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Post by southpawtone on Jul 8, 2006 15:16:26 GMT -7
Hey guys. Anyone here own one of these or has played one? I recently tried one out at my local Guitar Center(yuck). Wow, i was really impressed. It was a floor demo hooked up to a little Crate solid state amp, but it still sounded very authentic to my ears. From what i've read on the net, everyone seems to agree that the onboard overdrive is the only big flaw of the pedal...........but even with the cheap Crate amp, it sounded pretty good, it had that Leslie "growl" thing going on. Not sure how it would sound through my amp though. The only other good options out there for Leslie sims i know of are the HK Rotosphere MKII and the Option 5 Destination Rotation. The DLS Rotosim was VERY disappointing in my opinion. Ditto the Line 6 tonecore. Anyway, i just wanted to hear what anyone elses opinion was of this pedal.
Luke
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Post by southpawtone on Jul 11, 2006 18:31:16 GMT -7
soooooooo............anyone? not one person? hello? maybe? no? hm. I guess im the only guy here that has played it.
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Post by steveinnashville on Jul 11, 2006 20:53:35 GMT -7
Sorry. I do have a '63 Leslie 120 cabinet, but I am possibly investigating an extremely low-priced discontinued Alesis Vertigo Leslie sim unit (but it is line level only, so out to PA or for recording, still might be fun for $20 through the surround sound system or for computer recording).
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jbro
Full Member
Posts: 123
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Post by jbro on Jul 12, 2006 0:25:09 GMT -7
I've had one of these for a few months.. it's a nice sounding pedal but it definately has some quirks.
I'm not crazy about the slow speed sound.. there's a weird flangey thing going on (even in stereo) that seems a little out of place in a rotary speaker simulator.
There must be a pretty heavy noise supressor built in - at low input levels you can hear it chopping in and out pretty violently. Makes doing volume swells with a strat pretty much impossible. Also noticeable if you let a note sustain and decay.
The rotovibe setting is pretty much a joke.
And.. the light. Cool for about 5 minutes IMO. If you play anywhere where they serve alcohol and the stage is not raised, be prepared for a line of drunks to be constantly spilling beer on your pedalboard when they lean over it to gawk at the spinning lights. I actually covered the lights with cardboard and masking tape because it was too much of an attention getter. It's a neat idea, but I can tell how fast the rotors are spinning by ear just as easily.
That said, I really like the fast setting, and I'm able to pull of some very convincing organ sounds with it. Still not sure it's worth what I paid for it, but I have some gigs that call for that sound, so I keep it in the arsenal.
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Post by steveinnashville on Jul 12, 2006 21:03:07 GMT -7
I'm not crazy about the slow speed sound.. there's a weird flangey thing going on (even in stereo) that seems a little out of place in a rotary speaker simulator. The phasing on a real leslie's slow speed is pretty subtle and most leslie imitation effects I've heard play it up a bit too much... pretty common I guess to this type of box. Try an E-H POG and a compressor and you will OWN the organ sound... especially on the neck pickup with a short delay to simulate key click to replace your now-compressed guitar attack...
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jbro
Full Member
Posts: 123
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Post by jbro on Jul 13, 2006 13:14:02 GMT -7
+1 for the POG.. great box and can definately get a nice organ sound. I'm saving up for a HOG at the moment - it does 7ths and 3rds in addition to octaves.. I just played one of these and even without the leslie sim it can be set to sound earily like a hammond with all the harmonic overtones. Killer pedals!
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Post by southpawtone on Jul 13, 2006 13:54:51 GMT -7
I too noticed the flanger type vibe going on with the slow speed setting. But i've noticed on a lot of recordings with guitarists using real Leslies on the slow speed, that there are slight flange-like qualities. Listen to the Hendrix song "Angel". He's playing through a Leslie..........and you can hear a flange-like vibe. The slow speed sound is what i love most. It seems most pedals that emulate Leslie's usually have no trouble getting the fast speed, it's the slow speed that seems harder to emulate. At least, to my ears. The slow setting isnt subtle to my ears...........it's very distinguished. Chorus is chorus, phasing is phasing. And the slow setting of a leslie(known as Chorale i think) is it's own thing as well. Same with univibes. People sometimes suggest a univibe for the sound, and i've never understood that, that is it's own effect, nothing like a Leslie. Anyone tried the Option 5 Destination Rotation?
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Post by steveinnashville on Jul 17, 2006 8:37:54 GMT -7
No, you are right, it is not really "subtle," but compared to a flanged fake leslie slow speed on a simulation unit, maybe subtle wasn't the right word... There is something to it that is simpler sounding than the simulations but at the same time possibly too intricate to 100% accurately reproduce by combining phase & volume modulation (they are essentially better engineered uni-vibes, right? Uni-vibe was cool but didn't nail it, hey, it was the 60s, but it's still those two components, maybe Leslie amp overdrive added on some sim units)
The Deluxe Moon Phaser gets a good uni-vibe sound, haven't tried it in stereo yet, but that'll be interesting because it's wet vs. inverted dry signal, but one of them would be going through my Leslie cab, so, err, I dunno... Eventually I'd like to get a ToneBone CabBone and a nicer internal speaker for that amp and then I can switch between the Leslie and normal guitar speaker...
I just ordered a Boss HR-2 Harmonist pedal, so I can get some intelligent harmonies, but the ones on the HOG seem very fun as well... The HR-2 should also be great for Chorus, Phase and Flange- even in stereo, you can adjust the voices and detune, so hey... cool.
Back to the HOG, you should be able to fade in extra harmonic content over the regular organ sound and it will probably sound something like an organist at a B-3 messin' with the drawbars. I also want the LPF -> expression pedal thing going and whammy would be fun... "freeze" is an awesome feature, and I can only imagine what glissando and "spectral gate" sound like with it...
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Post by johnnyl on Jul 17, 2006 12:12:03 GMT -7
Steve, you gotta post some of your tunes. I'd love to hear what you do with all these wacky effects!
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Post by steveinnashville on Jul 18, 2006 14:36:18 GMT -7
OK, so there are only two tracks here recorded with my actual setup, but it's what I got up right now: www.myspace.com/stephenpolczThe tracks "Funk Shui" and "Mad Analog Guitar Synth" were recorded with a mic, "a familiar tune" (Shine On Blues backing track from Gilmourish.com I think w/ me blewsing all over it...) was recorded straight into garage band and sounds OK despite the digital-ness and lack of tube sag or anything even analog! The Stravinsky one is an arrangement I started... not sure if I'll ever finish it! Enjoy/don't enjoy- I don't take too much of it seriously, though I am auditioning on Saturday for the gilmour spot in a very serious PF tribute band (wish me luck... I will have to get serious!)...
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Post by johnnyl on Jul 18, 2006 23:23:32 GMT -7
Nice Steve! You shouldn't have any trouble with that Gilmour audition with those chops and cool tones man.. Judging from the "Shine on" tune you have his vibrato and phrasing down very well and that's key to getting his sound.
Let us know how it goes!
Johnny
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Post by steveinnashville on Jul 18, 2006 23:46:09 GMT -7
Hey, thanks! We'll see how it goes... there are a couple of other guitarists auditioning who probably don't suck... It would be a lot of fun!
The Ghia has been out of commission for a while, but is coming home tomorrow (new rectifier tube) and I've put together a small board with compRossor, deluxe moon phaser, hellbilly, hellbaby, hotcake bluesberry and deluxe memory man for the audition... I might leave the POG on there, too, in case weird synth noises become chic in between songs... and my new (old!) HR-2 will be here before then (tomorrow?!?!), which might prove to be a great flange/chorus.... If nothing else, it might be fun working out harmony guitar solos with it, since i have to learn the high harmony part in "dogs," if there's anything I can't hear or pick out, I can play the 1st guitar part into the harmonizer and run the high harmony stereo out to my laptop and learn it from just that part which will then be isolated... shouldn't be that hard, tho, haven't worked on it tons yet... (tomorrow!!)
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Post by johnnyl on Jul 19, 2006 8:32:01 GMT -7
Steve, you'll be set with those effects for sure. Gotta love that moon phaser!
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Post by skydog958 on Jul 19, 2006 10:31:03 GMT -7
a cheapo way for a Leslie sim....Danelectro Rocky Road. Costs like $50, but with this one little simple mod it holds it own, or so I've been told
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Post by steveinnashville on Jul 19, 2006 13:37:44 GMT -7
The Deluxe Moon Phaser can do a swirl that fits in a pinch, but there's nothing quite like having that big wooden thing right there in the room....
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Post by billyguitar on Jul 19, 2006 14:05:51 GMT -7
That's what she said last night!
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Post by steveinnashville on Jul 19, 2006 14:24:27 GMT -7
wow.... this thread went there, huh?
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