New Johannus to replace my Allen ADC?

[sraevsky]

Hi all,

My Allen ADC 2110 home practice instrument isn't working, and my local repairman isn't working either. I'm thinking of replacing it with a Johannus 170. It doesn't have an AGO pedalboard, but it is concave radiating and has 30 pedals. The dealer says that apart from the 2 missing pedals at the top, it feels just like an AGO. Has anyone tried one and agrees with this assessment? The price is right at just under $8000.

Thanks!
Scott

[you795a]

What kind of problem are you having with the organ?

[mrdc2000]

The Johannus is probably the Studio model and if so, they have the RACO 30 note pedalboard.
We played one of those some years ago and that pedalboard played just like an AGO 32-note one.

[sraevsky]

What kind of problem are you having with the organ?

No sound when pressing keys or pedals, or sometimes, a low growling sound.

[regeron]

The poster will probably receive better assistance if this is moved to an appropriate section of Electronic Organs. Thanks in advance for the move.

[Admin]

So moved. It's best to use the Flag button to alert moderators rather than posting a comment, but thanks.

[jboksan]

Hi! I am sorry to hear your tech is unavailable. Please send an email to [email protected] and we can get you in touch with your local Allen Organ dealer who can service your instrument. -Jonathan

[Philip Powell]

Oh, the businessman! ;-)

[sraevsky]

Thanks. I had the official Allen guy out last year, and he could not do anything to fix my organ. I found another repair guy who does great work, but he is recovering from Covid, is very old, and I'm not sure how much longer he's going to be able to help. That's why I'm thinking of moving on to one of the other brands.

But I worry about getting a non-AGO pedalboard and losing my technique when I transition back to church services.

[Philip Powell]

I am no expert (I feel like I say that a lot), but I really don't think you'll lose your technique. I've played both an AGO and a non-AGO pedalboard throughout the week and I feel that my performance is the same. Yes, it may a little time to readjust, but I don't think it'll be a huge problem.

[sraevsky]

That is encouraging. Thanks Philip!

[Philip Powell]

Anytime! If I can do it, I am sure you can!

[jbird604]

First, I totally understand your reason for looking at a new organ rather than having the old one repaired. Even though I'm a tech and I have made my living for decades fixing organs, mostly Allens, my heart goes out to many of the folks who call or email or otherwise contact me about getting an organ fixed. My crew and I stay busy enough taking care of central Arkansas organs, and do travel to the edges of the state and into other states at times, but it is VERY costly for us to do that. If we have to drive 3 or 4 or 5 hours just to get to the organ, and that far to get home, even if the repairs are minimal, the customer is out the cost of two techs for a whole day, plus mileage and any other expenses. It can easily cost over $1000 just to get a diagnosis. And that is prohibitive for some of our customers. With techs getting fewer and further apart, it may become increasingly necessary for players and churches to consider upgrading rather than repairing some of these older organs.

As to down-sizing to a non-AGO pedalboard, it might work, but I'd proceed with caution.

Do try out the 30 note board before you commit. Some "down-sized" pedals are apparently quite suitable, such as the 32-note "parallel/concave" board now offered by Allen as an alternative to the "princess" pedals on small consoles. I haven't played one, but the video Allen put out to explain it is quite convincing. The most important measurement, which is the width of the pedals at the playing position, just in front of the sharps, is identical on this parallel board to genuine AGO, but where it attaches to the console it is a bit narrower so the console can be narrower.

Haven't seen any detailed measurements of this Johannus board. Most likely they did preserve the proper AGO spacing of the pedal keys and kept the sharp keys of the proper size. (This would definitely be better than Allen's "princess" design, which made the pedal keys slightly closer together and made the sharps considerably smaller than standard.)

Check to make sure the center D of the pedalboard is pretty much directly under the center D of the great manual, so you won't have to make a horizontal adjustment when going from one pedalboard to another. If that key is in the right place, the rest of them are pretty much guaranteed to be right. If the lowest C happens to be a smidge closer to the center than on true AGO you'll probably not notice that.

Let's hope that the organs coming out today will prove to be reliable for years, hopefully for 20 or 30 years, without much need for a tech, seeing as how hard it is to get one these days.

[sraevsky]

Thanks jbird. I appreciate your input. As a side note, my repairman (still in the hospital recovering from Covid) is suggesting I get a Viscount instead of the Johannus--he says the Viscount are much better quality. I'll keep looking into the 30 note vs. AGO issue with them.