From fitandtrimdelco@aol.com Tue Aug 11 10:04:19 2015
Subject:Re: Vent + VB3 (Was: Stuff for sale)

I still have the original album!

-----Original Message-----
From: David Jacques hammonddave2004@yahoo.com [CloneWheel]
To: CloneWheel
Sent: Tue, Aug 11, 2015 12:50 pm
Subject: Re: [CWSG] Vent + VB3 (Was: Stuff for sale)



Man, I know what you mean about that note in Baby Its You! THAT's the sound I want! One of those great Hammond moments.


I use a Vent II and have tried tweaking it to where it needs to be for me. I can get it with an XK3 and Vent. In fact, my friend loaned me his old XK3 for a gig I played a few months ago where I wanted something a little more authentic for that gig. It was a joy to play that XK3 all night long. I got that crappy old organ sounding exactly how I wanted it. But for some reason I can't with the VB3.



From: "Bruce Wahler bw@ashbysolutions.com [CloneWheel]"
To: CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2015 8:01 AM
Subject: Re: [CWSG] Vent + VB3 (Was: Stuff for sale)




Dave,

Some thoughts; none of these may get you to where you need to go, but they might help.

Have you tried the Vent II or Mini? The new horn algorithm is a little brighter. Not night-and-day, though.

The Vent II seems to have more range on the Drive knob than either of the earlier models. I haven't played around with it extensively, but it definitely can growl a little more.

How about the Balance setting? In the '60s, it was pretty common to see just a mic on the horn in many live gigs. Turning the knob away from the rotor will tend to take some of the 'meat' out of the sound, but can probably be compensated with master volume.

The bottom line is that while the Vent excels at simulating a typical jazz, R&B, or rock organ setting, it wasn't necessarily tweaked for the over-the-edge sound of 60s/70s hard rock organ. I have to admit that the perfect 'death growl' sound of songs like Gimme Some Lovin' (Spencer Davis) and Easy Livin' (Uriah Heep) is really hard to nail. Another example is Smith's "Baby It's You." That held note just before the ending has this, "If you don't stop that, I'm going to die!" sound, and I can't duplicate it on a Vent -- or any other sim, or even some real Leslies. Not that the end result sounds any worse than say, the same artists might have hit in concert back in the day; it's just not a perfect copy of the vintage recording.

Also keep in mind that modifications and road wear probably add to the mystery. Gregg Rolie has mentioned in several interviews that the Leslie used on the Abraxas album was in really bad shape. There's no easy way to clone a Leslie that's about to blow up! ;-)


Regards,

-BW

Bruce Wahler
Ashby Solutions.com™
bw@ashbysolutions.com
http://music.ashbysolutions.com
877.55.ASHBY (877.552.7429)

On 8/11/2015 9:12 AM, Hammonddave2004 hammonddave2004@yahoo.com [CloneWheel] wrote:



Thank you for the nice words of support. However, whatever I post is only my opinion. It's really not worth much more than that.



I know that others have been pleased with VB3 coupled with a Vent. My issue with VB3 and the Vent has to do with my personal experience. I was as surprised that I was not able to dial in a good sound. And understand, it just not the sound that I perform with. I like a super aggressive Jon Lord / Brian Auger sound, which I cannot find with the VB3/vent combination. Maybe I am doing something wrong, but whatever I do it seems like the Vent just muddies the sound. If anyone has any suggestions, I am all ears.


Craig, I am looking forward to your HX3 review. Especially comparing it to the Mojo and the CX3.

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