Demoing an original SKX. Anything I should look out for?

[nadroj]

A local dealer has offered me a decent trade in deal for a Hammond SKX. For the first time in a long while I'm faced with the prospect of picking up a board that will suit my needs better than anything I currently have, whilst being within my rather limited budget. The SKX is coming up for 5 years old, but I've gigged the Electro 4 for 9 years now and it is, for the most part, still going strong.

 

Obviously in a perfect world I'd love an SKX Pro, but there's no way I'll have that kind of cash to spend on an instrument any time soon.

 

I'm going in on Saturday to play it and see if it'll suit me. There's no pressure; I'll just get a chance to play for an hour or 2 to see if I want to take the deal forward next week.

 

Anything I should be looking out for as I play/inspect it? If I get it this thing will be heavily gigged this year, all over the country and abroad. I'd like more than anything for it to be rock solid and reliable. I've heard about issues with power supplies, memory, hissing, etc. This probably won't be my big purchase of the decade, but it will be a chance for me to get a new gigging board that will offer me more sonic flexibility than I currently have in a friendlier (to me) package, and my first foray into the dual-manual clonewheel game, which is an itch I've been wanting to scratch for a long time.

 

I've already messaged some folks from this board who have or have had one about their experiences and their thoughts have been very helpful.

Honest opinions about the VASE III engine also appreciated, though I am not interested in hearing comparisons with the latest and greatest, or even potential competitors. There is not another dual-manual, swiss army knife extra-voice board available near me or in my price range. This potential trade-in deal with this particular model is the first realistic (as in I could physically own it next week), budget friendly option I've come across. As far as I'm concerned, it's the SKX vs the Electro 4. 

 

For context my gig is 60/40 organ/piano, with each buried in a loud, busy 8 piece mix. Occasionally I’ll use clav and some sampled instruments. The Hammond SK sound list tells me they have the samples I need. There's only one song in my band's set where piano is exposed, so if piano is the weakest link between them I'm not particularly fussed.

[CEB]

I’d download the SKX manual to your phone.  Per my DM, my SKX was practically unplayable as an organ when it arrived. The ‘keyboard sound point’ (trigger point) was set to deep.  The trigger point has to be shallow for it to play right.  

I still like mine a lot. I use it with the Vent because the Vent’s OD is killer the way it responds to the swell pedal.  

 

[CEB]

https://www.kraftmusic.com/media/ownersmanual/Hammond_SKX_Owners_Manual.pdf
 

[mcgoo]

My experience is likely not like that of most, but I've found that I don't use the extra voices at all. They're not horrible, they're usable, but the Hammond sound, along with the tactile playing experience just makes me go "meh" whenever I dial up other sounds. So for me, it's either SKX + Laptop rig, or just SKX by itself. 

[Delaware Dave]

The SKX might be 5 years old but is Vase III technology that was introduced 20 years ago.  They are offering it to you as a discount because they need to remove the inventory so that they can sell SKPro's. Personally, I wouldnt invest in an SK series keyboard.

 

[nadroj]

So I tried the SKX out today.

 

Bottom line is I loved it. Organ is an update from my Electro, piano sounds almost identical to the small sized Bright Grand I use live in my band. Extra voices will do the job, plus more. Set up a foot switch as a make-do pitch bend and quite liked it too. Went quite deep into the menu and tweaked settings and tested out various setups. It’s more than flexible enough for my needs.

Im an utter organ novice but the two sets of drawbars+manuals were revolutionary. Wonderful, tactile experience. 
 

Only thing i did notice was the slight hiss when I played the piano patch through head phones. Not noticeable if the volume is less than 1 o clock though. Main volume knob created a small crackle though that may just be my phones.

 

it feels great and sounded great to my ears, and I had to drag myself away from it in the end. Think I’m gonna go for it folks…at the end of the day, regardless of what the specs are on paper, it was an instrument I enjoyed playing, and can see doing exactly what I need it to do, plus more.

[CEB]

Yeah. People say it’s Vase III and Vase III has been around for 20 years.  But I have an XK3c sitting beside an SKX and the SKX organ sounds better.  Both are Vase III.  Something is obviously different between them.  I can’t tell you what it is. I just play them. I hope whatever you do it works out great.   My SKX sounds better , especially with straight 8s. It’s less harsh even with Jim’s custom tone wheel set loaded on the XK3c. 

[Morrissey]

Glad you liked it.  I'm still happily gigging an SK2.  The SKX is great!

 

32 minutes ago, nadroj said:

So I tried the SKX out today.

 

Bottom line is I loved it. Organ is an update from my Electro, piano sounds almost identical to the small sized Bright Grand I use live in my band. Extra voices will do the job, plus more. Set up a foot switch as a make-do pitch bend and quite liked it too. Went quite deep into the menu and tweaked settings and tested out various setups. It’s more than flexible enough for my needs.

Im an utter organ novice but the two sets of drawbars+manuals were revolutionary. Wonderful, tactile experience. 
 

Only thing i did notice was the slight hiss when I played the piano patch through head phones. Not noticeable if the volume is less than 1 o clock though. Main volume knob created a small crackle though that may just be my phones.

 

it feels great and sounded great to my ears, and I had to drag myself away from it in the end. Think I’m gonna go for it folks…at the end of the day, regardless of what the specs are on paper, it was an instrument I enjoyed playing, and can see doing exactly what I need it to do, plus more.

 

[Jim Alfredson]

The power supply in SKX is internal using a standard IEC connector. It isn’t the external line wart with the weird connector. Much better.

Glad you dug the SKX. It’s still a great sounding axe.

[M_G]

9 hours ago, Jim Alfredson said:

The power supply in SKX is internal using a standard IEC connector. It isn’t the external line wart with the weird connector. Much better.

Glad you dug the SKX. It’s still a great sounding axe.

 

Jim,

I thought the "old" SKX had the external power supply?

 

The new SKX Pro has internal.....

[Old No7]

On 2/25/2023 at 4:10 PM, nadroj said:

Only thing i did notice was the slight hiss when I played the piano patch through head phones. Not noticeable if the volume is less than 1 o clock though. Main volume knob created a small crackle though that may just be my phones.

 

FWIW, my bass player from UMass (early 80s) was on the road crew for Yes in '76.  He said they did this on tour, and he always had us -- with the power OFF -- rotate each and every knob/pot/slider etc on every board or amp through its full rotation/motion several times, once per month.  Even those that you "never move" from a selected position.  He claimed it kept the dust from causing any crackles.

 

You might try that on the volume knob.

 

Old No7

[Losendoskeys]

Nothing wrong at all with the SKX - SKX Pro has the edge but it's all the law of diminishing returns

[nadroj]

Guess what I picked up today.

 

Spent a while setting the SKX up. Updated to the latest firmware (seemed to fix the hissing issue I mentioned above!), installed some of the library sounds, and found a version of Jim's Tonewheel Set that someone had converted for the SKX. Initial thoughts after 2 hours of non-stop tweaking:

 

- It's a niche board, but it's my dream instrument. I'm not a pianist (or an organist) so I don't need weighted keys. I've been wanting to get into the 2-manual game for a while. The splits/layers with the two extra voices are actually pretty flexible and will cover everything that i need, and then some. My band (who I'm all over the country with almost every week for the rest of the year) is a ska/funk tribute/originals hybrid band, so I just need organ and some bread and butter sounds. Very few complex setups, though there are a couple. I've started programming it for its first gig on Saturday and already it's miles more convinient than my Electro 4. 80% of the gig will be piano on bottom manual, organ on top.

 

- It's built like a tank. It's fairly heavy, but easy to carry. The wooden side panels give it some girth, and the metal chassis feels as solid as my Nord ever did. The only things I hope will last are the inputs (plastic, not metal), the knobs and the power supply. On the power supply, it is external, not internal - though I have seen some people mod theirs. I don't plan on doing that to mines. I'm ordering a spare power supply for this week just in case. I'm hoping the whole unit will last me a while.

 

- That LCD screen is small but does its job. Tells me everything I need to know. Hope that lasts too, actually, I've heard some horror stories about the SK screens.

 

- Jim's Quasi Tonewheel set (created by another guy based on Jim's set for the SK2) has totally transformed it. It now sounds more like the organs I hear on records and in live shows than my Nord ever did. It was probably a bit shrill in the upper octaves so I've lowered the EQ and I'm now in swirly, hammondy creamy heaven. This is the closest I've ever had to the "real thing" in terms of sound and feel. I'm in love. I may get a vent 2 mini in the summer, but honestly for now it's such a step up from my Nord (which I've been happy with for almost 10 years now) that I don't think I'll need it any time soon.

 

-Speaking of feel, the key travel feels shallower (softer) and less springy than my Nord. The organ trigger is also very, very high and sensitive, which is nice but will take some getting used to! Piano feels fine on it, better than Nord because it's a bit more loose.

 

- The extra voices will do. The rhodes(no1), wurly and piano patches are pretty much identical to the pianos I had loaded into the electro, and the hammond clav is better. On the Electro I only had the small "bright grand" loaded in for gigs, and the SK default piano sounds almost exactly similar in my cans. The synth sounds I downloaded from the hammond website are actually pretty good for ROMpler tones and will get me through a function gig if needed - though I don't plan on taking any of those gigs any time soon. I don't actually have the space in my diary.

 

- I said it above in my last post, but I'm starting to get the joy of real, physical drawbars, especially with multiple sets. I've saved the manual button (basically Nord's live mode) as my default organ, and it's already a cinch getting settings ready for the next song (and changing mid song).

 

- It looks bloody cool. The band are going to love it.

 

Still in the honeymoon period and it will be important to see how it fares through a PA, fighting with 8 other band mates and 600+ people in a live mix (I've already realised I'm going to have to adjust some of my drawbar settings for certain songs based on how different to the Nord it sounds) but I'm happy.

 

No one asked me to review a 4 year old keyboard, but there we go! Will upload some photos and give more thoughts later in the week. Just now I can't tear myself away from it.

[nadroj]

And freaking hell the way the drive interacts with the swell is miles above my old Nord. 
 

It’s the little subtleties that really make the experience

[nadroj]

Ok it’s half past midnight and I’m finally in bed.

 

I kinda get the gas pedal now. On the Nord it was just “bring it down here for some texture, or don’t; too loud isn’t a worry.” Adding drawbars was more textural; the volume wasn’t changed too much.

 

With this SKX the difference between a straight jazz 888 and full stops out is monstrous. Add in C3 and a bit of overdrive and…well, my ears are still ringing. There are solos in the band where I start with a couple of drawbars out then end with everything going full ham. I’m going to have to be careful on Saturday or I’ll blow the guys off the stage. I can’t see any point in the set where full stops out and expression pedal maxed will be appropriate now. People cringe at my solos anyways, I don’t need to give them another reason by bursting their ear drums. Will need to work on my expression pedal use I think. 
 

Is that normal or should I tweak the settings a little more? Im not used to all of the normal organ parameters (c/v), percussion, OD, drawbars, etc) affecting the volume so much. 

[CEB]

The volume gain is considerable. 

 

Without the Vent in rehearsals.  I'm often running high values on the bottom manual registrations around 4's or 6's (ie 444400000) so the top manual  can pop out over what is on the bottom for solos.   Depends on the songs of course. 

[nadroj]

First gig last night with the new axe.

 

I was right; the band love the looks of it. Drummer and bassist were like “WOOOOAAAH” and gushing over it.
 

in terms of sound, I hit a couple of chords during soundcheck and the drummer ran through and said he thought someone had brought the real thing into the room. He listened and said it was night and day from

the Nord. That would be Jim A’s tone set. Thanks Jim! 
 

I took a solo in one song and started playing with the drawbars, doing lots of chords rather than straight notes. It cuts through a hell of a lot better than the Nord and let’s me do things that would have previously been drowned in the mix. Singer/band leader kept one of my organ solos going for several rounds (I ran out of things to say and ended it myself) and said straight after “that thing sounds amazing.” He told me in the car after it was his favourite part of the set. Sounds like I’m going to be thrown more organ solos now. 
 

Words the band use: it’s “creamier”, “cuts through better”, “girthier”, “more realistic” and “night and day” above the Nord organ. So they’re pleased with it.

 

In terms of my own experience, I messed up a couple of times forgetting where I’d put splits, but that was ok. Last night was a crappy warmup gig for our tour which starts next week with a 600 capacity hometown gig. There are a couple of setups I’ll have to fix for next week, and a few things I’ll need to tweak, but all in all I’m a happy man. 
 

 

[jpgxk3]

Nice report, enjoy it!