Hammond H-112 Organ

[JohnCH]

I need help with a Hammond H-112 w/ Leslie 122 I have acquired (free for removing it from a home that was sold). I've owned and serviced C-3 and E-143 Hammonds (I have the service manuals). The H-112 is presenting a number of problems. It had not been used for a long, long time and the main power unit was burned out. I replaced it ($214.00). I know it functions properly as all of the tubes in every chassis are lit and functioning properly. I lubricated the tone generator with Hammond oil = OK. Running fine and quiet. I have a tube tester - used it and replaced every tube that was bad or questionable ($400.00) and confirmed they are all lit and functioning. I replaced the music light with LED. Everything 'seemed' to be working - BUT.

1) No matter what I do, the Leslie won't turn on (I replaced the old 6-pin cable with a new 10' 6-pin cable - it is fine). I've checked the organ output to the Leslie (multimeter) = no power output to the Leslie (I also tested the Leslie tubes and replaced them - I know the Leslie works as I tested it on another organ). I can't find any type of fuse or circuit breaker on the H-112. The slo-blow fuse on the Leslie is OK.

2) The volume of all keyboard functions (including pedal clavier) is barely 1/4 of what it should be. I can't account for this.

3) None of the instrument tabs (top left) are working. The Reverb works but with same reduced volume as keys.

4) The music LED light won't work now either.

Is there anyone out there that can point me in a direction (except trash heap) that will help me solve these issues? John

[mdrehkopf]

Hi John,

I may have not all the answers, but potentially some - I have fixed one H model in my life, with lots of Organforum's help.

1. A leslie connection is non-standard at the H-112. It will help the forum if you attach a picture here.
2. On my H-395 the lack of volume was due to an old cap in the "delay board" - instructions are attached. The delay board is the far left board (if you are behind the organ) on the "other side" of the Volume Soft tab.
3. The instrument tabs are (I assume) the percussion tabs. Please note that the only work if you press the "B" black key, that activates the drawbars AND percussion. I recall from my H395, that the issue was finally dendrites within the upper manual contacts. Please check the following and reply, then we can be more of help:
a) is the black "B" preset key pressed down ?
b) Do the percussion tabs work when you press the "second voice" tab ?
c) Do you hear the "brush / cymbal" sounds when you pressed the relevant tab down ?
4. I can't give any hint here, the schematics are very easy here ....

Good luck
Matthias

[Chords]

Hi John,

I like the H-112 organ. How is the sound volume/quality coming through the built-in (H-112) speakers? See attachments that might be helpful.

If using percussion or adding tone color to percussion, you must use the "B" preset black key to the left of the upper manual, and use the second set of 11 drawbars (from left to right).

The two left most tabs for percussion are "Second Voice" on the left and "Touch Control" on the right. Second Voice will add a sustained effect. However, with the Second Voice tab UP and Touch Control depressed, you should have percussion effect for any of the percussion voice tabs (chimes, glock., guitar, marimba, xylophone, banjo with varied rates of sound decay). Try with the Reiteration tab UP; the Harp voice adds a really slow decay). The last (percussion) tab adds vibrato to the selected percussion voice only.

Percussion should still work if both Second Voice and Touch Control tabs are UP, and even with all the second set of drawbars pushed all the way in, as long as the upper B preset key is selected. The Reiteration tab is great when not using the Second Voice tab. You can adjust the reiteration rate/speed using the circular (inner) knob to the far left.

Regarding the built-in speakers and leslie/tone cabinet, over to the far right there are two Echo tabs ("Echo Only" and "Main & Echo"), and the "Volume Soft" tab. The Volume Soft tab must be UP to increase the volume. "Echo" refers to the external sound (leslie/tone cabinet), while "Main" is for the built-in speakers. The "Echo Only" tab is depressed when you only want to use the leslie/tone cabinet, the "Main & Echo" tab is used when you want volume from both the leslie/tone cabinet and the built-in speakers. However, with the leslie/tone cabinet connected, both Echo tabs should be UP if you only want volume from the built-in speakers.

If you are not getting volume from the leslie/tone cabinet (Echo tab depressed), turn off the organ and unplug from the power supply. Remove the back panel and check that the black slide switch on the rear panel of the power amplifier is in the DOWN position. When it's in the UP position, this disables both Echo tabs. See Figure 4 (Power Amplifier). The slide switch is to the left, just above the words "Tone Cab".

The built-in speakers can get pretty loud. There are two toggle switches below the keyboard against the fabric on the front. The one on the left hast two stops (up/down), use the UP position. The one on the right has three stops (up/middle/down). Use the UP position, (middle/down will lower the volume significanly so that the expression pedal has to be used all the way).

For the music LED light, there is a switch to the right, just under the light casing and above the Volume Soft tab. Try turning the switch on and off a few times. Was the light working before? Check the switch/connections before going to the music light ballast in the back of the organ.

Hope some of this helps.
Richard