Advice - Yamaha electone A55 or Technics E22L?

[NeilC]

Hi,

First post here I look forward to being on the forum :). I used to play the organ as a child and recently have the urge to re-learn as a hobby. Whilst I already have aspirations to land myself a nice upmarket model perhaps at some point (I have one eye on the classifieds at least), considering that I haven't played much at all in 20 years and my local charity shop has these two organs which they will literally deliver to my house all in for £50 I fancy getting one to make a start on. Both look to be in good condition.

The thing is I have no idea if one is clearly a better choice than the other? I gather that they are both basic in the grand scheme of things but if anyone has any idea if there is a standout better choice between these two in terms of functions and audio quality I would appreciate it. The technics looks a bit smaller when they are side by side but on appearance has more buttons :)

Any thoughts appreciated, as I say I know they are both humble, but owing this is what's available with delivery I'm happy to take one of them.

Regards,
Neil

[Markr]

My first organ back in the late 70's was a Yamaha B75N, so same era as the A55. Flutes wise, the B75N only had 16, 8 and 4, whereas the Technics E22 from memory also has a 2, and more solo voice - I always wanted that 2' flute!!. So personally, I would go with the Technics over the A55, However if it were a Yamaha C55N, I would take the Yamaha C55N.

Having said that, sound is a very personal thing, and ideally you need to have a little play with both to make sure you are happy how things sound to your ear - there are lots of organs on eBay at similar or lower price points, and can easily be delivered using www.shiply.co.uk.

Happy hunting
Mark

[andyg]

There is rather more to play with on the Technics than the Yamaha, including that 2' flute and a very decent electronic tremolo, so that would be my choice of the two. Either would be fine as a starter to get you back into the hobby. In terms of true market value, £50 is perhaps a bit high, even allowing for delivery, but it's going to a good cause and I'm sure you'll get more than your money's worth out of the organ! Both Japanese, so should be reliable enough, despite being around 40 years old. If you stick to Japanese makes - Yamaha, Technics and Kawai - or the Japanese-built Hammonds you'll usually get the best in terms of reliability.

I'm sure you'll soon be looking for something a bit (or a lot) bigger, newer and better, and you've already seen how low prices are for what were sometimes top of the range models, so when you're ready, let us know and we'll be happy to guide you.

If you're re-starting from scratch, can I suggest that you hop onto Ebay and pick up "Complete Organ Player", books 1, 2 and 3 for starters. They were the industry standard books in the UK and while they weren't perfect (and no tuition books ever are) they were well structured and they worked well for thousands of players. 7 books in the main series plus two rather rarer supplements. As you learnt once before, you should have no problems.

[NeilC]

Hi Gents thanks for the replies,

some very useful and key points, I was sold on the technics although I've had an interesting day regards this purchase, I just caught your replies this morning before I went to work and at that point I was sure that I was going to get the technics.......but luckily my wife wasn't free today to go pay for it for me!

With both the discovering of "shiply" and mention of the fact I'll likely want something better very soon I thought twice about it. And really considering how important and captivating a good sound is whilst reading some previous posts about how good a certain organ is, I'm now on the lookout for a GA1, or maybe even a GA3. I hope this is a good choice for something that can emulate a variety of organ sounds.

Regards,
Neil

[andyg]

If you can find a GA3, you'll discover that it's a marvel. It can emulate two varieties of Hammond, a Gulbransen, a Conn, an Eminent and a Lowrey Contempo 80, plus theatre and classical pipe organs. Buy the Theatre Styles disk from Strawberry Music and it will load in loads more theatre sounds. Start playing mix and match with organs and leslie/tremolo effects and it's the most versatile organ emulator around. You should even be able to coax some Wersi type sounds out with a little persuasion.

The GA1 does some, but not all of the above.

The GA3 can command a price, despite its age, but it's worth it.

[auronoxe]

I can fully support andyg concerning the GA3 organ. I bought one two years ago and it has great organ sounds. The only thing I miss is a „growling“ or „dirty“ Hammond sound, especially for higher notes. You can tweak a lot... I still did not use all of the possible DSP effects and ways to edit the parameters of each sound. But it‘s not necessary to do that, as it comes with different ways to get the right organ setting for the song one wants to play.

I will get a Roland AT500 soon (I like real drawbars). As far as I understand the specs of the AT500 the GA3 is even better in some areas than the 20 year younger AT500.

[NeilC]

Yes I've been watching a lot of videos and am really taken by the GA3. I'm looking frequently in new places to see if any come for sale which aren't up already. there are a few at the minute £799, £999 and £1199, which was quite a bit more than I envisaged originally for my instrument, despite it being fairly decent value. some have sold for much less than 500 I can see from private listing sites prior advertisements I've put a couple of bits for sale to try and up my budget. there is a GA1 for £250, which if I don't find a GA3 any time soon I may go have a listen to also.

A big part of the hunt is distance too, as you are all probably aware it seems to be 50/50 cost split between organ and logistics costs :)

[auronoxe]

The GA3 can be split into 2 parts, so it can be moved quite easily and fits into many cars.

[NeilC]

Well a bit of an update I have agreed to buy an EA5 and I'm actually really excited to collect it tomorrow haha

I've done nothing but check the classified every day for a GA3 to come up even remotely locally (120 mile radius) via a private sale and no joy. I recently saw an EA5 appear only 20 minutes away in immaculate condition with a decent stool for £100 and i just couldnt pass it up. even if its a first step im very pleased with it.

Thanks for the tip off on them splitting into two parts that useful info for my mode of transport and taking the weight down to something manageable.