Hi Francesca....
Rod forwarded your note to me and I am happy to help as much as I can.....
As you know the Hammond organ has been my "office" for many years and in that time I have learned a lot about them.
The (original) Hammond / Leslie combination is totally unique and this is mainly for two reasons. One is the way in which the tones are generated and the other is in the way the Leslie speaker rotates at varying speeds to deliver the sound in a constantly changing way. These principles cannot be artificially duplicated or synthesized because they are dependent on physical movement which is 100% organic (pardon the pun).
The bottom line is...if you want the Hammond sound you have to use a Hammond!
The newer generation of Hammond organs have succeeded in capturing some of the elements of the original sounds but they are solid-state and, as a natural and inevitable result of that, the sound is quite clinical and lacks "feel". People have tried for years to make solid-state amplifiers sound like valve amplifiers and they have also spent a lot of money trying to convince the buying public that they have achieved it.....which they haven't!
As far as my instruments are concerned, the arguments against the B3 are its size weight and fragility and there is a lot of truth in that. It wasn't designed to be carried around all over the world but some of the portable versions are actually a good solution to that.
As far as I am concerned the new portable B3 from Hammond Suzuki is perfect for the road where the sound is much less critical but I would only ever use a "real" one in the studio!!
I became enthusiastic about the Hammond after hearing a number of people playing them in England. Georgie Fame, Zoot Money, Don Shinn and Brian Auger were all using them and it was the B3 that really caught my ear. But I couldn't afford one so I originally played a model L100, with a Leslie of course. But when Uriah Heep was born I was able to buy my first B3 and then I was in love!!
I could write a book about my settings, there are just too many of them but I use the drawbars in a way that seems to be completely different from other players. One thing that people can try is using the drawbars as volume controls....it really widens the scope of the instrument.
I recently worked on a project in the studio where I had to find new ways to use the Hammond and this was very interesting. Using various combinations of drawbar movements, Leslie volume settings and volume pedal positions (some of them simultaneously) I found a whole bunch of new and interesting sounds that are not typical Hammond sounds but which can only be created within the framework of this old-fashioned technology. You can hear this clearly on the title track of my new CD, Blood On The Highway....if you want to!
This is a big subject and I could write much more but I have to go and get on an aeroplane.....without my Hammond of course, that goes in the truck !!
God bless,
Ken