From breynold@usc.edu Fri Dec 19 10:58:13 2003
Subject:Re: Winter NAMM '04 Clone Predictions

I would imagine that a serious organ player looking for that near complete
experience would be one type of customer.

Well, that's me, but at these prices, only because I've made money in non-music career. Except that...

If the keyboard action is more like an xk-2 than a real b-3, then I question whether the experience would be "near." The b3 experience is not just the sound--that keyboard action enanbles me to play 50% better organ than on any clone.

Another issue for me: Although the Porta B is lighter than my a-100 Bob Schleicher Oakland Chop, the footprint of the entire Porta B organ package is as big as a B3, which makes sense, at least from the keys to the bench, for authentic transfer of what players are used to. But it doesn't solve my stage real estate problem.

You can get a fully restored a-100 chop with bench and pedals for about $5000. The street price I've seen for the Porta B is around $8000, probably without bench and pedals. The price would have to come down further for the convenience to outweigh the expected keyboard experience.

Hopefully, I'll get a NAMM pass and be able to check it out for myself.

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