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#141153 - 12/06/04 02:28 PM Tyros vs Lowery
Tom Cavanaugh Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/06/99
Posts: 2133
Loc: Muskegon, MI
Last week I was in Kalamazoo MI (the original home of Gibson) at a school for 4 days. In my spare time I visited a Lowrey store. I was curious because I used to service Lowreys about the time the MX-1 came out.
I played the Lowrey Rhapsody. I must say what a disappointment. Not counting the two manuals and pedals but only comparing sounds and styles, I think my Tyros running through my Logitech Z2200s beat it hands down. Granted it is much easier to mix sounds when you have stops to push but everything I heard could be duplicated on the Tyros. Styles and drums were better on the Tyros. Flutes (organs) woodwinds, brass, and guitars were better on the Tyros. I did like the flexibility of the Lowrey OTS. The Lowery did have a music finder database and MIDI but all in all I found little or no improvement over the MX-1 of twenty + years ago.

I know the Lowrey must cost thousands more than a Tyros and Logitech speakers.

Tom
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Thanks,

Tom

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#141154 - 12/06/04 02:42 PM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
Dnj Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/21/00
Posts: 43703
$43,000.........used




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#141155 - 12/06/04 02:47 PM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
Tom Cavanaugh Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/06/99
Posts: 2133
Loc: Muskegon, MI
Donny,

At that price if I had your money I'd buy two.

Tom
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Thanks,

Tom

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#141156 - 12/06/04 03:40 PM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
KFingers Offline
Member

Registered: 08/21/02
Posts: 366
Loc: Brighton - UK
Hey Tom - I used to sell Lowrey and you reminded me what a fantastic thing the MX1 was in its time. Although we had one in the store I never sold one. I sold a couple of Contempo 80s if you remember those and lots of different holiday models

It was the first organ with a chiff on the orchestral flute but boy what a price it was in those days.

I think Lowrey lost it around then and so did Hammonds when they went to Suzuki - that was the early days of Technics who were a rising star then but unfortunately are no longer with us.

Ah - those were the days

KF

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#141157 - 12/06/04 03:48 PM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
DonM Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 06/25/99
Posts: 16735
Loc: Benton, LA, USA
I used to play a Contempo 80. Changed to a Yamaha organ in 1980. Changed to arrangers about 1985 or 86, when they were very primitive. I used the early arrangers (such as PSR 70) mostly for the bass and a chord pattern and midied it to DX7, drum machine, sound modules, etc.
DonM

[This message has been edited by DonM (edited 12-06-2004).]
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DonM

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#141158 - 12/06/04 04:19 PM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
R-F Offline
Member

Registered: 02/22/04
Posts: 119
Loc: Berlin/ Germany
Hi,
I think, with buying a Lowrey you pay it as piece of furniture.
Without the electronic and the manuals it could be a good secretary.
;-)

------------------
Regards
RF
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Regards
RF

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#141159 - 12/06/04 10:42 PM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
BEBOP Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 01/02/00
Posts: 3781
Loc: San Jose, California
I still have here in the studio a Lowrey Arranger keyboard I bought in mid 80's. I bought with it a pair of amps that have 5 band EQ's made for lowrey by JVC, (Japanese Victor Company, under Lowrey's name. I still use the amps now and then. They are 35 watts each
The software looked like 4 track tapes (remember those) and plugged into the top of the keyboard. They usually had 5 or 6 styles on them and list price was 75.00 each.
This keyboard cost 2600.00. The amps were about 500.00 for the pair.
I still have them all and they still work.
Amazing but true,
I also had a couple of the Holiday Organs that were amazing for their time, prior to this keyboard, about 1967, I think.
Bebop
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BEBOP

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#141160 - 12/07/04 12:49 PM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
jeremy_norbury Offline
Member

Registered: 02/20/04
Posts: 84
Loc: Amsterdam,,The Netherlands
I'll always remember when the newest biggest Lowrey organ was demonstrated by Harry Stoneham on The Parkinson Show on BBC TV in the UK. It was unbelievable (at the time) - although Harry Stoneham is a hell of an organist.

Interesting fact that I discovered while surfing for information about Harry Stoneham:

Roland's US President is Dennis Houlihan - who was previously in charge at...Lowrey.

Jerry
Amsterdam
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Jerry Norbury
Amsterdam

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#141161 - 06/06/06 01:14 AM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
Anonymous
Unregistered


Also to mention Dennis Houlihan use to play organ for Lowrey in the 1970s. I have music tracks from a piece of vinyl where Dennis plays the Lowrey H25R-1 or H25R-3 not sure exactly which. Also the photo of him on the back is with with long sideburns, something he found quite amusing when I showed him the record at NAMM one year...

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#141162 - 09/23/07 01:15 AM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
NovaHeart1 Offline
Junior Member

Registered: 09/23/07
Posts: 3
Loc: Toronto
I dunno about all this, I own a MX-1, I got it for peanuts, it's mint and it sounds totally awesome. It can do church organ sounds beautifully as well as Wurlitzer style theatre organ sounds ala silent film era, and it can do contemporary sounds, some of which are quite excellent. Over all it sounds rich and warm and very crisp, whenever anyone hears it they are all amazed that its 27 years old. I love it.

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#141163 - 09/23/07 05:12 AM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
Songman55 Offline
Member

Registered: 06/24/05
Posts: 892
Loc: Baltimore, MD USA
I sold Lowery's in 1971 and I played one for 2 years. That's actually how I got my B 3. I was playing the Lowery in Tallahassee FL and a guy in Miami wanted my Lowery so we worked out a trade. Those were the days.

Ciao,

Joe

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Songman55
Joe Ayala

[This message has been edited by Songman55 (edited 09-23-2007).]
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PSR S950, PSR S900, Roland RD 700, Yamaha C3 6'Grand, Sennheiser E 935 mic, several recording mics including a Neuman U 87, Bose L1 Compact, Roland VS 2480 24 Track Recorder
Joe Ayala

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#141164 - 09/23/07 08:07 AM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
zuki Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/20/02
Posts: 4724
Lowery sales are geared towards the elderly. These folks start out with the low end model and in little time fork over half their life savings for a product they don't need.

It's an incredible money maker for the successful retailer who can pull that off.
_________________________
Live: Korg PA4X/EV Everse 8s/Senn 935/K&M stand

Studio: Korg PA4X/Yamaha DGX670/Nord 6D73/Boss BR900CD/Tascam DP24SD/MTM Iloud/Sony C80/AGK 214/ATEM Mini Pro switcher/K&M stand

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#141165 - 09/23/07 09:21 AM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
Anonymous
Unregistered


I have a Clavinova CVP207 which has some similarity to the Tyros (without the megavoices but with Natural Piano voices). I owned several Lowrey Genius models (100, 200, 300) in the 80's. Of course voicing is better now, but the Genius models had random rhythm patterns; there were 2-4 patterns for each chord and they alternated randomly, so the auto-accompaniment was never the same. I assume that was borrowed from the MX1 but am not sure. Are there any current Lowrey owners and can they tell us about the autoaccompaniment? On the Yamaha products, the same 2-4 bar pattern repeats endlessly for a given chord. On my old Genius models, there was random variation and the system chose between several patterns. What do those organs do these days?

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#141166 - 09/23/07 12:38 PM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
Anonymous
Unregistered


I currently own a Lowrey MX-1. Got it a couple of years ago after a twenty five year hiatus of this organ, Sold them in the early 80's. At the time an absolutely astonishing breakthrough in organ technology and sound all being digital. To me this was the start of the arranger type of keyboards albeit very expensive, like $20,000 then (a ton of dough). I agree about Lowrey being geared towards the elderly and then you upsold.

If someone would listen to a demo, and they could play (or barely), and they could afford it, Done Deal.

Anyway, back to topic. The newer models do not sound as good as the MX-1 as they don,t
have quite as good of speakers and amps (7 spkrs 6 amps). I have a Roland G-70 and had it running thru the Lowrey. The G-70 sounds
sustantially better than the Lowrey, however, it only plays in mono. I currently run the G-70 thru a Pioneer stereo and Bose speakers and it makes the Lowrey sound like a toy. I am sure that the Tyros would be the same way.

I think it is time to sell the MX-1 and get that monster (600 lbs) out of my house.

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#141167 - 10/08/07 11:37 PM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
NovaHeart1 Offline
Junior Member

Registered: 09/23/07
Posts: 3
Loc: Toronto
Why compare a Roland G-70 to a Lowrey MX-1, the G-70 is like 27 years newer... obviously its going to sound better, its completely digital, but I prefer the warmth of the MX over any of the newer arranger keyboards out there. Also the MX -1 weighs 350 pounds, not 600.




[This message has been edited by NovaHeart1 (edited 10-08-2007).]

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#141168 - 10/26/07 08:39 AM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
bill reed Offline
Junior Member

Registered: 09/11/06
Posts: 23
Loc: edinburgh
hi
i use to have a Lowery contilion and it was a great organ and good sounds but it kept going faulty and changed it dot a Yahama but did not like there sounds, i then gor a wersi beta and the sounds were really good and after a few years a got a wersi spetra and that was i great organ and so easy to change voices and control, i sort of wish i never got rid of it, i now have a technics kn7000 and a wersi pegasus and both work good together.
the lowery was the best looking organ but the spectra was the best sounding and the most fun playing,
most sounds on the kn are better than all the other organ i have had.
cheers
bill

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#141169 - 12/16/07 08:51 PM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
Anonymous
Unregistered


Quote:
Originally posted by Monarke:
Also to mention Dennis Houlihan use to play organ for Lowrey in the 1970s. I have music tracks from a piece of vinyl where Dennis plays the Lowrey H25R-1 or H25R-3 not sure exactly which. Also the photo of him on the back is with with long sideburns, something he found quite amusing when I showed him the record at NAMM one year...


I used to work for Gray Audio Visual who handled all the AV requirements for Norlin in the 70s. Dennis Houlihan was a regular visitor to our premises and I remember late nights sorting Lowrey slides with Dennis. We produced and ran multiprojector slide shows launching new Lowrey organs as well as shows explaining the features of the various models. Harry Stoneham used to demo the organs at the shows. Dave Smith was another organist who demo'd Lowreys. I remember many fun times wiht those two in the hotel bars of wherever we were staying at the time. We did shows in Frankfurt, Utrecht, Milan, some in London and also NAMM in Chicago. We even had the amazing Les Paul playing on the Norlin stand at Frankfurt one year. I'll never forget that show.
Gray Audio Visual did the launch of the MX1 in London.

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#141170 - 12/17/07 08:56 AM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
captain Russ Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 01/02/04
Posts: 7306
Loc: Lexington, Ky, USA
Ah, multi-projector shows...those were the days. Thinking about it now, you could do some amaising things with a bank of projectors. Found my programmer just the other day.

Thanks for the memory...


R.

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#141171 - 01/08/08 02:39 PM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
bjohn Offline
Junior Member

Registered: 01/08/08
Posts: 2
Loc: Michigan USA
I agree that the Lowrey MX-1 was a groundbreaking innovation, the sound is amazingly warm, and it is a beautiful piece of furniture as well. I personally own an MX-1 including the original bench, demo album, and three instruction songbooks. The first time I played it in church organ mode I fully expected to see Princess Diana walking down the aisle in her wedding gown...such an incredibly rich and full sound.

My MX-1 has been well maintained, pampered, and rarely used. If you or anyone you know would be interested in purchasing it, please contact me at bjohn00@hotmail.com

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#141172 - 01/09/08 10:03 AM Re: Tyros vs Lowery
tony mads usa Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 01/16/02
Posts: 14376
Loc: East Greenwich RI USA
This thread certainly brought in some 'new' names, didn't it ???

t.
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t. cool

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