From bruce@ashbysolutions.com Tue Nov 13 06:03:41 2001
Subject:Re: Nit Picking

Dan,

>May we ask what tube preamp you use, any why? How does it change the sound
>versus just feeding the CX-3 into the Leslie?

I use the ART Dual MP. I chose it for three reasons: 1) it has a less
drastic amount of gain with relatively even response, when compared to
guitar-style preamps; 2) it is rack mountable; 3) it is moderately priced.

I use both halves of the preamp, sending Channel 1 back into Channel 2. I
set both channels to a rather low-gain setting: Channel 1 is set to just
start barely clip (red LED) on louder passages at "rhythm" volume, while
Channel 2 is set to just start to clip on a heavy palm gliss at full
volume, with lots of drawbars.

The preamp adds a warm, round mid and low-mid feel to the sound, and breaks
up in a manner that is more realistic (IMHO) than the built-in overdrive of
the CX-3. I should say, that I DO use the CX-3 overdrive, however, for
certain situations; if I need a distorted sound at low volumes, I back down
on the volume control on the organ, but kick up the Amp Gain and expression
pedal settings. This is somewhat analogous to the old orchestra trick of
putting a loud trumpet offstage: It produces the desired timbres, without
the unwanted volume levels. I also use it to add additional overdrive for
a heavy-overdrive sound like Jon Lord used on the Machine Head album. I
find that the tube preamp masks enough of the inaccuracies of the simulated
overdrive, when used in this manner.

I also use a MOSFET power amp -- these days, it's an old Ashly FET-1500 --
which is an important part of the equation. MOSFET amps don't overdrive as
easily as tube amps, but their overload characteristics are similar, and
they add much of the same warmth to the sound. The combination of a
moderately-driven tube preamp, fed to a MOSFET amp, sounds a lot like a
tube power amp, IMHO.

Regards,

-BW

--
Bruce Wahler
Design Consultant
Ashby Solutions™ www.ashbysolutions.com
CloneWheel Support Group and HiNote moderator
978.386.7389 voice 978.964.0547 fax
bruce@ashbysolutions.com