Anyone know anything about old combo organs?

[repoman]

Really digging these sounds made on old garage rock, the animals, doors, etc

I know that Vox and Farfisa were a popular make, are there any others to watch out for if I were to begin a hunt for one 500 or under? Elka?

Seems like Vox organs are very expensive, haven't seen any Farfisas for sale that work so I don't know what kind of prices they go for...

[Chankgeez]

Dont' know much about 'em except that I like 'em.

Here's my favorite combo organ website: http://www.combo-organ.com

Here's some of my favorite combo organ solos:

[weatherbox]

Elkas are cool, though I don't see many of them around. The Yamaha YC series organs with ribbon controls are cool as shit but apparently people have noticed and the prices are often reflecting that. I think the Ace-Tone organs are sort of sleepers. They sound good and the build quality is really a cut above most combo organs; Ace-Tone became Roland and they're built like it. There are lots of weirdo smaller brands too, a lot of which were apparently made in the same factories as the more famous Italian organs. Most of them have cool cheesy sounds and that classic Italian build quality, you know, like total lack of build quality but fuck it, they're awesome and we love them.

[repoman]

The Yamaha YC series organs with ribbon controls are cool as shit but apparently people have noticed and the prices are often reflecting that.

whoa

this one sounds amazing

Looks like the YC30s go for about 250 on ebay, wonder if they are similar

[J.Miller]

Teisco made some compact organs too. search for Teischord Organ

[tabcantab]

I haven't had a chance to check one out yet, but the new Yamaha Reface YC looks pretty tempting. It has a mode selector for Hammond, Vox, Farfisa, Yamaha, and Ace-tone tones, which all sound great in the demos I've heard, plus it's got drawbars.

It's pricey at $500, but portability, versatility, build quality might be worth it vs. a true vintage combo organ.

[repoman]

Yeah, that looks tempting, seems like people are ticked off about the tiny keys. I've had a bunch of hardware synths and a bunch of soft synths/emulator synths. I think they sound comparable, but I always make music on the hardware stuff, and never get anything done with softsynths/emulators. Decided that I thoroughly hate em.

Seems like the smaller ones go for more money, its not hard to find ones like the Farfisa Professional series for a couple hundred but they weigh so fucking much not many people want to deal with shipping them. I think this is the weirdest one (I guess it's a combo, or related- accordion synthesizer:

[Pepe]

I have a '70s KORG BX-3. Comes VERY close to the original Hammond B3 sound. Together with the BOSS RT-20 it's absolutely awesome.

[repoman]

That looks like a beast.

Has anyone ever taken a gander inside those grandma organs you always see for like 15 bucks on craigslist that stay there forever because no one wants to bother with the pain in the ass of moving one? Wondering if ripping the guts out of one of those and sticking it in a smaller more combo enclosure would be possible.

[oscillateur]

I haven't had a chance to check one out yet, but the new Yamaha Reface YC looks pretty tempting. It has a mode selector for Hammond, Vox, Farfisa, Yamaha, and Ace-tone tones, which all sound great in the demos I've heard, plus it's got drawbars.

It's pricey at $500, but portability, versatility, build quality might be worth it vs. a true vintage combo organ.

I've tried the YC a few times in shops, it's really nice. It has an overdrive and reverb so you can get some drony sounds out of the box too .
Really tempted by this one...