That said, is a B3 a B3 without a Leslie Cab? Isn't that the sound as much as B3 in and of itself?
I wouldn't necessarily say so.
That said, I did like the Leslie cabinet. I used to look through the air vents and watch the circular thing turning. When I sold my pride and joy Hammond, the Leslie went too ~ but I kept the seat ! I still use it.
Without the Leslie...it just never would have had the soul it has
I didn't always mic the Leslie. I used to have this wicked trick that used to give me this unique sound. I'd switch it off, hold down the note or chord and then switch it on and it would make this unearthly, but beautiful sound. It was a great way of bringing a solo or song to an end !
I sold my last B-3 off about 10 years ago and have gone Nord which does a damn fine job of providing the sound I want...a real leslie would be nice but their emulation is pretty tight especially in a stereo environment... The doppler effect is the shit!
When I sold the Hammond in 2001, I used keyboard modules for my organs {sounds painful !} but they were 'satisfactory', nothing more. Then when I got into VSTis, I discovered the B4 from Native Instruments, which I used a heck of a lot and loved. However, if you didn't use it for 3 weeks, you had to feed the installation disc into the computer to reactivate it. And it was in a fallow period that NI stopped supporting it and so I couldn't reactivate and had to chuck it last year. It did lead to me having to upgrade, and NI's vintage organs are pretty good. But it doesn't feel as cool as the B4 even though I'm informed it is the superior athlete.
The Fender Rhodes was a great piece of equipment
You're not wrong about that ! At one point I was the proud owner of one. I couldn't believe it when I saw it in the instrument exchange, going so cheaply. Even with one of the 'D' keys being a bit funky. I don't know which hurt more, having to sell the Rhodes, the Hammond or my piano. They all went the same Saturday.
But their replacements soon lifted my clouds.