Welson/Halifax
Made in Italy, Welson made quite a number of different models. I've also seen three Halifax organs that appear to be twins to Welson models. The pictures and prices for the first four below are from a 1971 sales brochure and price list . I've been told that Welson also made several home/console organs, too (but who cares?).
| Hobby | Mercury | President | President Deluxe | Band Cadet |
| Mercury Special | Condor Duo | Imperative | Gipsy | Welson-Halifax |
| Halifax Duo 1 | Welson-Halifax Duo 2 |
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Built-in amp & speakers 1971 List price: $136
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Built-in amp & speakers, Sustain. 1971 List price: $197
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1971 List Price: $435 |
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1972 List Price: $470 |
Similar to the smaller Panther Duo, two 3-octave keyboards. No picture on this one yet.
I saw this listed as a previous sale on the VEMIA auction Don't know anything more about it.
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This one looks like a much later model
- probably mid-to-late 1970's. (Thanks to Carlos for the pictures) |
Unusual features include the "Trainer/M. Bass" button, (no idea what that does), a "WahWah" button, and the "8'/16'" button. Maybe you can have one or the other but not both? Never seen that before! It also has a built-in amp/speaker (speakers in the bottom), a Headphone jack, and an Ext. Amp jack.
Below are pictured two apparently identical organs, one a Welson, the other a Halifax. The owner of the Halifax provided the following description:
"It's a really unusual organ, in that it's kind of a Connie/crappy-generic hybrid, with amazing built-in reverb and percussion/repeat. The keyboard is split to bass keys (one octave, reverse color) and treble (3 1/2 octaves), but there's only one line out. You can mix the bass and treble keys with the "bass balance" knob, to the left of the drawbars. The drawbars are a lot like a Connie, except for the footages: 16', 8', 4', 2', & 2 2/3'. Sound is not as "tough" (sorry for the non-technical lingo) as a Continental, but it's still more biting than a Jaguar -- somewhere in between, I guess. The built-in reverb is great, as cheesy and trashy as you would want from a combo, and incredibly deep/long when it's all the way up -- like a Compact Duo's F/AR unit, but not *quite* as long a decay. If you look closely on the top of the organ, there's a small silver knob (along the right-hand strut of the music stand) that tightens down the reverb unit for travel. I wish I'd taken a picture of the "audience view", because it's a great red-and-black tolex two-tone; it's a pretty sight, if you love the combo aesthetic (and who are you if you don't!?!?)."
And regarding the "Repeat" effect:
"This sounds basically like the repeat on my Compact Duo, but a little more fully "on and off", whereas the Duo is a little smoother. My favorite trick is to use the repeat and reverb simultaneously -- every time you lift off of the keyboard, this classic "na na na na" delay effect happens, as the repeat decays through the endless reverb. Ah, sweet lack of subtlety, thy name is cheese."
A schematic for this organ shows a date of 1968.
Controls:
Drawbars: 16', 8', 4', 2', 2-2/3'
Tabs: Bass 16' + 8' Bass Coupler, Percussion Bass,
Percussion-Long, Percussion-Short, Repeat, Reverb Vibrato
Knobs: Bass Balance, Vibrato Speed, Repeat Frequency,
Reverb Intensity
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| Welson | Halifax |
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| Drawbar Closeup | Tabs Closeup |
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Dual manual version of the Welson-Halifax
above. Looks like the only difference is the extra three drawbars for
the lower manual, and the two knobs to the left of the upper keyboard (both
as found on the "other" Halifax Duo - below: |
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A somewhat less well-equipped version of the "Duo 1" |