From rockkey@sbcglobal.net Mon Oct 11 15:49:13 2010
Subject:Re: SPEAKING OF JON LORD

To me, I find is a very interesting subject as do others. The exact details of JL's setup(s) seem to be non existent, however the basic idea is quite simple: extreme overdrive into straight speakers. Bruce has expanded on that a bit.

JL used a modified Marshall PA head, not sure what the modification was though; it might have been something quite simple like an input attenuator or a tone stack mod, I never heard any details.

Since the Marshall PA is the same general vintage as the Plexies, I have tried a 50W 1986 reissue with a modern 1960 4x12 cab. Sounds pretty good with my CV. It's not exact but sounds pretty nasty and close enough for me for now but it's a work in progress.

What's ironic is that my Roland VK7 get's a pretty believable JL imitation too with the OD cranked with a clean KB amp.

To overdrive a Leslie into JL area, I use a fairly common graphic EQ with +/-15dB gain capable of high output, around +20dBu. With the Hammond's G output and ground, (unbalanced) that's enough to drive a 147 into hyper OD. The graphic EQ settings are frosting on the cake, the real reason I use an EQ is because I had it laying around and I needed something with gain and reasonably high output.

There is also a very knowledgeable tech, Kon Zissis, who has designed a several OD and other Hammond related mods in which you may be interested.
www.dairiki.org/HammondWiki/KonZissis

Cheers,
Rock