Kimball swinger 300.

[Guest]

Hello all,</p>

I recently came into possession of a kimball 300 swinger series organ that someone was going to throw out and I quickly decided to save it. Ever since I was a kid I've loved the sound of electronic organs, to me it was a beautiful thing, it all seemed to work and sound great and instantly my new hobby was started. While trying to find out all the information I could about this and other organs etc, I found that the swinger series seems definitley laughed upon by many an organ veteran, but nonetheless it has become the object through which I've been trying to teach myself to play and read music. </p>

Everyday I've been working on practicing with it and learning basics about its use. I've opened it up and looked over how most of the mechanical stuff all worked and cleaned it all down. yet I still feel handicapped about a few organ basics, you guys are really the only resource I've been able to find online, and I was hoping one or two of you could indulge in helping me to realize my full comprehension of this instrument. I can't even find a manual!(please excuse my lack of terminology and general organ ignorance but please feel free to correct me)
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1- the kneebar - there is a lever that is in line with my right knee to the volume pedal that I can push left or right. if I do neither a strong bassy pitch comes from the organ. when I push it to the right with my knee everything plays normal and if it I move it slightly to center the keys change slightly in pitch. What is the function of this lever? how can I use it while playing? </p>

2- the 'cascading strings' and 'swinging bass' buttons- 3 buttons for each, neither of which seems to do anything different when I play, I'm not sure if they are just broken or what. I would've thought that it was part of 'the entertainer 3' options but still am not sure how it all fits together.</p>

3- percussion - there are different sound options for the solo manual, accompaniment, pedal, and there are solo presets. all which allow me to mix and match sounds to pick what I want for each of the manuals. yet there are a handful of percussion options which don't seem to effect anything. I don't know if they are simply a broken set of switches or if I've yet to discover what it actually is changing. </p>

4- the entertainer 3- I've figured out mostly how to use this gimmicky thing. allows for a rhythym playing, automatic chords, but If someone out there actually knows what each of the 6 buttons do it would help me out a whole lot. what the hell is 'magic memory'?</p>

If I could know those I would feel like I know this organ pretty well, they're the only bits that seem to still boggle me, there are a few repair things that I've been tinkering with but I guess I'll put them as a seperate post in the restoration section. also any basic tips at all on organing and this hobby in general would be helpful. am I wasting my time with such a silly time-sucking machine?
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[OrgansR4Me]

Re: Kimball swinger 300.

Some of the user manuals appear from time to time on Ebay. I've never had a Kimball I've worked with that still has the manual and I haven't used any of the features for special effects. The bar is for pitch bend (simulating guitar effects mainly). I've spoken to your restoration efforts in the other post. Please don't be put off from the restoration hobby just because this isn't the instrument most likely to be restored.

[skippy]

Re: Kimball swinger 300.



Hi,</P>


According to my Blue Book, your organ is an entry level 1975 Kimball model. Absolutely no commercial value, working or not. IMHO it is not even worth investing into an owners manual. And this is what you need to understand the functions. Without it you will have no idea if it is doing what it supposed to do. If you can source an owners manual forfree- go forit. In the meantime learn as much as you can from what it can offer you while you keep looking for somethingbetterfor free or a few bucks.Sorry.</P>


Skippy</P>

[crossyinoz]

Re: Kimball swinger 300.



[quote user="Gabrielp"] </P>


1- the kneebar - there is a lever that is in line with my right knee to the volume pedal that I can push left or right. if I do neither a strong bassy pitch comes from the organ. when I push it to the right with my knee everything plays normal and if it I move it slightly to center the keys change slightly in pitch. What is the function of this lever? how can I use it while playing? </P>


2- the 'cascading strings' and 'swinging bass' buttons- 3 buttons for each, neither of which seems to do anything different when I play, I'm not sure if they are just broken or what. I would've thought that it was part of 'the entertainer 3' options but still am not sure how it all fits together.</P>


3- percussion - there are different sound options for the solo manual, accompaniment, pedal, and there are solo presets. all which allow me to mix and match sounds to pick what I want for each of the manuals. yet there are a handful of percussion options which don't seem to effect anything. I don't know if they are simply a broken set of switches or if I've yet to discover what it actually is changing. </P>


4- the entertainer 3- I've figured out mostly how to use this gimmicky thing. allows for a rhythym playing, automatic chords, but If someone out there actually knows what each of the 6 buttons do it would help me out a whole lot. what the hell is 'magic memory'?[/quote]</P>


G'day,</P>


Everything Skippy says is true, however the 300 Swingers didn't have some of the features you mention, but in any case I'll try and answer from memory.</P>


1.The knee lever, can perform one or more function depending on the model, the most common being pitch change. It can also be called "magic tone selector" which changes the sound effect of the entire organ to eg. a sound they called "razz". These sounds, if applicable will be seen as small push buttons on the control panel.</P>


2. Cascading Strings/Swinging Bass. Cascading is Kimball-speak for Crescendo and applies to the orange voice tabs for the sting voices, eg. violin, cello etc. The 3 small push buttons control the delay in which the string voices reach full volume. The Swinging Bass buttons change the sequence in which the automatic bass notes play.</P>


3. Percussion. Not sure what you mean here. Could be the push buttons for the different auto rhythm beats or maybe the section containing percussive voices, eg. piano, banjo, mandolin etc.</P>


3. The Entertainer. Is Kimball-speak for the auto left hand functions, starts &amp; stops auto rhythms, selects 1 or 3 finger chords, selects chord &amp; bass memory and arpeggios (if fitted).</P>


Hope this helps,</P>


Ian</P>

[Guest]

Re: Kimball swinger 300.



I don't know why I wrote 300, its a 700 series model. but anyways thanks a lot for putting it all in perspective and for helping me understand some of the unknowns about the organ.</p>

crossyinoz- the percussion is not the auto rhythm beats. It is the banjo, mandolin, etc, but I don't see how those buttons change anything still.
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However for now its all I have and will try my best to learn off of it, until I'm good enough to warrant me buying something else. I guess that brings me to my next question. if these models are so bad, what makes a good home organ? or rather what should I be looking for that this model lacks? I live in a small place so a huge organ with many features wouldn't work for me, any suggestions for things I should keep my eye out for?
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