XK-5 Heritage Organ
Call for Price
The XK-5 is destined to become The New Original™
The XK5 is perfect at home either in the studio or on stage.
This is the organ for the serious Hammond player.
XK5 provides all the key features and sounds that are found on many of the ‘classic’ Hammonds.
Two full sets of drawbars per manual, realistic digital Vibrato/Chorus generator, digital Leslie rotating speaker and great harmonic percussion all work together to provide the musical tools necessary to create your own Hammond sound.
The waterfall keyboard has multi-contacts to recreate the tactile feel of the classic Hammonds which add to the player’s Hammond experience.
Completely new Hammond sound generation technology brings truly authentic tones for those who demand the best in a portable instrument.
The XK5 comes complete with presets that provide registrations to suit Jazz, Rock and Popular playing styles. These presets can easily be replaced with your own customised sounds.
Parameters such as drawbar type, digital Leslie speed and characteristics, reverb types and lengths and variable key click are just some of the options that can be altered to suit the player using Hammond’s well designed menu structure.
XK5 has the iconic wooden cabinet look for the traditional Hammond appearance and style. When combined with the XLK5 lower manual and the optional turned wooden stand, your XK5 system completes that ‘signature instrument profile’ which is recognised the world over.
Newly designed real tube pre-amp and new digital Leslie propel the instrument to new levels of playing. A rich, warm tube over-drive can be added using a variable control – and you can even select the type of tube you’d like to use.
Hammond has gone all out to inject many little nuances of the iconic Hammond sound into this new organ.
Moving and maintaining an antique Hammond will only become more difficult as time passes.
Of course we have tons of respect for anyone who does, but to get all of the sound with none of the hassle it’s easy to see why the XK-5 is destined to become The New Original™
This organ is in huge international demand so be quick to try it.
Shipping
Hammond Australia delivers with trusted specialist carriers anywhere in Australia. It’s important to us that your Hammond gear arrives to you safely. For the best freight price, please call Hammond Australia / Bernies Music Land on 03 9872 5122 for a quotation.
Additional information
| Weight | 15.7 kg |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 118.9 × 40.1 × 11.9 cm |
| Manuals | Upper and Lower 73 notes each (61 playing keys plus 12 Preset Keys), Square-front (“waterfall”-style), New mechanical key-bed design |
| Pedal (Optional) | 13, 20-note spinet-style, 25-note radiating, Adjustable Pedal Sustain, Pedal to Lower coupler, Custom Pedal Registrations (3 Factory, 3 User) |
| SPLIT | SPLIT panel control, Assignable split point |
| Tone Generator | MTW™ (Modeled Tone Wheels), 61-note polyphony for Manuals, 5-note polyphony for Pedals |
| Virtual Multi-Contacts™ | Custom Contacts (3 Factory, 3 User), 3 Physical Contacts, 9 Assignable Virtual Contacts Adjustable Attack, Release, Decay |
| Harmonic Drawbars® | 5 sets (4 Manuals, 1 Pedal), Upper 2 X 9 pitches, Lower 2 X 9 pitches, Pedal 2 pitches |
| Drawbar Voicing | 4 choices for Manuals (A-100, B-3, C-3, Mellow), 4 choices for Pedals (Normal, Muted, Synth 1 & 2) |
| Custom Tone Wheel (CTW™) | 3 Factory, 3 User for A-100, B-3, C3 & Mellow Drawbar Voicings, CTW’s identified by model and serial number , Adjustable parameters for each tone wheel, 12 complex tone wheels for bottom, 12 pedal tones |
| Touch-Response Percussion™ | Percussion On, Normal/Soft Volume, Slow/Fast Decay, 2nd & 3rd Harmonic, Adjustable Normal/Soft Volume |
| Vibrato & Chorus™ | Virtual Scanner™ (3 settings), Adjustable rate, Vibrato/Chorus Mix, Vibrato on Pedal ON/OFF |
| Overdrive | Tube/Solid State, Adjustable drive level |
| Preset Keys | 9 Presets plus Cancel each Manual, 2 Adjust Presets each Manual, 9 programmable Preset Banks |
| Patches | 100 User, 100 Factory Patches |
| Tube Preamp | 12AU7/12AX7 Tubes |
| MT™ Matching Transformer | Adjustable drive level, Hysteresis, |
| Multi-Effects | Tremolo, Auto Pan, Wah-Wah, Ring |
| Master Equalizer | Bass/Mid/Treble panel controls |
| Programmable Equalizer | Bass, Mid, Treble |
| Leslie® | STOP, FAST, BYPASS panel controls. |
| Reverb | ON/OFF panel control |
| MIDI | 5 MIDI Templates |
| Display | OLED, 20 character, 2 line |
| USB | “A” port (“To USB Flash Drive”) |
| Tune/Transpose | Transpose +- 6 semitones |
| H-BUS Connector | To Pedals/Expression Pedal |
| Audio Connections | LINE OUT L/MONO / R, Headphone Jack, 11-pin Leslie® Connector |
| Other Connections | CONTROL 1, CONTROL 2, |
Michael Shannon –
I’ve had my XK-5 for several months now and I have one the earliest production units. I’ve played mine mostly through a Leslie 122, so can’t offer much insight on the digital Leslie.
I’m very pleased with this purchase, though it is pricey. Even so, I’ve waited several years for this generation to come through rather than be tempted by other models/brands. It has certainly breathed new life to my XK System setup. I upgraded from an XK-3 and it’s a big step up in terms of tone and feel. There is a depth and dimension that was missing previously. It breathes.
For starters there is the physical instrument. The four sets of drawbars means you approach it like a B3, with all the other controls where they should be. Likewise, the wood finish smooth and solid so it’s a surprise to find that the main keyboard is actually slightly lighter than my old XK-3.
The keybed feels very good, more springy and soft. The multi-contact system certainly adds something to the playing experience – a responsive, organic (no pun intended) quality that just makes you want to play more.
I find the factory tonewheel sets are quite useable as they are, with some adjustments for tone. Having dedicated EQ knobs certainly helps with this, as well as being able to determine which part of the EQ spectrum the knobs will adjust. I haven’t done a massive amount of tweaking besides fattening up the tone. It takes a little time as the scope for adjustment is vast, but it’s worth it.
The B3, C3 and A100 models are basically the same three organs with varying levels of leakage and crosstalk. I went online looked up the three serial numbers listed in the manual and it turns that Hammond has loaded (my best guess, based on the available records) a 1969 B3, a 1972 C3 and a 1963 A100. Of these three, the B3 sounds the brightest, while the A100 has a warmest bottom end. I look forward to custom tonewheel sets becoming available, whether from Hammond or being shared among users.
The chorus vibrato is excellent – greatly improved on previous models, given some tweaking for rate and depth. It’s the closest yet to a vintage model. There are three modes apparently based on different versions of the original CV line box: (19)55-57, 57-59 and 59+, although I struggle to hear any difference between them. I hope a future update will refine this feature.
I experienced a few early glitches as expected, including some high-pitched noise, sound cut-outs and hanging notes. Thankfully, a series of system updates since then seem to have resolved these problems. As an early adopter, I expected that there would be a few issues to iron out. I don’t hold that against Hammond, as the XK-5 is the most highly developed (and ambitious) digital organ yet. So long as the support and back-up is there.
I look forward to seeing what further tweaks and updates can achieve, but I’m very happy with this one already. Given time for exploration, you can really fashion this instrument to your own particular tastes. I plan to spend the next several years doing so.