Re: what do they weigh?

[bpb@bpbsn.cca.rockwell.com (Brad Baker)]

Mark,

>>>>> "Mark" == Mark Longo <longo@zk3.dec.com> writes:

    Mark>       Anyone know how much a "chopped" hammond weighs?  I
    Mark> also saw an add recently for a Hammond Porta-B.  First,
    Mark> what's a port-B and secondly, what does it weigh?
          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
My first viewing of a Porta-B was about a year ago. We took the kids
to a Shriner's circus and the band was Porta-B, drums, and singing
clowns and MC. Someone here said it was an M-100. Two 44 note manuals,
no presets. It has a chrome pipe stand, the keyboard part travels with
the bottom (speakers ?), unlatches, swivels up, plugs in and, voila!,
Hammond organ! How portable is it? Envision an M-3 size keyboard,
bottom with speakers, covered in Tolex.

    Mark>       The reason for all this is that I'm an XB2 player but
    Mark> still fantasize about owning an actual "B" someday, but
    Mark> without a road crew, I couldn't get it into the truck.  Is
    Mark> it possible to chop a Hammond enough to get the weight down
    Mark> in the 100 lb range?
          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Hehehe, i think the manuals alone are more or close to that. The main
thing you gain from making one of these things so-called portable is a
reduction in size, not weight.

Separating the keyboard assembly, tone generator, and amplifier could be
difficult. High imedances and lot-o-wires could make it hard to get
reliable, low-noise performance. Not saying its impossible, just
difficult IMHO.

Still, the reduction in size is a worthy venture. An A-100 is smaller
than a B-3/C-3 (fore and aft direction). A simple size reduction is to
chop (EGADS!) an A-100 below the tone generator chamber and use a Trek
amplifier. Still, i'm less inclined to want to chop these classics up
anymore.

just my opinion,

Besides, getting everybody in the band to help you haul it is part of
the whole "Hammond experience" (shall we say?) <g>

Regards,

Bradley Baker
bpb@mlb.cca.rockwell.com