BluesB3

I'm not a synth guy so take this FWIW. '58 B3 w/ Bob Schleicher converted 50C Leslie Wurly 200A w/ Warneck amp 145 Leslie (makes any clone sound better) CP73 (it's new and I'm just finding my way with it, but I like the simple programming and general build quality. I'm not a pianist so my comments on the action would be worthless.) Electro 2 (can't compare to a real Hammond, but serviceable into a mini-Vent. Band members seem to like it. Durable and reliable) Honorable mention goes to my Farfisa Combo Compact. I'm not nostalgic for it and I can pretty much get the sound on my Nord or CP, but it did serve me well throughout the '70's. It was a heckuva lot easier to tote to gigs than my Baldwin Orgasonic.

I admit to being Hammond biased but I've just got to give props to Kris Pooley for his work on American Idol. He generally manages to sneak some tasty B3 and occasionally Wurly into the variety of arrangements. A man after my own heart.😀

You need a preamp for the Leslies and ac power. Not sure exactly what you need. Google "Dr. Fishsticks", "Booker Labs" and "Trek II UC-1A" and get in touch with them. Chances are one of them can get you set up. You could go with the old official Leslie Combo preamp pedals but there's a lot of pitfalls there if you're not experienced.

He's metaphorically saying you're walking through a minefield.

Excuse the late post but I just wanted to thank Stephen for the excellent review and tutorials. I was in the market for a "bottom board" for live performances. I'm pretty much a Luddite and a Midiiot, so the lack of menu diving in the CP73 suited me well. Thanks again and keep up the good work. We're out here listening.

Count me as another particle board MDF hater. Good dense material for stationary speaker cabinets. Bad material for any gigging instrument. Too heavy compared to lightweight plywood alternatives. Breaks rather than dents with impacts. Strictly a bean-counter rather than an engineering and marketing choice.

Most people don't believe me when I tell them how much quicker a "real" Hammond and Leslie are to set up at a gig. If I had an enclosed trailer and a secure place to park it, I'd still be doing it. The only bummers are stairs and high stages without a ramp. The RoK's and a refrigerator dolly for the Leslie make it a piece of cake. AND now we have ADA access for most venues. Let's see.... my current equipment list CP73 sustain pedal Nord Electro 61 Mini-Vent switch pedal for Vent FC7 expression pedal K&M 18880/18881 stand DI box QSC K10 TS 70 speaker stand misc. cables 1/4" and XLR and IEC signal path: Nord > Mini-Vent > CP73 input (Adjust input gain on back of CP73 as needed to balance Nord volume with CP73) CP73 (1/4" TS) mono out> IMP DI box in > DI xlr out> QSC channel A xlr line in set for mic mode Yeah this includes the digital piano but as you can see, it's not a "quick in, quick out" rig.

I bought my 18880 and 18881 last year from Amazon uk but thru the US site. I don't know how that works but it saved me money over US prices. I don't mind paying more for goods from democratic societies, but I don't think it should be extremely out of whack with exchange rates 😕.

Since you asked... left to right: Not a Falcon. Full Size '59 Ford. Rust was pretty prevalent back then. '60 Buick (check out the roofline). '59 Ford. '53 or '54 Chev. These days it's hard to imagine there was a time before foreign automobiles existed in the US.

You're partially right. They were (are?) the Southern equivalent of the White Castle hamburger. Little square patties with onions soaked in grease called "gut grenades" .

Mantovani, Patti Page, etc. were on the mainstream radio and TV at the time but really had no impact on us. We thought it was "Square". We'd been playing Mojo Workin' and Trick Bag so our tastes were more on the visceral side. We listened to Brubeck and Horace Silver but if it wasn't blues based, it was beyond our skill level. I do remember Sack'o'Woe, Summertime and Comin' Home Baby being on our set lists. Cosimo Matissa's artists from New Orleans and Ray Charles were huge influence on us until the British Invasion.

Naw more likely quarts of Miller High Life and Krystal Hamburgers at 3:30 in the morning after the gig.

If I can be excused from pulling this drifting thread slightly back on topic.... I was already playing in a band at teen centers, even before I had my Mississippi drivers license. (15 y/o minimum age). Our set list consisted of songs we had either heard on WLAC from John R and Hossman Allen, or learned from other bands we admired. (Andy Anderson and the Rolling Stones or Lane Cameron) The night after we heard the Beatles on Sullivan we knew that era of 1,4,5 and 1,6-,4,5 Rock'n'Roll was over. No more faking it. We had to step up our game learning the solos, harmonies, and changes from needle drops on the LP's.

The flaw in my thinking was reading in DI brochure that said it was an 150 ohm out. If I'd have been thinking from my TV station days, 150 ohms is usually mic impedance and line impedance is 600 ohms. We moved the keyboard position today in our setup from stage left to stage right. This gave me a good opportunity to repatch every thing. I ended up using a hybrid of Danno's suggestions. Nord > Mini-Vent > CP73 input (Adjust input gain on back of CP73 as needed to balance Nord volume with CP73) CP73 (1/4" TS) mono out> IMP DI box in > DI xlr out> QSC channel A xlr line in set for mic mode As Reezekeys said, this gave me plenty of gain before distortion. When I have more time, I might try the one Right XLR out from the CP straight to the QSC channel A in.

Thanks Danno. re this statement, "the next thing I would try is running an XLR cable from one of the CP73's XLR outputs into the K10 (with the input still in line mode)." I saw the XLR outs on the CP but wondered if using only one XLR output would only give me one side (L or R) of the stereo field. Of course I could run one XLR to the A channel and another to the B Channel of the K10 if staying in the Line mode.

Thanks this is exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I never thought about the inadvertent phantom power issue. I'm trying to work off the $2 grand I just spent on the CP73. I like the Radial products in general but the Key Largo is out of reach for a while. I noticed that the CP73 has a 1/4" input for another keyboard. I haven't had time to experiment with this since the keys stay at the rehearsal garage. Would there be any advantage in running the Electro into the CP and then out through the DI to the Mic input (as suggested) on Channel A of the K10? Also what is the practical length for 1/4" to 1/4" TS instrument cord without signal loss or noise?

I've been rehearing with my new band in a 22x24' garage. Signal path for the Electro 2 is 1/4" mono out >Mini Vent I 1/4" in> IMP DI box in>DI xlr out>QSC channel A xlr line in. Signal path for the CP73 is 1/4" mono out> IMP DI box in>XLR out QSC to channel B xlr line in. Both A&B gain pots on the K10 are dimed out at +10. QSC K10 is on a standard TS80 speaker tripod about six feet behind me. All patches are maxed out at 127 midi value, with the master volumes dimed on both instruments, it just doesn't sound loud enough for a weekend warrior, cover band average venue. This isn't a Marshall stack band. Guitar player plays thru some sort of Peavey KB2 or 3. The drummer is not a hard hitter and the tasty bass player is playing thru a Hartke KB12. Am I doing something wrong in my signal path? I know the Electro 2 has a low output. I've used a 1/4" TS cable from the headphone out to the QSC before, but I thought the DI box might take care of that. The CP73 is new to me, so I don't have much experience with it. Should I be trying to run 1/4" TS cables to the QSC instead of the DI boxes?

A nice 200A just sold on CL here in NW Arkansas in a couple of days for $1950. In the '90's I think I paid $250 for my Wurlie on the LA CL. It was missing the legs and the sustain pedal but came with nice folding bench I'm still using. My new CP73 is waiting for me at FedEx. We'll see how it's reed EP compares to the RealDeal. I hope it's closer than my Electro 2.

I'm looking at a keyboard on Gear Exchange. What's the least brutal and dicey shipping carrier? The choices are UPS, FedEx, and USPS.

Back in the '60's I had a beautiful blonde tone ring Tremolux with a 10 for my Combo Compact. I wish I had never sold it (the Tremolux, not the Farfisa). One of the most beautiful amps ever. The truth is though, it could never keep up with Super Reverbs and the Concert the guitar players had on gigs.

It's odd, I had a couple of reeds in the upper register that never sounded right to me regardless of any tweaking I, or any of my techs did. I took the Wurly to my best friend Hammond and EP maven Tony in Mississippi and he said my board sounded as good as any he had heard. Better than most. Through the amp they don't bother me at all. Something evened out or "livened" up.

The Vibrolux sounds like a good suggestion. I had a Musicman 65 with 2-10's that always sounded good on rhythm guitar. I've thought about getting another speaker board and putting a 12" speaker in my Princeton. But if the Princeton isn't loud enough for a gig, then it doesn't make sense. I was going to replace the Mojotone (which is probably an Eminence but I don't know which one) but it really sounds good the way it is. I went back and read the 2011 thread that Danno referenced. It seems that Steve, Al Coda. and Kanker were in favor of 10's. I've the Ampeg hell built for stout, Gemini that has a 12 in it. I haven't really shaken out the Ampeg since my move to Arkansas, it's sat under its cover in the hallway. Maybe I should give that a try? re: Steve Nathan's rig My guitar player in my college band had a brown 4-10 Concert with his pre-CBS Strat. Nice sounding rig.

I have an Ampeg Gemini I with a 12" that I bought with the 200A in mind but it is too heavy to schlep to a gig. I had a vintage silverface Princeton Reverb sitting in my office so, even though it only has a 10" Mojotone in it, I thought I'd give it a try with the Wurlie. The Wurlie has a Warnecke preamp in it, so no unsightly humming or bs. I stuck a dummy 1/4" plug in the headphone out so I would just be hearing the amp by itself. I added just the slightest touch of reverb and used a taste of the Fender tremolo just for kicks and I was blown away it sounded so good.😁 I didn't crank it up enough to get a little "grit" out of it but it might be there. Although I swore I'd never take the Wurlie to another gig, I was so pumped playing it I might consider it. Our guitar player is not too loud but I could mic the speaker if necessary. Just curious if any other Wurlie people have a favorite guitar amp? How about in the studio @SteveNathan?

The golf pants suggestions have been helpful. Not being a golfer, I hadn't considered those. I'm in fairly decent shape for 76, so I'll pass on the drawstrings and pajama bottoms. Nothing fancy, just tailored, well fitting dark but serviceable trousers with a collared shirt. I like the dark colors so that if you get the odd stain during load-in, you don't look sloppy for the show. I have a collection of colorful sleazy polyester "barfly" shirts to set off the dark slacks. And I have a nice Dobbs straw pork-pie hat for before Labor Day.😁 I remember some blues artist saying that if you dressed up, you were respecting your audience. Other than biker rallies and local blues jams, I'm over t-shirts and jeans for paying gigs regardless of the money.

I beg to differ. The Enterprise would have most logically had a Hammond X-66 in the day room for Spock's off duty time.