My mother bought one exactly like this from a high-school theatre dept. when I was nine. My brother still has it and I sometimes practice church music on it when I'm going to be playing the pipe organ for service. Literally the only thing wrong with it is that the chorus is busted, and that "tibia fast attack" now turns on the reverb for some reason. For the longest time the Tuba 16' pedal stop wouldn't turn off, but taking a pair of needle-nose pliers to the metal leaves inside the switch made it turn on and off like a charm. Literally my only complaints about this organ are that the Leslie only has two speeds, and that the tibias can get a little murky if you use them all at once. But man, with Tibia 16, 8 and 2 2/3rds and the fast leslie, you can play some rock and roll on it!
@MusicBlinded51 William, if you like this amazing little Conn spinet then of course you'll like- Adrian Rose Conn Trinidad. BTW I played the Elegante last night and am convinced it really is the organ that does it all! With it sitting next to my Rialto II I played them both together to listen to the contrast. Really the Elegante has many great theater tones in it. There is just something special about these Conn individually voiced transistorized models that are so excellent for theater music.
As Conn used individual tone generators (electronic oscillators) for all but the top octave which was doubled from the octave below it this particular model had 68 separate generated tones compared to other instruments of a spinet nature which only used 12 or a single oscillator with which to derive the total organ tone generation. This was a more expensive road but it gave the Conn a better sound with the notes making up the chords drifting in and out of phase with one another, more musically interesting rather more like a pipe organ with separate tone producing sources in the form of pipes. As you went up the ladder to more ambitious Conn instruments than this middle of the road Theatrette 552 the number of generated tones increased to 90 for the Conn 652 Theatre organ plus tuned percussion and reeds from a different generation source. The manuals also increased to 3 full 61 types with 32 note pedals rather than the 13 available on this spinet. The price went up as well so not so many around now at $16,500 in 1980 money. Lucky you can buy them now for $500 or so but be prepared to be able to repair them yourself as the instruments are quite complex and very few current techs bought up on board replacement only can repair them. Sadly they will mostly be found in a state of disrepair. Mine took many tens of hours to bring back to total serviceability and playability but it helps that as well as being an organist I am also an electronics tech of over 40 years experience in both camps.
Interestingly this 552 Theatrette sounds very much like my 543 Minuet. I might mention that the 550 vacuum tube Theatrette blows them both away. You talk about a great sounding organ, listen to the vacuum tube 550,640 and 645, and there is a great demo for the sound of a 541 Minuette here on youtube- Conn Minuet 541. Note that this same person that uploaded the 541 video also uploaded a 'Conn organ amp guitar amp'. If they destroyed that GREAT 541 organ that is EASY to tune they only suck!
Conn were some of the best electronic organs around. I've had many.
True
Never heard a Conn Organ that sounds so good. Congatulations, William.
I love you're mellow sound on the tibias :D
BRAVO! :)
Fantastic my friend.
Love the 552. Can you please demonstrate the stereo express?
My mother bought one exactly like this from a high-school theatre dept. when I was nine. My brother still has it and I sometimes practice church music on it when I'm going to be playing the pipe organ for service. Literally the only thing wrong with it is that the chorus is busted, and that "tibia fast attack" now turns on the reverb for some reason. For the longest time the Tuba 16' pedal stop wouldn't turn off, but taking a pair of needle-nose pliers to the metal leaves inside the switch made it turn on and off like a charm.
Literally my only complaints about this organ are that the Leslie only has two speeds, and that the tibias can get a little murky if you use them all at once. But man, with Tibia 16, 8 and 2 2/3rds and the fast leslie, you can play some rock and roll on it!
you can set the 2 speeds tho
@MusicBlinded51 William, if you like this amazing little Conn spinet then of course you'll like- Adrian Rose Conn Trinidad. BTW I played the Elegante last night and am convinced it really is the organ that does it all! With it sitting next to my Rialto II I played them both together to listen to the contrast. Really the Elegante has many great theater tones in it. There is just something special about these Conn individually voiced transistorized models that are so excellent for theater music.
As Conn used individual tone generators (electronic oscillators) for all but the top octave which was doubled from the octave below it this particular model had 68 separate generated tones compared to other instruments of a spinet nature which only used 12 or a single oscillator with which to derive the total organ tone generation. This was a more expensive road but it gave the Conn a better sound with the notes making up the chords drifting in and out of phase with one another, more musically interesting rather more like a pipe organ with separate tone producing sources in the form of pipes.
As you went up the ladder to more ambitious Conn instruments than this middle of the road Theatrette 552 the number of generated tones increased to 90 for the Conn 652 Theatre organ plus tuned percussion and reeds from a different generation source.
The manuals also increased to 3 full 61 types with 32 note pedals rather than the 13 available on this spinet. The price went up as well so not so many around now at $16,500 in 1980 money. Lucky you can buy them now for $500 or so but be prepared to be able to repair them yourself as the instruments are quite complex and very few current techs bought up on board replacement only can repair them. Sadly they will mostly be found in a state of disrepair. Mine took many tens of hours to bring back to total serviceability and playability but it helps that as well as being an organist I am also an electronics tech of over 40 years experience in both camps.
Interestingly this 552 Theatrette sounds very much like my 543 Minuet. I might mention that the 550 vacuum tube Theatrette blows them both away. You talk about a great sounding organ, listen to the vacuum tube 550,640 and 645, and there is a great demo for the sound of a 541 Minuette here on youtube- Conn Minuet 541. Note that this same person that uploaded the 541 video also uploaded a 'Conn organ amp guitar amp'. If they destroyed that GREAT 541 organ that is EASY to tune they only suck!