The M and L series, made from 1961 till I believe 1971-72...did not sound like the B-3's at all..They were a lot different..as I recall..

When I worked for Hammond in the mid 60's...the models that attracted folks were the A and B series..of course at a steep price..

Ian: Right you are. You'd think I'd have known that after years of lugging my own M102 about.

Dave: Walk on the Wild Side was the first JS album I ever bought. A classic beauty.

Donny: I know you didn't mention the B3 in your opening, but the thread got kinda B3'ish after that.

Fisher used an M-102 for AWSOP, and many, many people believed it was a B-3 being played, so they must be pretty similar in sound.

I had an M-3 for awhile before I splurged on the B-3 (and a second Leslie), and only for the shorter staggered 44 note manuals, it sounded and felt like playing my B-3.

The M-100 series was identical, except they had six presets and reverb (the M-3 had neither),and they didn't have waterfall keys like the M-3 and B-3.

The L-100 series differed much more...I didn't like the sound.

Ian

Did you have it chopped...it was a favorite for chopping, as was the M-3?

My M-3 is still in use a studio here in Cape Breton...it's painted flat black (it got pretty beat up), and they are using a Leslie 147 with the Leslie Combo Preamp I sold with the organ.

Those were the days.

Ian

Focus were very good...and you're right, each track is a gem. Emerson and Wakeman were awesome...they used C-3's, if I remember. Emerson also used an L-100.

I actually met Keith Emerson in the Montreal Airport...our then Yamaha keyboard manager, Paul, knew him from years back, and they had a grand chat...I believe Keith was on holiday.

Very nice guy.

He was using a Yamaha GX-1 synthesizer(below) in ELP at the time, so was always in touch with the company.(sorry for going a bit OT)

Did you ever see Yes or ELP "live"?











[This message has been edited by ianmcnll (edited 11-01-2010).]

Ask someone that still owns both...Russ has an M-100 and a B3...I think he will say they are much different sound wise..

Fran...I played Hammond for a long time...I know what I heard...you don't have to believe me, that's your prerogative.

Yes, they (M-100/102) could sound slightly different than a B-3, if you played them side by side (and so could two different B-3's), but not different enough to notice otherwise...that's why many people thought AWSOP was done on a B-3, and not an M-102.

My M-3 used the identical chorus vibrato that was in the B-3, and the tone-wheels were the same design.

If it wasn't for the shorter manuals on the M-3 (2X44), I'd have kept it...it sounded like the B-3 to my ears.

You may have sold them, but I played them, and even worked on them, for many years.

They are electromechanical instruments, and consequently, no two sound exactly alike, even the same model...and, there are "good" Hammonds, and "bad" Hammonds, much like totally acoustic instruments...you could have a "good" M-3 or B-3, or a "bad" one of each.

Fender Rhodes pianos were the same way.

Ian



[This message has been edited by ianmcnll (edited 11-02-2010).]

Yep. Took a circular saw to my M102 a couple of inches below the generator housing and cut a hand-hole at either end of the top half. It took 10 multi-pin connectors to hook the wiring between the two halves. A real amateur job.

I originally bought an L102 in 1965 and gigged with it for about a year. That one wasn't chopped and I was concerned for its cabinetry. So it was one guy at each corner to lift it in and out of the van. Anyway, we played some dingy joint one night and, in a back corner of the stage, covered by an old curtain, stood an M102, beer stains, cigarette burns an' all. So a word with the manager guy, who was ogling my pristine L102, and I walked out with the M102 in exchange. You know, so what if this did gain a few more battle scars.

To those who think that might have been a poor exchange, well the M102's sound is a lot more B3-like than the L102, and that was my sole reason for the swap. That old M battled on on the road for many years after that, and it still does duty in our old guitarist's studio. Built like a tank.

LOL

You are so predikitable.

I put that in just for you.