From MRK7421@aol.com Sat Mar 24 09:28:22 2012
Subject:Hammond SK1 arrives at Guitar Center/ First Impression

I stumbled into my local Guitar Center yesterday and was surprised to find that they are now stocking the Hammond SK1. With all the talk that has gone down about it, I had to check it out, though my time was fairly brief.

First I will say that I liked the look and the weight of it. The keys felt nice and the ergonomics overall were pretty good .

Strangely, I didn't notice any key triggering issues that others have mentioned. Everyone has different requirements, but I didn't notice any problem here. I just accept that the keys are not the multi contact type leave it there.

There is one thing I did notice that I must mention, and it has been a deal breaker for me with Hammond Suzuki in the past. That is the chorus vibrato.

It has been suggested elsewhere that Hammond Suzuki models their C/V after a later model tonewheel Hammond ( possibly an early 70's model). From what I heard yesterday, the chorus on the SK1 does not differ greatly from what I had heard previously from the XK3 series and XK1.

I guess that is OK if you happen to like the CV on those models, but I was hoping that they would have updated it as claimed. And I am just not hearing that is the case.

What is interesting is that I have heard the latest version of the ($20K plus) new digital Hammond B-3 and the chorus seems pretty good on that.

The only reason I am commenting on this is that Hammond Suzuki reps and endorsees were making all kinds of bold claims about the SK1 -such as it was going to make the Nord Electro obsolete etc. etc. .

In light of this I am posting my impression that the SK series is not offering anything radically different from its previous models as far as the organ sound is concerned.

Many people do like the XK series organ sounds though most also agree that at the very least it is probably a good idea to use a Ventilator with it to get state of the art leslie simulation.

Any current or past Hammond Suzuki owners are welcome to disagree with me on this. In fact I would like to know other people's impressions of the C/V or leslie simulation on the SK series, or on the XK's for that matter.

If Hammond Suzuki's claims weren't so bold I would just let it lie, but since they dissed everyone else so blatantly ( particularly on Keyboard Corner) I am opening this up for discussion.