Hammond XK-5 – Heritage Series Hammond Organ (Single Manual)

Destined to become “The New Original B3,” the single manual XK-5 Heritage Series from Hammond utilizes patented technologies to recreate the sound and feel of a vintage Hammond organ in an affordable and portable form factor. The instrument promises an absolutely authentic playing experience that will meet the demands of the most discerning B3 purist.

The hybrid multiple-key contact system emulates the classic B-3’s nine mechanical contacts; when played softly, they will engage the harmonics from each drawbar at slightly different times, creating the subtle chewy and soulful character. The time-spread between these note-on messages is programmable, as is the order in which you hear the harmonics speak. Additionally, the contacts all receive and transmit MIDI note data, allowing you to capture every harmonic nuance of your performance in your DAW program of choice via USB.

The redesigned keybed duplicates the heft, bounce, and key dip of a “new old stock” and well-maintained B3, while the updated sound engine accurately recreates the tone-wheel generator with accuracy and flexibility. Extended programmability of both the overall generator characteristics (such as leakage and crosstalk between pickups) and individual tone-wheel behavior (such as the purity of the sine wave) offer an almost unfathomable amount of control. Adding to the authenticity is the virtual matching transformer, which subtly provides the “breathing” effect by placing the matching transformer precisely in the signal chain with adjustable saturation and hysteresis amounts.

Other features include four full sets of harmonic drawbars plus pedal drawbars, 12 virtual tone wheels devoted to harmonically complex pedal tones, high-quality digital Leslie simulation, multi-effects complemented by a vacuum tube preamp, and dedicated on/off buttons for reverb, overdrive, and assignable multi-effects. Additionally, the XK-5 can be expanded to the XK-5 Pro System by adding the optional XLK-5 lower manual and the XPK-250 two-octave radiating pedalboard, which connects with the new H-BUS to simplify setup by carrying both data and power.

Hybrid Multiple Key Contact System: Three mechanical contacts at different points in the keys’ travel. Each of these in turn triggers three virtual contacts, giving you separate “note on” connections for every drawbar frequency in the same manner as the original nine-contact electro-mechanical Hammond organs
Completely Redesigned Keybed: Duplicates the heft, bounce, and key dip of a “new old stock” and well-maintained B-3
Updated Sound Engine: The XK-5 employs new proprietary technology to recreate Hammond’s storied tone-wheel-generator with unprecedented accuracy and flexibility. Modeling and sampling are combined in an exclusive process to capture the frequencies of all 91 tone wheels found in the original organs, not to mention other important sonic details such as key click, harmonic percussion, vibrato-chorus, and more
Virtual Matching Transformer: The matching transformer and its place in the signal chain is modeled precisely, and the saturation and hysteresis amounts are adjustable from barely-there to over-the-top
Four full sets of harmonic drawbars plus pedal drawbars, just like on original Hammond console organs including the B-3
12 additional virtual tone wheels are devoted to harmonically complex pedal tones (i.e. more than just 16′ and 8′ sine waves), as found on Hammonds beginning in 1945
Custom tone-wheel profiles available via download
Exceptional Digital Leslie effect with continuously variable speed
Dedicated octave shift / transpose buttons
Improved DSP-based overdrive complemented by real vacuum-tube preamp
Improved vibrato-chorus
Dedicated on/off buttons and amount knobs for reverb, overdrive, and assignable multi-FX
Lower B drawbars can alternately control 9 MIDI CC messages for external gear
Left and right ¼” outs can be used at the same time as Leslie output, for running the XK-5 through a real Leslie in parallel to stationary speakers, a subwoofer, or house PA
More key-triggering modes for pedal-to-lower coupler (Manual Bass function)
Firmware updatable via USB flash drive or directly from computer
Crisp OLED display is more readable under different lighting conditions

In the Box
Hammond XK-5 – Heritage Series Hammond Organ (Single Manual)
Power Cord
1-Year Warranty