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MMD > Archives > July 1997 > 1997.07.01 > 08Prev  Next


Hammond "VibraChord" Amplifier
By Craig Brougher

First off, I called my thingy a VibraHarp, and discovered it's called
"chord," instead.  A VibraChord.  Robbie was wondering;

>[ Does your Vibraharp have the long resonators and rotating throttles,
>[ or is it more like the orchestral cabinet Celesta (which sinply plays
>[ "plink, plink!" from a piano-style keyboard) ?

I believe its more "plink-plink." The pickups are just all connected
together and go into an amplifier as one wire.  Probably paralleled -- I
haven't looked.  But the final tone is pretty good, from what I've heard.
It was made by Mass-Rowe, and is called "VibraChord and Harp-Celeste" for
the Hammond Organ Co in the '50's.

I have a manual for it, and was told that this particular instrument was
used by a professional musician with just a Hammond reverb amplifier.  It
wasn't used with its own amp, like I saw described in the manual.  So now
I am doubly confused.  The schematic in its manual shows a shaping
circuit input to a balanced amplifier that would, without doubt, act as
some kind of decay/ resonator circuit-- you probably know what I mean.

(An oscillator that doesn't quite self-trigger?  That is not a Roy Rodgers
joke, by the way -- even though I fully intend to use it when playing
Drifting With The Tumbly Weeds.)  What it was originally used with was a
Hammond reverb amplifier-- which I suspect has about the same
characteristics, anyway.

So, if reverb amplifiers work, would I have to use Hammond's, or would
anything work with positive feedback in it here?

Craig Brougher

 [ Carry it to the local music store (wear earplugs) and let the kids
 [ there demonstrate how it sounds when plugged into a "contemporary
 [ music" amplifier !  Then you can decide which choice of electronic
 [ "effects" you like best.  I'll bet they even have a button for
 [ "Leslie" !   -- Robbie


(Message sent Tue 1 Jul 1997, 13:47:48 GMT, from time zone GMT.)

Key Words in Subject:  Amplifier, Hammond, VibraChord

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