“A person or thing greatly admired and remembered despite the passage of time.” That is how the Real Academia Española defines legend. And legends are what we're talking about when we mention Booker T. Jones, Jimmy Smith, Jon Lord, Brian Auger and others in the organ world... many organists fall into the Legend category. When it comes to brands, however, only one can be associated with that category: “Hammond.” We're talking about a legend, a brand, a sound that has marked generations of keyboard players all over the world. And, like everything else successful in life, it has spawned a legion of imitators trying to replicate its sound, look and soul at bargain-basement prices. But let's not kid ourselves, they never stop being just that, imitators. As I said in ISP Música 69, “A Hammond is a Hammond, everything else is a keyboard."
Some soccer teams, because of their prestige, seem to start out already winning 1-0 before the match begins. That's what I think any organist feels when sitting down behind a Hammond. It's a matter of sound, yes, of playability, yes. But also of looks, of prestige, of being at the controls of an icon.
An icon that, were it not for a Japanese company, Suzuki (the harmonica maker, not the motorcycle one), would have been relegated to the scrapheap of memory, as happened with other keyboard legends like the Clavinet, Wurlitzer or Rhodes.
And Suzuki has managed to imbue Hammond organs (and let's not forget the Leslie) with the best Japanese virtues: that meticulousness, that obsession with doing things well and, above all, that fierce respect for tradition to preserve the exact essence of the “organ of all organs” from its smallest, cheapest models to the most expensive, from the SK1 at just 7 kg through the impressive XK5 to the re-creation of the ultimate legend, the New B-3.
All products in production, from both Hammond and Leslie, are of superlative quality, from the padded gig bag itself to any expression pedal or switch or any of the stands and benches. And when you put your hands on the keys and hear the sound, that's when you realize what you have in front of you. You're behind a legend, and the only thing you have to worry about is having a ball.
That's why when they made me an endorser in 2005, the pride I felt was immense. Now, 13 years after working side by side with them, HAMMOND SPAIN is born, the exclusive distributor of Hammond and Leslie products for Spain. It is born with a commitment to offer Spanish musicians the best possible customer service, so they deal directly with musicians like themselves who understand exactly what they need, and with the enthusiasm of growing the fan base for the only legendary organ brand in history, HAMMOND.
In addition, on the website www.hammondspain.com, a section has been created so Hammond artists can have their own mini-sites, with bio, links to videos, photos, social media and so on... There is also a link to interesting downloads, such as free sounds, updates and manuals. There is a merchandise store and a blog for the entire Spanish-speaking Hammond community.
In short, quite a challenge, and we are heading toward it firmly, with the goal of maintaining the legacy of Laurens Hammond and Don Leslie and of all the organists who have made it true that “A Hammond is a Hammond, everything else is a keyboard.”
Hammond SKX
The SKX is the smallest, lightest and most complete dual-manual Hammond in history. Weighing under 17 kg, it combines the essence of an authentic Hammond organ with highly useful sounds such as electric and acoustic pianos, analog synths, clavinets and more...
Organ Sounds
The authentic HAMMOND sound of the SKX comes from a virtual tonewheel generator, keeping the original spirit but in digital form, which lets us adapt nearly every aspect of the sound to personal taste, including the “age and wear” characteristics many organists want. The specialist organist will greatly appreciate that the SKX has:
- Waterfall keys (Hammond's originals)
- 3 independent sets of Drawbars ™ for the upper manual, lower manual and pedals.
- Independent Vibrato-Chorus section for the upper and lower manuals.
- Touch-Response percussion, an exclusive Hammond patent based on vintage Hammonds, but with user-adjustable parameters.
- Renewed digital Leslie ™, with 8 factory profiles of the most famous Leslie models (122, 147, etc.) and 8 user-adjustable profiles.
- An 11-pin connector for hooking up a Leslie, optionally controllable from the CU-1, a half-moon switch as on the original B3.
- In addition, the Organ division is equipped with 20 categories of high-definition classic pipe organ sounds and accurate models of the two most popular combo organs of the sixties, which can be registered and played back exactly like the originals.
Beginners in the Hammond world, or simply those who don't want to rack their brains studying how to work the drawbars, will find plenty of factory preset sounds already set up for jazz, rock, gospel or any style, even settings like those of Jimmy Smith or Jimmy McGriff, to name a few.
Extra Instruments Section
The SKX has TWO independent Extra Instruments divisions, which let you put different instruments on the same keyboard or assign a different sound to each manual. You can also combine the EXTRA VOICES with the organ voices. There is a MIX/BALANCE knob to control the blend of the combined sounds. And everything is easy to control at a glance, with no need to dig through cumbersome menus. The section is made up of a complete selection of the most requested keyboard sounds, such as grand pianos, electric piano, clavs, orchestra and percussion sounds, and more. These can be combined with the organ sounds, or with each other, in the twin extra-instrument divisions.
It also includes a USB port (type “A”) for saving/loading settings, system updates, downloaded extra Voice libraries and the music player. The music player lets WAV/MP3 audio files be controlled and played through the SKX audio outputs.
In short, a true gem. Authentic Hammond sound and features, easy to transport, for the specialist organist and the versatile keyboard player alike, at a fair price.
