From tande.adamson@btinternet.com Mon Oct 25 16:53:26 2004
Subject:Re: VK-8/CX-3 -- still on the fence...


--- In CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com, "Barry" wrote:
> Yes, the CX-3 has more of (what I think of as ) an ELP sound,
brighter and thinner. Not like the fatter and darker Santana or
Booker T sound... I still think the VK7 is amazingly fat. The
Electro is, to my ears, the one that sounds most like a real B3.
Where would the XK3 fit in this comparison?

It's a funny old world. I sold my wonderful Electro to buy a yet more
wonderful VK8-M. Not absolutely accurate, as I bought the VK8-M as a
back up for the Electro in case it ever came up with the dreaded
ERROR message and ceased to play. It was immediately apparent to me
that the VK8-M ( same as VK8 or Combo ) had a superior tonewheel
emulation, to say nothing of its amp modelling, and other features
like a real bass manual and reverb which I preferred to have on my
clone.
It didn't quite have the rotary sim emulation off as well as the Nord
product, but I found the rotary could be tweaked to within a cat's
whisker of the red devil.
The Soundside download gets you almost there.
The rotary sim is way better than my Dynacord CLS222.
I find it truly a better organ sound in the round, being fat, solid,
meaty, not dark, not shrill, pretty much just right with excellent
chorus ( not that the Electro is shabby in its chorus modelling )
It does that church organ sound in chorale that the Electro never
quite managed to achieve for me.
Of course it ( the module version )doesn't have any of the epianos
and clavinet sounds of the Electro, but as a Hammond Clone it sounds
spot on to me. I do use a Speakeasy preamp though.
The VK also has drawbars which is nice.

Seems none of the recent clones are in any way shabby performers so
final choice must come down to user requirements, although if a clone
sounds really close to a tonewheel organ through a Leslie it's not
likely to prove a major disappointment.
Thomas.