Gulbransen T-200

[tom-total]

Hi all,

I recently bought a Gulbransen T-200.

Now, I'm looking for a Service Manual. Can anybody help?

Thanks,

Tom.

[jimmywilliams]

Re: Gulbransen T-200



Tom,

Dave's Electronics in Illinois has them all. They have the user manual too.

Gulbransen (All Pre-1986 Models: Parts, Service and Owners Manuals and Tech Support)
Dave's Electronics
105A East Penn St.
Hoopeston, IL 60942
Phone: 217-283-5010
Fax: 217-283-5161

[Tinker]

Re: Gulbransen T-200



Hi Tom,

Wow, you have been busy picking up "new" instruments haven't you. Here's yet another case where we both ran across the same model instrument but you ended up bringing yours home :^)

If you search back in the messages you'll see that I was gathering some information on the T-200 to see if I wanted to pick up one that was almost a give away only about 30 miles away. I liked the look of the instrument but I was envisioning a smaller version of the Rialto K that I could put up in a small cabin. Based on the measurements the owner sent me the T-200 wasn't that much smaller than my Rialto's and some of the folks commented that having the smaller keyboards aligned as in a console model made playing awkward. All things considered I decided to pass on it.

I would pass along the same suggestion as Jimmy did about Dave's Electronics. I've bought a few pieces of documentation from them as well as misc. parts and they were great to deal with and the items were first class. Any business that would send me a "freebee" Gulbransen nameplate for my Rialto K on top of all that is number one in my book.

I'd be interested in your opinion of the instrument in terms of it's
sound and what you think of the keyboard setup since you're the only
one I know that currently owns one. Keep us posted.

[tom-total]

Re: Gulbransen T-200



Hi folks !

First of all, I'd like to apologize for my awkward English - nevertheless, I hope that you will understand what I want to say .....

Well, in my view, the Gulbransen T-200 is a marvellous organ - although there are some posts in this forum where members express their opposite opinions.

I think, one has to bear in mind that the T-200 is "only" the baby version of the Rialto-K i.e. it is a sine wave organ with only one set of tone generators, it has no external Leslie boxes (b.t.w. in my opinion the Leslies 102 & 103 of the "K" belong to the best Leslie designs ever, which give the "K" an indescribable "lush" theatre organ sound...) and it has only one (yes one !) internal speaker, feeding a conventional Leslie (not a rotosonic drum). And it is only a spinet organ with a small pedal board and 2 small keyboards with 3.5 octaves which are parallel and not "shifted" by one octave. OK, the 3.5 octaves in comparison to the "full" 5 octaves are a restiction indeed. OK, on a spinet organ I'd prefer shifted keyboards, too, but one becomes familiar with the parallel arrangement quickly.

Butthe T-200does have the same Tibia generator as the "K" with these loads of big rustic individual oscillators (Gosh! I really do like this old-fashioned technology !)

The only weak point are the "red and yellow stops": these are no reeds and strings but onlya combination of sine-harmonics sounding like anything but a trumpet, an oboe or a violin. But, can you "create" anything like this on an old drawbar Hammond?

Taking all of this into consideration, you should not really compare the "K" and the T-200.

What counts is your personal impression that you get from the organ sound..... and in my view - or better: in my ear, the T-200 sounds brilliant.... it has thischarismatic mother-of-pearl gleam of the Tibias which I know only from Gulbransens and which I'm deeply fallen in love with !

As a last word: you Americans built the best-ever electronic theatre organs and I love each of my Baldwins, Conns, Gulbransens etc.

Lots of greetings across the big pond !

Tom.

[james]

Re: Gulbransen T-200



Tom,

Thanks for your post. I, too, love the Gulbransen Organs. What is your opinion of the Chimes? They are some of the best in my honest opinion. I wish I had a Gulbransen H3. I find them unique. Yes, you combine flute pitches the way you do on a Hammond to make other sounds such as Clarinet, Trumpet, etc. Some can be close sounding for a solo, some are just not at all. On these I don't find any strings which I can do without just fine. They do their best with what they have as Hammond and the drawbar system. The H3 had the two speed Leslie.

Try 8' 2 2/3' 1 3/5' for a Clarinet, very nice solo tone suggestive of a Clarinet. Hammond used the same on their spinet models. Yes these are the same harmonics that the drawbars on a Hammondare, and some Gulbransen Organshave drawbars just like the Hammond.

Try 8' 4' 2 2/3' 2' 1 3/5' for a Trumpet, no tremelo

The Oboe not as good on a Gulbransen. They used 4' 2 2/3' 2'

Their Diapason, 16' 8' 4', yes, all Flutes. Use with slow Leslie

Violin Diapason, 8' 4' 2' 1' ?????? No string there period. Just a very bright full sound, use with slow Leslie

On some I just said well whatever, but still a great and lush Tibia/Flute sound with some variety for solo passages in music. They had a great Piano sound on the models with this feature. I really liked the features on the older models.

I am another guy who has organ fever ever so often, and I let a H3 pass by without bidding on it. It never was posted again on Ebay as so many of the others often are reposted many times. Just the way my luckgoes. I needed to "use the iron while it was hot." No one had bid on it, and I ended up not doing so myself, so there went a good chance. I do wonder how it would have been since I don't like to buy something such as an organ sight unseen. It was around 100 miles from me, and I would have had to pay more than I would have for the organ to have it brought to me. Then, I would need a service tech.

I am now in the middle of a Wurlitzer project waiting for the service tech to come and finish this job. I had been looking for this one for some time.

James

[jimmywilliams]

Re: Gulbransen T-200



Hi Tom.

I'm just curious...how does the T-200 generate those extra percussion soundson the pistons? Some of those do not seem to be from combinations oftibia tones. Do they use a separate tone generator? Someone is sending me a copy of the T-200 user manual and technical manual as well, so I guess I'll find out sooner or later. Does yours have the add-on select-a-rhythm music stand unit? Most of the T-200s I have seen pictures of have that attached.

The clarinet combination stop sounds pretty good; the others as you say do not sound that great. There is only so much you can do with 9 pitches of sine waves! The chime usesthe "hidden" 6 2/5 pitch as the humtone; that pitch is not available anywhere else on the organ. The chimes sound very nice to my ears.

The closest organ toa "baby"Rialto Kis probably themodel J or N2 console organs. Both were 4-channel, isomonic organs with internal sound systems. However, because of all the speakers, there was no room for those large tibia generators, so the entire organ uses dividers and a "flute filter" to get the tibia sounds. Comes close, but not the same. There is a whole thread on those models somewhere...There was no 4-channel isomonic spinet model that I am aware of (at least of that vintage).

Do youknow what model your tibia generators are (they have a "TG" number on them). I'm only asking because you mention that they are the same as the ones in the Rialto K. While in theory they work the same, in practice they may not be compatible (in case you ever need spare parts...).

Enjoy the Gulbransen! Glad to see these organs are stil being played and getting a new lease on life.

-jim

[james]

Re: Gulbransen T-200



Guys,

Keep us posted. I like the Gulbransen quite well, and the touch is so nice and smooth unlike the Hammond with its key clicks. Hammond is unique too, but it is a mechanical action because it is a machine making the tones. I am more of a church organist, and the smooth touch appealed to me much more than the key clicks. I onced played Hammond in a Presbyterian church and the key clicks were so audible that some vibrato had to used to used so as not to make them so prevalent. Gulbransen could have done us a much better job as a church organ.

I don't miss the strings that much except for very soft background music, but a nice Cello 8', maybe a Violin 8' could be nice ever so often as a solo stop. Most of the organsI played with string stops were more of abuzzy sound than anything else, so, no I don't miss them at all onan organ.They are nice, however, IF they sound realistic.The buzzy sound to me justruinsanything else youmight have going at the time within a setting. However there is enough on a Gulbransen with two speed Leslie to play for a regular church service as well as any music I might want to play for myself personally. I could get as many nice solo tones from the H3 and other models to use adequately. On the models with the drawbars it was the same settings as the Hammond, and they could be set and ready for use with the thumb piston.

I am aware that of the two different modes of tone generation via a Tibia generator, and the divider type to filter out the flute sounds. It seems that memory tells me that for the Piano and Harpsichord features a separate generator was used to obtain these or were they filted from the divider? ???? Time has passed by since those "good ole days."

I just wish Gulbransen would have been more into advertising via magazines, TV even, etc. back in their heyday. They were only found in my area in the larger metro areas. Dealers in the smaller cities, and towns seem to have Hammond, Wurlitzer, Baldwin, maybe Conn way back when the organ market was going big time.

James

[jimmywilliams]

Re: Gulbransen T-200



Piano and Harpsichord on the Gulbransens were always produced in part by a divider generator set. In the organs after the Premiere, divider circuits were used exclusively for all voices - including the tibias. Before switching over to divider generators, all the organs had the individual tibia generators except forthe J, N, and R IIRC. The D, K, and Premiere had 2 sets of generators (indepedent tibias and the divider mains) and I THINK a later revision of the old B spinet(not sure of the "version" number)did as well.

I got my T-200 info in today. The rhythm sounds on the lower pistons (brush, block, cymbal) were in fact produced by a separate module and they came out of a separate 4" speaker. They were keyed either through the accomp manual or the pedals. The tibia generators in the T-200 are TG-15 and that model used NPN transistors - so they are NOT compatible with the ones in the Rialto K (TG-3 which used PNP transistors). Also, the top row of percussion pistons were not the usual omega pistons but contained the chime as well as other "reiteration" percussion instruments (marimba, etc.). You can tell this organ was designed with the theaterstyle in mind.

-jim

[Guest]

Re: Gulbransen T-200



Hello All,

 I will be getting my first Gulbransen T-200. I can't wait to be playing again.  I'm very rusty but it will be great. I have just seen photo's of the T-200. My Mom and Dad are getting it for me for a early christmas present. Does anyone have the stat's on the Organ. I played one yeaers ago.

 

Thanks,

Leslie Keith Shaw