M2 Pedal Issues.

[Guest]

Hi. This is my first post and I'm sure some of these are common problems. I have looked atound and not found any answers so if you know of post that would help, please direct me to them.</p>

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I found Hammond M2 sitting on the sidewalk and decided the price was right so I thought I'd fix it up. After replacing the tubes that needed replaced, it worked! For the most part is sounds good except for the pedals. Here are the problems I'm having:</p>

1. The low c and c# pedals both seem to trigger each other simultaniously. No matter which one is pressed, you hear both.</p>

2. The pedals just sound terrible in general. They don't sound like organ pedals sound. The have a strange envelope to them that remains even after I adjust the attack and release drawbars. (I believe that is what they are labled.)</p>

3. There is a strange hum (60hz?) that occurs unless I turn down the pedals via the drawbar.</p>

Also, I don't think this problems is at all related, but on the off chance it is, I decided to include it.</p>

4. When playing a fey keys and then I add a pedal, the organ begins to distort, except its more like a high pitch feedback unrelated to the pitches played on the organ. </p>

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Sorry for the overwhelming post, but I didn't know where to start.</p>

Thanks for the help!</p>

Nick 
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[toasterDude]

Re: M2 Pedal Issues.



Hi Nick, a sidewalk m2?!? Sweet![&lt;:o)]</P>


I've had similar experiences with a couple M3s, so here goes:</P>


1) This is likely to be a wiring problem... I had this exact problem on an M3. Hmmm (hard to remember exactly)... I think it was becausea wire had come loose at the tonewheel generator, specifically at C#... then that screws up the signal circuit from there on down*if* I remember right (therefore giving you C and C# together.) Take a look at the top of the tonewheel generatorand look for thefilter caps corresponding to those two pitches.Odds are you have a bad solder joint there. (If you need more help on where to look, post back.)</P>


2) I hate to have to break this to you: that's just the way the pedals on these models sound. Very blatty - harsh and unpleasant. Hammond straightened this out in the next generation of spinets (the L100s and M100s), but the M through M3 were just designed with the crappy pedal sound. There has been talk of adding filtering to smooth these tones out - haven't tried it myself but if you're electronically savvy it'd be a worthwhile project. (see if you can figure out how to add a 13th pedal while you're at it! [Y])</P>


3) This could be related to the first problem - maybe a bad ground connection for the pedal tones.</P>


4) This sounds like there's a problem with the amplification of the bass tones. Was one of the tubes you replaced the 6BA6 (handles the pedals)? If not this is an easy first place to check - for some reason this tube is prone to failure in Ms -- I've heard it's because it sits right under one of the clamps on the generator, where oil will drip down if the organ has been overoiled.</P>


oh and speaking of oil, did you get some Hammond oil in there? An organ that got abandoned on the sidewalk probably hadn't been treated to any oil in decades... anyway good luck with it and feel free to ask follow up Qs. TD</P>

[Guest]

Re: M2 Pedal Issues.



toasterDude, Thanks!</p>

 I'll get in there and check it out this weekend. I wanted to check this stuff out today, but I'm sick and it'll have to wait. I'll check the wiring for the pedal tones. I think I can probably track that one down. It sounds like #1 and #3 are possibly related and I don't believe I changed that tube, so that sounds like a good place to start.</p>

and the oil... yeah, I don't have it, and I'm sure it needs done. I need to find where to go for that. </p>

Thanks again for the help! I'll let you know what I find out.</p>

 Nick </p>

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