Wanted: Opinion on Yamaha Electone E-5AR

[Vercus]

Hello,</p>

I am being offered a Yamaha Electone E-5AR for free, and wanted to know if anyone here knows if this is a good organ?</p>

I found some info here (http://www.xs4all.nl/%7Ewkoopman/electone/details/e-5ar.htm)
</p>

It says it was made in 1973, and is analog. Beyond that, and the pictures, I don't know much about it. It appears to use sliders in a similar way that Hammond uses drawbars, to add harmonics. I have found Yamaha's version of a Leslie as well, which basically uses two stationary 12" speakers for the bottom end. The best way I could describe the top end would be this: imagine two Wurlitzer spectra-tone assemblies sitting sideways, side-by side. So the rotation is occurring in the vertical plane, rather than horizontal. Should definitely give an unusual sound. Anyway, it uses quarter inch input, so it would also work with keyboards or guitars. I don't know if this particular organ has a quarter inch out or not, as it has internal speakers.
</p>

Curious to get your thoughts...</p>

-Jon</p>

[Clavier]

</p>

Here is a link for the owners manual: E-5AR (http://www2.yamaha.co.jp/manual/pdf/emi/english/ele/E5ARE.PDF)</p>

[Clavier]

That organ, I believe is a decendent of my Yamaha, an E-70U seen here:</p>

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c68/ratfink454/Picture053.jpg?t=1171739581</p>

Feel free to ask me any specific questions you might have as I don't know what you are looking to find out.
</p>

[Clavier]

I initially had a very poor outlook on Yamaha organs. In fact my initial impression of Yamaha organs was that were that they were crappy toy organs. Of course, I had only seen their bottom of the barrel spinets at that point. When I got my Yamaha though, all that changed. </p>

</p>

The following message refers to my organ, but could likely refer to what you are looking at as well. It seems to have many of the same features.</p>

I must say that I am quite impressed with this organ. It has tons of features, the quality of materials is swell and sounds way better than it has any right to sound.</p>

Make no mistake, this organ isn't a clone wheel, but I have gotten Hammond-like sounds out of it. I have also good classical, theatre, Jazz, synthesizer, and EP sounds with it. Last night I got a sound out of it that sounded 98% like a theatre pipe organ, (minus forty percent of the presence, of course).</p>

Some notes about how these things work.</p>

The flute drawbars work much like Hammonds do. They only have four levels of intensity though, as opposed to Hammonds eight. The action on the keys is similar to that of a high quality keyboard or synthesizer. Some people don't like this, but I do. On mine I have not found one unpleasant sound. The only thing I haven't liked about it is that the pedalboard is monophonic. There may be a fairly easy fix for that, however. The internal Leslie is good, I find that it being speed variable with the edition of a separate chorale setting and rotary/main switch for each manual makes quite a bit more versatile than the average Hammond/Leslie combo. Not bad for an internal rotary anyway.
</p>

</p>

I think what you are being offered is a good deal. I hope it works for you. [Y] </p>

</p>

And of course, any questions or concerns you might have, feel free to ask.
</p>

[Hammondlover]

I have been quite loyal to Yamaha (at least their keyboards) for quite some time. If you want an organ that cando organ things, and sound like a hammond in some cases, other organs in other cases, then this is a fine organ. If you're looking for specifically a theater, Hammond, or another specific organ then this is probably not your organ. By the way, your Ebony M3 is spectacular!</P>

[Clavier]

By the way, your Ebony M3 is spectacular!</p>

</p>

</p>

X2. Could you post pictures of that beauty by any chance?</p>

[Vercus]

Sure, I'd love to post pictures. I just have to find the password for my website to host them. I'm away from home, but when I get home, I'll start a separate thread in the Hammond organs section with some pics, including one of my cat playing!</P>


-Jon</P>

[Hammondlover]

I use Flickr for my pictures. I find my cats aren't too keen on learning the organ/keyboard. They just enjoy running across the keyboard chasing each other while I'm playing![li]

[andyg]

Well, I'll put my two pence worth in.</P>


I'd give it a wide berth. It's probably 1973-4, but it's one of the very old generation of Yamahas, much much earlier than the E70 pictured. It has the very typcical thin Japanesesound of that time. It's based on technology from the mid/late 1960's. Those sliders work in an odd (by today's standards) way. If you slide an 8' flute to position 3, that's what you hear. Add an 8' string and you don't hear both, you get a synthesised mixture of the two. Adding more stops changes the tone but doesn't add to the ensemble or, strangely, to the volume level. That 8' flute could therefore be as loud as full organ (at least that's what happens on all the spinets of the era right up to the D series and I suspect the E series will be the same.)and there was a manual balance control to get the upper/lower ratios right.</P>


If you want a full sounding organ, look elsewhere. It won't sound like a Hammond, a theatre organ or anything else other than an oldYamaha. Things changed dramatically a few years later when Yamaha introduced the PASS tone generator. That gave much better voicing and solved all the problems I mentioned. That's the technology in the E70 and the reason that organ can make such good sounds. Other than the name and the letter E denoting a full console, there's no connection between the E5AR and the E70.</P>


Sorry if I'm pouring cold water on the idea, but I think it's basically not worth going after. Like I said, my 2 pence worth!</P>


Andy</P>
<P mce_keep="true"></P>

[afuller5]

Hi all,</p>

If you are interested, below are two links with more info on Yamaha Electones in general.&lt;&gt;</p>

The
first is the "Electone Museum" from the Electone Zone, a website
dedicated to Electones. The Museum features many models of
Electones by their year of first manuafacture. By the way, the
E-5AR was first manufactured in 1973. Here is the link: http://www.electone.com/museum/

</p>

The
second is a website by Frank V., an organ enthusiast. He has a
section on his website dedicated to Yamaha Electones. He also has
sections on other electronic and pipe organs. The link directly
to the Yamaha section is http://frank.gadgetland.net/modules.php?name=Sections&amp;op=viewarticle&amp;artid=29</p>

I hope this information is useful to some people.</p>Later,
Allen

[Vercus]

Hello,</p>

I created a thread in the Hammond organs section with pics of my M3, as requested by those here.</p>

Thanks for the additional info afuller5.</p>

-Jon</p>

[Clavier]

Hey Andy, thanks for clearing that up. I was wondering after posting that, if PASS might have made a noticeable difference between the two; the organ being pre-GX-1 and all. Now I know, thanks for the history lesson.</p>

</p>

</p>

-Joe.
</p>