About the same, like 80 lbs.
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What do you like/prefer for rotary effect to get your swirl on?
- Thread starter bluesholyman
- Start date
BFcaster
Tele-Holic
Neo Ventilator for me, the first version -gray with rounded corners.
knockeduptele
Tele-Holic
For me this is a very current topic - with the current band i'm doing all of the Hammond and string pads using a Mel9 and a B9 - once you have got a handle that they are not an in the chain pedal and need splitting out into their own path and amp (the direct out from the tuner finally came in handy as a bufferred split) then they can be quite effective
Amping them through an Ultimate Chorus but there was something missing.
I was just about to hit the go button and spend a lot of money on a Neo Ventilator to fill that yearn for the missing swirlyness when I thought but I have a real Leslie 16 out in the shop, so have spent the last few days stripping it and making it do its thing (and wiring a couple of PZMs inside) and it sounds amazing.
So don't do this - its completely impractical - it has a JBL in it as well and the thing must weigh in at least 100lbs, but there was a flight case on the stage holding up the drummers monitor and this looks way prettier................
I love swirly/rotary style modulation effects. The three I use most are the Fulltone Deja Vibe, Mooger Fooger ClusterFlux on a vibrato setting, and the rotary mod algorithm on the Eventide H9. Of the 3 the H9 sounds most like a Leslie, but the Deja Vibe and Clusterflux each have a cool vibe that I often prefer, especially the Clusterflux.
teleplayr
Friend of Leo's
Line 6 Roto-Machine
hamilcaster
Tele-Meister
Nice! I recently just built a vibratone as well to match my amp. Used a foam drum from an organ. I designed it so I can switch between combo amp speaker and crossover/Leslie speaker or just full range Leslie speaker only. Also have an L-Pad on the Leslie for matching volumes. I used a ragun Cajun as it had a decent spl rating. Used the small single speed motor for fast and a circuit that regulates the speed down for slow. It sounds pretty great!
I’m very curious about your PZMs inside. I wanted to mount some stereo mics inside but haven’t figured out the best way yet that isn’t $300+ in mics… any insight into your setup?
Attachments
I've used many of them, currently have 3 on 3 different boards:
Arion SCH-Z Stereo Chorus, modded for true bypass by EWS. Alot of pros have used (and still do) this one for many years... John Landau, David Grissom, GregV, Guthrie Trapp...
Suhr Alexa chorus, it has an actual rotary setting. It's pretty good. 2 speeds, but no ramp.
NUX Roctary... this one is actually underrated, I found it as good as the Lex v1.
BTW, if you're looking into a Lex (I am), get the new v2 version.
The one that sounded the most to me like a B3 (most authentic) was the H&K Rotosphere MkII. Amazing. But huge, have to use a wall wart to power it, and I found the balance control (which was basically the tone control) very touchy. For home or studio use, I'd probably be getting another one of those (owned it twice)
Arion SCH-Z Stereo Chorus, modded for true bypass by EWS. Alot of pros have used (and still do) this one for many years... John Landau, David Grissom, GregV, Guthrie Trapp...
Suhr Alexa chorus, it has an actual rotary setting. It's pretty good. 2 speeds, but no ramp.
NUX Roctary... this one is actually underrated, I found it as good as the Lex v1.
BTW, if you're looking into a Lex (I am), get the new v2 version.
The one that sounded the most to me like a B3 (most authentic) was the H&K Rotosphere MkII. Amazing. But huge, have to use a wall wart to power it, and I found the balance control (which was basically the tone control) very touchy. For home or studio use, I'd probably be getting another one of those (owned it twice)
knockeduptele
Tele-Holic
I scratched my head for a long time on this one and thought of all sorts of bizarre mic and mounting options - the key issue being isolating the mics from the mechanical motor noise transmitted through the structure of the cabinet - lots of crazy ideas about floating a panel on iso mounts each side and attaching the mic to that.
I picked up a couple of $40 condenser boundary mics that were probably designed for conference table use, so speech orientated hence mid range sensitivity and a low end roll off.
In the end mounting them was blissfully easy - I simply glued them to the inside of the fabric panels on the vents with Gorilla Glue!
Its not pretty I admit but it sounds great
Endless Mike
Friend of Leo's
I've owned many. I have heard a Leslie in person. I worked with a group some years back whose keys/organ player used an actual Leslie. I played with that musician every Thursday for about a year. I know the sound well. Nothing will ever quite touch an actual live Leslie sound. But some of these emulators can get pretty close, especially if you run two amps.
So I've tried many. Too many. some come really close, but fall short otherwise. Case in point, the Tech21 RotoChoir. The fast setting was really great. The slow setting sounded like a bad chorus.
I own three after all of those I've tried. In order of preference, starting with least favorite, although they are all good, so it's hard to call which really is best:
3) Boss RT-20. You can dial it back so it's not so overbearing. It has a very good slow sound, and the fast has a touch of the Leslie grind. If you need/want to control the amount of effected sound, this is the one, due to it being readily available on the used market.
2) Nux Roctary. Sounds really good for many reasons, also gets a touch of the Leslie grind. It is really darn good. If you find one, do NOT get rid of it, you may never find another. Mine sits in a box, and I may swap it for the EHX at some point.
1) EHX Lester G. It has a killer slow sound, has the full blown Leslie grind, although it doesn't do that odd hiccup thing with staccato playing, but that's the most minor of criticisms. The only real beef is that you can't mix the effect down, so it's pretty intense. I'd love to find some sort of pedal I could use to blend the Lester G with the unaffected guitar signal. I've found the Lester G does in fact work better with the guitar than the K version. I had the K, and wound up with the G. The compressor really does something to add serious verisimilitude. It IS worth the extra dollars to get the G.
I recommend all three, meaning take what you can find. The Nux you'll likely search for an extended period to locate one. I would search every few weeks for months, before I found the Roctary. Finally found a used one from Music Go Round for 119.00. The Boss are readily available, as are the EHX, of course. But the RT-20 are slowly going up in price.
So I've tried many. Too many. some come really close, but fall short otherwise. Case in point, the Tech21 RotoChoir. The fast setting was really great. The slow setting sounded like a bad chorus.
I own three after all of those I've tried. In order of preference, starting with least favorite, although they are all good, so it's hard to call which really is best:
3) Boss RT-20. You can dial it back so it's not so overbearing. It has a very good slow sound, and the fast has a touch of the Leslie grind. If you need/want to control the amount of effected sound, this is the one, due to it being readily available on the used market.
2) Nux Roctary. Sounds really good for many reasons, also gets a touch of the Leslie grind. It is really darn good. If you find one, do NOT get rid of it, you may never find another. Mine sits in a box, and I may swap it for the EHX at some point.
1) EHX Lester G. It has a killer slow sound, has the full blown Leslie grind, although it doesn't do that odd hiccup thing with staccato playing, but that's the most minor of criticisms. The only real beef is that you can't mix the effect down, so it's pretty intense. I'd love to find some sort of pedal I could use to blend the Lester G with the unaffected guitar signal. I've found the Lester G does in fact work better with the guitar than the K version. I had the K, and wound up with the G. The compressor really does something to add serious verisimilitude. It IS worth the extra dollars to get the G.
I recommend all three, meaning take what you can find. The Nux you'll likely search for an extended period to locate one. I would search every few weeks for months, before I found the Roctary. Finally found a used one from Music Go Round for 119.00. The Boss are readily available, as are the EHX, of course. But the RT-20 are slowly going up in price.
SixStringSlinger
Poster Extraordinaire
I scored one of these for a decent price:
It sounds great, and I like the combination of simple controls and three different "type" options.
It sounds great, and I like the combination of simple controls and three different "type" options.
Does that and lots more.
Swirling Snow
Tele-Afflicted
This also my choice. Accepting that nothing can sound like a "Leslie in the room", this sounds enough like a Leslie to fill the "need" in a cover song. More importantly, and unlike some more "accurate" pedals, it just plain sounds good! Is it possible it sounds better than a recorded Leslie? This isn't Keeley's first try at such an effect.
memorex
Poster Extraordinaire
I use the Rotary2 effect in my Boss GT-100. With some added amp grit, room delay, compression, and EQ, it sounds enough like a real Leslie that I don't need anything else.
FenderLover
Poster Extraordinaire
The Lex V.2 moves two of the secondary functions to knobs, adding two knobs to the V.1 from (4) to (6) on V.2. I have the V.1 and tend to set-and-forget, so having the extra knobs isn't really a convenience to me. It's killer in stereo. Have to admit I haven't really compared to other options, although I have a stereo Deja Vibe that really fills the same modulation itch.
johnhe
Tele-Meister
I used various chorus pedals to get my rotary tones. And some of those chorus pedals did that job really well. My fabourite chorus pedals for simulating a rotary were the EWS Arion Chorus and my Analogman BiChorus.
then I bought a Lex. Really nice sounding pedal. My only problem is that there is no mix control. So for someone like me who I aiming for an SRV Cold Shot type of sound - the Lex is far too intense (to my ears). I had the Lex on my board for quite a while, but I ran it in conjunction with a Boss LS2 to adjust the effect mix. Takes up valuable pedalboard real estate!
then I bought the Nux Roctary on a whim (it was so cheap compared to the Styrmon ). To my surprise, the Nux sounds just as good as the Lex (to my ears). And it has the all important mix control on board!
finally, I treated myself to a Micro Vent. I’d say that the Lex, the Nux and the Micro Vent all sound equally excellent. The Lex lacks a mix control (although I believe the v2 has this). The Micro Vent is tiny, so I love it’s compact size. My Nux is on my pedal shelf - just in case I ever break my Micro Vent.
The new v2 Lex now has a way to to get the SRV Vibratone sound- which is the rotating speaker but NOT the horn... if you run it in stereo, one output it the speaker and one is the horn. Use only the speaker side. In addition, the v2 has a mix control so you can control the depth. It's why V1 didn't do it for me, and why I want to check out v2.
fakeocaster
Tele-Afflicted
Korg G3
Strymon Lex for the win….accept no substitutes. 
