From fortepianonj@yahoo.com Tue Jun 27 18:39:26 2006
Subject:Re: Keyboard Magazine

Yes, they are a clonewheel company as they are not the
original company. Suzuki purchased the name. They
manufacture a variety of products with the name
Hammond Suzuki on them. All of their products are
sampled or digital by using look-up tables, long-loop
sampling, modeling, etc. Thus, their products are
clones of the original. It really comes down to the
fact that clones are nothing more than a recording of
the original.

Replacing the innards of a new B-3 with those of the
original B-3 could probably be done because the
physical dimensions of the cabinet are the same.
However, it would be extremely difficult to use the
new keyboard system with old technology without some
sort of an interface.

The multi-contacts are a nice feature, and certainly
add something interesting to talk about in the sales
demo. However, they have been problematic for HS in
the short lifespan of the new B-3, which is just about
three years. I've been told by several dealers of
problems with them.

Finally, if you want to believe that they (the vintage
B-3 and new B-3) are the same, then why aren't the
Hire (Rental) companies in the UK able to rent them
out? I know of one company that has one, and no one
will rent it. Their customers prefer the vintage B-3
organs over the new B-3.

I wasn't trying to start anything by announcing the
magazine coverage of HS. It was just an FYI to the
group.

FP

--- Simon Beck wrote:

> Well, are they, now? Imagine the original tonewheel
> generator to be a "black box" - you don't know
> exactly what's inside it, just that it has 100-odd
> outputs and that each output has a specific
> frequency. As I understand it, you could
> theoretically replace the digital "tonewheel" unit
> of the New B3 with a real tonewheel unit (or vice
> versa) and it would work. Real tonewheels themselves
> are mechanical only because it was the most
> practical way to generate over 100 different
> frequencies simultaneously in the 1930s - the
> classic Hammond sound owes very little (apart from
> phase characteristics and pitch approximations) to
> the physical design of the tonewheel generator. No
> clonewheel instrument has the multi-contact keying
> of the New B3, and I'm told this really does affect
> the tone and playability of the instrument.
>
> Simon Beck
> London, UK
>
> > They are a clone company too!
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
>

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