Conn Theatrette 580 Sustain

[Guest]

Hello,

I am a german friend of american electronic theaterorgans. Since 3 weeks I am the proud owner of a Conn Theatrette. It sounds very nice, but the Tibia-sustain called "Reverb" is too much long for my taste. Is it possible to make this sustain shorter? I have the original manual.

With regards

Roland

[OrgansR4Me]

Re: Conn Theatrette 580 Sustain

Thanks for coming to the forum. I checked the service manual for the 580 and located the reverberation information. I didn't locate any control feature that would allow you to shorten the sustain. It was built to achieve special effects for the most part. I have had several two manual theaterettes and presently have the Trinidad. I almost never use the reverb because the sound is already so full. In answer to your other post, the integrated 6 pin socket is set up for the internal Leslie and the free standing socket is the output for an external Leslie. Connection of Leslie is a complicated issue for someone new to organs. The cabinet model has to be specific to the organ make and model. Be sure you are getting a Conn set up in the Leslie. Each organ uses different connections for different electrical functions. All 6 pin setups are not the same. For more information search the web for Leslie Pinout information. One last thought --- if you have the Pipe switch on your console you can use the connection intended for thePipe speakersto set up regular Hi-Fi speakers and achieve alot larger sound and even remote them for spatial presence. I have that presently on my Trinidad.

[andyg]

Re: Conn Theatrette 580 Sustain



There is, as has been said above, no way to shorten that sustain without modification. Some owners have put a stereo digital reverb unit in the organ, with tibia and complex voices on the left and right channels respectively. The outputs from both channels of the reverb unit are then commoned and sent to the stationary speakers in the organ.

As far as the leslie sockets go, the type II version of the 580 has two 6-pin sockets at the rear. Both are wired for a leslie 251 and nothing else. Put another type of 6 pin leslie in there, like a 122 or 147 and it's magic smoke time. I can't recall whether the type I version of the 580 has one or two six pin sockets but again, only the 251 can be used.

Leslie did make an adaptor that converted the 6-pin output to 9-pin for the 700 and 710 leslies. And there are two Conn cabinets called the 255 and 256, and I believe they also plug into the same 6-pin sockets.

Andy

[Guest]

Re: Conn Theatrette 580 Sustain



Thank You for the detailed informations.

Because I miss a little bit of reverb on the tibia-sounds I have still used the following connection:

going from the headphone-exit to a digital reverb (Alesis Microverb) and than into my no name Leslie-Box

If I play only the tibias the sound isjust like I want it. But naturally on the headphone-exit are all sounds and the reeds and strings dont like the rotating sound and the internal speakers are mutes. Therefore I must find an other solution.

An organ technician will find the tibia-connections of the 6-pin output and connect only them with the Alesis Microverb and than with the Leslie-Box.

Roland

[andyg]

Re: Conn Theatrette 580 Sustain

It should be quite possible to take the tibia and main channels at pre-amp level and route them into the Microverb, and route the 100% wet signal back to the main channel amp. It's been done, but I didn't do it. A tech would have no problems.