From frederick.somerville@gmail.com Mon Dec 22 00:21:49 2014
Subject:Re: Warm hello to all + my rig

Hi Sander

Glad you liked the mod to 122 standard.

Interesting with the transformer Mod you did.

Did you send the signal through 2 transformers or just one?

A saturated transformer will add nice distorsion components.

I have been using the C2d since it came out - this with a an Hammond A100
pedal board with midi and a Leslie 145 (with the 122 mod) gives me a very
good sound that I am happy with. The rest is in the fingers.

Merry Xmas to all.

2014-12-16 12:15 GMT+01:00 sander beenen sarqoz@yahoo.com [CloneWheel] <
CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com>:

>
> First a warm hello to all participating; I've been following the list for
> quite a while and I picked up some of your and other's ideas along the way
> to incorporate in my rig... I thought it was time for me to say hi and
> elaborate a little bit on my rig to maybe give some ideas back to you.
>
> It was around 2007 when I bought my Nord C1 with a Yamaha FC7 expression
> pedal. I had built a Leslie 147 clone powered by a bass guitar amplifier,
> using DC motors and a simple electronic circuit to control the speeds, used
> with an old Viscount Imperial organ which produced a fairly convincing
> Hammond sound, but when paired with the Nord C1 it gave me the proper tone
> and control I wanted all along.
>
> The combination served me well and soon I found myself honing and
> upgrading the 147 clone, because I felt the tone could be warmer still
> (plus the overdrive I got wasn't quite the same than the sound I could hear
> in my head). The first thing to change was the amplifier: I experimented
> around with various guitar and bass amps, tube as well as solid state
> before I got an old Leslie 47 amp from eBay. The upper driver was changed
> to an Atlas PD-5VH and I got a standard Leslie crossover to replace my
> hifi-style crossover. The difference was huge and when driven hard with the
> high level output of the Nord C1 I could push it into nice power tube
> saturation.
>
> Around that time I felt that the Yamaha FC7 couldn't give my foot enough
> control freedom/ range. The pedal is almost parallel to the ground, even
> when using that thingy to raise the toe a little bit. I found a scrapped
> Hammond B3 pedal on eBay and I came up with a linkage rig to adapt the
> travel of the B3 pedal (almost twice than that of the FC7) to the potmeter
> of the FC7. It resulted in a very smooth sweep from 0 to 100% using the
> full travel of the B3 pedal. I made a nice block for it to raise it to more
> or less AGO standard and bingo: when sitting behind the organ, it is very
> comfortable to "work the pedal" with the foot in relaxing position at about
> 60% volume. Nice!
>
> A few years later I got to play in my current band, which rehearses in a
> basement with very narrow and winding stairs leading to it. Unfortunately I
> couldn't get my 147 clone down there, so I scoured for a different
> solution, ranging from Motion Sound Pro-3 to Neo Ventilator and all in
> between. I eventually settled on a Leslie 120 which I modified with horns.
> The cabinet is juuuuuust deep enough to house the 47 amplifier and I also
> managed to be done with the awful rattly construction of the oilite lower
> rotor bearings (they're replaced with proper ball bearings). I also
> installed some nice carrying handles. Still chipping in at around 80-90 lbs
> the thing is not as light as I wished it would be, but I can load in into
> and out of the car by myself and carry it a few steps if I have to. And it
> sounds wicked and ridiculously loud! It's my main amp now. It is usually
> dialed down low on stage and miced to retain some width and definition,
> otherwise I'm lost in saturation because of our two guitarists 100 W volume
> battle.
>
> Still, always in the back of the head this little thing nagged about a
> little bit of digital shrillyness in the highs that came out of the Nord
> C1. Somewhere along the line I came across this internet article:
> http://www.farmelorecording.com/in-the-press/using-transformers-to-transform-audio/
> I had a Hammond reverb tank lying around with a small input transformer
> that I could use. I cobbled up a little stomp box thingy with a knob for a
> variable low pass filter to tame the highs even further when needed. I
> believe that transformer is in the order of 1:1.2 or something and I wired
> it to step up to mitigate potential loss of signal. It adds (well it
> subtracts obviously, but for sake of clarity...) analogue warmth and the
> shrillness is gone totally to the point that I leave that low pass filter
> knob wide open.
>
> After a gig the little 120 was banged about a bit and the amplifier began
> to show signs of tiredness. It still had all original components (tubes
> were new though) from the days of yore, and a complete overhaul was due.
>
> Then I came across a posting of mr. Somerville on here, regarding the
> rewiring of the 147 power stage to 122 feedback topology. A Leslie 122
> normally saturates a bit earlier and more gradual than the more rapid grunt
> onset of the 147. While rebuilding the amp I also performed this
> modification and I have to say that the difference is quite remarkable -
> for lack of a better word the sound quality is less "glassy" than a 147,
> like the saturation blends in gradually as a "wet signal" into the "dry
> signal" as you step on the pedal.
>
> By now I'm very happy with my rig and the next thing to be replaced is the
> Nord C1 itself. I'm leaning towards getting a more Hammond-like interface
> with drawbars e.g. Crumar Mojo or MAG Custom Organs. I'll see what happens
> then, but I think the custom job swell pedal as well as the modded 120 are
> here to stay.
>
> When interested I'll be happy to share some photos of the B3 expression
> pedal and/ or the modded 120.
>
> Thanks and cheers!
>
> Regards,
>
> Sander
>
>
>

--
MVH Frederick Somerville