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Leslie for Bass ?

LevinFan

LevinFan

Aug 4, 2008
255
0
Louisville Ky
#1
I just made a huge score. Well, I guess I did. Someone is giving me an old hammond organ. Don't know what model it is, I'm picking it up in a couple of hours. It works fine he said, and has built in reverb and an internal leslie speaker.

My question is, can I remove the reverb and leslie and use it for bass ? Or would I be getting into too much of a hassle ?

Mods: just realized I should have put this in effects. Move it over if need be.
 
#3
RickenBoogie said:
I wouldn't, unless it can be done without ruining the organ. There are pedals that do a pretty good Leslie imatation, too.
Click to expand...

Yea, I wouldn't tear it up. I'll just have to get it and see what's inside. The guy said he doesn't care what I do with it. I suppose I could sell it and use the funds for pedals.

I'll google the model # when I get it home and see what I can find out. I don't know how old it is. The guy just wants it out of his basement to have room for something he's having delivered tomorrow. That's all he said about it. I'm hoping the amp is tubes :bassist:

It would be cool if it was 50 tube watts or more, and I could build some sort of combo cab for it.
 
#6
The internal Leslie unit used in organs usually had an 8 inch speaker, tiny non-tuned enclosure, and was fine to add the midrange part of the Leslie effect but no good for bass.
See if you run through the regular organ amplifier - you might be impressed with how good your bass guitar will sound.
A lot of organs had 40 to 50 watt amps and used 12 inch bass speakers. They had to be able to amplify the bass pedals on the organs - and if the bass couldn't rattle the house people wouldn't buy it.
 
#8
If you end up with an oddball model, later solid state or a spinet organ, it's not worth a whole lot. Someone here is selling an X-77 for $300, and it may not even get that. People actually give away M series spinets around here, and the most they get is around $100 (some people ask for more, but they never sell). Anything with an internal Leslie system isn't worth the trouble to get it out unless you're going to junk the organ, and I think that's a mod anyway as I don't remember a Hammond coming with an internal Leslie (some might have that I don't know about, there are dozens of models).

Let us know what you got, okay?
Here's hoping it's something that looks good enough to sell. You can get a pedal that'll emulate a Leslie so I don't see the necessity to junk a perfectly good organ.
 
#9
Well, I picked it up. It works, and it's fairly loud. The leslie effect in it appears to be some sort of styrofoam baffle deal. I took the back off it while I was waiting for help to get it off the truck, and it's solid state. It probably had a model # on the back, but after I saw it wasn't a tube amp, I didn't care at that point.

So that meant plan B. I left it on the truck and took it to a local bar that has blues jams and open mics nights and donated it. The owner was pleased. He now has a house drum kit, a piano, and the Hammond. Oh well, it was worth the trouble hauling it around, just to see how excited he was. He got on the phone and called a keyboard player and told him to come on down. They have a jazz jam tonight.

So anyway, sorry to be a bozo and post before I checked it out first. :hiding:

I live, I learn.
 
#11
Bassgrinder77 said:
JPJ, LZ II, Heartbreaker.
Click to expand...

Hey Dude, you like know JPJ is/was a keyboards player right? Trained in Classical...

Almost EVERY LZ song performed had him on the BASS PEDALS. However, he did pull out out a bass on songs that didn't have organ or piano parts.

If you see the movie "The Song Remains the Same" your heart WILL BE CRUSHED as a bass player. I know, I played in a ZEPP tribute band forever.. It's as bad as playing DOORS music. On the albums Ray had a stand in bassist, but live he played all the bass lines himself on the keyboards.

BASSIST = Captain Dunsil.

BOB
 
#13
You did the best thing you could for it. Hate to see any instrument destroyed, but I know it happens, especially to '70s organs. I kind of know my Hammonds but I also have a friend I can always turn to for what to do if a weird one comes my way and ask if it's worth getting, and yes, I do want one to branch out on. It was worth a shot, and it's in a bar now, so that's good even if it wasn't for you.
 
#14
LevinFan said:
I just made a huge score. Well, I guess I did. Someone is giving me an old hammond organ. Don't know what model it is, I'm picking it up in a couple of hours. It works fine he said, and has built in reverb and an internal leslie speaker.

My question is, can I remove the reverb and leslie and use it for bass ? Or would I be getting into too much of a hassle ?

Mods: just realized I should have put this in effects. Move it over if need be.
Click to expand...

Depending on the model example R-100 was a tonewheel type Built in 6x9 leslie and 15" and 8" stationary

Its very cool you donated it cause here are some used prices...you get karma points or at least free drinks!
http://theatreorgans.com/hammond/faq/all_hammonds.asp


:hiding:
 
#16
Hi.

Congrats. An exxellent thing You did there.

The "home" Hammonds have been considered junk over here also, and I have passed on on several occasions. On a bar or something like that those old workhorses are just spot on though. Not enough juice to drown everything else and a close enough approximation of the real deal. For a tiny fraction of the price and usually quite maintenance free. And therefore IN TUNE ;).

Regards
Sam
 
#17
mndean said:
If you end up with an oddball model, later solid state or a spinet organ, it's not worth a whole lot. Someone here is selling an X-77 for $300, and it may not even get that....
.
Click to expand...

That's a great price for x-77 cause, here they are asking $1500.00
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

The clue to his is that it has a built in leslie and reverb instead of plain vibrato like the M series

:hiding:
 
#19
NEVER go to a dealer for a Hammond under any circumstances! They'll skin you every time, usually charging 5x what any private party will charge. You wanna spend $10K on a B3, that's your business. I'd rather spend $2-3K. I'm good with electronics, but I wouldn't get an X-77 anyway. It may be a good price, but Hammond tried very hard to rid its organs of the very things rock and rollers liked about them through the '60s. So I stay away from any Hammond built after the mid '60s.

I sorta now remember a Hammond with a built in Leslie, one of the J series, don't remember the model, though. There are probably more, but I stop caring what they built after the A, B and C models were discontinued.
 

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