Members DylanWilde Posted September 17, 2007 Members Share Posted September 17, 2007 So there is an organ lying around in the upstairs of a building nearby that I can have for free. It's a Lowrey, and I don't have pictures at the moment, but I was hoping that someone could maybe identify it by a description or point me to a site that has vintage Lowrey models that I could find. .. In any case, the organ is almost identical to a B3 from outward appearances, console style, lacking the bass pedals, but essentially the same form. The controls are very different, however, with tabs to the left controlling vibrato and pedals tones, while along the top, above the second full manual there are various white flute tabs, similar to "H" or "L" Style hammond. There are two full 61-key manuals and the keys are wooden though unweighted. Again, any info would be REALLY appreciated. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted September 17, 2007 Members Share Posted September 17, 2007 Don't know much except that Garth Hudson of The Band used one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mate_stubb Posted September 17, 2007 Members Share Posted September 17, 2007 Run. Away. Garth Hudson's Lowrey was a deluxe tube model Festival, modified for multiple outputs. What you are most likely being given access to is a transistorized spinet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DylanWilde Posted September 17, 2007 Author Members Share Posted September 17, 2007 Nope, not a spinet .. . I think it's actually the same as in this picture Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mate_stubb Posted September 17, 2007 Members Share Posted September 17, 2007 Sorry, I don't know of any comprehensive listing of Lowrey models with pics. Can you go visit and get a model number? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrcpro Posted September 17, 2007 Members Share Posted September 17, 2007 You will have better luck finding out about it if you get it's name. It will have a name. My first organ was a Lowery, simply called the "Portable". As mentioned above, Garth Hudson used a Festival, but don't make too much out of that as it wasn't for long. Out it went as soon as he got his hands on a CS-80. Wooden keys would mean early to me, so it's likely to be a tube model as well. But none of this matters really. It's not collectible, so the only thing that counts is whether you like it or not. It would be a big step up from your Magnus.... that's for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DylanWilde Posted September 17, 2007 Author Members Share Posted September 17, 2007 I can't find a name on the organ itself, but it is the exact same model as Garth Hudson is playing in that photo, so I would say it's a late 50s Festival Console Model. Anybody deal with these? They can't be half bad. . .Now I just have to figure out how to move it to our practice space. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Outkaster Posted September 17, 2007 Members Share Posted September 17, 2007 Well there not as good as Hammond unless you want that sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DylanWilde Posted September 17, 2007 Author Members Share Posted September 17, 2007 Well there not as good as Hammond unless you want that sound. What is the difference? I see it doesn't have any drawbars, it instead has flute stops. . .If run through a leslie or even leslie sim, is there a huge difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Allerian Posted September 17, 2007 Members Share Posted September 17, 2007 I have a Lowrey Fiesta. It is a far, far cry from a B3. Very cool in its own right, though. Mine has no output, just an internal speaker. Can't beat that "Magie Genie Bass" feature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Paolo Di Nicolantonio Posted September 17, 2007 Members Share Posted September 17, 2007 Can't beat that "Magie Genie Bass" feature. He he Agree That brings to mind, that one time I programmed a setup on my W-30 sampler workstation to act like Magic Genie accompaniment - the result was pretty cool: My Penny Arcade Song It sounds like a transistor '70s organ, but in fact all I used was the internal waveforms in the Roland W-30 ROM. --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ElectricPuppy Posted September 17, 2007 Members Share Posted September 17, 2007 That's Awesomely Cheesy, Paolo! Excellent! Now play "Yellow Bird"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrcpro Posted September 17, 2007 Members Share Posted September 17, 2007 The name will be on an ID plate on the back. You'll have to pull it from the wall to check. Unless it's missing. Quite possible after 60 years. Flute stops on analog organs sound a lot different than Hammond drawbars because they generate their waves in a fundamentally different way. It's almost always a statically filtered saw or square wave. Sine waves were very difficult and expensive to generate with the technology of the time... without electromechanical means like on Hammonds. Don't try make it out to be a B3. It won't work. If you can't enjoy it for what it is, leave it because it will just frustrate you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mate_stubb Posted September 17, 2007 Members Share Posted September 17, 2007 That picture above is NOT a Festival. Here is Garth playing his Festival. Note the curved upper console feature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DylanWilde Posted September 18, 2007 Author Members Share Posted September 18, 2007 I just tried it plugged in, it was in a hallway, and I couldn't get any sound, though the power light was on, and the tubes in the bottom where glowing. . . A friend of mine, the person getting rid of it, said it worked when she played it just before it was moved out of her space. I assume that it might need the pedals attached to work and connect to the internal speaker, since there are about 4 or 5 6-prong connections dangling without the pedals (the bass pedals were removed when the organ was moved and are sitting right next to it in the hallway). Once we get them attached, I will see how it sounds. Also, I see it has another 6 prong connection in the lower back for an external speaker - Can I hook this up to a Leslie? IF so, which model? . . .OH, and btw, what is the cheapest I can get a Leslie for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted September 18, 2007 Members Share Posted September 18, 2007 That picture above is NOT a Festival. Here is Garth playing his Festival. Note the curved upper console feature. I want a keyboard with a cassette machine on the left. Maybe if I grow the serious beard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jonny_Q Posted September 18, 2007 Members Share Posted September 18, 2007 I just tried it plugged in, it was in a hallway, and I couldn't get any sound, though the power light was on, and the tubes in the bottom where glowing. . . A friend of mine, the person getting rid of it, said it worked when she played it just before it was moved out of her space. I assume that it might need the pedals attached to work and connect to the internal speaker, since there are about 4 or 5 6-prong connections dangling without the pedals (the bass pedals were removed when the organ was moved and are sitting right next to it in the hallway). Once we get them attached, I will see how it sounds. Also, I see it has another 6 prong connection in the lower back for an external speaker - Can I hook this up to a Leslie? IF so, which model? . . .OH, and btw, what is the cheapest I can get a Leslie for? If you want the Hammond/Leslie sound for less than a B3, go the route I went and buy a M3 with a Leslie hooked up to it. You can find M3's for cheap! Even if you find a Leslie 120 or something to hook up to it, it'll sound better than the Lowrey. Unless you are after the sound Garth Hudson got. Than skip the Hammond and get a Festival Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Paolo Di Nicolantonio Posted September 18, 2007 Members Share Posted September 18, 2007 That's Awesomely Cheesy, Paolo! Excellent! Now play "Yellow Bird"! Thaaanks I still have the floppy disk with the program if anybody with a Roland S-series sampler wants it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Allerian Posted September 18, 2007 Members Share Posted September 18, 2007 He he Agree That brings to mind, that one time I programmed a setup on my W-30 sampler workstation to act like Magic Genie accompaniment - the result was pretty cool: My Penny Arcade Song It sounds like a transistor '70s organ, but in fact all I used was the internal waveforms in the Roland W-30 ROM. --- Holy cow!! That is exactly how the Fiesta sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DylanWilde Posted September 18, 2007 Author Members Share Posted September 18, 2007 If you want the Hammond/Leslie sound for less than a B3, go the route I went and buy a M3 with a Leslie hooked up to it. You can find M3's for cheap! Even if you find a Leslie 120 or something to hook up to it, it'll sound better than the Lowrey. Unless you are after the sound Garth Hudson got. Than skip the Hammond and get a Festival Well, I don't necessarily want a Hammond Leslie sound, but I would like something with the leslie swirl, and I simply want to try out the sound of this organ with that. I think it might be a cool unique type of tone that has both elements of an overdriven Leslie (best case scenario) and a transistor organ. I mean, if the organ works, I got it for free and might as well try it out, but if I like it, I would definitely love to see what I can do with a Leslie, see what unique and interesting tones I can get. So back to the question, how cheap do Leslie's run these days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Outkaster Posted September 18, 2007 Members Share Posted September 18, 2007 Leslies are not cheap. That is the problem I run into with people. They are so concerned with 122 and 147 models but sometimes get hosed into paying too much for them. A good working Leslie can fetch up to $1500 sometimes. The new ones from Hammond-Suzuki are more. Your best bet is craigslist or garage sales and NOT E-bay. People overcharge there and you do not know what you are getting. It is always not the best judge of pricing. Consider 860,760, 21H, 31H or 22H models also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DylanWilde Posted September 18, 2007 Author Members Share Posted September 18, 2007 On average, what do the lesser known and lesser used Leslie's go for? Are there any reputable dealer's online that sell vintage leslie's of those kinds at reasonable prices, or is it more of a luck/crapshoot thing to find a decent one somewhere for cheap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mate_stubb Posted September 18, 2007 Members Share Posted September 18, 2007 It's a crapshoot. You have 4 well known venerated models that everyone lusts for. Those go for premiums. You have unworthy models that don't sound like anything much (hint: rotosonic leslies blow), but which people try to sell for too much money because it is a "leslie". Some of the weird looking decorator lowboy leslies can be had for a good price. Leslie configurations, in decreasing order of desirability: 1. the classics - 147, 142, 122, 145. Horn and bass rotor. 40W tube amp2. older single speed models - 22, 453. the highboys - 31H, etc. - still horn and bass rotor, but big bass due to cabinet size.4. Anything with a single rotor but no horn.5. Rotosonics. These twirl 6x9 speakers around instead of fixed speaker / twirling rotor. They sound wimpy for organ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mikael488 Posted September 18, 2007 Members Share Posted September 18, 2007 That picture above is NOT a Festival. Here is Garth playing his Festival. Note the curved upper console feature. The big organ pictured here is not a Festival, it's a Lowrey Symphonic Theatre Console, model H25-3. Garth used this model, which featured a built-in string & brass symphonizer, from early 1974 onwards. The other one pictured above is indeed the old model Festival that he used during the '60's. Garth was also using a Lowrey Lincolnwood Deluxe, model TSO-25 for a brief period during the early '70s. Micke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members memphis Posted September 19, 2007 Members Share Posted September 19, 2007 +1 on cool transistor organs that can provide an awesome element to rock and roll music. We picked up a Yamaha Electone Organ about a month back and have had a blast with it. I'm also actually a fan of the organ tones used by Garth in the Band's work. Up On Crippled Creek has got to be one the best keys songs ever. Simple, funky arpegiated clav on the verse then a cool melodic organ line on the choruses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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