So I bought another C2d, not a Legend or Mojo...
Posted: 27 Jan 2019, 21:58
Following on from this: nord-c1-c2-c2d-organ-forum-f13/theft-of ... 16916.html
Twice now I've had the opportunity to switch from a C2d to one of the more modern clones on the market; once midway through last year when the Viscount Legend Live appeared and woo'd me; then out of necessity this year after my above linked theft.
Twice I've got cold feet and not done it!
The Crumar Mojo was naturally high on the list but infuriating: the lack of flat top for one thing - there's no way out of it on a C2d, but there really isn't that much on the top panel of a Mojo that couldn't have been done elsewhere. Why would you need that flat top when there are some usable EPs in the MOJO, you might ask? Because you can't run the Wurlitzer without having a Farfisa on the other manual, and this is frustrating as I generally play a whole gig with Wurly and B3 sounds. Plus, there are too many tales of reliability issues, and at least one pal found the senior management at Crumar/GSi to be deeply unpleasant and more than a little personally abusive when he had repeat issues. But the crux of it was the EP thing: a Wurly inside, but like a ship in a bottle! I'd have to take a stage piano around and that seemed daft - and this wasn't cured in the Mojo XT revision. This was basically the addition of a proper mains connection and an 11 pin socket. Not the hoped for new model based around the considerably superior Mojo 61 platform. Meh. Onto the next one, then.
The Viscount Legend Live was looking favourite last year (I won't lie; after the theft the price was tempting this time around too) because the dashboard is a thing of beauty; truly a console in stripped back form. But there - another pal had reliability issues. I won't make the Italian car joke, but there's a common thread here! No EPs but at least a flat top to plop an Electro on, so a half bonus point there. But: there are no combo organs at all. It's pure B3, and does it very well, but the Tex Mex-er in me likes to have the 'punk accordion' option - ie accordion phrasing on a combo, just like the sainted Augier Meyers taught us, and Nick Lowe/Costello have made use of over the years. Yum.
The SKX: I am sure I am not alone in saying that I take no pleasure in considering Suzuki the weakest link, being a pure Hammond guy who came to Nord reasonably late (an E4D was my first; the drawbars finally did it). The SKX looked promising: at least the bare minimum of two sets of drawbars now, and promised improved EP voices. But those EPs are still crap - it was tweaking of velocity responses and no improved voicing. AND they haven't put the new organ engine from the excellent but pricey XK5 in it. Meh. The only Hammond in my arsenal is a trusty, battered old A100, and it will stay that way for a while yet.
So I came back to the C2d and re-evaluated. What is it that has people trading it in for Mojos and Legends? It seems to be the onboard Leslie is good. No biggie - I've been a Ventilator user since day one when I was still on a Korg CX3, and never gig without it. It was also said to me by a pal with both a Legend AND a Mojo that while the Leslies in both of these newer clones are quite nice and perfectly usable, and a big step up from the C2d offering, if you own a Ventilator you can't unhear the difference! The other biggie is the chorus vibrato on these newer clones, an aspect of the tonewheel sound which we all know took forever to get right. Maybe it is me - I'm not a jazzer, I'm an Al Kooper/Garth Hudson/Ian McLagan kind of guy, and for the sounds I pull the C2d chorus is fine - and I think I can claim to know my sh*t here: C3 chorus was the singlehanded reason why I stuck to lugging a split A100 for so many years, even for £50 pub/club gigs!
When it comes down to it, none of the options with EPs on it were any good to me in that department, the Leslie was taken care of anyway and the one clone (Legend Live) that offered the same full console dashboard lacked combo organs. I'm sure any Nord organ sound engine update will nail the Leslie and tweak the chorus a bit, even if my fantasy of junking the pipe organ for a Wurlitzer EP from the sound library is the stuff of far-fetched dreams. But there - I replaced my stolen C2d with another C2d and I don't regret it at all. Long live the fully featured console that flies its own flag and plays second fiddle to no other clone.
Twice now I've had the opportunity to switch from a C2d to one of the more modern clones on the market; once midway through last year when the Viscount Legend Live appeared and woo'd me; then out of necessity this year after my above linked theft.
Twice I've got cold feet and not done it!
The Crumar Mojo was naturally high on the list but infuriating: the lack of flat top for one thing - there's no way out of it on a C2d, but there really isn't that much on the top panel of a Mojo that couldn't have been done elsewhere. Why would you need that flat top when there are some usable EPs in the MOJO, you might ask? Because you can't run the Wurlitzer without having a Farfisa on the other manual, and this is frustrating as I generally play a whole gig with Wurly and B3 sounds. Plus, there are too many tales of reliability issues, and at least one pal found the senior management at Crumar/GSi to be deeply unpleasant and more than a little personally abusive when he had repeat issues. But the crux of it was the EP thing: a Wurly inside, but like a ship in a bottle! I'd have to take a stage piano around and that seemed daft - and this wasn't cured in the Mojo XT revision. This was basically the addition of a proper mains connection and an 11 pin socket. Not the hoped for new model based around the considerably superior Mojo 61 platform. Meh. Onto the next one, then.
The Viscount Legend Live was looking favourite last year (I won't lie; after the theft the price was tempting this time around too) because the dashboard is a thing of beauty; truly a console in stripped back form. But there - another pal had reliability issues. I won't make the Italian car joke, but there's a common thread here! No EPs but at least a flat top to plop an Electro on, so a half bonus point there. But: there are no combo organs at all. It's pure B3, and does it very well, but the Tex Mex-er in me likes to have the 'punk accordion' option - ie accordion phrasing on a combo, just like the sainted Augier Meyers taught us, and Nick Lowe/Costello have made use of over the years. Yum.
The SKX: I am sure I am not alone in saying that I take no pleasure in considering Suzuki the weakest link, being a pure Hammond guy who came to Nord reasonably late (an E4D was my first; the drawbars finally did it). The SKX looked promising: at least the bare minimum of two sets of drawbars now, and promised improved EP voices. But those EPs are still crap - it was tweaking of velocity responses and no improved voicing. AND they haven't put the new organ engine from the excellent but pricey XK5 in it. Meh. The only Hammond in my arsenal is a trusty, battered old A100, and it will stay that way for a while yet.
So I came back to the C2d and re-evaluated. What is it that has people trading it in for Mojos and Legends? It seems to be the onboard Leslie is good. No biggie - I've been a Ventilator user since day one when I was still on a Korg CX3, and never gig without it. It was also said to me by a pal with both a Legend AND a Mojo that while the Leslies in both of these newer clones are quite nice and perfectly usable, and a big step up from the C2d offering, if you own a Ventilator you can't unhear the difference! The other biggie is the chorus vibrato on these newer clones, an aspect of the tonewheel sound which we all know took forever to get right. Maybe it is me - I'm not a jazzer, I'm an Al Kooper/Garth Hudson/Ian McLagan kind of guy, and for the sounds I pull the C2d chorus is fine - and I think I can claim to know my sh*t here: C3 chorus was the singlehanded reason why I stuck to lugging a split A100 for so many years, even for £50 pub/club gigs!
When it comes down to it, none of the options with EPs on it were any good to me in that department, the Leslie was taken care of anyway and the one clone (Legend Live) that offered the same full console dashboard lacked combo organs. I'm sure any Nord organ sound engine update will nail the Leslie and tweak the chorus a bit, even if my fantasy of junking the pipe organ for a Wurlitzer EP from the sound library is the stuff of far-fetched dreams. But there - I replaced my stolen C2d with another C2d and I don't regret it at all. Long live the fully featured console that flies its own flag and plays second fiddle to no other clone.
