i aint no expert ,not even a lay expert ,not even a knowledeable person about em but i read somewhere these were a handful and very very tricky.

i think it was an article by alan somewhere but i could be wrong

Dave Sharp has a pristine condition Hammond C3.
He plays in Peter Hanmer's "Off the edge" band... PJH is a member here.

Take a listen to Dave making magic on his C3...Clint Cunningham on vocals.
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=8451241

What do you want to know? I love the damn things, but I'd never wan to carry one to a gig (or a Leslie speaker for it). Not many guys left who really know how to play them - it's quite a specialised skill to do it right. I've seen a few guys play XB-3s around (Jimmy Florence and IIRC, Peter Hunt), but not recently.

I use Native Instruments B4 a lot, which is a great software emulation.

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: I use Native Instruments B4 a lot, which is a great software emulation.

Yeab B4 is pretty cool ? My band loves Hammonds so somehow one has ended up in almost every recording we're working on :? I love the warmth they have, and they're a great way to fill space and add layers. Personally I can't understand why it is that people almost never utilise them anymore :-[

Chad Adam Browne wrote:

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: I use Native Instruments B4 a lot, which is a great software emulation.

Yeab B4 is pretty cool ? My band loves Hammonds so somehow one has ended up in almost every recording we're working on :? I love the warmth they have, and they're a great way to fill space and add layers. Personally I can't understand why it is that people almost never utilise them anymore :-[

They started vanishing in the 80s. One of the problems being the amount and weight of the gear (you'd need a Leslie too). It may also be that techs who know them well are an endangered species.

I spent an evening in a recording studio with Bones Brettell of Hotline circa 1987. He played me back one particular track and I remember saying "Cool Hammond sound. What did you use?" because they were already a dying breed by then.

He smiled and said "My secret weapon. A Hammond."

One of the things I used to like about them was the percussive, clicky sound they got. I think that was to do with dirt or corrosion in the keys actually - so not deliberate design, but a feature none the less.

Hey Alan - I used to play with Jimmy, he was a member in my band for about a year... He has an old very broken hammond that he wanted to set fire to for a music vid a while back. Last I saw he was playing one of them new fender Rhodes guys.

Ed Harsh - formerly of the Black Crowes, was a freakin' wizard on the Hammond. And on the Stones song "Shine a light" - when you get that volume swell as the chord hits. Pure magic. Check out the bridge on this one:

Not to mention John Paul Jones... used a C3 on most of the Zep albums but sometimes used the M-100 on tour.

I am a HUGE Mellotron fan myself.

Mellotrons rock, while we're on the subject of old keyboard like things - check this out ?

I love the hammond.. Found one at a furniture shop in Salt River but it was totally stuffed So now i use the B4 ?

Difficult to list all the players, 'cos in the '60s and '70s everyone used a Hammond, a Rhodes or a Mellotron (with the odd Farfisa or Continental here and there). ? The rock music of the time was shaped around these tones as much as it was by the electric guitar. Hammond in particular fared well because it could keep up with loud, distorted guitars.

But these early electronic keyboards were such unwieldy beasts to transport and carry, as well as being temperamental to keep running in some cases, that as soon as synths appeared almost everyone swapped over (while roadies breathed sighs of relief). They weren't the same (much like a Rhodes piano or the electric guitar weren't real replacements for their acoustic counterparts), but to make up for it they offered a wide range of completely new tones that shaped the next generation of music.

When sample-based synths started appearing the "classic" tones started coming back and now the modern modelling synths do a very good job of emulating the real things. IMO the pick of the bunch are: N.I. B4 for Hammond; Applied Acoustics Lounge Lizard for Rhodes; and G-Force M-Tron for Mellotron.

@Chad - If you're into the early electronic instruments, check out the mother of them all: the Telharmonium, which used a similar tone generating method as the Hammond (although at over 200 tons you wouldn't want to gig it):

The Peddlers were famous for that Hammond sound.....check this out

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Difficult to list all the players, 'cos in the '60s and '70s everyone used a Hammond, a Rhodes or a Mellotron (with the odd Farfisa or Continental here and there). ? The rock music of the time was shaped around these tones as much as it was by the electric guitar. Hammond in particular fared well because it could keep up with loud, distorted guitars.

But these early electronic keyboards were such unwieldy beasts to transport and carry, as well as being temperamental to keep running in some cases, that as soon as synths appeared almost everyone swapped over (while roadies breathed sighs of relief). They weren't the same (much like a Rhodes piano or the electric guitar weren't real replacements for their acoustic counterparts), but to make up for it they offered a wide range of completely new tones that shaped the next generation of music.

Also they were more versatile so you needed less of them.

Prior to the introduction of instruments like the DX-7 if you wanted a Rhodes sound you had to have a Rhodes on stage. If you wanted a Clavinet sound you had to have a Clavinet on stage. Etc etc.

This is Rick Wakeman in concert in the 70s


He'd need less space and inflict less damage on his roady's back these days.

Also those MiniMoogs were monophonic and had to be programmed manually if you wanted a different sound.

I don't think the modern stuff sounds quite as good, but it's far more practical.

X-rated Bob wrote:

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Difficult to list all the players, 'cos in the '60s and '70s everyone used a Hammond, a Rhodes or a Mellotron (with the odd Farfisa or Continental here and there). ? The rock music of the time was shaped around these tones as much as it was by the electric guitar. Hammond in particular fared well because it could keep up with loud, distorted guitars.

But these early electronic keyboards were such unwieldy beasts to transport and carry, as well as being temperamental to keep running in some cases, that as soon as synths appeared almost everyone swapped over (while roadies breathed sighs of relief). They weren't the same (much like a Rhodes piano or the electric guitar weren't real replacements for their acoustic counterparts), but to make up for it they offered a wide range of completely new tones that shaped the next generation of music.

Also they were more versatile so you needed less of them.

Prior to the introduction of instruments like the DX-7 if you wanted a Rhodes sound you had to have a Rhodes on stage. If you wanted a Clavinet sound you had to have a Clavinet on stage. Etc etc.

This is Rick Wakeman in concert in the 70s


He'd need less space and inflict less damage on his roady's back these days.

Also those MiniMoogs were monophonic and had to be programmed manually if you wanted a different sound.

I don't think the modern stuff sounds quite as good, but it's far more practical.

Is that from their ice spectacular? ?

ps check out new Mojo, Richard Thompson article.

Jack Flash Jr wrote:
Is that from their ice spectacular? ?

I'm not sure, but I know he was using pretty much the same setup with Yes in the mid 70s. So them was the facts of life for keyboard players.

There is a Mellotron underneath each of those Minimoogs.

For me it's always been Jon Lord (Deep Purple) FTW. John Paul Jones had his moments, as did the guy in Uriah Heep.

Just like tomatoes were created to make basil more tasty. Hammond organs were invented to make electric guitars sound better. Can you imagine Electric ladyland without Steve Windwood on Hammond.

.

Stratisfear wrote:

Renesongs wrote: Just like tomatoes were created to make basil more tasty. Hammond organs were invented to make electric guitars sound better. Can you imagine Electric ladyland without Steve Windwood on Hammond.

Windwood? Hahahaha, that's punny.

(Tomatoes are evil and unnecessary. Basil is quite good enough all by itself.)

Rosemary's not that sweet either