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**jbird604** · 04-07-2014, 07:09 PM

The Allen 301-3B is a variation on the standard 300 series MOS organ, and this was the technology Allen used in all their organs throughout the 1970's and early 80's. The 300 was one of the first MOS models brought out in 1971, and the 301 was an updated version brought out a couple years later with some enhancements such as adjustable random motion. So that dates it maybe 1973 - 1979, thereabouts. Like all 300 series MOS organs, it has the deluxe capture action with fully settable pistons, some toe studs, external speakers, a crescendo pedal, a 32' stop, the analog celeste generator, and the card reader. The 300 series was the fully tricked-out single-computer organ of the day.

The "-3" part of the model number designates this particular organ as having the "second church" stop list. The second church stoplist was a slight modification from the original MOS classical spec, and you can spot it by the fact that the swell has two Salicional stops labeled I and II, and the swell is missing the Tierce stop. More importantly, the "-3" configuration places the 8' and 4' members of each chorus into opposite audio channels, which presumably helps with the buildup and ensemble, especially if the organ was also equipped with the optional Frequency Separation board so that there is a subtle tuning offset between the two channels.

Being a single-computer model, it would normally have two audio channels and two speaker cabinets. If this one has six speakers, there has obviously been some expansion, perhaps it was modified with a bass crossover and one of the cabinets is a subwoofer. Or maybe it was installed in a church where there were four cabinets in the main speaker array and two in an antiphonal array. At any rate, that's plenty of speakers and you probably won't need all of them for a home setup unless you have a lot of room. It will easily play with just two speaker cabinets.

The "B" part of the model number indicates that it is in the "B" style console, which is the large deluxe console used for that model. It is the same console Allen had used previously for their nice TC-4 analog organ, a very pretty and classically styled console with rounded features, sturdy looking side arms, and a quality rolltop.

Of course, it's 100% AGO compliant in every way, the best type of console to practice on. So that's a pretty decent organ to have at home. There are still a lot of them in use even in churches.

As to repairs, these organs have a very good repair history, a great many of them having been in service for 40 years without needing anything other than routine maintenance. But, if a major board goes bad, you unfortunately have little choice but to have a new one or exchanged one put in by an authorized Allen tech. Allen doesn't sell digital organ parts except through their dealer/tech network, and the boards can be quite costly. But truly, nowadays it's very rare to have a failure in a MOS organ board. We probably haven't replaced one in two years, and there are surely a couple hundred of these MOS organs in our service area. This has to be one of the most trouble-free organs out there.

With all that in mind, remember that these are 40 years old and are usually available for very little cost. so don't pay a lot of money for one unless you are getting free delivery and setup and some kind of warranty.

Good luck!

**baldwin 46c** · 04-08-2014, 12:12 PM

thank you for a most informative reply , the price is $200.00 Canadian , is that reasonable ? the only problem that might occur is that they may not have the original manual and no memory cards .

**davidecasteel** · 04-08-2014, 12:54 PM

I don't know about you, but if one of those came available anywhere near me for $200US, I'd grab it! Don't worry about Tone Cards (if that is what you meant)--there are lots of those out there.

David

**baldwin 46c** · 04-08-2014, 05:45 PM

hi David ! I now also have a Baldwin 46c organ and just acquired an n2 tone cabinet , I hooked it up to the 46c with the what I think is the appropriate cable that came with the n2 tone cabinet ( which was used with a Baldwin model 5 organ ) and nothing happens ! at the back of the 46c it says that an n2 can be used among other models , so what gives ? do you have any suggestions or solution ?
thanks , Mario .

- - - Updated - - -

hi jbird ! I also now own a Baldwin 46c organ and I just acquired a Baldwin n2 tone cabinet which was originally used with a Baldwin model 5 organ , it has the original long power signal cable and I used it to hook it up to the 46c and nothing happens .
do you have any suggestions or solutions is to what the problem might be ?
best regards , Mario .

**davidecasteel** · 04-08-2014, 08:42 PM

I will defer to jbird on this.

David

**jbird604** · 04-09-2014, 06:33 AM

RE: hooking Baldwin 46 to external speaker. These organs are pretty old with tube-type technology and a variety of problems than can develop. The speaker system you are talking about is also very old with tube-type amps.

So, there are all kinds of things that could be wrong that would prevent the speaker from working. You might first check all the tubes in the speaker cabinet to make sure they are all lighting up when you turn it on. Replace any that are not lit and see if that makes it work.

Other than that, you could have a lot of problems with equipment of that age. If you can get a technician to look at it for not much money, you could find out for sure. But I wouldn't invest much money in something like that.

$200 is a very low price for the Allen. Be aware that you may have to spend at least some money to get it working. If the speakers are of the HC-10 type, which was common in that decade, they may need the cones replaced due to rotting foam. However, if the speakers are of the 16-1 and 32A/B type, they are probably just fine. Other things can always be wrong with an organ that is being basically given away, but I think the price is so low that you could afford to put a little money into it if necessary.

Best of luck!

**baldwin 46c** · 04-11-2014, 08:25 AM

hi! I have purchased the allen 301-3b and now that I hooked it up I find out that not all of the key tabs above the key board work properly , at first I thought that the whole thing was dead but it turns out that the key board only works when a few of the tabs are engaged , most of them do not work when engaged and this led me to think that the whole thing was defective or dead .
can you shed any light on this ? any help would greatly be appreciated .

**davidecasteel** · 04-11-2014, 12:15 PM

jbird and others may be able to help, but they will want more information. I'm sure it would help if you could at least list the names of the stops that do work and what group (Swell, Great, Pedal) they are part of. Also if all notes on the keyboards work or if only some do.

David

**baldwin 46c** · 04-11-2014, 06:54 PM

hello again ! I checked as you suggested and on the great only 4 key tabs work , the 16-quintaden , 8-hohlflote , 4-oktav , 2-waldflote , the rest are dead , on the swell only 7 work , 13 are dead , on the pedal 7 only work , the rest are dead , why are they written or labeled in what looks like german ? looks like I got screwed . I wonder how much this will cost to fix and god knows what else may be wrong !

**davidecasteel** · 04-11-2014, 07:17 PM

Concerning the labels of the stops being in German, that is not uncommon, and not really something to worry about. Virtually all the German names have equivalent ones in English. Go to the on-line Encyclopedia of Organ Stops ( http://www.organstops.org/ ) and look up the names you see--the equivalents in several languages will also be shown. For example, a Hohlflöte is just a (usually wood) flute with wide scale and a hollow tone; the Waldflöte ("Woods flute") is often very similar. Regarding whether or not it was a good deal, I'll let the more knowledgeable folks work with you on that.

David

**jbird604** · 04-12-2014, 09:03 AM

One of your audio channels is not sounding. Since this is a "-3" version, the stops you mention are the ones that normally sound through the "flute" amp and speaker, so my guess is that the flute amp is working but the other amp is either not working or not connected to a speaker. It may have a blown fuse or the circuit breaker may have tripped. There's a chance that you don't have the speakers connected correctly. If the audio is running through a relay, just connect your speakers directed to the output terminals of the amplifiers because a relay could be bad.

AS to the stop names, you are looking at the standard Allen MOS stop names -- such as Prinzipal, Hohlflote, Octav, etc. They may sound German, but they are just typical stop names in the classical organ world. Once you get accustomed to using these as organists do, they won't seem strange to you at all.

Since you paid so little for the organ, if you can't get it to work properly you may need the services of an actual organ tech. I hate to hear that you are disappointed, but I stand by my enthusiastic support of these organs. They are built like a tank and almost never give trouble. I am pretty sure you just don't have it all set up properly. If you got six speaker cabinets with it, they are worth a couple hundred dollars apiece, so you can sell them off and get some money to use for a technician.

If you are puzzled by the various speaker types and want to know which ones to keep and which ones to sell, please post pics and I'll advise you on that.

Also, since you mentioned that it had so many speakers with it and some kind of external equipment rack, it may well have been modified in some way for its original home. One or more of the amplifiers may have been taken out of the console and mounted on the rack. If so, it should be an easy job for an Allen tech to restore it to is normal configuration and set it up for you with only the standard set of two speakers.

Good luck!

**baldwin 46c** · 04-13-2014, 11:39 AM

hi ! thanks for the reply , I tried your suggestions but I still can't get it working properly , all of the keys on the upper and lower manual work only in conjunction with some of the tabs on the swell or great . otherwise if the proper key note is not engaged none of the keyboard keys produce a sound .
I will attempt to post some pictures .
thank you !