From aristontyler@hotmail.com Fri Nov 16 14:22:53 2001
Subject:Speakeasy *REVIEW*

Let me start by saying this is a somewhat lengthy review on a Speakeasy
Preamp pedal for hammmond clones, so if you're not interested, you'll
probably want to just hit delete.

That being said, the good news is my pedal has already arrived - kudos to
Steve for expediting my order so quickly! As soon as I got my hands on the
box I tore it open like a seven-year-old under a Christmas Tree. And here I
am to tell you what I found.

First let me tell you what I tested it on, since results will obviously be
different for different equipment. I used a Hammond-Suzuki XK2/Motion Sound
R3-147 through a cheap keyboard amp. I will use the same getup at a gig
this weekend and report back since my amp is severely wanting in sonic
accuracy.

Before plugging the pre into my Motion Sound I had to give it a try with
just my onboard digital leslie sim, straight into the amp. Of course I was
hoping to be able to lighten my load even more for those not-so-important
gigs by using just my XK2 and the preamp without the Motion Sound. I know
I'm lazy... since the Motion Sound R3-147 is just a four-space rack-mounted
unit, but hey, what can I say.

Using the onboard leslie sim into the preamp really did nothing of
significance for me. Their was a noticeable difference, but that was about
it - noticeable. It would seem that my board's leslie sim is simply
unredeemable. Oh well, that's really what I expected anyway.

So I went on try it with my motion sound. Here is where the pedal really
shined. The difference in the sound is pretty substantial between using the
pedal and using just the motion sound. The best way I can describe it
(because it's the first word that popped into my head when I heard it) is
that it sounds CREAMY! If you've listened to and compared dozens of hammond
sounds off of dozens of albums, then you know what I mean. It was like
thick layers of dripping analog cream, as opposed to the glassy digital
sound I was used to.

In addition, the pedal somehow causes the drawbar voicings to be much more
pronounced, enhancing the different sounds of the different drawbar
settings. This is important if you've ever complained that your clone
sounded too much the same no matter where your drawbars were set. It's also
important if you use very sparse drawbar settings - 800000008 whistled like
a bird!

The pedal's strong suit is in the lower frequencies, i.e., the bottom of the
keyboard. Even with my cheap amp, it kept growling at me (scared me a
little). Also, the pedal's overdrive is unbelievably better than the motion
sound's. The motion sound overdrive cracks up to much for me, whereas the
speakeasy was a very smooth, grungy, overdrive. Whether or not you like
this really depends on your preference. I will most likely change the tube
in my motion sound to a 12AU7A because it was so good, though I suspect that
a lot more is involved in creating that grunge than just the tube alone.
Plus I don't even know if my motion sound uses A-class tubes...

Now that I've dished out the good, on to the bad. The first problem I
really had with the pedal was trying to get overdrive out of it. I wanted
to hear the pedal's overdrive without the motion sound tube clipping at all,
so that I knew what piece of equipment was making what sound. To do so
meant that the level had to be way up, which in turn fed a lot stronger
signal to my motion sound, which in turn made it really want to clip. I had
to turn my pre-gain WAY down on the motion sound to keep it from clipping
from the high signal it was receiving from the pedal. Well, this made the
motion sound send a really weak signal to the amp, even with the post gain
turned all the way up. This meant I had to turn the gain on the amp really
high. What happened was that the pre was so low and the post so high on my
motion sound and the gain was so high on my amp, that I could actually hear
the horn spinning inside the motion sound! (Motion Sound horns are
surrounded with condenser mics) After playing with the volume on my XK2,
speakeasy pedal, and motion sound for some time I got it to an acceptable
level. The problem with this is that I don't have that kind of time on
stage, and as you changed the drawbar settings, you get a whole different
level of volume and clipping AGAIN. It may just take time for me to get
used to how maneuver my volume settings, but right now it's more than a
little inconvenient. And I'd really like to use the pedal for most of the
overdrive since it sounds so much better than the motion sound's. The only
fix for this I can see would be to give the pedal itself a pre and post gain
so you can pump up the overdrive without raising the overall volume so high.

The next weakness would be the full out drawbar setting. The pedal tried
its best to give me what I wanted, but alas, the tone from the XK2 was just
too lacking, especially around the second to last octave. This area has
always been my biggest complaint about the XK2, and I was hoping against
hope for a miracle from the speakeasy, but to no avail. This is not at all
the pedal's fault, and in fact it did improve the sound, but not as
substantially as I would have liked. This may be attributable to my cheap
amp, too, since I have no doubt that accuracy is way off, that is, it leaves
out frequencies. It may end up sounding great in a studio or with decent
monitoring equipment.

So what is the verdict? Well, to me the pedal was definitely worth the
money I gave for it, especially when you consider the cost of the
alternatives. The resulting sound was really so creamy that I almost wanted
to lick the music up. The low end and overdrive were supreme, while the
super hot signal resulting from the overdrive was overwhelming for the
Motion Sound. The pedal is not a miracle fix for the XK2's shortcomings,
but it's pretty damn close!

I must add that Steve has always offered top notch service. He even offered
to build one of his pedals for me specifically for a clone - even before he
was building them for clones, and at the exact same price, too! And it was
also impressive that I actually got to speak to the guy who designed and
built them whenever I ordered. I like that.

If you really want to thicken the sound of your clone and $350 seems a
reasonable price to pay, then I would definitely check out the speakeasy.
If you are perfectly happy with the sound you are getting out of your rig,
then don't try out one of these pedals, because it will likely change your
mind for you and make you $350 poorer.

If you have read this far, then you value my opinion far more than you
should :)

-Ariston

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