Hello! I recently recieved a Kombo off the side of the road and someone ripped out all of the electronics under the organ, wondering if anyone on here owns one and would be willing to take pictures of it in detail to help me piece together at least enough to get it back and running with an external amp for now.
rodak Messages: 511 Registered: October 2001 Location: Georgia
Senior Member
Wow, that's so sad!
I have Kombo organ. I'll help you out as much as I can.
You wouldn't happen to be in Iowa, would you? I heard recently of a Kombo there that was in sad shape and the owner was looking for someone to just take it off his hands. I wonder if he gave up and dumped it.
rodak Messages: 511 Registered: October 2001 Location: Georgia
Senior Member
No. I was contacted off-list. But it wasn't by the owner, just by someone he had contacted trying to get it to a good home. Too far for him (or me) to drive, and no one on my Combo Organ discussion group was interested either.
My understanding was that the internal power amp (and possibly speakers) had been removed, but all the organ guts were intact. Lift the top lid by prying it up just behind the drawbar panel, and you'll see all the organ electronics. If it all looks intact, all you should need is a power supply, which shouldn't be too hard to rig up, and a 1/4" jack connected to the organ output, and you can plug it into a separate amp.
Rodak, I was wondering if you could take a picture or identify for me, the farthest forward left resistor. Mine is burnt out and I'm not good enough with schematics to find it I think. Also if you might know which cables are which coming out of the bottom. The power switch is all torn out and almost all the wires underneath are red and black.
rodak Messages: 511 Registered: October 2001 Location: Georgia
Senior Member
I'm not sure what you mean - farthest forward on right of what - one of the circuit boards?
Do you have schematics, and are you able to follow a schematic? (You can download the schematics free from my website) I'm really not intimately familiar with the wiring, but I have a schematic and can trace the wires. There would be power wires coming from the power supply. It looks like there are 27V regulated and -37V unregulated lines, and of course a ground wire. You'd need to build a supply to produce these voltages. It wouldn't have to be beefy, as the organ circuitry doesn't draw much current. Then there'd be an output wire, probably shielded, coming from the top section to the bottom section. And of course the wires for the power switch and pilot light. You MUST have a pilot light. I think there are government regulations stating that all pre-1970 Kustom plexi amps and organs must be fitted with a jewel pilot light, preferably purple. (Of course, I'm just kidding, but I consider the purple jewel pilot light one of Kustom's many charms - I even installed green jewel pilot on my Krossroad 500 head, to match it's green Naugahyde!)