My Hammond L-103 and Leslie 147

[Track Rat]

Finally, I have my $10 Hammond L-103 and Leslie 147 (the Leslie was around $200) fully functional and tied together. I worked a LONG time on the tone wheel assembly (think about the insides of an overgrown Swiss watch) with Hammond oil and re-capped the B+ supply on the amp. I already had the Leslie and the Combo Preamp/six pin cable but that won't connect a Hammond to a Leslie. I looked around at a local Hammond dealer for a six pin Amphenol connector for the organ side but had no luck so I took two male and two female 11 pin tube sockets I had and "leached" them onto the Hammond and Leslie (plus a switch on the Hammond to toggle between the internal speakers and the Leslie) and used two sections of a heavy duty extention cord for the six conductor cable. What can I say, it works. I've also done a few modes on the Hammond's preamp to get more B-3 chirp and I'm contmplating the fold back mod for the highest draw bars. But here they are.

 

[c7sus]

Nice job, Track Rat.

 

[Track Rat]

At last! A sympathy post! Bless you Craig.

 

[TexRoadkill]

Nice rig. I finally scored a rebuilt tube 147 for significantly more but it sounds great in our dome room. I need to find a decent deal on an organ now. I'm just using a Yamaha SE90 through a blues driver pedal.

 

[Lt. Bob]

Dude! The store I tuned pianos at in Baton Rouge was a major Hammond repair place so I know exactly how much work you must have put into that!

Did you have to fool with the wiring harness or was it all still in good shape?

Now that you have it nice and running you can do what a friend of mine that rebuids them does on his.
He has the amps and main chassis inside the organ chromed and puts a smoked plexiglas back on it instead of the wood back and has little lights lighting up the inside. Looks freakin' awesome ........ I figure if you'r nuts enough to rebuild a Hammond another 30 hours of work won't faze you.

 

[jmorris]

Cool Track Rat. I have a L-143 and a L-112 both with 125 Leslies. Now a B3 but the L-143 does sound cool. I used it a lot to record Gospel bands. They seemed to really like it.I had a Hammond repair guy tweak mine.I know NOTHING about 'em

 

[Lectric_Lab]

track rat, I love Hammond organs...nice work. I had a B3 in the 70's, and ended up with the top of a M100 (Ithink) and 900 Leslie...since I have a Hammond digital XK...but no Leslie and I want a better rotor sound the Leslie is pricey think its a 122A or MP Pro145. You got it going on, are you hauling it around?

 

[Track Rat]

I just noticed this was getting replies.
Bob; If I do the fold back mod, it will require pulling both manuals which means unsoldering the harness. The only thing stopping me at this point is it requires a spare manual to use as parts. If I had that, I'd be sniffing melting solder right now. The mods I did on the preamp gave it more key click and chirp which makes it a LITTLE closer to a B-3.
JMorris; As I'm sure you already know, all the L-s are electronicly the same, the number following it just refere to the cabinet style so we have the same organ (that sounds just wrong).
Lectric_Lab; I put it (and the Leslie) on a wheeled platform to roll around the studio. I was in a band with a guy who played with a C-3 and 147. Four of us could barely move it. I wouldn't gig with it but I'd haul it to select venues. This sum bitch is HEAVY. I've had synths (Ensonique VFX and Alesis QS-8) that would do what I thought were decent Hammond emulations but after playing with the drawbars on the real thing, I realized how much the synths wouldn't do. This thing is friggin' cool.

 

[prestomation]

I picked up a M-111 a few years ago from my neighbor. She was the original owner and the thing is practically mint. It "didn't work" so I walked away with it for $20. The original tube of oil from '67 was 80% full so all it needed was some oiling!

Have you used NI's B4? It is an amazing B3 synth. I often record the M-111 and put it through the B4's leslie sim, it's amazing.

 

[c7sus]

At last! A sympathy post! Bless you Craig.

It's more like envy.

I wish I had the space and time to play around with stuff like that. I'd love to rebuild/cleanup a Rhodes because I love that sound.

 

[Lectric_Lab]

I just noticed this was getting replies.
Lectric_Lab; I put it (and the Leslie) on a wheeled platform to roll around the studio. I was in a band with a guy who played with a C-3 and 147. Four of us could barely move it. I wouldn't gig with it but I'd haul it to select venues. This sum bitch is HEAVY. I've had synths (Ensonique VFX and Alesis QS-8) that would do what I thought were decent Hammond emulations but after playing with the drawbars on the real thing, I realized how much the synths wouldn't do. This thing is friggin' cool.

yep, very heavy, even for 4 guys and the dollies hooked up...I spent the better part of 60-70's helpin' lugg those sombeetches around haha but ya know back then you weren't a rock band without a B3 organ (an player haha)

I have an Ensoniq ZR76 right now, weighs in at 90 lbs its a heavy synth, good sounds...but the digi Hammond XK has the real deal drawbars and the click keys...the digital stuff will never replace the real Hammond's.