My thoughts after five years on the Hammond SK2 including a demo of the organ main sound. This is not meant to be a review, just my thoughts on the keyboard .
I appreciate your reflections on the instrument. Thank you for making this video. So often we see TH-cam content only on the latest models. I know that Hammond has made some improvements on their latest models, especially on the Leslie sims, but the SK1/SK2 is still a good instrument. You can get under the hood and customize it quite a bit. I installed Jim Alfredson’s tonewheel (from the Hammond site) set too. That is a worthy customization. TBH, I am not one of those guys who is constantly seduced into updating an instrument every couple of years. If someone has the cash to do that, good on ‘em. That’s probably easier to justify when a person is NOT married. 😁 I tend to get a bit more bang for the buck by updating my playing skills, more so than by updating my instruments. I agree that the main reason to own one of these is to play organ. I always considered myself an organist first, so the SK2 became my workhorse. I also agree that many of the “other” sounds in the SK2 could be better, but they are not unusable. When I would just play a small stage in some local blues bar, I could always make do with using this one keyboard. The acoustic piano is probably not as good as the one in your Roland and the limited range can be a pain when you play a boogie woogie thing, but with a careful touch and a bit of eq, I could make it work and never got any negative comments from anyone, including the other musicians. I actually like the acoustic piano more than the plastic sounding Wurli. Clavs are good. I have a Clav, but that stays home. The accordions are good enough for a Zydeco tune or two. I have used one of the basses if I am covering left hand bass. I would not use any of the winds, but with a bit of blending and some imagination, I suspect that someone could get any of the sounds to work in certain contexts. One workaround that I sometimes did in those smaller space gigs if I wanted better non-organ sounds was to bring an iPad or a Motif rack. One of my ten “favourites” is a patch that puts organ on one manual and sets the second one as a midi controller so that I could play the external sounds. I do play the SK2 through a Leslie 147 at home, but for gigs I route the organ through a Ventilator and the other sounds are routed to an independent channel. I have used the SK’s internal Leslie, but I find the Ventilator to be more satisfying. If you like to put the Leslie in the brake setting, however, nothing beats the real cabinet, IMHO. Thanks again for your content.
@piktormusic2538 Thank you so much for watching and for your great comments. Great to hear how you’re using the SK. I’ve had a few people tell me know they use some of the other sounds so will find the time to look deeper into those.
I appreciate your reflections on the instrument. Thank you for making this video. So often we see TH-cam content only on the latest models. I know that Hammond has made some improvements on their latest models, especially on the Leslie sims, but the SK1/SK2 is still a good instrument. You can get under the hood and customize it quite a bit. I installed Jim Alfredson’s tonewheel (from the Hammond site) set too. That is a worthy customization. TBH, I am not one of those guys who is constantly seduced into updating an instrument every couple of years. If someone has the cash to do that, good on ‘em. That’s probably easier to justify when a person is NOT married. 😁 I tend to get a bit more bang for the buck by updating my playing skills, more so than by updating my instruments.
I agree that the main reason to own one of these is to play organ. I always considered myself an organist first, so the SK2 became my workhorse. I also agree that many of the “other” sounds in the SK2 could be better, but they are not unusable. When I would just play a small stage in some local blues bar, I could always make do with using this one keyboard. The acoustic piano is probably not as good as the one in your Roland and the limited range can be a pain when you play a boogie woogie thing, but with a careful touch and a bit of eq, I could make it work and never got any negative comments from anyone, including the other musicians. I actually like the acoustic piano more than the plastic sounding Wurli. Clavs are good. I have a Clav, but that stays home. The accordions are good enough for a Zydeco tune or two. I have used one of the basses if I am covering left hand bass. I would not use any of the winds, but with a bit of blending and some imagination, I suspect that someone could get any of the sounds to work in certain contexts.
One workaround that I sometimes did in those smaller space gigs if I wanted better non-organ sounds was to bring an iPad or a Motif rack. One of my ten “favourites” is a patch that puts organ on one manual and sets the second one as a midi controller so that I could play the external sounds. I do play the SK2 through a Leslie 147 at home, but for gigs I route the organ through a Ventilator and the other sounds are routed to an independent channel. I have used the SK’s internal Leslie, but I find the Ventilator to be more satisfying. If you like to put the Leslie in the brake setting, however, nothing beats the real cabinet, IMHO.
Thanks again for your content.
@piktormusic2538 Thank you so much for watching and for your great comments. Great to hear how you’re using the SK. I’ve had a few people tell me know they use some of the other sounds so will find the time to look deeper into those.
Enjoyed your video… sure seems like an awesome keyboard!
@generoley7919 Thanks for watching 😀
I picked up a mint secondhand SK1 a fortnight ago. Wow what a sound!! So worth the £150 I paid for it
Wow , great price - sounds like a bargain
I love my SK2!!!
@Oldtimer1294 thanks for watching 😀
I dislike the plastic keys but the sounds are elite.