Leslie Amp

[chromium]

This is what happens when I try and help hook the keys player in my band up with leads on a Leslie speaker

Anyone ever try one with bass?  The guy I got this from only had the "combo preamp pedal" to use it with.  That pedal provides the Leslie with its mains power via the big multi-pin cable, and provides a means of connecting anything with a 1/4" cable into it.  I took the BaCHbird over to test it - sounded nice!  Low volume (only 40 watts), but it dirties up in a good way.  I'll have to pick up one of those pedals at some point...  (I'd like to try it with guitar too)

Here are some pics of the beast.  Quite the nifty contraption...

Full frontal:


Backside:


All nakey.  Uses a crossover network with 15" driver firing into lower baffle (big spinning cork thing covered with fabric), and pair of spinning horns up top:


Horns:


Woofer:


Relays inside of the amp switch the motor speeds for the rotary effect.  You can signal them using that pedal, or in my case via a switch on the front of the hammond


Pretty inside:




6550s glowing in the night:

[Basvarken]

Beautiful!

[jumbodbassman]

always loved them.  B-3 next....

[Highlander]

... and some etiquette lessons from Sir Emerson of the Keys on the delicate use of the Hammond...

That would be a neat gadget to have in the arsenal...

[Nocturnal]

That looks WAY bigger than the one we picked up on Saturday 

[Pilgrim]

I think the first pic is the only time I've seen a Leslie with the back panel actually in place.  Seems like they were always used with the back off so you could see the spinning parts.

[chromium]

That looks WAY bigger than the one we picked up on Saturday 

Yeah this one is some serious hernia material!  It just barely slid into the back seat of Rebecca's car when I picked it up  .  I don't have the right vehicles for this kinda crap, that's for sure!

The smaller Leslie has just the lower baffle with a single 12" driver and no amp - slaves off the hammond's amp.  That one and my other hammond are gonna hit the CL highway soon...

always loved them.  B-3 next....

The Leslie is what I've been missing all this time, and I just didn't realize how big of a role it plays in getting "that" sound.  That M-101 went from Ethel Smith to Jimmy Smith in one fell swoop!  Gives it that much needed grit.  Now it sounds dirtier than a legionnaire's socks!  (or something...) 

[Highlander]

I do remember a rather popular beat combo that came over here (78 or 79) with a full size church organ as a working backdrop for the stage, monster array of pipes and all...

Gregg Allman had his backlit iirc with a fabric front so you could see the contents spinning round at various speeds - Gregg and Cher tour...

[chromium]

I think the first pic is the only time I've seen a Leslie with the back panel actually in place.  Seems like they were always used with the back off so you could see the spinning parts.

This one is circa early 70s, and lived its life as a living room fixture.  Not being picky about cosmetics, I was fully prepared to get one that looked like it was dragged behind the tour bus!

I think a lot of the panels go missing since the open back provides a vantage point for mics.  That's what's going on my Christmas list - mics.  I only have a single sm57 to my name at the moment.

[chromium]

Gregg Allman had his backlit iirc with a fabric front so you could see the contents spinning round at various speeds - Gregg and Cher tour...

Hey, anything to help divert audience attention from Cher is a plus in my book...  Good lookin' out, Gregg! 

[gearHed289]

That thing's in great shape! Very nice. I've done a few flight cases for Leslie's and even an iso box for the Dave Matthews Band. Love that sound!

[Pekka]

Anyone ever try one with bass? 

Yes. My friend has a 147 and I plugged my 12-string Waterstone TP-2 straight into it. Huge sound! Hughes & Kettner Tube Rotosphere pedal works quite well too.

One of my plans is to have a small Leslie for the bridge pickup of the stereo 12-string bass. A breaker pedal is a must too, having a Leslie sound all the time would get a bit tiresome.

[chromium]

iso box for the Dave Matthews Band

That would be slick!  I've read that folks would put them in isolation chambers off or under the stage so they could get them mic'd without the other instruments bleeding thru.

Yes. My friend has a 147 and I plugged my 12-string Waterstone TP-2 straight into it. Huge sound! Hughes & Kettner Tube Rotosphere pedal works quite well too.

One of my plans is to have a small Leslie for the bridge pickup of the stereo 12-string bass. A breaker pedal is a must too, having a Leslie sound all the time would get a bit tiresome.

Cool - yeah I liked the sound of it with bass!  I was using this to connect to it:


You can get those combo preamp pedals for different models (typical "reasonable" prices running around USD 75-125 on Ebay).  That one pictured works with the 122, 145, 147, etc..., and lets you leverage the Leslie amp and switch between the motor speeds.  You can indeed get a brake option for these things to stop the rotor dead, but I was thinking that another trick might be to just unplug the slow-speed motor from the amp assembly - that way when you switch to that slow "chorale" speed, the rotor will just spin down until it stops.  Or you could unplug the the fast "tremolo" speed motor - depending on which setting you prefer.  Cheaper/easier than a brake, if you don't mind the rotor spin-down instead of a dead stop...

My hammond M-101 came with a Leslie 120, which is a much smaller unit - I can carry and lift it easily by myself.  It uses a full range 12" driver firing into the lower baffle, and has no horns or internal amp but rather uses the hammond's power amp.  The Leslie kit on the hammond lets you toggle between internal speakers, the Leslie speaker, or both.  I really wanted the Leslie with an amp, though, so I could get more of an overdriven sound.  There's a trimmer on the back of the organ's swell pedal that you can crank to boost the pre-amp gain, and it sounds awesome through my 145 (which is fitted with the bigger 147 amp).

Anyway, I was thinking that the 120 might be a neat one to modify.  You can get those for dirt cheap compared to the big Leslies, replace the driver with something that handles more power or has broader freq response (if needed - sounds decent to me as is), and fit it with a 1/4" jack for the speaker input.  It has the same 2-speed motor assembly, and with some simple mains wiring/switching you could probably rig up a little floor box to swtich between the two motor speeds, or both motors off.  You could drive the speaker from an external amp, or bi-amp it.  The 125 is another good portable option - same cabinet.

Here are some shots of the 120:

[Highlander]

I don't think anyone's asked but sorry if I've missed it... how heavy...?

[chromium]

I don't think anyone's asked but sorry if I've missed it... how heavy...?

I'm guessing the little one is in the neighborhood of around 30 kgs, and the bigger unit is around 60.