Forum Home Forum Home > Other music related lounges > Tech Talk
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - Types of Electric Organs
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

Topic ClosedTypes of Electric Organs

 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <123>
Author
Message
Jim Garten View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Retired Admin & Razor Guru

Joined: February 02 2004
Location: South England
Status: Offline
Points: 14693
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 17 2006 at 03:52
Originally posted by Geck0 Geck0 wrote:

Hugh Banton made his own organs, by converting existing models.  I shall list there details in due course (in the next few days).  He was also a skilled cabinet maker as well.


I believe Hugh Banton now has his own company making custom organs for churches...

Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
Back to Top
Seyo View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Honorary Collaborator

Joined: May 08 2004
Location: Bosnia
Status: Offline
Points: 1320
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 17 2006 at 15:46

Originally posted by Jim Garten Jim Garten wrote:

Originally posted by Seyo Seyo wrote:

Jim, is it Hammond spinet that Caravan used on the album "In the Land of Grey and Pink"


Almost certainly, Seyo - 'Nine Feet Underground' is a great example of a non-Leslied organ being played with distortion and wah-wah effect...

Unless it's being played through a Dallas Arbiter fuzz pedal....

Or both...

Thanks.

A very similar sound (at least to my non-musician ears) can be heard in Traffic's "Low Spark of High Heeled Boys album title track, as well as in many Camel records. I guess that's it.

Back to Top
Seyo View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Honorary Collaborator

Joined: May 08 2004
Location: Bosnia
Status: Offline
Points: 1320
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 17 2006 at 15:47
And thanks for beautiful pics!
Back to Top
pierreolivier View Drop Down
Forum Senior Member
Forum Senior Member


Joined: August 31 2005
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 222
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 17 2006 at 20:02

Originally posted by Jim Garten Jim Garten wrote:




Now that's interesting - I have the original Hammond warranty (but not the receipt, so I don't know how mucgh was paid) from when my little beastie was purchased from new in Exeter, Devon on 9th December 1971 (which was coincidentally my wife's 4th birthday), and given their popularity at that time, it's difficult to believe a brand new Hammond gathered dust in a shop for seven years before being bought. Are you sure Mark Vail wasn't referring to the original L100 as opposed to the L series as a whole?

I think he is referring to the whole L series because he spoke about the other different cabinets like the L111 and L122 in the same article and he doesn't talk about other L models.If you talk about the Porta L,it's completely another kind of organ and had nothing to do with the original L100 serie,the Porta L is not a tonewheel organ.Don't forget that Hammond was a very special company and they doesn't take back an organ that a dealer doesn't sold.So it not impossible that your organ was in the store for a couple of years before the first owner brought it.I clearly remember when I began to became interested in Hammond organ at the age of 7,I was going to the Hammond dealer near my home and they still have older models like L100,M100 and A100 new and on sale several years after the model was discontinued. Don't forget that the ordinary Hammond consumer of the time want the latest model (even if it's doesn't have tonewheels) and as the years passed, they get stuck with a lot of unsold organs. My grand uncle had the same brought pattern as the first owner of your organ as he said to me some years ago before his passing that he brought his Hammond L102 new with Leslie 147 in the fall of 1970.Unfortunately, he sold it 12 or 13 years later to buy a newer,transistorized models with an internal Leslie(what a shame...).

To concluded,in the book Mark Vail said that the T100 serie, wich was the remplacement of the L100 serie began production in March 1968.So, the production of the L100 maybe goes further than July 1964 as Mr.Vail suggest but was certainly discontinued in March 1968 when the T100 hit the market.



Edited by pierreolivier
Back to Top
Jim Garten View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Retired Admin & Razor Guru

Joined: February 02 2004
Location: South England
Status: Offline
Points: 14693
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 19 2006 at 14:15
Good heavens! I may just have to look into this a bit further - I thought my L was in pretty good nick for a 35 year old - now it looks to be about the same age as me (but in considerably better condition, regrettably).

As an aside, I never much cared for the T series, as they were transistorised, rather than valve driven - there's nothing quite so soothing as the smell of a warm valve when you're playing with your organ. Also, I found their sound to be a tad harsher than the valve driven organs.

Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
Back to Top
pierreolivier View Drop Down
Forum Senior Member
Forum Senior Member


Joined: August 31 2005
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 222
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 19 2006 at 15:24

Originally posted by Jim Garten Jim Garten wrote:

Good heavens! I may just have to look into this a bit further - I thought my L was in pretty good nick for a 35 year old - now it looks to be about the same age as me (but in considerably better condition, regrettably).

As an aside, I never much cared for the T series, as they were transistorised, rather than valve driven - there's nothing quite so soothing as the smell of a warm valve when you're playing with your organ. Also, I found their sound to be a tad harsher than the valve driven organs.

The book "the Beauty in the B" is a useful book to anyone who had an interest in Hammond organs.The only dowside of it, Vail concentrate mostly on console organs like the B3,C3 and A100 but there a chapter where they recapitulate all the tonewheel models including the spinets like the L100,M100 and M3(the one I consulted to tell the date of your organ on a previous post).

As for the T series,they were mainly later date organs and uses transistors but the T100 still use tonewheels.My friend(who was the original keys player in "The Musical Box")had an L100 in the beginning of the project but replace it with a T100 later on and said that it do the job pretty well.

Back to Top
Jim Garten View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Retired Admin & Razor Guru

Joined: February 02 2004
Location: South England
Status: Offline
Points: 14693
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 20 2006 at 03:45
Originally posted by pierreolivier pierreolivier wrote:

the spinets like the L100,M100 and M3


If I had to choose a Hammond I'd love to own apart from a C3, it would be the M3 - absolutely gorgeous instrument, the king of the spinet - no silly presets, just drawbars & proper waterfall keys


Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
Back to Top
pierreolivier View Drop Down
Forum Senior Member
Forum Senior Member


Joined: August 31 2005
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 222
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 20 2006 at 04:15

Originally posted by Jim Garten Jim Garten wrote:

Originally posted by pierreolivier pierreolivier wrote:

the spinets like the L100,M100 and M3


If I had to choose a Hammond I'd love to own apart from a C3, it would be the M3 - absolutely gorgeous instrument, the king of the spinet - no silly presets, just drawbars & proper waterfall keys

 

I'm completely agree with you.The M3 is the king of the spinet and will like to have one in the future.

Back to Top
VanderGraafKommandöh View Drop Down
Prog Reviewer
Prog Reviewer
Avatar

Joined: July 04 2005
Location: Malaria
Status: Offline
Points: 89372
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 20 2006 at 15:47
There is a lot about Hugh Banton's organs, so I'll try to summarize:

He first had an American Thomas, this he had from May to August 1968.

Next up:

Farfisa Compact Duo (same type as used on Piper At The Gates Of Dawn), that he used from August 1968 to 1969.  He had the following Effects and Amps:

Fluid Sound Box
Distortion box
WEM amp & speaks
Vox Wah-Wah pedal

He used this on Afterwards and Firebrand.

VdGG had all their equipment stolen, so he replaced the above with a Farfisa Professional that he used 'til August 1969.  The Effects and Amps for this were:

2 x Fluid Sound Box
Distortion box
Phasing Pedal

Amps:

Hiwatt + 2x 4x12 speakers
Hugh Banton Custom Leslies

He used this on Aerosol Grey Machine, The Least We Can Do, H to He and BBC Sessions.

Nic Potter left during the recording of H to He, so Hugh decided to take over with bass duties, he acquired a Hammond E112 and modified it.  This is a very complicated organ!

He rewired the motor switch, so he could run the motor down independently of the organ's electronics.  He used two Rotasound boxes and two amplifiers to generate a stereo "Leslie" effect.
He obviously incorporated bass pedals into this too and they had their own amplifier and reflex speaker (built by Nic Potter).
Additionally, Hugh built a remote stereo Hammond spring reverberation unit, which was amplified through two speakers, which he located wide of the stage.

This was used on Pawn Hearts and BBC sessions, here are details:

Effects & Amps:

2 x Schaller Rotosound
WEM Copycat echo
Echo & organ motor switches
3 x Distortion; 1 x Overdrive
Hugh Banton Stereo spring reverb

Amps:

6 x 100W channels
4 x 4x12; Hugh Banton Bass speaker
2 x WEM speakers for reverb

He used this organ from 1970 through to 1973 and used the Farfisa Professional alongside it, particularly on White Hammer.

The band split-up and then reformed... in this time, Hugh started to build his HB1, which was his very first custom organ.  But he hadn't completed this in time for the re-formation of the band, so he rented a Hammond C3 with pedals, Leslie and re-used the tape echo and motor switch from the previous set-up.  The details are:

Effects & Amps:

WEM Copycat echo
Leslie
RTR speakers and amps.

He used this on Godbluff, Still Life and World Record.

He then finally completed HB1.  This contained the original Hammond keyboards and generators from the E112, coupled with three new build electronic generators sets intended to provide all the Farfisa sounds and more.
The American RTR cabinets utilised 24" bass speakers, which reproduced 32-foot (16Hz) organ tone.

Details:

Effects and Amps:

WEM Copycat echo
4 x 100W amp channels
2 x RTR speakers

He used this on BBC sessions.

Now, we fast forward to 2005.

He now uses:

Roland VR-760
Roland VK-7
MIDI pedal-board

and the following Effects & Amps:

Line6 Delay Modeller
Hugh Banton 6x 125W amplifiers
4 main, 1 sub speaker
Hugh Banton custom Leslie

He's modified an original '70s organ-pedal board to provide velocity-sensitive MIDI for the bass and the Line6 is used for authentic tape-echo effects.

And Jim, he has had a career as a church organ builder.

I hope this is of some use!

He used this on Present and all the live gigs from 2005.


Edited by Geck0
Back to Top
Jim Garten View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Retired Admin & Razor Guru

Joined: February 02 2004
Location: South England
Status: Offline
Points: 14693
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2006 at 03:33


Cheers Geck0, interesting roundup of Banton's gear:

"He then finally completed HB1. This contained the original Hammond keyboards and generators from the E112, coupled with three new build electronic generators sets intended to provide all the Farfisa sounds and more.
The American RTR cabinets utilised 24" bass speakers, which reproduced 32-foot (16Hz) organ tone."


That must have been some beast - the E112 was not what you could call a compact organ in the first place...

Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
Back to Top
Jim Garten View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Retired Admin & Razor Guru

Joined: February 02 2004
Location: South England
Status: Offline
Points: 14693
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2006 at 03:41
By the way, Pierreolivier - I've just ordered a copy of "Beauty In The B"; sounds like the perfect book for an old saddo Hammond anorak like myself...

Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
Back to Top
pierreolivier View Drop Down
Forum Senior Member
Forum Senior Member


Joined: August 31 2005
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 222
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2006 at 10:13

Originally posted by Jim Garten Jim Garten wrote:

By the way, Pierreolivier - I've just ordered a copy of "Beauty In The B"; sounds like the perfect book for an old saddo Hammond anorak like myself...

Yes sir!,that's a beautiful book.You won't be dissapointed.

Back to Top
VanderGraafKommandöh View Drop Down
Prog Reviewer
Prog Reviewer
Avatar

Joined: July 04 2005
Location: Malaria
Status: Offline
Points: 89372
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2006 at 13:04
Here are some screen shots of Hugh Banton playing with VdGG in Belgium in 1975:
















Back to Top
erik neuteboom View Drop Down
Prog Reviewer
Prog Reviewer


Joined: July 27 2005
Location: Netherlands
Status: Offline
Points: 7659
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2006 at 14:35

A few years ago I wrote a review in a Dutch progrock magazine about the aforementioned Hammond book by Mark Vail, it's recommended to every Hammond aficionado!

 

MARK VAIL – THE  HAMMOND ORGAN (Beauty in the B)

(Miller Freeman, 1997, US $ 24,95, ISBN 0-87930-459-6)

There has always been a strong relationship between progressive rock and the Hammond organ: this powerful and varied instrument fits perfectly to the alternating and dynamic music that good progressive rock features, from Colosseum, The Nice and ELP to Spock’s Beard, Ars Nova or very recently Niacin. This book (240 pages) is presented by the known magazine Keyboard with a foreword by their editorial director Dominic Milano. It’s layered with photos from all kinds of Hammond organs (from the legendary B3 to Model A and C, Grand 100, the ‘spinets’  L and M and the colossal X-77) and some exciting pictures from Keith Emerson and other ‘Hammond aficionados’ like Tom Coster and  Rod Argent. Chapter 7 contains tips from famous players like Jimmy McGriff, Keith Emerson and Paul Shaffer, popular B-3 drawbar configurations like the ‘ELP - and Argent sound’ and the  “Green onions” groove and known Hammond licks. Some chapters are a bit technical for the average ‘proghead’ (buying and maintaining, vital statistics and details about all the known Hammond organs) but most chapters are at least interesting like the story about the inventor Laurens Hammond. He started with clocks, an automatic bridge table and a 3-D viewer and then invented the tone wheel mechanism of the Hammond organ! Of course this book contain a chapter about the Leslie speaker, the ideal combination with a Hammond organ. Also included is a comprehensive list of adresses (also E-mail and Internet), a Hammondology (instruction video’s and sampling CD’s) and a glossary (from the words “envelope” and “spinet” to “vibrato”). Reading this book was fun and excitement for me because it’s written fluent with lots of fine details and it’s not too technical, typcial Hammond sounds like ‘drawbars’ and the ‘key-click’ are explained very clearly. So I would like to recommend The Hammond Organ to all ‘progheads’ who wants to know more about the instrument that sounds so well and distinctive on ‘classic recordings’ like “A whiter shade of pale” from Procol Harum,  “Child in time” from Deep Purple, “Pictures at an exhibition” from ELP, “Tomorrow night” from Atomic Rooster or “Close to the edge” from Yes.

Back to Top
Jim Garten View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Retired Admin & Razor Guru

Joined: February 02 2004
Location: South England
Status: Offline
Points: 14693
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 22 2006 at 03:58
Originally posted by Geck0 Geck0 wrote:

Here are some screen shots of Hugh Banton playing with VdGG in Belgium in 1975:


Oooohhh - that E112 is a beast!

++drool++

Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
Back to Top
Sean Trane View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator

Prog Folk

Joined: April 29 2004
Location: Heart of Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 19541
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 22 2006 at 04:04

Originally posted by Jim Garten Jim Garten wrote:

Originally posted by Geck0 Geck0 wrote:

Here are some screen shots of Hugh Banton playing with VdGG in Belgium in 1975:


Oooohhh - that E112 is a beast!

++drool++

yes, but those pictures are not from the 75 Godbluff concert , but from the 71 TV special on the same DVD, I think

let's just stay above the moral melee
prefer the sink to the gutter
keep our sand-castle virtues
content to be a doer
as well as a thinker,
prefer lifting our pen
rather than un-sheath our sword
Back to Top
VanderGraafKommandöh View Drop Down
Prog Reviewer
Prog Reviewer
Avatar

Joined: July 04 2005
Location: Malaria
Status: Offline
Points: 89372
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 22 2006 at 09:28
Yes, it's from the Lighthouse Keepers performance, my mistake!  I was thinking of the later date for some reason.

Sorry for the confusion.

This is obviously the case too, as the E112 was not in use in 1975.


Edited by Geck0
Back to Top
Peter View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Honorary Collaborator

Joined: January 31 2004
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 9669
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 22 2006 at 17:26

Shocked= Electric organs?

Aw... have a heart!

 

There ya go, Jimminy! Big smile

Dig the beat! Cool



Edited by Peter
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
Back to Top
Jim Garten View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Retired Admin & Razor Guru

Joined: February 02 2004
Location: South England
Status: Offline
Points: 14693
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 23 2006 at 03:23
If it's all the same to you, professor, I'll stick to my trusty steam driven bakelite 1960's vintage heart - these new plexiglass & chrome jobs are all very well for fancy "look how many beats per minute I can get" prog-metal fans, but for us purists (especially those of us who still smoke), the organic feel of a trusty (crusty?) old valve (with properly diseased arteries) warms the cockles of your heart...

+++cough+++

Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
Back to Top
Jim Garten View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Retired Admin & Razor Guru

Joined: February 02 2004
Location: South England
Status: Offline
Points: 14693
Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 23 2006 at 03:26
Originally posted by pierreolivier pierreolivier wrote:

Originally posted by Jim Garten Jim Garten wrote:

By the way, Pierreolivier - I've just ordered a copy of "Beauty In The B"; sounds like the perfect book for an old saddo Hammond anorak like myself...


Yes sir!,that's a beautiful book.You won't be dissapointed.





I'm not! What a book - I can now bore all my friends even more with Hammond lore; an example: did you know that before inventing the Hammond Organ (or "electric flute", as he called it originally...), Laurens Hammond invented the self shuffling/dealing bridge table

Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <123>

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down



This page was generated in 0.117 seconds.
Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.