From dave@daveoakley.plus.com Wed May 27 05:29:16 2009
Subject:Hammond Chops


My Nord shared the stage this weekend with a split A100 and tube Leslie. The Nord was straight into the PA in stereo and the Leslie was Mic'd up. In terms of sound alone, there was no discernible difference, i played both (had a go on the A100 after the other band finished soundcheck) and the on stage sound was almost identical, except the Nord had way more headroom in the foldback due to not requiring any mic's on the stage.
Ok, the A100 looked the business, but then i didnt have to haul an A100 and a Leslie down 2 flights of stairs at the end of the night.
DaveUK

> > I gigged with a chop and let me tell you to NOT BOTHER, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT A CHOP.. from my experience chops can be harder to move around than a real B3 with dollies (the smaller handles make them much harder to lift)... even the best hammond chops are still heavy as hell cumbersome to move around.
> >
> > I purchased an A100 and transplanted it into a chop cabinet that I built myself (same exact dimensions as the top of a B3 cabinet). The A100 cost me $1000 and the cabinet cost me about $600 to build.. The transplant took a weekend. If you're reasonably handy and have basic knowledge of electro-mechanical stuff you can do the transplant yourself and save a lot of money. That said, I quickly got fed up moving my chop around and transplanted the A100 guts into an older B style cabinet that now sits in my living room.
> >
> > I use a 33 pound Nord C1 now.. and love it.. I have been a real hammond player for many years, and from my perspective, the difference in sound between a good clone and a real Hammond is NOT worth the hassle of moving a real hammond... certainly not to play in the small clubs that I generally play in. The only exception I would make is for a special gig where I want the look of a real B3... then maybe I'd pull out the real thing..
> >
> > As Tony mentioned the Hammond Store makes a good chop (I've seen and heard them)... Speakeasy Vintage Music also makes chops (but I have never heard one).. but you're likely to be paying $2500 to $4000 for most of the 2 manual hammond chops. I wouldn't even bother with a single manual hammond clone.. I don't see the point of chosing a single manual hammond chop over a good clone.
> >
> > Again I would strongly recommend against a chop.. but that's just my opinion.
> >
> > Craig
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
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