Wurlizter Organ 4100 with Leslie 125 unit - no sound, but turns on

[Guest]

Hi All,

First time poster in this forum.

I was recently given a Wurlizter Organ 4100 with the Leslie 125 unit attached to it. The Organ does power up and the Leslie does work (spins), however, there is no sound coming out of it. The only things I hear are crackly sounds and loud tapping sounds. The tapping sounds change in the frequecy as I press or depress the pedal, but go away when the pedal is at Max or minimum. When I press a key on the keyboard, the only thing I hear is a tick sound everyime I press a key and a low sounding crackling sound, same thing with the bass notes.

Anybody have an idea of what could this be? The fuses seem to be working.

Thanks for you time.

[OrgansR4Me]

Re: Wurlizter Organ 4100 with Leslie 125 unit - no sound, but turns on



What you describe is a worse case scenario in the vintage organ world, but can be very simple to handle if you have a background in troubleshooting. I received an allen for free that wasn't working and spent almost $300 on a tech call with no better results. However the tech did indicate a part he couldn't verify and when I took the amp to another tech he found the part in question and I was able to order it from Allen for just $14.</P>


So from my experience, I'd recommend you start your investigation with the amp. You can search threads here at the forum for anyone who has done similar repairs.</P>

[bluetantra]

Re: Wurlizter Organ 4100 with Leslie 125 unit - no sound, but turns on



I agree that the amp is the first place to start if there is no sound from either manual or the pedals, but a tube tester is absolutely essential with this organ. There are something like 28 of the 12FQ8 tubes in the tone generators, not to mention a few more in the amplifier section and also the voicing circuits. You'll also need a service manual, available only from Morelock's Organ Service in Rienzi, Mississippi.</P>


This can be a very nice sounding organ if you're willing and able to put some work and/or money in it. Besides myself, there is one other forum member with a 4100 (that I know of; where are you, James?) Once you get the amplifier working (I'd guess it's one of the 6L6 output tubes or a 12AX7 pre-amp tube), you'll need to then replace the FP capacitors (the two metal cans) and a few electrolytics on the flip side of the amp chassis. There are probably also going to be some weak or thoroughly bad tubes in the tone generator section that will make individual notes sort of warbly sounding. The pedals use neon bulbs as frequency dividers; these can sometimescausea non-working pedal.</P>


Be aware that there are veryhigh voltages throughout this organ. Don't put yourself at risk if you don't know what you're doing. We'll try to help if you have questions.</P>

[Hammondlover]

Re: Wurlizter Organ 4100 with Leslie 125 unit - no sound, but turns on



There may be a lot of wax paper capacitors in this unit. Mind you thisin only aninference as Ihave not seen this organ in person - someone should verify this.These are known to get leaky or fail. If not then they are ceramic capacitors which will most likely not be the issue. </P>


I would start with the volume pedal. You should verify that the lamp is working. After that, I would take a look at the amplifier, which would be next in the chain. You need to get a can of electrical contact cleaner, such as deoxit. Remove each of the tubes from their sockets, and spray the sockets with the cleaner. Then make sure each tube is returned to it's proper place. If this does nothing, It will either be the rectifier tube, or the power amplifier tube. These will need to be replaced. You should also clean the sockets of the tubes in the tone generator as well. </P>


As well, you will have to clean all the key contacts - someone who has done this before can show you how to do it. </P>


The repeating tapping sound sounds like an oscillator issue. Do you hear any hum from the speaker? This organ will need its electrolytics changed as well. </P>

[james]

Re: Wurlizter Organ 4100 with Leslie 125 unit - no sound, but turns on



John,</P>


Oh yes, I am here when it comes to discussions about Wurlitzer organs. My nearly retired organ tech is close to being through with my project, and the good fact is that he has charged me only for the parts I have needed and not any labor. I guess that fact stems from the fact I was a good employee back when he was going strong. I do feel I am blessed for him to help me out with this project.</P>


We are down to getting the pedals going right, and I requested new speaker cones for the amp. I still find some notes are a bit stratchy at times and he has told me to check them often and be playing the organ since it needs the electrical current going through it to help in self cleaning circuits. I am fortunate to get this organ going as well as it is, and I do enjoy the tones in this model. It is truly a quality organ which was built like a battleship. I have no Leslie or Spectra-tone with this organ, and I don't want either of those. I like the tones of this organ without any spinning speakers. It has a unique tone of its own such as all the early analog organs did back then, and I could tell what brand of organ I was hearing when I would hear one playing somewhere. Some were great sounding, and some were just not for me at all.</P>


Regarding the pedals it has been one thing then another. Finally he decided all the neon lights had to be replaced since they were a mess, and then some physical parts were not holding up either. It appears this organ has been a beautiful piece of furniture for someone for many years, and didn't have much playing. It was almost in perfect tune when he checked the tuning. Oh yes, there are many tubes in this organ, and a few had to be replaced int his one. Some even had the name Wurlitzer still on them. However, no doubt they were made for the Wurlitzer Company.</P>


Another forum member posted info aboutthe wax capicators, but I didn't notice any of this type in this model organ. However, I do know they are in the Spinette reed models by Wurlitzer, and yes, they should all be replaced. I do know some capicators were replaced in this 4100A, but I didn't notice they were the wax type ones.</P>


I do know that Morelock's in Mississippi are most helpful when calling for info or parts, and we have checked with them a couple of times on this organ. I am hoping this one I have will have the tech's service behind me by Spring. This has been a long drawn out affair since he is not well and busy with other matters. I am eager for the day to come when he is finished with his work, and we both sit down and "fine tune" all of the "bugs" we can find when he is almost through with the job.</P>
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James</P>