AIN’T NOTHING LIKE THE REAL THING

We’ve all Done it. one day you’re sniffing innocently through eBay looking at gear. the next, you’re trying to stuff an ancient Hammond M100 organ and a leslie 760 rotating speaker cab into the back of an old volkswagen camper. oh, just me, then?

the deal was too good to pass up. £575 for a chopped and studioready 60s Hammond, apparently the same model used by ian Mclagan of the Small Faces, plus a well-maintained leslie. Better still… the price included a twoinput preamp box. this means i can plug a guitar in.

now, i’ve tried every leslie simulator you can imagine over the years. none match the sheer exhilaration of the surroundsound whoosh of the real thing. My leslie is a less-desirable solid-state model, but, warmed up by my new Maxon OD-808 tube Screamer (c £95), i get epically close to eric Clapton’s Badge sound.

there is some gristle. the 760 weighs a spine-wrecking 68kg. the organ is way heavier. Gawd only knows how the pre-roadie, infamously minuscule Small Faces got Mac’s gear up a flight of stairs. Yes, a pedal is more convenient, but now i’ve experienced the genuine article, it’s all or nothing for me.