HammondCast: Jon Hammond To Record Sessions On His Original Nakamichi 550 Dual-Tracer Portable Recorder

Jon Hammond To Record Sessions On His Original Nakamichi 550 Dual-Tracer Portable Recorder

Hammond says: I bought the Nakamichi 550 new in 1976 at Harvey Electronics on W. 45th St. in NYC for $550, "They didn't call it the Nakamichi 550 for nothing!"

The machine is now being overhauled by California Historical Radio Society Vice President Scott Robinson, he is an expert Engineer and Dolby specialist. We are very excited about resurrecting the legendary recorder with state of art new microphones from Sennheiser and Superlux to record my upcoming sessions with studio drummer Bernard Purdie, we have a show coming up at the Winter NAMM trade show in Anaheim January 15th on the Hilton-Muzeo stage.
Nothing like the fat sound of the 550 with it's unique "Blend Channel" 3rd mic gives it a dimensional sound that is still unsurpassed in digital portable recording machines.
Jon also uses the Nakamichi in the field to record segments of his daily radio broadcast HammondCast on KYOURADIO on the CBS Radio Network now in 5th year, best 550 I ever spent says Hammond.
HammondCast

Bernard Purdie and Jon Hammond at Local 802 Musicians Union

We played a 5 night run at Mikell's with my mint condition Hammond B3 organ as Jon Hammond and The Late Rent Session Men
Bernard Purdie and Jon Hammond at Local 802 Musicians Union

I still have the B3 and custom built Bill Beer Keyboard Products Super Leslie in road cases for tours of Rolling Stones type epic proportions, but since it won't fit in to a taxi cab and or commercial airline situation, I tour with either my Hammond XK-1 or Hammond XK-3 organ and when I am on the West Coast to complete the vintage sound I use my 1965 Fender Band-Master piggyback amplifier with 2 x 12" stock Jensen speakers, it really kicks ass, Mr. H Ohno at Suzuki Hammond did an incredible job of designing a portable organ that faithfully reproduces the famous Hammond sound, and the warm sound of Leo Fender's tube amps completes the system to my satisfaction. It blows a lot of people's minds when they realize I'm not at the B3, but it has the same emotional impact, as I can see time after time when I play this rig in hospitals and nursing home situations.