Leslie/rotating speaker project

[gtone]

Anybody try building a Leslie cab of some variety? If so, do tell...

[gtone]

Found this linky with quite a bit of background on rotary speaker cabs:

http://www.nmia.com/~vrbass/vibratone/

Think I'll try building one with a sewing machine motor so I can vary the speed.

[LostArt]

i have the rotating baffles for sale.

[gtone]

LostArt - PM'd you.

[DaveH]

Found this linky with quite a bit of background on rotary speaker cabs:

http://www.nmia.com/~vrbass/vibratone/

Think I'll try building one with a sewing machine motor so I can vary the speed.

Cool website! Keep us posted on what you're doing with this, I'd love to see and hear final results.

[gtone]

LostArt advised that he had a number of Leslie tremolo units in stock at a decent price ($50), basically NOS. They look pretty much complete with baffle board, rotor, motor, mounting brackets and hardware. You'd basically just have to fit a suitable speaker in place and build an enclosure and you'd have a decent Leslie/Vibratone unit.

I have a number of old alnico speakers kicking around that'd probably do the job. Alternately, I'm considering building an enclosure that fits snugly on top of my homebuilt Champ laying on its back (I saw a pic of one designed this way). Still debating whether to go with the stock unit's motor, which were typically single/double speed, or try the sewing machine motor with the variable speed foot controller idea. Wouldn't hurt to experiment, methinks...

Thanks to Alex (LostArt), I won't have to fabricate, scrounge, or source major components. What's more, looks like I could wind up with a decent rotary speaker enclosure for fairly small dollars. I'm looking forward to this!

[gtone]

Update - Alex (LostArt) says unit is now en route, although it'll probably take 2-3 wks for shipping and customs clearance. Should be able to bodge something up pretty quick once I receive it. Tone report to follow!

[gtone]

Leslie unit arrived today. Alex (LostArt) packed this thing to survive the Apocalypse, and the unit arrived in excellent shape. These are NOS units, nary a mark on 'em and dated 5/71 - outstanding value for $50! (Think he may still have a couple, if anyone's interested...).

Looks designed for an 8" speaker, but think I'll try jury-rigging a 10" as I don't have anything smaller around. Shouldn't take too much to get this up/running - wire a switch or rheostat on the motor and a mains cord and attach/wire the speaker. The cab can wait until later, I'm thinking, as I'm anxious to try this out...

[tomteriffic]

"Bodge". What a great word!

I'd be anxious to see if the motor is single speed or double? As it happens, I have and old 8" JBL D series lying around...

[LostArt]

single speed but you can put a rheostat on them and make them any speed you want.

edited to add

thanks to Gtone for the kind words it was cool to have this happen so easily.

only problem is these are shipping at 35 lbs because of the size so you have to take that into consideration

thanks

al

[gtone]

Finally took the unit home after work today (last night was soccer night). There was some linen and several layers of cellulose fiber on the bottom of it, conceivably to provide sound insulation around whatever speaker happened to be mounted on the baffle board. Carefully removed that as it was my intention to just lay the unit over top of a small cabinet laying on the carpet facing the ceiling (at least for starters). Before I got that far, I had to wire this lil darling up. Thought I'd start with stock unit's motor, which is indeedy a single-speed, AC powered unit. Wired in a rotary dimmer control for a ceiling fan and voila - ready to try out.

Plugged the cab into the SuperTwin's ext. speaker jack via a BYOC digital reverb pedal and my trusty old SilverTone 1410 into the amp. Started on full "standard" speed which got the rotor going pretty fast (guessing at least 180 rpm) and this setting yielded SRV's "Cold Shot" tone - a nice flangey tremelo with a pretty strong doppler effect that dispersed sound around the room. Hmmm, not a bad start at all...

Next, I dialed in the slowest speed I could get before the motor stalls, which I'd reckon to be about 60 rpm. Now this is the Leslie sound I've been dreaming about - Beatles, Harrison, Nazareth, Badfinger even Cheap Trick's "In the Street" (That 70's Show theme) - all in there. The piece de resistance, however, was dialing up the dwell on the reverb and digging in for Pink Floyd's "Breathe" - fanf**kingtastic!! You gotta try this - it's a better rush than anything you can swallow/smoke/snort!!

I will make a cab for this (eventually) - but for now, I think I'll play my guitar and enjoy this heady and addictive aural experience. And yes, it is one of those sounds you just have to experience for yourself. For a total outlay of less than $100, you just might fall in love with your guitar tone again - it's that good...

[LostArt]

Finally took the unit home after work today (last night was soccer night). There was some linen and several layers of cellulose fiber on the bottom of it, conceivably to provide sound insulation around whatever speaker happened to be mounted on the baffle board. Carefully removed that as it was my intention to just lay the unit over top of a small cabinet laying on the carpet facing the ceiling (at least for starters). Before I got that far, I had to wire this lil darling up. Thought I'd start with stock unit's motor, which is indeedy a single-speed, AC powered unit. Wired in a rotary dimmer control for a ceiling fan and voila - ready to try out.

Plugged the cab into the SuperTwin's ext. speaker jack via a BYOC digital reverb pedal and my trusty old SilverTone 1410 into the amp. Started on full "standard" speed which got the rotor going pretty fast (guessing at least 180 rpm) and this setting yielded SRV's "Cold Shot" tone - a nice flangey tremelo with a pretty strong doppler effect that dispersed sound around the room. Hmmm, not a bad start at all...

Next, I dialed in the slowest speed I could get before the motor stalls, which I'd reckon to be about 60 rpm. Now this is the Leslie sound I've been dreaming about - Beatles, Harrison, Nazareth, Badfinger even Cheap Trick's "Down the Street" (That 70's Show theme) - all in there. The piece de resistance, however, was dialing up the dwell on the reverb and digging in for Pink Floyd's "Breathe" - fanf**kingtastic!! You gotta try this - it's a better rush than anything you can swallow/smoke/snort!!

I will make a cab for this (eventually) - but for now, I think I'll play my guitar and enjoy this heady and addictive aural experience. And yes, it is one of those sounds you just have to experience for yourself. For a total outlay of less than $100, you just might fall in love with your guitar tone again - it's that good...

another unsolicited testimonial!!!!!