Hammond Aurora Classic Low volume

[Gamma Ray]

Hi Ray here
I've started getting into organs and trying to repair my hammond.

I bought a Hammond Aurora Classic 232122k and its always on a low volume and the volume/swell pedal does not do anything at all, reading other threads on this forum I was thinking it is a bulb for the pedal, but I'm looking around inside and I can't really make heads from tails with it. I got a schematic/service manual from mark at Manual manor and I plan to get stuck into that to see what it can tell me

Something it does do is when you turn it on and play something just when you turn it on it is louder then it fades to the lower volume which it stay at.

If you could help me at all with this it would be much appreciated, give some advice or tips to a budding organ enthusiast, any advice on how to approach this repair or on how to do a good service on one of these old things would be so good
Thanks
RAY

[handyczech]

The bulb is in a cylindrical tube at the pivot point under the volume pedal. As I recall, you can remove the pedal easily, and the socket for the bulb has 2 black wires coming from the center.
You should be able to twist the end, counter clock, and the socket will pull out, revealing the bulb. I can't remember the type, others will chime in or search this site, but it is sort of like a low voltage outdoor light.

This generation had and will continue to have internal connection issues. All plugs and edge of board connectors should be cleaned with a safe electrical cleaner or alcohol, and carefully reseated precisely in their original location, Doing either or both will likely put things right, unless there is a bad component or solder joint somewhere.

[Gamma Ray]

Thanks, I opened up the pedal and found that the light bulb was working, pedal still does not work. With all this fiddling around though I am get jumps of loudness with little bumps with my playing.

I guess you guys might have to talk me through some elementary stuff too, like is there and trick or tool to remove some of the sockets, like the one that plugs into the pedal at the back, in a tight place, 2 parallel lines with a little gap that looks like you need to push it in, some are easy to see, clips to unclip, pull out socket, others perplex me, or I am I just not yanking hard enough?

Otherwise Ill continue on and clean everything up with some isoprol type rubbing alcohol stuff? and reseat every connection I can, then I'll get back here posting of my trials and tribulations.

[Silken Path]

Hi, Gamma Ray. Welcome to the forum. On my T-500, I had intermittent volume problems that were found to be a wire from the pedal light rubbing the chassis near the pedal. This would short it to ground. I think that's why the organ was donated to Good Will (and I ended it up with it). A sweet young thing looked at me, blinked, and said, "Oh. You're a senior citizen. You can get a 25 % discount." I walked out thinking about LOOKING like a senior citizen, and four burly staff members rolled it out to my truck and tossed it in the bed.

It would cause exactly what you described. Periods of loudness followed by the correct volume that would come and go. It made using the organ unpleasant.

That said, the common advice on your type of organ indeed is to clean all the connectors and inter-connects. I'd use Deoxit D5, which can be ordered from Amazon. NAPA parts also sells a CRC "QD" cleaner that is safe for plastic. A squirt around the light cover also helps in removing it. On the T-500, the socket and bulb come out on the wire side.