Quite by accident I recently became a collector of old organs I would like to combine the best features of multiple organs into one large unit with multiple keyboards. Also interested in converting organ amps into guitar amps or Stereo system. Have lots of free time but little money and virtually no electronics experience though I am fairly intelligent and a quick learner. Any thoughts on this? Suggestions and tips on which organ model to seek? I am in northern Minnesota. USA
Welcome to the insanity of electronic music.
I started collecting with the Hammond H100, which at 40 years out usually still works feebly. Mine had one broken pedal actuator. It is internally similar to the later synthesizers, being an additive mixer of sine waves. There is a frequency level program panel in the back that predeceds the patch panels Arp & moog used in the front. I put 71 new electrolytic capacitors in mine, 115 to go in the harp function.
Another even more maddening Hammond model is the X-66 which is a subtractive synthesizer with about 300 electrolytic capacitors.
The advantage of the hammonds is palladium/rhodium plate key contacts. You keep playing them to knock the dust off, they keep adding the frequencies. Unlike the "real" synthesizers of a decade later, that used rubber key contacts and are mostly useless at this age.
Computer simulation can provide access to sounds no 110 sine wave frequencies can begin to emulate. So converting the rather useless "brush" contact of an H100 to a midi encoder is one of my goals. There is a mixer input on the back of the tab switches which can put the additional frequencies into the three channels. Did I mention the reverb & the harp & string bass envelope generators?
I'm diddling with custom envelopes, controlled by another set of salvage drawbars. An H300 case with the additional height for the silly "rhythm unit" would provide room for same in easy reach. One obvious envelope is the "threes percussion" which is available on the Hammond model B3 & C3, but not on this one.
Other brands with gold plate key contacts include Allen & Rodgers.
I'm being offerred a 1980 Allen 300 next fall, working, for possible conversion to midi encoder, since nobody likes their native sounds much. 32 pedals on that one. Do you play pedals? I started in 2010 and am starting to get the hang of it. Nothing like having a four track mind. Or five tracks - two hands, two feet, and voice.
Take a look at the Rodgers 484 model, recently discontinued. Lots of sounds, lots of channels, about $100000 installed. doesn't have a decent celeste (for Sugar Plum fairy) though, my H100 does: the glock.
For synth and organ fundamentals, read pykett.org.UK
American Theatre organ society has some interesting theory & history pages. atos.org
Have fun. Keeping these things operating and out of the dump is a passion in these days when the guitar is everything popular. I've played guitar, but transferring to metal strings, I didn't make it. I never grew callouses - my skin is related to Cher's, very soft. SO if I'm going to do the slides on Lynyrd Skynyrd's solos, I'm going to have to put in a theramin stop, or use that slide instrument I saw Brian Wilson's slide player use in Good Vibrations on PBS two years ago. Playing is as much fun as modifying however, I did a solo at church last weekend. Get out there and find an audience!
I started collecting with the Hammond H100, which at 40 years out usually still works feebly. Mine had one broken pedal actuator. It is internally similar to the later synthesizers, being an additive mixer of sine waves. There is a frequency level program panel in the back that predeceds the patch panels Arp & moog used in the front. I put 71 new electrolytic capacitors in mine, 115 to go in the harp function.
Another even more maddening Hammond model is the X-66 which is a subtractive synthesizer with about 300 electrolytic capacitors.
The advantage of the hammonds is palladium/rhodium plate key contacts. You keep playing them to knock the dust off, they keep adding the frequencies. Unlike the "real" synthesizers of a decade later, that used rubber key contacts and are mostly useless at this age.
Computer simulation can provide access to sounds no 110 sine wave frequencies can begin to emulate. So converting the rather useless "brush" contact of an H100 to a midi encoder is one of my goals. There is a mixer input on the back of the tab switches which can put the additional frequencies into the three channels. Did I mention the reverb & the harp & string bass envelope generators?
I'm diddling with custom envelopes, controlled by another set of salvage drawbars. An H300 case with the additional height for the silly "rhythm unit" would provide room for same in easy reach. One obvious envelope is the "threes percussion" which is available on the Hammond model B3 & C3, but not on this one.
Other brands with gold plate key contacts include Allen & Rodgers.
I'm being offerred a 1980 Allen 300 next fall, working, for possible conversion to midi encoder, since nobody likes their native sounds much. 32 pedals on that one. Do you play pedals? I started in 2010 and am starting to get the hang of it. Nothing like having a four track mind. Or five tracks - two hands, two feet, and voice.
Take a look at the Rodgers 484 model, recently discontinued. Lots of sounds, lots of channels, about $100000 installed. doesn't have a decent celeste (for Sugar Plum fairy) though, my H100 does: the glock.
For synth and organ fundamentals, read pykett.org.UK
American Theatre organ society has some interesting theory & history pages. atos.org
Have fun. Keeping these things operating and out of the dump is a passion in these days when the guitar is everything popular. I've played guitar, but transferring to metal strings, I didn't make it. I never grew callouses - my skin is related to Cher's, very soft. SO if I'm going to do the slides on Lynyrd Skynyrd's solos, I'm going to have to put in a theramin stop, or use that slide instrument I saw Brian Wilson's slide player use in Good Vibrations on PBS two years ago. Playing is as much fun as modifying however, I did a solo at church last weekend. Get out there and find an audience!
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Howdy Cosmic,
What do you mean by 'organs' in this case? Older tube-based instruments, 70s-80s. solid-state / electronic, latter-day (digital) keyboards?
Again, this depends on what kind of organ amps. Some of the 50s-60s tube amps can be re-built as useful hi-fi equipment, but a common stumbling block is the lack of a truly hi-fi output transformer. As a newcomer, you are typically better off rebuilding an old console stereo amp for hi-fi use. Perhaps you can trade some of your organ chassis for console stereo parts?
But this varies - some organs did have genuinely decent audio / hi-fi xfmrs.
Twin cities, here. Good to meet you!
What do you mean by 'organs' in this case? Older tube-based instruments, 70s-80s. solid-state / electronic, latter-day (digital) keyboards?
Again, this depends on what kind of organ amps. Some of the 50s-60s tube amps can be re-built as useful hi-fi equipment, but a common stumbling block is the lack of a truly hi-fi output transformer. As a newcomer, you are typically better off rebuilding an old console stereo amp for hi-fi use. Perhaps you can trade some of your organ chassis for console stereo parts?
But this varies - some organs did have genuinely decent audio / hi-fi xfmrs.
Twin cities, here. Good to meet you!
Start reading about electronics, especially amplifiers and oscillators. Start playing with electronics. In order to combine two circuits which do similar things in different ways you first need to understand both circuits nearly as well as the original designers. You will also need to learn about the mechanical peculiarities of keyboards.Cosmicdancer said:
Have fun!
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