Recent B3 modifications that might be of interest to you.

[Tonewheel]

Hi Folks,
I have had an old C3 for quite a few years, but finally came across a 1955 B3 and 1957 Leslie 21H that have sat in a total of 3 living rooms for all these years. $2500. But there was a squealing tonewheel generator that did not respond to Hammond oil, but did to a fair amount of WD40. More oil added once it was working well.

I had a cap job done on the generator using Patrice's kit, replaced some tubes in both amps.

I converted the 21H to 2 speed using Hamptone's rig. perfect.

The Leslie cone was blown, so I replaced it with a 60 watt Atlas driver, and an adaptor plate from Patrice.

The percussion was too pingy from a resistor that someone changed years ago, so I installed a pot near my right knee under the keyboard, and while I was at it installed another one for the chorus depth. The percussion now was like the original woody sound, but could be cranked up to a sharper ping if necessary.

The bass is fabulous from that old speaker, and the overall tone was great, but now there was no dirt, no distortion. Unless I floored it.

So I spent $270 Canadian and ordered the newer Black Profkon ZD-1 Overdrive, replacing the left lower cheek block, and wiring it in (minor soldering).

This is now perfect. Just enough dirt to make it sound like a V21 horn that is almost blown, but just at the right point to keep it warm. No 60 cycle hum like you get with cheaper mods. The total sound now is a dream. I use primarily Jimmy Smith and Tony Monaco settings. I can get a good Green-Eyed Lady sound as well (that's where you need a little more ping on the lower percussion runs). Brings back memories of the Toronto sound with Dom Troiano and the rest of the gang.

For anyone interested, the online demo does not show the Profkon subtleties. You can floor the Profkon to pure distortion, and it sounds great for very specific occasions, but it is much more beautiful with the following settings:

Main OD depth: 6 Main OD blend:0 (Crank it full right when you want full distortion, part way when you want significant dirt) Bass distortion: cleanest V21 dirt level: 3 V21 Clip threshold: dirty Sweet mellowing: 8 Sweet mellowing range: brighter Volume: about 6 (That way, when you floor it, the distortion increases, but windows aren't fractured.

This combination is like arriving at a gig, warming up an unfamiliar B3, and then being blown away by the perfect sound and response. Beats VB3 or any other digital plugin I've tried.

Flipping the switch to off takes you back to clean.

Cheers,

Dave

[model D]

I've decided to install the profkon I have into a Model G chop I am restoring to
a more acceptable living area arrangement.... it's flat black with reflective white trim now

And FULL of dust and "bar gunk" - from all I can tell this thing was played right next to the fog machine outlets

[Sweet Pete]

Hi Folks,
I have had an old C3 for quite a few years, but finally came across a 1955 B3 and 1957 Leslie 21H that have sat in a total of 3 living rooms for all these years. $2500. But there was a squealing tonewheel generator that did not respond to Hammond oil, but did to a fair amount of WD40. More oil added once it was working well.

I had a cap job done on the generator using Patrice's kit, replaced some tubes in both amps.

I converted the 21H to 2 speed using Hamptone's rig. perfect.

The Leslie cone was blown, so I replaced it with a 60 watt Atlas driver, and an adaptor plate from Patrice.

The percussion was too pingy from a resistor that someone changed years ago, so I installed a pot near my right knee under the keyboard, and while I was at it installed another one for the chorus depth. The percussion now was like the original woody sound, but could be cranked up to a sharper ping if necessary.

The bass is fabulous from that old speaker, and the overall tone was great, but now there was no dirt, no distortion. Unless I floored it.

So I spent $270 Canadian and ordered the newer Black Profkon ZD-1 Overdrive, replacing the left lower cheek block, and wiring it in (minor soldering).

This is now perfect. Just enough dirt to make it sound like a V21 horn that is almost blown, but just at the right point to keep it warm. No 60 cycle hum like you get with cheaper mods. The total sound now is a dream. I use primarily Jimmy Smith and Tony Monaco settings. I can get a good Green-Eyed Lady sound as well (that's where you need a little more ping on the lower percussion runs). Brings back memories of the Toronto sound with Dom Troiano and the rest of the gang.

For anyone interested, the online demo does not show the Profkon subtleties. You can floor the Profkon to pure distortion, and it sounds great for very specific occasions, but it is much more beautiful with the following settings:

Main OD depth: 6 Main OD blend:0 (Crank it full right when you want full distortion, part way when you want significant dirt) Bass distortion: cleanest V21 dirt level: 3 V21 Clip threshold: dirty Sweet mellowing: 8 Sweet mellowing range: brighter Volume: about 6 (That way, when you floor it, the distortion increases, but windows aren't fractured.

This combination is like arriving at a gig, warming up an unfamiliar B3, and then being blown away by the perfect sound and response. Beats VB3 or any other digital plugin I've tried.

Flipping the switch to off takes you back to clean.

Cheers,

Dave

Greetings,welcome to the forum.Sounds like you've been busy,have done your homework.And now it's time to play.:-)

You mentioned Dom Troiano......I opened for Mandala at least three times.All three times Hugh Sullivan and Joey Chirosky let me use their rigs.
Joeys was a B3,Hugh's was a heavily modded BCV with 'all the way down' left hand bass,the lowest octave of foldback removed.
We left the L100/21H in the trailer...
Both used the Traynor RotoMaster and 2X15" cabs.;-)
Both were excellent sounding rigs.

Mandala were a great band live,legendary Toronto stuff.

None of my rigs have a 'dirty switch',I just play nastier.Out come the #9 smears....:P

This old road warrior has lots of 'bar gunk'......has been with me twenty years.

[jsaxe]

Not that I intend to do anything with my trusty ol' C3, I love it just the way it is, but who is Patrice?

And Pete, sweet rig, must be nice to play venues with stages big enough and/or accessibility to play a full-on console outfit!

J

[Analog]

He's the bloke that sells the B3 and Leslie Tips book containing all the mods that we discuss on here.

[Tonewheel]

Well, I played drums in London bands until I moved to Toronto. We would open for the Mandala and did a TV engagement on the same program. Their show always blew me away, especially when Dom launched into one of his solos. Thrills up my back. Always did his vibrato fast and a little sharp.

The first time I heard augmented 9ths quite that way was Joey's funky chops when the strobes started and George Olliver did his thing.

Whitey Glann was ahead of everyone else when he brought back complex funk drumming to Toronto.

I asked Dom if he could find me a band when I moved to Toronto, and he kindly obliged, setting up an interview with Ronny Hawkins upstairs above the Coq d'Or. Quite the picture. Dom was very kind to have done this and he was there. I want to say Mr. Hawkins out of respect. He had cowboy boots and a cigar. Because I was going to school, Ronnie seemed a little disappointed, but he found a band for me called the Counts, which wasn't all that bad. 3 front singers. Horn section. Hammond organ, etc. Pat Coffey played bass and was a kingpin at Long and McQuades, so we always had the latest Pete Traynor equipment. We played the familiar R&B venues.

One interesting memory was hearing the crash of somebody dropping a Leslie or Hammond down the stairs at a club. Why do I laugh thinking about it, when it was actually quite tragic? "Oh no, the B3!"

Wayne Stone and I went to high school together and he ended up in Motherlode, so we got to see each other in Toronto again. Graham Lear and I took drum lessons from the same instructor in London, and he ended up in Santana. Blonde Afro...

Funny that I never got to play around Doug Riley. Although I think Joey Defrancesco is amazing technically, I was proud to hear that Toronto boy blow them all away with a Toronto sounding solo which was played in a video still on Youtube called 4 B3's. Paul Shaeffer organized that. I don't think it was long after that that he died suddenly of an MI in Calgary airport.

Sorry for going on, but you brought back great memories of a sound and all the feelings that went along with it.

Cheers,

Dave

[Sweet Pete]

Sorry for another off topic post,but Pat Coffey was also a pal of mine.I say 'was' because he passed away last year.He would still show up at the Terminal Ave store on Saturdays,even ridden with cancer.
Bought a lot of gear off him over the years,he will be missed and long remembered.

Best part of the Mandala show was always 'the drummer is late' routine......roadie Carmello would rush the drums onto the stage after the snare/stand and drum throne were set up.By the end of the first tune the kit was complete......hilarious stuff.

Being a keyboardist I never worked with Doug Riley,although I appeared on local(Vancouver Show)TV with Paul S.I did however play briefly in a band out here with a few of Doug's regulars,both also from Anne Murray's band.....Denny Driscoll and Brian Russell, along with Brian 'Too Loud' McLeod, we had a soul band called The Palmolives,fronted by The Linclons vocalist Steve Ambrose.Short lived but great fun all the same.Last saw Dennis and Brian Russel at the Commodore for a benefit......great bass and guitar. 'Too Loud' has been gone over twenty years,he would have been 60 like me....played also briefly in Headpins with him.

Hope you are enjoying your B3/21H.I still perform regularly with a Hammond(A100/147).

[Tonewheel]

Hi Pete,

Long time since the last post. A couple of weeks ago, I found a Hammond A100 at a church in Kalispell, for $500, needed some fixing up, and a Leslie 205 MUTANT in Lethbridge for $500. With some fiddling, a matching transformer for the Leslie, etc., it sounds quite decent and is located in our small cabin in Montana. I've disconnected the internal organ speakers. Love the beast. I can imagine how much easier it is to gig with an A100 if you take out the reverb and speakers and haul the skinnier unit around.

I had talked to Pat some months before he passed on. He was a good looking tall guy who always found us the newest equipment from Traynor to use on the gigs. Many musicians owe him a lot for what eh did for them.

[Sweet Pete]

Sounds like you've accumulated a few new toys, A100 is my favorite console Hammond. Prefer them to B or C types.
And lucky for me they are less $.
I leave my A100 amps/verb intact. I'm already schlepping nearly 400 pounds so what's the big deal saving 20 pounds or so?
For one thing the speakers add structural integrity to the overall design and the speaker baffle is 'weight bearing'.
And....the signal available at the 'verb dial/pot is about .5V hotter than any AO28 can put out, which allows me to overdrive my 147's easily.
Even though I seldom use the 'verb the gain from the 6GW8 pentode/triodes is added to the overall signal of the 6BQ5's.
AO28 hookups just can't achieve this amount of output.If you need confirmation my method works just PM '300 Pound Love Affair' on here and he'll confirm.
The people that complain about the 'bass boost' are obviously incapable of moving the first two drawbars to 6 or 7........;-)
If you want to save a few pounds and take out the innards that's your perogative.....I don't mess with an excellent design.
This A102/222 rig set me back $650 CA. Minty 1962 organ and 1966 Leslie.

I avoid any Leslie with Mercotac switches. $500 for a model 205? Wouldn't open my wallet for that. I'm told they are a good 'theatre' sounding box.Not my thing.

Pat Coffey was a genuine 'music angel' to many of us old timers. Long & McQuade wouldn't be were they are without his many years of customer support!
He lost his wife a year or so before he passed and it really shortened his time IMO.

[Tonewheel]

A100.

I agree that the A100 is very nice. Since it won't be going anywhere, I'll leave the speakers and reverb in place, and was thinking about installing a switch so I could go from Leslie to internal. That "dead" sound is not bad at times.

Hard to get Leslies in my neck of the woods, so I took a chance. The previous owner had had a Hammond tech go over it, installing a guitar jack, and the A100 also had a guitar jack. The matching transformer smoothed out everything. 65 watts isn't bad, and because there are 5 "amps" in that thing, I can set the gain pots in each so that more of the signal goes to the rotating speakers, less to the stationaries. Still not like my modded 21H paired with the 147, but at a small cabin, it sounds good. Key click, slightly overdriven sound, lots of bass, highs are good. And if I blow a 6x9, that is an easy swap.

Thanks for your reflections on the Toronto sound as we knew it then.

Thanks,

Dave

[Tim_at_Jonas]

The 6122 kit (and others perhaps?) has a speed switch and an internal/external switch, but the jugheads put the speed switch to the left of the internal/external switch ;-(

[Goff]

Funny that I never got to play around Doug Riley.

always liked doug's playing. he put things in a logical progression of call and response.