Need help installing Organ Mate Reverb unit on Hammond B2

[jbjorge]

Hi,

This is my second shot at this. I was wondering if anyone has had experience installing an Organ Mate reverb unit on a Hammond B2? On a B3 - it looks like you plug the unit into one of the tube sockets on the preamp. The directions I found on the internet say an adapter for the tube socket was available for the B2. Anybody have one of these kicking around in the junk drawer that they would like to sell?

Here's my other option. I could hook it up directly to the preamp, but I'm not sure how to do this. The directions say: "series insertion is made in the preamp between capacitor C-7 and resistor R-7." It also says: "Organ Mate is best installed at a point in the organ preamp before or after the expression pedal, where the AC signal voltage on the softest stop of between .4 and 2.0 volts. This point is easily located with a vacuum tube voltmeter." (Not for me!)

I am not a technician, so I usually approach my electrical problems with a simplistic view like plumbing. So, my question is this: has anyone done this installation? Where on my preamp would I break the signal and install the leads going to and from the Organ Mate?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I could hire a technician, and that's what I'll do if I have to but I like learning and doing the work myself.

Thanks, Johnny B.

[Charlie Metcalf]

My tech said it has to go into the organ via the adapter tube socket. I asked him to install one in my Hammond CV. He couldn't do it because the CV doesn't have the correct tube needed by the Organ Mate. He told me to sell the Organ Mate, which I did.

[MihevicB3]

On a B3, the Reverb unit goes in tube socket V3 which is a 12BH7. On a B2, this tube is also V3 but it is a 6SN7. You would insert the Organ Mate in series with the signal wire that goes from Pin #1 of the 6SN7 to the wiper of the tone control. Do this as follows:

- Remove the wire from 6SN7 pin #1 and connect to Organ Mate input.
- Connect Organ Mate output to pin #1.
- Don’t forget to connect the Organ Mate signal common to signal common of the B2 Preamp (chassis).

Hope this helps,
John M.

[jbjorge]

Thanks John M. I really appreciate your response. As the brits say, I'll give it a go.

[jlhowland]

Hi all.

I have similar questions about Organ Mate installation into an M3. I just moved to Norway from New Jersey. I need to do this work myself, but I have already done quite a lot of tech repairs and modifications (poor man's foldback, lower octave manual drop, the Electro Tone preset unit, etc.) to this organ, though I'm a novice with the finer points of electrical circuit theory and tube technology.

I bought an Organ Mate Reverb unit on eBay about 4-5 months ago (before my move). The seller had said he bought the unit a year or two back from his trusted technician who had it all checked out (there were notes about this work on the unit), but the seller never got around to installing it. I was assured that the unit is in fully functioning condition.

That said, following the somewhat cryptic (to me) original instructions from Electro Tone (found online, and mentioned by Johnny B above), I was not able to get the unit installed and working, try as I might. The unit did come with the adapter tube socket mentioned earlier, but it doesn't fit the V4 socket (a 12AX7 tube) that the instructions imply the unit should be connected to. The adapter does fit the M3's V6 tube (a 6V6), but I believe this is not the correct installation location on the M3. In their instructions for the M, M-2, and M-3 Electro Tone simply advised: "Organ Mate insertion is made in the Amplifier between the EXPRESSION PEDAL and the PLATE of the tube preceding it." This is followed by two diagrams that don't identify the tube, but the M3 tech manual seems to identify V4 as the tube preceding the expression pedal.

How do you install this unit in an M3? Please, any help/advice is greatly appreciated! I have no access to a tech here, and can't afford to simply go out an buy the Trek II reverb.

Also, while we are on the subject of the Trek II unit: Is this essentially the same thing as the Organ Mate but solid state? If so, does anyone have the installation instructions for this that they might be able to post or email?

Many thanks!
John H.

[Wes]

The previous owner of my M3 installed one of those in mine. Are there any specific questions I could answer by quickly looking at what he did?

Wes

[jlhowland]

Thanks for the response, Wes. I actually just solved my installation problem with the help of another listserve member, John Mihevic (MihevicB3), who generously took the time off list to give me detailed information. Since there is sure to be someone out there who has the same problem with an M3 and Organ Mate down the road, I will forward John M's advice, which worked perfectly. Here is what he told me:

xxxxxxxxxx

I have not installed an Organ Mate in an M3 but in looking at the M3 and B3 schematics I think I can help you since the basic design is the same.

Don't put the adapter into into V6. This is part of the "push pull" power output stage of V5 and V6. Also V4 is also not the place since it is ahead of the expression pedal and you would have no volume control on the reverb signal.

As I look at the schematics of the B3 & M3 the place to put it on the M3 is at the C21/R40/R39A junction (C21 output is the Organ Mate input and R40/R39A is the Organ Mate output). The Organ Mate needs to go in series with this junction i.e;

- Remove the wire from the C21 output and connect to Organ Mate input. Any wiring here to the Organ Mate input should be shielded.
- Connect Organ Mate output to the R40/R39A.
- Don’t forget to connect the Organ Mate signal common to signal common of the M3 Amplifier (chassis).

I hope this helps. Let me know how things work out and if you have some problems maybe I can help. Just send me a direct E-mail as you did.

...John M.

P.S. Additional info. V4B (12Ax7) on the M3 is where the similarities of the M3 and B3 end. The B3 has a 12BH7 driver for the preamp output to go to tone cabinets since it doesn't have internal speakers. The M3 has V3B, V5 and V6 for the output amplifier to drive the internal speakers.

xxxxxxx

Again, to John M: Many, many thanks! John H.

[CSP]

Hi everyone

I have a B3, purchased an Organ Mate reverb unit on eBay and installed it myself. I got the installation procedure and schematics from the following website.

www.pacifictv.ca

look under

MISCELLANEOUS

ORGAN MATE REVERB SCHEMATIC

You should find everything that you need there (the actual schematic and instructions are near the bottom of the list but shouldn't very hard to find as the list is alphabetical.

Sorry I'm so late in responding, but have been away for a while. Hope this helps you out.

CSP