Jim Alfredson

I would call Hammond Suzuki USA and talk to the Tech Support department, which is headed by Ray Gerlich. My guess is that since the problem is intermittent, the ribbon cable that connects the PCB that contains those controls is loose. If you feel confident enough, maybe you could open the XK1 and check for loose connections. If not, perhaps take it to a local music or electronics service center.

We played both Palm Springs and Santa Barbara this summer. We'll be at McCabe's in Santa Monica on November 13th.

Is it just me or is everyone selling their collections off on here lately? Seems to be a lot of activity in the Offering/Looking For forum. Everybody ok or is this a sign of the general crappy economy? Or is everyone moving to harddrives / iPods?

Is that just a fancy way of saying it sounds like shit but is kinda cool?

Next week I'm hitting the road for the rest of October with Janiva Magness. Hope to see some of you at a show. Please come up and say hi! 16 Phoenix, AZ The Rhythm Room 17 Tucson, AZ Southern Arizona Blues Festival 20 Wichita, KS The Boulevard 21 Kansas City, MO Knucklehead's 22 Salina, KS Bllues Masters at the Crossroads 23 Topeka, KS Uncle Bo's 24 Oklahoma City, OK The Blues Saloon 27 Lincoln, NE Zoo Bar 28 Burlington, IA The Washington 29 Chicago, IL Old Town School of Folk Music 30 Minneapolis, MN Dakota Jazz Club 31 Minneapolis, MN Dakota Jazz Club

Dudes... this is good music. Way different than organissimo. Put on your tinfoil hat and come take a spacewalk with us.

Uh...

Harold, the XK3c has a MUCH better Leslie sim. If you don't want to haul the real Leslies and don't want to buy an XK3c, I recommend the Neo Instruments Ventilator. It's a pedal that simulates the sound of a 122 and it's awesome. Email me at b3groover at gmail dot com and I'll send you the tonewheel settings for the Xk3.

Home insurance does not cover instruments that are used outside of the home. If they stay at home, they are usually covered (depends on the policy of course). So for instance, the gear in my studio is covered, but if my portable organ got nipped, since it was in my car, it is not covered. Last month I played a festival with Janiva Magness in Little Rock, AR and the act before us had a nice conversion van pulling a trailer with all these fancy graphics on it talking about how this band won the International Blues Challenge in 2009 and perform their "hit songs" and the like. I was thinking, "Wow, nice way to advertise your gear to thieves."

Not on this release, Jim... but there's a track of something like that waiting for the next release.

Just in time for Halloween, comes the debut CD from Glenn Brown & Intergalactic Spiral, a recording project formed by engineer / musician / acoustician / producer Glenn Brown. I'm really excited about this release as these sessions (which occurred over the course of the last few years) have dramatically influenced my own music. In fact, they directly led to the release of my solo electronic/ambient CD and getting me back into synths in general. All the music on this CD is completely improvised, on the spot, with no pre-conceived notions. It features Glenn Brown on the mighty Buchla CM100 modular synth & guitar, myself on organ and synths, Joe on guitar, Randy on drums (on one track) and some really great Detroit-based musicians. We have over 6 hours of music in the can and this is just the initial release, the first CD (001). http://www.big-o-rec...&products_id=27 This is a pre-order for a Limited Edition signed and numbered copy of the CD. Official release will be by November 1st.

Wavelab is a good program. Goldwave, which is free, also allows you to save in mp3 format.

Some guys, like myself, want a clean organ sound. For me (and them) the 3300 is definitely an amazing Leslie. Of course, you can also get that grunge from it as well due to the tube preamp. I like it to start to break up just before the top of my expression pedal range. But your friend is right; the 3300 has enormous headroom, way more than a 122 or 147, and you can play it as quiet or as loud as you want. I love mine.

UP for Gene Ludwig.

Listening to the samples. Does the "organist" ever change registrations or does he stay on that one the whole CD?

Check your email.

Awesome!

Just an educated guess. Anyone know how to actually check which post was the millionth? This was: Seriously.

Thanks guys! Ken, it was good to finally meet you in person. And Al, good to see you again. Thanks to both of you for coming out! This is a really good band and I'm still having a blast playing with them. About to take the stage in Medicine Park, OK... should be interesting. Some kind of biker rally.

I'm either so jaded or I just read too much too quickly. I did read Song of Kali, but can't remember anything about it. I was frankly bored by his Phases of Gravity, and that's when I decided it really wasn't worth my time to read his epic-length novels. I think I tried to read Phases of Gravity and couldn't get into it, either. But you're doing yourself a disservice by not approaching Hyperion or the Ilium books. almost done with Ilium and it's not disappointing me at all.

So I finally finished the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons (Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, Rise of Endymion) about two weeks ago. The last book really messed me up for awhile. I thought about it almost constantly for about two days afterwards, and then a little less and a little less as the days went by. I took me these past two weeks to be ready to start another book. I'm more than halfway thru Simmons' ILIUM now after starting yesterday at the airport. One thing about traveling across the country; you have plenty of time to read. Anyway, it's really good; a bit more fast-paced than the Hyperion books. The four "old-style" human characters, with the exception of Daeman, feel a bit under-developed but otherwise it is extremely well-written and engaging. I've had to stop myself from reading it because it needs to last me through the weekend. I left the other book, Olympos, at home. I don't know how Simmons manages to weave together such amazingly intricate story lines. But after finishing Rise of Endymion, I remembered one reason why I stopped reading him in high school: His endings are emotionally draining (Song of Kali, anyone?), but in a good, bittersweet, and essential way. Something tells me Ilium/Olympos won't be any different.

Hope to see you guys at the show on Saturday!

Yep, we played there in February (Greg and me and the band) and I also played there in May with Janiva. Cool place.

I prefer a rather clean sound myself, but if a player likes it dirty, who am I or you to say it's wrong? I doubt anyone would blame you, as the engineer, for a distorted organ tone.