- Fender Contempo Organ
The Fender Contempo Organ is a type of
combo organ made by Fender.With the influx of inexpensive portable
combo organs available to a new age and income bracket ofkeyboardists in the early-mid 1960s produced by such manufacturers as Vox, Gibson,Farfisa ,Ace Tone , and many others, Fender Musical Instruments chose to take a shot at the Combo Organ market, unfortunately, Fender came a little too late into the game to take a significant piece of the market. The manufacturing dates are unknown, but the Contempo's were manufactured at least as early as 1967 and sold as late as 1971.Even though, like most Combo Organs, they were aimed at a lower income bracket, Fender's high standards of design and manufacture were apparent, making the Contempo one of the sturdier Combo Organs of the time, with its heavy wooden,
tolex covered road case and heavy ABS top, quite similar to that of theFender Rhodes in production at that time, incidentally,Pratt Reed manufactured many of the components for both the Contempo and the Rhodes pianos at the time. It was also, debatably, one of the most visually striking organs of the time, with its bright red top, adorned with the chrome Fender script logo, reverse coloured bass octave keys, black and white stop tabs and its chrome stand and pedal.Sonically speaking, the instrument lay somewhere between the thick weedy buzz of a
Farfisa Combo Compact , and the breathy piercing flutey tones of theVox Continental . The Contempo set itself apart with the inclusion of the 5-13' stop tab (often not included on combo organs, though an essential footage of jazz organ), the rarely seentremolo effect and the unique triple axis volume pedal, which controlled both volume on the up and down motion, and tone on the left to right motion. This pedal was actually adapted from the triple axis tonevolume pedals sold with FenderPedal Steel guitars at the time.Unfortunately due to the relative unsuccess of the Contempo, it is difficult to provide many examples of the Contempo's usage. One of the most famous users is actually
Keith Jarrett when he played inMiles Davis group. * [http://www.debaser.it/files/artists/200672416.08.56jarrettelettrico.jpgKeith Jarrett w. Miles Davis]The organ can for instance be heard played together with
Rhodes piano on the Miles Davis recordLive-Evil and by itself on some live recordings with the Miles Davis group, whenChick Corea took over the Rhodes and Jarrett only played the Contempo. Another recording isRuta and Daitya with Jarrett andJack DeJohnette controls
* Bass Voices: Diaphone 16', Boost 16' f/ff/fff, String Bass 8', Boost 8' f/ff/fff, Horn 4', Boost 4' f/ff/fff
* Normal/Solo Switch: Switches the bass section between Bass and Solo voices
* Treble Voices: Cello 16, Diaphone 16, Boost 16 f/ff/fff, Diaphone 8, String 8, Clarinet 8', Boost 8' f/ff/fff, Quint 5-1/3', Boost 5-1/3' f/ff/fff, String 4', Principal 4', Boost 4' f/ff/fff,
* Effects: Solo Timbre, Vibrato Slow/Fast, Vibrato On, Solo Tremoloee also
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Fender Musical Instruments Corporation
*Rhodes Piano External links
* [http://www.combo-organ.com/Fender/fender.htm Combo Organ Heaven page on Fender Contempo]
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