Nord User Forum

[alcat1973]

Recently purchased an Electro 2. Having trouble getting the sound I am looking for-clicky, jazzy, nice B3 sound. On a real Hammond B3, I believe you would set the 1st 3 drawbars at 8, with C3, and Percussion 3. Leslie slow/fast. I just can't seem to get it right. Basically looking for that Jack McDuff sound or even Joey D. sound. Any help out here is appreciated. Thanks

[Hanon_CTS]

Hello alcat1973,
Welcome to the forums

It can be difficult to exactly duplicate the sound from a specific recording.
There are far more elements to be considered than just the drawbars, vibrato/ chorus and percussion.
Tone cabinet choice, mic-ing techniques, and studio treatments can also be factors.

No two "tonewheel" Hammonds sound exactly alike.
At the factory, the magnet rods were set by hand, and could produce differing harmonic content from unit to unit.

More to the point of your question, It appears that you have the organ settings approx at the same starting point that I would use.
However, I would experiment with Overdrive, and EQ also.

This thread has a great excel spreadsheet with drawbar settings that includes the artists that you've mentioned:
nord-stage-forum-f3/drawbar-settings-suggestion--t562.html

There's a great overhead video interview with Joey D at the Hammond explaining his methods of drawbar selection.
http://www.gospelskillz.com/watchvideo.asp?id=23

Brother Jack was quoted as saying: "Some people are messin' with the drawbars so much they don't get any playin' done."

Some believe that it is more important to concentrate on how the song was played (notes, phrasing, chord structure, emotion) rather than the particulars of the instrument sound. I'm beginning to agree.

Hope this helps.
Cheers, Hanon

[bdodds]

This is true, my A-100 doesn't sound anything like Jimmy or Jack's sound, mostly because it's 40+ years older than those organs used to record the songs we listen to. The Electro also was modeled after a similar vintage organ, so it will all vary. You may need to play with the higher-end drawbars just a tad, and maybe EQ the highs up a little, most of the deficiencies I've found in trying to get particular organ sounds is dull, treble-less tone.

[Cute James]

I recently played a live where the last tune was 'Rock Candy', taken from the 'Jack McDuff Live!' album.

As others have said, it's going to be a challenge to recreate that vintage, crunchy, dirty sound, however on my Electro 3 I used the following:

- 88800000
- C3 chorus
- Percussion on, 3rd
- Leslie stop/brake
- Overdrive around 5-6
- Flat EQ (I didn't have time to experiment)
- Tonewheel model no.3 (vintage and dirty)

It was pretty close...although a little screech in the treble for the solo part.
Now I just need to learn how to play all the comping chords and variations!

James
x

[jazzystu]

As above, JS used 3rd harmonic and JM used 2nd and sometimes had it on "normal" rather than soft.

JS also used a fair amount of non-leslie whilst JM did.

I think JS used a more "hollow" bass sound. 8low800000 whilst JM used 8more800000.

I don't think either of them used Chorus much.

The hammond cabs which smith used in the studio a fair bit don't really have that much key click, wheras a leslie has a lot more spit to it.

I think the more "full" organ settings are the more difficult to interpret.