Types of Electric Organs

There is a lot about Hugh Banton's organs, so I'll try to summarize:

He first had an American Thomas, this he had from May to August 1968.

Next up:

Farfisa Compact Duo (same type as used on Piper At The Gates Of Dawn), that he used from August 1968 to 1969.  He had the following Effects and Amps:

Fluid Sound Box
Distortion box
WEM amp & speaks
Vox Wah-Wah pedal

He used this on Afterwards and Firebrand.

VdGG had all their equipment stolen, so he replaced the above with a Farfisa Professional that he used 'til August 1969.  The Effects and Amps for this were:

2 x Fluid Sound Box
Distortion box
Phasing Pedal

Amps:

Hiwatt + 2x 4x12 speakers
Hugh Banton Custom Leslies

He used this on Aerosol Grey Machine, The Least We Can Do, H to He and BBC Sessions.

Nic Potter left during the recording of H to He, so Hugh decided to take over with bass duties, he acquired a Hammond E112 and modified it.  This is a very complicated organ!

He rewired the motor switch, so he could run the motor down independently of the organ's electronics.  He used two Rotasound boxes and two amplifiers to generate a stereo "Leslie" effect.
He obviously incorporated bass pedals into this too and they had their own amplifier and reflex speaker (built by Nic Potter).
Additionally, Hugh built a remote stereo Hammond spring reverberation unit, which was amplified through two speakers, which he located wide of the stage.

This was used on Pawn Hearts and BBC sessions, here are details:

Effects & Amps:

2 x Schaller Rotosound
WEM Copycat echo
Echo & organ motor switches
3 x Distortion; 1 x Overdrive
Hugh Banton Stereo spring reverb

Amps:

6 x 100W channels
4 x 4x12; Hugh Banton Bass speaker
2 x WEM speakers for reverb

He used this organ from 1970 through to 1973 and used the Farfisa Professional alongside it, particularly on White Hammer.

The band split-up and then reformed... in this time, Hugh started to build his HB1, which was his very first custom organ.  But he hadn't completed this in time for the re-formation of the band, so he rented a Hammond C3 with pedals, Leslie and re-used the tape echo and motor switch from the previous set-up.  The details are:

Effects & Amps:

WEM Copycat echo
Leslie
RTR speakers and amps.

He used this on Godbluff, Still Life and World Record.

He then finally completed HB1.  This contained the original Hammond keyboards and generators from the E112, coupled with three new build electronic generators sets intended to provide all the Farfisa sounds and more.
The American RTR cabinets utilised 24" bass speakers, which reproduced 32-foot (16Hz) organ tone.

Details:

Effects and Amps:

WEM Copycat echo
4 x 100W amp channels
2 x RTR speakers

He used this on BBC sessions.

Now, we fast forward to 2005.

He now uses:

Roland VR-760
Roland VK-7
MIDI pedal-board

and the following Effects & Amps:

Line6 Delay Modeller
Hugh Banton 6x 125W amplifiers
4 main, 1 sub speaker
Hugh Banton custom Leslie

He's modified an original '70s organ-pedal board to provide velocity-sensitive MIDI for the bass and the Line6 is used for authentic tape-echo effects.

And Jim, he has had a career as a church organ builder.

I hope this is of some use!

He used this on Present and all the live gigs from 2005.


Edited by Geck0

pierreolivier wrote: the spinets like the L100,M100 and M3

If I had to choose a Hammond I'd love to own apart from a C3, it would be the M3 - absolutely gorgeous instrument, the king of the spinet - no silly presets, just drawbars & proper waterfall keys

Good heavens! I may just have to look into this a bit further - I thought my L was in pretty good nick for a 35 year old - now it looks to be about the same age as me (but in considerably better condition, regrettably).

As an aside, I never much cared for the T series, as they were transistorised, rather than valve driven - there's nothing quite so soothing as the smell of a warm valve when you're playing with your organ. Also, I found their sound to be a tad harsher than the valve driven organs.

And thanks for beautiful pics!

Geck0 wrote: Hugh Banton made his own organs, by converting existing models.  I shall list there details in due course (in the next few days).  He was also a skilled cabinet maker as well.

I believe Hugh Banton now has his own company making custom organs for churches...

pierreolivier wrote: You have a very beautiful organ...

That's a dangerous thing to say to a 'Carry On' films fan...

pierreolivier wrote: ...and a very fine leslie.Just a little rectifier,you say that your organ was made in 1971 but according to the Hammond book "Beauty in the B" by Mark Vail,all the L models were produced between September 1961 and July 1964 so your organ may be older than you think.

Now that's interesting - I have the original Hammond warranty (but not the receipt, so I don't know how mucgh was paid) from when my little beastie was purchased from new in Exeter, Devon on 9th December 1971 (which was coincidentally my wife's 4th birthday), and given their popularity at that time, it's difficult to believe a brand new Hammond gathered dust in a shop for seven years before being bought. Are you sure Mark Vail wasn't referring to the original L100 as opposed to the L series as a whole?

Incidentally, the warranty has expired... cheapskates!

Jim Garten wrote: OK then - my very own 1971 Hammond L122 with Leslie 145

Hi Jim,

You have a very beautiful organ and a very fine leslie.Just a little rectifier,you say that your organ was made in 1971 but according to the Hammond book "Beauty in the B" by Mark Vail,all the L models were produced between September 1961 and July 1964 so your organ may be older than you think.

Great pictures!

OK then - my very own 1971 Hammond L122 with Leslie 145



Its far bigger (and more expensive) brother, the glorious Hammond B3



...here being (ab)used by Ken Hensley:



Finally (for now) - the weird, wonderful & gloriously cheesy sounding Vox Continental:



Enjoy...

Jim Garten wrote: pierreolivier wrote: I own a L-100 since a couple of years and like it very much.With a leslie cabinet, they sound very good, like in Genesis records I've an L122 myself (played through a Leslie 145) and they're wonderful instruments (considerably lighter/smaller/cheaper than the full console B3/C3s) - the only thing I'd take issue with is that unlike many players, I don't believe Tony Banks ever used a Leslie cabinet - I think his was adapted for use with a 1/4 inch jack plug to a standard amplifier. David Sinclair (Caravan) and David Stewart (Hatfield & The North, Hillage) were others who used a Hammond spinet through a standard amp, but they took advantage of this arrangement to use a great deal of guitar effects pedals, most notably wah-wah & distortion/overdrive - this in turn gives a particularly individual sound to the Hammond - almost unrecogniseable from the 'usual' sound, but still wonderful.

Jim, is it Hammond spinet that Caravan used on the album "In the Land of Grey and Pink"?

Was it the same instrument used also by Steve Winwood on Traffic's "Low Sparks of High Heeled Boys" title track?