0:15 Intro 2:23 First look at the schematic 5:31 Looking at the Expression (volume) pedal circuit - very unique 7:58 Power amp section 9:30 Tone generator description 11:01 Percussion amplifier description 12:51 Vibrato circuit description 18:25 Checking out the mains connection and capacitors 24:39 Checking voltages from the transformer 27:43 Installing the 5U4, testing the power supply and seeing if the amp works 30:24 Capacitors are replaced & amp is tested again 38:07 Using the Mini signal generator to feed a signal into the amp 42:37 Amplifier is cleaned up and ready for final testing - New mains cord and fuse have been added 44:15 Playing some music through the amp and final thoughts
This is why I live living in todays age, I just picked one of these organs up and it needs work. I just have to type in “Hammond m3 restoration” and all these videos come up of exactly what I need to do. Amazing.
I service these amps as a hobby, as well. If they are restored to factory original, they are good amps that will last a long time -- again. The circuits are actually quite simple. Almost all parts are still available. It's really sad to see someone turn a Hammond into firewood because the tone generator has frozen (usually fixable) or there are dirty switch contacts that result in no output. A lady gave me an M143 recently. It had no output. After about 10 minutes of servicing, it came back to life. (The start motor was not engaging the run motor shaft.) The reverb amp had some noisy resistors and a couple of bad caps, but it's now fully restored and rocking. The main amplifier is next. It's working well, but I'll replace all of the electrolytic capacitors as the bass response can suffer when these caps start deteriorating.
Many thanks for this one, Tony. The 'Hammond Sound' was very much a signature of the 1950s but I knew little of the technology they used. I now understand why the Queen of Organs was so loved - and so pricey! Looks like this example is set up for another half century. I particularly liked the capacitive volume control solution to the usual scratchy potentiometer problem. Once again, keep up the good work. Rob Stewart
I'm not an expert on Hammond organs, but have loved them since my youth. We had the typical basement band back in the 60's and our organ player had a Hammond L. He was a phenomenal player - could play rock, church, classical, anything. He would go to music stores and play and a crowd would quickly form to listen. The stores payed him to play hoping it would help sell organs. But my memory of the history of the Hammond is a little different than what you said. Mr. Hammond hated the Leslie speaker, probably because he didn't invent it. He did not want the Leslie to be sold with a Hammond organ and forbade the music stores from selling the Leslie with the Hammond. The buyer of the organ was responsible for buying the Leslie and the adapter box and having someone wire it into the organ. The speakerless Hammond (B, C) was really designed to work with the Hammond tone cabinet - basically a box about the size of a Leslie with a speaker(s) and an amp. It wasn't until Mr Hammond died that the organ became available with the Leslie and eventually Hammond bought Leslie or both were bought by Suzuki, I'm not sure which.
Leslie wanted nasty, operatic, peculiar sounds of a theater organ (on steriods/tremulants). Hammond wanted the sounds of a church organ. I read all about this and it's interesting. Leslie was a theater organ fan/nut. As later history has shown, Leslie speakers can be used for other purposes. Just ask the Beatles. What's amazing about my preferences of a Hammond organ is, with the right registrations: you can have something mellow or something like the church organ (the original intent).
I recently have been working on my 1960 M3 after taking the organ out of storage after 20 years. This had the front cover still on it so the insides are very clean. Tube checked and replaced as needed amp tubes. Hammond oil to left cup for scanner and motor, both middle and right cups had three doses of filling cup, that was Friday night. Saturday checked and had some squealing bearings so I left it alone. Sunday night so two days later: tonight, I realized that some heat might get the oil to flow better. After ten minutes of going up and down the generator on the bottom side slowly back and forth, I started the organ and had NO SQUEEALING!! When I shut down the generator it ran for 16 seconds until it stopped. I imagine this might be rare? but if your organ is squealing give it some loving heat! Johnne in Clallam Bay, WA.
Thanks for a great mini-seminar on that detail of M-3 instruments, Man! that is some shop set-up you got there. Look's like Steve's old garage. (Rest in peace..and the joy of the Lord my friend, we'll meet again! Steve gave me my first HAMMOND a CV with the massive tone cab. We didn't have youtube then, as we now know it, and when the start motor quit I gave it away and the guy parted it out.)
I have worked on a number of M3s in the last 5 years. In addition to the typical week tubes, leaky and open caps I found a number of the carbon composite resistors way out of wack. Getting a seized scanner to spin quietly is the real job. You got the easy part.
This lucky guy has Tony for a neighbor.... I got a bunch of great neighbors,, we're all friends, but I'm the only one of the bunch that can even hold a screwdriver.. lol
Great - Thank's for all the information & techniques. You might enjoy the circuitry of the 122 Leslie (Don Leslie, Pasadena, CA), especially the DC switching of relay controlling the Chorale/Tremelo.
Lovely job and great amp. I think I saw Brad the Guitologist gut one out and make a guitar amp out of it. Add another smaller fuse for the amp itself. Better safe than sorry. Oh, and don't let Usagi Electric know about that 6AU6! :)
Really interesting amplifier, thank you for sharing that with us. I'd love to see completed project, if your neighbour was ok with that. Good idea re. the fuse to protect the external components, but while you are there is it worth adding a lower current sub-fuse to protect the amplifier? (I bet that power transformer would be tricky to replace).
Would have been nice if they had used the tubes designed in 1957 with a H+ of 12V and a B+ of 12V and using VN66AF MOSFETS to drive the speakers and would mean that the amp circuit would be really safe to work on except you might get burnt but I suspect that Hammond moved to solid state to make servicing easier and safer for the new technicians coming into the company from collage.
Hi there. Your channel is an amazing resource! Thanks for posting this information on the expression control. I have a 1957 B3 that sounds incredible and also a C3. Tonally the C3 is also fantastic but the expression doesn't have the same dynamic range as the B3 (i.e. the pedal travel does not affect the signal level until about half way and the minimum level is still quite loud). It's not a mechanical issue (the variable cap has full travel). I wondered if you might be able to offer some advice?
I've got a cream for that lol can you show us how that volume works because it only uses variable capacitor! maybe you can record some music after it's finished be nice what it sounds like
I don't know how far along your neighbor is on the tonewheel restoration but you're (or he is) gonna wanna go ahead and replace ALL paper caps in the entire organ. The manual amp, the percussion amp, the scanner vibrato, and preamps. I have 3 Hammonds from the same 50's and 60's era and can assure you that all of the caps leak DC. I know you have the means to test them so, check it out yourself if you haven't already. It'll be a night and day difference with new caps. The biggest job will be the 16 or so caps on the scanner. I know it sounds like a PITA but, trust me, it's worth it. Caps are cheap, it's just time consuming.
@@ValeriousRex Nowadays, a tech will charge you a few hundred to do that job. Let me recommend that you do it yourself. The job is really simple, it's just time consuming. You can get the caps for under $1 each. Being large axial caps, you won't be working on tiny components. If you don't have a soldering iron, you can get one for $10 online. You'll save yourself a few hundred dollars and even gain a bit of knowledge. I really wouldn't suggest it if it were complicated. I can point you in the right direction to get the caps you need if you're not sure what to get.
@@nonsuch here’s the thing…I did a shifty recap job years ago on the amp even replacing those big can caps with a few smaller ones for each of the internal caps within it…and i had no idea what I was doing and im sure I screwed up somewhere…the organ still works but there’s a few things that aren’t right and I’d rather have someone fix my shoddy work lol
@@ValeriousRex Understood. There may be some other issues. Did you try replacing the tubes? What are the symptoms? If you happen to be in the D.C, MD, VA area... I can help you out.
@@nonsuch I’m actually in NJ…it’s mostly ok…it’s just I used cheap Chinese caps to replace everything and not the best solder job…I’ve got all good tubes in it…I guess it sounds a little “dull” but not bad…I also wired the adapter for the Leslie and the half moon switches myself to the amp and to the speaker…it works…but the switch to toggle between the Leslie and the speaker cuts out all sound when you have it toggled to the “leslie only” setting--(sloppy job by me I’m sure”
The Chorus effect should be a mixture of the original signal (dry) and the phase shifted signal (wet), so maybe that switch determines the amount of each in the mix.
Your B3 image pasted in is of the Digital B3MkI or MkII haha. The M Series Spinets may be small but are heavy. Being a console of such low height, makes them a real shin bruiser.
The Hammond Percussion circuit operates the same in all four models, B3, C3, M3, and A100. The Vibrato in the Series 2 and Series 3 models is accomplished by "phase shift". Laurens Hammond didn't believe in fuses. The first fuse appeared in the reverb amplifier of the A100. The 6CA4 rectifier vacuum tube as well as the 6GW8A. According to those in the Jukebox repair industry, electrolytic capacitors typically have life of 15 to 25 years. Anything beyond that is an experiment. In the time you can test, these old components, they can be replaced, even though the B3/C3 and M3 pre-amplifier chassis are a PITA to rebuild. The M, M2, and M3 spinet chassis a little less as they have the push in solder points.
In the time you spend testing iffy components they can be replaced. A capacitor tester with a voltage source from a 9 VDC battery is not a real test. There are only two products I know of which can accurately test capacitors in real world situations. One is the Sencore Capacitor Analyzer. The other is a Sprague Capacitor analyzer.
I had that exact Hammond when I was a lad! We had an external Leslie too! Brings back memories. Do you really trust all those carbon resistors after all these years?
All the resistors checked out good. Those were the Allen Bradley type. Very good quality. They usually stay in tolerance, although the really high resistance ones (1 Meg, etc) can drift.
A good example of of a Hammond player who uses the percussion setting a lot is Jon Lord from Deep Purple. He leans on it heavily in some solos.....4min 21sec into the song "No No No" on the album Fireball is a good example, there are many more just can't think off the top of my head, I just happened to be playing that song after I watched this video, thought I'd post an example...
I love Deep Purple and was even fortunate enough to see them live in concert. Space Trucking, Highway Star and Gypsies Kiss were amazing! Jon Lord was an amazing musician. He was also a very accomplished classical musician. I'm sure he's playing a B3 instead of a harp after he entered the pearly gates :). RIP Jon Lord...
You mentioned running on the dimbulb tester with a 40W bulb to limit current, can you please share the method to work out what size bulb to use in the dimbulb tester and the current they would make available to the circuit?
A good place to start is by looking at the power requirements listed on the back of the device near the power cord. For instance, if an amplifier has a max power rating of 100 watts (mains power, not power to the speakers), then start with a 100 watt or smaller bulb. The lower the wattage of the bulb, the more the current will be limited. Remember, even a 100 watt bulb will not allow the full 100 watts into the amplifier, as it will act as a voltage divider between the amp and the filament of the bulb, which will limit the max current. When you know that there are no major problems, you can increase the wattage of the bulb to allow almost full current to the circuit, but still limit current in case of a sudden short. Hope that helps.
Do you have any "capacitor replacement strategy" for a rebuild? Do you have any "replacement procedure," or a list of good brands or even caps which you could be sure of in terms of quality?
I've talked about this a lot in other videos. As a general rule, I try to stick with name brand caps from known reliable sources such as Farnell, Mouser, Digikey, Allied, etc. I use a lot of Nichicon caps just because I am familiar with the different models and their specs and how they compare to the part I'm replacing. I also like Panasonic, Sprague, Cornell Dublier, Kemet & Wirth. All those brands seem to be very good quality. There are many others that are good and some that are not so good quality. Just try to become familiar with the different types of one or two brands and use them as your "go-to" brand.
Picking off the signal for the mixer should be straightforward, but I think in order to get the organ to sound right with his mixer setup, he's going to need to add a Impulse Response (IR) to his signal processing to replicate how the speaker shapes the sound.
If it is my understanding that dendrites and corrosion products, tin whiskers or something similar, grow inside the tone wheels and cause short circuits; I watched video on CZcams a while ago of a guy repairing this problem by using a 9 V battery to blast the dendrites out of there!
They can grow inside the switch assemblies, and you can also get particles of metal plating coming off the inside of the scanner body, shorting out the scanner vanes. Nothing to do with the tonewheels.
Hi, how can I delete my M3 amp and speaker, and create a line out signal directly from the overall tonewheel output, so I can run that into a standard preamp / power amp, recording console, etc? Perhaps take the combined out at point D, just before the intermediate amplifier? -If the signal impedance is appropriate for a line level signal that is (600 ohms or so?).
I don't see anything anyplace about the connections for ZAP the perrcussion on M-3. I'll go bacxk to ZAP the B-3 video and see if the wire connections cross to M-3.
Hammond tech here: No, it is not a fixed-bias amp. Many people make this mistake. It is a "back-bias" amp, a variation of cathode bias. There is no independent negative bias supply. The negative voltage applied to the output tube grids is derived from total current draw through the audio circuits. Hammond had been using back-bias since the 1930s. See Randall Aiken's site for a more complete discussion of back-bias. The M-3's percussion is not unique. You can dial in percussion-only on any of the main console models: B3, C3, A100, etc... The trimmer capacitor inside the "doghouse" is used to set overall gain of the stages within its loop so you don't get distortion at the outputs. Hammond built their own tone cabinets, and Laurens Hammond did not like the Leslie speaker at all, so while he ran the company, there was an official position of hostility from Hammond towards Leslie. No Hammond built during this period would have had an internal Leslie. Hammond employees were not even allowed to visit the Leslie booth at trade shows. One of history's ironies. There are a few more resistors a Hammond tech would check for drift or simply replace because they are known to fail by opening up spontaneously, and some of the resistors set things like the Percussion decay times. We would also very specifically fuse the AO-29's power transformer (not the entire organ) with a fuse that would blow in case of a tube short. That was the only real mistake I saw here. The story of why Hammond didn't fuse their amps is a long one, but it no longer makes any sense. It turns the power transformer into the fuse. You can fuse the whole organ if you want, but you should do that in addition to fusing the AO-29's PT primary with a small fuse, ~1.5 to 2A (around twice the idle current), slo-blo.
"His kinda...shed/garage thing" - I think the word you're looking for is man cave! Evey guy with sufficient space has to dedicate a room to collecting, building, repairing or displaying some kind of junk. It's the law, don'tcha know!
I recently have been working on my 1960 M3 after taking the organ out of storage after 20 years. This had the front cover still on it so the insides are very clean. Tube checked and replaced as needed amp tubes. Hammond oil to left cup for scanner and motor, both middle and right cups had three doses of filling cup, that was Friday night. Saturday checked and had some squealing bearings so I left it alone. Sunday night so two days later: tonight, I realized that some heat might get the oil to flow better. After ten minutes of going up and down the generator on the bottom side slowly back and forth, I started the organ and had NO SQUEEALING!! When I shut down the generator it ran for 16 seconds until it stopped. I imagine this might be rare? but if your organ is squealing give it some loving heat! Johnne in Clallam Bay, WA.
0:15 Intro
2:23 First look at the schematic
5:31 Looking at the Expression (volume) pedal circuit - very unique
7:58 Power amp section
9:30 Tone generator description
11:01 Percussion amplifier description
12:51 Vibrato circuit description
18:25 Checking out the mains connection and capacitors
24:39 Checking voltages from the transformer
27:43 Installing the 5U4, testing the power supply and seeing if the amp works
30:24 Capacitors are replaced & amp is tested again
38:07 Using the Mini signal generator to feed a signal into the amp
42:37 Amplifier is cleaned up and ready for final testing - New mains cord and fuse have been added
44:15 Playing some music through the amp and final thoughts
This is why I live living in todays age, I just picked one of these organs up and it needs work. I just have to type in “Hammond m3 restoration” and all these videos come up of exactly what I need to do. Amazing.
You reminded me, shango066 resurrected the organ with a speaker like this - 1972 Kimball Console with Leslie Speaker
I service these amps as a hobby, as well. If they are restored to factory original, they are good amps that will last a long time -- again. The circuits are actually quite simple. Almost all parts are still available. It's really sad to see someone turn a Hammond into firewood because the tone generator has frozen (usually fixable) or there are dirty switch contacts that result in no output. A lady gave me an M143 recently. It had no output. After about 10 minutes of servicing, it came back to life. (The start motor was not engaging the run motor shaft.) The reverb amp had some noisy resistors and a couple of bad caps, but it's now fully restored and rocking. The main amplifier is next. It's working well, but I'll replace all of the electrolytic capacitors as the bass response can suffer when these caps start deteriorating.
Many thanks for this one, Tony. The 'Hammond Sound' was very much a signature of the 1950s but I knew little of the technology they used. I now understand why the Queen of Organs was so loved - and so pricey! Looks like this example is set up for another half century. I particularly liked the capacitive volume control solution to the usual scratchy potentiometer problem.
Once again, keep up the good work.
Rob Stewart
Nice that you restoring this Amp. Course loads of organs are going to the scrapyard. Sounds good too on normal music. You saved a antique piece. 👌
I'm not an expert on Hammond organs, but have loved them since my youth. We had the typical basement band back in the 60's and our organ player had a Hammond L. He was a phenomenal player - could play rock, church, classical, anything. He would go to music stores and play and a crowd would quickly form to listen. The stores payed him to play hoping it would help sell organs. But my memory of the history of the Hammond is a little different than what you said. Mr. Hammond hated the Leslie speaker, probably because he didn't invent it. He did not want the Leslie to be sold with a Hammond organ and forbade the music stores from selling the Leslie with the Hammond. The buyer of the organ was responsible for buying the Leslie and the adapter box and having someone wire it into the organ. The speakerless Hammond (B, C) was really designed to work with the Hammond tone cabinet - basically a box about the size of a Leslie with a speaker(s) and an amp. It wasn't until Mr Hammond died that the organ became available with the Leslie and eventually Hammond bought Leslie or both were bought by Suzuki, I'm not sure which.
Leslie wanted nasty, operatic, peculiar sounds of a theater organ (on steriods/tremulants). Hammond wanted the sounds of a church organ. I read all about this and it's interesting. Leslie was a theater organ fan/nut. As later history has shown, Leslie speakers can be used for other purposes. Just ask the Beatles. What's amazing about my preferences of a Hammond organ is, with the right registrations: you can have something mellow or something like the church organ (the original intent).
So much creative engineering to be admired in the Hammond organ. I own an M3 myself.
I recently have been working on my 1960 M3 after taking the organ out of storage after 20 years. This had the front cover still on it so the insides are very clean. Tube checked and replaced as needed amp tubes. Hammond oil to left cup for scanner and motor, both middle and right cups had three doses of filling cup, that was Friday night. Saturday checked and had some squealing bearings so I left it alone. Sunday night so two days later: tonight, I realized that some heat might get the oil to flow better. After ten minutes of going up and down the generator on the bottom side slowly back and forth, I started the organ and had NO SQUEEALING!! When I shut down the generator it ran for 16 seconds until it stopped. I imagine this might be rare? but if your organ is squealing give it some loving heat! Johnne in Clallam Bay, WA.
I've heard "Lighter Fluid" is a good substitute for Hammond Oil - especially if the organ has not been used for a while (years)
Wow, that Hammond Organ amplifier definitely has a nice "HiFi" sound to it even though it's an old amplifier.
Quite interesting. Enjoyed your work. In my opinion, best recording of Hamond B-3 is Jimmy Smith , "Walk on the Wild Side." Some great playing!
Now that is a cool project.
Hammond vibrato circuits etc. are quite interesting in their vintage crazyness, and worth restoration and keeping in use.
Excellent video, full of useful information. Currently working on a Hammond B3 and looking forward to getting it working optimally. Thanks again!
Thanks for a great mini-seminar on that detail of M-3 instruments, Man! that is some shop set-up you got there. Look's like Steve's old garage. (Rest in peace..and the joy of the Lord my friend, we'll meet again! Steve gave me my first HAMMOND a CV with the massive tone cab. We didn't have youtube then, as we now know it, and when the start motor quit I gave it away and the guy parted it out.)
I have worked on a number of M3s in the last 5 years. In addition to the typical week tubes, leaky and open caps I found a number of the carbon composite resistors way out of wack. Getting a seized scanner to spin quietly is the real job. You got the easy part.
Great video Tony, looking forward to seeing the whole thing running 👍
What a diverse repair video library you have put together.
thank you for this video, and happy to see the channel is getting really popular .
This lucky guy has Tony for a neighbor....
I got a bunch of great neighbors,, we're all friends, but I'm the only one of the bunch that can even hold a screwdriver.. lol
i recently got an Hammond M3. Thanks for the video. Very helpful.
I always give you a thumbs-up before I begin watching the video! I KNOW it will be interesting, and informative!!
Good one Tony. My organ failed years ago. I need a T shirt saying 70 year old one owner. Some parts salvageable.
I need a T-shirt that says "No user- serviceable parts inside; refer to qualified servicing personnel".
That's a great idea, picking the line level signal off the speaker load resistor. You get the full "tube transformer output" sound.
Great - Thank's for all the information & techniques. You might enjoy the circuitry of the 122 Leslie (Don Leslie, Pasadena, CA), especially the DC switching of relay controlling the Chorale/Tremelo.
The pitch variation of the Lesley speaker is achieved with the Doppler effect!
Love me some Hammond !...cheers.
Lovely job and great amp. I think I saw Brad the Guitologist gut one out and make a guitar amp out of it.
Add another smaller fuse for the amp itself. Better safe than sorry.
Oh, and don't let Usagi Electric know about that 6AU6! :)
Wow. Fantastic. Thank you!
Good work! ✌
Really interesting amplifier, thank you for sharing that with us. I'd love to see completed project, if your neighbour was ok with that. Good idea re. the fuse to protect the external components, but while you are there is it worth adding a lower current sub-fuse to protect the amplifier? (I bet that power transformer would be tricky to replace).
I have an M3. This will be useful.
What a nice piece of electronics.
Would have been nice if they had used the tubes designed in 1957 with a H+ of 12V and a B+ of 12V and using VN66AF MOSFETS to drive the speakers and would mean that the amp circuit would be really safe to work on except you might get burnt but I suspect that Hammond moved to solid state to make servicing easier and safer for the new technicians coming into the company from collage.
Hi there. Your channel is an amazing resource! Thanks for posting this information on the expression control. I have a 1957 B3 that sounds incredible and also a C3. Tonally the C3 is also fantastic but the expression doesn't have the same dynamic range as the B3 (i.e. the pedal travel does not affect the signal level until about half way and the minimum level is still quite loud). It's not a mechanical issue (the variable cap has full travel). I wondered if you might be able to offer some advice?
Found one on the curb some time ago just needed a new power cord.
I've got a cream for that lol
can you show us how that volume works because it only uses variable capacitor!
maybe you can record some music after it's finished be nice what it sounds like
That variable capacitor volume control looks like it's part of a charge amplifier circuit. Cunning, and no noisy worn out pots
I like things that have lots of valves in them.
This is the ultimate "Tubes-R-US" video.
Mind me asking for a link for part two, please? I tried searching and not finding it.
Thanks,
Adriel
I don't know how far along your neighbor is on the tonewheel restoration but you're (or he is) gonna wanna go ahead and replace ALL paper caps in the entire organ. The manual amp, the percussion amp, the scanner vibrato, and preamps. I have 3 Hammonds from the same 50's and 60's era and can assure you that all of the caps leak DC. I know you have the means to test them so, check it out yourself if you haven't already. It'll be a night and day difference with new caps. The biggest job will be the 16 or so caps on the scanner. I know it sounds like a PITA but, trust me, it's worth it. Caps are cheap, it's just time consuming.
How much would it cost to hire a tech to service/recap my M3 amp? Or how about the tone generator too?
@@ValeriousRex Nowadays, a tech will charge you a few hundred to do that job. Let me recommend that you do it yourself. The job is really simple, it's just time consuming. You can get the caps for under $1 each. Being large axial caps, you won't be working on tiny components. If you don't have a soldering iron, you can get one for $10 online. You'll save yourself a few hundred dollars and even gain a bit of knowledge. I really wouldn't suggest it if it were complicated. I can point you in the right direction to get the caps you need if you're not sure what to get.
@@nonsuch here’s the thing…I did a shifty recap job years ago on the amp even replacing those big can caps with a few smaller ones for each of the internal caps within it…and i had no idea what I was doing and im sure I screwed up somewhere…the organ still works but there’s a few things that aren’t right and I’d rather have someone fix my shoddy work lol
@@ValeriousRex Understood. There may be some other issues. Did you try replacing the tubes? What are the symptoms? If you happen to be in the D.C, MD, VA area... I can help you out.
@@nonsuch I’m actually in NJ…it’s mostly ok…it’s just I used cheap Chinese caps to replace everything and not the best solder job…I’ve got all good tubes in it…I guess it sounds a little “dull” but not bad…I also wired the adapter for the Leslie and the half moon switches myself to the amp and to the speaker…it works…but the switch to toggle between the Leslie and the speaker cuts out all sound when you have it toggled to the “leslie only” setting--(sloppy job by me I’m sure”
The Leslie speaker sounds like it uses a doppler effect : )
The Chorus effect should be a mixture of the original signal (dry) and the phase shifted signal (wet), so maybe that switch determines the amount of each in the mix.
I am definitely enjoying the Hammond content, but probing high voltage inside the chassis with both hands is dangerous, no?
Your B3 image pasted in is of the Digital B3MkI or MkII haha.
The M Series Spinets may be small but are heavy. Being a console of such low height, makes them a real shin bruiser.
The RCA connector on the expression box is handy for such additions like a Maas-Rowe Vibrachime.
The Hammond Percussion circuit operates the same in all four models, B3, C3, M3, and A100. The Vibrato in the Series 2 and Series 3 models is accomplished by "phase shift".
Laurens Hammond didn't believe in fuses. The first fuse appeared in the reverb amplifier of the A100. The 6CA4 rectifier vacuum tube as well as the 6GW8A.
According to those in the Jukebox repair industry, electrolytic capacitors typically have life of 15 to 25 years. Anything beyond that is an experiment. In the time you can test, these old components, they can be replaced, even though the B3/C3 and M3 pre-amplifier chassis are a PITA to rebuild. The M, M2, and M3 spinet chassis a little less as they have the push in solder points.
In the time you spend testing iffy components they can be replaced. A capacitor tester with a voltage source from a 9 VDC battery is not a real test. There are only two products I know of which can accurately test capacitors in real world situations. One is the Sencore Capacitor Analyzer. The other is a Sprague Capacitor analyzer.
I had that exact Hammond when I was a lad! We had an external Leslie too! Brings back memories. Do you really trust all those carbon resistors after all these years?
All the resistors checked out good. Those were the Allen Bradley type. Very good quality. They usually stay in tolerance, although the really high resistance ones (1 Meg, etc) can drift.
Amazing video, one question in the pedal box you can adjust the gain to get overdrive as the b3 preamp? Thanks
I'm not sure yet. We just got the generator running. Hopefully in another week or so we will get it running well enough to find out.
@@xraytonyb thanks, let me know please!
A good example of of a Hammond player who uses the percussion setting a lot is Jon Lord from Deep Purple. He leans on it heavily in some solos.....4min 21sec into the song "No No No" on the album Fireball is a good example, there are many more just can't think off the top of my head, I just happened to be playing that song after I watched this video, thought I'd post an example...
I love Deep Purple and was even fortunate enough to see them live in concert. Space Trucking, Highway Star and Gypsies Kiss were amazing! Jon Lord was an amazing musician. He was also a very accomplished classical musician. I'm sure he's playing a B3 instead of a harp after he entered the pearly gates :). RIP Jon Lord...
What was the instrumental track you played near the end of video?
Xraytony Hammond M3 Organ Amplifier Is cool
Cool music
Really makes me wonder what pushing a guitar signal though that percussion amp would sound like
You mentioned running on the dimbulb tester with a 40W bulb to limit current, can you please share the method to work out what size bulb to use in the dimbulb tester and the current they would make available to the circuit?
A good place to start is by looking at the power requirements listed on the back of the device near the power cord. For instance, if an amplifier has a max power rating of 100 watts (mains power, not power to the speakers), then start with a 100 watt or smaller bulb. The lower the wattage of the bulb, the more the current will be limited. Remember, even a 100 watt bulb will not allow the full 100 watts into the amplifier, as it will act as a voltage divider between the amp and the filament of the bulb, which will limit the max current. When you know that there are no major problems, you can increase the wattage of the bulb to allow almost full current to the circuit, but still limit current in case of a sudden short. Hope that helps.
How much would it cost to hire a tech to service/recap my M3 amp? Or how about the tone generator too?
Just put a di box in the speaker line and you will have a 600 ohm balanced line output
i have problems with my m3 organ , the sound is only low pitched sound and no high pitched sounds i do not why, what can i do?
Do you have any "capacitor replacement strategy" for a rebuild? Do you have any "replacement procedure," or a list of good brands or even caps which you could be sure of in terms of quality?
I've talked about this a lot in other videos. As a general rule, I try to stick with name brand caps from known reliable sources such as Farnell, Mouser, Digikey, Allied, etc. I use a lot of Nichicon caps just because I am familiar with the different models and their specs and how they compare to the part I'm replacing. I also like Panasonic, Sprague, Cornell Dublier, Kemet & Wirth. All those brands seem to be very good quality. There are many others that are good and some that are not so good quality. Just try to become familiar with the different types of one or two brands and use them as your "go-to" brand.
@@xraytonyb Thank you so much. The more that you know, the better the repair!
Picking off the signal for the mixer should be straightforward, but I think in order to get the organ to sound right with his mixer setup, he's going to need to add a Impulse Response (IR) to his signal processing to replicate how the speaker shapes the sound.
Can you buy those clear back covers that's on your VOM?
I don't believe so. Mine came that way from an antique store.
i ant had my organ fail yet but my favorite peace is still in another location ..keywords for now and in time
I just got an M-2 .....is it possible to add the percussion effect to it?
yes, look up the trek ii percussion unit
If it is my understanding that dendrites and corrosion products, tin whiskers or something similar, grow inside the tone wheels and cause short circuits; I watched video on CZcams a while ago of a guy repairing this problem by using a 9 V battery to blast the dendrites out of there!
They can grow inside the switch assemblies, and you can also get particles of metal plating coming off the inside of the scanner body, shorting out the scanner vanes. Nothing to do with the tonewheels.
Hi, how can I delete my M3 amp and speaker, and create a line out signal directly from the overall tonewheel output, so I can run that into a standard preamp / power amp, recording console, etc? Perhaps take the combined out at point D, just before the intermediate amplifier? -If the signal impedance is appropriate for a line level signal that is (600 ohms or so?).
Interested in hearing the answer to this one!
I don't see anything anyplace about the connections for ZAP the perrcussion on M-3. I'll go bacxk to ZAP the B-3 video and see if the wire connections cross to M-3.
_Insert organ pun here_
Hammond tech here: No, it is not a fixed-bias amp. Many people make this mistake. It is a "back-bias" amp, a variation of cathode bias. There is no independent negative bias supply. The negative voltage applied to the output tube grids is derived from total current draw through the audio circuits. Hammond had been using back-bias since the 1930s. See Randall Aiken's site for a more complete discussion of back-bias.
The M-3's percussion is not unique. You can dial in percussion-only on any of the main console models: B3, C3, A100, etc...
The trimmer capacitor inside the "doghouse" is used to set overall gain of the stages within its loop so you don't get distortion at the outputs.
Hammond built their own tone cabinets, and Laurens Hammond did not like the Leslie speaker at all, so while he ran the company, there was an official position of hostility from Hammond towards Leslie. No Hammond built during this period would have had an internal Leslie. Hammond employees were not even allowed to visit the Leslie booth at trade shows. One of history's ironies.
There are a few more resistors a Hammond tech would check for drift or simply replace because they are known to fail by opening up spontaneously, and some of the resistors set things like the Percussion decay times. We would also very specifically fuse the AO-29's power transformer (not the entire organ) with a fuse that would blow in case of a tube short. That was the only real mistake I saw here. The story of why Hammond didn't fuse their amps is a long one, but it no longer makes any sense. It turns the power transformer into the fuse. You can fuse the whole organ if you want, but you should do that in addition to fusing the AO-29's PT primary with a small fuse, ~1.5 to 2A (around twice the idle current), slo-blo.
How much would it cost to hire a tech to service/recap my M3 amp? Or how about the tone generator too?
Hammond+Leslie=Mankind's greatest invention of 2K, A.D. (a gizmo paradise!)
Part 2?
Didn't make one. Amp worked as is.
@@xraytonyb gotcha, thank you!
I turn these amps into killer guitar amps. The AO-28 is especially good for guitar amps.
As you kill off the last remaining Hammond amplifiers. Just sayin'.
@@cjay2 Most of them were used as firewood. Luckily some of the amps survived and are able to be repurposed.
Percussion on the M3 works the same as the B3, C3, A100, the Rt3, and the M100. It is not unique to the M3.
Thank you for the info. I'm still learning all of this. I am quite fascinated by the technology contained in the Hammond gear.
"His kinda...shed/garage thing" - I think the word you're looking for is man cave! Evey guy with sufficient space has to dedicate a room to collecting, building, repairing or displaying some kind of junk. It's the law, don'tcha know!
Studio/cave
Your parameters is dead on (does not depend how you define I S)
There’s medicine available for the organ fault you describe 😂
electrile dysfunction. Bad caps cause the power supply to go soft. Replacing the caps will stiffen it right up ;)
Tony, could you please reduce the time of the opening card 'disclaimer' to one or two seconds. Anyone wanting to read it can pause the video. Thanks.
I recently have been working on my 1960 M3 after taking the organ out of storage after 20 years. This had the front cover still on it so the insides are very clean. Tube checked and replaced as needed amp tubes. Hammond oil to left cup for scanner and motor, both middle and right cups had three doses of filling cup, that was Friday night. Saturday checked and had some squealing bearings so I left it alone. Sunday night so two days later: tonight, I realized that some heat might get the oil to flow better. After ten minutes of going up and down the generator on the bottom side slowly back and forth, I started the organ and had NO SQUEEALING!! When I shut down the generator it ran for 16 seconds until it stopped. I imagine this might be rare? but if your organ is squealing give it some loving heat! Johnne in Clallam Bay, WA.