Jump to content


Please note: You can easily log in to MPN using your Facebook account!

Crumar Mojo 61 Review - (LONG)


Recommended Posts



How does the Drive effect work on th Mojo. Can it be edited to sound more like The Sermon (.Jimmy Smith) Organ recording?

 Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book."

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The acoustic piano on the Mojo61 isn't *awful*. It has a charm to it. I played a blues gig with just the Mojo recently, and the piano sounded pretty good in a full band context. I like the ringing of the high keys. I had my Korg Plugkey and Ravenscroft on my phone ready to set up, but I didn't bother as the Mojo piano sounded OK.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dont think charm is the right word. Yes, it is a piano sample that can function as a rhythm instrument in a blues band, but the moment its exposed in solo piano or a jazz trio its poor. The entire mid range is dismal and somehow the response lags. All the other sounds on the Mojo 61 are quite good and respond well. When I demo the Mojo to people I dont even show the AP, it embarrasses me. The Electro 1 AP was quite superior and probably why the Electro will always outsell the Mojo.

 Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book."

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Was able to directly compare the Mojo 61 with the Sk1 at Steves Music dwntn Toronto this morning. They are setup next to each other. Might have been this Mojo but when the 8 drawbar was fully drawn there was this strange harmonic that the neither the Sk1 nor the VR730 exhibited. The salesperson doubted whether there had been any OS update done. It only occurred on the 8 drawbar. It was quite noticeable and annoying. Anyone else experience this issue?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Somewhat OT - Every time I hear the hammond sound on Blood Sweat and Tears song "You've made me so very Happy" I think wow what a sound! Any insight on how to dial in that sound on the Mojo 61 / VB3 II?

 

Love the sound of the organ on that album. One thing you can do is to realize Dick was using a single speed leslie, so turn off chorale. That is what makes the ramp up to fast so delicious.

 

Moe

---

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can make some adjustments in the Mojo61 Editor that will help get closer to that sound. I'd try balancing for more horn than rotor, adjust up the horn ramp-up and speed. Then on the panel, back off the overdrive, turn CV and percussion off. Drawbars: sweeten to taste.

____________________________________
Rod

Here for the gear.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Hello there,

 

I bought a Crumar Mojo 61 recently and love the sounds. However I have a strange issue, I already contacted Crumar but I wanted to share with you and, maybe, see if others experienced it too:

the left output of the instrument is louder by 2 or 3 db than the right output. I noticed it on the V3 engine first, but after testing it by recording the same chord using the same input on my computer soundcard, first time with the jack cable on the LEFT output of the Mojo61, second time with the jack cable on the right ouput of the Mojo61, I saw it was the case on all the sound engines.

 

I already did a factory reset on the web editor and have the latest firmware installed. Any clues?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Three suggestions:

 

1) give the unit a hard slap or two on one side and see if this cures the issue. This would indicate bad connectivity within the unit.

2) If you are using a mixer simply set the balance so that left/right are balanced and move on.

3) contact crumar support for an opinion.

57 Hammond B3; 69 Hammond L100P; 68 Leslie 122; Kurzweil Forte7 & PC3; M-Audio Code 61; Voce V5+; Neo Vent; EV ELX112P; GSI Gemini & Burn

Delaware Dave

Exit93band

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello and thank you for your suggestions, I never would have thought of your first one! : )

Sadly it didn't do anything.

 

Indeed I thought I could simply use a balance to even the two channels, but I do use the direct headphones output to practice and still, there is that 2 db difference.

 

I contacted Crumar and had some advices from Guido, but the conclusion was that the two outputs should be at the same volume and that I could ask for an exchange to my seller. I think that's what I'm gonna do.

 

I won't lie, I'm disappointed to have a problem straight out of the box. But to be fair, I had an issue when I bought the Prophet 6, had to exchange it, and it remained one of my favorite instrument ever since so... I can't let that kind of issue ruin the great sounds of the Mojo (trying to keep a positive attitude, hum).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My biggest wishlist item (besides a better piano, but I know that's not what it's designed for), would be to select a specific amp model that the organ uses when you disengage the Leslie. At present, it just bypasses the Rotary Cab, but let's be honest, the Leslie AMP is not a particularly desirable or useful sound in itself, IMO (It can still be an option in the setup UI). Since I like to cop Jon Lord and play "metal" rhythm organs, it would be fantastic to be able to select the Marshall amp that's available to the E Pianos.

 

A lesser wishlist item would be the the possibility of engaging the Leslie when using Combo organs. Not sure why they don't allow for that, there's definitely the controls and processing for it. It's like the keyboard goes out of its way to lock out the Leslie and amp for the Combos. Hard to cop some Ray Manzarek without a Vox through Leslie. Obviously Leslie for E Pianos would be nice too, but considering it repurposes the controls (and possibly the processing) for effects, that's an understandable tradeoff. I haven't checked, but I believe you can select Leslie as an effect option, though I already use those slots for Vibrato and Phaser.

 

My only physical design regret is I would have rather they used a rotary switch or 4 separate buttons for the 4 keyboard types... stepping through them with one button (or Shift-Back) is a little awkward and could have been easily avoided. I don't mind not using the Chicken Head nobs for the rest of the nobs, if they were shrunk to that size, they might be kind of delicate, having a protrusion.

 

TIP: On dark stages, I found it hard to read the surface of the board since the lip creates a bit of shadow. I ran white electrical tape down the length of the "lip", which makes the LEDs reflect back on the control surface and self-illuminate the controls better.

Puck Funk! :)

 

Equipment: Laptop running lots of nerdy software, some keyboards, noise makersâ¦yada yada yadaâ¦maybe a cat?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hard to cop some Ray Manzarek without a Vox through Leslie.
Really? I thought he ran the Vox straight (i.e., no Leslie).

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

- George Bernard Shaw

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hard to cop some Ray Manzarek without a Vox through Leslie.
Really? I thought he ran the Vox straight (i.e., no Leslie).

He did a number of different amps, and used a Leslie from time to time. But he always used a Vox as his organ.

Puck Funk! :)

 

Equipment: Laptop running lots of nerdy software, some keyboards, noise makersâ¦yada yada yadaâ¦maybe a cat?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hard to cop some Ray Manzarek without a Vox through Leslie.
Really? I thought he ran the Vox straight (i.e., no Leslie).

He did a number of different amps, and used a Leslie from time to time. But he always used a Vox as his organ.

...and a Gibson organ, right? And even some B3 toward the end, IIRC.

 

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

- George Bernard Shaw

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Yes...I think it was a Gibson organ. I always thought it was a Vox Continental for much of Manzarek's work... and was surprised when I recently learned that.

 

BTW - I had a weird issue this afternoon with my Mojo 61. Practicing this afternoon, I realized that the E just above Middle C on my Mojo 61 was dead. There was some slight sound output when I had pressed it, but no musical tone at all. All the other notes worked fine, and the lower drawbar E was fine all well.

 

Given that I have a rehearsal coming up, I was worried it was a simple key contact issue...but then the key would be completely dead and no sound coming out at all. After a few hours, I realized - try some of the other patches (piano, etc.). Well, different "E" notes were dead! So it wasn't the key itself. Turns out that I solved the problem by unplugging the MIDI cable and re-plugged it in. Something weird was going on that must have been MIDI related, but thankfully it's now resolved.

 

*** BTW, does anyone know how to do a complete factory restore in cases like these?

*** Additionally, does anyone have an issue with really loud distortion at a certain spot where you turn the distortion knob only part-way up?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
Could somebody remind me what Memphis Mode does?

 Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book."

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Could somebody remind me what Memphis Mode does?

 

This, my friend, is a true Sven moment. The manual states it emulates disengaging the motors that turn the bass rotor on a Leslie.

 

Gigging: Crumar Mojo 61, Hammond SKPro

Home: Vintage Vibe 64

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are there any recordings of organ LH bass players using the "Memphis mod"?

I use the default split at C on my Mojo 61 to play LH bass all the time. I don't really need rotary on my bass. BUT, how will having the bass baffle STOPPED effect the sound quality of the right hand vs having the bass on? What did Jimmy Smith think about the "Memphis Mod"? It seems he could have used it? There seems to be little information on the internet about it. My Mojo 61 is currently in storage so that's why I'm asking the questions.

My RH is 8880000

 Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book."

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...