Hammond organs

[dfinn]

Hi,

 

Im going to be doing sound for a band soon which have a hammond organ. I have never seen one of these things before so I'm pretty much in the dark as to how about put it through the P.A.

 

Does it have a line out which I can D.I. or does it have a speaker which I need to mic?

 

Thanks,

 

Daniel

[london sound]

Do you know if it is coming with a Leslie cabinet?

 

 

 

Ian

[dfinn]

nope sorry. I think its a question to put on the list ive got to ask the band on the phone.

 

Thanks anyway,

 

Daniel

[andy_s]

having tried to pay attention to the seminars on setting up PA systems at the sound expo at Wembley while some Reg type was demonstrating a Hammond about 20m away, one wonders whether putting it through the PA is strictly necessary......

 

If you have to, I think mic'ing up the cab is a good bet. Don't know what mic I'd use - large diaphragm high SPL?

 

Alternatively, the Yamaha P250 has quite a nice Hammond setting and is very easy to use - much more manual handling-friendly.

[charlyfarly]

Problem is with the Yamaha is that it doesn't have drawbars. Non-Hammond keyboards which are solid state but also have drawbars are the Roland VK-7.

Modern solid state Hammonds like the XK-3 have the ability to run a Leslie cabinet and/or jack left and right outs (via DI).

Leslie cabinets are usually mic'd for example thusly: 2 x SM57 on the rotating horns with something like a Beta 52 or MD421 on the bass speaker. If your SM57's are directly opposite each other, check the phase on the desk. Pan the channels approxiamately 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock with the bass in centre.

If the volume of the Leslie is a problem, place the cabinet behind the backdrop. I have even had them in a quiet room off-stage before now but of course this will only work if you can put the Leslie through the keyboard player's monitors!

Have a look at this site for information on these wonderful instruments!

 

http://www.hammond-organ.com/

[djw1981]

We had a hammond at the Edinburgh Festival venue I worked at last year - we learned several things

 

1. - They are very heavy (the Leslie in particular) and need careful handling onto /off of the stage.

 

2. We mic'ed the top and bottom 'wailers' each with an SM57 and used a certain amount of artistic licence on the main FOH desk to decide which needed to be louder / quieter at any point. According to teh artistes this is importnant because they ahve little control over volume of high vs bass and they wnated a specific sound.

 

3. Don't stick it throiugh the monitors unless you have in ears, as its loud enough for everyone except the keys player (depending upon location of the leslie).

 

4. It is a great sound and will show up the acoustics of your venue better than your PA system in our experience.

 

5. Good luck.

 

6. And if you are monitor engineering anywhere near it, take some earplugs!!!! I coul hardly hear after the first enthusiastic performance last summer.

[griffter]

Yep, Do exactly what Charlyfarly says, 2 57s on the Rotating Horn and a 421 on the Bass. I panned them a bit harder than that 10 and 2 but good to experiment!

 

Also, If you are outdoors make sure the generator is running at 50Hz as they are very untolerant of minor variations which will send them way out of tune!

[charlyfarly]

Yes Griffter! If using one of the old valve B3/C3'c etc. they run on a synchronous motor and can go horribly out of tune! Our C3 has a voltage stabaliser in it though some people use Variacs.

Word of warning with old Hammonds and old Leslies, do not ever tip them....they should be upright in transportation and when being handled on stage. This is because of the oil inside them.

[dbuckley]

Yep,  Do exactly what Charlyfarly says, 2 57s on the Rotating Horn and a 421 on the Bass. I panned them a bit harder than that 10 and 2 but good to experiment!

 

And if you can get the thing somewhere quiet you can get the mics a couple of feet away, which sounds so much better than having a '57 about six inches from the horns. When close miced the level difference from horn on-axis to mic to off-axis (which happens once per revolution, one of those horns is a dummy to stop the thing wobbling!) is day and night, it sounds more like square wave gated than a Leslie, whereas allowing the thing the "breathe" with the mics a couple of feet back sounds yummy.

 

Also, If you are outdoors make sure the generator is running at 50Hz  as they are very untolerant of minor variations which will send them way out of tune!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Was anyone else at Knebworth in (I think) '75, when The Floyd found that out the hard way? The Hammond dropped a semitone whilst the band were playing, compared to between numbers. Obviously those generators weren't frequency stable :-) Ended up with the other guys tuning down a semi to match the Hammond...

 

I noted a variac or other voltage regulator mentioned earlier - they wont help, its not voltage but frequency that is the problem.

 

A Frequency Converter is the difinitive answer. An on-line UPS may do the trick, but probably wont - it'll adjust its output phase to matc the input :-( And you need to feed a Hammond sinewave power...

[dfinn]

Hi,

 

Been on the phone to the band and yes I will have to mic it up.

 

Unfortunately the stuff I put through to hire a moonth ago for the day cannot all be hired due to budget restrictions which I wasnt made aware of so im a bit annoyed as I was looking forward to take ur kit to its full potential.

 

Ah well thanks,

 

Daniel

[IanJ]

Hi,

 

We currently run a B3 chop and tied to a Leslie 760. Over the years we've gigged a full blown C3 (heavy!!!) and Leslie 147 and not to mention a Hammond XB5 (solid state) back in the early days.

 

We've had our fair share of problems.....mostly with the Leslie's. Good advise not to tip them over, not even when lifting onto a stage for instance let alone storage. I've had to replace one motor assembly already (learning the hard way!).

 

Our current 760 is knackered......the amp is goosed so until I get to fix it we're running a spare 8ch Studiomaster powered desk on top of it to drive the speaker/horn. Luckily, the relay circuit for the motors are fine......but it's inconvinient at best.

 

We also have a Nord Electro 2.......a fine keyboard and with a passable Hammond/Leslie emulation if the B3 craps out anytime. The Nord has a few drawbars so it's semi-flexible.

 

Biggest problem with the Hammonds is keeping them lubricated so that they spin up from cold properly.

 

Ian.

 

http://www.souledasylum.co.uk/equipment/HammondB3chop2.jpg

 

http://www.souledasylum.co.uk/equipment/HammondB3chop1.jpg