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Drawbar Settings-Billy Preston?


kwyn

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How does Billy Preston get this sound at exactly 2 minutes of this video?

 

 

 

It's the part where he actually "lip syncs" the organ sounding like howling wind.

 

What drawbar settings/effects is he using to get that sound while he smears the keys?

 

How close can I get to that on my Electro 3?

 

THX!!!

 

Kwyn

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There are quite a few views of the drawbars, freeze the vid and check them out. It looks like for the section you asked about it's pretty much just the 8' bar pulled out. That one gives that soft flutey type sound.

 

 

LOL at myself. I don't know which drawbars set the lower manual!!! Also is he using any other effects? C3? Reverb? Overdrive?

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i'm a billy preston nut; from old videos that i've seen he used a 122RV cabinet. That might be where the reverb is coming from. I think that i had read that in his arsenal of B3's and leslies, his personal favorite leslie was the 122RV. from the video at around the 1:50 mark it shows the lower manual set only with the 8' drawbar. This would also be consistent with the sound that i hear in the video.

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i'm a billy preston nut; from old videos that i've seen he used a 122RV cabinet. That might be where the reverb is coming from. I think that i had read that in his arsenal of B3's and leslies, his personal favorite leslie was the 122RV. from the video at around the 1:50 mark it shows the lower manual set only with the 8' drawbar. This would also be consistent with the sound that i hear in the video.

 

 

I am also a Billy Preston nut, and it's a shame that "Everybody Likes Some Kind Of Music" is not available on CD.

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ummmm
http://www.amazon.com/Everybody-Likes-Some-Kind-Music/dp/B004LTB5CI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310004842&sr=8-1
:thu:

 

You're awesome! After I posted that yesterday, I went on iTunes, but no luck. Then I went to Amazon, but the only hits I got were for $42 Japanese imports. I don't know why this one didn't show up.

 

I will be ordering that - thanks! And y'all should check out a few of those clips, especially "My Soul Is A Witness" - classic Preston hand-clapping gospel.

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I have no idea but that is a FANTASTIC clip of a super musician - RIP, Billy P.!
:cool:

 

I had the pleasure around '95 of seeing him with that year's incarnation of Ringo's All-Star band (sans Ringo for some reason)

 

Billy Preston

Randy Bachman (BTO)

Felix Cavaliere (Young Rascals)

Mark Farner (Grand Funk Railroad)

Mark Rivera (Hall & Oates, Peter Gabriel, Billy Joel)

 

Fantastic Concert. Billy was a definite standout - what a musician and what a showman.

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I ordered that CD - thanks again! Some may not know, but Billy Preston wrote "You Are So Beautiful", which, after you know it, makes perfect sense - it sounds like Billy.

 

That clip of Summertime in the OP is fun, and it reminded me of my all-time favorite version of that song, from Rick Wakeman of all people:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hmmmm....I guess embedding is disabled.

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My Billy CD arrived the other day, and I've been playing it non-stop - which is a lot of plays, since most of the songs are under 3 minutes. :)

 

I haven't listened to this album since the 1970s, but as each song came on, the lyrics would come back to me a split-second before he sang each line. Funny how your mind works.

 

I highly recommend it to any Billy fan - I had forgotten how much I absolutely love this album, and his versatility: each song is in a different style -

, soul,
, rock,
,
,
, folk (a Bob Dylan song,
) and synth (the classic "Space Race". Is that an ARP Odyssey he's using for the lead?)

 

I was such a fan of this album, and Billy, as a 13 year old, that I actually - no lie - convinced my folks to let me get an afro! I got the whole perm job, which actually made me look kinda Jewish. LOL! Maybe I'll post a pic.

 

And I found out why I've never been able to get this on CD before - it was only issued in March 2011!

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How does Billy Preston get this sound at exactly 2 minutes of this video?




It's the part where he actually "lip syncs" the organ sounding like howling wind.


What drawbar settings/effects is he using to get that sound while he smears the keys?


How close can I get to that on my Electro 3?


THX!!!


Kwyn

 

 

I too am a big Billy Preston fan. Remember seeing him playing live on the roof top in London with The Beatles playing the electric piano solo on "Get Back." I have an old Billy Preston vinyl "Wildest Organ In Town" playing tunes such as 'In Crowd" ,Satisfation, In The Midnight Hour, etc. And he had the exact same B-3/Leslie sound in the studio that we can hear on his any youtube videos. Billy has that gospel feel and he was a child prodigy and started playing as a pro early in his life.

 

His B-3 is probably modified to give it that grungy, "dirty" edgy sound that you can get tweaking the resistor/cap in the swell pedal. Plus, I'm sure his Leslies are beefed up with JBL drivers, more powerful preamps and other little "secret" toys. Plus he can PLAYYYYYYYYYY!

 

I have the VB3 ToneWheel software and I can get that exact Billy Preston sound from the program. But I have a Korg M-50 88 weighted board with a heavier action than a real B-3 has, so a lot of organ techniques like Billy play cannot be done on a weighted controller. There are some church sites online Iv'e seen that list many drawbar settings for gospel B-3 or clones. katt

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