Rusty Young and his “Hammond B3” style

[Kevin Obrecht]

Hi folks,

I’ve just recently got my first D10 so I’ve finally got the ability to mess around with C6. One of my favorite uses of the C6 neck that I’ve heard was the way Rusty would make it sound like a Hammond b3 on early poco recordings. In this video he plays an “organ” solo around 3:15:
https://youtu.be/7mjkujcIOWM?si=SajuJDpKBVVJcXjQ

I’d like to try and develop some of this style as one of the bands I’m playing with does a few rock n roll numbers where I think a faux organ padding chords would fit better than a classic PSG sound.

I realize a lot of that sound is in the Leslie speaker and a wah pedal. And I’ve got myself a rotary pedal to mimic the Leslie, and from what I’ve read, he would use the wah like the drawbars on an organ. So rather than a smooth back and forth like a guitar player he would use it more methodically to color the sound like an organist.

What I’m curious about learning is the actual musical approach to making it sound like an organ. Are there certain chords that are common among organ players for getting that full, classic B3 sound. I can’t really tell from the video what Rusty is doing if there’s any pedals getting used or if it’s mainly played without them. If anyone has ever tried to figure out Rusty’s organ style I’d love to know how you go about getting that sound.

[Don Mogle]

Check out my YouTube video for organ and strings sounds on the Boss SY-1. The organ patches are great. I like to use 5,6 & 8 for meaty organ sounds.

Actually, I put a thread here on the Forum regarding organ sounds which I submitted in 2023. Do a search for "Organ and Strings Sounds on a Boss SY-1." I have linked to the YouTube video on this thread. You might find some of the discussion interesting and useful. I also posted some pics of my pedal board (at that time). Now, I have two SY-1 pedals set to different sounds--strings and organ.

Actually Lee posted a link shown below...thanks Lee!

Let me know what you think.

Oh...one other thing to keep in mind: Rusty didn't ha even luxury of the technology we have today. He made the best of what was available at the time. That said, you might also look into the Electro Harmonix B9 pedal on YouTube. It sounds good but I like the smaller footprint of the Boss SY-1 and legendary build quality and ruggedness.

Don

[Lee Baucum]

Here is a link:

https://youtu.be/zPsRh9S7gak?si=kBldn7xwguBfeYOf

[Raybob Bowman]

Considering when that recording was made, Rusty probably was using a Vibratone or Leslie 18. I have a Leslie 18 which sounds very similar in high speed setting.

[Donny Hinson]

Back in the late 1960's, I used the Cordovox CL-10 speaker to get the organ effect. It worked very well, and was all there was at the time. But its big, cube shape was cumbersome to haul around. Later on, around 1975, I got an MXR Phase 100 stomp box, and I used that for decades and it still works. But I think the key to an organ sound is more in the playing technique, rather than in the sound itself; it's in the chords and the attack. Of course, any "bendy" pedal moves to change chords or notes must be very quick and clean so as not to ruin the "this or that, and nothing in between" keyboard quality. I also have one of the newer MXR keyboard units, and it does a good job too, offering some additional organ voices and types to choose from. But my go-to unit has always been the Phase 100.

And yes, it sounds better on the C6th.

[David Wren]

I was lucky enough to catch the original Poco band, at the Fillmore in SF. If I remember correctly, Rusty then was using a full Leslie cabinet for the organ parts. Mostly it was on one song, a duet with Jim Mesina on tele..... also seems like back then Rusty had a
"tone" pedal that alternated the Leslie from dark bass to treble, and back.

Amazing to me at the time.. I was just a "kid"

For what it is worth, I recently switched from a EHX B9 pedal to the newer C9 pedal. To me the simulations are much more authentic, but avid "slides", the latency doesn't like them I listened to organist Jimmy Smith, and tried to cop the dom. 7th chords.

Good luck.

[Dave Grafe]

I was lucky enough to catch the original Poco band, at the Fillmore in SF. If I remember correctly, Rusty then was using a full Leslie cabinet for the organ parts. Mostly it was on one song, a duet with Jim Mesina on tele..... also seems like back then Rusty had a
"tone" pedal that alternated the Leslie from dark bass to treble, and back.

Amazing to me at the time.. I was just a "kid"

For what it is worth, I recently switched from a EHX B9 pedal to the newer C9 pedal. To me the simulations are much more authentic, but avid "slides", the latency doesn't like them I listened to organist Jimmy Smith, and tried to cop the dom. 7th chords.

Good luck.

What David said! Rusty Young used a Leslie 145 snd/or 166 rotating speaker cabinet in his stage setup for many years. It was a mainstay of his sound, featuring prominently on Poco's first two albums. To my knowledge he never used Fender's rotating speaker system or any "Leslie" effects pedals, and in any case those were not available until years or decades later. It is important to remember that he wasn't trying to sound like an organ but intending to expand the voice of the pedal steel.

https://youtu.be/rWdsYRx34_A?si=cyn9USSgz2fpZWy4

https://youtu.be/0VxL_O87MAs?si=w44TF9xZ4p1puQOd

https://youtu.be/dbHDvTgkxpo?si=l7cpfYzKzxYU-mzq

I carried a Leslie 145 around for a few years when I was a hale and hearty lad not concerned about bulk or weight, adding a nice chorale effect to slower tunes, but it never really sounded like an organ. Nowadays I use the Electro-Harmonix C9 a lot to cover organ parts,, sometimes on as much as half of any given show depending on the material. Getting the best results requires playing with a different technique than normal steel guitar fare as organ parts generally involve more simple chords with sustained notes and muxh less movement than the steel parts

Here's a link to an R&B tune of mine using the C9 pedal to emulate a drawbar organ with an Emmons push-pull guitar. I particularly like the way it lingers at the very end of the song.

https://youtu.be/CZSL1Z2JWcg?si=PBKqBQQglWkw9bZu

[Taylor Kropp]

I haven’t tried it with Steel but the OOP Rotosphere is the best sounding leslie cab sim pedal i’ve ever heard. They’re getting hard to find these days and can be pricey but warren haynes has used one for one years and i thought he was traveling with a real leslie cab until i watched his rig rundown