26-1 conversion to 122 style kit for L-112

[Th'Rift]

Hey folks!

In the coming weeks, as parts come in, I'll be working on converting a 26-1 kit from an L-112 into a Leslie 122 style connector kit for use with a Leslie 122 and a second, much cooler, chopped L-112. I'll be using Captain Foldback's instructions. If there's any interest, I'll document the process.
I've got the components, transformer, 26-1 and everything I need, but from what I gather I also need an 8000 kit on the organ.

Now, I've got an old Model D that has a 047357 kit hanging in it. Would this kit fall into the category of an 8000 kit and would it suit my purposes?

Also, aside from the be cautious and work neat and don't electrocute yourself's, does anybody have any tips, tricks or watch out for this's that might aid on my journey? Does anybody have a post- conversion 26-1 I could see the guts of?

The end game here is to run the L112 into a board from an effects loop between preamp and volume, run a Numa Organ 2 into the board as well, Aux out both back into the organ power amp and run the works to the 122. Classic Hammond, plus reproductions of everything else you could want (basically), real moving air and look mom, no computer. (Shout out to Adam at Hammond organ restorations for setting me straight, dude is a genuine legend.)

Hope everyone's staying safe out there.

Warmest regards,
Mitch

[muckelroy]

The 047357 box is the main box that makes up the 8000 kit. The 8000 kit does both Tremolo switching and M-E-E switching.

The 047357 box already contains the 048025 transformer. It would be a lot easier to tweak that box than it would be to completely modify a 26-1 box to feed a 122.

In my opinion, M-E-E switching is more trouble than it's worth, unless both devices that you're switching sound between are both balanced, or both unbalanced. Specifically, your L100 built in speakers are unbalanced. The Leslie 122 is balanced. You can't expect M-E-E switching to work smoothly without modifying something. Are you wanting to switch BETWEEN the L100 speakers, and the Leslie 122? Or, are you switching between the 122 and some other speaker cabinet?
-- It might be easier to keep the Leslie active at all times, and add a mute switch with dummy load resistor to mute your L100 built-in speakers.

Essentially, the 047357 implements M-E-E switching through an array of 4 820 ohm resistors, which mimics the functionality of the 4-H box (which, early type II Leslie kits would use as a separate box from the 428 tremolo kit.) The 047357 box combined the 428 and 4-H boxes into one, but it only works for balanced organ consoles, which the L100 is not.

[Th'Rift]

The L internal speakers have been removed, replaced with a load resistor, bottom half of the cabinet is gone. I'm only going to be running the 122. How would I go about modifying the 047357 box?

[Sweet Pete]

Balance the L100 final amp out with a speaker DI.Route the DI to your 122 kit.I use a Radial JDX.
It will pass 300 watts of speaker load no problem.Less expensive brands are available.
Radial also makes amp load switch pedals etc.The DI's and Key Largo are the best available IMO.
So many options with that line level L100,not as many for the amps though.
Keep in mind most of the tone comes from the final AO43 amp.Those preamps have quite lame tone in comparison.
I took my vibrato pre out.In it's place is a Boss TR2 with a Keeley mod,into a Lounsberry Tall Fat and Wide,back to the AO43.

[Papus]

Interesting use of an outboard guitar pedal to achieve better vibrato/chorus in a spinet.
I bypassed the rattling drum scanner in my T, and installed an effects loop for the vibrato/chorus circuit - it's fed by a Korg A5 guitar multi-effects unit.
I use the flanger on the shortest possible delay setting (to mimic the Hammond delay line), plus a small amount of treble EQ boost to mimic the C3 chorus treble boost.
The A5's input gain and output level knobs allow for good signal level matching into and out of the T's vibrato circuit.
I used switched 1/4" jacks on the effects loop - if no plugs are inserted then the vibrato circuit remains stock and all I need to do is reinstate the scanner belt onto the drum to revert my T to stock vibrato/chorus.

[Th'Rift]

You're a wild cat Pete, you always have the outside the box ideas, I'll definitely keep the DI in mind

[muckelroy]

The L internal speakers have been removed, replaced with a load resistor, bottom half of the cabinet is gone. I'm only going to be running the 122. How would I go about modifying the 047357 box?

When I said "do very little", I meant, little is needed to modify your kit. That doesn't mean the kit is easy to install though. The 047357 box came with a 6 pin molex connector to attach to your 6 pin Leslie Amphenol connector. So if you have that connector - great. If not, you'll need to be creative. The 26-1 box is nice because it doesn't have any Molex connectors. It's got no-nonsense Amphenol connectors which the Leslie cable attaches directly to. So if you feel it easier to modify your 26-1 kit, go for it.

The following is what would be needed to make the 047357 box work. You will need to install a female 6 pin Amphenol connector somewhere mounted on a bracket, or make some means for the Leslie to connect to this.

The speaker level signal of the L100 can be attached directly to the primary of the transformer as long as you keep the existing dummy load resistor in circuit across it.

Specifically, if we look at the Leslie 8010 kit instructions for reference, then what that kit does is attach speaker black (which in this case equals ground) to the "red" wire of the kit. That should lead in to the kit's transformer primary. Then, attach speaker signal (which is usually a green wire on the L100) to the "black" wire that goes to the kit transformer. Of course, wire colors are all a wash here, so verify that you know which is which and where the wires are going. Finally, attach the brown ground wire of the kit to the L100 amplifier chassis. Really, ground should be the same connection as "speaker black wire", since almost all spinet organs (except some early M series) are single-ended unbalance speaker outputs.

Attach your tremolo switch to the two thick brown lamp wires coming out of the 047357 box.

Disregard the shielded cable containing the orange, blue, brown and yellow wires, coming out of the 047357 box. They are not used, since you're not using a M-E-E switch.

Then, you will either need to find a matching molex 6 pin plug for the Leslie 6 pin out to attach to this kit, or ditch the molex and splice wires directly to your female 6 pin Amphenol connector.

Blue and Gray AC wires attach to AC that supplies power to your organ's amplifier, and should only be "on" when organ power is on.

That should be all, assuming your Leslie is in working order. The 047357 box derives switching voltage from Pin 5 of the Leslie amplifier, so the Leslie has to be in working condition to do that. Also, the 10uF capacitor inside the 047357 box should be working and not leaky.

[Th'Rift]

If I stick with my plan to use the 26-1, would I need an 8000 kit at all? I had an understanding I needed both, if that's not the case I'm most definitely sticking with just the 26-1, I'm just waiting on the transformer now. I'd like to keep the 8000 where it belongs, happily on the model D

[muckelroy]

If you're modifying a 26-1 to do the job of 122 tremolo switching, and also adding a transformer for this task, then you really don't need the 047357 box, and can use it in a different organ.

[Th'Rift]

Righteous, thanks muckelroy much appreciated.

[Th'Rift]

For anybody interested, my confusion came from a separate inquiry in which I was told I'd need a 26-1 wired to 6H specs and 8000 kit between the organ and the leslie socket. This would be accurate IF you weren't following captain foldback's instructions, which actually adds the necessary transformer directly into the new kit. Muck's instructions to modify the 8000 kit would probably be easier if you have that kit, after studying the kit this becomes clear, but if you're in my situation and have the 26-1 in hand it is less of a headache in my opinion to add the few components and hard wire the transformer and connect everything as you're used to connecting it. Parts were around $50, sourced from Digikey and tonewheel general. If you have the 8000, it'll be cheaper and less soldering work to modify it, a little finesse to connect and you are rolling. The 8000 is also significantly cheaper than the modern 6122(i think that's the number) for the handy frugal types this could be an option for you if you had no kit and were looking for a cheaper solution and didn't mind the leg work.

I'll post my progress with the 26-1and try to document the steps according to the captain to help others make a little more sense of it.

Regards,
Mitch

[muckelroy]

The 6122 kit is what it is. I have lots of harsh words for it, but with a few common sense tweaks, it gets the job done, and can be wired up to half-moon switches. To its credit, it is designed to be compatible with a wide variety of organs (both consoles and spinets, balanced preamp signals and speaker level signals), via addition or removal of jumpers. They managed to build a circuit very cheaply, that is rather versatile, and can be made to work with a large number of organs when the instructions are followed correctly.

These older kits have a more narrow compatibility list, and require slight mods to get certain organs to work with it. Case in point, the 8000 kit can be made to work with single-ended speaker level signals by addition of a dummy load resistor if the speaker is not in circuit. The primary winding can take the hot signal just fine, provided the amplifier is properly loaded. The 8010 kit is very similar to the 8000 kit except for the addition of several connections and adapter cables to try to make it compatible with as many spinet organs as possible. Even then, installing the kit with an L100 calls for numerous wires to be cut and spliced, according to its original instructions.

If I can rant for a second, the 6122 kit makes no accommodation for a 6 pin socket in console outlet boxes, so you are on your own to wire that up, otherwise you must use the built in socket on a bracket and figure out how to access it inside a console with its back cover on (facepalm). Have seen too many times where a notch or hole was needlessly cut into an organ cabinet to route a Leslie cable in to a 6122 kit when it easily could have been wired to the outlet box.