Frederick Somerville´s Hammond Site

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What makes the B and L sound different and how you can change your L - 100 Updated 981019
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Samples of how my L sounds today
*Techical tips and tricks
*Service for Hammond in Sweden
Who is Frederick Somerville
 		 This page is devoted to the mighty Hammond organ. The main emphasis will be on the L-100. There is a very simple reason for this. The organ that i own happens to be an L-100 P.But first of all I want to thank the man who´s fantastic playing on the Hammond B3 forever made me a devoted organ freak. His name is :

Pierre Swärd

I saw an ad for his consert in Neffertitis (The No 1 Jazzclub in Gothenburg) program. Little knowing what was going to happen I brought a friend along and we went down to the club. 
Before the gig started we took a good look at the huge instrument in the center of the stage. A B3 is an impressive sight in all its majesty. Then the show started and I was totally knocked out by the energy that Pierre projected. He really made the whole place boil. Being a bassplayer I marveled at the hardswinging basslines he was playing. He was in complete control of his instrument and the music he was playing. After a while I was all smiles. That night I recieved a vitamine injection that will stay with me as one of the finest musical experiences of my life. To me it was a magical evening. I also want to thank his fellow muscians Hans Rollin (Drums) and Janne Ottosen (Guitar) because they where also a part of the the magic that evening. The comunication within the group was fantastic. If you ever get the chance to go and se them live go. It´s worth every nickle and dime. They also have a record out that is playing in my headphones as I´m writing this. 

Jazz´n Soul

Pierre Swärd & The Hammond Jazz´n Soul Group

Four Leaf Cover Records. FLC CD 147 
Adress: Four Leaf Clover Records 
box 1231 
S-172 24 Sundyberg 
Sweden
 

More about my first encounters with Hammond organs

After that consert I was hooked and started to buy all the Hammond records I could find. I took a chance and called Pierre to thank him for the consert and to ask him if he had a record out. At that time he didn´t but he sent me a tape that I listened to all day long for a long time.So I started to look for an instrument for myself. I soon understood that a B3 was out my financial bounds but the L series where priced withing my limits. I asked a friend of mine Ingvar at Ingvars Ljud in Falkenberg if he had one to sell me. And he answered yes. So on my birthday 14/10 1991 we went down and picked her up. Boy it was heavy (but light compared to bigbrother B) But it was mine.Unfortunately Ingvar is no longer with us. But thank you Ingvar for all the help you gave me and JJ during the years we had the pleasure of knowing you. If you need musical gear in the south of Sweden don´t forget to check in on Invgars Ljud (+46-346 24 110).When I got home i turned on the L - 100. Not a sound. Dead as door nail. The motor turned but no sound. I soon discoverd a blown fuse but as soon as i changed it, it blew again. So i called my old friend and mentor Urmas Plunt who told me to check the anode voltage feed. And right he was - one of the 6BQ5´s was gone. I pulled it out and the fuse didn´t blow again. Luckily this organ has a line out so I could play it through my bass amp. At that time I had no Leslie. But to my dismay it didn´t sound like the organ I had heard at Neffertiti or on the tape Pierre had sent me. And I couldn´t play bass on the lower manuals. Being a bassplayer I really missed that. But I struggled with the pedals. At least i knew what to play down there. The hard part was to make my foot take orders. But after a years trodding one day my foot could play a walking line to a blues in F. Grand dayBrian Davenport kindly provided me with the schematics for my L-100. For a long i walked around looking at the L´s schematics and the B´s shcematics with Pierre´s tape on full blast. And a BIG question - What makes the difference. Little by little i started to make changes here and there. Some improved the sound others made things worse. A great victory was the day i solved the problem of bass in the lover manuals. The solution was a Boss OC2 octavider. Now I was able to play bass in the lower manuls.A nother grand day was the day my Leslie arrived. I bought it from Brian Daventport and what a difference it made to the sound. For a while I was quite content with how my setup sounded.But the sound of the B is the target when you tinker with an L. So every once in while since 1991 I´ve suddenly have thought what if i changed......... . And changed I have. Today I´m quite content with my L -100 but there are a few things still to be improved upon and a couple of ideas have still to be tested. 
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This page was created 1997-09-28 by Frederick Somerville
This page has been visited 3308     times since last reset 1998-10-19

Updated 1997-10-01
flm@tripnet.se

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