Organ sound in NS3 worst than Electro?

[jossmacallan]

Hi,
I recently replaced the Electro 5 with a Stage 3. I have a feeling the organ sounds worse on the Stage.
What do you think?
Is it something psychological in my mind or is it really different?

[cki69]

It's different - this has been discussed in depth. Have a look at those entries in the forum. You can tweak it so that it's very similar to the electro. However, the electro has a "crunchy" sound if you turn on the rotary effect (regardless if slow or fast). The stage seems to be much cleaner.

[iluvchiclets]

jossmacallan,

Make sure you are up to date on all the OS firmwares. When the Stage 3 was first released, it had a very dull and lifeless organ sound. Almost as if it had a blanket over it? Anyhow, quite a while back they did a firmware release that really opened the Hammond organ model up and let it breath....

[jossmacallan]

I have the last OS version.
iluvchiclets. exactly! the electro for me sounds warmer than the stage

[analogika]

Changing the Rotor/horn balance of the rotary speaker to make the bass rotor louder (added in one of the first major OS upgrade three years ago) made the difference for me.

I was at 70/30 for a while and toned it down to 60/40. 50/50 is the default, and it's way too thin for me.

[iluvchiclets]

As was mentioned above, the Electro 5 had a bit of distortion built into the Leslie effect (even with the drive at "0"). This is the only Nord release to ever have this artifact. You can, however, remove it by using a control pedal and rocking down the volume of the Leslie pre-amp simulation.

Another thing - the Electro 5 has the reverb after the Leslie, whereas the Stage 3 has the reverb going into the Leslie. This may make up for a sonic difference you're hearing....?

[anotherscott]

As was mentioned above, the Electro 5 had a bit of distortion built into the Leslie effect (even with the drive at "0"). This is the only Nord release to ever have this artifact. You can, however, remove it by using a control pedal and rocking down the volume of the Leslie pre-amp simulation.

It sounds to me like this is a nod to accuracy. With the pedal at max, a real B3 will always have some distortion. If when no pedal is plugged in the E5 is behaving as if the pedal is at max, then you would expect some distortion. And to me, if you care about accurate B3 emulation in the first place, you probably should have a pedal plugged in anyway!

[iluvchiclets]

Oh, I don't mind that little bit of grit at all! In fact, having past owned the Stage 3 and Electro 6, I still have my Electro 5 (and it is my favourite Nord release so far...

[hector space]

My experience with both Stage 2 and Stage 3 is that Hammond simulation is more of a compromise than on any Electro since 3. In fact having bought an Electro 3 in 2011 I’ve yet to feel the need to part with it (I do love the L145 sim on that instrument it’s got more bass). The issue has always been the effects, particularly how distortion/ tube amp simulation is done on the Stage. If you love Hammond you’ll probably not be satisfied with the Stage. But if you don’t like hauling gear you maybe prepared to compromise! BTW I do also own a Neo Vent 2 which goes a long way to fixing the Stage’s B3. Mind you after the Nord rotary you may find the Vent’s faithful L122 simulation a bit dull! Lol

[stopmakingsense]

The Amp Sim/EQ section is your friend. I find a touch of Drive from this section and the Compressor add a lot. I like boosting the Mid Range too, but that has to be dialed back when using organ percussion.