For Doors Fans Only…

[HammondDave]

Found this in my bag of tricks….

 

 

[Dockeys]

That’s really cool. A kalamazoo organ?? Had to look that one up. Did Ray always play the RMI and fender setup?

[stoken6]

Aah, typewriters...

 

Cheers, Mike.

[HammondDave]

6 hours ago, Dockeys said:

That’s really cool. A kalamazoo organ?? Had to look that one up. Did Ray always play the RMI and fender setup?

Gibson bought the Kalamazoo from Lowrey and branded it into the G101.  They used a lot of the features in that organ (like variable note repeat, sustain, etc) that already were in the Lowrey Heritage home models.  To me, it is the best of the combo organs (I own one in my collection). There would be no Unknown Soldier, Touch Me, Waiting for the Sun, Not to Touch the Earth, Five to One, or even Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, without the Kalamazoo or G101.  
 

 

 

[HammondDave]

https://www.combo-organ.com/Gibson/gibson.htm

[Ivan May]

Ray Manzarek did play on the album Other Voices, on which Krieger and Manzarek sang lead vocals, and he also sang lead on a cover version of Willie Dixon’s You Need Meat, which was the B side of Love Her Madly.

 

Manzarek and English musician Roy Davies also played with the Butts Band, which was a blues rock band formed in 1973 and which also featured Robby Krieger on lead guitar and John Densmore on drums. I believe a clavinet and Hammond organ were used on that album.

[CEB]

I think I saw in an interview with Ray that the Gibsons held up better to touring than the Voxes. 

[mate stubb]

I played the G101 in a band for awhile back in the day. It was a definite upgrade from my Farfy Combo Compact - I liked it quite a bit. 

 

I'm surprised to see the RMI included. What year was this list made?

[ProfD]

1 hour ago, HammondDave said:

There would be no Unknown Soldier, Touch Me, Waiting for the Sun, Not to Touch the Earth, Five to One, or even Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, without the Kalamazoo or G101.  

IMO, the songs may have sounded different using another instrument but they would still exist. 

 

Back in those days, KB players used the instruments and technology that was available to play, compose and produce music. 

 

They didn't have the luxury of 25 KB manufacturers and a gazillion presets. 😁

 

There's an acoustic piano or organ or electromechanical KB and some pedals.  Get to work. 🤣😎

[mate stubb]

As I recall, the ability to sustain sounds like a piano was the big differentiator from the Farfisas and Voxes that came before.

[voxfan]

Was there ever a VST of the K-101/G-101 or a modern keyboard that is similar?

 

 

[HammondDave]

48 minutes ago, voxfan said:

Was there ever a VST of the K-101/G-101 or a modern keyboard that is similar?

 

 

I have complete sample sets of Vox Continental, Farfisa Compact, Ella Panther, and Kalamazoo/G101 that I used to sell under my business Vintage Keyboard Sounds.  

[Lou Gehrig Charles]

I wonder if a genuine Gibson Les Paul still costs $600?

[voxfan]

35 minutes ago, HammondDave said:

I have complete sample sets of Vox Continental, Farfisa Compact, Ella Panther, and Kalamazoo/G101 that I used to sell under my business Vintage Keyboard Sounds.  

I have the GSi Red Animal (Vox) and Compact DeLuxe (Farfisa) iOS apps which are the same as on the Mojo 61. Maybe the market would be too small for them to create a Kalamazoo/G101 app? 

 

 

 

[miden]

Nice find, thanks for sharing that.

Fascinating history!

[JohnH]

Loved playing mine in a Doors tribute for over 15 years. Unfortunately one of the tuning cylinders is currently broken- it stripped while trying to tune it,  so I need to get it to Ken Rich or similar here in LA. It is awesome. It is a thrill playing those songs on it.

[Bill H.]

4 hours ago, CEB said:

I think I saw in an interview with Ray that the Gibsons held up better to touring than the Voxes. 

 

"All my Voxes died. They were not meant to be in this world for a long time."

-Ray Manzarak, waxing philosophically in 1960s speak. 

[Bill H.]

Seeing those acoustic amp numbers was sure a blast from the past. Practically every west coast band during this time had at least one acoustic amp onstage somewhere. I used one for a variety of purposes - key bass, EP, whatever situation I was in.

 

Here's a quick link for those who weren't around back then, including a pic of The Doors onstage: 

 

http://www.21hz-backline.de/?p=1536

[Docbop]

45 minutes ago, Bill H. said:

Seeing those acoustic amp numbers was sure a blast from the past. Practically every west coast band during this time had at least one acoustic amp onstage somewhere. I used one for a variety of purposes - key bass, EP, whatever situation I was in.

 

Here's a quick link for those who weren't around back then, including a pic of The Doors onstage: 

 

http://www.21hz-backline.de/?p=1536

 

 

Acoustic Amp offices and factory was a couple miles from where I lived in Venice, we'd drive by and see stacks of new amps waiting to be boxed up and shipped.    As  a guitar player I hated Acoustic amp WAY to bright.   I remember going to see Albert King play at the Palladium in Hollywood. Albert always played with a bright tone and that night he had two Acoustic amp with those big horns in the top of the cabs, on my ears were splitting hearing one of my heros.   Finally I move to the back of the room to get away from that ear splitting horn in the amps.   As a bass played I loved Acoustic amps what a punchy sound. 

 

I saw the doors a few times in their early days and don't remember much about their gear other than they were pretty lean and mean on stage.  Robbie just one amp maybe an Acoustic I don't remember.  Ray seemed to only have the Rhodes bass amp and maybe one of those Gibson keyboards you guys are talking about, but just the two keyboards.    Door were great live Morrison was a good front man and brought his lyrics to life.      As you can tell I wasn't that big of a gear head.  

[Moonglow]

Dave,

That is so damn cool, thanks for sharing!

[HammondDave]

3 hours ago, Docbop said:

 

 

Acoustic Amp offices and factory was a couple miles from where I lived in Venice, we'd drive by and see stacks of new amps waiting to be boxed up and shipped.    As  a guitar player I hated Acoustic amp WAY to bright.   I remember going to see Albert King play at the Palladium in Hollywood. Albert always played with a bright tone and that night he had two Acoustic amp with those big horns in the top of the cabs, on my ears were splitting hearing one of my heros.   Finally I move to the back of the room to get away from that ear splitting horn in the amps.   As a bass played I loved Acoustic amps what a punchy sound. 

 

I saw the doors a few times in their early days and don't remember much about their gear other than they were pretty lean and mean on stage.  Robbie just one amp maybe an Acoustic I don't remember.  Ray seemed to only have the Rhodes bass amp and maybe one of those Gibson keyboards you guys are talking about, but just the two keyboards.    Door were great live Morrison was a good front man and brought his lyrics to life.      As you can tell I wasn't that big of a gear head.  

One thing for sure, Morrison did not have an iPad on a stand in front of him to remember the lyrics… different time when Rock Stars were Rock Stars…( don't get me started….)

 

 

 

[Moonglow]

I’m still kicking myself for not going to see Ray when he came to Chicago on what I think was his final tour. Called all my pals but couldn’t get anyone to go with me and didn’t feel like flying solo. ☹️

[Shamanzarek]

I talked to a guy last week who damaged a few of the tuning coils in his G101 while trying to tune it with improper tools. Lucky for him he had a G201 parts organ that has the same coils. Many organs can be tuned with a screwdriver or better yet a non-metal TV/Radio Trimmer Alignment tool. The G101 requires a Allen hex driver or wrench. I tuned my G101 recently and found two of the coils needed a different size hex driver than the rest. I had a hex driver that came from an electronics tool set I got in the early 70s that happened to be the correct size for the Gibson coils except for the two odd ones mentioned.

 

Manzarek took the RMI 300A on the 1968 European tour. It can be seen in photos on stage to the left side of the Gibson. It is also used as a prop in the "Hello I Love You" promo video which was filmed in Frankfurt, Germany. I can't identify the RMI being used on any studio recordings but it might be on a couple of bootleg live recordings. Ray was reportedly not a fan of the RMI which was purchased by equipment manager Vince Treanor on his own initiative without asking Ray if he wanted it.

 

When this customs list came out a few years ago Robby was able to get the serial number of his Gibson SG Special which was stolen from The Doors Workshop in Hollywood, CA. This guitar was used on the first Doors album and Robby put out the word he wanted the guitar back. I don't think it has turned up yet despite Robby offering an enticing reward.

 

Manzarek didn't join the Butts Band. In 1973 Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman sent Krieger, Densmore, and Manzarek to England to check out Howard Werth of Audience as a possible replacement vocalist. Ray's wife Dorothy was pregnant at the time so he returned home by himself to be with her. In 1973 I was playing on the Queen Mary in Long Beach and ran into Ray and Dorothy. A couple of weeks later I read in Rolling Stone that she had given birth. Robby and John stayed in England and formed the Butts Band which included Phil Chen on bass before he played with Jeff Beck on Blow By Blow. Chen was playing in Robby's band until his death in December 2021.

[CyberGene]

1 hour ago, Shamanzarek said:

Ray was reportedly not a fan of the RMI

The question is who is?! 🤮