The "Leslie" Organ sound

Billy Tonnesen · Post by **Billy Tonnesen** » 1 Jun 2009 9:03 pm

This probably goes back 25 years. I remember some Steel & Standard players hooking up a Leslie Organ speaker cabinet and you could get some pretty good Organ sounds. These were later replaced with some small electronic units, like the Sterio Chorus, but I never heard anything to quite duplicate the "Leslie". As I recall the Leslie had a motor running a fan within the cabinet. Do they still make these ?

Russ Wever · Post by **Russ Wever** » 2 Jun 2009 12:09 am

Leslie tone cabinets are still being made.
The company is owned by Suzuki Musical
Instruments, the same company that now
owns the Hammond Organ name.
There are also other companies that make
similar cabinets, one being Motion Sound.
It's not actually a 'fan' that turned, but
a driver that projected upward into a horn
that was mounted on a rotor that spun, along
with a speaker that faced downward into a
baffle that rotated underneath the speaker.
The speed of the rotation could be selected
between 'chorale' (slow) and 'tremolo" (fast)
by a switch, although some models had but
one (fast) speed and others had a 'brake'
function added which would stop the rotation.
Here's a 'link' to the Leslie Company - - >
http://www.hammondorganco.com/index.php ... &Itemid=45
The pic below shows the inside rear of a typical Leslie.
The lower left shows the amplifier, with the lower
rotor motors just above. The box in the upper middle
that the wiring is going to is the crossover, that
sends the higher notes to the driver and the lower
notes into the speaker, which in this case is a
'field coil' speaker, as opposed to the more current
'permaneent magnet' speaker.
Might I add, Mr. Tonnesen, that I thoroughly enjoy
reading your posts, particularly when you speak of
your past experiences.
~Russ

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 2 Jun 2009 8:01 am

I use an H & K Rotosphere for a Leslie sound but picked up this unit by Motion Sound a while ago:

Billy Tonnesen · Post by **Billy Tonnesen** » 2 Jun 2009 11:12 am

Russ:.
Thanks for the great reply. Now I remember how they really worked. Years ago players tried to get some really mellow and pleasing sounds incorporated in their playing. I wonder how many of our younger present Forum members knew about this technology.

Ken Lang · Post by **Ken Lang** » 2 Jun 2009 5:49 pm

I have a D-140 Leslie cabinet I bought 40 years ago.
It's got a little wear on it but it still works. They made those things tough back then. Probably still do.

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 2 Jun 2009 7:46 pm

Guitars and steel both sound good through a Leslie.Always LOVED the B3 and leslie combo.When I started playing [sixstring] for a living in the late 50's,there were two instruments you HAD to have in your band,The B3 and a tenor sax,almost every rock and roll song that was popular at that time had these two instruments on them. DYKBC.

Bill Cunningham · Post by **Bill Cunningham** » 2 Jun 2009 8:17 pm

The POD xt has a Leslie patch that nails the authentic device exactly.

Jody Sanders · Post by **Jody Sanders** » 2 Jun 2009 8:49 pm

I used one made by Fender in about 1972, Great organ sound. I use a small electronic device called "Junior" that gets a reasonable organ sound, but not as good as tha Fender. Jody.

John Poston · Post by **John Poston** » 3 Jun 2009 9:04 am

PODXT leslie sounds good for live, but I'm pretty sure it's only a mono patch, so not much use for recording.

Jerry Hayes · Post by **Jerry Hayes** » 4 Jun 2009 3:33 am

Billy, here's a shot from the old Foothill Club with my Leslie cabinet, man I wish I still had that thing. I liked the slow speed and used it a bunch. What I've been using for the last few years for that sound is a flanger. It get's pretty close but still not quite the same!....JH in Va.

John Poston · Post by **John Poston** » 4 Jun 2009 8:58 am

Sweet picture! I think I used to have that amp- the Twin Commander II, not a bad solid state amp in it's day.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 4 Jun 2009 11:10 am

A telecaster played through a Leslie here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqV3duCNMq0

Jim Peters · Post by **Jim Peters** » 4 Jun 2009 1:33 pm

PEI Junior was and remains an excellent simulator. JP

Billy Tonnesen · Post by **Billy Tonnesen** » 4 Jun 2009 2:28 pm

Jerry:.
For a while, years ago, Dale Norris had a Leslie. I don't know if it was his or if he borrowed it. He got same great sounds out of it.

For those who don't know Dale he was an execellent So. Calif. Lead Guitar player. Dale played several years with the "Champs", (remember "Tequilla".

Carl Walden · Post by **Carl Walden** » 5 Jun 2009 7:13 am

Hi Billy: Thru the early 70's I used a leslie on my steel at the Blue Room and on recordings. I loved that slow turn. It looked like Jerry Hayes's box.
Cheers...

Jerry Hayes · Post by **Jerry Hayes** » 6 Jun 2009 8:38 am

As I recall, there were a couple of versions, one was the actual Leslie unit and the Fender Vibratone. They both looked pretty much the same except they had different logos on them. I remember they had two cords coming out of them, one had a male plug and one had a female plug. You'd unplug your amp's speaker and insert that into the female end coming from the Leslie. Then you'd take the male plug coming from the Leslie and insert that into the main speaker input on the back of your amp. When you had the thing operating, sound would come from both your amp and the unit.

I used to play the instrumental "Green Onions" by Booker T and the MG's with my Leslie, what a great sound. I eventually replaced mine with the Maestro Phase Shifter when it first came out.....JH in Va.

Carl Walden · Post by **Carl Walden** » 6 Jun 2009 10:35 am

Hi Jerry: Yeah, mine was the Fender Version and ditto on the Green Onions. Cheers...

Michael Johnstone · Post by **Michael Johnstone** » 6 Jun 2009 12:05 pm

I schlepped a 147RV around for about 15 years when I was the Guitorganist in Billy Swan's band "Buddy Hollywood". I played the guitar part of my B35 Guitorgan thru a stompbox pedalboard into a Lab Series L5 with SROs and the organ section through the Leslie. I also had a footswitch box that routed the guitar section,organ section or my D-10 pedal steel,Strat and lap steel thru the Leslie or the amp or both in any possible combination. My rig took up half the stage but I was puttin out some amazing tones. When the bass player with the van quit the band,I took the back seat,front passenger seat and headliner out of my 66 Ford Mustang so I could still get all that stuff to a gig. Around 1994,I hung all that up and started traveling light. U12 keyless,an electric mandolin,one amp and minimal EFX. If I want the Leslie sound,a H&K Rotosphere is close enough for me.

frank rogers · Post by **frank rogers** » 7 Jun 2009 12:15 pm

My Dad was rigging Leslie Cabs for guitarists and steel guitarists as early as '64 when he was the staff guitarist at WZZM tv in Grand Rapids MI.

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 7 Jun 2009 3:46 pm

I got a Line Six Roto-Machine pedal a little while back.

It fooled the owner of a B3 and Leslie combo into thinking
there was a Leslie off stage my guitar synth was running through.

It has :
In/Out
'Models' of 3 different Leslies,
'Drive' from clean to Jon Lord of Deep Purple,
'Blend' between top and bottom sounds,
adjustable fast and slow speeds
and it ramps up faster, and slows down,
resembling the physical unit.
with just one tap on the foot.

You can switch between speeds when it is cut out
so go in either slow or fast as you wish.

A really cool box.
It eats batteries fast, but at least the seats can stay in the '64 Mustang to get to the gig.

Jim Robbins · Post by **Jim Robbins** » 7 Jun 2009 6:50 pm

Anyone ever use a DLS RotoSIM or Boss RT20? How do they stack up against the real thing or the H&K?

Doug Palmer · Post by **Doug Palmer** » 15 Jun 2009 6:51 pm

I have a real Leslie I used with my steel for years. Got tired of hauling it around and got the Boss RT-20. It doesn't have the 3-D sound up close. We made a recording from the back of a club and it sounds great. Cheap too! Have not tried it with the stereo out through two amps yet, but might soon.

Doug

John Steele · Post by **John Steele** » 15 Jun 2009 7:04 pm

I play keys at a weekly blues event at a nearby pub. This month is "organ month" and the bassist has dragged his Hammond M3 with a souped up 122 Leslie
(12" rotating horns). I didn't know much about Hammond organs a couple of months ago, but man, they're fun. Anyway...
The temptation was too great, and since there was a two-input jack on the preamp to the leslie, I plugged a borrowed 6-string lap steel into it last week. I know even less about lap steels than hammond organs, but it was a scream. Tonewise, it gave it great depth... not too much. There was of course no eq beyond the tone knob on the steel.
A first for me, and really fun. I wouldn't want to be dragging one around to every gig though.

- John

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 15 Jun 2009 7:57 pm

John check out the Roto-Machine I mention above,
a LOT lighter to move.

Jeff Hyman · Post by **Jeff Hyman** » 15 Jun 2009 8:12 pm

Question: I run in stereo, but only mono out of the PSG. Where in the loop, or specifically where on the effects-unit would the cord routing go?

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