Reggae Drawbar Settings for Hammond

Playing Reggae on the Hammond is a very different kettle of fish. Here’s some ideas:

Practice the ’bubble’. Many people seem to get this wrong – don’t play on the down beat, but just after it. Here’s a good video that demonstrates the technique:

The basic bubble sound is clean (no or little drive), no percussion, C3, sometimes C2; the Leslie does not always need to be on fast, the VC on its own can be very effective

Drawbar setting:

Upper:
208800004
800000008
800000003
008005000
808000008
058223678
008400004
008000000
888875568 (with 3rd perc for solos)

Sometimes the Jimmy Smith settings can also work well (888000000, or even 888800000), but depending on the organ you’re playing you may want to reduce the lower 8’s to 7s or 6s to soften the sound, and get a lighter more airy sound that may sit better in the mix.

Lower:
738000050
008400006
808000000

For that Bob Marley sound, try 864202468 upper, 808 or 838 lower