| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 751.1 | A little help, I hope... | BARTOK::ARNOLD | Currently at Brown University | Tue Apr 07 1987 18:04 | 45 |
| I don't know a lot about old Hammonds but can provide at least some
information.
Local dealer:
As far as repair, I know that Music Towne in Worcester, MA (down the
street from Hahneman Hospital) is a local Hammond dealer. I've never
dealt with them so don't know details but they used to sell the things
(when they were new) and presumably know/knew how to fix them.
Comparative data:
It sounds like what you've got is very similar to a B3. My brother has
a C-3 (or is it C-5?). It has 2 banks of drawbars, 1 for each of the 2
manuals (keyboards) but each keyboard is only 3.5 octaves and offset
like home console organs so there's some overlap. In addition, it has
an octave of pedals. It also has "percussion" for that keyclick sound
(on the top manual only, I believe).
The C-3 also has an internal speaker (not a Leslie) that sounds
OK but isn't that loud and is hard to mike. This is because the
speaker is right next to the volume pedal and makes it too easy
to kick the microphone.
Percussion:
To know if you're Hammond's got percussion, look for some little
switches that say "percussion" on them. (How's that for simple
technology.) If there aren't any of these switches, the monster you've
got might not have percussion. I've seen some Hammonds in churches
that look just like B-3s but don't have the percussion switches.
(I guess they weren't planning on doing any Keith Emerson covers.)
Leslie speakers:
I'm not sure any Hammond actually requires a Leslie. I always thought
that the Leslie were an option and you mostly bought one because
you liked the sound. Maybe this is wrong. I'm not sure what matching
between model number and Leslie # does (except maybe match cabinets
to your living room decor?). There's probably some electronic
compatibility.
I hope some of this information is useful. Enjoy your Hammond.
- John -
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| 751.2 | Not bad for $65 | AQUA::ROST | Who could imagine? | Wed Apr 08 1987 09:45 | 6 |
| Before there was a B3 there was a BC, a BCV and probably just a
plain B. All are pretty similar, the B3 was just the last in the
line (i.e. most modern). I have a friend who is an ex-Hammond
repairman, I can check with him about service. By the way I think
his Hammond is a BC too. He may have schematics, etc. if you want
to do the work yourself.
|
| 751.3 | percussion? | HUMAN::DIORIO | | Wed Apr 08 1987 10:23 | 11 |
| Thanks .1 and .2 for the info.
RE .2 Yes, I would like to do the work myself if you can get
schematics. Also could you find out if this model has percussion?
That's really the sound I bought it for. I might not want to keep
it if it doesn't have percussion (it takes up a lot of room).
RE .1 It doesn't have any switches that say "percussion" on them.
Does this automatically mean that it doesn't have it?
Mike D.
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| 751.4 | Hammond B3 Family Tree | AQUA::ROST | Who could imagine? | Fri Apr 10 1987 15:54 | 28 |
| OK, my buddy gave me the following lowdown:
The first Hammond was the model A (pretty smart, huh?)
Then came the model B.
The model BC added a second tone wheel for "chorus" effects (i.e.
the two generators are slightly detuned).
The model BCV added electronic vibrato.
The B3 added percussion and the ability to add vibrato to each manual
individually.
Keyclick, by the way is just the noise of the switch contacts, the
older and more used the organ, the louder the click. Many people
confuse this with percussion.....
Now, it seems Hammond had retrofit kits which essentially could
upgrade any of the B series to B3 functionality. These kits may
or may not have been installed; my buddy has a BC with the vibrato
and percussion kits added, for instance.
I will try to get the schematics from him and maybe a tip on how
to tell if it has been retrofitted.
P.S. if you decide to chuck it, give me a call!!!!
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| 751.5 | | HUMAN::DIORIO | | Fri Apr 10 1987 18:02 | 7 |
| I appreciate any help you can give me on getting the schematics
and on determining if it has been retrofitted. Don't worry, if I
decide to chuck it you'll be the first person I call.
Hope to be hearing from you soon.
Mike D.
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| 751.6 | | BARTOK::ARNOLD | Currently at Brown University | Mon Apr 13 1987 14:41 | 14 |
| About the "percussion"/keyclick confusion:
It appears that keyclick and percussion (according to .4) are NOT
the same thing. But, the short, sharp chunk sound that percussion
gives you has always sounded a bit like keyclick to me. I would
venture a guess that the main difference is that the percussion
sound actually is related to the key pressed (i.e., the "chunk"
is at a given pitch) where perhaps true keyclick is the same sound
for any key that is pressed and makes contact with the tone wheel
mechanism.
- John -
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| 751.7 | re .6 | MENTOR::REG | Who is Sylvester McCoy | Mon Apr 13 1987 18:22 | 2 |
|
Like, "when is a feature not a bug ?"
|
| 751.8 | Crumar T1 up for sale. | COROT::CERTO | | Mon Apr 13 1987 20:19 | 30 |
| I've got an organ which approximates a B-3 yet is portable (its
built into a road case), and solid state (lot's of IC's), and
sounds great.
Its got ~eight drawbars and eight percussion switches to match.
there's also a volume drawbar and a decay time drawbar for the
percussion.
It also has two pushbuttons that can turn on two different
keyclick sounds. As would be expected, these are subtle effects.
It has lots of other things built in, like vibrato and tremolo,
pitch bend, master tune, and even a synthesizer (for bass).
Sounds excellent through a Leslie, or chorus, though it can simulate
a Leslie pretty well on its own. A little reverb, and voila: St
Paul's Cathedral or adjust the drawbars for jazz, or Emerson Lake
& Palmer anyone?
Sound like I'm selling? Well I guess I am considering that. It's
an excellent unit, but to be honest, my organ playing could be better,
and I bought it mainly because all my friend's wanted one. The thing
is brand new, and has spent most of its time sitting packed up in
my room. Only left my house when I moved.
Its a steal: I paid ~$1400 new, but I'm quite willing to consider
any offer.
send mail to DALI::CERTO
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| 751.9 | it *did* have one transistor | JON::ROSS | wockin' juan | Wed Apr 15 1987 22:10 | 12 |
| I owned an L-100...
and I owned a CV that I added percussion to by getting schematics
and building the unit, then adding it in.
percussion is different than key click. sheesh.
modifying to add perc. wasnt *that* hard.
but used things called 'tubes'. strange.
ron
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| 751.10 | modifying to add percussion | LOLITA::DIORIO | | Wed Sep 16 1987 12:52 | 11 |
| RE 751.9
Do you still have the schematics for the percussion retrofit? If
so, would you be willing to make a copy of them for me? I would
really like to add percussion, and this sounds like the most
inexpensive way to do it. I used to be a technician before I got
paid to write books, so I'm sure I could handle the job of building
and installing the unit.
Mike D.
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| 751.11 | It was never really broken! | LOLITA::DIORIO | | Wed Sep 16 1987 13:06 | 17 |
| Well, I found out what the problem was with the Hammond BC organ.
It seems that an additional function of the original speaker cabinet (which
is long gone now) was to supply a "B+" voltage back to the organ,
to power the internal tube preamp. Without this voltage (150 Vdc),
obviously, the preamp won't work. I checked with a scope and I
had signals at the input to the preamp. So I tapped off the signal,
hooked it up to my Leslie 760 preamp (with a makeshift cord), hooked
it up to the Leslie 760 cabinet and .....YES...IT WORKED!!! Now
all I have to do is drill a hole in the cabinet and install a 1/4
inch phone jack. Then I'll be able to plug in normally and use the
organ with any regular guitar/keyboard amp. This modification will
not affect anything else, so if anyone ever decided to use the original
speaker cabinet (good luck finding one!!!), they could.
Mike D.
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| 751.12 | Another question... | LOLITA::DIORIO | | Wed Sep 16 1987 14:24 | 15 |
| The Hammond BC that I have has a knob on it labelled "Tremulant".
Is this the same as the Vibrato on a BCV?
I'm trying to figure out if this organ has already been retrofitted
for vibrato (functionally making it a BCV). Is this Tremulant button
the retrofit? When I turn the switch (a rotary pot), it does add
a vibrato (or is it tremolo, really couldn't tell)...but is this
THE Vibrato or just the BC equivalent (a form of tremolo, etc.)
of something that's bigger and better on the BCV and B3?
PS What I call Vibrato is frequency modulation of the source tone.
What I call Tremolo (tremulant ?) is amplitude modulation of the
source tone.
Mike
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| 751.13 | like dinasaur stuff here for moi... | JON::ROSS | Micro-11: The VAX RISC | Wed Sep 16 1987 15:37 | 22 |
|
I got a whole stack of service manuals for just writing
to Hammond, but that was years ago...(dont ask me to find
and copy them please)
The CV I had did have the vibrato switch too....
What I did was use the schematic for the L-100 percussion
(like one tube, one transistor, a few components...)
make a box, and tap off power and signal from the organ.
I have no idea where TO and FROM I connected signals, and
since I no longer have the beast.....
but I was able to ffigure it out with the schematics and
a bit of probing. Hmmmm, and this was back in college and
I really didnt have more than a dabbling in electronics then...
Sure you could do same.
rr
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| 751.14 | What would *you* ask for? | LOLITA::DIORIO | | Mon Oct 05 1987 18:05 | 8 |
| Well, I've finished the modification, and now the organ will work
with any standard guitar/keyboard type amp (1/4 inch phone plug).
Now I want to sell the organ, because I don't have the room to keep
it. Can anyone tell me what I should ask for it? I want to turn
it over quickly.
Mike D
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