A few questions about the Wurlitzer 4602

[zylstra555]

Hello all!

I am the organist of a church and we are considering replacement of our Hammond A-102 with a Wurtlizer 4602 for the following reasons:
Tonal quality, full pedalboard, and it meets AGO standards.

The one recording I have ever heard of the 4602 blew me away and I have had my eye out for one ever since.

Please tell me: Do you think this would be a good replacement for the Hammond? I like the Hammond for the contemporary music, but not so much the traditional hymns or for solo music (or classical...)

Is the 4602 likely to develop problems due to age? It sounds as if it was kept indoors (we live in a very very dry climate) and it received little use. I don't have time to recap everything or do any major work. (The Hammond works perfectly doing what it is supposed to, and I don't want something I will have to spend time fixing a new organ.)


And most important: We have a Leslie 225. It is of utmost importance that the organ work with this speaker as we do not have any other speakers, the internal speakers on the 4602 will not be loud enough for the space it needs to cover, and I want a tremulant! (There, I said it. I'm a theater organ lover too -- deal with it!) Can it be made to work with this with out a great deal of effort?


I really really appreciate your technical and personal opinions about this.

[toasterDude]

Hi, I owned a 4600 for a brief while a few years back (smaller cousin to the 4602). I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the sound! Very pipe-like.

To answer your questions:

1) Yes, I would think this would be a terrific replacement for a Hammond in a church setting. Hammonds are great too, but for other reasons/qualities IMHO.

2) Unfortunately yes, the 4602 is in fact liable to develop problems due to its age. You're looking at an instrument that's probably a minimum of 50 years old, with lots of electrolytic capacitors that are way past their design life. This isn't to say that you might not be able to plug it in and play it right off the bat, and keep on playing for years! Sometimes these old battleships are amazing that way. But eventually, something's gonna have to give.

3) The Leslie 225 should be a straightforward hookup. I might be concerned about blowing the 12" driver in there, though... but if you've done fine with it on the A102 (perhaps at very moderate volume levels - ?) it may be OK. Certainly one of the bigger Leslies would be better - the original match would've been a 46W or 47 for single-speed, or a 147 for two-speed. (Talk about blowing you away!)

With all that said, I'll put it this way - if you decide you don't want the 4602, I'll take it!

td