Kimball Temptation M75 w/entertainer, new owner, some questions

[wagonman76]

I just got one of these for free (Kimball Temptation M75 w/entertainer). The wifes friend's dad died a few years back and it was left in his house. She wanted to give it to only family or friends so I got it. It did come withsomething like 50music books and original owners manual which is nice. I took piano lessons a long time ago, and have been playing bass guitar for the last 15 years. Ive been wanting to try the organ for awhile. Ill probably never usethe entertainer section, I would rather just play it like a standard organ.</P>


Appearancewise it is in perfect shape. None of the cheap plastic pedals are broken and they all work. It does need some work though. No E or Eb keys on the lower keyboard work. Low C on the lower keyboard sticks onfor a few seconds after the key comes up. Low C on the upper keyboard also makes the next E play with it when pressed all the way. And the pots sound dirty when moved. Hopefully it just needs a good cleaning everywhere. Any tips or precautions? Ive fixed a lot of things and can solder, but Ive never torn into an organ before.</P>


I notice the top panel is hinged. But it will only open an inch or so, until something catches near the left rear. How do you open the panel?</P>


It does have the leslie speaker, which is a plus. I can hear it rotate if I listen at the vent on the left side. Only thing is the leslie does not do much. Even the owners manual says only the tibia will come through the leslie, everything else will come through the main speaker. Im thinking it might give a nicer sound if I sent everything to a crossover, and sent all the high tones to the leslie and the low tones to the main speaker.</P>

[andyg]

Re: Kimball Temptation M75 w/entertainer, new owner, some questions

[quote user="wagonman76"]

Im thinking it might give a nicer sound if I sent everything to a crossover, and sent all the high tones to the leslie and the low tones to the main speaker.</p>

[/quote]</p>

Only time for a quick response to your post. Don't do this! Not unless you want all your reeds, strings, pianos, rhythms etc to go through the leslie! low tones all go through the main speaker anyway.</p>

Best of luck with getting this one back to life.
</p>

Andy
</p>

[wagonman76]

Re: Kimball Temptation M75 w/entertainer, new owner, some questions



Well I have pecked away at it every now and then over the last 7 months and have learned quite a bit.A little screw in the back allows the top to open. I removed all the circuit boards and cleaned them with a toothbrush. I also vacuumed out the whole thing.</P>


I also found some other things that didn't work. On the lower keyboard, all the E's and Eb's didnt work. But the same keys worked when doing magic chord. Also the only thing that worked in the Synth section was the Clarinet, none of the others worked. Not a big deal. And the reverb does nothing, also not a big deal. All I care is to learn to use 2 keyboards.</P>


First thing to get fixed was the upper keyboard. That one was easy, one of the contact bars was touching the adjacent contact bar. I separated them well and then I had a fully functional upper keyboard. I looked at all the boards, wires, connections, and couldn't find any reasons for any of the other problems. So I just played it like a single keyboard organ for awhile.</P>


Then a little while ago during spring cleanup where everybody leaves piles on the side of the road, I found another near identical organ. It was a Kimball M70 w/entertainer. The only difference was the style of case, mine has no feet on the box and has posts up front; this one has extended feet on the box and no posts. It looked like it had been sitting in the rain for a long time, but I figured what the heck and brought it home. I tried it and it seemed hopeful, it was functionally the opposite of mine. The upper keyboard was totally dead. But the lower keyboard worked perfectly. And the reverb worked. And the sax and other sounds worked.</P>


First thing I did was swap the lower keyboard into mine. No dice, the low C still stuck and the E's and Eb's still didn't work. So next step was the keyer board, which had a big cable going to the lower keyboard. I swapped keyer boards and got the same as what I had on the other one, no upper keyboard.2 bad keyer boards, but the 2 together would give me all the functions. So I figured what the heck and one by one, I swapped chips from the salvaged keyer board to my existing one. Out of the 4 chips, the first 3 did nothing, then the 4th one fixed the E and Eb problem and gave me 2 full working keyboards. Yippee.</P>


One thing I also noticed is the key springs on the salvaged organ were lighter and I liked them better, maybe a different batch or just worn more. So I swapped the salvaged keyboards into mine. It worked for awhile, then the upper keyboard quit. So I figured it had to be the keyboard, so I swapped myoriginal working board onto the frame of the salvaged one. Put it in and it worked great. So cool, got 2 working keyboards that play easier.</P>


I noticed the leslie on the salvaged organ turned more quietly, so I swapped that one into mine. I also tried swapping the reverb units, but still no go, it still wouldn't work in mine. Must be something else, but that was enough work for awhile. I'll go at it some more eventually, but I do have what I wanted.</P>


The reason I mentioned running everything through the Leslie is to make it sound more like how other organs sound with a Leslie, the full output goes to the Leslie. Of course it would sound screwy running the entertainer section that way, but I don't use that. If I did, it would go on a switch. I am also thinking of finding the outputs and sending them through some effects, then through a small amp and through a Leslie. At some point I may take the Leslie from the salvaged organ and make a separate box for it like others here have done. Lots of ideas.</P>

[Guest]

I just acquired a Temptation M70. I also have the same issue with the hinged top. Did you figure out how to open it?

[Kurzweil]

Wagonman mentioned "a little screw in the back".

[RODDDIEHL]

Most organs ONLY run the Flutes (tibias) thru the Leslie. Running all voices thru the Leslie sounds like hash. Most who have tried it reverted back. However: beautify is in the ear of the owner. You really cant mess any thing up and you can always go back. Let us know the result.