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Another LONG story, but try to follow me as I talk about an interesting installation and a very peculiar service call!
Yesterday we serviced an Allen MOS organ (305-B, a MOS-2 model with single computer plus analog celeste, from early 80's). It was in a small town First Methodist Church, probably seating 250 or so. A nice sanctuary with moderately high wooden ceiling and other smooth surfaces, better than average acoustics. A 2-channel MOS organ seems about right-sized for it.
But this was no ordinary installation! There were grave problems, which I'll detail at the end, but this was a full-on bang-up installation when it was done in 1981 or 82. First thing we noted was the amp and speaker count, which went as follows:
Left chamber: one 32A/B set (normally used for flute/pedal channel of MOS organs), plus one 16-1 cabinet (normally used for the Main channel), PLUS one HC-12, PLUS an equipment rack with 2 amps, a TAS unit, and a reverb mixer. So far so good. I figured the organ had remote amps and that these were the only amps. But there's more...
Right chamber: another 32A/B set, plus another 16-1 cabinet, plus yet another HC-12. No amps or other equipment in this chamber. But there's more...
Mounted above the balcony we found two MORE HC-12 cabinets (antiphonal)
Then when we opened the console and looked inside, we saw FOUR more S-100 amps and some antiphonal relays. There were far more cables exiting the console than usual (you'd expect a power cord and two speaker cables, possibly a signal wire for an external amp rack, but not the large bundle of wires we saw, though one large cable was for a chime unit).
After much head-scratching and speculating (because, as I'll detail in a moment, so much of it wasn't working) we finally figured out what the original configuration had been. Keep in mind that this organ was purchased with the proceeds from a large memorial gift, and that the music staff at the time had high standards.
Ok, so here's how we decided it must have been configured: First, a fully doubled set of regular MOS speakers (the 32A/B and the 16-1 in each chamber, both sets driven by the stock pair of S-100 amps in the console). So far, not too unusual. Then, the two HC-12's making up the antiphonal were driven by their own pair of amps, also in the console. That explained why the antiphonals were louder than the front speakers. A little unusual, but actually a nice touch.
And finally, the TAS system up in the left chamber fed its output to the two S-100 amps on the rack in the chamber, and the amp outputs were fed to the pair of HC-12's up front, one in each chamber. That must have given a rather interesting "stereo" reverberation, though the church is in fact lively enough without artificial reverb. I suspect that with all the money they had to spend the church let the dealer sell them the TAS setup without really needing it.
Now the "REST of the story" ... Hardly anything was working right, and the TAS was not working at all, nor were any of the speakers in the left chamber. I immediately noticed that the 15" cones, all three of them, in the 32A/B and 16-1 cabinets on that side were MISSING. Not just torn, but GONE. Closer inspection showed that they had been removed almost surgically, leaving only the spider and voice coil hanging in the frame. The woofer and mids of the HC-12 were also ripped up, though not completely gone (the HC-12 was higher up, so harder to access by the... umm... )
Then we noticed that many of the cables on the TAS and the two amps were missing. Not the ENDS of the cables, just the cables themselves, again sort of "surgically" removed. Finally, my assistant looked underneath the amp rack and spotted the skeleton of a large squirrel!
So here's what must have happened: The squirrel somehow got into the chamber and could not get out. In an attempt to survive, he had eaten the paper cones of the speakers, gnawing them down to the inedible parts. Then he went to work on the cables. No telling how long he lived up there, before dying for lack of water and food, I suppose. It's hard to believe that the choir members, not 10 feet below the chamber, didn't "smell" something!
The antiphonals still worked, after a fashion, but were of course very distorted and ugly sounding, as the woofers and mids of these 37 year old HC-12's were shot. So all that was left working was the lone MOS speaker setup in the right chamber -- a 32A/B set for the flute/pedal and a 16-1 for the mains. And the remarkable thing was that the organ still sounded quite good through those speakers, and the sound filled the room. I can only imagine that it must have sounded far better before the squirrel went to work on it!
We're in the process of proposing a complete renovation, with all new cones in the denuded cabinets and in the HC-12's throughout. Not completely certain that we'll restore the TAS system, as it's not really needed, and was never all that wonderful, as it was a very early attempt at digital reverb. But at the very least we'll have a doubled up-front speaker set and a credible antiphonal with the HC-12's driven by their own amps.
The church treasurer was there, and she showed me the ledger book from 1981 that gave the purchase price at about $21,000. I told them that a setup like that today, with a beautiful console equivalent to the "B" style, with a deluxe mechanical stop action and capture system, with so many amps and speakers, would cost $80K, and I don't doubt it at all. Of course Allen doesn't even offer moving tabs any more, you have to take knobs or settle for Lumitech. So they have a nice organ that certainly deserves restoration.
Yesterday we serviced an Allen MOS organ (305-B, a MOS-2 model with single computer plus analog celeste, from early 80's). It was in a small town First Methodist Church, probably seating 250 or so. A nice sanctuary with moderately high wooden ceiling and other smooth surfaces, better than average acoustics. A 2-channel MOS organ seems about right-sized for it.
But this was no ordinary installation! There were grave problems, which I'll detail at the end, but this was a full-on bang-up installation when it was done in 1981 or 82. First thing we noted was the amp and speaker count, which went as follows:
Left chamber: one 32A/B set (normally used for flute/pedal channel of MOS organs), plus one 16-1 cabinet (normally used for the Main channel), PLUS one HC-12, PLUS an equipment rack with 2 amps, a TAS unit, and a reverb mixer. So far so good. I figured the organ had remote amps and that these were the only amps. But there's more...
Right chamber: another 32A/B set, plus another 16-1 cabinet, plus yet another HC-12. No amps or other equipment in this chamber. But there's more...
Mounted above the balcony we found two MORE HC-12 cabinets (antiphonal)
Then when we opened the console and looked inside, we saw FOUR more S-100 amps and some antiphonal relays. There were far more cables exiting the console than usual (you'd expect a power cord and two speaker cables, possibly a signal wire for an external amp rack, but not the large bundle of wires we saw, though one large cable was for a chime unit).
After much head-scratching and speculating (because, as I'll detail in a moment, so much of it wasn't working) we finally figured out what the original configuration had been. Keep in mind that this organ was purchased with the proceeds from a large memorial gift, and that the music staff at the time had high standards.
Ok, so here's how we decided it must have been configured: First, a fully doubled set of regular MOS speakers (the 32A/B and the 16-1 in each chamber, both sets driven by the stock pair of S-100 amps in the console). So far, not too unusual. Then, the two HC-12's making up the antiphonal were driven by their own pair of amps, also in the console. That explained why the antiphonals were louder than the front speakers. A little unusual, but actually a nice touch.
And finally, the TAS system up in the left chamber fed its output to the two S-100 amps on the rack in the chamber, and the amp outputs were fed to the pair of HC-12's up front, one in each chamber. That must have given a rather interesting "stereo" reverberation, though the church is in fact lively enough without artificial reverb. I suspect that with all the money they had to spend the church let the dealer sell them the TAS setup without really needing it.
Now the "REST of the story" ... Hardly anything was working right, and the TAS was not working at all, nor were any of the speakers in the left chamber. I immediately noticed that the 15" cones, all three of them, in the 32A/B and 16-1 cabinets on that side were MISSING. Not just torn, but GONE. Closer inspection showed that they had been removed almost surgically, leaving only the spider and voice coil hanging in the frame. The woofer and mids of the HC-12 were also ripped up, though not completely gone (the HC-12 was higher up, so harder to access by the... umm... )
Then we noticed that many of the cables on the TAS and the two amps were missing. Not the ENDS of the cables, just the cables themselves, again sort of "surgically" removed. Finally, my assistant looked underneath the amp rack and spotted the skeleton of a large squirrel!
So here's what must have happened: The squirrel somehow got into the chamber and could not get out. In an attempt to survive, he had eaten the paper cones of the speakers, gnawing them down to the inedible parts. Then he went to work on the cables. No telling how long he lived up there, before dying for lack of water and food, I suppose. It's hard to believe that the choir members, not 10 feet below the chamber, didn't "smell" something!
The antiphonals still worked, after a fashion, but were of course very distorted and ugly sounding, as the woofers and mids of these 37 year old HC-12's were shot. So all that was left working was the lone MOS speaker setup in the right chamber -- a 32A/B set for the flute/pedal and a 16-1 for the mains. And the remarkable thing was that the organ still sounded quite good through those speakers, and the sound filled the room. I can only imagine that it must have sounded far better before the squirrel went to work on it!
We're in the process of proposing a complete renovation, with all new cones in the denuded cabinets and in the HC-12's throughout. Not completely certain that we'll restore the TAS system, as it's not really needed, and was never all that wonderful, as it was a very early attempt at digital reverb. But at the very least we'll have a doubled up-front speaker set and a credible antiphonal with the HC-12's driven by their own amps.
The church treasurer was there, and she showed me the ledger book from 1981 that gave the purchase price at about $21,000. I told them that a setup like that today, with a beautiful console equivalent to the "B" style, with a deluxe mechanical stop action and capture system, with so many amps and speakers, would cost $80K, and I don't doubt it at all. Of course Allen doesn't even offer moving tabs any more, you have to take knobs or settle for Lumitech. So they have a nice organ that certainly deserves restoration.
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