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Leslie combo preamp won't control speed


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Just got a combo preamp and a 6 pin cable (bought separately) from Ebay, to use with another fairly recent acquisition, a road warrior Leslie 145, rough exterior but clean inside. The board a Hammond XK3. When first hooking it all up and mashing the tremolo speed button, the corresponding light flickered faintly but didn't stay on, and the Leslie speed didn't change (stayed on "fast").However, after a few minutes everything worked perfectly, for another few minutes- before reverting to the previous non-working status. Was not able to get it to work right again after that. Bummer.

 

The seller said he had checked it out before selling, and that it may be something wrong with the cable. Does that sound right?

 

Also, does a working combo preamp's tremolo (fast speed) lamp light up after mashing the button, even when not connected to a leslie?

 

The ad described the unit as having been rebuilt/serviced and cleaned. Everything sounded very good during the short while it worked right. The seller seems on the up and up, will get back to me after conferring with his tech.

 

Any input welcome, thanks!

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... Also, does a working combo preamp's tremolo (fast speed) lamp light up after mashing the button, even when not connected to a leslie? ...
As far as I can tell, the lamp should toggle regardless of whether the Leslie is attached. However, I have a combo amp here in front of me in which the lamp doesn't light under any condition. The owner said "Don't bother fixing it. I don't look at it anyway".

 

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Hold the female connector in your hand with the dot at noon. Jam your multimeter probes into 9 and 3 o'clock. Use the 200VAC range. Click the switch. What happens?

Hammond: L111, M100, M3, BC, CV, Franken CV, A100, D152, C3, B3

Leslie: 710, 760, 51C, 147, 145, 122, 22H, 31H

Yamaha: CP4, DGX-620, DX7II-FD-E!, PF85, DX9

Roland: VR-09, RD-800

 

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Happy to report the preamp is working fine. The problem was in the last 8' or so of the cable as Wes suggested, couldn't find the multimeter but I got it to work by bending the most obvious spot, where it was wrapped with electrical tape. The seller had described that and said it was to cover up a nick but it must have been more like a deep slice. Thanks to the always helpful and knowledgeable Wes and Moe (per my past experience at HC) and to Bradley B, too!

 

Sounds great with the XK3. RE the 145, the previous owner had modded it with a brighter sounding horn driver to compete better with guitars (also installed 4 internal ceramic mics but they have been disconnected). Can't find any writing anywhere on the driver, but it's olive green. The woofer is a less than reputable Pyle so would probably be the 1st thing I would upgrade, however it seems to carry a good amount of bass so no hurry on that. Now to try it out with the HX3 and Mojo classic..

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