Need that Leslie sound-- Boss Rt-20? What else?

[Hohn]

Fellas, I'm really intrigued by the Boss RT-20.

One reason I bought the biggest Pedaltrain is so that I'd have room for the larger boxes like these.

I LOVE the leslie sound, and I'm curious if anyone has some clips or commentary they can offer on the Boss unit.

I've heard Steve's Rotosphere on one of his Ray clips and I like it-- but I want something that gives me B-3 smoothness for my guitar.

Will the Boss box do this?

Justin

[Mitch]

I have not tried too many leslie type boxes, but I'm currently using the Line6 Roto-machine and I think it does a great job, is a single wide pedal space etc. - Only use it on 3 or 4 tunes, so for me it fills the bill quite nicely. Has some nice features... 3 different leslie models, trims for horn and woofer, ramp up/down speed, dial in some dirt... good little inexpensive box IMO.

[kruzty]

The Digitech Expression Factory has a Leslie setting. I'm no Leslie expert, but it sounds pretty good to me. That pedal has several good sounds, actually...

[John]

I originally purchased a Line 6 Rotoshpere...and I initially liked it. However I soon came to dislike a certain feature, enough to make me sell it.

For it's price range, the Line 6 unit is pretty nice. I like how you can ramp up and down from the slow to high roto speed. I like how you can also make the ramp change even when the unit is clicked off. You get to individually set the speeds for slow and high. All pretty cool stuff. Dual purpose footswitch. Click hard- turns the unit on/off. Click softly, changes the roto speed. All very cool. One missing feature (not surprising at this price) is there is no difference in speed between the horn (high) and the speaker (lows). It's all one. On a real leslie type, the horn speeds up and down much faster.

However, Line 6 intentionally changes the EQ. Their argument is that a leslie isn't just rotating speakers, but they also have a signature sound/tone. And the Line 6 unit gives you three of these signature sounds to choose from. It was a call on line 6's part...I don't fault them for this.

Well, I've spent a lot of money on my Z amps and I don't WANT a change in tone. I want the rotating speaker feature, but not the 'tone' of a leslie. So out the door it went. I wanted a rotary speaker simulator, not a leslie simulator...if you can understand the diffence.

I came to a Boss RT-20. Absolutely freakin' fantastic!!! All the features of the Line 6 unit, but it doesn't change the tone. (I know, the rotating speaker feature is in itself a tone altering effect...but at least I can hear my Z coming through) And one additional feature: It separates the horn (highs) and speaker (lows). I never new this difference would be so noticable (as compared to the line 6), but it sounds SO cool. It's not true bypass, but I use it in a true bypass loop.

I have not tried other more expensive units that I know are out there. And while I don't have any sound clips, I can say I LOVE that big b-3 vibe it gives off. It is SO cool to have the unit on, with the rotary set to fast....then on the final big ending chord of a song, click the footswich to slow the spinning. So as the ending chord sustains, you hear the rotary speakers slowing down. Very nice and dramatic. Done a lot in the 70's.

[Mitch]

Have you looked at the DLS Roto-Sim ?

[John]

I looked at the DLS roto-Sim...but dang, they're SO expensive...even on ebay. You can pick up a used RT-20 for a LOT less...may around $130 or so.

[deltone]

Wow, the RT-20 sounds awesome from the decriptions. We have a B3/Leslie player so he takes care of that for us. I hear the Analogman Chorus Clone does a pretty good rotating speaker sound, but I don't think it has the on-the-fly speed variation option.

[John]

Yeah, there are a lot of those 'vibe' and 'chorus' type effects that don't offer the ramp up and down of the roto speeds. In my opinion, you're missing one of the biggest features of a roto speaker simulator. The 'end of the song' example I gave above. Also, heading into, and out of, bridges or choruses...can have dramatic changes just by changing the speed of the roto. And since it does this speed change over about 3-4 seconds (you get to set the ramp up/down speed) it really lets the listener know you're headed to a different section of a song.

[Telemanic]

I always dug the good ole H&K Tube rotosphere, i thought the breaker switch was pretty close to emulating the real thing. And i agree that that for true leslie fans you have to have some form of ramp control. It's that cool phasing that you get during the speed transitions that makes the difference. But i have to be honest, it wasnt something i pursed and havent heard some of the newer takes on this effect. My 76' CE-1 or now my Retro-sonic CE-1, does it for me. Just click back and forth bettween the chorus and vibrato, but no ramp.

[janinedoubly]

I give a big thumbs up for the Boss RT-20. I use mine all the time and the thing it nails is the slight;y edgy horn diaphragm getting ready to explode sound that is the key to nailing the old Leslie guitar tones, ala 'Badge', Beatles, Aerosmith "What it Takes", etc. It beats the HK Rotoshpere, hands down, the Voce Spin II and any other modeler out there.

[mudskipper]

i use Digitech's XP200 for that sound. it's got a continuous controller, so i can change the speed by rocking the footpedal back and forth. there are other great sounding mod efx in that pedal as well.

Digitech also made a rack version with a tube that you might want to check out.