I picked up a Leslie 16 about a year ago, I never considered trying it with bass before, thinking it would buzz. The Leslie 16 or it's counterpart, the Fender Vibratone is what SRV, Clapton & many others used in those early recordings. It's a bit more portable, but doesn't have the horn. I have since changed the speaker to a 12" Peavey Scorpion that I had laying around, so it's sort of a Leslie 18 now. It doesn't have any kind of amp in it, so you can use any kind of head you like. The original footswitch, mine was missing, has a crossover to filter out some of the highs & lows. It has that swirly goodness, I'll have to see if it works with bass.....................
That is very cool! Thanks for sharing those photos of the insides too. I've seen the Vibratone cabs and wondered what they looked like inside.
Makes me think even more of modifying my little ampless Leslie 120 (also uses a 12" driver) to function more like yours. As it stands, I have to use that multi-pin Leslie connector for connecting the amp (leeches off the Hammond's internal amp), powering its rotor and switching between speeds, and there isn't an input for connecting an external head to it - rendering it pretty much organ-use-only. It wouldn't take much doing to add a mains connection, fuse, toggle for the speeds, and a speaker input.. hmmm...
I figured the Doppler effect might be fun on bass in certain contexts - melodic/chordal playing, experimental, etc... I thought of this song, even though it's not a Leslie - more of a tremolo effect on the bass:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grvr4nK4AZA&feature=relatedI'm mostly looking forward to trying mine out with guitar, rhodes, and who knows what else! IIRC, I remember reading that the backup vocals on Floyd's "Time" were run thru a Leslie for that swirling effect. Also love Trower's Bridge of Sighs sound (although, I think that was a Leslie sim- Univibe?).