The Jaguar Organ vs The Vox Continental Organ
Why they sound different


Figure 1. When one plays the low C on the Continental Organ,
the tones from all the "blue" keys are combined to make the note


The tone generators of the Vox Continental Organ had a master oscilator and six serial dividers. This gave the Continental a tonal palette of seven octaves of notes to build the tones coming from four octaves of keys.

The illustration in Figure 1 shows the individual tones that are combined to when one plays just the low C key on the Continental Organ.

Not only are there four "C" tones, which act as "fundamental" or root tones, there are also two "harmonics," or notes of a different pitches that compliment the fundamental. The IV rank drawbar adds a "G" tone in the third octave, and an "E" tone is added in the fourth octave.


Figure 2 When one plays the low C on the Jaguar Organ,
the tones from all the "blue" keys are combined to make one note.

The Jaguar Organ has a much simpler tone generator that has a master oscillator and three serial dividers. This gives the Jaguar Organ four octaves of tones and four octaves of keys.

Unlike the Continental, the Jaguar has a set of bass keys that have their own secondary divider circuit. This produces a 16' bass tone. This 16' bass tone is combined with the organ tones on the lowest octave of the Jaguar.

The illustration in Figure 2 shows the individual tones that are combined to when one plays just the low C key on the Jaguar Organ. Assuming that the "Bass Chords" tab was in the on position and the "Bass Volume" control was turned up, four fundamental tones would be combined to make the low C. No harmonics are designed into the circuitry of the Jaguar.

This lack of harmonic tones is what sets the tone of the Jaguar apart from the Continenal Organ.


Listen to the tonal differences of the Vox Jaguar and Continental organs in this 1967 Vox demonstration tape.


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