It's official - the new EHX B9 Organ Machine

[joeyowen]

[YOUTUBE]7_weSk0BonM[/YOUTUBE]

[Phil O'Keefe]

In case anyone would like to check it out, here's a link to my EHX B9 review:

 

http://www.harmonycentral.com/expert-reviews/electro-harmonix-b9

 

Short answer? It's awesome!

[1001gear]

Too bad there is no tone knob. They might be a bit too bright for me.

 

And now some B9 organ jokes ...

[WWW]

These showed up in Japan about a week ago. I really wanted to demo it, but the shops around here remove the pedals from the box and wrap them in cellophane and scotch tape. I would feel so bad to ask them to open that mess and then walk out without buying.

[Trick Fall]

As usual a nice review and definitely an interesting pedal. What did you think of the combo organ sounds? I'm most intrigued by those as I'd love to get some of the vibe of a dirty, garage, transistor organ.

[FormerlyBassred]

I was looking at the Organizer by Earthquake - it does a pretty good church organ sound... Then I saw this thing. OMG.

 

I'm not a pedal freak and my sound is pretty basic, but I've recently gone to a wet/dry setup and was thinking that an organ sound as an option on the wet side would help fatten things up (and make people scratch their heads). and since my main guitar puts out an acoustic signal and an electric one, I could have the acoustic with an organ, which might be really cool! (I have tuner pedals to mute either the wet or the dry sends separately, so I could have a few more cool combinations to mess with!)

[Phil O'Keefe]

As usual a nice review and definitely an interesting pedal. What did you think of the combo organ sounds? I'm most intrigued by those as I'd love to get some of the vibe of a dirty, garage, transistor organ.

 

The Continental preset is actually one of the better ones IMHO. Instant Steve Nieve. And that's always a good thing.

 

Adding more grit via your favorite overdrive or fuzz is as simple as plugging the Organ output of the B9 into whatever dirt you want to use on it. It takes dirt great as long as you run the dirt after the pedal. It generally doesn't track well with dirt placed in front of it.

 

As far as brightness, you can easily EQ it too... again, I'd recommend post-B9 EQ, via whatever graphic EQ you prefer. A compressor is another good B9 companion, especially if your dynamics tend to be a little loose. Remember that organs are generally static in their level to a greater degree than a guitar; they produce the same level all the time, regardless of how hard you play. The only way to control their level is with a volume pedal, so with that in mind, I found I like running a compressor in front of the B9 to tame dynamics a bit (and keep notes from unintentionally leaping out at me), the B9, then a dirt box and then a rotary speaker sim and a volume pedal. Add a bit of amp verb, and you've got a killer setup that can do a surprisingly good organ simulation.

 

Running the B9 into a real Leslie speaker - well, that has to be heard in person to be believed. It's hard to believe "that sound" is coming from a guitar, but it can - and does.

[Phil O'Keefe]

I was looking at the Organizer by Earthquake - it does a pretty good church organ sound... Then I saw this thing. OMG.

 

I'm not a pedal freak and my sound is pretty basic, but I've recently gone to a wet/dry setup and was thinking that an organ sound as an option on the wet side would help fatten things up (and make people scratch their heads). and since my main guitar puts out an acoustic signal and an electric one, I could have the acoustic with an organ, which might be really cool! (I have tuner pedals to mute either the wet or the dry sends separately, so I could have a few more cool combinations to mess with!)

 

The Organizer is a very cool pedal and it can definitely do the cathedral / church organ thing, but it doesn't do the B-3 and transistor organ stuff like the B9 does.

 

It sounds like you have quite a bit of options with your rig - adding a B9 to the wet side would give you the ability to play electric, acoustic or organ singly, or combine any two of those and play them simultaneously. That definitely would be fun!

[Phil O'Keefe]

I loooove the organ sound at the beginning of Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis (shame shame)

 

 

That sounds like a Hammond with a Leslie on slow speed. You can get similar sounds from the B9.

[lefort_1]

I think it's got enough promise to keep the line going.

I do hope there's a version where the user can set which drawbars (for the B3 sims) and which stops (for the pipe organ sim(s) are used.

imo, an expression pedal would not be applicable, as the addition/subtraction of drawbars isn't necessarily a linear thing, e.g. I might go from an 8------8 to 8---4--8 to 8--88--8 and not want interveneing drawbars messed with.

 

Also the percussion and chiff (pipe organ) are a little rudimentary, and sound a bit tacky as the volume comes up on them.

- a Hammond click is a second and third harmonic thing, and the B9 sounds a little 2nd harmonic heavy, to me.

- I'm not entirely sure, but doesn't the B9 click on every note played? A Hammond will only produce a click when all the keys on a manual have been released, meaning you can't get a click if you're holding another note on the upper manual (there may be some mods to undo this, but I'm pretty sure that's how the schematic says it should operate). I've herad some folks complain about how intrusive the click is, and this may have something to do with it.

 

- conversely pipe-organ chiff IS triggered on each key's downstroke (it's emulating the sound of a puff of air escaping the air-chest into each pipe at the beginning of each note).

 

But all things considered, I think the B9 kicks arse on every other emulation out there.

 

BTW, Nice review Phil !!!

 

[iodine74]

How does it feel? Does it feel like your triggering the sound, or does it feel like a natural/responsive effect?

[Phil O'Keefe]

I think it's got enough promise to keep the line going.

I do hope there's a version where the user can set which drawbars (for the B3 sims) and which stops (for the pipe organ sim(s) are used.

imo, an expression pedal would not be applicable, as the addition/subtraction of drawbars isn't necessarily a linear thing, e.g. I might go from an 8------8 to 8---4--8 to 8--88--8 and not want interveneing drawbars messed with.

 

 

I'm with you on the expression pedal - I don't think it's needed.

 

Also the percussion and chiff (pipe organ) are a little rudimentary, and sound a bit tacky as the volume comes up on them.

- a Hammond click is a second and third harmonic thing, and the B9 sounds a little 2nd harmonic heavy, to me.

- I'm not entirely sure, but doesn't the B9 click on every note played? A Hammond will only produce a click when all the keys on a manual have been released, meaning you can't get a click if you're holding another note on the upper manual (there may be some mods to undo this, but I'm pretty sure that's how the schematic says it should operate). I've herad some folks complain about how intrusive the click is, and this may have something to do with it.

 

No, actually the click on the B9 woks in a manner similar to a Hammond. You don't get click on every note with the B9.

 

From the EHX B9 manual:

 

Click Knob

 

CLICK controls percussive click level. It was designed to simulate the harmonic percussion effect on classic B3 and C3 organs. The click will be added to the very first note or chord played. The click will retrigger only when current notes have been released and their amplitude falls below a threshold.

 

- conversely pipe-organ chiff IS triggered on each key's downstroke (it's emulating the sound of a puff of air escaping the air-chest into each pipe at the beginning of each note).

 

Correct... but the basic note attack sound is intrinsic to the Cathedral preset. When that preset is selected, the Click knob isn't controlling a click function; instead, it is assigned as a Depth control for the Tremolo effect, with the Mod knob controlling tremolo speed.

 

But all things considered, I think the B9 kicks arse on every other emulation out there.

 

In terms of accuracy and authentic organ tones, I'm in full agreement!

 

BTW, Nice review Phil !!!

 

Thanks Doc.

[Phil O'Keefe]

How does it feel? Does it feel like your triggering the sound, or does it feel like a natural/responsive effect?

 

That's a good question. It's a bit of both to be honest. I don't feel disconnected from it like I sometimes do when playing with a guitar synth, but it's an organ sound, and it responds and reacts like one, which is definitely different than a guitar sounds and reacts.

 

It feels quite good, but whenever an organ sound comes out instead of a guitar sound, it's going to feel a little bit "different."