From rohanbaker@rabbit.com.au Mon Mar 12 22:04:04 2001
Subject:Re(3) Tweaking the XK-2

G'day list,

Thanks all for the feedback, it is much apreciated. The reason I was thinking of puting a tube preamp prior to the 122 (or other tube leslie) was that I thought that the signal coming from the XB-1 was a little cold and "solid state", and not to get the preamp to make a leslie sim sound more like a tube leslie. I think I might try the leslie striaght from the XB-1 before I decide to do any complicated mods to accomidate an "enhanced" signal chain. This shouldn't be to much of a problem, as the dealer that sold me the XB-1 is the Aussie importer of H-Z, and sells second hand Hammonds/Leslies as well.

David, regarding the beating problem, the XB-1 has a page in its edit menu, that is caled the "Oscillator" page. There it gives you an option of having the oscilator's phase continuity on or off, and I find that while it still beats, it is far less noticable than with the phase cont. off. I think that this is also available on the XK-2, as the XK-2 is essentially the big sister of the XB-1. Can any XK-2 owner confirm this? On the XB-1 this perameter is under the "Animation" group of pages in the patch edit section, not the global settings section.

I have heard via the Hamtech list, that H-Z have been working hard on the beating problem, and have trialed a new version of the XB-3, called the XB-3m. Aparently, in a blindfolded listening test with Joey D, he incorectly guessed the Hammond from the clone once out of five, and was annoyed with himself. That's all the info I have, and would be curious if anyone else has heard further on the matter.

Oh, you thought that the Aussie CX-3 price was steep, well the XB-3 retails over here (the last time I saw) with matching (new) 122 for A$20,000. The last XB-5 that the dealer had in stock sold for A$13,000, and that was 2 years ago. Needles to say only 2 XB-3's are owned privately in this country, and one of them by Tim Neal, an excellent Jazz organist with the "Paul Williamson Hammond Combo". I nearly fell over backwards when I saw its condition, as the cabinite looks like it has been giged with heavily for the last 30 years!!! (it's only 5 years old) To put A$20k into perspective for US readers, a Nissan Pulsar and entry level Chrysler Neon, retails for roughly A$20k.

Regards

Rohan Baker

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Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2001 04:04:26 -0800
From: "David Jacques"
Subject: RE: Re: Tweaking the XK-2

Interesting... But you forget to mention the one problem with the XK2 and
XB2 that you can do nothing about... And that is the tuning problem that
causes the beating, especially when driven through a real Leslie or Pro3.
Ever think Hammond will do anything about that? It drove me crazy.
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