Lou_NC

I should have clarified that I feed my keyboard instruments, drum machine, and iPod (yes, I still play my MP3's into my mixer using an old iPod!) through a stereo line-level mixer, and THEN run it into a line-level input on the home theater receiver. Any line-level audio input to the receiver should work (CD player, AUX input, etc). If you need an inexpensive line-level mixer to feed into your receiver, you can look into Rolls and Behringer products. Give it a try, I think you'll be favorably impressed. After all, if a "home theater" system is capable of providing accurate reproduction and an impressive sound experience for movies, why wouldn't it work for this application? Lou

You may think I'm nuts, but I'm and old guy and just don't care about that kind of stuff anymore. 🙂 You didn't say what volume you play at, but faced with this very same situation at home, I ended up with a repurposed "home theater" amp, speakers and powered subwoofer. I play a Hammond XK-3/vent, Casio piano (midi'd thru a sound module) and my mp3's through this setup, and it sounds GREAT at moderate home volume levels. I picked up my equipment used and don't have more than $400 in the entire system. People are buying sound bars for their TV's now and dumping mint condition "home theater" setups on Craigslist all the time. Just some food for thought. Lou

Bar gigs, eh? 😁 If you LOVE organ/Leslie sound, I would invest in a Leslie (or a Vent and stereo amp setup of your choice - SSv3, Motion Sound, or even a good set of stereo system speakers) for HOME use only. For the bar gigs themselves, I would play in mono using the SK's Leslie sim. That would cover your organ and piano sounds through a single stationary speaker (minimal schlep factor). Honestly, do you think a bar patron is going to care if the Leslie sim is in stereo or not? If you need to provide your own amp for the gigs (vs. house PA and IEM's) I'd buy a decent powered PA speaker, size based on the sizes of the venues you plan to play in. Lou

Wow what are the chances that the guy who started this thread lives in the same "town" that I do? Raleigh, NC. Technically, "North Raleigh", or at least that's what it was called at one time (when I moved here in '91). Curious, why are you moving? Seems like we're still getting a lot more people moving TO Raleigh than AWAY from Raleigh.

Hey just out of curiosity, has anyone ever tried a PR 40 cabinet with a Ventilator?

Just received my Gator GKB-61 case from Amazon, fits the SK-2 perfectly! Can't believe Hammond's own case is now so badly sized........must be a recent manufacturing error, as a friend owns an older Hammond case that fits his SK-2 perfectly. Didn't grab a photo of my SK-2 in the Gator case, but it looks just like niacin's photos above. Best of all the Gator was $120 on Amazon, essentially the same price as the Hammond. I'm happy with the quality. Here's a photo of the tag. If you order this case be careful, you DON'T want the "slim" version of the GKB-61 case, that's for a single-manual 61-key board. Check the UPC from the tag against what you're ordering to be sure you order the right one for a dual-manual keyboard.

Hey thanks, that looks like a great option! Gator lists the interior height of the GKB-61 as 5", but if your SKX-Pro fits (height 7.2") then the SK-2 should definitely fit (height 6.7"). Lou

I'm weird that way.......it would bother me forever to have to shelp around 7" extra in one dimension and 5" in another because Hammond increased the size of their case. I have a friend who owns an SK-2 and Hammond case (purchased a few years ago) and sure enough, it fits as you would expect......no slop. In fact, SO weird that I'll probably spend $100 on materials and just build my own lightweight "hard case" for the SK-2 from lightweight plywood, rather than keep the absurdly oversize Hammond bag. Having a fully equipped woodworking shop and 40+ years of woodworking hobby experience, (while being stubborn to boot), will drive me to do that, I'm sure! 🙂 Lou

No question is stupid! Yes, I'm certain it's an SK-2.

I recently acquired a pristine Hammond SK-2 and would like to keep it that way. I just ordered and received a Hammond-brand SK-2 gig bag from Sweetwater (after months of waiting for it to be back in stock), and unbelievably, it is 7" too deep, and 5" too wide! I can live with an inch or so of "slop", but this is absurd. I'm in the process of returning it to Sweetwater. I'm wondering what alternate solutions folks might be using out there for an SK-2, SK-X, or SK-X pro? I'm not married to the Hammond brand, and apparently they're not too concerned about good fit, so if I can find an alternative that works and won't totally destroy the bank, I'd appreciate the help. Thanks, Lou

What do I use 5-pin MIDI for? Casio CDP-100 piano MIDI-out to Alesis NanoPiano MIDI-in, for better piano voices than the Casio built-in sounds. Korg MPK-130 MIDI bass pedals into Hammond XK-3 bass pedal MIDI input. Cheap 61-key MIDI controller MIDI-out to Hammond XK-3 lower keyboard MIDI-in (poor man's lower organ keyboard). Cheap 49-key M-Audio MIDI controller to Alesis NanoSynth MIDI-in. (a few string and synth sounds to add to my mainstream piano and organ sounds, as-needed). Yeah, I'm using older equipment, but hey it works great (very reliably) and sounds good to my ears. I don't think I'd *ever* have a use for USB MIDI.........I simply don't use computers as musical instruments. Lou

I've lived on a sloping driveway for 30+ years, and do a LOT of carpentry and hobby work outdoors. Don't overthink this. I have a small bucket filled with "leveling blocks" which are basically scraps of 2x4 and some 1x lumber cut into about 3" square pieces. Place one or two under the feet of your stand, etc., on the "downhill" side, and you can get things pretty close to level. Having a mix of 2x and 1x squares helps get things pretty darn close to level with minimal fuss. If you don't own a chop saw to make the blocks yourself, go to your local Home Depot or lumberyard and have them chop an 8' 2x4 and 8' piece of 1x4 into 3" squares and you'll have a lifetime supply of leveling blocks. 🙂 Lou

Looping back on this thread as an FYI............I ordered and tested the 8-pin DIN cable linked in the 1st post, and I can report that it does NOT work between the SK-2 and the Leslie 3300. To my good fortune, as I was surfing around looking for a better price on the Hammond cable, wouldn't you know, Sweetwater had a "demo" 8-pin genuine Hammond cable on sale at a greatly reduced price from the typical $83, so I jumped on it. I am now the happy user of a fully functional Leslie 3300 attached to my SK-2, with full features supported (fast/slow/stop) directly through the SK-2 panel. Lou

I sometimes envy those who had piano lessons as a child, but my journey into keyboards was slightly different. The keyboard idol of my youth was Rick Wakeman in YES, but yet I somehow resisted following in his footsteps since the instrument I preferred the sound of was organ vs. piano. My folks (thankfully) resisted my pleas to buy me a single keyboard transistor organ of the day, and instead they rented a Wurlitzer spinet organ from a local music store and arranged for lessons. And my how I enjoyed those in-home lessons, patiently delivered by a thirty-something woman teacher who was quite attractive, smelled great, and basically stole the heart of this 14 year old high schooler. 🙂 I got through two years of lessons (played well enough to entertain my Mom with Broadway show tunes) and gave up the lessons when I managed to snag a high school sweetheart. A few years later after graduating college, my parents insisted that I take the organ with me when I moved to upstate NY to work for IBM as a newly minted EE. I spent many hours listening to my favorite bands on the stereo in my lonely apartment, and actually taught myself some rudimentary music theory (which my organ teacher NEVER taught me) by playing along with the stereo. One of my favorite pastimes to this day remains starting a random playlist on my trusty old iPod or cell phone, and playing (noodling) along, only today it's on a Hammond organ and a Casio piano in my setup. 🙂 To this day I remain extremely grateful to Mom and Dad for giving this pimply high school Rick-Wakeman-wannabe a start! Lou

Aidan, thanks for posting and nice work at that Wurlitzer! I warms my heart to see a fellow "keyboard" player who also plays with both hands and both feet! I started my keyboard journey on a Wurlitzer spinet in the 70's when I was in high school, and have enjoyed playing with both hands and feet ever since. Throw in a "drum machine" and you can forget about all the "drama" that comes along with life in a band. 🙂 Lou

Actually I find that being able to easily stop the 3300 when using an SK2 is a nice feature. I can play some of the "extra" sounds in the SK2 through the stopped Leslie and not have to haul around two amps. 🙂 (Granted it wouldn't work if I needed to play organ and piano simultaneously for example, but for me that rarely happens).

I recently acquired a Hammond SK-2 and would like to connect it to my Leslie 3300. I know I can run line-in from the SK-2 to the Leslie, and a separate switch/pedal to control 3300 fast/slow speed, but can I use this cable as an alternative to the rather pricey Hammond 8-pin cable? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0982THKNF?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1 Also, does anyone know whether the 8-pin cable option permits slow/fast/stop between the SK-2 panel and the 3300? Thanks, Lou

I've seen folks "stipple" the grips on a Glock handgun by carefully using the pointed tip of a soldering iron. You can look it up online. If you go easy you should be able to add a similar texture to a plastic mod wheel. It's not "un-doable" once you've done it, but if it's a cheap controller it may be an option for you.

This is the only kind of "pedal board" I've ever had under my keys. Never saw the need for anything else...... 🙂

Wow I grew up in Garfield NJ in the 70's and spent many hours in Sam Ash on Route 4 drooling at the keyboards I couldn't afford, but longed for. I even visited there a couple of years ago when I was in town for a funeral, and I got to check out a used Mojo in person, something I haven't been able to do in Raleigh NC forever! That place was great......sad to see it go.

I think the top stand could work fine for me. I play bass pedals while sitting, and many stands interfere with placement of bass pedals and an expression pedal, this seems to offer stability and a lot of space underneath, for a good price. It may be a little high for sitting, but that's easily solved with a hacksaw on each of the 4 legs.......just cut a little at a time till you get it where you like it. Lou

I use small Ziploc (quart size?) freezer bags for each one, then toss them all in a small duffle bag. I also label each wall wart with a Brother labelmaker label so that I can easily recognize what device that particular wall wart goes with. The freezer bags are great since they're heavier plastic than standard zip bags, and being clear it's easy to see what's inside. When they wear out, they're cheap to replace. Lou

I'm actually in central NC, but I do have family in North Jersey (Nutley) so anything's possible. Shoot me a PM and we can discuss sometime......my cousin will be coming down later this fall to visit me, I could always beg him to give a Leslie a ride. Fortunately I have a nice practice room and don't have any neighbor volume issues to worry about (only spousal volume issues!)

I have a line on a locally available 145. Haven't gotten to see it yet but supposedly it hasn't been gigged, although the seller told me it's missing some of the lower molding, which tells me it's probably not in "living room" condition. I see asking prices on Reverb and Ebay today (note "asking" not necessarily "selling") for these as high as $1500 - $2000. A few years back I passed on a 145 and a 142 in the $800 range because I just wasn't ready to buy at that point. I'd like to understand "today's pricing" before I make a decision. Also, anything specific to look for other than ensuring smooth, quiet operation and switching? Thanks, Lou

Yep, this about nails it. Concerts used to promote album sales, which provided an income stream to musicians. Nowadays, cheap music streaming (with relatively low $$ going to the artists, relative to older album sales) is used to promote concert attendance (with the expensive tickets). The music industry has inverted their business model. None of the above excuses the "hotel/airline" pricing model for tickets/seats, though, IMHO. I just attended a James Taylor concert at an arena here in Raleigh NC, as a birthday gift for my wife. The acoustics were so poor, and itty bitty James Taylor WAY WAY down there on stage, (coupled with the video screen that lagged the sound by a hundred milliseconds or so), just about ruined the experience for me. Thanks, but count me among those who will stick to "unknown" musical acts in very small venues, or simply get my fix of the big names on Youtube, while wearing a good pair of headphones and hearing a good sound mix. 🙂