From eslawson@comcast.net Wed May 25 20:12:19 2005
Subject:Re: Your opinions on the Hammond XB-2

Welcome to the forum! I had two XB-2s over nearly a 10 year period
from when they first came out and was very happy with them at the
time. Nowadays, my clone of choice is the Nord Electro, but I did
love the XB-2!!!

Here is a little nostalgic ode that I wrote over 3 years ago on this
forum. Link and content posted for convenience:

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/CloneWheel/message/4088

I have an occasional twinge of nostalgia for a clone that seems to
be slipping our memory: The Hammond XB2. Just thought I would pay a
quick tribute to this organ.

I obtained an XB2 in late 1991 when they were just introduced. Up
to this point I had an old skool Korg CX3 obtained used in 1989. My
XB2 was the plain old XB2-N with no reverb, v 1.0. It was soon
joined by a Dynacord CLS-222 and this duo made it with me through
the remainder of the 1990's until I upgraded the Dynacord to a Pro3T
in 1998. Around this same time I upgraded the XB2 to v 2.0. I used
the XB2/CLS222 combo live and in the studio on a number of
recordings. Some recordings were done on B3/Leslie rigs but the XB2
held its own for many CDs.

I picked up a second XB2 in 1994 to have as backup (this one was an
XB2-R with reverb, v 1.0). It never moved me as much as my original
careworn XB2 and I eventually sold it when I slowed down on touring
in 1997. Sometimes I would stack both XB2s on top of one another to
get that dual manual thing going. A fairly compact solution for
this purpose.

With it's woodgrain contact paper practically all peeled off, I said
bye bye to the original XB2 in 2000 to upgrade (finally) to an XK2.
I believe the sound engine is almost identical with better chorus
offered in the XK2. And of course the XB2 had a pretty cheesy
keyboard action. But there was a certain rawness and imperfection
that was present in my beloved XB2 and this energy escapes me in my
somewhat "sterile" XK2. It's hard to put my finger on it, but the
XB2 seemed almost more organic and alive to me. Plus, it was quite
compact and very durable.

Maybe I'll forget all these Johnny come lately clones and go back to
the clone that made it happen for all those years...the XB2.

Regards,
Eric

--- In CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com, "psicraft_designs"
> as control surface components. This is an insanely convoluted
> alternative to simply getting the motherboard fixed, so the real
> deciding factor is, how good does the XB-2 actually sound? I'm
> unable to play mine, so I'm in the dark as to what fixing the unit
> up will actually get me in terms of quality rock organ sounds.
>
> I also have a Yamaha Motif ES handy, so if anyone has opinions of
> how the XB-2 stacks up to this instrument's organ sampled synth
> sound, I'd be very interested to hear them!
>
> All the best,
>
> Tony