Needed= Info on Rodgers trio organ 321

**The Old Preacher** · 12-20-2008, 01:44 AM

Thanks, Gary. I look forward to what you can find out. Any help is greatly appreciated!

James

**Tinker** · 12-22-2008, 07:34 PM

Hi James,

Sorry to take so long to get back to this but with the holidays, a graduation and the usual non-organ things happening around here it's been hectic. So I studied the schematics that I've got for the Trio's but I'm not immediately seeing a failure that could cause the symptoms you're decribing. On my schematics I'm seeing the pedal voices being mixed into both the main and tibia channels just before the expression control circuits. They're then fed to the headphone and power amplifiers as well as the reverb which gets mixed back into both channels. So it's not obvious how the pedal signal could be affected without causing some disturbance in the main or tibia outputs.

Let me restate what I think you're seeing just to make sure I've got the right picture a I'll dig a bit more into it.

1. When the reverb is turned all the way up the pedal, main and tibia voices all sound OK (except for the excess reverb)?

2. If you turn down the reverb then the main and tibia voices are still OK but the pedal drops way down?

3. Are you seeing this problem both while using the headphones and when you're using the speakers?

4. Do you know specifically what model of Trio that you have? 321, 321A, 321B, 321C (If not, can you provide the serial number.)

I have noted some minor differences between the way my Trio's are built and what's shown in the schematics so maybe we're running into that issue. I had to manually trace out some of the circuits to fix a problem or two on mine. I've heard that there were "improvements" in the different model runs so a particular set of diagrams might not match all of the instruments in a series. Work is shutting down for two weeks over the holidays so I should have more time to spend on my organ hobbies :^)

**The Old Preacher** · 12-31-2008, 12:39 AM

Hi Tinker,

James here - sorry it has been so long to get back with you - busy season here, too. Yes, the four statements you made are totally correct. I know it sounds crazy! The model is 321 and the serial number is 31107. Thanks for any help you might suggest.

James

**rodenstock01** · 01-08-2009, 06:04 AM

Hi Brandon. It's been awhile since this post. Did you every get your Rogers Trio 321. I'm considering one. Please share stoplist, details and sound files if you have any. Thanks. Eric S.

**Tinker** · 01-08-2009, 09:04 PM

Hi Eric,

What model of 321 are you looking at? There used to be a copy of the 321B/C brochure up on the Rodgers forum that had pics and a stoplist but it's not there anymore. I've got a copy of the file that I could forward to you if you PM me with an email address (it's a little over 900KB). There isn't a lot of difference between the 321B and 321C but there's more differences going to the 321A and 321 models. Stoplists are similar but they made some improvements up in the B and C models. If it's a B or C you're considering I've got a 321B (and a 322 Deluxe) so I could give you additional info and some sound samples from that model if you're interested. Of course different models with different speaker setups and in different room acoustics will sound different. I do have a commercial recording or two of the Trio but I'm not sure what model it is but it sounds like an earlier model to me. The playing is good on them but I don't think the recordings showed the Trio sound in it's best light.

Just let us know what you're looking for...

**Bruce Hannover** · 04-22-2009, 10:36 PM

Hello Gary and everyone on this thread;

I just joined this forum today, because it looks as if the knowledge base that I need for my situation is most certainly present amongst the posters, whose postings I have read. It is from all of you that I seek assistance.

I work in a large (1600 seat) theatre in a retirement community in South Florida. We have been given a Rodgers 321 three manual theatre organ that was previously in a church ( ! ).

A couple of questions: 1) Although I have adjusted the Tibia Trem Speed and Tibia Trem Depth potentiometers, there does not seem to be any Tibia Tremulants happening. The Mains work fine, but no trems at all on the Tibias. Any ideas where I should look for the solution?

2) We have a very sophisticated Meyer Sound system, and I would like to input the 321 into the sound system. It appears that there are two RCA female jacks inside the 321, labeled "Tape Recorder Mains" and "Tape Recorder Tibias". AmI correct in my assumptions that these are line level outputs of the two channels of the instrument?

This has the potential to be a really neat thing in this theatre. There are quite a few "organists" living wihin the community, and management has discussed having "pre-movie" organ music... I think this was done in theatres before....a long time ago....and on WurliTzers, Bartons, Pages etc., but it would be neat to have it happen here on the 321.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Bruce Hannover

Tech. Dir. Century Village Clubhouse Theatre, Deerfield Beach, Florida

**John Kinkennon** · 04-25-2009, 08:23 PM

Hi Bruce,

I've been holding off on answering your post as I'm so new to this forum and my Rodgers is a 321A and it is entirely possible that your 321 may not look like what I describe. That said, on the 321A there's an obvious "most likely" failure in the tibia tremulant and vibrato circuits. The tibia (and mains) tremulant, vibrato, tibia ff, and tibia bright all turn on little lamps (#19) that in turn activate Light Dependent Resistors. These lamps are inside tubes on the tremulant circuit board which sits above the tibia oscillators. They just pull out. If this isn't the problem, and if the switches themselves aren't damaged, then it's time to pull out the schematics and dig deeper.

Those are nominal line levels on the tape outputs. Watch out for a dirty scratchy volume control that will send lots of noise through the sound system.

Good luck!

**Bruce Hannover** · 04-28-2009, 12:45 AM

Thanks John;

Further investigation has revealed that the console speaker channels are only working with the Mains, not the Tibia voices. That is why I was not able to hear Tremulants on the Tibias. However, when I ran the RCA tape outputs into two direct boxes and then into the sound system at Mic. levels, all is well, the Tibias are fuller now and they do respond to the tremulant tab.

Gary has been most helpful, and I believe that we have determined that this particular instrument is a 321C, as it has eight settable pistons and eight toe studs.

Gary and I are attempting to find out why the internal speakers that are for the Tibia channel are not working. This organ is now in a 1600 seat theatre in a clubhouse in a huge retirement community. It is hoped that we will be able to find some of the residents who can play it. They will not always have access to the sound system being on, and they will need to practice with the internal console speakers.,

Bruce

**terryp** · 05-10-2012, 05:47 AM

I just acquired a Trio 321 (no suffix, but with wood-core keys and internal glock). It has a few minor issues that I think I could resolve with the help of a service manual. Does anyone here have one available?

Thanks in advance.