As I am somewhat of a neophyte in regards to tubes (S/S is my area of expertise) I thought I would pose this question to the experts.

I have a Hammond model D organ and two B-40 tone cabinets (4 12" Jensen field coil drivers per cab) with two Hammond amps each utilizing a quad of 2A3's for the outputs. Now then, I have already parted the one B-40 tone cab out as I did not have room for it (was about 4 feet in all directons). I've kept the 4 Jensen drivers and the amps of course, with the intent to have them as spares should the need arise.

My question is this though. Are these amps suitable for general (non-organ) use? I have contemplated running pre-outs from one of my existing setups to use them for that purpose, but would like to know what kind of results I might expect.

I assume that given the range of frequencies the organ can produce, the amps must have a decent bandwith, but I've found no specs specifically for these online, as they have no apparent model numbers on the chassis.

Anyone care to comment on whether this would be a worthwhile effort or a waste of time? If I don't do this, they will just continue to be stored until I have room to set up two tone cabinets or need to use them as spares, so nothing is really lost either way.

Thanks for your input.

Kevin

Hey-Hey!!!,
Wow! 2A3's with field-coil woofers....mmmhhhh...Field-coil. Ought to do quite well.

no, wait, it'll bite. throw them out on the curb. Do please call me so I can remove those eyesores before your neighbors see them...:)
cheers,
Douglas

From what I understand, tone column amps would need to be significantly modified in order to achive the range of a "HiFi" amplifier.

I had one available to me several months ago and I went through the same thoughts. For me it just wasnt worth persuing but it can be done.

RC

doucanoe-

Thanks for your input on this. I kind of suspected that to be the case. Seems to me that these were designed and built as "utility" grade amplifiers for use in a church/hall or similar arrangement. The tone cabinets they came out of were huge, certainly larger than one would normally have used in the home. They sound decent when used with the organ, but I wasn't sure how well they would adapt to use for normal (musical) audio.

In addition, it would require some effort just to use these for anything other than the organ, as they derive their power supply from the console. I'd have to build a custom power supply to use them seperately, and it isn't worth the cost and effort if they will be only average at best in such an application.

I could use speakers other than the Jensen field coil drivers by adding a large power resistor to simulate the coil load to the amp (have seen this mod in a Hammond service manual) but I think I'll just set these aside for future use with the organ again, when I have more room to use both tone cabinets together.

Guess I will go about searching for a nice stereo integrated amp to satisfy my desire to get more heavily into tubes. I have a Sansui AU-70 that works, but I know that I can do better for a reasonable amount of $. That, and the Sansui uses 7891A outputs, kind of hard - and spendy - to find NOS and the few availalbe repro's seem not to be so well regarded from what I have read. I would sub 6BQ5's, but the higher plate voltage on this unit would likely cook them in short order.

Kevin

Hey Kevin,
I know what you mean. The cabinet I was told of was in beautiful condition and had a crapload of nice drivers it it. I know the guy that bought it and scored himself a nice quad + another pair of 6bq5 tubesin the process . He wasnt sure what to do with the rest so he listed it and some guy scooped up the balance (drivers and amps) right away.

Maybe he knew something I dont know. :)

RC

The Hammond tone cabinet amp only gets 110 volt AC from the console. It has its own power transformer and can operate as a stand alone amp.

Chad,

You're correct. When I typed that, I was thinking of the fact that the Pre-amp (in the console) gets it's power from the tone cabinet power amp, requiring the tone cab to be connected to get any sound with headphones only. This was a screwball thing on the early A/B/C/D models and their variations. Starting with the B2/C2 series (I think, talking from memory here) the pre-amp was self-powered within the console.

In any case, it sounds like my idea to use these as monoblocks was ill conceived based on feedback I've gotten here and elsewhere. No matter, as I had the amps anyway, and will just set them aside for future use. At least I didn't buy them special thinking they would work for hi-fi use.

Kevin