A Brief History of Rotary Speakers & Pedals: From Leslie to Strymon & Beyond!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ส.ค. 2024
- The vibe, warble, and spin of Leslie speakers and other rotary effects have inspired sounds across genres, from down-home country sets to the stage of Woodstock. In this video, Andy Martin digs deep to help us understand the ongoing history of the popular, swirling sounds.
Read More on Reverb: bit.ly/36EM7PM
Andy's Setup:
Amp: Fender DRRi
Guitars: Gray Grayling, G&L Legacy
Pedals: Korg Toneworks G4, Boss RT-20, Wampler Terraform, EHX Mod 11
Recording Gear: Universal Audio Apollo 8 QUAD, OX Amp Top Box, Royer R-121
Strings: Stringjoy Signatures
Cables: Sinasoid Sable & Sliver patch cables - บันเทิง
My go-to riffs whenever I think of Leslies:
- Badge - Cream (Eric Clapton)
- Echoes - Pink Floyd (Rick Wright)
- Black Hole Sun - Soundgarden (Kim Thayil)
- Rhinoceros - Smashing Pumpkins (Billy Corgan)
- Us & Them - Pink Floyd (David Gilmour)
- Highway Star/Lazy/Smoke On The Water - Deep Purple (Jon Lord)
Great riffs. I was lucky to obtain a 1965 Hammond C3 with spring reverb which I run through 2 Leslies 147 and the sound is out of this world.
Badge for sure!!
George Harrison played the Badge riff
Let It Loose by The Rolling Stones
Badge, No Matter What, It Don't Come Easy 🎸
Who would have thought that the mild mannered pedal demoer for PGS we all watched 12 years ago would be giving us history lessons on Leslie Speakers?
I'm weirdly proud of your career on your behalf, Andy. Great content.
Three points worth noting about rotary speakers and their emulation:
1) Rotating speakers are a kind of "post-production" effect. That is, they are superimposed on the final result of one's complete processing chain, which traditionally included tube power-amp and whatever speaker breakup there might have been. Pedals may not capture all of that.
2) While not *absolutely* essential, a big part of the aural beauty of a true Leslie is the spatial swirl created in the performance/listening space. Using an emulation pedal in mono will make you think "Hmm, nice. Better than a chorus pedal." Using one in stereo will make you think "Where has this BEEN all my life?!". Understandably cumbersome for gigging purposes, but a *huge* step up in terms of pleasure for the player.
3) For whatever reasons, buying a two-keyboard console organ and plunking it in the living room was hip in the '50s and '60s. Many of the original owners, or their children, are relocating to seniors' residences, and getting rid of things they can't bring, including those organs. At least half of anything with two keyboards and a speaker mounted below at knee-level contain the guts of a two-speed "cheesewheel" Vibratone. These can regularly be found on 2nd-hand sites like Craigslist for next to nothing or even "free to a good home; must pick up". You can find many TH-cam videos of folks who have extracted those guts and repackaged them into a suitable enclosure. A wee bit of woodworking required, but a great return on investment. I got my first one 40 years ago, and acquired another about 10 years back. An absolute joy to play through. The caveat is that they are made for vertical mounting, and the speaker is an 8", rated at around 20W. And, as Andy noted, you need to power the speaker from an existing amp. I drive mine with a Princeton. I own several rotary emulators. I enjoy the cheesewheel spin more.
I have one of those in the garage right now. Has a killer sounding rotating speaker inside, but where I live there aren’t many folks who I’ve met that know how to help me with putting it into a guitar friendly cabinet.
The would keep it as an organ, but it just doesn’t get very loud, but I’d sure love to find a way to plug a guitar into it, and have access to the bass pedals in one unit.
@@CorbCorbin There are actually a fair number of TH-cams and web-pages that demonstrate how to make a Vibratone cab from one of those organ cheesewheels. Opinions vary on whether to switch the power from the fast to slow motors with a relay or a simple footswitch. I use a footswitch. The qualifier is that I don't gig, so it's possible a relay would stand up to more frequent switching. Keep in mind that we normally use stompswitches for audio signals, and not feeding 120VAC to motors.
I was under the impression for a long time that the units had to be mounted vertically, such that the baffle moved like a ferris wheel. I found with mine that the baffle ground to a halt if mounted horizontally. I've since learned that the unit CAN work horizontally, but this requires fine adjustment of the belt tension.
I have a Korg G4 that was gifted to me by a friend that was a touring organist for the Neville Brothers. He came into our little music store and said he needed to sell a bunch of stuff so I looked it over and offered him a price, then he saw a guitar that he wanted that's value was a few hundred dollars more than what he traded in. His sister called me later and asked me please not to deposit the check, so I tore it up, packed his gear into my car, drove to his house and traded it all back to him. Those G4's were rarer than hen's teeth at the time and he knew I loved it so to thank me for going through all that with him he said he wanted me to have it. At that point he didn't have a real Leslie on the stage ever, all those sounds came from the Korg. He died a few days later of a drug overdose. I still love it and play it in his honor.
Andy, I'd love to see a video on your DIY Leslie cabinet. I've got an empty Leslie cab here that would be a perfect candidate for modding.
google it, theres plenty of info from those that did that long ago, not hard...just figure out how to best mount the stuff, been doing it myself long before the net
Andy, you totally rule. All the best to the Reverb crew, and to you and yours!
Love your stuff Andy. However, you are wrong about the motor stack. The large motor is the fast motor. Its speed is modulated by the small motor, on top of the lower motor, and hanging off the bottom of the upper (horn) motor. On a 2 speed Leslie, like a 122, 142, 145, or 147, the small motor has a metal rod that hangs down and engages a rubber wheel, which is thrown clear when the speed switch is thrown, allowing the the larger fast motor to spin freely. When you hit the switch to slow the rotation, the metal rods are engaged, contacting the rubber wheel, and slowing the upper and lower rotors to chorale speed...
You’re completely right about the small motor being the slow one, I hadn’t plug it in for a few years, thanks to pointing that out!
Really enjoyed this episode! Thanks Andy.
Glad to hear that Andy felt like the RT-20 was worth mentioning. I picked up a used one of those, almost by accident when I was looking for a Leslie style sound. Was not disappointed.
Doppler effects is the reason the all Leslie sims sound so cool. Great Video Andy 🔥👏👏👏
Excellent video! Music history & cool guitar stuff. Thnx Andy - awesome job!
glad i stumbled across this video... i have been going back and forth between vibe and rotary... im convinced i am rotary... andy you are a stud and always make whatever pedal it is sound amazing... great stuff!!!
solid video... I think this is a such a great effect and one of my favourites for sure
I thinks that the huge impact In 1966 was made with "Tomorrow Never Know" and Geoff Emerick for the voice of John Lennon through the Leslie and after that, they tried to put Leslie in every things....
Always great content Andy 👍🏻
That G&L looks stunning
The earliest use of Leslie speaker on a guitar that I know of is the Bo Diddley song "Bo's Guitar" from 1959 (also augmented by tape echo).
After that, there's The Beach Boys' "Shut Down, Part II" from 1964, where a guitar solo midway through uses one.
And the Korg G4 is so special!!!!
These videos are so great - I always learn something! Thanks
Haha me to 😎
Very interesting and informative as I’m fairly new to this tonal rabbit hole... thanks !!
Love this subject! I’ve spent many late nights surfing the Doppler waves in search of tonal secrets. My best pedal stacking results have come from running a chorus into one amp and a tremolo into another. The crossover for original leslies occurred at 800k (a frequency cut off shared by the MXR analog chorus) Treble sounds from the horn primarily get a frequency modulation (pitch vibrato) treatment but low frequencies included more perceptible amplitude modulation (aka tremolo) with depth or intensity being more pronounced with closer mic placement to the cab. Phasing effects become more noticeable with the addition of overdrive.
The Danelectro Billionare or Money Laundry is the best economical option I’ve found. The Destination Rotation is a solid mono offering. And the Pigtronix Rototron is a rare bird in that it’s unusually all analog.
As real speakers go Motion Sound has several gportwble offerings at various price points. I’m currently enjoying a Pro 3x sitting atop two SRV112s.
As sleepers go, the Voodoo lab Analog chorus is very Leslie-esque especially on bass and the Vox Delay lab has a modulation setting that does a great rotary speaker imitation.
Doppler effect 🤘🏽🤘🏽 mmm the beautiful finishes on those old Leslies 🤘🏽
Really enjoyed this one, it's a great bit of insight into a cool topic, indeed!
Love your DIY cabinet, as well, Andy. I'm big into quirky stuff like that.
Thanks, the DIY cab was a fun project years ago and it was nice to compare it to pedals, finally. It’s quite a different experience when you’re listening to it in the room vs a recording, I can see how musicians who play live with a Leslie wouldn’t want to settle for a simulation.
Great historical Andy. Thanks. I’ll echo an earlier comment and ask for a full demo of your homemade Leslie. 😎
Great video. My go to is the NUX Roctary.
Such a fun coincidence that this video was uploaded a day before I’m to receive a NUX Roctary pedal: drive, octave up and down, and rotary all-in-one. That combination can make just about anything sound organ-ic!
😉 (Found out about it thanks to the excellent Pedal Crush book.)
Cool...I'm vibes out.. going w a rotary pedal
Data: Arctic Monkeys got some nice rotary sounds with the H&K Rotosphere in the early times.
It was Charlie Hunter who brought the H&K to my attention in the early 2000s. Thanks for the info!
That was some project, quite a mind bender to get everything going round and round.loads of pin ball wizardry forsure
Very nice presentation
Roy Harper - Twelve Hours of Sunset
Subtle but haunting Leslie electric on the intro. Leslie is all over all kinds of recordings in the 70's, and it's not just guitar. There are a boatload of cool rotary sounds all over the Pretty Things' Parachute album as well. Classic effect!
I play organ and guitar and it's nice to have a couple of real Leslie's in the studio, but they're pretty impractical for most of the club gigs and small stages I usually play. I've used the Boss RT-20 for over 10 years, but last year, I switched over to the EHX Lester G, which gets much closer to the real thing in my opinion. But the RT-20 I still take with me as my backup, just in case. Love both of them to death.
I can’t bring myself to part with my rt-20 even though I don’t use it that much anymore. That thing has made so many cheap organs sound more legit!
I've been using an RT-20 with clonewheels for about 10 years and haven’t heard anything that was significantly better in other offerings that justified the extra cash. But I understand why some would disagree. Also, Andy didn’t mention it but the RT-20 has a great Univibe simulation on mode IV. It's a great extra and may be a selling point for people looking for both effects on a budget. I find that any kind of organ benefits greatly from a Leslie sim. My go-to organ these days is a Yamaha YC-20 that sounds great on its own but turns into something else with the RT-20 in front of it - nowhere close to a Hammond but very unique.
That effect from the Korg G4 I'm sure I can "set" it on my Fender Jam 70W (I still have it since 97-98). Andy, Thanks for the lesson ! See you around! ThumbS upS !
That's really cool stuff
Thank you for the music
Awesome!
08:28 Great tip about using 2 modulation effects to mimic the Leslie sound! Thanx Andy!
good sims do that already, same price for 1 vs 2 decent basic mod pedals
I bought a Fender Pinwheel which has 3 different rotary modes, ramp control and gain. Out of all the demos I watched, this one sounded the best with the most features. But now I wanna get that Boss RT-20!
Honorable mention to the NUX Roctary (which hadn't been put out when this was made, I believe). Great rotary sounds, does up and down octaves if you want them, and has a great sound. I just replaced the BOSS RT-20 on my board with the NUX and I'm pretty happy with it. The only major drawback is that it doesn't ramp between slow and fast (it just jumps from one speed to the other), so if you need the ramping, look elsewhere.
Cool history lesson, thanks.
Based on one of your demos, I now use the Dan'o Big Spender. I enjoy how it ramps, tho the buttons are a little close together because of how small the pedal is.
Just found out about Leslie rotaries and now I want one and want to learn the guitar again
I might try out that Lester K for my piano. The sound of a piano through a Leslie is something I love to hear but I don’t have a patch for that.
I have this lead tone that I really love on an older recording and I forgot what I used. Tried to replicate it with other modulators, no luck! Whatever I used, it sounded amazing. Found an old photo of my board from that session and BOOM! There it was, a Behringer RM-600 That I got used for about $6. lol Really made me think.
Also popular back in the day were Wurlitzer Spectratone cabinets. Basically the competitor to the Leslie. The difference to the Leslie, is the Wurlitzer actually spins the dual speakers, instead of the cones, for a different type of effect.
DOD Vibrothang doesn't sound quite like anything else, but it sounds so good.
At 4:44, Andy's face says "WHOAH!"
I have one of the original vibratones! Greatest sound ever!
Here I sit, playing through a Hughes and Kettner Rotosphere, and about to complaint that you weren't going to mention it, and then you mention it. The tube pre-amp is worth it alone, though the Replex is even better at that.
Another early user of the Lesley speaker sound was Jimi Hendrix. He used it on the song 'Angel.' I'm kind of surprised you didn't mention it seeing how you did a video of the song back when you worked over at Pro Guitar Shop.
That’s one of my favorite Leslie examples, I just mentioned the Beatles because they did it before Hendrix. Thanks!
The Pigtronix Rototron is a pretty nice stereo option. It also has inputs for expression pedals to control the low and high freq. speeds. For a very inexpensive option the Vibraclone from TC Electronics is great for a guitar/mono signal. Has a switch for Tremolo and Ensemble (vibrato and chorus/fast and slow) an overall dial for speed and a drive circuit for a bit of grit without full on distortion. I've seen people mod these to add a foot switch input to control the Ensem/Trem switch as the pedal does ramp up and down if you're playing while you switch the effect.
Two really great examples, thanks!
AndyDemos I love my RotoTron. I’ve assembled a whole organ-sound rig: Keeley Comp, Lovepedal Joker Octaver, JHS-modded EHX Soul Food, Keeley Magnetic Echo, Pigtronix Rototron. It’s a lot of pedals, but it gives me total flexibility over sculpting the sound. The key to me is a compressor and delay in front of the rotary sim - it allows me to dial in the click and feel of pressing down on an organ key.
I have an original Vibratone from ‘68 or ‘69 and also a Motion Sound SRV 112. The Motion Sound is great because it has two built in mics with XLR outputs to run straight to a DAW for recording. Sounds great right out of the box for recording. The Vibratone is harder to get a good recorded tone.
The boss sounds so fucking good
Just saw this. Excellent job, Andy. I'm chasing a bit of Frampton. I have a Vent II on its way next week. Trying to figure out if I want to run it in stereo or just send it off by itself to a second amp so that I keep one side dry.
Digitech Ventura Vibe has a great Univibe sound. Danelectro Rocky Road is truly awful.
The Dunlop Rotovibe is pretty great too imo.
Hey, nobody talks about the Yorkville/Traynor R.V.S. keyboard amplifiers made in the late 70s. I own the model II from 1977 and it is great . Five channel amplified mixer with a five band EQ, lush spring reverb and it's very unique take on rotary speaker simulation.
Love my Lex but the power supply thing doesn't make it incredibly convenient. It was Andy's SRV lesson of Tightrope that showed me you can get a similar sound from a chorus pedal and then I later saw Bonamassa did the same with a Blue Hippo so now I tend to go that route in a live setting.
Pete Traynor (Toronto late 60's) made a rotary device the "Rotomaster" - just a treble driver - a Fanon compression driver into a horn powered by a motor-great on guitar......still have mine.
Good video. Please tell me how Badfinger gets that chorus/ rotary guitar sound in the second verse of No Matter What. Thank you
Hey Andy ... do you have a video demonstrating the Electro-Harmonix Good Vibes pedal? TY
Great video looks like you beat jhs to the punch maybe they'll up there game on weekly videos after seeing this...much love to both of your channels the education is much appreciated and shopping on reverb beats waiting for something decent to show up in a pawn shop to get a good deal
people have been making these types of leslie videos for over decade where have you been, nothing new here...actually all old info rehashed, been well covered long ago
Look up PJ & The Beard on you tube
TC Electronic Vibra Clone is a really good budget rotary pedal as well. I got mine on Reverb for $40.
I've been using a combined flanger and chorus setting in my TC Nova Modulator, and I think it sounds more organ-esque than any of the purpose built products I've tried.
I employed a similar combination with my old Nova System.
Fun fact, Lawrence Hammond hated Don Leslie. He was bitter that Hammond brand speakers were not popular and he felt like Don wasn't a "serious inventor" like himself. Lawrence Hammond refused to make Hammond organs that were Leslie compatible, made the A-100 (B-3 w/ a self-contained speaker) to curb people buying Leslie's, and, for a time, said you couldn't sell his organs if you had a Leslie franchise, however, Bob Pierce in LA/Long Beach bucked and Hammond eventually caved.
I use a VOX Valvetronix AD120VTH, and has a really great rotary, chorus, tremolo, flanger and phaser simulations which sound terrific!
Andy, would you please do a review on my amp, or all VOX amps?
Thank you!
Is it possible to send the low rotor frequencies to an auxiliary amp/cab to achieve more of a 3D effect since a Leslie speaker is a mechanical design.
Where'd you get the pedal to change speeds on the Leslie? Thanks!
Some of the magic of Pink Floyd was traceable to a mastery of amping with Leslie sounds and figuring how to mate them with their instruments and playing techniques.
Has anyone seen or know of expression pedals for Leslie cabs? I have a 68-69 Leslie 18 for guitar and was wondering if I could upgrade the internals to be able to withstand using an expression pedal for speed.
Nice job, Andy! That was very informative and cool. I dig that sound. Is that what Hendrix is using on Hey Baby? And didn't Zep use it? Was it Down By the Seaside or was that just tremolo? Anyway, thanks tons. Always enjoyable watching your videos.
Hey thanks Chris! Hendrix used the vibrato mode on his Univibe for Hey Baby. A good Leslie Hendrix tune is Angel. Seaside was a very fast amp tremolo. The Wanton Song and the solo for Good Times are some fantastic Leslie examples from Zep!
Hi. Thanks for the reply. Those are just the coolest sounds and thanks for showing me those examples. Again, I learned a lot and am priming my ears so hats off buddy.
IK Leslie is a great in the box solution. Highly tweakable and sounds really accurate
Actually the vibratone was intro'd in 1967, as I think George got his in 1968/9, though it may have been a leslie model 16, the same model, but easier to find in the UK, as Leslie had a bigger presence than Fender, over there, having been used with Hammonds since the 50s, over there. The Beatles didn't have Fender gear until the late 60s, when fender gave them a nice collection of stuff, like bass 6, rosewood Tele, amps, sparkletop Rhodes, etc.
Let it Loose by the Stones with an H4 sounds pretty great.
Loved the Pink Floyd riff. Now I must get a rotary pedal. Now my wife will be angry at that Andy guy on the Internet once again.
Take a look at a old rack unit by DigiTech RPM-1 Tube Rotary Emulator, it is different than all the other units I have looked at.
song at 4:38 ?
Curse you! Now I want a Korg G4 or a Boss RT-20. LOLOL
Unfortunately, the price for a used one will have to come down a bit before I get one. It's only one basic effect, after all.
Seriously, thanks for this.
those 2 are the worst, get one of the newer ones
Don't waste your money. I've had both, sold them
You missed my personal favorite Leslie emulation: the MXR Phase 100 put through a stereo chorus or whatever the hell Tony Banks was doing back in the 70s
RT20!!!
Song at 4:38
Hey Andy ..interesting video but you left out one of the greatest rotating speaker amp, the Yamaha RA 200 made famous by David Gilmore.
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No pedal can replicate the real deal but they'll do ok if you want to gig using the fast mode. To me, the slow setting is what is so special about the Leslie and no pedal comes close to it. And you can't change my mind !
Wah
I have a Rack unit that was made in 95 by DigiTech called RPM-1 Tube Rotary simulator. it uses a 3 button foot switch to control its functions and it will do the upper Left/Right horn section and a center rotor section. Of course you need three amps but it is better then lugging a Leslie around to gigs.
@@oliverohaver1063 wah ? You’re special aren’t ya
For the electronics historians, look up patent 4,308,428 on Google patents. My Dad gave a nice description of an electronic method of simulating a Leslie speaker.
Ozzy Osborne's voice was put through a Leslie on planet caravan
0:18 Tone or the Gods ! Prometheus stolen fire !! Life is worth it...
I think the earliest use of a leslie with guitar was The Beach Boys "You're So Good To Me". Not sure.
Just found out I was wrong. The Chiffons "I Have A Boyfriend" seems to be the first.
0:22 what it was?
My favorite rotary fact is that the first pedal that attempted to mimic a rotary speaker turned out to be the Univibe. Not a great rotary sim, but it became its own sound.
Why does a rotary sound like tremelo?
Alot of post Beatles songs from 1968 on have a Leslie effect
What is the song at 7:36?
Lucy in the Sky 👍🏻
AndyDemos ahh, it’s so obvious now that I hear it. Was on the tip of my tongue, thank you!
Axel F by crazy frog
How can you talk about Leslie speakers, and pedals that attempt to simulate a Leslie, without mentioning the Doppler Effect? The rotating speaker(s) doesn't/don't merely "throw the sound around the room", they alter the pitch of the notes like a train coming and going.
What about Leslie Creme?
REVERB / Andy : The intro is from a real Leslie ??
Honestly the Vibratone isn't any more portable than a 122. There will always be someone around to help you lift a 122, but you're on your own with the Vibratone because it looks like any other guitar cab, but weighs nearly 80lbs, and only has one handle.
Hopefully I can find a software simulator for a rotary speaker for my DAW
keep your eyes peeled or check the free section as these old ballldwin and lowrey organs show up for free = dumpster = pick up . often you can harvest the "cheese wheel" , motor , and hardware , which is the main ingredients for a diy spinner . just add footswitch , i actually made a single speed motor into a dual speed with a higher rated ceiling fan control to pad the motor down . just add overdrive pedal . its a bit of a project but it has that spinning in the room sound a pedal doesnt EVER do . i dont care the pedal , a spinning cheese wheel has a better 360 effect when you are in the room with it . anyone who would argue is wrong . the problem is its not convenient at all ! pita ! so ultimately its cool but finding a really good sounding pedal is much more practical . having both is nice . that korg g4 is really cool sounding . there is a nux unit too . the old boss se50/se70 has a good rotary in it imo .
hold on, where do they talk about the strymon?
Because they’re not cool
Oliver O'Haver
And most likely expensive.
Webster
7:28. No talk just a brief mention and pic.
I've got a real Leslie made Leslie. When I say i've got a real Leslie I mean I own one. When I say i own one, I mean I bought a Hammond organ for ten pounds on ebay in order to rob the Leslie, spring reverb and bass pedals out of it.
Now all i have to do is fetch the flippin' thing during a lockdown when we can't travel.
Junior Wells is dope! Go check him out.