The Steel Guitar Forum

I wanted to add an electronic Leslie to my pedal board. Any suggestions?

This has been discussed many times over the years.

Before we get too far down the path again, do you want to sound like:
a) a Leslie speaker, or
b) an organ?

They are not the same, and often both end up getting discussed and intertwined at the same time.

Ok. I see the difference. My preference is to sound like an organ being played through a Leslie, but the sound of the organ is the more important of the futures

Richard Graubard wrote:Ok. I see the difference. My preference is to sound like an organ being played through a Leslie, but the sound of the organ is the more important of the futures

That will most likely take 2 pedals. One like an EH B9 or C9, and some sort of rotary pedal. I had a B9 that I ran through my RotoChoir pedal. Love the RotoChoir, hated the B9. I just use the RotoChoir these days.

I'm using Boss and Roland multi-fx units that have the rotary sims built in, but if I were to go looking for a stand alone pedal I'd consider the Boss RT20 Rotary pedal.

I think Boss has the best handle on these sims which also have a pretty darn good overall sound besides the rotary sims.

The pedal cuts the high end to help put the sound in the realm of organ and Leslie 122.

There are extensive parameters for horn and rotor times, overall ramp, brake and a distortion sound if you want it.

That's my recommendation for a single unit. These have been around for several years so you should be able to find a used one at a reasonable cost.

Music Radar has a pretty comprehensive review of this pedal if you're interested.

Since the actual organ sound is the primary objective, and the Leslie sound is not the most important thing at this point, then I'll address the organ sound since it is more important at this point.

I have a B9 that I use with a 6 string.
I use it to give me an organ sound for home recordings.
It does close enough to what I need.

I did not physically compare the B9 and C9, but I listened to a lot of Youtube videos.
A C9 turned up used so I went with that one.
However, I think that either one will probably make most guys happy.

Now to go deeper into the well.......the Leslie thing.

One thing that the B9/C9 will not easily do is the speed up/slow down thing of a real Leslie.
That may be something that you'll want to add later.
But since the organ sound is your first preference, and not the Leslie thing, I'd try the B9/C9 first.

I'll also throw another Leslie simulator into the mix: The NUX Roctary.

I'd also suggest that you do a search on the forum, since this has been discussed before.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will check them out.

I have a B9 and have gone through many rotary speaker effects.
I finally got a Stryman LEX and it works very well to the point that I no longer use the B9.
I added an expression pedal to control the speed.
Now I need a smaller expression pedal. LOL

I ordered an E9 after watching numerous demonstrations. It seem to be the best by far. not sure that I actually will need the Leslie. I’m looking forward to playing it through my phase shifter and seeing how that sounds. If it doesn’t work out, I may follow up on your suggestion, thanks so much

Strymon

Richard: "I ordered an E9......."

I think that you meant either a B9, or C9?

Since Richard has made a decision, I would like to ask the community about the old H&K Rotosphere pedal. Is it not still relevant?

I had forgotten about them since they haven't been built for a few years. I know the II version had separate tones for guitar and keyboard.

I heard Lee Brothers, I believe it was, years ago with one of these on pedal steel that had a great tone.

I could also use one for my keyboard midi rig when I'm using it without the steel guitar rig. The Alesis Nanosynth has great organs, but is lacking in Leslie sims.

I also want to use an expression pedal to ramp up and down or change speeds.

I am looking for a smaller expression pedal for hand use.

https://saturnworkspedals.com/product/expression-pedal/

Well that's tiny all right. Too hard to use on the floor though. I already have a foot operated Roland EV-5 hinged pedal which works well as a multi-function expression, volume etc. pedal.

I have a B9 and Lester G for sale.
$150 each if both are purchased plus shipping.
Very good/new condition only operated by hand.

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=391140

Strymon Lex

This is a little off topic..I still use an Alexis Midiverb4..several organs and over 100 effects.. eliminated my pedal board 30 years ago (ran out of feet and hands). I activate the rotary/Leslie with a right wrist switch (into the foot switch on the Alexis) and control the different patches with a Telonics MIDI transmitter.. pretty simple to operate..

My recommendation for “organ” is the B9. For “Leslie” it’s the Neo Ventilator II (allows for a remote half moon switch so you can easily ramp the speed up or down).

See my thoughts on psg as B3/Leslie here:

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=391258

If your Leslie pedal has a CV expression pedal input, you can use a few resistors and a switch to duplicate two treadle positions of an expression pedal. You can also add a capacitor to create a ramp when switching speeds.

Here is one I built for a Source Audio pedal

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index ... h.2296100/