2009 - Electro Harmonix HOG

I'm kinda obsessed with the sound of a Hammond B3 through a Leslie.
I can't play keys very well and definitely can't afford either a Hammond or a Leslie(in money as well as room).
The next best thing seemed to be a midi-guitar. Problem is, either midi guitars suck, or(more likely) my playing sucks. So when I heard about the POG, I thought nice idea, but not quite enough, a while later EHX released the HOG.  Now this seemed to be the answer to all of my needs.

I watched stacks of video's on youtube and decided that s soon as I saw one locally I'd give it a go. I didn't. I just sat there..... The local one was over a grand. I didn't want to go to the store and try it out, knowing that I couldn't buy it(ie: guilt for wasting the sales guy's time). Then later on I found one at a decent price and snapped it up. I think I sold my Whammy 4 to cover the gap.

Frankly I was a little mystified with the thing, impressed yet disappointed. The upper register sounds weird and needs filtering. The harmony notes don't suit my playing style and just seem add-ons for the sake of add-ons. It can do an organ sound pretty well, but in order to mask the upper register, it needs to be swamped in reverb. There are some cool functions, but it relies on your technique to be reasonably clean, not perfect but paying attention to what you're doing.

The hold function is pretty cool, but struggles to be balanced in a mix, either dominating or not cutting through.  I like it, but am not sure I'll hang onto it forever. Really depends on what my next musical project can get out of it. Right now I'm inclined toward getting a nice tube amp with reverb and ideally tremolo. Maybe an old Musicman 65w or a Fender Blues Jr