Johannus Sweelinck 37 + 2 Walker B1000 Subwoofers + QSC CX302 Amp

[Ophicleide]

OMG! Some of you girls certainly have your panties in a bunch! LOL ?

(Beware of snowflakes on internet forums.)

[don60]

Thanks for the kind words. I have spent several years learning about Johannus products, usually the hard way, and I still have more to learn!

[AllenAnalog]

No tomatoes from me, I agree completely. I'll publicly praise don60 for his tremendous help with my Britson/Johannus, without which it would still be unplayable.

[myorgan]

Warning: L-O-N-G post! I've just re-read the thread, and I'll make some observations here:

1. It is not uncommon for people to join the Forum to ask questions on one project, then leave us forever after getting the free advice.?
2. It is also not uncommon for people who join the Forum to bite the hand that feeds them. I've seen it several times over the decades.?
3. It is not uncommon for a new member to not have the knowledge, or not know they don't have the knowledge necessary to either follow the directions given, or make a quality decision based on the information provided.? I'm dealing with that issue with one of my SAMs, but at least I know what I don't know and can ask more questions to be educated and to make the right decision.
4. It is not uncommon for "techs" to leave the Forum after receiving unflattering comments when taking the time to provide endless advice–even though the playing field changed.?
5. Civility is sorely lacking in our society, and I do hope it will not be sacrificed on the Forum.?

We are quite fortunate to have such a wealth of experienced people here on the Forum, and we're losing them gradually.

• The author of "The Mother List" of organs and organ tech, Jan Giradot is no longer with us (RIP). Much history of older tube and transistor organs was lost with his death.?
• One of our techs with expertise on Baldwin and Rodgers organs, Toodles (Charlie Strack) is also no longer with us (RIP).?

We need to cherish those we have available and be respectful of their expertise and willingness to assist others (myself included) when they have issues with their instruments.

Ophicleide, I hope you enjoy having the "rumble" with your new sub-woofers. Nothing can beat the experience of a good sub when done right. I know when mine is right because my wife sits crosslegged on the floor just to experience it! BTW, I purchased one of them from none other than don60, and it's performed like a champ since.

don60, Please do not let this experience dissuade you from assisting others in the future with Johannus & Allen organs. I, for one, have appreciated your advice for me and others on the Forum.

I apologize for making such a long post, but I know how much the Forum means to me. Maybe it's just because I went through a contentious job change the last couple of weeks. Either way, we need to be respectful of each other's time on the Forum.

Michael leaves his soapbox and braces for the tomatoes!

[John Kinkennon]

Agreed. Someone needed to point this out.

[Larason2]

Honestly, I'm offended by the italicized tag on your post. I don't agree that we're "know-it-all's." Don60 is actually an expert and gave you excellent advice. The Johannus Tech did exactly what he recommended. The problem is you didn't understand it.

[Ophicleide]

Hello, All-

We were fortunate to have found an experienced Johannus Technician who has installed our two Walker B-1000 subwoofers. Contrary to previous assertions/recommendations in this thread, he bypassed the Johannus internal amp and connected directly from the pre-amp to the subwoofer amp. He was able to voice all the stops from the channel one output individually, and the result is excellent.

(Beware of know-it-all 'experts' on internet forums.)

[myorgan]

I've purchased Allens from AL, NY, WI, NC, and AZ. Having so many Allens, I have discovered the Allen technician involved was a crapshoot. Some were installed well, while others were just connected and the tech left. Hopefully your Johannus technician is competent and the end result will be good for you for years to come!

Michael

[Ophicleide]

myorgan: We're having a Johannus technician do the installation.

[myorgan]

In your geographic area, be careful of the "professional" you get. I can think of one "professional," with whom I would never do business with again. Hopefully, you can find a Johannus tech in your area to advise you. Otherwise, I can vouch for @Don60's advice, and I have done business with him and trust him.

Michael

[Ophicleide]

I'm grateful to all of you for taking the time to contribute to this thread. Still, unfortunately, I am unable to understand or visualize the suggestions sufficiently to enable us to do this installation ourselves. The subs are arriving today, so in the absence of a good understanding of how to do this, we will likely be calling on a professional to do the installation.

[don60]

I have seen plenty of Sweelincks that have no internal speakers. Whether internals were standard or not, they could certainly have been deleted on special order.

[don60]

Walker rep is, with respect, full of crap. I AM a Johannus tech with access to all of their factory data, and Johannus has used the approach I described quite successfully for many years. It has multiple benefits with no downsides other than giving heartburn to Walker reps.

As I said before, muting for turn on/turn off thump elimination and for headphone use is implemented IN THE POWER AMPLIFIERS. If you bypass the subwoofer power amp, you will lose this muting and have to go through five other convoluted steps to try to re-implement it another way.

This approach is quite common in live sound--i.e., pulling a signal off a speaker output and attenuating it to line level for injection into a mixer or other similar equipment. If you are nervous about ground loops, a high-quality isolation transformer will provide all the protection you need.

The advice about starting with the expression shoes closed is good. Keep levels low while dialing in the gain settings on new equipment.

Expression in these organs is implemented digitally on the processor board.

[mrdc2000]

A very unusual situation, all Sweelincks that I have ever seen or heard of, all came with internal speakers. Externals were optional.
Please send us a few pictures of the console, showing the keyboard and stop layouts as well as the electronics from the back.
Can you confirm when the organ was manufactured ? Thank you.

[Ophicleide]

There seems to be some vital information missing, such as: Since the new Walker woofers are external, what other external speakers is he using ?
Are the internal speakers still being used, including the 12" woofer ?

There are at least four external Johannus speaker cabinets being used. There are no internal speakers. The organ never had dedicated subwoofers. The original installers just used the woofer from a standard cabinet for the bass output.