local company machine them up for his chops.  Bill Beer had
the legs either nickel plated (looks like chrome) or later black anodized –
the chrome “bloomed” or glared on camera for video work.  

The organ shown on the bborgan site looks like a Bill Beer organ refinished
with the aluminum trough removed and further mods from Bill’s work.  Bill
seldom mounted things in the keyboard plastic endblocks – too hard to lift
the manuals to get the things out for service – everything was in the
aluminum trough for easy removal and service.

The organ had the tone-generator and keyboards removed, cleaned,
recalibrated to Bill’s custom chart – buss bars and contacts cleaned and
lubed – a complete rebuild before everything went into Bill’s portable case.

Now, whether Jimmy used any of Bill’s mods when playing – or how often he
gigged with the BB rig – remains to be seen.  I never saw Jimmy play the
rig.  And every picture I have seen is with a stock B3.  I have never heard
a recording of Jimmy on the Bill Beer rig.  The solid-state amp and JBL
drivers give Bill’s Leslies a very distinctive sound that any BB owner would
recognize instantly.  The JBL drivers have a treble “ring” that is
unmistakable.  

http://www.captain-foldback.com/audio/money.mp3 is a classic example of a
Bill Beer organ and High Power Leslie sound.  That is definitely not on ANY
recording I have ever heard of Jimmy Smith.

Mark Bristow