Morrissey

Would someone be so kind as to remind me about (or point me to) the details about the production changes of the SSv3. I recall at some point the cabinet construction changed (to/from plywood?) and maybe at the same time Aspen began including the cover for free(?). This thread is awesome but unwieldy, and I'm having a hard time finding these details. Thanks!

I've been listening to a lot of JGB this past week, mostly to confront my concern above Melvin's soloing. I think I stand by my assessment. Melvin played solos infrequently in JGB, and when he did, he utilized a surprisingly small bag of tricks. BUT his comping is out of this world! So creative... so many different ideas. Jerry takes a 3+ minute guitar solo in almost every song. Melvin's organ is the only non rhythm-section instrument supporting him, and Melvin makes it sound super thick and, even more impressively, not repetitive or boring. Here is one of my favorite Melvin solos in JGB, starts about the 4:20 mark: [video:youtube]

Yes, more tasteful varying of Leslie speeds, drawbar settings, etc. in the second version, although it is strikingly similar to the other solo.

Thanks, Jeff. That's soulful playing. I think I may have misremembered Melvin having Brent's chops. But I didn't misremember Melvin's soul, emotion, and visceral relationship with his Hammond.

Would you folks please post some killer Melvin solos? This thread has prompted me to revisit JGB material, and much to my chagrin, I'm finding a lot of Melvin's soloing to be sloppy and/or unsophisticated. Melvin was a huge influence on my interest in the B3. But I have a strong emotional bond with JGB and want to make sure I'm not a victim of rose-colored glasses when it comes to praising him. I mean, I love Jerry Garcia, too, but I'd be hard pressed to post videos of him singing well!

Should've pounced on that 799 price. Looks like vendors have normalized to 999. I'll look at this as saving me 800 dollars. I don't need one of these but was tempted by the "too good to be true" 799 asking price.

I love Melvin Seals! This video may not be his greatest solo but you can't get more up close and personal than this! Solo starts around the 4 minute mark. Cross-referencing the thread last week on using multiple leslies, dig Melvin's stack of two behind him. [video:youtube]

That's weird. MAP pricing is usually so consistent across stores.

I noticed one major online retailer has dropped their VR09 price to $799. Am I correct that original street price was $999, then dropped to $899 after a few years, and now $799? I don't really need one of these but it is getting harder to resist! Early pages of this thread talk about the value proposition of getting this board for half the price of a Nord or Hammond SK. Now, the price is about a third!

Never seen this before. I love it! This YouTuber claims it is basically an (analog?) phaser-type effect. I assume they didn't actually put a tiny rotating horn in there! Why in the world would they put the inputs/outputs on the bottom of the unit!?!? [video:youtube]

Mathofinsects: I assume the guitar player had a mono input into your mixer into the SS3. Is the magic of the SS3 lessened significantly by a mono input? Have others experimented running mono signals into the SS3? How much of a benefit does the SS3 offer for mono signals over using, say, a traditional single powered speaker?

Long time lurker. My thanks to the great advice and info from active forumites. A few posts in this thread mention that Fender used the SS technology in their Acoustasonic SFX guitar and keyboard amps a few (10-15?) years ago. Does anyone know how far along the technology was in those Fender amps? In other words, I know the SS3 is the gold standard, but are those Fender SFX amps quality early iterations worth buying or are they somehow deficient (e.g., perhaps Fender licensed the SS technology but incorporated "improvements" which actually compromised the SS virtues).