New "organ" pedal - EHX B9

[johnk_10]

Mine comes in tomorrow. I agree about the click. Why would you want it at all? Maybe I don't get it. I will hopefully be able to use one of the settings that doesn't have it very loud as my main setting. Then again, it might be cool in a mix?

i think that the click is to replicate the percussive attack of a Hammond B3.
From the Hammond B3 Manual:

"The sound produced by early Hammond organs differed from pipe organs in one characteristic way.
There was an attack transient that sounded like a click or pop when a key was pressed. This was
considered a defect. Considerable design efforts were made to reduce it but it could never be eliminated.
Later rock and blues players found the key click characteristic to be desirable and some jazz organists
consider it to be essential. Many Hammond organ simulators include a key click control to reproduce this
characteristic."

 

[Feral Feline]

^ Spot on.

The click will help with the attack on the front of your note, help the effect cut through the mix, too, I suppose.

 

[BigBeatNut]

i think that the click is to replicate the percussive attack of a Hammond B3.
From the Hammond B3 Manual:

"The sound produced by early Hammond organs differed from pipe organs in one characteristic way.
There was an attack transient that sounded like a click or pop when a key was pressed. This was
considered a defect. Considerable design efforts were made to reduce it but it could never be eliminated.
Later rock and blues players found the key click characteristic to be desirable and some jazz organists
consider it to be essential. Many Hammond organ simulators include a key click control to reproduce this
characteristic."

That's fine, but in practice, I found the B9's click to be overbearing, no matter what I did with the 'click' pot. It didn't sound authentic to me.

 

[MightyMiloQuinn]

The volume issue I was having seems to have disappeared. So that's good. Could very well have been user error, but the difference is relatively dramatic. At the same time the click was quite loud before, and it seems more manageable now. But I always found that you can dial the click completely out if you want.

 

[MightyMiloQuinn]

I was messing around with it a bit more. First, I think it's notable that the tone control on your instrument also will control the tone of the organ. Then I decided to throw some weird stuff its way to see how it would handle it. So I fed my Kilobyte delay into the B9. It handled it surprisingly well. It definitely got a bit glitchy at some settings, but the combo was nice. I took a quick (and crappy) video. This is the B9 on the Bell setting with some dry mixed in:

 

[GregT]

Got mine today. Spent some time with it. I will have to use 7 Cathedral or 8 Continental probably. Regardless of the effect the clicks are trying to replicate, they are so in the way of a good clean tone. I would love to use the Jazz setting!! You just can't turn off the clicks. Fortunately, 8 Continental is a pretty good tone for a lot of stuff. The Gospel was sooooo good, but unusable because of the clicks. I will be hooking up my complete system later this week and see how it works. This is one of the coolest pedals ever. I will use it on about 10% of my songs. Working For The Weekend really sounded cool.

 

[sunbeast]

Can someone explain clearly what happens when you turn the "Click" knob all the way off?

 

[T2k5]

Can someone explain clearly what happens when you turn the "Click" knob all the way off?

Mine only makes a mild click on the Classic Rock (4) mode, on other modes there's no perceivable click.

 

[Adamixoye]

It's really sounding like the click is rig-dependent, maybe based on the input signal? I wonder if someone can try to isolate the source.

 

[T2k5]

It's really sounding like the click is rig-dependent, maybe based on the input signal? I wonder if someone can try to isolate the source.

It depends on the input somewhat when it DOES click, but not much. With my 18V Mike Pope FlexCore preamped Stambaugh maxed out, AND FEA DB-CL on max gain I only get click on the Classic Rock. The signal clips like crazy, but still nothing on the other modes. No matter how high or low signal I tried to throw at it, it won't click on other modes.

 

[Adamixoye]

It depends on the input somewhat when it DOES click, but not much. With my 18V Mike Pope FlexCore preamped Stambaugh maxed out, AND FEA DB-CL on max gain I only get click on the Classic Rock. The signal clips like crazy, but still nothing on the other modes. No matter how high or low signal I tried to throw at it, it won't click on other modes.

You're referring to it specifically with the click knob turned down? If so, I meant more in general.

 

[T2k5]

You're referring to it specifically with the click knob turned down? If so, I meant more in general.

The all-caps "DOES" referred to the situation in general. With the click maxed, most modes produce no click when played lightly, and quite a spike on hard hits.

 

[Adamixoye]

Sorry, I guess I'm just having a little trouble following and/or we might be talking about different things. A lot of people say they are getting clicking on almost every setting even with the click knob turned down. Seems like you're on the opposite end of the spectrum, hence my comment that things sound like they're rig-dependent.

 

[T2k5]

Sorry, I guess I'm just having a little trouble following and/or we might be talking about different things. A lot of people say they are getting clicking on almost every setting even with the click knob turned down. Seems like you're on the opposite end of the spectrum, hence my comment that things sound like they're rig-dependent.

I'd lean more on B9-dependent, going by the amount of quality issues with this pedal. Until my previous post I was referring more to the "click zeroed" setting asked by Sunbeast. However, I just made a sweep of all modes with both the click and my bass gain maxed (nothing else in chain), and I can play without it clicking if I play lightly. On hard hits, it clicks a lot on all clickable modes. So, if someone uses a compressor with tons of make-up gain killing dynamics, it would always click. But, with the click zeroed, I dare say the pedal I have will not produce a click on any practical input levels except on Classic Rock.

 

[MightyMiloQuinn]

I'd lean more on B9-dependent, going by the amount of quality issues with this pedal. Until my previous post I was referring more to the "click zeroed" setting asked by Sunbeast. However, I just made a sweep of all modes with both the click and my bass gain maxed (nothing else in chain), and I can play without it clicking if I play lightly. On hard hits, it clicks a lot on all clickable modes. So, if someone uses a compressor with tons of make-up gain killing dynamics, it would always click. But, with the click zeroed, I dare say the pedal I have will not produce a click on any practical input levels except on Classic Rock.

This is what I just found as well. Classic Rock is the only setting that will click no matter how softly you pluck (except when the click is dialed out, of course). If you use a pick, it will be more likely to click as well (on the settings that have click as a function). The whole thing is very input sensitive. If you pluck two notes separately and then together, you'll hear additional overtones that aren't there when the notes sound separately. It all seems quite complex. It's quite easy to see how the pedal will react differently to different players and their varying equipment.

 

[chuck3]

The problem with turning the "click" knob down all the way is that the "click" knob does two things: besides (supposedly) controlling the click, it controls the amount or rate of the "mod" for the particular effect, which is chorus in some cases and vibrato in other cases. So turning the "click" knob down all the way adversely affects the use of the effect that you are trying to use, apart from the click. I may not be explaining that quite right but, from reading the manual, it is clear that the "click" knob has two functions.

 

[Adamixoye]

The problem with turning the "click" knob down all the way is that the "click" knob does two things: besides (supposedly) controlling the click, it controls the amount or rate of the "mod" for the particular effect, which is chorus in some cases and vibrato in other cases. So turning the "click" knob down all the way adversely affects the use of the effect that you are trying to use, apart from the click. I may not be explaining that quite right but, from reading the manual, it is clear that the "click" knob has two functions.

I thought it had those two functions, but not at the same time. Like, it depends on the preset whether it's controlling the click or the modulation. I don't own the pedal but I did read the manual (yes I'm that guy) and that's how I understood it. But I could be wrong.

 

[MightyMiloQuinn]

I thought it had those two functions, but not at the same time. Like, it depends on the preset whether it's controlling the click or the modulation. I don't own the pedal but I did read the manual (yes I'm that guy) and that's how I understood it. But I could be wrong.

This is right. For the first 6 settings Click only controls the amount of click. On the other 3 it affects the amount of modulation.

 

[Adamixoye]

^ Nothing to do with anything, but our avatars have a vague similarity in shape and color that threw me for a loop for a second!

 

[MightyMiloQuinn]

^ Nothing to do with anything, but our avatars have a vague similarity in shape and color that threw me for a loop for a second!

They do!

And, looking at the manual again, on setting 6 Click does control both click and the amount of upper harmonics (but not modulation). So now I need to try that setting again. I thought it sounded a bit thin (I usually have Click set at 9 o'clock).