Hammond L-100

The trumpet and clarinet presets are hilarious. The full organ preset is sort of Vox Continentaly but, stick to te drawbars. They are FANTASTIC. (And the sounds from them is virtually infinite!) You won't need a manual. Everything you play, even if you are not a musician will sound great!

The organ has full polypony on both keyboards. The built in effects are vibrato-okay but a little theatrey, percussion (2nd and 3rd harmonics) -really good. Lot of attack. Easy to get those Small Faces sounds. Or those Jimmy Smith sounds. It also has spring reverb which is really warm. The main feature is the drawbars. They are the best thing ever. As for the action, the keys are nice and springy. It is really really light and easy to play.

The L100 works well for virtually any kind of music. With a leslie you can easily get the swirl, bubble and growl of a B3 and using just the built in speakers it sounds lovely and French. I cannot express how well this instrument is in tune with your playing. -An L100 is like an extension of your mind!!!! If you don't own a real Leslie, try plugging in a Hughes and Kettner Rotosphere in-between the pre-amp and the main amp. (You'll need a couple of phono to jack leads) It will sound fantastic!

I've owned several of these over the years and they've all been fairly reliable though valves go from time to time and a few little repairs have been done by myself. Also, I've chopped three down and crammed all the electrics in the top half. This is no problem with an L100 as long as you chop it below the tone generator. (!) Also, every 20 years or so, the drawbars and key contacts need cleaning. This is easy but very very time consuming getting at the key contacts.

I doubt Hammond/Suzuki would be of much help. -They know nothing about Hammonds. (See my damning revue of the XB1!) But, luckily there are thousands of old men who lovingly restore these organs. Type Hammond L into google and read forever! For advice on chopping them down, connecting the bass pedal notes up to the lower keyboard,or making it sound better, contact me!

It's too big and heavy to get lost or stolen but if it was, I'd get another straight away. I've been using L100s for around 10 years and I'll probably never buy a B3 as this really does do the job. I've yet to hear a really good simulation (The software B4 isn't bad but...)
I use it with a Rotosphere Leslie simulator live and that goes into wahwah and reverb pedals then into a Laney bass amp. Occasionally I take out my real Leslie but only when I'm feeling particularly strong! I love everything about the organ apart from the weight. -Still very very heavy even after chopping. I even love the smell of it! They are incredible!

The single switch for on/off is a huge improvement over the old start/run switch setup. Stubby pedals are lame. Presets are good, wish there were more.

1 octave pedals.
no 16' or 5 1/3' drawbars for lower manual.
no 16' drawbar for pedal.
Built-in spring reverb, 3 presets.
non-waterfall keys.
Built in chorus / vibrato, but fewer choices than on B-3.
Onboard amp and speaker.
Nice piece of furniture.

Despite shortcomings listed above, it's still a tonewheel. Nothing like it. And for the price these are going for, OMG - how could you pass it up?

It's got that magic sound. See above for missing drawbars. Only 3 upper presets and 1 lower preset, but they're good ones. Percussion sounds great with foldback mod (I think it was modded...).

Gotta get that Leslie, though. This one came with a 147 - poifect!

Built like a tank! Just watch the corners when you move it. Oil it once a year. This was a 1969 model, still working great!

I don't think Hammond/Suzuki is too interested in supporting these, but there are scads of Hammond repair guys around who know how to keep these running, and owner/repair manuals are there to be had too. So no problems, really.

I have a bigger model now and my replacement at the church doesn't use the L-100 ever. But it's still a magical instrument, And I'd get another in a heartbeat if I had a place to put it.

Of all the Hammonds I've owned / played - M3, D152, B3, A100, and this one - the L-100 was the best sounding in terms of that gritty tonewheel sound we all love. That may have been due to some modding by the prior owner (may he rest in peace), but MAN that was sweet.

The drawbars are fun to mess with and I've played around with the precussion preamp to get tighter percussion. I have no manuals yet, but at the prices they are selling them, forget it!

It's a simple spinet, 7 lower drawbars, 1 bass and 9 upper with several control buttons (drawbars, percussion, tremolo, reverb - very simple and to the point).

It's that Hammond sound! Not quite a B-3 but still a tonewheel Hammond, sounds great through a couple of chorused Marshall combos. I am not much of a keyboard player (I'm a guitarist), but I love fooling around with Purple stuff on it.

The tubes come loose easily on it, so I keep the back open for quick maintenance - so this organ stays at home! I gig with Roland PK5 pedals driving an old Roland U110 box and also a microKorg. I have a Yamaha GX also. Not as cool sounding as this L-102, but it's too heavy to move around to gigs.

Never dealt with them.

I wish I could find free downloadable versions of the service and owner's manuals though. Anybody have these?

Definitely worth what I paid and more!
I've heard of Hammonds getting stolen, but I guess that's rare because of the weight. I'd try to find another if stolen (I would also track down and find the person who stole it and ... well...). I doubt I would lose it :)
Wish list: A Leslie to go with this!

Very good vintage Hammond. Very easy to resurect from dead.
Better than M100, have done both.

yes, yes Lightweight too under 100 kgs

Lots of support on net but some companies want big bucks for service manuals. As ther is not a great deal too the manual < 100 pages high cost not justified.

I am in love with it , not the same way that I am with my Conn 651 but just the same there is a special place in my heart for this wonderfull piece of old tech. Just have to match the cherry varnish to refurbish the cabinet. I don't want to revarnish as I did with my last L100 , took for ever, but I had too some imbicile had painted it pink.

Kind of like operating some mad scientist machine, I hated the sound until I discovered that it didn't have to be on full organ, or trumpet, etc.. Took me months to like this organ, but then, I never looked back.

Loads of different sounds, the drawbars change the character of the instrument so much, reverb is a nice option, the vibrato kinda sucks tho'

I played through a leslie 125, and it was a very convicing hammond. the limitations can be overlooked for a while. I have a m3 now, and I like it's style better, but there aren't too many differences, I don't have reverb anymore, but I think the sound is better, the vibrato is amazing.

They don't stop. I think there will be hammonds around after the apocolypse.

There's still guys around that fix these things, you can do alot with a tube tester, a can of wd-40 and a screw driver. they don't like to sit for too long tho. they need to be played.

I got rid of it at a profit, but there was a little pang when I loaded it up, I have a better organ now, and I want something with 61 keys, (common c3!) but it sure did a good job when I had it.
started me off down the slippery hammond slope.

I use a 63 l-100 with a 122-leslie. Only mod. is EV-sro 15" speaker in Leslie, organ speakers removed (weight) Steel dollys. Ultra clean on all settings, cuts through guitars with strong upper drawbars, much cleaner than "M" models or "Bs" for that matter. Good axe around 100 lbs. 2nd&3rd harmonics work well together, third order alone a little ringy, could be x-over in 122 leslie: probably around 12db per octave.

This Is so easy to use.You turn it on and wait or the tubes to kick in. Thats all!!!

It has percussion. It is ok. Built in speakers.Four presets. Drawbars. Vibrato. The works.

Dude, all you have to do is screw with the drawbars, hook on a leslie ad play. I sounds exactly like a b-3, sometimes even better.

I can take this anywhere!! I have not used anything else to replace it!

I dont ever ned customer support.

I would never own anyting else but this. its all i need

Plays Great. Takes a little time to set up, but it's worth it! I'm running a L-100 that I chopped the lower half away. I made a set of aluminun fold up legs for it and play it through a Music man amp head into a 120 leslie ( two speed)that has a modified horn on top(JBL) and a JBL 12" speaker. I used a step down condinser on the speaker out put and turned down the output controll on the amp. I made a rack mount for the hammond amp & reverb, and music man to go into. I made a snake to hook this setup together. Yes this sounds like a lot of trouble. I had played in blues bands for over 30 years and hauled M-3's, B-3's, tried synths and moduals and nothing sounds like the real thing. I'm not hauling around my B-3 in clubs and breaking my back. This little setup sounds great! It kicks ass! By the way I bought it from aold man who played it often at home.

Same bla bla as any older hammond.

next best thing to a B-3

Tubes and it's old. Got to take care of it.

A few people a helpful....BB organ Service has been the best!

Organ, amp and preamp pedal, and leslie totaled under a $1,000.00 and I'll put it to any modern synth!!!!!!!!!!