B-BASICS

If you're new to the pleasures of the B, allow me to go over some basics for you. A Hammond B-3 has two 61-key manuals; the lower is called the Great and the upper is the Swell. B-3s also have a pedal board consisting of 25 keys. The preset keys are at the far left of each manual, and their colors are reversed, the white keys being black and the sharp/flat keys white.

With the B or B-flat preset key engaged, the tone and volume of each manual is determined by the position of nine drawbars, of which there is one set for each of these keys. There are also two drawbars just for pedals. [For more info on drawbar use, see The Hammond Organ : Beauty in the B, by Mark Vail (Miller Freeman Books) and the Nov. '91 cover story and the Dec. '96 Master Class in Keyboard.]

Percussion is an attack transient - a ping, really - that you can add to the sound at the second or third harmonic on the B preset of the upper manual. On top of this, you have built-in vibrato of several intensities for each manual. And finally, you have control over the rotation speed of your Leslie speaker; slow, fast, or in the case of my rig, stopped (braked).

JOHN NOVELLO'S VITAMIN TRAVEL CASE(S)

Hammond B-3 solid-state portable w/MIDI, solid state Leslie 122 HP, stock tube Leslie122, Kurzweil PC88, two Oberheim Matrix 1000's, Yamaha TG77, Mentor MIDI interface and controller, Roland M-160 line mixer, Lexicon PCM 41, BBE 422A, Rocktron Hush IIx, Tubeworks RT204 Blue Tube, Korg A3 Digital Effects, Carver PM 2.0t and PT2400 power amps two JBL MR 924 monitor speakers.

AND HIS HOME REMEDY, TOO

Yamaha C7F Grand Piano, stock Hammond B-3, MIDI Fender Rhodes, Kurzweil PC88, two Carver PT 2400 power amps, two Bag End TA-15 monitors, Two Bag End wedges, Atari 1040ST running Cubase.