Piano World Home Page Forums Other Keyboard Instruments Organs - Electronic (B3 etc.), Pipe, Theatre, & Reed ALLEN vs RODGERS digital pipe organs

Ahh... the long and bloody debate of Allen and Rodgers.

My personal organs i have owned are - 1940s Hammond CV- Kimball thingy, and a 1968 Rodgers.

While the rodgers was very solid and well built (oak, wood keys etc) It was not pleasing to the ear. Of course its a 1968 organ! But I have found that allen was a bit more ahead at that time than rodgers was.


Now for new organs. My playing of new rodgers is slim but I can hold my head high when I speak for allen! There is a local dealer for them, and I cant be more impressed each time I play an allen!

Especially their renaissance quantum line. Its unbelievably realistic, full and lush sounding. With 6 suits, you can play ANYTHING!

Wish I had $60,000 to spare on a new 3 manual! Maybe some day I can grab a cheap protege model!

I also love Viscount organs of Italy. I feel they are pushing far ahead in the organ industry lately!

My favorite brand next to Allen will always Be Johannus! They are fantastic sounding and well designed instruments! And very cheap for what you get!

Very much like the PC v. Mac debate . . .

We will see what happens now that Johannus bought Rodgers.

Hi all,

Wow! This is an Oooold thread. So to be clear, I have always enjoyed the Rodgers organ and i certainly have preferred them for years over the Allen. The technology that Rodgers uses make it possible for an organist to voice the organ from anywhere within the space using an Ipad! They can voice note to note. This is technology that they have had for several years now. The orchestral voices they offer are also far superior to Allen and the organ samples they have been using for years now are much more robust and professional than Allen.

Since I joined this thread in 2001, things have changed for me. 5 years ago I took to opportunity to add the sales of digital and pipe organs to my company and my first choice was to carry Rodgers. Since then this organ was chosen to perform at Philadelphia's Papal mass in 2015 and The Grand Court Organist od The Wanamaker Organ, Peter Richard Conte, has purchased a 3 manual Rodgers for his home, in spite of the fact that Allen provides him with free organs when he performs with the Philadelphia Organ Quartet.



More accurately willem, The van de Weerd family, who owns Johannus, Makin, and Copeman Hart, purchased Rodgers in 2015 from Roland.

I am pleased to tell you that the resources from the van de Weerd family, along with the established technology of the Rodgers has been a pleasure for me to work with. Now that I can exchange emails with a member of the family the dealer network for Rodgers has only become stronger and the product more customizable.

Full Disclosure = I SELL THEM.

BUT, I want to include just a few links for those who may have heard a "less than ideal" installation.

Model 361 at The First Presbyterian Church of Ambler, Pa.:
https://youtu.be/_Baq9yYtxII

We provided the organ for the Pope - unfortunately, there is no music on this video:
https://youtu.be/z_E8VBmaNQo

While I respect Allen, I have a clear preference. There are many fine musicians in my region that agree with me.

My 2 cents,