Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I love the sound of a Hammond B-3 but am not prepared to spend $2300-$20,000 to get it in my house. After extensive research and reading a downloaded 3800 manual, I took a chance and bought one. I am so glad I did.
1. The 3800 B-3 sound is fabulous for this price. B-3 purists will argue about the sound quality compared to a real B-3 but they even complain about the XK-3c. This is my money and I am saving $2000 or more to get a sound that is VERY VERY close to the real thing based on my ears.
2. This thing has tonewheel DRAWBARS!!! They are electronic with push buttons and only have 4 volume settings vs 9 on the real one. Because it is electronic it seems like it would have been easy to put 9 volume settings on this thing. However I would challenge anyone to tell the difference between a real B-3 at a 888003377 setting vs a 3800 at their 333001133 setting in an onstage band.
3. The 3800 has 2nd and 3rd harmonics percussion and clicks. They sound pretty darn good
4. This has a Leslie simulator with the fast and slow speeds. You can also vary the speeds and parameters if you want to play with that. There is even OVERDRIVE with different levels!!! Downside of this feature is that if you change the rotary parameter, you have to lift your hand off the keyboard so the computer can make the change to the keys. Casio needs to fix this on their next version of the keyboard.
5. The sampled piano sounds are very good and have a lot of variation.
6. The other sampled sounds, strings, woodwinds, etc. are just ok. You wont fool anyone thinking they are hearing the real instrument however the sound pallet and variety is huge
7. This is a quasi sythesizer where you can vary some of the tone parameters but it is nowhere near a dedicated synthesizer.
8. Good solid percussion backup rhythm section.
9. Interesting auto harmony/auto chord feature. Amusing to play with this. Great for those that don't have the time to develop keyboard techniques and want to play instantly.
10. Touch sensitive keyboard is ok. Better than the real low end keyboards but not as good as the higher end keyboards. Someone using their Steinway grand or Rhodes piano techniques on this will break it. I wish Casio would marry the guts of the 3800 with their hammerweighted keyboard
11. You will discover a new religion if you hook this up to two external amplifier systems (I used Trace Elliott heads and Ampeg speakers) and crank it up to hear the full depth of the organ tones from the church organ to the drawbar organ with rotary effects.
OVERALL: For $400 street price, you cannot beat the value of this keyboard. This is a very and most underrated low cost B-3 "impersonator" on the market today. I am surprised more people aren't talking and blogging about this product. If you ever wanted to learn the Hammond techniques but dont have the big cash reserve, this is an excellent way to get started. Good time to find vendors offering bundles with this keyboard.
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Casio WK-3800AD 76-Key Electronic Keyboard with Premium Accessories PackageThe Casio WK3800 keyboard is ideal for home/project studio use, open-mic performance, education/classroom applications, or simply for pure musical enjoyment. The WK-3800 76 Key Musical Keyboard with touch response, allows you to select up to 894 tones that include orchestral sounds, synthesized sound and more. The Auto Accompaniment that will allow you to simply play a chord and the corresponding rhythms, bass and chord parts play automatically. A big LCD screen graphically shows you fingerings, keyboard keys to be pressed, and notes, making keyboard play more informative and enjoyable than ever before.
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