A Mojo on visit, not near convinced yet - H E L P

[bjosko]

A friend of mine are on a 3 months travel, and I got a chance to borrow his Mojo.

Great, since I have been looking at one as an replacement for my old lightpack gig - Nord C1/Neo.

 

He told me that it needs some tweaking before he had got it just like he would.

He are running it through some kind of tube-preamp and directly to PA.

 

However, I am somewhat disappointed with the sound I get.

It are not even close to my real Hammond, or to the organ in my Stage Classic, and got some very loud background humming when the volume pedal are floored. It have no balls or growl, only a nasty transistorized overdrive when the drive-knob are at full clockwise.

 

Number one are to check my cabling's, and where they are connected to my mixer (there are line or XLR through mic-preamp Presonus SL 24 /x/x ).

 

Then I would love to connect up a monitor and a mouse to try to look at, and perhaps edit the settings in it.

But is it possible to save my friends setting before I start tweaking?

 

All videos and feedback I have seen of this unit are full of praise, so it need to be something wrong in the setup.

 

[mate stubb]

The background humming is modelled tonewheel leakage, and authentic to a real hammond. Sometimes it gets a little loud for me also.

 

If you turn the overdrive knob completely up, it will sound terrible, like any other organ clone.

[bjosko]

Thanks.

The humming are much louder than on my A100, sounds more like when you are touching a jack-plug, but i suspect the mixer are not sat as flat that i thought it

was, damn digital mixers ....

But I can see that the leakage can be adjusted from the editor.

 

Yes, the overdrive on full are like other clones, but i do not think it was much between. Even the key-click was barely audible.

 

Any advice about the tweaking, could the previous setting be saved, or is so easy that it could be written down or photographed before I start my own settings?

 

The organ are placed where we use to practice, I will drive over tomorrow and give it a new try.

[drawback]

I don't have a Mojo but IIRC there are lots of different Hammond models/years you can set as your main sound. Perhaps your friend stored one that doesn't suit you. You' can play any number of real Hammond A's, B's & C's and find some are to your taste, some aren't - what would be different in this case?

 

 

[StringBeanJake]

...got some very loud background humming when the volume pedal are floored. It have no balls or growl, only a nasty transistorized overdrive when the drive-knob are at full clockwise.

 

Hi - first thing to check, are you starting the Mojo correctly?

 

First connect all cables, pedals, etc, and then, turn on the Mojo. Wait 20-30 seconds until it starts to produce a sound, then press the 'Manual' button for the top and bottom manuals.

 

Now you can start to work on the sound.

 

Be careful you do not press the 'Shift' button, as this puts the Mojo into edit mode.

 

I only use the overdrive from around 7 o'clock to maybe 11 o'clock on the dial.

 

The keyclick should go very loud, and this is one area where the Mojo is better than other clones in emulating a real console Hammond.

 

What Leslie mode are you using on the Mojo? This may be affecting the tone you are getting. With the stereo Leslie setting, the Mojo sounds excellent, but there are several options (including 'vertical' Leslie where the left channel produces the bottom rotor sound and the right channel produces the top rotor).

 

You should go to the Crumar website, then go to Support, choose Mojo, then download the document 'MOJO quick reference guide' - this should help you get the best sound.

 

I don't think you can save your friend's setup, but maybe just take a screenshot or write down the settings. There are only a few options to edit really.

 

I own a Mojo, Nord Electro and 1965 C3 - in my opinion the Mojo is the best of all the current clones.

[mate stubb]

You are not playing thru a Roland or Peavey combo amp, are you?

[bjosko]

Thanks for all suggestions, I have something to start with.

No, I am playing thru our PA, that are active HK Audio speakers, they sound excellent on all my other gear with all kind of sounds (organ, piano + + )

 

I have started it up correct and with all connected, but noticed that my sustain pedal was not working at the "bonus-sounds", as I read the manual, this bonus-program with piano should override the global settings and allow the sustain pedal.

Therefore I suspected that it could be any kind of startup failure ?

 

I think that the Stereo mode are enabled in the Leslie settings, as it are a noticeable stereo-effect when going from stop or slow to fast, but I will check that also.

 

I tried the 5-6 first tonewheel models when playing, but there was something basic missing from the sound in my ear.

[StringBeanJake]

Hi Bjorn - Sounds like you have done everything right, so maybe the Mojo sound is just not for you?

 

When I got mine, the sound was 95% there right out of the box, very little tweaking required, and I usually stay on the first tonewheel set (number 1).

 

Personally I don't like the basic Nord organ sound, but that's just my own taste and no criticism of the Nord.

 

Just out of interest, what model is the real Hammond you own? I have a nice old C3 and I have to say, the Mojo gets VERY close to this sound, with very convincing crosstalk, leakage, percussion, preamp overdrive and keyclick, and is very strong in the top octave, where many clones struggle.

 

'Your mileage may vary', as they say in the commercials!

[bjosko]

Hi SBJ,

i have an -65 A100 (rebuilt this summer with PreAmp TrekII CPR28 - it's not a complete solidstate, still using the original tubes and transformers) that I play thru my Leslie 147 alone, or and/Or thru my Vent.

 

I think my C1 sounds 80% ok thru the Ventilator, but was hoping that the Mojo gave the last 20%.

 

Are going over to the Mojo now, and will report back when I'm back.

[Craig MacDonald]

A couple of things.. first of all, the humming you're hearing could be a ground loop.. when I first got my mojo it had a 3 wire AC plug/transformer and I had to lift the ground to eliminate a major hum.. (power in my studio is a little wacky and I often have to do this).. My AC adapter was replaced with a two wire (standard mojo issue now) and that resolved the problem. I've read your various comments and I honestly think that you've probably got a configuration problem on your hands. Something isn't right.

 

That said your C1/Neo is probably a pretty good sounding rig once you've got it set up to your liking. I have owned a C1/C2 and Ventilator so I know exactly how good they can sound (and that's pretty good!!). However, it strikes me that you're comparing your finely tuned C1/Neo rig (including your mixer/PA or amp that is tuned/EQ'd to suit your existing rig and to your liking) to a Mojo that probably isn't configured correctly.

 

Hook up a display, and load up the editor.. make sure that your output settings are correct.. reset the various parameters and go through the settings one at a time in an organized manner to get it tuned the way you like it.. REMEMBER one thing.. some control panel settings override certain editor parameters.. so for instance if you choose your tonewheel set using the editor, when you reboot the MOJO the tonewheel set will return to whatever tonewheel set has been previously selected using the control panel. There are a number of parameters that work this way, where the control panel settings override the windows editor (and this has fooled a number of us Mojo users).. Some of these parameters can dramatically alter the sound. The parameters that are overridden include Tonewheel set, generator Xtalk, Percussion volume, pedal sustain, reverb length, keyclick length, Rotary Balance, and these parameters all can have a significant impact on the final sound (especially tonewheel set, xtalk and rotary balance!).

 

BTW, how does it sound when you listen through headphones? If it sound varies significantly from headphones to the audio output, it may be that something in your audio chain is affecting the sound.

 

One other thing.. is the mojo at the current level of firmware and OS? You might want to double check this..

 

Again the C1/Ventilator is probably a pretty good sounding rig, but the Mojo will sound as good or better, but NOT if it isn't configured correctly.

[bjosko]

Thanks Craig.

 

The power supply are an 2 leads plug. I tried to move it around, but the humming continued, also with another signal cable, and crosstalk sat on zero.

 

Unfortunately, I forgot the VGA cable to the monitor, so I was not able to go into the editor

 

The organ have the 2.2 firmware.

 

The sustain-pedal works today on the piano-patches, I switched the polarity on it before I connected and started up, but when I returned to the tonewheel, the volumepedal stopped working, so I had to restart the organ.

Something strange are happening. There are just a barely effect on the bass-control, nothing happen on the treble-knob. But I could adjust the percussion volume with Shift and Treble, so the potmeter are working. Also the keyclick knob does nothing at all, there are no keyclick at all.

 

So, keyclick are a must, and I would also love to get som deeper Chorus/Vibrato effect, I often use the C1 Chorus on my other organs to fatten up the sound. The last could be reached by the editor.

 

And no, I am not comparing it to a top tuned C1/Neo or my A100. For now, I am only looking at the basic sound. I could always add the Ventilator later if needed, but I understanded that most people are happy with the built in Leslie simulation.

 

A new Nord C2D are almost double the cost, and i prefer the look and feel of the Mojo. Also the volume-pedal has the perfect movement when I am used to the real thing.

 

To my ears so far (I only have my old Nord Stage sat up now for recording), the Nord have a more ballsy raw sound perhaps to ballsy, but with lot more bite. I tried to compare a little bit with a little recording, both organs are running directly into recording, same drawbars-settings - 8880000, no perc, a dash of reverb, and no overdrive. C1 added in second round of both takes.

Hope it are available, it's my first time with Soundcloud.

https://soundcloud.com/bjosko/mojo-ns

 

I can borrow this organ in two months more, and are getting 2 weeks vacation soon, so I should have plenty time to get closer. Perhaps I also should get it updated to 2.3, it might be a corrupted firmware in it now?

 

And if I can get it to work, a few pics, or it doesn't happened.

 

-nope, it didn't happen, I could not upload some pic's

 

 

[mate stubb]

If you cannot get any key click, something is severely maladjusted.

[ABECK]

I can't say for sure if you "should" like it better than the C1/Vent combo, but the fact that you aren't hearing a change in the click when you adjust the knob is a bit of a red flag for me. The click sound should certainly change when turning the knob. Not sure what the problem might be, but that doesn't sound right.

 

Before getting the Mojo, I had an Electro 3/Ventilator combo (which would be the same as your C1). To me, the Mojo beats that combo in almost every way. The Vent has a bit better sense of motion and better overdrive. But, in all other areas, the Mojo just sounds better to me. Key click, percussion, C/V, upper register. If you get a monitor connected, try the C3 (1959 I think) tonewheel set. Very nice indeed.

[ZioGuido]

Looks like you have the balance all the way down. Shift -> bass knob adjusts the balance between horn and rotor of the leslie simulation. Update the firmware AND the VB3CE2 software is highly recommended. Here you find everything you need:

http://www.crumar.it/?a=support&b=4

 

The most important files are (in order of importance):

1. MOJO - User Manual (rev. 8) - 861 Kb

2. MOJO Quick Reference Guide to version 2.1 - 46 Kb

3. MOJO Firmware version 2.3 - 1,87 Mb

4. VB3 Crumar Edition II v.2.13 - Installer - 2,54 Mb

 

Updating instructions are in the zip files.