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Best leslie/rotary speaker pedal


synthon1c

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That's my feeling, if you're recording then use a real Leslie if you have to have the real thing. For live use any of the discussed pedals would be close enough, nobody else will know the difference. A pedal will never be just like the real thing anyway right?

 

Yup!! I know a Pro musician that uses a MXR dist+ and a Cry Baby wah with Strat's and A fender Twin and he sounds unreal. No Modulation or delay. The player creates his own canvas. I gigged once using one pedal. (long story) but it came out fine anyway.

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That's my feeling, if you're recording then use a real Leslie if you have to have the real thing. For live use any of the discussed pedals would be close enough, nobody else will know the difference. A pedal will never be just like the real thing anyway right?

 

You know what's funny? I actually feel the opposite. :lol:

 

I know what you mean, but Leslies really come into their own live, IMO. Having those huge pieces of furniture throwing the sound all around the room in stereo is really amazing to me, especially in terms of the ramping and slower, more subtle uses. With recordings, you can play some tricks in recreating some of that, though again a Leslie would still be the best for the job.

 

Just my thoughts. :)

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Having owned a few Leslie's in the past, the Rotosphere is probably the most accurate I've heard, for better or worse.

 

Real Leslie's had an outboard tube preamp for guitar use, this is what provided a lot of overdrive tone for the Leslie and lot of noise. This is why Leslie sims all have OD built in. The Rotosphere is noisy, but so was the real thing.

 

The Leslie's also did not have adjustable speeds. Yes, they had high and low and a brake, but you couldn't adjust those speeds. Some people find the preset speeds on the Rotosphere too fast, but they are accurate to a real Leslie.

 

I hope you see what I'm getting at, the Rotosphere is not a super quiet piece of studio gear that allows you to endless tweak and change the sound to match the song. It is a pretty accurate substitute for a primitive, archaic, unforgiving piece of music equipment.

 

If someone is really looking for a pedal to give they real Leslie sound and performance the Rotosphere is the way to go, if they want to be able to tweak the sound to get their "ideal" rotating speaker sound, they are better off going the RT-20 route.

 

And Funky Chowder is right, it's live where the Leslie is not substitutable. Live, a Leslie is a horn spinning one direction a speaker baffle spinning the other...you get tremolo, Doppler effect, phase shifting all stacked on top of one another and these speakers are beaming sound waves at to every corner and wall in the room which are bouncing the sound back to the audience and intermixing at constantly changing distances and speeds. It's the ultimate in 3-D sound, totally enveloping the audience from all sides.

 

Uni-Vibes, and clones and knock-offs, are nothing more than a multi-stage phasers that doesn't recreate even half of the complexity on a Leslie setup.

 

In the studio, no matter how many mics you record with, it just becomes stereo, even 5.1 speaker setups are too directional to recreate the live effect. It's much easier to use a Leslie sim in the studio and get a convincing recording.

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You know what's funny? I actually feel the opposite.
:lol:

I know what you mean, but Leslies really come into their own live, IMO. Having those huge pieces of furniture throwing the sound all around the room in stereo is really amazing to me, especially in terms of the ramping and slower, more subtle uses. With recordings, you can play some tricks in recreating some of that, though again a Leslie would still be the best for the job.


Just my thoughts.
:)

 

Well, I meant live under the assumption that most people will use a pedal rather that dragging a real Leslie out to gigs. That's the point of the discussion. If you have the means to use a Leslie live then, why wouldn't you? :)

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Well, I meant live under the assumption that most people will use a pedal rather that dragging a real Leslie out to gigs. That's the point of the discussion. If you have the means to use a Leslie live then, why wouldn't you?
:)

 

I agree with all of that. I was taking issue with "For live use any of the discussed pedals would be close enough, nobody else will know the difference". That's all.

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I thought the Rotosphere had a trimmer for speed?
:idk:

 

Yes, but they are limited to the fast speed.

 

There are two internal trimmers that allow you to set the fast speed for the "horn" and fast speed for the "baffle."

 

Since they are internal, they aren't easily accessible for on the fly changes or to set tempo to match various songs in a set.

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DLS RotoSIM - very nice, at least from the clips. :)

 

I just use a L6 MM4 for rotary sim. In stereo, it's actually quite nice. And IMHO, if you're not gonna go stereo with a Leslie sim, you may as well go home. ;)

 

NOTHING beats a "real" Leslie. Nothing. But depending on how particular you are, lots of pedals come reasonably close. IMHO, a Rotomachine or MM4 is "good enough" for live, and they beat carrying along a heavy 147 or 122. But if I have an option and the artist / client / label has the budget, I have a real Leslie brought in for records. Nothing beats a real Leslie. Nothing. :)

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DLS RotoSIM
- very nice, at least from the clips.
:)

I just use a L6 MM4 for rotary sim. In stereo, it's actually quite nice. And IMHO, if you're not gonna go stereo with a Leslie sim, you may as well go home.
;)

NOTHING beats a "real" Leslie. Nothing. But depending on how particular you are, lots of pedals come reasonably close. IMHO, a Rotomachine or MM4 is "good enough" for live, and they beat carrying along a heavy 147 or 122. But if I have an option and the artist / client / label has the budget, I have a real Leslie brought in for records. Nothing beats a real Leslie. Nothing.
:)

Amen! PCS! Poo Bah!:lol:

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Was the "Let It Be" solo recorded in stereo?

 

 

I am not certain, but quite possibly not. The best the Beatles ever had available to them insofar as recording gear was 8 tracks, and then only from about Hey Jude onwards. Due to the need to track bounce, and limited tracks, a lot of stuff was done in mono.

 

But they used "real" Leslies, and going to tape, they still sound like a "real" Leslie. Most sims definitely benefit from stereo in terms of helping with the realism / "believeability".

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I am not certain, but quite possibly not. The best the Beatles ever had available to them insofar as recording gear was 8 tracks, and then only from about Hey Jude onwards. Due to the need to track bounce, and limited tracks, a lot of stuff was done in mono.


But they used "real" Leslies, and going to tape, they still sound like a "real" Leslie. Most sims definitely benefit from stereo in terms of helping with the realism / "believeability".

 

 

They didn't even record drums in true stereo, highly unlikely they'd stereo mic a Leslie.

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