From jukefox@jukejoynt.com Tue Oct 02 09:38:41 2012
Subject:Re: My New Rig

Now hold on just one cotton-pickin' minute here ...

If an XK-33c is supposed to be a clone of a classic tonewheel Hammond console, how on earth can it sound "better" than that which it is supposed to replicate, unless your A-100/147 rig is in poor repair?

I (being the ornery old coot I am) would postulate that, if your A-100/147 rig is up-to-spec and you believe that your XK-33c actually sounds "better," then it in reality sounds "worse," as it is not doing the job of faithfully reproducing an actual tonewheel Hammond console organ being played through a Leslie 122/147 cabinet, but rather introducing something different into the sound that you find more aurally pleasing.

Not that it really matters much. Some people believe that a Farfisa Combo Compact sounds better than a Hammond ... and for some music, I suppose it does ... likewise a Vox Continental ... but they are NOT the same instruments as each other or as a Hammond, nor does one try to emulate the other. They are merely similar but different tools in the chest ... like a spanner and a pair of pliers. But one does not advertise itself as a more-or-less direct replacement for the other, as clonewheels have always striven to be direct replacements for classic electro-magnetic tonewheel Hammond consoles, indistinguishable in sound and character of timbre in an a/b comparison. Under that definition, it would appear that your XK33-c rig has failed, as it seems that it IS distinguishable and that you, in fact, find it to be sonically superior. Fascinating!

So, that raises a more-or-less philosophical question: If a Hammond clone's "sound" exceeds the bench-mark (i.e. perhaps a B-3/C-3 fresh off the 1958 assembly line with all components and adjustments operating at and set to full-factory-spec), is it actually still a clone, or does it become something different, evolving the "clonewheel" state of the art into something else ... like clono neanderthalensis vs. clono sapiens, or somesuch?

Best,
Fox