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AMISHOVERSHOE liked a video
(3 days ago)
Bob Ralston playing incredible as usual. Bob is one of the most creative...
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Bob Ralston playing incredible as usual. Bob is one of the most creative electronic organists...I still want to know what a ' Versatone Footnote ' is Bob. If you are out there can you pop on here and comment about it? People are quick to judge a Thomas organ who have never played one. Yes, they like a lot of other companies made a few duds, but they were a projected market, not because they didn't know what they were doing. Most electronic organ companies invested countless man hours and dollars perfecting circuitry that would make the digital sounds available today pale in comparison. The transistor in a guitar amp is not so great, but in an organ it opened the pathways for incredible tonal opportunities from about 1960 until about 1970. Before 60' the vacuum tube was actually won over by the Hammond tone wheel generator and the Wurlitzer electrostatic reed organ with the beautiful and incomparable tone of vacuum tube amplifiers, of course. However, for a home market vacuum tubes for tone generation was just too complex, expensive, and heavy! The transistor proved to be a most incredibly warm participant when combined with tunable transformers and for filtering. They really did perfect the most perfect electronic organ in the 1960's. Without these perfect organs ( and they are still out there on Craigslist for almost nothing!) there would be no ' Organ Boom ' of the 1970's. Unfortunately the automated features, made practical by lower cost and more reliable 'logic chips', became a trend and seemed to be the formula for impressing passersby at shopping malls. Even with these 'eyesores' the well respected electronic organ builders tried as best they could to maintain a certain level of craftsmanship and perfection in tone that was achieved in the 1960's, but LSI ( Large Scale Integrated circuits) was a bit of a compromise. You see, in analog music, and analog electronic music there is a phenomena associated with how the electron takes on slightly varying paths each time it sets out. If the input of a circuit is a slightly higher volume pedal, or an added voices- say two more flute pitches combined with a reed and a clarinet voice...the electrons react differently. In analog electronics consisting of transformers, tubes, or transistors, and electromechanical tone generation- any combination, will always sound better than digital.
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AMISHOVERSHOE favorited a video
(3 days ago)
Bob Ralston playing incredible as usual. Bob is one of the most creative...
more
Bob Ralston playing incredible as usual. Bob is one of the most creative electronic organists...I still want to know what a ' Versatone Footnote ' is Bob. If you are out there can you pop on here and comment about it? People are quick to judge a Thomas organ who have never played one. Yes, they like a lot of other companies made a few duds, but they were a projected market, not because they didn't know what they were doing. Most electronic organ companies invested countless man hours and dollars perfecting circuitry that would make the digital sounds available today pale in comparison. The transistor in a guitar amp is not so great, but in an organ it opened the pathways for incredible tonal opportunities from about 1960 until about 1970. Before 60' the vacuum tube was actually won over by the Hammond tone wheel generator and the Wurlitzer electrostatic reed organ with the beautiful and incomparable tone of vacuum tube amplifiers, of course. However, for a home market vacuum tubes for tone generation was just too complex, expensive, and heavy! The transistor proved to be a most incredibly warm participant when combined with tunable transformers and for filtering. They really did perfect the most perfect electronic organ in the 1960's. Without these perfect organs ( and they are still out there on Craigslist for almost nothing!) there would be no ' Organ Boom ' of the 1970's. Unfortunately the automated features, made practical by lower cost and more reliable 'logic chips', became a trend and seemed to be the formula for impressing passersby at shopping malls. Even with these 'eyesores' the well respected electronic organ builders tried as best they could to maintain a certain level of craftsmanship and perfection in tone that was achieved in the 1960's, but LSI ( Large Scale Integrated circuits) was a bit of a compromise. You see, in analog music, and analog electronic music there is a phenomena associated with how the electron takes on slightly varying paths each time it sets out. If the input of a circuit is a slightly higher volume pedal, or an added voices- say two more flute pitches combined with a reed and a clarinet voice...the electrons react differently. In analog electronics consisting of transformers, tubes, or transistors, and electromechanical tone generation- any combination, will always sound better than digital.
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AMISHOVERSHOE liked a video
(3 days ago)
Okay, what's a Versatone Footnote ? The back of the record states that B...
more
Okay, what's a Versatone Footnote ? The back of the record states that Bob was given one to use straight off the assembly line before anyone else. Wonder if anyone else evr got one. I've looked everywhere to find out what a Versatone Footnote even is or what it looks like, to no avail.
Bob's playing a Hammond organ here, not the usual Thomas organ. Maybe because it was earlier in his Lawrence Welk days, or maybe because Bob was just as fluent on both organs.It's pretty well established that there are electronic organs, and then there is the Hammond electronic organ! The Hammond uses spinning discs with serrated edges that spin- each in front of it's own electromagnetic pick-up, not unlike the type found on electric guitar. Instead of a long oval shaped bobbin wrapped with hundreds of turns of hair-fine wire, the Hammond bobbin is like a small sewing bobbin for thread. In the center of the bobbin is a length of a cylindrically shaped magnet which is placed in front of the spinning disc. The magnet goes through the chassis through a collar which has a locking bolt to anchor the magnet. The tuning of the spinning disc is determined not only by the amount of serrations of cut-outs on the edge of the disc, but also by how close the magnet is to the disc. The Hammond tone wheel organ is tuned at the factory and essentially never needs tuned again.The rotations of all of the discs are governed by one central synchronous motor- one of Laurens Hammond's many inventions that would be seen in every electric clock with a second hand that moves smoothly. The motor operates by the accuracy of the 60 hertz frequency that comes from the electric company- 110 volts AC at 60HZ. Some Hammond's operated at 50 HZ, and of course the Hammond organs in the UK operate at 220 volts,. Not sure of the HZ- probably 60 HZ?
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AMISHOVERSHOE favorited a video
(3 days ago)
Okay, what's a Versatone Footnote ? The back of the record states that B...
more
Okay, what's a Versatone Footnote ? The back of the record states that Bob was given one to use straight off the assembly line before anyone else. Wonder if anyone else evr got one. I've looked everywhere to find out what a Versatone Footnote even is or what it looks like, to no avail.
Bob's playing a Hammond organ here, not the usual Thomas organ. Maybe because it was earlier in his Lawrence Welk days, or maybe because Bob was just as fluent on both organs.It's pretty well established that there are electronic organs, and then there is the Hammond electronic organ! The Hammond uses spinning discs with serrated edges that spin- each in front of it's own electromagnetic pick-up, not unlike the type found on electric guitar. Instead of a long oval shaped bobbin wrapped with hundreds of turns of hair-fine wire, the Hammond bobbin is like a small sewing bobbin for thread. In the center of the bobbin is a length of a cylindrically shaped magnet which is placed in front of the spinning disc. The magnet goes through the chassis through a collar which has a locking bolt to anchor the magnet. The tuning of the spinning disc is determined not only by the amount of serrations of cut-outs on the edge of the disc, but also by how close the magnet is to the disc. The Hammond tone wheel organ is tuned at the factory and essentially never needs tuned again.The rotations of all of the discs are governed by one central synchronous motor- one of Laurens Hammond's many inventions that would be seen in every electric clock with a second hand that moves smoothly. The motor operates by the accuracy of the 60 hertz frequency that comes from the electric company- 110 volts AC at 60HZ. Some Hammond's operated at 50 HZ, and of course the Hammond organs in the UK operate at 220 volts,. Not sure of the HZ- probably 60 HZ?
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AMISHOVERSHOE liked a video
(2 months ago)
Live at 黽（鵜沼） 2011/6/25
辻田裕樹(TS), 小森淳(Gt), 棚橋章仁(Org), 村瀬俊介(Ds)
Grant Green...
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Live at 黽（鵜沼） 2011/6/25
辻田裕樹(TS), 小森淳(Gt), 棚橋章仁(Org), 村瀬俊介(Ds)
Grant Greenの演奏で有名なスタンダード。
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