Crossyinoz's Gallery

Lowrey C500, Leslie 720 & 540

crossyinoz — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 13:33:10 GMT

Lowrey C500, Leslie 720 & 540

After some months, my C500/720/540 rig is now up and running. The 720 came across from the US (they are impossible to find in Oz) back when the currencies were almost at parity, and had to be converted for 240V/50Hz operation. In the meantime (more good luck than good management) I stumbled across a Catholic church in Melbourne's southern suburbs who were disposing of their Gully 600 after years of niggling problems, (what's new) and its Leslies 705 & 540. The Gully was repaired yet again and headed north, rodents had chewed through the 705 cable, did some serious damage, the cab is still in a workshop somewhere, and the 540 (the only one of the three in good shape) with its Y adapter came down to me. Good luck because a 540 on its own is even more difficult to track down than a 720 in this country.

Some Tonewheel Memorabilia

crossyinoz — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:12:09 GMT

Some Tonewheel Memorabilia

This pic contains some old tonewheel stuff that I've been collecting.

There is the May 1939 patent for the chorus generator that went into model BC, an old generator oil can, circa 1950's, some individual pairs of tonewheels including a couple of blanks and a number of original press ads inlcuding one from 1937 inviting pianists to enter a "new kingdom of music" with a model A, for the princely sum of $1295 USD, claiming that less than 2 years after its introduction the Hammond is the largest selling organ in the world - do tell!

I have 2 Hammond clocks, one being a "Cathedral Clock" finished in Oak, like a church pew, made by Hammond Clock Co. circa 1930, and the other a "Stewardess" clock made by Hammond Instrument Co. circa 1938. This one surfaced in South Australia and is a 240V/50Hz export model, it still works and keeps great time - not bad for a 70 year old clock.

Perhaps the piece de resistance is an original copy of "Playing the Hammond Organ" published by Hammond Instrument Co. in 1941, cost $1.00 USD. It contains instructions & 3 lessons for the unitiated in the use of models A thru E inclusive with or without the chorus generator. It is believed this copy once belonged to revered South Australian church organist and religious zealot Miss Beatrice Downer, who used it to enable her to convert from Harmonium to Hammond once her home town of Maralinga became connected to the electricity grid in 1946. Regretably Maralinga was lost forever in 1953 when the British used the site for their atomic bomb testing and left behind an uninhabitable toxic radioactive wasteland. However the Downer legacy is not lost on us as some of her descendants have reached high levels of incompetance on the conservative side of Australian politics and Adelaide tabloid radio.

580 for tip.jpg

crossyinoz — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:55:33 GMT

580 for tip.jpg

CONN ON TROLLEY - Off for repairs again, or a one way trip to the landfill.

Lost Soul.jpg

crossyinoz — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:59:17 GMT

Lost Soul.jpg

HOMELESS KAWAI - Hitch Hiking in Rye, Australia

Yamaha Electone B6

crossyinoz — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 13:29:03 GMT

Yamaha Electone B6

The little B6 was the 1st Yamaha model imported into Australia in 1965. It was imported direct by music dealers, as Nippon Gakki Co. (Yamaha) had no local distributor until 1969 when Rose Music P/L was appointed to handle all Yamaha music and audio products. It holds special memories for me as a favourite aunt purchased one of the first to arrive out of her inheritance from my grandfather at a cost then I remember of 470 Aust.Guineas. About a month after the organ was delivered a package arrived from Japan containing a number of Japanese Dolls to decorate the cabinet with and a vinyl 33rpm record containing a whole pile of sounds with audio descriptions of how to achieve them, as a thankyou for purchasing one of their products. That instrument was my first experience with electronic organ, I was fascinated and spent a lot of time getting to know how to use it. You'll notice from the pic that it has a 44 note upper & 37 note lower (Japanese for spinet?) and the pedals are of the extended length spinet variety which did not reappear until the HS series over 2 decades later. As you would expect it came complete without tremolo or pedal sustain and the amp was of the valve variety.

The instrument is still in the family, with my aunt's granddaughter, has never had a service call, and being a Yamaha, it still works perfectly.

Hammond X77GT Console

crossyinoz — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 13:25:06 GMT

Hammond X77GT Console

The X77 was Hammond's last attempt to replace the B3, following the H100, which had reliability problems and the X66, which wasn't a pure tonewheel, but a hybrid, and sales were limited by its over the top price. The X77 however shares the same extended drawbar setup as the other two, having 11 drawbars for each bank on the upper keyboard, 10 per bank on the lower and 4 for the pedals. Drawbar #10 provides 7th & 9th harmonics while drawbar #11 provides 10th & 12th harmonics of an 8' Unison. This one is the upgraded GT version and came with aluminium covered pedals a la X66 and a "clip on" version of the Hammond "Rhythm II" unit that was made by Ace-Tone (later Nihon Hammond) in Japan - the same unit that was built into the T400 & N300 spinets. Its former life was spent in a born again pentecostal church where it no doubt had to provide accompaniment for happy clappy choruses aimed squarely at the lowest common denominator of human intelligence, which frankly is way beneath what a magnificent instrument of its calibre is capable of. It's been with me since 2002, no longer has to has to suffer the indignity of its previous life & I will never part with it. Must have been an eminent person who said "After all, there are only two types of organ: pipe and Hammond/Leslie".

Leslie 77P Cabinet

crossyinoz — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 13:56:20 GMT

Leslie 77P Cabinet

The Leslie 77P is a brand/model specific cabinet built as a joint venture between Hammond & CBS Electro Music for the Hammond X77GT Organ. It features a 4 channel 200W solid state amplifier, a Rotosonic Drum & HF Horn for the rotary channel, a 15" Bass speaker and four 6x9" speakers (two facing forward & one on each side) for the Main & Chorus/Celeste channels. Being model specific it uses a unique 12 pin cable which incorporates the AC power supply.

Hammond X77GT Control Centre

crossyinoz — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 13:45:17 GMT

Hammond X77GT Control Centre

The X77 & its predecessor H100 are very similar in this area. Both had the same percussion touch sensitivity & 2nd touch functions and the harp - a system of allowing keyboard sustain from a tonewheel generator. This was done by adding transistor voice gates to one set of harmonics, but the sound still came from the tonewheels. Similarly pedal sustain is available via the string bass tabs. The H100 retained the vibrato scanner while the X77 had its own brand/model specific Leslie cab with all functions controlled from the console.

Lowrey Teenie Genie

crossyinoz — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 12:25:49 GMT

Lowrey Teenie Genie

The ubiquitous Teenie Genie - scourge of the shopping malls in the 70's. It looked cheap, was cheap, sounded cheap with only one footage of voices, (but it did have a really good banjo), any fool could get a respectable sound out of it with 2 fingers and it sold like hot cakes! The little monster took easy ("organ??") music making to the great unwashed and they couldn't get enough of them. I wish I had 5 bucks for every one I sold. Not many people know this, but the little beast had an ulterior motive, and that was to prove once and for all that music was really easy to play and the pied piper of Hamlyn story was nothing but a myth or one of Aesop's Fables.

And so it was, the peasants from Hamlyn City arose to embrace this wonderful Magic Genie in multitudes, and left the Piper, who was not even a citizen of the land of the free & the home of the brave standing motionless behind them. And it came to pass that this wonderful little Magic Genie went forth and multiplied, and begat Orchestral Genies, Festive Genies, Theatrical Genies, Symphonic Genies & Super Genies. But great success swelled the head of the previously modest Genie and he declared himself to be a Genius, where upon the peasants were not impressed and deserted him, looking to the crossed tuning forks of the far east for their next messiah. Aymen!

Lowrey Celebration C500

crossyinoz — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:07:51 GMT

Lowrey Celebration C500

Top of the range 4 channel theatre console, Main, Leslie, 2 x chorus channels. Last of the Lowrey analogue consoles before the big digital mistake. My current Lowrey, purchased 2007.

Lowrey Symphonic Holiday TGS-1

crossyinoz — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:04:16 GMT

Lowrey Symphonic Holiday TGS-1

The first Lowrey 4 channel spinet - Main, Leslie, 2 x chorus channels for Symphonic Strings (another Lowrey spinet 1st). My 2nd Lowrey, purchased 1979, sold 1984.

Lowrey Coronation D500

crossyinoz — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:05:55 GMT

Lowrey Coronation D500

Top line Lowrey 4 channel spinet, Main, Leslie, 2 x chorus channels. 1st Lowrey spinet with Orchestral Symphoniser & Symphonic Strings. Lowrey number 3, purchased 2004, sold 2007.

Lowrey Holiday Console TLOK25S

crossyinoz — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:03:41 GMT

Lowrey Holiday Console TLOK25S

My 1st organ, a console version of the stereo Holiday with Genie, but with GAK Citation voicing. Stereo sound, 2 speed Leslie. Purchased new 1974, sold 1978.

Yamaha Electone EL90T

crossyinoz — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:24:39 GMT

Yamaha Electone EL90T

The top spinet in Yamaha's 3rd generation of digital organs, the EL90 had several improvements over the previous "H" models. These included an AWM or digital sampled component of each voice, a large LCD display to control all functions, including its drawbars, 3 types of digital reverb, and a built in MDR disk drive, whilst retaining and improving all the editing and programming features of the previous series. Amplification was greatly upgraded to a 6 channel, 8 speaker system, and optional KA series tone cabinets were available. Accessories included registration and voice disks, available from both Yamaha & independent suppliers, eg. Hector Olivera's Turbo Upgrade. EL90T is my current Yamaha, purchased in 1991.

Yamaha Electone MC600

crossyinoz — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:20:53 GMT

Yamaha Electone MC600

The MC600 was part of the 1st generation digital Yamahas along with the "F" series that ran concurrently. Voicing was FM digital & rhythm unit digital sampling. Digital technology allowed for the multi menu function, which contained 16 total registrations, 28 extra voices that could be applied to any part of the organ, a real time & stepped time sequencer and transposer. Digital storage of registrations and/or sequences was possible, internally or externally on RAM pack or cassette. Amplification was in stereo with 2 speed electronic trem & symphonic chorus. It was also the 1st Yamaha to have MIDI, albeit in fairly primitive form. A great feature was its cabinet, which could be compacted to about half its size, allowing the organ to be transported on the back seat of an average family sedan. The MC600 was my 1st Yamaha, purchased in 1985, sold in 1988.

Yamaha Electone HS8

crossyinoz — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:23:18 GMT

Yamaha Electone HS8

The HS8 was the top spinet in Yamaha's 2nd generation of digital organs. Features above the F & MC models that preceded it were touch responsive keyboards & pedals, touch vibrato, flanger & delay, pitch bend & modulation wheels, keyboard percussion, digital reverb & most importantly a selection of AWM or digitally sampled voices eg. piano & pipe organ. The multi menu function was expanded to include an additional 38 registrations, 59 FM voices & 36 rhythms. Sequencing was expanded to include rhythm pattern programming. Introduced as well was the Voice Edit function, allowing the player to alter the tone colour of all the FM sounds. With the HS8 Yamaha released for the 1st time, a range of useful accessories for the organ. These included RAM packs, ROM packs containing FM & AWM voices & rhythms and a 2nd expression pedal. Available options via MIDI were the MDR2/3 disk drives, AVS10 voice expander adding even more AWM sounds and CVS10 organ expander, essentially a set of LCD digital drawbars for all keyboards with its own trem/chorus, reverb & registration memory. Four different pairs of tone cabs known as KA10/20/30/40 were an available option. HS8/MDR2/CVS10 was my 2nd Yamaha setup, purchased in 1988, sold in 1991.