NAMM 2023: Hammond XK-4 plays like an antique, sounds like an old soul
4,6 / 5,0 | 
Hammond hopes to bring the B3 sound and feel into the future with the XK-4. It features a new Modelled Tone Wheel Engine and digital Leslie for the best in virtually authentic hardware.
XK-4
You do have to love a Hammond organ. Hammond has kept the classic B3 vibe going quite respectively with the SK Pro and XK-5 “portables”. But for a new generation of sound engine and some improved technology, it’s time to make way for the XK-4.
The XK-4 is a nicely designed, portable and gigable compact digital instrument with the heart of Hammond’s legacy spilling out of every key. The Modelled Tone Wheel Engine 2 (MTW2) captures the sound of all 91 tone wheels from the original vintage organ. And this time the imperfections are encouraged with pitch, volume and tone wheel backlash fluctuations all worked into the sound. Even the keyboard has a multi-contact system to emulate the feel of a mechanical instrument.
Hammond XK-4
The drawbars feature British, Italian and Japanese settings to model all the organ styles effectively. The other knobs can be mapped to whatever parameters you wish to control. An optional pedal board gives further expressive control and replicates the same multi-contact system through your feet.
Leslie
The Leslie rotary effect is of course, vital to the B3 organ sound. Hammond has worked up a new digital algorithm that even models the airflow to produce the most responsive and authentic effect possible through a pair of headphones. Some tube modelling brings in a good bit of vacuum warmth, and an emulated “matching transformer” adds to the ballast. You’ll also find a large bank of effects, including the Chorus/Vibrato that’s essential to any Hammond organ.
Suffice to say that Hammond has nailed the portable, compact and sensibly sized digital version of their analogue behemoth.
Availability
I’ve not seen a price or availability yet, but Hammond says, “you won’t break the bank taking it home”. The XK-5 goes for around £3,500 but is quite a different style of instrument. The XK-4 is closer in features to the SK-Pro at around £1,900 or XK-1c at £1,500.
Hammond will have the XK-4 on demo at booth 9110.
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7 responses to “NAMM 2023: Hammond XK-4 plays like an antique, sounds like an old soul”
Very cool! I’m a huge Booker T fan so I was always curious about these, but I don’t know enough about them to make sense of the pricing and features. Maybe some day, it’s nice to dream. 🙂
It;s XK1c, not SK1c. There isn’t any SK1c model.
As for the XK4, i’ll be superb like all the modern Hammond organs. It’s price will be probably at €2K+.
thank you
Is it just me, or do even these most recent versions of Hammond’s B3 clones still not attain some of the essential oomph and heft of the real thing? I’ve listened to many, many demos, as well as a few live players, and I just don’t think they’ve got it all dialed in. And every time–EVERY TIME–I head a current recording of a studio or live Hammond that turns my head, I find out it’s the real thing. I just don’t see how even Hammond can brag that they finally nailed it.
It’s a fair point and one I can’t answer. I would be interested to see an A/B with a vintage model compared to a new one, but through the speaker. Hearing a recording with a virtual Leslie vs knowing how a B3 sounds on stage could really be throwing things off.
So………
I’ve owned, and heavily gigged, a 1959 B3 since the mid 70’s, through as many as four Leslies. Also have owned, AND gigged a few clones as well…..and my 2 cents worth here would be, that unless you’re actually running a 122 Leslie or two, you’le NEVER be able to emulate that “real” Hammond sound! Getting the Hammond tone is one thing, but the sound from an overdriven tube preamp into overdriven tube power amps through a 15” woofer and a 1” dome tweeter is simply unattainable through digital means……at least so far! IMHO…..
Been a longtime prof musician and have owned B3s since 1976. Currently have a 1958 B3 with 147 in the studio. Gigging rig consisted of SK2 plus a Leslie 3300 with an 8pin Leslie cord. Sounded good, played well but was NOT the same as my studio B3. Then I got and SKPro. Big improvement in sound (mostly with the chorus) while using the 3300. Now I’m hearing that the tone engine for the SK Pro is the “tone Modeling MK1”, and the XK-4 is “tone modeling MK2”. Does anyone know how much diff the sound is with the newer modeling engine? BTW, I’m also using the Leslie 2101 MK2. Great high rotor sound, takes a fair amount of eq and adjusting to get the generated lower rotor sound to match the horn like a full Leslie. BUT, at 50 lbs vs 125 lb 3300, it’s prob worth it if you have a good speaker system to run the 2101 with. (I mic the rotor and run a stereo cable into two channels of a small PA I use for keys on stage)
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