John Lennon

John Lennon commonly played the Vox Continental organ during the Beatles' raucous set closer "I'm Down."

In 2008, the Vox Continental used by John Lennon at the historic 1965 Shea Stadium concert and the Beatles' August 13, 1965 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was auctioned off by Christies for $182,500.

The following comes from the Daily Beatle's article about the organ and the ensuing auction:

In front of a crowd of 55,600, Lennon closed out the most famous concert in history with a frenzied rendition of “I’m Down” in which he wildly pounded on the offered keyboard, resulting in the organ not working properly for the next show in Toronto on August 17.

The next day in Atlanta, the organ was traded in for a functioning Vox Continental organ from the Thomas Organ Center – The Vox Shoppe, the exchange being completed by a local Atlanta policeman. At the concert in Atlanta they had a rare opportunity to hear the organ in concert, as the stage was equipped with something of a rarity for the Beatles in those days, monitor speakers!

It was done especially for The Beatles. FB ‘Duke’ Mewborn, the boss of Atlanta hi-fi store Baker Audio, decided to give the group something that had never been done before: monitor speakers on the stage, pointing towards the group, to allow them to hear their voices and instruments.

“It was adequate. We got over it, we were on top of it. You could hear them amidst the screaming,” commented Mewborn.

It wasn’t just on stage that the sound was different. The state-of-the-art setup on the field included four Altec 1570 amplifiers, each giving 175 watts of sound, which in turn powered two stacks of Altec A7 speakers. Although unremarkable today, in 1965 it was an unheard of amount of power for a pop concert. The difference was noted from the stage, with Paul McCartney exclaiming after “She’s A Woman”: “It’s loud, isn’t it? Great!”

Being able to hear themselves enabled The Beatles to play tighter than usual, and they were delighted with the results. Afterwards, Brian Epstein suggested that Mewborn deal with the sound for their other shows, but the offer was turned down.

The organ remained in the possession of the owner of The Vox Shoppe in Atlanta for nearly four decades.

The organ itself is distinguished by a non-standard Vox Continental logo adhered to the front of the case, which is clearly visible in pictures and film from the event and from the set of The Ed Sullivan Show two days prior.

Before auctioning away the organ in 2008 at Christies’s Punk/Rock auction at New York’s Rockefeller Plaza for $182,500, the original organ was repaired, keeping all the original parts (which were in pristine condition) and was fully functional at the time of the auction.

Prior to the auction, the organ was featured in exhibitions at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, The Beatles Story in Liverpool, and “John Lennon Unfinished Music” at Cite de la Musique in Paris.

Additional photos of John at the Continental can be viewed here, here, and here.

"On January 28, 1969, while The Beatles were rehearsing Old Brown Shoe, John Lennon brought out a Stylophone. Here's the result."

John Lennon and The Beatles used the Moog Synthesizer during Abbey Road (The Album) Recordings in 1969

In a 1980 studio session in New York for the recording of "Double Fantasy," John Lennon is seen using a Yamaha CP-80 Electric Grand Piano. [User-uploaded photo]

In this piece of text that talks about the clavioline, it states that John Lennon used a clavioline on "Baby, You're a Rich Man".

"The Clavioline played a range of sounds or tone colours to approximate various orchestral instruments such as bowed strings, brass and woodwinds as well as plectrum and percussive instruments. However, it was its unique sound that gave a distinctive feature to several compositions by top performers such as Del Shannon on his 1961 hit "Runaway" (which used a modified Clavioline), The Tornadoes on "Telstar" in 1963 and later by John Lennon in June 1967 when recording "Baby, You're A Rich Man", with The Beatles."

In this image, Lennon is using a Mellotron MkII.

John Lennon played a Hohner Pianet for the Beatles video of "The Night Before." This electric piano was also frequently used by the Beatles in the studio.

John had a red Farfisa Combo Compact organ in his home studio.

John Lennon owned and played the Yamaha CP10 61-Key Electronic Piano, as confirmed by the listing for his "Double Fantasy" Yamaha CP10 Electric Piano at Julien's Auctions.

John Lennon used the Oberheim OB-X synthesizer on his last album Double Fantasy in 1980, which he recorded with Yoko Ono. The distinctive sound of the OB-X can be heard in the track "Watching The Wheels," as evidenced by an image available on Equipboard.