kimball organ to guitar amp????????????????

[rockertalon]

hey yall, so i picked up this kimball solid state organ for free, it works like a champ! i want to make a guitar amp out of it, how do i go about doing that? this is my first project of this osrt, i have a basic knowledge of electronics and soldering, i mess with guitar pickups all the time, and have repaired a few things so i know i can do it. if yall could help me out with what i need to pull out of here and how to hook it up to make it into a guitar amp. i know im a noob and im asking alot but ANY  info would help. THANK YOU!! :tu:

[teemuk]

Don't butcher it! Ebay prices for those old Kimball organs range from $100 to $500.

Sell that thing and use the money to finance your guitar amp project.

[joecool85]

Don't butcher it! Ebay prices for those old Kimball organs range from $100 to $500.

Sell that thing and use the money to finance your guitar amp project.

I'm with you there.  No point in destroying that nice old organ.

[rockertalon]

well you two want to buy it? cuz last i looked there's a couple on there  and they are not selling. i was told my several folks that this organ is the cheap one made in mexico( which i have confirmed). its worth 50 bucks tops and no one is buying organs anyway. so can anyone answer my question?

[joecool85]

well you two want to buy it? cuz last i looked there's a couple on there  and they are not selling. i was told my several folks that this organ is the cheap one made in mexico( which i have confirmed). its worth 50 bucks tops and no one is buying organs anyway. so can anyone answer my question?

Actually, I have an organ.  Not electric though, mine is from 1910 or so and is a reed type organ.  Anyway, it should be possible to turn it into a guitar amp, just tap into the input of the amplifier inside the organ.  I'm not certain it'll be very great sounding.  But I do know that some guys have used amps made for organs (along with a preamp) to play guitar, so with the right preamp you might get some use out of it.

What I would do is some sort of switchable circuit and leave the amp in the organ.  Then you could play the organ, or plug your guitar into it and play it that way <-- sweet!

[rockertalon]

well i was hoping to take the parts out i need and put it into my own custom made head cabinet, then add some stuff to it like this gallien krueger pre amp i have and make my own speaker cab and walla. what say you?

[J M Fahey]

Well, to begin with, you´re not providing any schematic, and I see a zillion wires going to boardside connectors. Considering that you already have a working power amplifier , power supply and speaker, I think the only practical way to use what you have is to touch it the least, to find somehow the power amp signal input , which would not be that difficult, it would be where a wire from the tone generator board goes to the power board, very probably a shielded wire. Splicing a jack in there is easy and you can hook your preamp there.
Trying to pull the power supply and power amplifier from there to mount it somewhere else is a task for Hercules.
Besides it probably has around 25W rms.

[joecool85]

From the pictures you posted it looks pretty simple actually.  Just pull the amplifier board (looks to me to be the only one with a huge heatsink - no surprise there) and the power supply, install those in your custom made head, hook up a preamp and you're done.

Do you have any experience with electronics?  What about with mains voltages?

[phatt]

Hi rockertalon,
                    Bin!   
No not the trash bin,,,,,,, That's a recource treasure BIN :tu:
Lotsa wire,, Resistors,,,Caps,,, reverb tank,, probably an LDR inside the sweel pedal,,,, speaker cloth can be reused,,,, the list is endless.

If you are starting out with electronics you will eventually need a supply of bits and this is one very cheap way to aquire such things.
Have fun with it, Phil.

[rockertalon]

thanks for the replys guys! i have no idea what mains voltages is or means. i have messed with some electronics, like guitar wiring, repairing and installing mod chips in ps2's and xbox's, dvd players. installed a zif socket in an ecu just minor stuff. great idea on the parts bin ! so anyone know how i might go about locating the input and output wires?

[phatt]

Hey rockertalon,
                      Sorry mate but if you don't know what *Mains Voltage* means then you probably should not be messing inside this thing untill you have read up on some electronic servicing books.

Good that you are interested but DO seek out the basics and Safety issues First before you go poking around inside it.
Phil.

[joecool85]

Hey rockertalon,
                      Sorry mate but if you don't know what *Mains Voltage* means then you probably should not be messing inside this thing untill you have read up on some electronic servicing books.

Good that you are interested but DO seek out the basics and Safety issues First before you go poking around inside it.
Phil.

I'm with Phil on this.  Mains voltage is the voltage in your outlets.  In the US this is normally 110-120v AC.  It can be potentially lethal, so care must be taken.  If you do your research though, and are careful while working on it you should be fine.

As far as figuring out which wire is the input, that shouldn't be too hard, just trace the wires going from the preamp circuit over to the power amp.  Since it's built all modular style it should be a cake walk.

[JG]

I have gutted organs before and sometimes it's worth doing sometimes not. I would say leave this one alone though. The layout of that organ is not good if all you want is  the power amp. My guess is that it's only like a 15 watt amp anyway. I would post that thing on Craigslist till it sells Go 50 obo.

[Brymus]

I recently got a free Hammond (I was estatic until I realised it was a transistor version)
ANyway its way ugly compared to yours mines a Dolphin made in 1975.
I was gonna gut it and try to salvage the PA and reverb and the Leslie of course.
But I just cant bring myself to gut a working instrument like that.
I did take out the 12" alnico spkr for some testing(its OK not as nice as an eminence or my Jensen Jets)
I say gut it though if all you can get is 50$ the power supply and all the film caps should be worth more than that,the spkrs,grill cloth,aluminum-all good for amp building.
I will more than likely gut mine later after I get tired of playing it(I dabble on the keys too)