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SS1's A100 Organ Question Thread


Soulstation1

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1 more ?

should i focus on the keyboards and the other stuff first and forget the bass pedals for now?

can you guyzz fly on the "organissimo team charter" and give me some lessons?

i live in arizona not california

my address on my profile is actually fred sanford's old address

dr ss1

Edited by Soulstation1
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When I heard the J. Geils Band play in the late '70's in Central Park, the orgone player had stacks of Leslies. I looked a bit for photos, all I can see there may been 4 or 6, but I remember more, like a wall of 20. Sounded pretty cool too. B-)

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I'd suggest working on 2 note chords first with a simple left hand bass line (even just bumping each root note of the chord in rhythm to begin.)

Work right hand and left hand seperately at first until you feel comfortable with them, and then combine them and work on that. The coordination is trickier than you might think.

Start with the blues in F. "Back at The Chicken Shack" is widely the first thing played by people on organ and for good reason... because the bass is fairly simple at first and then widens later in the song.

When you get start to get that down a bit, find Jack McDuff's LP "Tough Duff" and put on the title track. It's a medium-slow blues shuffle in F again...but the basslines are very clear to hear (no guitar on this album!) and he plays some nice licks that are easy to steal but sound great.

This will probably take 6 months or so to get this first little step down, but I think it's a very important one that you can't skip.

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I would love to use two Leslies live, but I don't have the space to haul another one. I use one and augment the bass sound with a separate speaker.

Jim, I tried using a kickback 15 as a monitor out of the organ in addition to the 122. I found the sound shrill and unnatural and just went back to the single Leslie. I can't hear it as clearly, but it seemed more natural. Any advice you can share about using a seperate speaker?

(I'd like to use 2 leslies as well, you can keep the volume down and make it cleaner which is always a problem when you have just 1 leslie it seems. Just got 2 leslie 6-pins out on the organ, so now I can use 2 leslies if I want. Probably won't though except on really special gigs. I'm just too lazy! Plus, Dr. Lonnie Smith seems to only get 1 at his gigs and he always sounds great!!!)

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a big thanks for all the help

soul stream

it's great that you have back home, please don't ever leave

a ? on those black keys

on that info you gave me late night

i was able to figure it all out except

which black keys ( 1-6?, with #1 being the far left side) should i push down for those 2 tricks?

thanks

dr dre

Push the LAST black key on the right, the one closest to the regular keys. Do this on both keyboards.

When you do that, it controls those certain drawbars which I said to pull out. The reverse keys are called presets, most have "preset" sounds in them. the last two keys in the each row of preset keys control a corresponding set of drawbars.

It's hard to describe all this w/o showing you. It IS very easy in reality. But please, spring for the Tony Monaco DVD, it's very good for showing you how the organ works and what everything does. Plus, it shows him in a club playing which will help show you a lot. Unless you have Big John Patton showing you all this stuff (which I did :D ) it's a hard beast to tame on your own. That DVD should help guide you.

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Mike, I use a custom made direct box into a parametric tube EQ that "warms" up the sound a bit and is set to filter out basically everything but the low end. Before Organissimo got a real sound system, I just ran the output of the EQ into an amp and a Yamaha 15" speaker cab. Now I just run it into the mixer to our sound system, and we have a powered Yorkville sub which makes the bass thunderous!!!

:)

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Mike, I use a custom made direct box into a parametric tube EQ that "warms" up the sound a bit and is set to filter out basically everything but the low end. Before Organissimo got a real sound system, I just ran the output of the EQ into an amp and a Yamaha 15" speaker cab. Now I just run it into the mixer to our sound system, and we have a powered Yorkville sub which makes the bass thunderous!!!

:)

So Jim, how does that affect what YOU hear? Does it seem more bass heavy than usual, or just add a little spice? I bought a hamptone box recently that has two 1/4" outs, one for bass only and the other for the total sound. It's REAL handy, and when they recorded me live the other night at the club, I just had them run the usual mics plus take the bass and total outputs as well. Haven't heard the recording, but I'm curious as to how it came out.

When I play at clubs, I just have them mic everything and forget it. I'm afraid if I give them a direct bass out they'll get to bass crazy as soundmen are want to do these days. Also afraid to give them a direct out of the organ for fear as they won't mix it well with the live mics.... Any suggestions on all this?

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more ?'s

1 should i buy the dvd or a manual first?

should i buy the paperwork about the drawbars?

2 if i hook up a leslie, since it already has speakers built in would it be sorta be like having two leslies??

3 can i play the thing if the vibrato board is being cleaned?

also it was very dusty in the back, could i very carefully use a vacuum on some of the dust bunnies or is this dangerous

4 should i get a professional to look it over?

5 should i move all my ?'s to the musician section?

6 any yearly recommended maintanence/service?

dr ss1

Edited by Soulstation1
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1 should i buy the dvd or a manual first?

should i buy the paperwork about the drawbars? 

The manual isn't going to tell you much. They were written from a "home theatre" organ perspective which means they will not tell you how to play like or get the Jimmy Smith sound.

You're better off asking here and doing searches on the internet. There are sites that talk about how to start it, maintenance, the whole she-bang.

I'd get the DVD.

2 if i hook up a leslie, since it already has speakers built in would it be sorta be like having two leslies??

Sorta! Except the internal speakers don't rotate, obviously.

3 can i play the thing if the vibrato board is being cleaned?

also it was very dusty in the back, could i very carefully use a vacuum on      some of the dust bunnies or is this dangerous

Is the vibrato board actually out of the organ? I'm not really understanding this question.

You can use a vacuum on the organ, as long as you're careful.

4 should i get a professional to look it over?

Yes.

5 should i move all my ?'s to the musician section?

Probably! :) Actually, I'll do it for you.

6 any yearly recommended maintanence/service?

Oil once a year by putting about 10 drops per oil reserve. The tech can show you this. Ask him about oiling. He may tell you to oil it more or less but one year is the standard.

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sorry too many ?s

my A-100 should be in my place in less than 2.5 hours.

ss1

soul stream or b3-er

when you were learning the b-3 with the aide of jimmy smith's music

was it the lp or cds?

A little bit of both for me. I had some Jimmy on vinyl and on CD. The hardest part is going to be hearing the bass lines, since they can get lost in the mix. That's why the DVD will probably really help you out.

I didn't understand organ bass lines until I was physically shown what to do by my mentor and also by Dr. Lonnie Smith after a gig of his. He was kind enough to show me how the left hand and the pedals go together.

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does the vibrato board get sticky from the oil over time and then causes the vibrato board to stick when used?

it might not be the vibrato board, but a board or something that could get sticky over timet.

i was told this is the only problem with this organ and should cost $100-150 to fix, i hope

ss1

Sounds like you just need an AUTHORIZED hammond serviceman to come out. Try and find the OLD guy around town. Someone who's been doing it a long time. These guys usually service all the churches in town along w/personal organs. Young guys don't seem to know as much, charge more, and don't really fix the problem to satisfaction half the time.

The hammond's a complicated instrument that needs special care. On one hand, they're built like tanks and rarely need major work. On the other hand, keeping it in tip-top shape all the time is a real payoff in how it will sound for you.

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Hate to interrupt, but your purchase got me looking a little. I don't play keyboard instruments at all and I don't plan on learning since I already play guitar, any free time will be devoted there.

However, if I could find a deal like you found, I might consider getting it in an effort to persuade my nephews and perhaps my daughters into playing the organ. My nephew's take some piano lesson now and if I could derail him to the B3, I think I would have accomplished something in my life.

What other models are worth getting? B3, C3, BV, J112, A100, M100, L102? I've seen several organs on Ebay for what seems to be a steal.

Edited by scottb
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