(B-Stock) Hammond M-solo Black Drawbar Organ/Synth

General

The old Hammond B3 organ has legendary status in the jazz, gospel and prog-rock scene - a reputation as forceful as its mammoth-grade weight, which made carting one of these things from gig to gig a hassle best avoided. These days, the sound of a B3 has become a lot more portable, not because Hammond have stopped making big and beautiful organs, but because they also offer up far more compact and band-friendly digital organs that still boast impressive, B3-style sound - like the Hammond M-Solo.

The Hammond M-Solo

In terms of size, this model is a slip of a thing compared to the B3, already making it a 100% stage-ready touring tool. The 49-note keyboard slims things down a bit further, but under the hood lies a whole world of options. The bank of drawbars works alongside six different sound groups, starting with four organ groups based on the sound of four vintage models: the B3, the Vox, the Farfisa and the Acetone, the registers of which are controlled via the drawbars - just like a real organ. The next group is a string machine with a choir which, rather than mimicking the sound of a big cinematic orchestra, gives you the classic sound of the string/vocoder machines of yesteryear, where your drawbars adjust the attack and release and determine whether the choir is made up of male or female voices. The final group is a synthesizer (yep, you get one of those too) and, while it is fairly basic, it offers just enough for stage work, so you can fiddle around with an oscillator, a filter, an envelope to your hearts content.

Effects

Since the sound of any organ can't do without the sound of a Leslie, a digital emulation also comes built in, and that's alongside the chorus and vibrato effects - a definite must when it comes to playing with the string section or synth pads and, for those who need even more, an overdrive and a delay/reverb have been included. Basically, for such a compact chunk of hardware, you're getting a mass of elements to play with, backed up by exactly the control features and sounds that any keyboardist will need, and polishing off a real Hammond organ that you can comfortably carry under one arm.