My New Allen ADC-3000-B

[JessieAMorris]

Hey guys, I sold my Hammond D-152 and used those funds to purchase an Allen ADC-3000-B from Phoenix. I went down over the weekend and picked the beast up. I thought the D-152 was heavy, but this thing is pretty darn close in weight! It may even be slightly heavier. Thank goodness for Roll-Or-Kari's. :-)

I got everything set up and it all works like a charm, even after being hauled 1000 miles back up to Utah. It fits the playstyle (classical) much better than the D-152 and I still have an A-100 and a Leslie 145 down in the basement for the rock-n-roll jam sessions. I can really work on registration now which is something that I had a hard time with on the Hammond. The preset pistons and toe studs are a great bonus. I am really excited to start practicing with a more authentic electronic organ.

Right now the speakers that came with it are a pair of Altec 879a's. They seem to be okay and the 15" woofer hits low notes okay, but I'm not in love with the size to performance ratio. I am not sure I could do much better, but the sealed design surely isn't optimal. I'll be on the lookout for building or buying an alternative, I think.

It came with a Harrison Labs "DSP Ambience Processor" which I'm not in love with. I get a really loud noise on startup (almost like a spring reverb unit being kicked" and a loud "POP" when I turn the organ off. This doesn't happen without the reverb unit in place. There's a Lexicon MX200 reverb unit locally for a good price that I'm tempted to pick up instead. I trust profession brands a lot more in these types of things vs niche manufacturers with poor product support...

Let me know your thoughts and/or improvements that could be made!

[myorgan]

Jesse,

Glad you're a part of the Forum. A belated welcome!

I would suggest getting genuine Allen speakers (if you have the room). For that organ, 2 or 4 HC12 speakers would work, and may be slightly smaller than the ones you show in the picture. The alternative would be HC14 or HC15 speakers, but they're not as "bassy" as the HC12s, and conversely, the HC12 speakers are not as "bright" as the 14 or 15.

All the above speakers are about 18" square, and 33" tall (give or take 1/2").

The POP when you turn the organ on probably has something to do with the mute relay. In the power supply inside the organ, you may have a spare AC plug that is delayed and turns on after the mute relay has done its job. Others will have to weigh in on the details.

I think a woofer would probably be more satisfying than the meower I see in the picture.;-) Time will tell, though! I am a dog person.

Best of luck with your new instrument, and I hope you enjoy it for years to come.

[JessieAMorris]

I'll take a look and see if I can find the outlet. There are a total of 4 outlets, with 1 not being used, but I'll look and see if one of the outlets is wired differently. It sounded fairly good so if I could reduce the pop I'd probably keep it in there.

I did notice some strange behavior with a few of the keys when running through the HL box, but it may just be due to the setting it was on. Some of the notes were about half the apparent volume as the others. It may have been wired wrong too. I've got much to look at tonight!

[jbird604]

I agree with Michael about speakers. While good audiophile speakers are better than cheap ones, Allen HC style cabinets were designed to elicit the best sound from Allen ADC series organs. Your ADC3000 was probably shipped with HC-12 speakers, as the HC-15 came out just about the time the 3000 was discontinued in favor of the 3100. Either -12 or -15 cabinets would be nice though. Given a choice, at the same price, I'd go for the -12's on that organ, as it probably benefits from the slight bass emphasis of the -12.

Good to know that the organ worked perfectly even after being hauled that distance. Don't be surprised if you have to do at least some maintenance though. Unless a previous owner has already exercised pots, cleaned and lubed card-edge connectors and RCA plugs, etc., those items may need your attention. You can find instructions on doing this in various threads here on the forum.

As you get more accustomed to it, you may decide to run through a complete voicing procedure in which you will tinker with the B(ass), T(reble), M(idrange), and G(ain) controls for each of the several voicing groups. It can sometimes make a good organ sound even better when the tonal balance is adjusted within the acoustic environment where it is to be played and heard, although "factory" voicing is normally pretty good.

SERIOUS NOTE: ADC Allens have batteries that should have been placed in off-the-board battery holders years ago, but you should check to make sure that this has been done. Leaking batteries have done untold damage to these organs resulting in the need for very costly repairs. Check the following in your ADC3000:

(1) The DM-3 Capture Memory (a large board mounted on a flat surface in the console or on one of the swing-out panels) originally had a pair of AA-size Ni-Cad rechargeables soldered directly to the board. They should have been replaced by a pair of rechargeable AA batteries (Ni-Cad or NiMH ok) either in a shrink-wrap pack or in a box sitting in the floor of the console. It is also possible (and lucky if true) that your organ will have a DM-4 memory board instead of the DM-3. The newer DM-4 uses no batteries of any kind.

(2) The USAV-1 or USAV-2 board in the cage is the memory board for the Alterable Voices. It was originally built with a set of three AA size rechargeable batteries soldered directly to the board. These should also have been replaced with a shrink-wrap pack or a battery holder located outside the cage. Some owners or techs have simply removed the batteries without replacing them at all, and that is OK. This simply means that the Card Reader voices will not be held in memory when the organ is powered off, and that may be of no consequence whatsoever to you. It certainly puts an end to worrying about the batteries in the cage.

This battery damage is a very serious matter. The Allen MDS-45 at my church was damaged when the batteries on the USAV board leaked many years ago. The USAV board was simply removed from the cage at that time, since the Card Reader was not being used or wanted. However, many years later (just this past year), residual damage from the leaking batteries totally disabled the organ, as remnants of the leaked acid ate through a vital trace in the cage backplane board. It took many hours of troubleshooting and repair to get the organ playing again. So don't fail to check this situation out!

Good luck and please post about your experiences with your new instrument.

- - - Updated - - -

A word about that "pop" you are hearing ... The Harrison Labs device itself is causing that, and the amps in your 3000 do not have built-in muting, as do the amps in later models. The muting takes place in the cage itself, so having that HL device in the audio path opens the door for turn-on and turn-off transients.

A possible fix would be to plug the HL devices power adapter into a UNSWITCHED outlet so that the thing stays on all the time. It will draw so little current you would never know it was on, and it wouldn't have to boot up every time you start the organ, thus eliminating the noises that it generates during start-up.

[rjsilva]

I use an MX200 with my organ and I'd highly recommend it. I use a relatively small reverb mainly to take the sterile edge off in my small room, but most of the reverbs sound pretty natural. Infinitely better than the built-in Alesis reverb on the organ :)

[JessieAMorris]

Both sets of batteries were connected. The alterable voice batteries were shrink wrapped, but I really don't care if my alterable is lost after being powered down.

I do want to get the preset batteries replaced though. What are the specs on the batteries? I saw 800mAh on the batteries, but didn't see any voltage specs. I guess I can go test the batteries with my DMM when I get home tonight. Regardless, I'm glad that the crisis has been averted. ;-)

As for the reverb, I changed the wiring a bit and removed the awful shriek and pop on startup, so that's great. I just changed the unswitched plug (which was for the light) to be for the reverb instead. I have to say, with some reverb added it sounds great!

There's some HC-12 speakers in Colorado right now, but the asking price is out of my budget. For now the sound is acceptable. My wife would probably kill me if I went to purchase more organ things. ;-)

[Horseshoe_or]

I have 2 HC-14 and 2 HC-15 I would love to get rid of. The HC-14 are finished in white with white grill cloth. The HC-15 are utility cabinets. Too bad you didn't know that you needed Allen speakers when you picked up the organ as I live in Phoenix. Send me a private message if you are interested.

[jbird604]

Jessie,

On the Alterable Voice memory board, there would have been three AA batteries wired in series. Since rechargeables normally are considered 1.2 volts each (as opposed to the 1.5 volts of a regular AA battery, and the 1.8 volts of a lithium battery), that means the alterable memory needs a battery pack rated for 3.6 volts, which is what you can find in many stores as replacement packs for those hand-held cordless home phones. As you said, it's really not vital to even have batteries on that board, so if you wish you can just clip them off.

The DM-3 board requires two AA rechargeables in series, which means a 2.4 volt pack. Today's good quality rechargeables are actually capable of putting out 2400 mA and sometimes more, so these will hold the preset memory for weeks or months, even if you never turned the organ on. I normally get a plastic battery holder from Radio Shack or somewhere and install two AA NiMH cells. Be sure to wire them in correct polarity.

[JessieAMorris]

Jessie,
As you said, it's really not vital to even have batteries on that board, so if you wish you can just clip them off.

The DM-3 board requires two AA rechargeables in series, which means a 2.4 volt pack.
[...]
I normally get a plastic battery holder from Radio Shack or somewhere and install two AA NiMH cells. Be sure to wire them in correct polarity.

I already snipped and removed the Alterable Voice batteries. I won't even bother replacing them.

For the DM-3 batteries I'll stop by Radio Shack on the way home from my organ lessons today. It should be pretty easy to get it installed tonight.

[toodles]

Without the battery backup, the alterable voice may startup with some random data--who knows, you might like what you get!

[JessieAMorris]

Well, I replaced the capture memory batteries today. I think it cost about $20 out the door and now I have my pistons back. I decided not to do the alterable memory as it's not really important.

Thanks for the help everyone! The lessons have been been going great despite my noob-ness. :-)

- - - Updated - - -

One last thing, the highest C on my pedal board sometimes "sticks". The pedal itself works fine but sometimes the note sounds. If I press it a few times the note stops sounding. I noticed the plastic bit has screws for adjustment, but I tried shifting it down and it doesn't seem to want to go. Any tips?

[jbird604]

Put a sliver of thin felt or leather into the "cups" at either end of the pedalboard, the spots on the console itself where the pedal unit settles down into place. The wood at that point may have compressed or worn down a bit, allowing the pedalboard to sit a bit too low, thus causing the magnet to come too near the reed switch. Once the trouble starts with a note at one end, it may spread to the rest of the pedals. But the fix is very simple and cheap. You can use a thin piece of leather or felt or whatever you have at hand.

The plastic housing that holds the reed switches can be adjusted up and down, but first you have to remove the two screws that are not in slots, as these hold the housing in the "factory" position. It is almost never necessary to change the height of the housing though. The trouble is nearly always with those wooden cups at the ends.

The only other cause of pedal misalignment is carpet. Sometimes when an organ is sitting in thick or cushy carpet, the pedals won't be properly lined up with the switch housing and you'll have similar issues. In that case, you might have to cut some small squares of plywood and place them underneath the four "feet" of the console -- the four furniture glides that are located underneath the four corners of the console base. This will prevent the console from burying up in the carpet and going out of alignment with the pedals.

[JessieAMorris]

The leather trick worked perfect. Now that I have a working piston capture system I noticed that my principal 8' stop on the great get's stuck on. I see it shifting halfway "up" when I press a piston that doesn't include the 8', but it stays on. I guess I can steal a solenoid from one of the blank tabs...

[jbird604]

Most likely the pivot is just a bit sluggish and the tab resists moving. I usually put a TINY drop of WD-40 at the pivot points on both sides of a tab when I have one sluggish like that. Exercise it up and down a few times and it should start working perfectly.

Glad the little leather bushing trick worked for you on the pedals. I don't think I've ever had to actually move the keyswitch housing up or down, once I got the pedals properly aligned with the console.

[JessieAMorris]

I just gave the switch a cleaning and small drop of lube and it works great. Thanks for the help!