New to forum, long-time T-Series/122 owner

[Papus]

I've just joined the forum after lurking for a while, reading the many T-Series threads.
I own a T-xxx and a Leslie 122.
I've had them both since 1996.
The T has several issues which I've never had the time or inclination to fix until recently (been a global traveler for 10+ years).
There are a few missing harmonics on a few keys.
The reverb hums.
The vibrato sounds a little choppy but not ugly.
The drum scanner is noisy - I think the run motor is a replacement, the pulley & belt for the scanner are on the same side as the TG.
The scanner belt is poorly fitted around the run motor shaft near the spring.
The run motor does not have a rear shaft/pulley.
There are some very scratchy drawbars.
Internal Leslie & speakers are fine.
This is a studio-only instrument.
I'm not too fussed about the scanner noise because I record direct from the organ and re-amp through the Leslie so I don't get mechanical key/pedal/tabs noise in the ambient mics. (I have a one-room studio in my two-car garage space).
I've done step #1 of Carsten's mods: removing the upper & lower bus amp filters.
I've also tapped a line out from pin #3 of the recovery amp.
That's about the limit of my electronics skills.
The line out seems way too hot and it's pre-swell & reverb, so I've reverted back to my proven method of using the headphone out to a D.I. Box with 40dB pad on the input.
This is pretty noisy and hums but I use a noisegate prior to sending it to the 122.
The 122 has an inbuilt 2 channel preamp on the rear panel (I always face it backwards anyway, rock n roll style)
I run 1/4" into the 122 for re-amping, for live Hammond and for guitar.
A Blackstar HT-DistX pedal serves as tube distortion although the 122 has it's own awesome tube grind as well.

I have a tech who will perform the trickier standard mods later on (full key click, percussion, foldback, tapering, lower manual octave drop).

Here are my questions:

Where is the best place to tap a post-swell & reverb line out?

Likely cause of missing harmonics? (all tonewheels appear to be audible across the manuals)

Is running the headphone out to a padded D.I. Box harmful to the amp?

How to fix the backwards scanner so the belt goes on a proper pulley?


I'll post photos ASAP.

A YouTube demo will follow shortly

Thanks folks - it's great to be amongst such enlightened tonewheel aficionados!

[Papus]

Here's the demo.
First time I'd fired up the rig in 2 years.
Leslie needs oil - noisy fast speed.
I'm going for a Jon Lord sound.
This is just a backing track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTB36...e_gdata_player

This was played & recorded live, not re-amped.
Some key/pedal/tabs noise is audible.

[Brendon Wright]

Papus, pleased to meet you, and a Southern Hemisphere man too!

If only I had a T series back in '96, life would have gotten interesting a lot earlier for me....

Damn fine playing on the demo, by the way.

I'm guessing the missing harmonics might be from the "gooey foam" issue inside the manual loom. Not a hard job to fix (I'm a cartoonist, not a tech, and managed it with pleasure!)

Running your T through a 122 must be delicious, the tone is great on the recording.

Where is the best place to tap a post-swell & reverb line out?

Well, you CAN tap it from the speaker terminals and pad it down, in truth. This is where the leslie-out comes from (unpadded)as well as the internal leslie (bass filtered out) AND the headphones (padded) and the robust solid state amp doesn't give a darn.
You could try taking it from just after Q601 which looks to be where the reverb and swell pedal meet the power amp. Look on the schematic, the whole bottom section below pin 2 is the reverb section, it only has one line running up to join the power amp at C608.

Is running the headphone out to a padded D.I. Box harmful to the amp?

Nope, it's fine. This solid state amp is very forgiving, and has been forgiving ME for five years of shameful testing now.

How to fix the backwards scanner so the belt goes on a proper pulley?

I'd have to see photos of what you've got.

My T has an awful lot of hum in it, when I get the power supply transformer replaced I'm going to go on the rampage and obliterate as much as I can.
Have you done the Kon Zissis Cathedral reverb mod?

I've attacked hum in my reverb at several points: I've had it behind the tabs after the cathedral mod and had to put afilter cap in, I've replaced the elctrolytics and the black transistors on the power amp (but not the silver ones, at least not considering it yet) and even grounded pin 12 to the chassis through a resistor, which certainly reduced the hum. It can also reduce the reverb, so you have to find the right size for the resistor.

For a bit of experimentation try bridging R853 and R856 with pots 1K or above and you can not only fiddle with the volume of the manuals, you can add a huge amount of overdrive to your sound, I also have zener diodes clipping for more distortion, but then I don't have a 122! You might like to follow that up by putting a pot 5K or above, with a switch, to bridge the trim R870. This gives you an external control over the output of your preamp, and you can reduce the volume if the other two pots are making it too loud, or increase it more if you want it to clip even more via diodes etc.

Great fun!

[Brendon Wright]

Do you want to let the tech deal to the melted sponge stuff in the manual looms, or can we entice you into having a go, with absolutely full, step by step instructions?

[Papus]

Hi Brendon!

Thanks for the speedy response.
The T through a 122 is impressive, even in stock form with no overdrive.
My T is still partially dismantled - I can attempt to follow your instructions for fixing the dead harmonics but my Kung foo is weak...
I'll try to post photos and a clean dry demo so you can hear the scanner & the missing harmonics

[Brendon Wright]

Well grasshopper,
let's see what we can do with the foo then.

Turns out some chaps are asking about the foam in another thread too, so I'm posting up some pics:
http://www.organforum.com/forums/showthread.php?20620-Signs-you-might-have-a-quot-foam-quot-organ&p=267350&viewfull=1#post267350

More to come later.

However, if you need any more detailed photos of dismantling the T which I haven't put up there, let me know and I'll post it here. Doesn't look like those guys will need the T specific details.

[Papus]

Some photos

[Papus]

More photos

[Papus]

And even more photos

[Papus]

Can anyone identify which model T this is?

[SimonB]

Looks identical to my T202-1
except for the motor / scanner drive belt lash up. Why didn't they just dismantle the motors and swap the rotors round ?

[T-200]

Hi Papus,

Here's a link to a thread about how I got rid of the reverb hum and distortion in my late T-200:
http://www.organforum.com/forums/showthread.php?10757-T-200-reverb-problem-solved&p=186099#post186099

Brendon and Simon helped me a lot then almost 3 years ago. And they still do...

Jussi

[Brendon Wright]

I don't get tired of seeing the inside of the T's! Familiar territory!
Because of the Drum scanner it's probably a T400, I'd say. T200 definitely had the pie-dish scanner, I don't know what the T300 had, though AndyG knows all there is to know about T models....

It looks like the drum scanner has been put in backwards, the pulley should be on the outside end of the motor... is there one there?

[Brendon Wright]

Here's a T422 on Captain Foldback's site:
http://www.captain-foldback.com/Hamm...b/tseries3.htm

[Brendon Wright]

Sorry, 421!