Eminent Grand Theater 2000 Repair Advice

[Guest]

Hello Everyone, </p>

I have an old Eminent GT2000 that is in need of some TLC and am hoping I can get some advice for fixing it. </p>

The background noise I get out of the speakers is excessive and makes a lot of fluttering noise (sounds liek wind on a microphone) that is on constantly even when all the drawbars &amp; stops are set to off and the volume pedal is set at minimum. Its 30 years old and not had the best storage condition for the last 12 months. I'm presuming it is the capacitors that are failing but am not really an electronics repair expert so am not sure where to start but am good with a soldering iron. The background noise and fluttering comes out of the speakers and headphone output. Any idea's on where to start ?
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The spring reverb when powered up makes a whining pitched tone that fades out after 2 to 3 mins but at no point is there any reverb, I can live without it but if I could get it working it would be nice. The spring isn't broken
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The other problem is that none of the Orbitone (vibrato/tremelo ?) functions are working. Does anyone have any knowledge of how or what to look at to get any of this part of it up and running ?
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If all I can achieve is to get rid of the excessive noise, I will be quite happy, its an amazing sounding beast. </p>

Best regards, Martin</p>

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[andyg]

Re: Eminent Grand Theater 2000 Repair Advice



There aren't that many of these beasties left alive Martin, so good on you for wanting to revive this one. [Y]</P>


I only looked inside one once, when it was launched back in 1975, and it looked pretty complex, so I can't give you specific advice. You're definitely going to need the schematics for this job. Try Bill Greenhill at www.wdgreenhill.com. He lists the service manual on his site, and you might also find him to be a useful source of spares. If not, you'll have to locate another 2000 and cannibalise.</P>


Just be aware that repair costs are likely to far outweigh the monetary value of the organ.You have to really want to do this sort of restoration!</P>


Andy G</P>

[Guest]

Re: Eminent Grand Theater 2000 Repair Advice



Hi Andy, </p>

Thanks for getting in touch, I have the schematics as they came with the Eminent. It came with the manuals and a folded page that said Service manual but I think the actual service information is possibly and its only the schematics that are present. There are a lot of boards inside but its almost modular in concept so its quite easy to access all the PCB's as they are on two drop down frames that are hinged on the base - quite clever really.
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I really don't care how much its worth from a monetary point of view, I just hate seeing these things left to rot and it really does sound quite special, if I can only get rid of the excess noise it would be a great start.
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Whilst being no great expert electronically, I do have a fairly decent understanding of components and have access to an oscilloscope (but its been 10+ years since I've used one and even then I had limited experience with it). My first job is to clean up the dust from inside as I'm sure that wont be helping things and then to go over any connectors, switches and adjust all the trimmer pots with deoxit. That seems to have helped in a few of the other posts for other models on here.
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If there are any other common faults anyone can recommend looking at, I'd check those out first before delving deeper.</p>

Many thanks, Martin</p>


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[andyg]

Re: Eminent Grand Theater 2000 Repair Advice



Like I said, good for you. The 2000GT is an impressive instrument and can make some great sounds (except the drum unit, perhaps!) I always add my rider about the cost to all similar questions, as many people don't have a clue about what the repair costs will be and some believe that their instrument is worth a fortune. Money-wise, the values of all the old organs like this is very low, if anything. Sentimental value is another matter!</P>


Looks like you're well clued up on what you're doing and the cleanup is always the first thing to do. Look for those interboard connectors, as they can always cause problems.</P>


There is a German site at www.analogorgel.de that you might look at. They really love their old analogue stuff over there and if you post a question on their Eminent/Solina section, you may well get some help. If you speak German, great, but if you post in English you usually get answered in English.</P>


Andy</P>
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