Acetone GT-7

The best and the easiest and the most reliable Hammond clone.

A two man lift but not uncomfortable to carry.

This is very close to a Hammond L AND M.

It has not very deep wiggly vibrato and no chorus just like the L. The vibrato can be tweaked so be sure to get the manual. It has a good set of vibrato delay options.

It has bright percussion which isn't quite as chunky as the valve driven M but on the other hand it does have an excellent reiterate function with fully variable speed. You will get the chunky M sound on the slowest reiterate but of course it repeats if held.

It has no Celeste, Harp or Sustain function.

A super brass-mute feature brings in a mix of two, four and two and a quarter in a Glen Miller type trumpet waa. It cuts in on fast or slow delay and is excellent for soul jabs and reggae tickles. It can be added to the percussion only preset with fantastic results.

The presets are standard Hammond and very useful for authentic sounds. Full Tibia is exactly Ian Mclagan's Maggie May.

The reverb is a built-in spring and will crash if slapped. Again a weak reverb setting can be tweaked deeper by following the manual.

High and Low jack outputs and High and Low jack inputs. Built in Leslie connector and fast slow Leslie controls.

This is the only Hammond clone with a gold contact honeycomb under each key. This means each drawbar has its own contact. Tickle the keys and get the low notes, press down fully for all nine drawbars. The key click is genuine and it may be so marked that blues players will drool while lounge players will be rushing for the busbar.

No Foldback

This organ is fast to play and very bright. However I have my Leslie running out the back of a Fender SilverFace to get the full range of valve tones and they are certainly there to be found.

THIS ORGAN WILL FEEDBACK!!! Stick a stack facing onto the ACE TONE sign at the back and be amazed at the doubling effect.

You can fix the drawbars with elastoplast if you have to make an emergency repair. Its that robust.

Everything opens up like a car bonnet by undoing two screws. All parts are laid out with servicing in mind. Mine are labelled in Japanese but most GT7's were built under licence in the country where they were sold.

A screwdriver or two and a soldering iron will fix most faults. Very sturdy and well packed inside..almost over engineered for protection.

The only backup would be a real Hammond M or another GT7

If you can find someone with Hammond X5 parts you will solve most of your issues with damaged tabs or broken keys.

The manual is clear and if you don't understand it yourself anyone who worked with transistors will have no problem.

After twenty or thirty years a GT7 may wear but it won't go wrong. A handy tip is to swap the keys around. The contact hammers are sprung but if you are a hard player you could bend the frequently used ones.

This is my thirty fifth year playing organ for money.

My first GT7 was stolen in 1987. By 1988 I was homeless. It is that important. My whole sound and my whole career was GT7 and without it I was just another keyboard jockey trying to get by on ordinary jobs. I didn't get my gunslinger rep back until I found another GT7 and I travelled four hundred miles to get it. If you see one grab it quick.

I have a Hammond H102, a Korg CX3 vintage, a Viscount spinet portable and of course the GT7. I also use a detuned Rhodes, a Roland 09, a Crumar CompacPiano for reggae and a Yamaha piano for portable practice. I have a Hohner keyboard amp, a Fender Siverface, a Leslie 822 and a Leslie 110. The roadies have a whole bunch of synthesisers, soft synths and string machines but they set them up and I don't know their names.(the keyboards that is, I know the roadies' names)I use a Korg G4 for practice Leslie and a more recent digital one with a whirly display which is a great piano Leslie. I started out with a Galanti Napoli single manual and I still miss it. I had a Hammond A100 but apologies to all B freaks..I prefer my H. My all time favourite was a Hammond M2 which came off a liner.

An absolute doddle to play. The drawbars and tabs are straightforward
but very effective.
This organ was the forerunner to the Hammond X5 but although it is
portable it is more difficult to transport and assemble than the X5
because it has no carrying handle. The keyboard unit (heavy) has to
be man-handled up onto the assembled stand (puff, pant).
Presets are operated by thumb pistons for upper and lower manuals.
Tricky until you get used to them but would probably hardly ever
be used by a creative player.

As far as vintage instruments go, this must be the nearest thing
to a Hammond B3 in portable organs. Without a doubt it gives the
clean and distinctive Hammond sound. Where it scores heavily over
the Hammond X5, which replaced it, is in the percussion tabs where
there are five (against the X5's two). Much higher pitched pecussion
which goes up to fifth harmonic set this instrument apart from the
bland X5. It is streets ahead of any other portable I've ever owned.
Facility to connect directly to a Leslie (9 pins) makes this a superb
sounding instrument.

The presets are the usual naff Hammond type, e.g. Full Tibias,
Theatre Brass, etc. but the drawbars and percussion are something
else. For jazz, I doubt that any portable could beat the GT-7.
With drawbars and tabbed percussion, registration changes are
lightning fast. Of course, drawbars allow millions of sound
combinations and they are sweet sounding. As a gigging instrument
it is superb for its versatility of sound. Registrations can be
quickly changed even without light to see what you are doing.

Considering that these instruments date from the early seventies
and that mine is still working 100 percent, that says it all.
I have two Hammond X5's as back up but they are dull compared to
the GT-7. Also, X5's tend to start losing notes after a few years
due to dodgy chips.

It would be hard to get support because it's hard to know who
"Ace Tone" actually were. Some say Hammond, some say Roland, etc.
Who cares? If you see a GT-7, buy it. Don't think twice.

I would be mortified if my GT-7 was stolen. It is streets ahead of
any other instrument I own. I have played keyboards for forty years
and I've tried them all. I have two X5's, a jazz modified Hammond T500,
a Technics SX70, two portable Wersi organs (Prisma and Orion) and a
funny little Yamaha HC4. Numerous synths, digital pianos etc. and
three Leslies plus a Solton rotary cabinet.
GT-7 through A Leslie 760 is all I really need. I loved the sound of
the GT-7 when I first heard it over 40 years ago. I still love it.