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THANKS! Things Working Much Better Now...

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  • THANKS! Things Working Much Better Now...



    Hi, everybody;</p>

    Thanks in large part to the advice I've received from everyone here, my old M-3--having been dormant for 19 years, and possibly polluted with cat whiz--is finally working! Ahhhhh...</p>

    There is now officially a lot more that's right with it than there is wrong, so I am happily testing away on things. The amp seems to be working consistently now, after I cleaned the tube sockets, and put the tubes in and out a few times to improve the contacts. The tone generator engages every time I start it up now; the start motor is very quiet, after some oiling-and-waiting sessions; there are still things to do, but, like a vintage car, that may very well always be the case.</p>

    I have a couple of quick questions: What might it mean when one particular key does NOT sound when one particular drawbar is pulled (no other drawbars pulled--just the one)? I'm going to map this out thoroughly, playing every single key, with every single drawbar "soloed" if I have to do; but I have noticed it just a little bit in preliminary testing/playing. The key does play with *other* drawbars pulled, and without noise, crackle, or anything bad that I notice--it's just that one certain drawbar (I can't recall which one--like I said, I'm going to map it out very well as soon as I get the time) fails to produce sound on that one certain key. That drawbar works just fine on every other key, by the way...
    </p>

    Also, my percussion is, as of right now, more of just a "Click" than anything else. I remember how it used to sound, back when I first got the organ, and this isn't it! I probably just need to mess with the percussion control screw on the back of the amp that everyone in here is always mentioning, but I thought I'd throw it out there in case anyone else had had the same situation. It does this with 2nd or 3rd percussion, and with the perc. vol. tab in either position. If the percussion is engaged, in other words, it does the "Click," no matter what I set up otherwise.</p>

    It might need a new tube; I notice that the overall volume of the upper manual drops slightly when the percussion is engaged, but I'm so happy to have it more-or-less working again, that I'm being very lenient with letting things slide for a time...</p>

    Thanks again for all of your help; I'll keep working to perfect it as best I can. It's great to have a community like this, with so many people who are so devoted to preserving these machines.</p>

    Regis</p>

  • #2
    Re: THANKS! Things Working Much Better Now...



    Hey, congrats Regis, that's great news. You had to know that old M3 wanted to crank up for you, just needed some care and time!</P>


    Re: the one silent key. You do need to go through methodically and test every key on every drawbar. What I've seen happen a number of times is that a connection to one single tone on the generator will be bad... usually because someone forgot to lock down the generator in transit; the genny then swings free and breaks a wire or solder joint. If this is the case it'll be a tone that's out, not just one key -- so you'll find that the same tone will be missing on different keys if you pull different drawbars out. Unless you're very familiar with the musical basis of the drawbar/harmonic relationship, the easiest way to diagnose this really is to just go through one drawbar at a time, and work your way up the entire chromatic scale (both manuals.) It's a drag but it works.</P>


    If you do find you have a missing tone and not just one bad key, post back... there's a great resource somewhere that shows the location of each tone on the generator, that I candig up for you. After that it's just 5 mins. with a soldering iron... luckily the tonewheel generator on the M3 is easily accessible. Good luck -
    Scott</P>
    Nobody loves me but my mother,
    And she could be jivin' too...

    --BB King

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