The Vox Continental is the “gold standard” of transistor organs that began a new sound in ’60′s music. Before the Vox organs, like the famous Hammond B-3, were built around tone-wheel technology. The sound was amazing but hardly portable. It was the invention of the transistor that led to lightweight, portable organs.
The sound was thin and reedy but that in itself began a new sound in a guitar-oriented music field. This appealed to the new ‘surf’ and ‘beatnik’ music that was evolving at the time which thrived on it portability.
The Vox Continental broke through this mold because it actually sounded good and had some drawbars to adjust the stops. To make it “groovy” looking the key colors were reversed. The Vox Continental’s most famous user was Ray Manzarek of the Doors but prior to this, it was also used by UK organist Alan Price (The Animals), the Dave Clark Five, Strawberry Alarm Clock, the Tornados and countless others. The mesmerizing solo on Light My Fire was a played on a Continental.
I had a Briscoe, which was the cheaper knock-off of the Vox. It had similar Italian guts (most organ platforms and electronics were made in Italy) but it had a reedy sound that had to be bolstered with a Fender tremolo
[...] pleaser. It started out with, “Uno, Dos, Tres, Quattro!” The portable organ (probably a Vox Continental) played cheesy-sounding chords in 8th notes and the hardest part of the tune was the bass which [...]