jon lord's hammond
Nick Soveiko
-----Original Message-----
From: Eduardo Avello <eav...@hotmail.com>
To: dpl...@geocities.com <dpl...@geocities.com>
Date: Wednesday, December 23, 1998 6:24 AM
Subject: Jon Lord's C-3, Hammond clones, and an apology.
Regarding Richard Poustie=92s questions and comments about Jon Lord and
Hammond organs:
About Jon Lord=92s C-3: According to a short interview Jon Lord gave to
Keyboard Magazine this year, Jon states his C-3 went out of service
during the early soundchecks for the House of Blues series of gigs in
L.A. (early this year). Therefore, they decided to go for a rental B-3,
since the old C-3 (well, at this point, all Hammond organs are old!)
wasn=92t reliable enough. To my knowlwdge, this C-3 is the one Jon bought
from Christine McVie after his previous and original C-3 died in 1973.
What I don=92t know is what happened to the McVie C-3 (to call it
somewhat). I guess Jon still owns it. I don=92t know if it=92s in playing
condition at all. Anyway, this would be a real collectable trophy
regardless the condition it might be in.
I attended the first of those four House of Blues concerts in L:A. early
this year. Jon played the rental B-3, and it seemed the two Leslie
cabinets were also rentals, since there were not painted in white.as the
ones he used during the 1997 gigs.
Actually, when Deep Purple reformed for the recording of The Battle
Rages On album, Jon used Rithcie Blackmore=92s cut-down (portable) B-3 for
the tour. This organ is the same one every keyboard player in Rainbow
used al least since the Rising tour (the one appearing on the inside
cover picture of Tony Carey on the On Stage album) up to at least the
Straight Between the Eyes tour. During the TBRO tour, Jon indeed used a
Hammond Suzuki XB-2 digital single manual organ on top of the Rainbow
cut-down B-3, as Richard wrote in his post. According to an interview
with Jon Lord that appeared in Keyboard Magazine (January 1993), the
idea was to use the XB-2 keyboard as a MIDI controller, and also as a
back up for the B-3, in case it went under any malfunction during live
performance. This way, he would still be able to finish the set playing
an organ after all. I think Rithcie Blackmore might have owned this
cut-down B-3 due to the high rotation of keyboardists (and other members
as well) in the Rainbow line ups. Instead of worrying about each new
memmber not having a Hammond at their disposal, he might had thought it
would made things easier if Rainbow (or himself) had already gotten an
organ ready to go. Besides, the organ sound would stay the same. I don=92=
t
know what might have happened to this cut-down B-3. I guess after
Rithcie left Deep Purple the last time, he also took this B-3 with him.
I don=92t know where this particular organ might be right now. During the
Stranger in Us All tour (at least during the South American leg), Paul
Morris wasn=92t playing that cut-down Hammond B-3. Actually, he wasn=92t
playing any Hammond organ at all.
On the Hammond wannabes topic: As Richard wrote, there are many Hammond
clones in the market. Some are actual keyboards, while others are sound
modules: Viscount D9, Roland VK-7, Hammond Suzuki XB-2, XB-3 and XC-3,
Oberheim OB-3, etc. Also, considering the out of production keyboards,
you can also bring out the Korg CX-3 and BX.-3 organs (single and double
manual, respectively), or the Roland VK-1000 organ. I=92ve had the
opportunity to play most of them. I think the decision on which one to
go for depends on what your expectations are. In my opininon, there=92s
nothing that can replace the sound and feel of a real Hammond organ
matched with a Leslie cabinet. But if you happen to spend most of the
time on the road, maybe you=92ll be willing to sacrifice some of the soun=
d
and feel on behalf of portability. Among the new ones, there=92s no doubt
that the best choice would be a Hammond Suzuki XB-3 and a Leslie 122XB,
assuming you have no financial restrictions. Under a moderate budget,
I=92d choose a Hammond Suzuki XB-2 along with a Leslie 303 cabinet.
Nevertheless, I think the optimum investment would be a second hand Korg
CX-3 organ and a Motion Sound Pro-3 speaker. Both units are extremely
portable. Before the introduction of the digital clones, the Korg CX-3
organ was the second best choice among many pros after the Hammond B-3
itself. Also, Motion Sound=92s Pro-3 speaker is the best Leslie cabinet
clone, and the only one in its size category to feature an actual
rotating horn.
What does Jon Lord think about these Hammond wannabes? In an interview
appearing in Modern Keyboard Magazine (January =9189), Jon said there wer=
e
some keyboards out there that could sound incredibly similar to a
Hammond, but that you couldn=92t get them to sound like Hammond. He said
that even those Korg keyboards (I assumed he was reffering to the CX-3=92=
s
and BX-3=92s) had a knob that let you control the amount of overdrive. Bu=
t
he finally said that a man like him, of his height and weight, couldn=92t
play a keyboard that was no longer than his arm. He said it wouldn=92t
look right. He also recalled the 1974 California Jam concert, saying
they were in front of 300,000 people, and that he was behind his
Hammond, and he felt cool.
Also, in the same Keybaord Magazine interview of January 1993, Jon said
that although the Hammond Suzuki XB-2 digital organ was good enough, it
wasn=92t a real Hammond in the end. He couldn=92t replace his original
tonewheel Hammond for a digital clone. Upon asked upon the possibilty of
playing a digital organ fitted into a C-3 wooden enclosure, so as to
give a visual impression of a real Hammond C-3, he said that the same
kind of proposal was made to him one day by one of his roadies. His
answer was... In your dreams, pal!
Finally, I would like to apologize to Svante Petterson and any other
members participating from the list, in case my opinions about Jens
Johansson might have been received as too agressive and/or offensive. I
went back to my original post and realized that some words were rude.
The least of my intentions were to make someone feel uncomfortable. I
hope my apologies are welcome.
Sorry Dean. This time I really extended myself. But it=92s just that I=92=
m
too passionate about this Jon Lord / Hammond organ subject (well, that=92=
s
no news after all).
Eduardo Avello
Concepci=F3n
Chile
cheers,
nick