Hammond A-100

The A-100 has no lcd display or "pages" of menus to wade through. The drawbars are easy to use once you know how they work and there are always the presets on the left side of the keyboards. Learning how to start it is the biggest issue for the newbe. You just hold the start switch until it spins up to speed then flip the on switch.

All the polyphony possible, the keyboards are a dream. The built in vibrato, chorus and reverb are very good, but the organ really shines with an external Leslie. The organ has built in adjustable percussion just like the B-3. It's just a self contained B-3 and with a Leslie they sound the same.

With a Leslie attached you can get all the sounds of a B-3 with a Leslie, without a Leslie you have the sound of a B-3 with a Hammond speaker. Pristine Hammond sound! You can play Bach to Rock on this baby.

Built like a tank and almost as heavy. I have had to replace a couple of tubes, a few drops of oil in the generator cups and it's good to go. I'm sure it will be going after I'm dead. (as long as I can remember to oil it!) I wouldn't gig with one for less than $20,000.00 a night.

Several companies support these and parts are easy to find. Parts companies like www.goffprof.com and many others keep these old jewels going and Goff offers upgrades too. (no I don't work for them)

I would buy another one in a second. This thing makes me play better. I wish I had a second Leslie

The Hammond A-100 is somewhat complex, however with a few hours use the sounds from this music machine are flexible and incredible.

The keyboard action is as good as it get- leaves nothing further to desire. Percussion, vibrato & reverb with various settings plus the drawbars for mixing level of harmonics makes many combinations.

The tonewheel Hammond B3, C3 & A-100 organs make for the best sound 'synths' could never obtain. If God owns a keyboard, this is it. Once you hear this organ, you are hooked. It will haunt you for life, but in a good way.

Thes tonewheel organs are a masterpiece of workmanship. These Hmmonds are very complex using spinning mechanical wheels with 'teeth' it excite an array of magnetic pickups. The number of 'teeth' passing the pickup makes for a stabile frequency- it is a mechanical/electrical system. The speed (RPM) of the wheels is frequency locked to the 60 Hz power (120 VAC). In short, these tonewheel organs can not ever go out of tune.

Using tubes, the sonics are further improved. One should use an external amp like a Leslie to even further improve the sound.

The Hammond A-100 organs are reliable. In fact, more reliable than more modern organs with IC & transistors manufactured from the 1960s into the 1980s. The reason I know this is I repair organs. Underneath the A-100 are simple guitar amp like electronics. Because of the tone-wheel system, about another 50 tubes are not required for tone generation due to the tone-wheel system.

Many smaller businesses support this A-100 organ. If parts is needed, even eBay has many for sale.

If you can not afford a B3, the A-100 sounds the same & is actually a better organ due to the built-in amplifiers. If the A-100 is beyond your means, the Hammond M3 is less expensive. Broke, desperate & need something to stop ya from losing your mind?

PLACE a 'wanted' AD in your local paper.........

No kidding, these Hammond tone-wheel organs are available for $20, $50 even free for hauling away. You see, funeral homes are using pre-recorded music now & the older folk are either too old to play any longer, passed on and the kids have inherited these organs. All above want to get the 'dust collector' out of their way.

I have collected about 100 organs in my area over the last 3 years. About 1/2 were for free, most were for $20.

You need to learn how to set up the matrix in the back with your favorite settings. . .that's what makes this monkey so cool is that matrix. . .that and the glitz mechanicalness of it all that you don't get on synthesized versions. . .no it's not 'easy' to use. . .it takes awhile to understand the relationship of the drawbars to comparitive volume settings for stage use but once you grok that you're cruising

The A-100 has REVERB unlike it's predecessor the B-3, C-3. This is great because to get reverb into the B-3, C-3 sound you need to modify the dam thing which is very tricky. Just this feature alone makes the A-100 more valuable than a B-3

The vintage tube amp combined with the vintage speakers produces a wild harmonic distortion effect when you dime it. . .wonderfull

The A-100 is as reliable as an old GE toaster. . .you turn it on. . .it works. . .unless you've been subjecing it to 'brown out' conditions in which case you'll need to replace the start motor. Nikola Tesla would be proud of this whole settup

Ther is virtually no support for Hammonds anymore except for third party companies that have taken it upon themselves to back up the myth. Goff professional is one of them and they are very good at what they do

Somebody should make a dolly for this thing, it's heavier than god and I almost broke my back moving it around. . .but it's all worth it I guess. I put casters on the back so I can lay it down and move it that way but that was just out of desparation. . .there must be a better way. . .
The Hammond tone-wheel system is revolutionary for its time. There's nothing quite like it. It's like having a Tesla motor lab underneath you while your playing. it's so. . .what's the word. . .'weird science' every time you play the thing

make no bones about it, if you want get the full potential out of this intsrument, you had better understand every nuance to the interface, and be aware of exactly what is being modified and how. Many people play Hammond, but few really understand what they are working with. These few are named Keith Emerson, Jimmy Smith, and so on. It good that it isnt easy to use at first, because there is such a high level of gratification when you finally find that sound you were looking for.

drawbar harmonic control. enough said.

Ive been playing my '71 A-100 as far back as I can remember (literally), and there is no substitute. Any real Hammond player will agree.

to aquire a hammond is to add a member to your family. sure, it will cost money for periodic repairs, and its heavy as hell, but who wants to play a goddamn synthesizer all the time. This baby is worth sweating for, pawning your TV so you can repair it, throwing your back out hauling it, whatever. It emits the voice of god, and I'll die under my hammond before I play anything else

no centralized support anymore, but there are many good organ service places. I use Goff Professional in CT, they do phenomenal work.

the hammond organ is cooler than jesus

No one buys this based on difficulty or ease of use, but let me point out that unless you are buying your B3/C3 with an external cabinet, you will not be getting any sound out of it. With the A100 series, you have the built in amp and speakers as an option.

Awesome. And with any Leslie tube-driven cabinet, it sounds like the voice of God. Personally, I like the sound of the A100's internal sound system in conjunction with a Leslie better than the Leslie alone. It gives you even more of that awesome Hammond tone. The built-in speakers also make the perfect monitors for the Hammond player, who can often have trouble hearing just the Leslie cab over the volume of a full band. The internal reverb sounds great.

The Hammond A100/B3/C3/RT3 series are all the same organ placed into a variety of furniture. The sound of these organs, played through a Leslie speaker cabinet, is the finest sound that exists on this planet. Note that I am a guitar player who fully appreciates a roaring tube amp.

This is a 40-year-old device that weighs almost 400 pounds. No way would I gig with it, because I don't want to break my back moving it. In my own subjective tests, the Hammond patches on high-end keyboards sound good for live performances. Unless a real Hammond is playing at the same time, the audience will not know what they are missing. Even in the studio, Hammond patches are fair if you combine them with a real Leslie--although I would always record with a real Hammond. I have not heard an on-board Leslie simulation that I liked. This is not a comment on the Motion Sound amps; those are re-creations, not simulations. Nor have I tried the Voce outboard devices.

The thing you have to watch out for is electric shock. The power supplies of these organs are not grounded. If you are carrying around a plugged-in guitar and touch the organ, or if two different people touch a metal part at the same time, you have a chance of getting a small shock.

I happen to live about 10 miles from Bob Schleicher, so I get the best support available. If you have studied Hammonds on the Internet or read any books about them, you will have heard of him.

Combined with a Leslie speaker cabinet, the Hammond tonewheel organs produce a sound like the voice of God.

No software - presets are OK, but not really used much. Beauty lies in the drawbars - real time sound sculpting via 100% analog controls.

Polophony...61 keys, 'nuf said. Superior action. No effects loop at this time but can be modified to include. Expansion not required - this is as phat as it gets. No midi - but offered as an aftermarket product....considered it, but then realized that would be a sacrilege.

The standard for blues, jazz, and rock and roll - nothing else can compare. Paired with Leslie, it'll rip your head off. The doppler effect of the compression horn upper driver is something you have to experience to understand and appreciate. Makes B3 clones sound like garbage.

Dependable...yes, but heavy - so not easily moved without special know-how and equipment. It is incredibly rugged due to the overbuilt case and resiliant hardware. Worst thing that happens is moving without securing the tone generator (suspended on springs). When free to float during a move, it can oscillate excessively and fall off the springs and/or break wires creating dead notes. This is the mover's fault, not the organ's. My A-100 is 40 years old and cranks up every time - how's that for reliability? My BV (similar design) is 57, and it still rocks!

Customer support form the company is virtually non-existant, but there is an incredible number of Hammond techs out there that provide free (top-notch) tech support. Thanks guys!

I bought this well cared for organ and a 22H Leslie for $700. Cost as much to ship it via Keyboard Carriage (but worth it - they're a great company). And still, I got a fair deal on a B3/leslie equivalent for 1/3 the price.

This is an update to my earlier review and has some information on connecting your A-100 to a Leslie 147. Since I finally got my Big A a couple of years ago, I've fought to get a decent sound by tying my Leslie Combo preamp into the Hammond pre-amp. But two big problems there: First, double preamping is just too hot, no matter what kind of damping down you do out of the Hammond; Second, you can permanently disfigure yourself trying to reach around the Hammond pedals to push the footswitch on the Leslie Combo Preamp pedal in order to change speeds. After searching eBay for a year and finding very high prices for old switches and boxes, I finally went looking. The solution is a simple 6147 connector box, available from lots of dealers. I chose to get mine from Kris at Celedonia Organs (easy to find on the Web) because he had a nice discounted price and is SOOOOO helpful with my bonehead questions. They kit has a controller with a toggle (up-down, not side-swiper like the old ones) fast-slow switch and a switch which lets you choose the Leslie, organ, or both. I'm a rank amateur at wiring and electronics, but was able to install the whole thing with the instructions and Kris' tips. Especially cool: You can set it up so that you can dial in your reverb from the knob, irrespective of whether you're just using the Leslie, or the Leslie and the Hammond amps. Kris can also tell you how to patch in the control wire without drilling any holes, which I sure as hell didn't want to do to my beautiful old girl. You have to be able to read instructions, but no soldering was needed, and mine LOOKS and PLAYS perfectly. And I saved about $200 by not calling a tech to make a house call.

NOW you'll be able to change speeds, dial in reverb if you want it (from the on-board speaker), mute the organ, mute the Leslie, whatever. You're A-100 will give you EXACTLT what you want: THAT SOUND! (Of course being the greatest feature ever invented.)

The sound is much cleaner now, and I don't worry about cooking the speakers in my Leslie with the driven, double amp'ed sound. Then again you might be a Greg Allman wannabe and really like that thing, in which case just run a wire from the G-terminals of your Hammond to a 1/4" male, pre-amp it again on the the Leslie Combo pedal turned up to 10, and crank away. And believe me, it will crank and grind and growl and break up at any kind of volume. Whether you want it or not. But for me, using the 6147 kit finally brought me home.

The kit looks solid enough. Gives you lots of screws, wire nuts, and wire clamps so you don't have things rattling around and looking unprofessional. Of course there's no way I'm going gigging with this set up unless I become independently wealthy and hire roadies. But it sure do sound purdy.

Kris is the best. Obviously loves Hammonds. Begged me not to drill any holes in mine. Very patient with my questions.

That's $150 for the kit. I got real lucky and got the A-100 and 147 for less than $1400, but that's hard to legally do unless you get lucky like I did. But here I am. A full-on, real-deal Hammond and Leslie set-up for under $1,500. Try that Mr. Nothing-But-A-B3-And-122-Hammond-Snob. Actually, if I was the aforementioned independendly wealthy guy, I WOULD be the world's biggest B3-and-122 snob, but since I'm poor, ugly, and more or less law-abiding, I just close my eyes when I play, and it's still the real deal, real feel, real vibe. And it's Real Heaven for me. Write if you need more info or have questions on a hook-up. I learned a lot. And keep groovin.

price paid 1200.00 It is a Hammond. If you have played one for awhile, it is like riding a bike. a few minutes and there you go. It make take a little while to adjust to a full pedalboard vs. a spinet suze

9 drawbars per set 2 sets each manual and 2 bars for pedals. the keyboard feel is great. the touch becomes an extension of you it seems. If in good condition, you can get lots of notes per measure. The more you experiment with the drawbars, percussion, chorus, the more you will recognize the sound from classic songs over the years.

you can coax any style out of this organ. I can play music from ols silent movies to Deep purple, to blues, to jazz, and finish up before I go to bed, playing hymns and chorus' from church. Any hammond and a leslie, and you can do endless things with sound.

only had it for a month, but had a bc 30 years ago, gigged it, and am in the process of selling an m-3, and just gave away an l series spinet. They are old, and depending on the care from previous owners, determines you expenses, etc..just likr an old car

I have never dealt with Hammond directly, but there are many dealers, who sell used organs, service, update etc.. Surf the web and you will find one. go toone of the Hammond rings and you can get invaluable advice.

If lost or stolen, I would be jazzed.. I have owned in the past 4 years a Roland VK7, presently a Hammond XK2, and the spinets I previously mentioned, along with the BC years ago. The only way to explain it is, once you hear it, play it, and own one you are hooked. The clones are good for ease of carrying to gigs, or in a limited situation. I ran my Roland and the Xk2 along with a Roland JV80 at church. The sounds were more than adequate, as the music is to bring the people to worship, not entertain them. ut when I go home, and I turn it on, only a tonewheel will do.. It is a fever..taht gets you

After owning B's & M's the A-100 is my favorite. Once you get familiar with the layout it's like an old pair of very comfortable shoes.
The manuals & action are simply the best any keyboard ever made. Must be the weight and texture, early composite plastics, bakelite and tubes. Antiques really!

Press one key or press em' all, great polyphonics are the result. Even the pedals are polyphonic. Percussion is really what gives "the sound" that everyone loves. The Best 'B' I once owned didn't have percussion but still roared. When I moved up to the first B3, the percussion made the difference between sounding good to sounding great. You can sound bad on a Hammond console, but once you get familiar with the layout and learn the dynamics of percussion, vibrato, Leslie etc, I believe it can actually make you sound better. Maybe it's because you start to listen better.

Expression is very flexible with the a-100. The volume pedal and Leslies along with natural distortion from the amplifiers are unique. Even the key action will allow you to color the sound. If you have the technical abilities the amps can be set to overmodulate or be managed through, believe it or not, a variety of good & bad tubes. Too much work though. After you set up your console it's very reliable..set it & forget it. One of the best players I ever saw was Mike Finnegan, he could coax and color the most seductive Hammond sounds for the blues. Saw him in the late 60's with the Serfs and later in LA with other bands. The best players develop a unique playing style....find one you like and get inspired!

All Hammond tone wheel console organs (including the M-2-3's) are so over-engineered (well built)that as long as tubes and good technicians around they will be here for 100 years or more. WHen you haul around an A-100, B3 or C3, who needs a back up? After a thousand plus gigs I've missed only one gig where the organ wouldn't start.

1.If you are inclinded, learn to fix the basics. 2.Stay away from the amplifiers unless you know what you're doing - Otherwise, find a good Hammond tech. They are around. Ask other musicians who they trust.
If you have a spinet Hammond, move up to an A-100. If you have the bucks and don't care that the A-100 is electronically identical to the B3 then buy a B3. I know musicians who like to work with the M3. If you're not playing pedal bass and don't use pre-sets it does a great job. 190 pounds vs. nearly 400 lbs.

Once you have an A-100, B or C series console there's no going back. I've been playing for 35 years and while not on the road anymore I like the A-100 w/ built in spkrs, reverb used in conjunction with dualing 147 Leslies. Loud, smooth, punchy & all Hammond.

It probably seems presumptuous to be reviewing one of the all-time great musical machines, but there's a reason: This review is for anyone - - especially Hammond newcomers - - who might be looking into what type of vintage Hammond organ to buy to get that unmistakeable sound. How easy is a Hammond to use? Piece o' cake if you speak the language; danged confusing if you don't. So, go to the theatreorgan.com website, (the Hammond section, especially the FAQ) and orient yourself. Even turning the beast on is non-intuitive, so don't be intimidated. Do a little background homework and it will all start to make sense - - and it will be worth it. Once you do the Hammond (and Leslie) thing, you NEVER go back (except to gig if you can't afford to pay someone else to move these animals), but HammondHeads can be a little snobby (me included.) Hang in there.

Features? Only one, Baby: THAT SOUND. You've heard it a thousand times on records. Now you've decided you have to have it. Okay, where to start? Well, there are Hammonds and there are Hammonds. To get THAT SOUND you need a real tonewheel organ, not an XK-2 or XB-2 or anything digital. That narrows your choices down to a console, a spinet or one of the ill-fate "portables" (which I've never owned but which seem to have the worst of all worlds so I'll ignore them here.) The consoles are the full-meal, no prisoner Hammonds. The B-3 is considered the pinnacle of Hammond achievement and the HammondHead Snobs will sniff and tell you that if it ain't a B3, it ain't worth having. NOT TRUE!! - - read on. The spinets are lighter, have fewer keys, are less reliable and are missing a couple of critical sound features, but are kind of cool anyway. And they are a bunch cheaper than the consoles. Most people who get one get edgy and eventually move up to a console though, so really, why bother? But when you're looking at $200 for a serviceable M-100 versus $2,750 for a bottom-end B-3, that's a hard swallow indeed. Fortunately, there is the lovely and vastly underrated A-100 in there, which can usually be had for under $1,500. In my area, I've seen some nice ones go for $800 or less - - mine was a gift from heaven at $650. Now, listen carefully: An A-100 has EVERYTHING that a B-3 does in terms of sound and playability. Got that? When you close your eyes, there is NO DIFFERENCE between a B-3 hooked up to a Leslie 147 and an A-100 hooked up to a Leslie 147. It's just packaging, gang. That's all. Yes, B-3's look cooler and nobody will mistake it's profile. But for those of us that don't want to spend the extra two grand, it's a laugher. AND, if you don't have a Leslie, the A-100 has it's own tube amplification and speakers. The B-3 doesn't. Take your Leslie to the shop? Your B-3 it a big fat paperweight. With an A-100 you can still play it and get a pretty dang cool sound (by using the vibrato instead of flying the Leslie horn.) To me, the A-100 is by far and away the best Hammond value for the money. More than a spinet, yes, but way better sound and playability, and way, way less than a B-3. Check eBay, check the dealers. You'll see. Remember: No difference in sound. Zip, nada. Got it? Now go strike a deal and get with the Hammond groove.

An A-100 has THAT SOUND. Only the B-3, C-3, RT-3 and A-100's have it. Simple. It's the greatest vibe in music in my opinion. Greg Rolie's solo in Santana's "Evil Ways" is as close to musical perfection as I've ever heard.

All real Hammond consoles are old machines. Simple, fixable, and tough, but not bullet proof. Love your Hammond. If you can't do the maintenance yourself, contact a technician and work out a service schedule. You gotta keep your Steinway tuned right? So have it service every year or two and keep it around for the next wave.

Lots and lots of good technicians out there. Make friends with one. But Hammond-Suzuki ain't there to sell you 30 year old organs. Don't bother trying to call em.

Ten-ten-ten. This is as good as it gets for a keyboard player in rock, blues, jazz. Yes I have a synth for some songs, but this is the sound I love. Hammond/Leslie is what it's all about. Now go get one. Share the wealth.

You sit down, turn it on, and play. Simple. Drawbars are more fun than an analog Moog and more expressive. The presets on the A-100 are not too useful, except for classical work. Rotary control for reverb and chorus/vibrato is simple, and percussion control is simple.

Unlimited polyphony. Nothing I have ever played has action as good as this, not even my friend.s $80,000 Allen church organ. Effects are chorus, vibrato and percussion. An add on Leslie is a must have item. You can make your own presets for the preset keys.

The A-100 is useful for any music style and is the most expressive instrument I have ever played. The volume pedal is awesome, better than somel lame knob.

Turn it on, it makes sound. Replace tubes occasionally. I am still running on original tubes / tubes from the 1960s and 1970s and they are great. I would gig without backup if I were willing to risk hurting it on the road.

Well, I am a do it yourself person. Parts are easy to get, and not too expensive. It's like a boat: Occasionally you buy new parts just to make it better.

If some yahoo managed to steal it from the lower level of my house, I would find him and torture him in unspeakable ways. It cost me a case of Mountain Dew and a trip to Taco bell for the 7 people I used to move it. I have played Hammonds for three years and this is my eleventh organ. I had this problem of habitually taking them home until I got this and now all the organs are going except the A-100. Thats a lot of organs to put in the classified ads. Compare it to a B-3 that is more money and requires a tone cabinet, it is not an option because the A-100 has built in speakers with reverb and the B-3 does not. I wish it had an XLR line out for hooking to a mixer, but all you need to do is wire it into the output for the Leslie, no soldering required. You could build one in very easily as well. It not only helps me make music, it almost seems like it is making the music for me and I am just moving my hands around. You have to get to know it very well and it rewards you more and more. It has a lot of possibilities for rewiring / hot-rodding because of the builtin speakers, and the architecture in general. An absolute gas to play. Nothing plays like a Hammond. Nothing.