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A combo organ, so-named and classified by popular culture due to its original intended use by small, touring jazz, pop music and dance groups known as "combo bands", as well as some models having "Combo" as part of their brand or model names, is an electronic organ of the frequency divider type, generally produced between the early 1960s and the late 1970s. This type of organ predated, and contributed largely to, the development of modern synthesizers. The combo organ concept, at least in the context of mass-production, is thought to have arisen from popular demand, when smaller home organs were seen in music stores. Combo organs were probably originally developed in the United Kingdom, based on the Univox polyphony version of the Clavioline, and some models included the inner-workings of Italy-made transistor . They were the brainchild of necessity for portable organs of simple design, mainly for use in these small groups. Combo organs ended up having a major impact on the music scene of the mid- and late 1960s, particularly on rock and roll of that era.
A combo organ could best be defined as "a portable electric organ designed to be used by a musical combo".
A typical combo organ has one manual (musical keyboard), covering four or five octaves, though a few models had two manuals of three or four octaves. A number of different pitches and tone-colours ("voices") were featured, often using rocker-switches, tabs or drawbars to function as "stops" to select them. Although the sounds may bear such names as "flute", "string" or "horn", they are not intended to sound like their orchestral namesakes - the nomenclature is borrowed from pipe organ tradition. Some instruments allow the keyboard to be split, the lowest octave or two producing a pedal-like bass tone. Most combo organs offer vibrato as a special effect; a few feature more unusual effects such as "repeat percussion" (tremolo), "slalom" (pitch bend) or wah-wah. A volume pedal is normally used to vary the volume while playing. Less frequently an optional set of bass pedals could be attached.
Soundwise, combo organs are very similar to each other, although there are definite discernible tonal characteristics that differ between models that might be considered "default" for each model. For instance, the Vox Continental tends toward having somewhat of a Hammond organ-like, or "sine wave"-like sound (only thinner); while the Farfisa Combo Compact has an aggressive, raspy quality to some of its boosted tones, and the Gibson G-101 has a cleaner, contoured, more "sawtooth wave"-like tone, with harpsichord-like, percussive sound capabilities and a slight "after-jingle", with Sustain selected, on some voice settings.
To collectors, players and enthusiasts, the visual aesthetic is often as important as the sound. Originally, the instruments were often available in bright and unusual colors (orange, blue, bright red, green) with showy chrome legs, multi-colored stop-tabs, and reverse-colored or gray-and-white keys. Towards the mid-1970s, combo organs began to take on a more muted appearance, with woodgrain or black covering and conventional keyboard colors. Many combo organs were produced in such countries as Italy or Japan, yet some more common models used by major acts were manufactured in the United Kingdom or the United States. Organs that are intended to emulate the sound and characteristics of a Hammond organ are not generally regarded as combo organs; see clonewheel organ.
-- They have been sold to the public from 1946 to present, beginning in Germany with Jorgensen Electronics then gradually spreading worldwide by the 1960s. Kinds of tone generation have included tube or transistor analog oscillators & dividers, mechanoelectrical sources such as a few Hammond tonewheel combo models in 1969 & a Noble amplified reed combo organ in 1966, with fully digital beginning in 1974 and since becoming the predominant type. They have been made with one to three keyboards. Sounds, styles, and features vary greatly.
Well-known combo organs include:
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