Organ Bass Pedals . . .

Footbutt · #1 08-11-2010, 12:27 PM

hey, i know it's lame for a user's first post to be a new thread, but here you go!

i own three Hammond M-series organs. One i'm going to keep perfect, the other doesn't really work, and the last one's for parts.

i use to play in a three piece band and i played guitar through an Ampeg V4. sometimes we'd haul an organ with us just to use the bass pedals to fill in the low end.

so to all those techies out there, would you know if it were possible to strip down an organ just to use the lower bass pedals for bass lines?

i'd love to stop having to lug a 200+ pound organ around!

rratajski · #2 08-11-2010, 01:02 PM

How about an EHX HOG? http://www.ehx.com/products/hog

JustOpenYourMind · #3 08-11-2010, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rratajski

How about an EHX HOG? http://www.ehx.com/products/hog

Hehe, I guess you haven't read the OP...

Regarding the original question,

How about a moog taurus? it sounds like what you want and more...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moog_Taurus

I'm sure there must be other pedal based bass synths around, just search the internet.

tbassist4 · #4 08-11-2010, 01:11 PM

If you're up for a little work, the way that I would do it is to separate the pedal section and convert it to MIDI. Then you could use the pedals as a MIDI controller on a laptop on stage using samples, synth sounds, or anything else. The advantage to this is that you could choose literally whatever sound you wanted the pedals, whether that be an organic sounding analogue sample set, or some tricked-out digital pad.

Otherwise, if you want to use the original organ sounds, but just with the pedals, you'd pretty much have to hack the organ up and rehouse it.

I HAVE NOT DONE THIS, BUT THIS IS WHAT I ASSUME IT WOULD ENTAIL. I ASSUME NO LIABILITY.

You'd remove the two manuals (keyboards) intact (because you can sell them), and then check the size of the actual unit inside, and essentially build a new enclosure that just fit the organ unit, power supply, and possibly speakers if you need them. If you only need the bass notes, you'll only need a small section of the tabs and buttons on the outside, so most of the rest could be sold for parts. You would just find a way to remount/rewire the bass stop buttons on your new enclosure.

I would recommend the former - it requires less work, and allows you to expand your tonal options. The latter requires more work, more can go wrong, and it will still be heavy-ish. However, the latter would be the "purist" way to do this operation, in that you would keep all of the original sounds. It's entirely your call.

Footbutt · #5 08-11-2010, 01:31 PM

thanks for the suggestions guys!
since i've built a couple guitar amps from organ parts, i'm used to "getting my hands dirty", so to speak.
i'm also really cheap in that i'd be willing to spend 40 hours gutting something than purchasing a $$ big toy. also, i'd like to try something unique-- although it would entale a ton of work.

i also looked into those Basky MX150 pedals, which are pretty much a stand-alone analog pedal synth that isn't midi or anything, but raw tone. it sounds like something i'd enjoy, but their no where to be found! and that tells me if i do find one, it will be really expensive.

so possibly a midi controller?

poorbassist15 · #6 08-11-2010, 01:44 PM

Pedal MIDI controller>Taurus VST. It's a hell of a lot less expensive than an actual Taurus.

mulchor · #7 08-11-2010, 01:47 PM

+1 to the Moog

Other options exist:
roland pk-5a
http://www.rolandus.com/products/pro...?ProductId=880

Tearing apart the Hammond sounds scary to me.

Footbutt · #8 08-11-2010, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mulchor

Tearing apart the Hammond sounds scary to me.

oh, trust me, i don't do it without cringing.
i've built 6 amps from Hammond Organ Amps, but since i have a lower bass pedal section on the fritz, i might just go ahead a use one of three organs to fiddle with....

Thunderscreech · #9 08-11-2010, 03:20 PM

If you know what you're doing it shouldn't be problem to do.

metalmariachi · #10 08-11-2010, 04:13 PM

It should be possible.
People have played organ pedals along with their bass before.
Might take a bit of figuring out, but the schematics are all on line so why not.

As you already know you can build the best sounding 18 watt Marshal (much better than those $5k clones out there) out those Hammond amps.

Go for it.

MM

rratajski · #11 08-11-2010, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustOpenYourMind

Hehe, I guess you haven't read the OP...

Regarding the original question,

How about a moog taurus? it sounds like what you want and more...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moog_Taurus

I'm sure there must be other pedal based bass synths around, just search the internet.

I did read it, honey.
Paying 350 for a pedal that can give you organ sounds rather than take apart an organ (which is probably a nice organ) makes more sense to me.

**Bryan R. Tyler** · #12 08-11-2010, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rratajski

I did read it, honey.
Paying 350 for a pedal that can give you organ sounds rather than take apart an organ (which is probably a nice organ) makes more sense to me.

Based on the OP, it looks like he wants to play basslines with his feet while playing another instrument (ala Geddy, a lot of B2 players, etc.).

MPU · #13 08-12-2010, 04:59 AM

I made my "Taurus" pedals with Fatar pedal unit, Basyn MIDI adapter and Taurus VST. Works great. Fatars were around 70€, Basyn $60 and VST is free.
Marko

Footbutt · #14 08-12-2010, 05:12 AM

yeah, my goal in this would be to play lower tones with my feet, not necessarily bass, but i'd primarily use the pedals for the lower register.
the thing i loved about doing that with an actual organ was the sustain setup. i could hold down a G, then when i let up it would decay beautifully. AND if i'd switch to another note it would kill the sustain from the previous note. kinda like a mono-polyphony.
and i know i could figure out a setting in a MIDI program, but i'm a purist at heart.

so all of this to decide that i'll go with a ghetto-rigged Organ Bass Pedal MIDI trigger system, using the innards from a crappy MIDI keyboard that i don't need anymore.

oh, and yes, i've been four of those Marshall 18Ws. Two of them are using 6V6s! best amps i've ever played.... and they cost me less than $100 to make!!

JustOpenYourMind · #15 08-12-2010, 05:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bryan R. Tyler

Based on the OP, it looks like he wants to play basslines with his feet while playing another instrument (ala Geddy, a lot of B2 players, etc.).

+1

Bassman316 · #16 08-12-2010, 05:55 AM

I'll be hopping on the MIDI bass pedals bandwagon as soon as I can round up a set of bass pedals. Already have the Taurus emulator- sounds awesome.

bjlevine · #17 09-08-2011, 07:18 AM

Just to let you know, we've reintroduced the Basyn Analog Bass Synth Kit, a board that lets you convert a 13 note pedalboard into a 2 oscillator bass synthesizer with filter and ADSR envelope. Its licensed from Howard Cano's excellent Sonosaur board. We also have a MIDI Kit that lets you add MIDI to an organ pedalboard. More info on both here: The BASYN Analog Bass Synthesizer

And yes, we've seen a couple of posts from people who say they've had issues with me in the past. I'm working to clear all of those up. If you've had a problem with our MIDI kit, please contact me at support@basyn.com and I will make things right.

bassmeknik · #18 09-08-2011, 07:33 AM

I can't seem to find it this morning but there is a guy who sells conversion kits to adapt organ bass pedals to midi use. He used to charge about $60 for the kit and required a donor organ to scavenge the pedal unit from. Try searching the web for it.

bassmeknik · #19 09-08-2011, 07:39 AM

not sure if this is the one I saw a year ago but it is very similar.

MIDI/USB Bass Pedal Arduino

bassmeknik · #20 09-08-2011, 07:43 AM

and this one is also.

MIDIpedals.com | Build Your Own MIDI Pedals