KVR Audio

butter · Post by **butter** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:24 pm

So I have probably about the best Goodwill in the Seattle Metro-area three blocks from my house and today I stumbled on a Magnus 3D Combo Organ for $50 in great shape. While it's not 100% tip-top operationally it's still in pretty good shape all around. Given that this isn't a Farsifa or Vox combo organ I haven't been able to find very much info on it. There's a little bit here:

http://www.combo-organ.com/

and they do have my model (first one on the page):

http://www.combo-organ.com/Magnus/magnus.htm

Two things it didn't come with are legs (no biggie as I don't really have the room to store it like that) and the volume pedal.

Is anyone here familiar with combo organs? Could the volume pedal be replaced by a guitar volume pedal perhaps?

Thanks in advance!

C00kie · Post by **C00kie** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:48 pm

butter wrote:Could the volume pedal be replaced by a guitar volume pedal perhaps?

Maybe indeed, but it's hard to say without having a good look at the connectors and running a test or two, maybe take a look with an oscilloscope what kind of signal the organ actually spits out.

The pedal on that picture seems to have a 1/4" jack and the typical "saw" mechanism that converts vertical movement into rotation of a potmeter. Chances are this can be replaced by a guitar volume pedal.

I've had a volume pedal of an organ that could not be used as a guitar volume pedal, since it worked optical instead of mechanical. That one had to be fed with a DC current which drove a small light bulb, which was coupled to a light-sensitive resistor and something obstructing it's light which was lifted by movement of the foot.

butter · Post by **butter** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:56 am

I've done some research and I really don't even need a volume pedal for it. I've read a bit about the optical circuits used in some organs. Pretty funky stuff...

dusted william · Post by **dusted william** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:03 am

cool, good for you.

one time at a goodwill near my house I spied this old organ with actual tubes and the likes.

At that time the goodwill would say everything with a certain color sticker was a dollar after it's 4th week in the store.

Well I waited and got there at opening, and picked it up for a dollar.

..only to take it back two weeks later, because I didn't have the space.

dw

butter · Post by **butter** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:55 am

dusted william wrote:cool, good for you.

one time at a goodwill near my house I spied this old organ with actual tubes and the likes.

At that time the goodwill would say everything with a certain color sticker was a dollar after it's 4th week in the store.

Well I waited and got there at opening, and picked it up for a dollar.

..only to take it back two weeks later, because I didn't have the space.

dw

I got an old Hammond in great shape from a guy on Craigslist for $20 and had the same problem. Those suckers are really just too big to fit in an apartment. It's a shame cause it sounded great...

dougsyo · Post by **dougsyo** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:20 pm

I ran out of space and sold my Hammond A105 (basically a C-3 church organ cabinet) for the same reason. Unfortunately I didn't pay Goodwill prices for it (and I didn't get Goodwill prices for it, but still a lot less than I paid).

I still have my L295 spinet and my Yamaha PSR-2000, but three instruments in the dining room made for a tight fit when having company over.

Doug

Awesome Goodwill find