Have You Forgotten Your Password or Username?

**jbird604** · 06-12-2007, 02:39 PM

Re: Baldwin A270

Ian,

Sounds like about a milliondollars to me. Oops, that's a digital, oh, never mind.

What are they asking? As recently mentioned on this forum, the "A" series Italian Baldwinsare not held in the highest regard. But, I opined about an A-120 (a very small 2-manual of the same series)I have worked on and playedin a church-- I thought it was not too bad, actually had some nice sounds on it. I've also seen A-240 Baldwin's in a couple of churches. Not terribly impressive, but maybe I was being overly critical. In one of these churches they had replaced an analog Allen with this Baldwin, and I thought they took a step backwards, as far as beauty of tone. But the Baldwin had its good points too.

RE: Pricing -- Used organs that have been orphaned by the seller really are hard to place a value on. If the owner knows what they paid for it (and has a receipt to prove it) that might give you some guide. It might still be worth perhaps a third of what it cost back then. But, some Baldwin dealers were having big fire sales on these organs 10 years ago, and they guy may have gotten it for a song. In that case, it might still bring a fair portion of what he paid.

If I'm sounding vague, well, I'm vague. Check ebay, Church Organ Trader, and other markets. You can buy a pretty good used Allen or Rodgers for under $10K, so I certainly wouldn't pay that much for a Baldwin of this type. But if they're asking $2500, that would be a bargain, I suppose.

Maybe someone else will offer a better opinion. I just had to chime in.

John

**arie v** · 06-12-2007, 07:58 PM

Re: Baldwin A270

Ian,

If you like having your picture taken at a 3 manual drawstop console, this would make a good prop.

As far as an instrument, it was Viscount's best effort at making a digi organ as cheaply as possible and still call it an organ. These organs (the Baldwin Alpha series), were sold strictly on price nothing else. They squeezed as many stops as possible with an absolute minimum amount of hardware. So you end up with an organ that has only 8 note polyphony on the manuals, and an extreme amount of stop blending so the tone degrades as you try to build an ensemble. The internal speaker system on these was pretty dismal as well. 

Beyond mediocre musical capabilities, the Viscount organs of that era had problems with lousy pedalboards, cheap potentiometers used in the various controls. The electronics otherwise are fairly reliable (there isn't much under the hood though).


These organs had very few redeeming qualities. There are many other organ models that preferable to these organs.

Just my humble opinion.

Arie V.

P.S. The organ company I worked for, sold several of these. I tried to fall in love with these, but couldn't. Everytime I tried playing one of these organs, the worse they sounded to me.

**Guest** · 06-12-2007, 08:14 PM

Re: Baldwin A270

Not the glowing endorsements I was hoping for. [:)]

The asking price is $7,000, which happens to be the roof of my budget.

I would like a digital, 3 manual drawstop organ very much, and this is the first I've seen within my price range. Any other suggestions on particular models or where to look? Thanks guys!

**jbird604** · 06-13-2007, 07:18 AM

Re: Baldwin A270

Ian,

I think $7K is way too much to have tied up in a questionable instrument like this. If they were asking half that, it might be more reasonable.Keep an eye out on ebay and Church Organ Trader. As I said earlier, you can get a good used Allen or Rodgers under $10K, probably even under your $7K limit.

ADC Allens are really nice and hold up well even against modern digitals. TheADC 6000 sold new in the mid-80's for around $65K. I put one in a large church in 1986. I wouldn't be surprised to see one going for under $10K now on the used market, if you can find one. Of course, these organs are quite large and heavy and require several external speaker cabinets.

Another option would be to find one of the better Italian Baldwins from the 1990's. There were some that were much better than the A series, and you might find one in your price range. Perhaps Arie can chime in and give you some models to look for. These organs all had internal speakers, even on the 3-manual consoles, so they are easier to use in a home or small church. And they are not nearly as heavy as an Allen console.

You might also investigate the Rodgers analogs of the mid to late 80's. I know you prefer a digital, but I thought that too until my church became the beneficiary of a 1985 Rodgers 890.After giving itmodern speakers and a digital reverb, it sounds marvelous. I'm just as delighted with it as I would have been to find a digital of the same age. It's 3-manual drawknob (lighted), and we got it absolutely free for the taking (just had to get it moved). Just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

John

**Vercus** · 06-13-2007, 01:38 PM

Re: Baldwin A270

You can do what you want, but if it were me, and budget were a concern, I would let go of the drawknob requirement. Sure, they look nice, but they don't make the organ sound any better, they just make it more expensive. For example, I just recently played a beautiful 3 manual lighted rocker-tab pipe organ and absolutely loved it! At no time did I think "Oh I wish this had drawknobs" I was just happy with the glorious sound!


There is a great demand for drawknob consoles which drives up their cost on the used market. I would simply focus on finding the best sounding organ I could get in that price range, regardless of console config.

A midrange Allen ADC organ or Rodgers analog would be a very good solution for your price range, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend either one.

Good luck,

-Jon

Welcome To The Organ Forum

Have You Forgotten Your Password or Username?

How To Recover Your Username and Password

Ebay Classic organs

Announcement

Baldwin A270

Baldwin A270

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Hello!