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SS1's A100 Organ Question Thread


Soulstation1

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Hate to interrupt, but your purchase got me looking a little.  I don't play keyboard instruments at all and I don't plan on learning since I already play guitar, any free time will be devoted there.

However, if I could find a deal like you found, I might consider getting it in an effort to persuade my nephews and perhaps my daughters into playing the organ.  My nephew's take some piano lesson now and if I could derail him to the B3, I think I would have accomplished something in my life.

What other models are worth getting?  B3, C3, BV, J112, A100, M100, L102?  I've seen several organs on Ebay for what seems to be a steal.

scott, ebay is outrageous price-wise. chances are you will come across a b3, c3 or a100 in your local classified ads if you just keep an eye out. b3's are the most valuable, followed closely by the C3 and lastly by the A100 (usually 1/3 to 1/2 of the price of an b3 or c3)

if you keep an eye out, you can find a deal if your lucky. i got a beautiful a100 for 500 bucks out of the paper a few years back. mint shape, 1 owner.

if you don't get lucky, a b3 or c3 WITH a 122 or 147 leslie should run you a 2 to 4 grand locally. those are complete ballpark figures for texas, northeast or west coast may run considerably higher, don't know. midwest should be cheaper i'd guess.

Be sure whatever you buy comes with a 122 or 147 or one of their shorter or older brothers (145 or 21h something like that. Hammond Tone cabinets are worthless basically, don't let them tell you it's good enough, it ain't). Otherwise, it's HARD to find just a leslie by itself. And it's usually expensive as hell that way.

But don't be fooled. My first b3 was $3500 w/ no leslie, a 1956 that was dogged out and sounded like shit. The manuals were so worn I had to eventually replace all the guts...manuals, preamp, tone generator.... It's my road organ now and still isn't all that great. Probably dropped 5500 into that dog by now. So DO NOT get ripped off because you don't know anything (like I did).

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Are any of the other models worth having at any price?

Sure, but you get into dangerous territory imho unless you know A LOT about hammond organ and their models. B2s and C2s, you can buy optional percussion added later, ect. But all that costs money. There's BVs, and on and on....

But if you ask me...look for an A100. You can find them at VERY reasonable prices sometimes because people don't know they're really b3s in different cabinets. Or a steal on a b3 or c3.

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Guest ariceffron

DONT BOTHER TRACKING DOWN THE MANUAL-- IT WONT HELP YOU IN THE SERVICE DEPT-- ITLL PROBABLY SAY CONTACT YOUR LOCAL HAMMOND DEALER (WHICH WENT OUT OF BUSSINESS IN 1970) AND THEN ITLL TEACH U TO PLAY 'OLD FOLKS AT HOME'

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That's why its beneficial to learn how to do it yourself! :) That's what I've done. But my organ tech is a old friend of my dads, so he shares his knowledge with me.

Must be $400-worth nice to be in that position. ;) Anyway, actually I've had the same guy out before, doing more and he charged about $180. Now his price is over $400??!!! He says there's not as much work as there use to be, churches have switched to digital keyboards....seems like I'm all of a sudden making up the difference for him.

Well, just 8 gigs and I'll have that covered! Playing organ is REALLY profitable.

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You know, I'd love to have a really, really beautiful mint B3 and matching 122. I would love that.

Man, I am too honest. My dad, who is a piano technician, got this call about 2 summers ago from someone who bought a house and moved in only to find an organ in the basement. The previous owner, who was now in a home for the elderly, told them they could keep it. So this guy called my dad to ask if it was worth anything.

My dad gives him my number and my wife go over there to look at it. Sitting in this guys basement, in the exact spot that it was delivered and dropped off almost 50 years before, is a MINT condition 1956 dark cherry B3 with matching cabinet. I mean absolutely MINT. No scratches anywhere. No marks on the pedals, no marks on the bench, NOTHING. It looked like it came right off the showroom floor.

The guy had no idea what it was worth. It played beautifully, too. Gorgeous tone, even though the Hammond cabinet. But I looked at him and his wife and their two young kids (probably 2 and 4 years old) and thought to myself, "This guy just bought a house, has two kids and wife, two cars, he probably needs the money." So I told him what it was really worth.

I could've just as easily said, "Ah, they ain't worth anything. The tubes are worth some money to guitar players. I'll give you $200 for it and haul it out for you."

But I didn't...

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You know, I'd love to have a really, really beautiful mint B3 and matching 122.  I would love that.

Man, I am too honest. My dad, who is a piano technician, got this call about 2 summers ago from someone who bought a house and moved in only to find an organ in the basement. The previous owner, who was now in a home for the elderly, told them they could keep it. So this guy called my dad to ask if it was worth anything.

My dad gives him my number and my wife go over there to look at it. Sitting in this guys basement, in the exact spot that it was delivered and dropped off almost 50 years before, is a MINT condition 1956 dark cherry B3 with matching cabinet. I mean absolutely MINT. No scratches anywhere. No marks on the pedals, no marks on the bench, NOTHING. It looked like it came right off the showroom floor.

The guy had no idea what it was worth. It played beautifully, too. Gorgeous tone, even though the Hammond cabinet. But I looked at him and his wife and their two young kids (probably 2 and 4 years old) and thought to myself, "This guy just bought a house, has two kids and wife, two cars, he probably needs the money." So I told him what it was really worth.

I could've just as easily said, "Ah, they ain't worth anything. The tubes are worth some money to guitar players. I'll give you $200 for it and haul it out for you."

But I didn't...

THAT's why we don't have mint B3s w/matching leslies. We're too nice. People that do are usually snakes or original owners or rich.

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Speaking of organ finds, my dream rig was on eBay last spring. A guy in Chicago was selling a beautiful 1954 Hammond B2 with a Leslie 21H and a Leslie 31H for only $2000. I think the auction ended at just under $2100. Of course, I didn't have the money.

I later met a cat at a gig who had actually went to Chicago to play that organ because he was thinking about buying it and he said it was gorgeous.

:(

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Before I got ripped off on my original shitty 56 B3 which sucked, they dealer (snake) said he had a beautiful cherry 63 in mint shape he was bringing to me, but the guy from Vanilla Fudge came in and bought it the day before. F Vanilla Fudge!

There are many more reason to hate Vanilla Fudge, but that's a good one.

:lol:

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Before I got ripped off on my original shitty 56 B3 which sucked, they dealer (snake) said he had a beautiful cherry 63 in mint shape he was bringing to me, but the guy from Vanilla Fudge came in and bought it the day before.  F Vanilla Fudge!

There are many more reason to hate Vanilla Fudge, but that's a good one.

:lol:

To add insult to injury. After a gig a few weeks back, a dude (yes, he really was dude-ish) came up and said my organ playing reminded him of Vanilla Fudge. Damn...one guy says I suck and the other guy digs my Vanilla Fudge licks....arrrgh.

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Congrats SS1!

A100 for 300$ is a burner! :o

if ya need any schematics or service manual...i should have them in my archive....(workin as a service tech in two musicstores since 6yrs....)

i can send you a Mail with a copy of the schematic part you need....just have to wait until next week (b/c my workplace is closed over the weekends :g )

send me a pm if you wanna have it!

the A100 preamp is near the same as the B3....i guess the A100 has a built-in speaker driven with a 2 EL84 poweramp or similar.....

what is need to be fixed....maybe i got some hints (but be careful...tube-equipment use high-voltage inside....could be dangerous!)

best wishes and many cool moments with your organ!

all the best & greeetz

Paco :)

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