Allen Theatre Compact

[Philip the organist]

Hello everyone,

Mark Pratt asked me what an Allen theatre compact organ was, since it is in my signature as what I play at church. It is the organ on top of the picture (it's labeled :) ) sorry, it's the only web picture I have. It's a spinet model, built in the early sixties. According to the Allen website, it was a big hit and a lot of people bought it for home use (which is where it belongs). Some obscure little church donated it to our church many moons ago. It really is out of place, as I have said before, it is used with piano and orchestra to lead the singing of 400 worshipers. I have turned up the gain control on the amp almost to the max to get it loud enough and I have disabled the motor in the rotary cabinet so that the sound will project better, using the one working speaker in there and not the internal speakers.

The sound is on the horrific side of the spectrum. It has no diapason or reed generators, only 75 or so flute generators. So the way it generates the sound for the other families of tone is like a Hammond, it uses the flute tones at the fifth and twelfth and other harmonics to build up the tone.

So the Solo Diapason 8' is made of Flutes 8', 4' and 2 2/3' and the Oboe 8' might be something like 8' 2 2/3' 2' 1 1/3'. There are other people on here who could describe the tone generation better than I can.

Could someone give me the pitches that would make up a Sesquialtiera? Something historically accurate would be much better than the pseudo-reeds built in to the organ.

Stoplist

PEDAL

Major Bass 16'
Diapason 16'
Pedal Coupler 8'
(plays the other ped. stops
at their octave)

ACCOMPANIMENT

Flute 8'
String Diapason 8' (same sound as all accomp. stops together, rather like a Mixture VII)
Flute 4'
Flute 2 2/3'
Piccolo 2'
Larigot 1 1/3
Fife 1'
Sleigh Bells, Tom-Tom, Snare Drum, Wood Block

SOLO

L. Ged. 16'
Flute 8'
Diapason 8'
Gamba 8'
Trumpet 8'
Oboe 8'
Clarinet 8'
Flute 5 1/3'
Flute 4'
Flute 2 2/3'
Piccolo 2'
Larigot 1 1/3'
Flutes become Tibia [sic]
Marimba, Carillon, Chrysoglott, Xylophone, Repeat, Sustain, Chiff

GENERALS
Tremolo (switches output to both the console speakers and the gyrophonic cabinet.)
Vibrato (all sound to the ext. speaker except some of the pedal division. I usually use this just so that I can hear the other instruments and the congregation. Also it projects the sound into the room better.)
Pres. Proj.

(The gyro cab has a single-speed motor in it for tremolo. At the suggestion of jbird604, I have removed the inline fuse that goes to the motor so I can get a pseudo-classical sound for church use. The speaker cabinet has two 6"? speakers, but one has been disconnected by somebody before my time. I hope I don't fry that single speaker by pumping all the sound through it to fill a ~80' x40' room[*-)])

So this little organ is in use only until a suitable replacement can be found at a very low price. Though the church is 400 strong, 280 of these people are under 18, so the musical instrument budget is rather low. [:$]

I've played everything from a 2/5 Flentrop to a 4/23 Wurlitzer to a 3/55 ? Allen digital to my aunt's 3/40 Austin, but unfortunately this is what I have to play 2x a week.

Php 4:11b ...for I [am learning], in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." (while looking for a new organ, checking eBay daily[:D] and churchorgantrader.com and theatreorgans.com even more often than that. craigslist too.)

Registration wise, I stick mainly to the flutes. Typical hymn, as Diademata- verse 1: Accomp. Flutes 8' 4' 2', pedal Diap. 16.
verse 2: Solo-Diapason 8' (Flutes 8' 4' 2 2/3')
verse 3: Solo-Flutes 8'&4', chiff, Pedal Diap. 16',
last verse Accompaniment-Flutes 8' 4' 2' 1', Pedal Diap. 16, Pedal coupler 8'
For a gospel hymn, I might use Flute 8' alone and go to 8' 4' 2' on the chorus. For a softer new song, like "As The Deer" I will go with 8' and 4.'

Hope this has been interesting, if not, at least I didn't have to pay to post.

[Guest]

Re: Allen Theatre Compact



Thanks Phillip, that was interesting. I'd seen one of those on my local craigslist last year. That looks like an odd organ with it's two 44 note manuals that are not staggered in the normal spinet fashion. Is playing low notes on the lower manual a problem? Does it have 13 or 20 pedals? In what octave is middle C with that kind of manual layout?

[Philip the organist]

Re: Allen Theatre Compact



Hi Mark,

I actually like having the two manuals not staggered, that way you can do more than just solo RH and accompanying LH. Makes it feel more like a normal organ. Middle C is the second C on the manuals. It has 13 pedals (monophonic, to boot.) Low notes on the manuals aren't really a problem, because all I ever play on that organ is hymns and F is definitely low enough. I'd NEVER play anything classical on it, I'd go insane trying to make it fit in.
So I use the piano if I ever accompany a special group.
The Baldwin in the bottom of the picture was one that we had for about six months, then dumped and went back to the Allen. It was a trifle bigger, but was too quiet and had a lot of problems. I did accompany a lady singing "O Holy Night" last Christmas, but listening to the recording, that might have been a bad idea :D

The sound of the 1967 Baldwin was definately, er, um, vintage.

[Guest]

Re: Allen Theatre Compact



Hey Phillip, back in 1989 my first church organist gig was on a Baldwin console. It looked like an OrgaSonic spnet model but was a console with 61 note manuals and 25 pedals. It didn't have that row of switches between the upper manual and the rocker tabs like yours does. It was a miserable organ. It would only produce clarinety sounds no matter the registration. That was the kind of organ that would make you give up organ playing. It almost happened to me. Someone even tried to sell it for $4000 dollars after it gave out.

[Philip the organist]

Re: Allen Theatre Compact



Yep. Them Baldwins had four famlies of tone:

Loud string (labeled Diapason)

Soft string (labeled Violin)

Nasal String (labeled reeds)

Flutey string (labeled Flute) .

(by the way, I didn't make that one up. I heard it somewhere else on this forum.)

I am really glad to have the organ gone. Someone came to get (for free) it two Fridays ago. I would get embarrassed just looking at it.

What exactly is your Gulbransen President, and what is the Hammond 820? Is that a classical model?

[Guest]

Re: Allen Theatre Compact



The Gulbransen President is a flute organ like your Allen. It has drawbars and uses various combinations to make the different voices. I think they were made in the early seventies. The Presidents also had percussion pistions and piano. There was also a cheesy rythum unit with an equaly weird walking bass. If you look in the home organ section you'll find posts by me and othere who've owned them. Mine came to me when my church upgraded. It replaced a 73 Conn Rhapsody that I'd had since new.

The Hammond 820 is one of those much lamented LSI organs of the late seventies and early eighties. I am fortunate in the mine is a moslty trouble free example. It is a classical organ with an AGO pedalboard and internal speakers. The sound is very electronic wiht noattack delay or decay. The voices are mostly harsh sounding but it can also do a classicHammond sound. I never use the Leslie.

TheHammond replaced the Gulbransen which actually sounded better. It could not be heard but the Hammond has plenty of horsepower even wiht no external speakers. I am hoping to persuade the powers that be to start a fund for the purchase of a good used Allen or Rodgers when theHammond flies south.

[james]

A Sesquialteria is made up from a 2 2/3' and 1 3/5'

Add an 8' flute to that and you have a "Clarinet" which is what many organ companies have done. Gulbransen is one, and that Allen is another. Wurlizer ES is another one as well as early Conn Tube organs. Of coarse Hammond with its false claims to thousands of tones yet most are warbles, squeaks, and piercing tones which can hurt your ears is another one. BTW Early larger Allens are all flute organs too.

With a Hammond I have only been able to find no more than 30 if that many useful acceptable organ sounds that can be used effectively or get by with for what you have.

Everything sounds Hammond, and a lot or rather a whole lot of Baldwin can sound "clarinety" if you don't know a good combination to use without vibrato.

So Mark and Phillip what is your choice of a good organ? BTW Also your former Allen with the Gamba I bet that was a flutey thing as well as the String Diapason.

James

[james]

It is very interesting. However there is NO Tierce 1 3/5'!!!!!!!!!! I find that strange when nearly all flute organs have a Tierce before they have a Larigot 1 1/3'.

[Kurzweil]

When someone, or a church, is desperately seeking an improved organ, I believe that this is a situation where having your city and country in the avatar section can only help. There are folk on this forum that might gladly turn loose of an unneeded organ if they knew it to be going to a good home where love and appreciation might become its lot. A, "that's only a hundred miles from me" thought could thus be born.