Yamaha HE-6

[GregJ]

Hi, I have recently purchased am old (1990) Electone HE-6 organ. My question is:- is it normal for it to take 60 seconds from switch on before the musical notes are clear with no distortion?
Regards, Greg J

[andyg]

No, that's not normal.

1) There's a relay that protects the speakers on switch-on, but that should operate in a second or two.
2) There should be no distortion at any point.

I'd suspect amp or power supply issues. You may need to change the electrolytic capacitors on the power supply board and amp board - they may all be just on one board (a good idea since a lot of Yamahas of this and later vintage are displaying problems do to the capacitors failing). You need to know that all the correct voltages are getting to where they should be on the organ, so a set of schematics and the ability to follow them would be useful. The Sanyo amp modules can also be prone to giving problems in old age!

Should be all fixable, and the parts are cheap enough, but any issues with the tone generation board(s) themselves may well mean that the organ is beyond repair. No spares at all for these, of course.

But, do be aware that the real value of this organ is zero and that they are normally just given away (I got an HE-4 for free about 20 years ago, for example), so do watch how much you spend out on repairs. It's sadly often cheaper to cut your losses and get something that works 100%. That may seem a tad harsh but that's just being realistic, sorry.

[geoelectro]

It could be dirty contacts in the muting relay.

Geo