My First Band Instrument = Rheem Combo Organ

[cassdad]

Much thanks to the owner of this website: http://www.combo-organ.com/Rheem/ where MUCH more info can be found.

 

Oddly, I had a dream about playing out when I was young, and remembered the name of the 1st instrument I ever had to play out in public with, the "Rheem Mark VII". At home, we had a spinet piano on which I took lessons and learned. My Dad took a 2nd job in order to surprise me with the Rheem combo organ (and also an AKG 1000 mic). That started me putting together and playing out in bands. I remember my bandmates and I getting so many good laughs about the "screamin' Rheem", because at the time (1969 or so?) Rheem was a common manufacturer of home hot water heaters!

 

For the record, the Rheem played and sounded TERRIBLE! But, hey, one does the best they can with what they've got, right?

 

Just wanted to post this for the memories.

[Threadslayer]

That was my first gigging organ too. We should form a Rheem appreciation society. We could probably garner tens of members worldwide - well maybe three counting the two of us... I actually don't remember it sounding that bad. Of course, I didn't know any better at the time. My next rig was a Hammond M3 and 145 Leslie, so pretty much of a game changer at that point.

[DaveMcM]

I particularly like the choke and throttle controls on the left of the panel.

[BbAltered]

The Rheem mkII was my first keyboard. I bought it, a large 15" speaker cab, and a red sparkle tuck 'n roll Fender amp at a pawn shop in Boston for $300 my grandmother had given me. I was just starting out on keys so I was massively incompetent, but I was invited to do a couple of gigs with it (indeed - that is how rare and sought after keyboard players are). I had a friend who was good with electronics add an input for a volume pedal. I spent the next couple of years trying to get that Allman Bros sound out of it. I kept going to different music stores around Boston trying out different effect pedals, but none of them had *that* sound. Later I learned about Leslie speakers, and figured out why I wasn't finding a floor pedal whose sound I liked.

 

I forget now what I did with the organ - sold it or trashed it or what. Nowadays, I look thru Reverb thinking I will buy another one just for cool nostalgia.

[bill bosco]

i had a farfisa combo compact , played through an alamo fury bass amp , then later through a 147 , which i still have ( swapped out the power amp with a 122 years later ) the farfisa crapped

out sometime by the mid '70s while packed up in my folk's basement . it was given away or got thrown out ,i can't remember . all these years later , i have no fond memories of it at all , never did .

[Bif_]

I particularly like the choke and throttle controls on the left of the panel.

 

Ah, you're wrong. Those are the transport levers used when beaming somebody up.

[Bif_]

i had a farfisa combo compact , played through an alamo fury bass amp ,

 

Farfisa Mini Compact through a Sunn bass amp for me. Don't know why we thought an organ would sound good through a 15, other than it could tolerate the bass. Funny, I was playing left hand bass when I was 14 and still do today on occasion.

 

I remember the drummer in that first band saying to me, "Wow, it sounds like you're firing up a huge Leslie" every time I'd ramp up the vibrato from slow to fast. At the time that's what it felt like. Today that feels like

[Shamanczarek]

I started gigging after high school with our home organ which was an all-tube Wurlitzer 4100A spinet. It was okay for a while but on a trip from Oregon to Reno Nevada it barely worked when we got there and I had to limp through a two week gig with no lower manual. When I got home my organ tech told me Wurlitzers weren't built to hold up for road use. He suggested a Lowrey as a well-built alternative. My tech rented me a Vox Super Continental in the meantime. I then got a Hammond M3 and my tech got me a great deal on two brand new Leslie 147's which I first used on the next gig in Reno.

[stillearning]

My first was a Yamaha YC 30 combo organ. Actually not too bad, once I got a deal on a Leslie 145 with the combo pre amp. Used it quite a few years that way. Now that I think about it, it was actually over a decade. Still have it in a basement somewhere.

[The Real MC]

By 1978 I had

Fender Rhodes stage 73

Panther combo organ (white)

[drawback]

In 1967 I bought a (Baldwin) Howard Combo. Ah yes, Incense & Peppermints, The Color Of Time.

 

[mate stubb]

I started on a Doric, which was frumpy by combo organ standards. It had a volume knob for each octave though, woo hoo!

 

 

Then a red Farfisa Combo Compact, Gibson G-101, and finally a Farfisa Professional before leaving for Hammond Land.

[AUSSIEKEYS]

First for me was a Vox Jaguar that I placed on the flat top of my Yamaha CP30 piano. Although the vox was a light weight for its size the rear had to be supported by a gantry i built out of Dexion racking. I used Dexion as a young guy to build every thing.

 

I guess this was late 70s early 80s. I miss the Vox. The girl i bought it off was from a New Zealand band called Toy Love who were heading back to NZ after a tour of Australia. She was the keyboard player.

 

Due to various combo organ posts on this forum, this year I looked them up as I knew nothing about them in the day. Got to learn some of their and the Vox's history. I wonder did the Vox survive the rest of the 80s after I sold it on to the next custodian after I upgraded next to a Korg Trident Mk 1.

[BluesB3]

I'll play...

 

After my Baldwin spinet was destroyed in a T-bone auto crash (Don't ask about either) I ordered up a Farfisa Combo Compact from Chuck Levin's with the insurance money. It arrived in Mississippi from DC by Railway Express (am I showing my age?)

 

It was a good gig axe for the Times played thru a blonde tolex Fender Tremolux. The Tremolux was a beauty but could never keep up volume wise with the Super Reverb's the guitar players had. After I graduated from college in 1970, the Tremolux was reluctantly sold to a guy in a Shriner's band that played it on parade floats.

 

Years later I was back in Atlanta and jammed with some guys who had a Combo Compact and a Wurlie 200. I left the jam with no nostalgia for the Farfisa but a serious jones for the Wurlie which I soon indulged before prices went thru the roof.

[bill bosco]

we should take a " i don't miss my farfisa " survey

[Threadslayer]

If by "farfisa" you mean "any transistorized 1960s combo organ," I'm in!

[wineandkeyz]

My first band instrument was a Fender Contempo organ, which I played through a 1971 Univox U-1000 amp and UPA-2015 speaker cabinet. My folks bought the rig for me in 1972, after I'd just finished the 8th grade. The Univox stack came from a local music store. The Contempo came from a local musician who had just graduated high school and needed the money. It also had an issue that caused all the A's to "motor boat," as the service folks at Fender described it. We had obtained their number from the schematics, which were provided in an envelope taped to the underside of the lid. We ordered a replacement sound board (the Contempo had three, each of which produced 1/3 of the scale), installed it ourselves, and she played like new. (The previous owner was PISSED when he found out we'd fixed it so easily!)

 

http://www.combo-organ.com/Fender/Contempo.jpg

[skipeb3]

I had been playing bass for a couple years (1964-65), and I had an awful Tempo bass. Just crap. I saved up for a Fender, but couldn't decide on which one I wanted... Jazz or P. I went to Sam Ash in Hempstead, NY and saw a Vox Continental. I said... I'll take that! Didn't really know how to play much at that time, but hey... it was so cool. Played it for a few months, learning Doors songs, then decided that really wasn't the sound I wanted, so I got a B.

I kept the Vox all these years, but last year I traded it to Robby Krieger for another keyboard. Thought that was a cool way to bid my old Vox adieu.

 

YC30... I have one of those. Used it a lot in the new wave days. IMHO, it was the best combo organ of them all.

[zxcvbnm098]

My first band instrument was a Fender Contempo organ, which I played through a 1971 Univox U-1000 amp and UPA-2015 speaker cabinet. My folks bought the rig for me in 1972, after I'd just finished the 8th grade. The Univox stack came from a local music store. The Contempo came from a local musician who had just graduated high school and needed the money. It also had an issue that caused all the A's to "motor boat," as the service folks at Fender described it. We had obtained their number from the schematics, which were provided in an envelope taped to the underside of the lid. We ordered a replacement sound board (the Contempo had three, each of which produced 1/3 of the scale), installed it ourselves, and she played like new. (The previous owner was PISSED when he found out we'd fixed it so easily!)

 

http://www.combo-organ.com/Fender/Contempo.jpg

 

A. That's a pretty darn rare organ. They didn't make many, and were only available for a short time period.

B. That's a pretty darn expensive rig for an 8th grader!!! Nice parents!

[zxcvbnm098]

I had been playing bass for a couple years (1964-65), and I had an awful Tempo bass. Just crap. I saved up for a Fender, but couldn't decide on which one I wanted... Jazz or P. I went to Sam Ash in Hempstead, NY and saw a Vox Continental. I said... I'll take that! Didn't really know how to play much at that time, but hey... it was so cool. Played it for a few months, learning Doors songs, then decided that really wasn't the sound I wanted, so I got a B.

I kept the Vox all these years, but last year I traded it to Robby Krieger for another keyboard. Thought that was a cool way to bid my old Vox adieu.

 

YC30... I have one of those. Used it a lot in the new wave days. IMHO, it was the best combo organ of them all.

 

It doesn't get more poetic than to sell a Vox organ to a Door! And I agree about the YC30...all of the Yammy combo organs were well built, but the 30 and 45D were tanks.

[wineandkeyz]

My first band instrument was a Fender Contempo organ, which I played through a 1971 Univox U-1000 amp and UPA-2015 speaker cabinet. My folks bought the rig for me in 1972, after I'd just finished the 8th grade. The Univox stack came from a local music store. The Contempo came from a local musician who had just graduated high school and needed the money. It also had an issue that caused all the A's to "motor boat," as the service folks at Fender described it. We had obtained their number from the schematics, which were provided in an envelope taped to the underside of the lid. We ordered a replacement sound board (the Contempo had three, each of which produced 1/3 of the scale), installed it ourselves, and she played like new. (The previous owner was PISSED when he found out we'd fixed it so easily!)

 

http://www.combo-organ.com/Fender/Contempo.jpg

 

A. That's a pretty darn rare organ. They didn't make many, and were only available for a short time period.

B. That's a pretty darn expensive rig for an 8th grader!!! Nice parents!

 

Yeah, from what I understand Fender got into the combo organ scene as it started to die away, so the Contempo didn't last. But it was a cool piece!

 

And you're right, that was a pretty nice rig for a rising 9th grader, especially considering we were a farm family. They did get the organ and amp at pretty good prices, though, because that issue with the organ was pretty bad and the amp had sat on the music store's floor for quite a while.

 

(By the way, the pictures are ones I found online.)