Hammond Organs & Leslie Speakers You Lost Out on or Missed?

[Outkaster]

I posted this awhile ago on another forum. I know we have some guys here that have some series collections of organs but have you ever come close to getting a cool Hammond or Leslie for nothing? Was the timing bad? Maybe you didnt have the room? I have a couple of instances:

 

One instance I had was in Wilson NY. Back in 2009 or 2010 I saw a Hammond M2 on the side of the road but was late for the gig. For the next 4 hours all I could think of was how to get it home. I came back in the dark that night and it was there but I had so much gear already in the truck I would have never been able to get a spinet in there. I was also 66 miles away from the house.

 

Another time there was an almost complete Leslie 122RV on the side of West Main Street here locally. I saw it out of the corner of my eye. A church was dumping gear and closing. I had an appointment and couldnt stop by. I went back later and it was gone.

[Stokely]

I've only ever played on a real Hammond/Leslie once, so I'm hardly an organ pro. However, I saw a CL ad for an XK3 + Leslie 122 being also dumped by a church. Both together for $900 iirc. I ended up not driving down there, mainly because I didn't have the knowledge to know if something was wrong with it. I could have played it but I chickened out. Kind of regret it to this day, though from the pics the leslie wasn't in mint shape or anything so...

 

Not the real deal, but I also chickened out of a like-new,mint xk3-c being sold at a guitar center for $1100 with a hard case about 5 years back.

[The Real MC]

Missed out on a Leslie 147 for $75 during the reign of the DX-7. We were 400 miles away on vacation with no way to get it back.

[Morrissey]

Earlier this year, late on a Sunday afternoon, I was offered a minty Leslie 145 for a couple hundred bucks but it was contingent upon me picking it up from the guys' living room before his wife got home for dinner. I made an executive decision to pass on an unbelievable deal, in the interest of keeping MY wife happy that day... Mother's Day.

 

Not many things are more important than a good Leslie... but don't mess with Mother's Day!

[OB Dave]

Not quite the same, but I sold a 145 and preamp and later had seller's regret. About six months later I emailed the buyer and he said he was applying to grad school in another city. About six months after that, he moved and he sold it back to me for what he paid for it.

 

It was/is one of two 145s I have. They both sound good, but they have different drivers so they have slightly different flavorings.

[WesG]

Any faves? My worker-bee 145 has a Utah woofer. I keep wondering if I should drop in my P15LL.

[LX88]

I bought a Hammond M 101 about a month ago for 15 dollars and was unable to keep it.

 

The really interesting thing about it was that it had red Mylar ( ?) caps. A tech I took it to got the generator started and I was able to hear some of what it could do. The problem was that there were several tones that were not present ( due to broken wires etc.) and it would not have been cost effective to keep it.

 

But still... the thing sounded fantastic when you could play on some of the keys that worked. If it would have not needed so many repairs I would have kept it.

 

From what I could tell the CV sounded pretty much identical to a console. I had been told that the M-3 and B-3 CV is NOT the same, but this one sure sounded like it had full C-3 chorus vibrato.

 

I would love to figure out some way to make the lower manual have full bass capability. I thought about putting a 5 octave midi keyboard in place of the lower manual and using an HX3 module to do lower manual settings..... basically just 808000000.

 

I am going to be on the look for a red cap M 101 that actually works. It sounded that good.

[WesG]

You should have posted. Missing tones are easy enough to fix. Even chance it just needed more oil. If not..those wires aren't hard to locate and fix. Great organs.