From tonysounds@yahoo.com Wed Jun 14 03:25:26 2006
Subject:Re: Need help finding a good preamp

I used to own until very recently a Hammondstore chop. Like Speakeasy products, it was impeccably built, sounded killer, and actually looked very very nice! Fit for a home or an altar. They do great work.

I also owned a chopper from Numerous Complaints Music down in Atlanta. You'll have to call 411 for their number as I don't believe he has a website yet, but he makes a mean organ. I found out about Numerous Complaints from Keyboard magazine; they were a "Keyboard of the month". He specializes in single manual organs with all the trimmings, but in a box the size of the top half of a Suitcase Rhodes and weighs only about 165 lbs. It comes with a Trek II preamp. I had him build me a dual manual organ, and it wasn't that much bigger, but it was heavier for obvious reasons. The Numerous Complaints chop was fantastic, and because of its size, was very easy to move around. The Hammondstore chop is bigger, shaped like a B3 (like a house with an A roof), but more attractive.

Good luck on your search.
T

dixiedrafting wrote:
Finally spoke with Steve at Speakeasy today. He was polite and to the
point and my pricing questions were answered in about a minute. It
was never my intention to attack him personally I was only anxious
for information and thought the company should have responded to me
differently. I assumed that there were more employees and did not
expect to talk with the owner directly.

As far as the Leslie goes I made it a point to describe it as new and
in my email requested that a partial (that is partial not full) trade
be considered (i.e. I have a new Leslie 2101 would you knock a few
hundred buck off the price of a new amp in exchange for it) I decided
to forgo this option in my discussion with Steve. I am currently
shopping around and hope to give all the organ choppers and Leslie
dealers out there a fare opportunity at my hard earned money before
making a decision.

I was hoping to find objective opinions in this group and luckily I
did find a few which I am grateful for. You all have to admit that
for a newcomer things might seem a little biased in this web group.
I'm sure that Speakeasy produces top of the line products, but there
are others out there who I'd like to get opinions on.

I don't like sales pitches. I prefer opinions from people who have
purchased and used the products. Salesmen have agendas and are
extremely biased therefore I do not wish to pay for a phone call
where a long winded salesman uses every trick at his/her disposal to
convince me that there product is superior to all others. Thankfully
Steve is not like that. Thanks Steve!

I don't like making expensive long distance phone calls if I believe
a simple question can be answered over email. All I wanted was a
simple price quote and a yes or no answer on partial trade. If things
were to my liking a phone call would be appropriate.

At any rate this will be my last post at Clonewheel since I have
decided to trash the CX-3 and go for the Hammond Chop. I'm currently
looking at chops from Speakeasy, The Hammond Store and from Bob
Shleicher at Tonewheel. If any of you have any more recommendations
on chop builders the info would be much appreciated.