From ynottnaro@yahoo.com Mon Jul 21 08:35:59 2003
Subject:Re: Hammond/Roland - Need Advice

I used an XK2 for a long time and liked it (through a
leslie). Its leslie simulation stinks. The leslie
sim on the Roland is much better. But of course, you
have to have a separate keyboard. The XK2 keyboard
feels very good and as Eric likes to say, is quite
robust. It is BUILT like a Hammond, which means it
will take some abuse. It's very easy to figure out as
far as sounds and split points, etc., has a nice
percussion, a pretty bad chorus/vibrato, and a
"beating" problem that is noticed by some users, and
not by others (I used it with a leslie, so to be
honest, I was never really that aware of it). The
Roland has a decent percussion, a pretty chorus
vibrato too, but doesn't sound that good through a
leslie (which is why I traded mine). Even though this
is not an option on a real Hammond B3, I like the fact
the XK2 had a screen that showed you the drawbar
configuration when you called up a preset (not an
option on the VK8m or VK8), and that with a button
push, you could see what the lefthand drawbar set-up
was as well. Playing a clone, this becomes an
INDISPENSABLE feature in my opinion.

In the past 15 years, Ive owned (in chronological
order) an 80s CX3, an 80s BX3, Roland VK7, Voce V5,
newer CX3 and VK8 (both for about 2 weeks) and a VK8m
(for about a week). The best all around clone to me
is the Electro. Downside: drawBUTTONS (which are
easily navigatable, not as much flexibility tonally as
a CX3 (the organ you bought is the one you own, much
like a real Hammond....) but it has the best
percussion, the best chorus/vibrato, and I think the
best sounding leslie simulator of all of them. The
fact that it does other sounds (rhodes, wurlies,
clavs) and weighs less than 20lbs were not selling
points for me, but didn't hurt.

T
--- jlawrence@tacenergy.com wrote:
> Hello to all,
>
> I'm looking at picking up my first hardware clone
> sometime in the next
> couple of weeks. I've used the B4 and love it's
> sound, specifically how
> dirty and ballsy it sounds, so that is what I'm
> looking for in a clone. I
> live in a smallish town that does not have a GC, so
> I would be buying
> sight-unheard - with a good return policy, of course
> :) I thought I'd throw
> my options out to the group and see what you guys
> think.
>
> I'm trying to stay around or under $1300 for a
> complete package (something
> that includes a leslie sim). I figure that limits
> me to the Hammond XK-2
> and the Roland VK-8M (I considered the VK-8, but it
> is a couple of hundred
> dollars more). Both have their obvious points
> (Roland is a module, and the
> Hammond has a keyboard). I'm looking for comments
> on the sound,
> specifically the "guts" or "balls" of the sound, the
> quality of the
> percussion, and most importantly, the durability. I
> would like a decent
> overdrive. I'll be running mono most of the time,
> so the leslie will need
> to sound reasonable in that context. I realize to
> get a really good sound,
> I will probably need to buy a Speakeasy pre, which I
> intend to do later, so
> no need to mention that :)
>
> Anybody who as played these two instruments feel
> free to chime in. This
> group has been great in the past, so I look forward
> to your answers.
>
> Josh Lawrence
>

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