Hammond b250

Hammond organ - two keyboards of 61 keys
Zippers (2x9: 16 ', 5 & 1 / 3, 8', 4 ', 2 & 2 / 3', 2 ', 1 & 3 / 5', 1 & 1 / 3, 1 '), Pitch (+ / -50%), transpose (+ 2 & -4 semitones), Leslie control (external), chorus (slow / fast), 3 presets + tonebars upper manual, lower manual preset 1 + tonebars, bass (lower manual or pedalboard - 2 drawbars 16 e 8 ') + synth voice to sustain, resonance & percussive, 'key click' / percussion 2nd & 3rd harmonics with sustain and volume (upper manual), (general release) "Warmth" (saturation), Brilliance (treble) and volume.

No noon (1979)

Polyphony: Total

Outputs (rear) Leslie (11 pin), Headphone jack (stereo), MIX OUT, OUT STA, ROT OUT, FX send / return, AUX IN (mono jacks) Pedal expression ', Pedal Bass (special form)

UTILIZATION

Classic Hammond configuration - zippers. Very easy. No manual - not necessary.

SOUNDS

Classic sound of Hammond, hot and thick, nice grain, super saturation ("Warmth" as to the lamp), chorus slow / fast as Leslie emulation with 'ramp' slow slow -> fast and faster (Braking) fast -> slow : convincing enough. The only problem is a lot of noise with the chorus - it's breath.
Keyboard: great - not 'waterfall' but very nice. 'Palm slides' (glissando to palm) and not easy douloreux.
Sons: (millions) everything works - if you like the sound Hammond. It lacks the aggressive attack of the B3 and Co, sand and grain, but much more authentic than most of the 'clones' (Korg, Roland, Elka) I know.

The sound 'synth' option in low and funny, but not very useful.

OVERALL OPINION

I bought 3 months ago (07/07), for € 400 and he needed some repairs, I made myself, all but one. This is not an organ "tone wheel" (it works with transistors) so it does not have the big sound of B3/C3/A100 etc., but it (anyway) the real sound of Hammond. Thick, warm, saturated at will. In addition it is a laptop. Mine is not up (I put it on an 'X' coustaud), nor of the pedal base, but I manage to load it into my car without help (thanks to good handle - try this with an L100 ' Chopper 'or not!) and all my colleagues love the sound. I play with either a 100W Peavey amp, or with a Leslie 825. The 'Leslie simulation is really not bad (despite the breath). I'm always looking to find an old piece of furniture to "tone wheel", but the B250 is my organ for 'gigging'. Sometimes I put an Elka X-50 above to have something that approaches the grain size of B3, but most of my friends think the B250 sounds more beautiful (if slightly less aggressive).

They are not easy to find, there is a rumor that only 400 were exported to Europe. The hanging of tonewheel say the B250 is not good, but it's much better than we can imagine. The X5, B100 and B200 are the same series.