The quest for the portable B-3

[HapiCmpur]

Does anybody here have actual hands-on experience with the Hammond XK-3 drawbar keyboard? I searched the forum and nobody's commented on it for about a year. Can you really get reasonably authentic B-3ish sounds out of it?

http://www.hammond-organ.com/Products/XK3.htm

[altitude909]

well im sure Hammond knows a thing or two about a b3 I know that the Nord electro/stage does very good organs/rhodes/whurlies also

[50cal]

here are some good reader reviews
http://www.harmony-central.com/Synth...ki/XK_3-1.html

[Rico 52]

In short................yes you can get B-3 type sounds from it. Does it sound like a real B................... In short ......no.
Coupled -w- a leslie .....now your getting some where.
I have wrestled with this for years. Most of us can't afford a good B or even have the space for one. I have used a Hammond patch on a synth through a guitar leslie with good results. It seems if you really have air moving and swirling around it sounds better. Can you use a XK-3 to good result for recording or live work...............................Yes
According to my good friend at Keyboard Specialties.................a Leslie will get you most of the way there....................

www.b-3.com

[Alexbt]

I've played it in stores. It kinda confused me. Doesn't completely sound like a B3 but I'll bet that people mucked with it.

Probably the best B3 clone I've played.

Nord is also very good, but still single manual, and you can't add another manual to it (well, if so, not as easily).

I have the KB3 mode of my Kurzweil PC2R now, but I haven't quite figured it all out yet, and the Leslie sim on it isn't the greatest.

[shiatzu]

i can get a sound from my nord electro 2 that is indistinguishable from my hammond C3. Best keyboard i've ever owned, worth every penny i spent.

edit:

and you can add another manual very easily.. just hook it up with midi cables and it works great, i do it all the time.

[petermiller]

its all about the leslie cab. The nord for the Money is probably the best board all around. + the roads + wurly are great. The CX3 is the best organ but you gotta have the leslie cab. The nord though has a great slowdown and with the distortion you can get dirty. Take a look at the nord and save some $$$

[Supercreep]

I had an XB-2.


The Nord sounds better than the Hammond/Suzuki, but the suzuki supports the leslie natively. If I had to pick out a live rig it would be the Nord and a pair of Motionsound speakers.

[guttapercha]

We A-B'd all of the clones last summer on 48th St. in NY, and IMHO, the Nord was the clear winner sound-wise. We wound up with the Roland VK8 b/c my wife liked the feel better.

[Mo-Kay]

c'mon now... just take that b3 along with ya

[Soundmind??]

Have you tried the Native Instruments B4? Havent touched a B3 since the seventies, but it seems to sound like the one I played with back then. Just a fairly inexpensive thought.

[Todzilla]

I totally agree with Rico.

Most important for realism is a real rotating speaker. There is no digital substitute for moving air in circles. Lest you think I'm a sound snob, I'm not. I think the Peavy Spectrum Organ sounds pretty damn good and you know that ain't snob gear. I put mine through a beat up MotionSound non-tube horn. I think it sounds better than rig that uses a Leslie simulator.

It's the rotating speaker, man...