From daleassociates51@yahoo.ca Mon Feb 06 09:08:29 2012
Subject:In the ears of the beholder?

Hi gang,

I have been reading with much interest all the discussion about the latest clone products to come out and the pros and cons of some longer standing clones. I might be coming at this discussion from a different perspective than many of the contributors and fans of this group. As I have stated in past submissions I got into playing keyboards much later in the game than many of you, and I have never claimed any virtuosity in my ability to play. I am a long time guitar player that switched over to the keys about 10 years ago, and I have loved every agonizing minute in my pursuit to become better at my craft. My take on all the recent discussion is that I have been listening to real B3 organs for a lot longer than I have been listening to clones that try to emulate them. Yes there is nothing more uplifting than listening to the sound of a Hammond B3 singing through a leslie cabinet. I have to admit to my mature ears that over the past 10 years huge strides have been made in emulating the B3, and yes some of them get a little strident in the upper registers, but with a little programming and/or eq that can be tamed. I know many of you who are long time players or who currently own a B3 or have played one will claim and probably rightly that you could identify a real B3 versus a good emulation in a blind test. My take is that if you put 100 music listeners or fans into a room and asked them to identify the real B3 versus the clone version most would have a difficult time telling which one was real and which one was not. I think that in this group we tend to be a little elitist in our views. I still believe that a lot of the sound comes from the player and their hands versus the instrument itself. I certainly know that a great guitar player can make $400 guitar sound really good whereas a marginal player is not going to sound remarkably better on a $4000 PRS. I think the same thing holds true a gifted player can make a clone sing whereas I would probably make a B3 just hum. I hope you all take my comments in the spirit of looking at this continual debate from another perspective.

Have a a great day all I know I will, and I will be more than content playing my VB3.

David Stein
Ottawa, Canada