From tonysounds@yahoo.com Thu Apr 15 15:07:47 2004
Subject:XK3

Hey y'all....

I was at HammondSuzuki yesterday checking out the new XK3. They had the NAMM prototype as well as a new working prototype (with some existing software bugs) that to check out and I gotta tell you....the XK3 is going to be something!

It's a pretty machine, with more of a cherry-wood looking chassis than the XK2. It's dimensions are almost the same as the XK2 but only an inch wider (left to right). Yes, they did fix the chorus vibrato unit....the only thing I had to compare it to was the prototype XK3 from Namm, and it sounded TONS better; obviously without my Electro or a b3 to compare it to I can't be sure, but the C/V sounded like they came damn close to nailing if they didn't in fact nail it. The keyboard feels wonderful (lighter than the Electro and more Hammond-y than the CX3) and plays like a dream. The tube overdrive only kicks in with the tube preamp activated (2x12AX7s, one for overdrive one for the preamp) and doesn't really sound like the overdrive we're looking for, but to be fair, I was quite reluctant to start gassing it and trying to make it scream while some poor guy is trying to work next to the leslie. (Not to mention everybody in the office on the other side of the wall.) The tube preamp
does make a difference however, probably similar to the effect achieved by group members here who use the Sonus tube products: It ain't a Speakeasy, but it's much better than nothing at all.

I'm definitely going ahead with my purchase, although it seems the street date has been pushed back a couple weeks to accommodate some software debugging and a couple other small items that will become apparent after the Summer NAMM show. I have to say that I was more than dubious that HS would do much to change what was seen at NAMM, but I've seen and heard it myself: They made some real changes to the XK3 that are going to make future owners real happy; I'm totally psyched. And at Summer NAMM you're going to see something else about the XK3 that will blow you away.

T


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