http://www.137.com/hammond/leslie.html


http://mywebpages.comcast.net/vrbass/vibratone/


http://theatreorgans.com/grounds/docs/history.html

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 02-25-2006).]

I like the 122 model myself.

I carried the 147 for years OUCH

In my prayers at night I include thanks for not having to carry leslies around any more!
DonM

Especially when you get to a gig and its on the third floor no elevator YIKES!!
But they sure did sound awesome nothing like it!!

Multiovox "Little David" circa 1970's



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 02-25-2006).]

Come on!!! I use to have to haul the B3 too..

Now , they both live in my laptop[Native Instruments B4]..

Currently own a 147 I bought in 1976 AND A 147 RV I bought in 1973.

The 147, which is a little shorter than the RV, stays with my B-3 at a country club I play several times a month. The RV is taller, because of the reverb amplifier and chamber, was used for years when I played guitar (usually, a 335) and used an outboard drum machine. This required a foot controlled pre-amp. While there were no real tone controls on the pre-amp, it sounds FANTASTIC played this way.Basslines were played with the thumb. this set-up was enough to play dances in the late 70's and early 80's.

I recently got a Friday-Saturday house job, and am thinking of adding the 147 RV and a Hammond Suzuki XB-2 to the bottom and a digital piano of some type on the right hand.

The arranger and the piano would go through the PA and the XB-2 through the 147-RV.
I could also play left-handed bass this way through the Leslie.

For bigger one nighters, I have been using the XB-2 occasionally through a small Polytone Brute and a Motion Sound top box. Don't think Motion Sound makes these anymore, but they're pretty good. Has a moving horn and a bottom roter simulation. Much easier to transport than the 147 RV, but, while it has real doppler on the top, can't come close to the tube sound of any tube Leslie.

For anyone-especially younger players-who have never played through a real Leslie, you'll be amaised at the sound. There's nothing like it!


Russ

In the 90's I played with a 'classic rock' band - 8 pieces - one of which was a B-3 ... the guy who played it had built a special cabinet for it that had these huge 'hinged' handles ... carting that thing around was NO FUN, and getting it into a van was a VERY precise operation ...
t.

I have one hell of a deal on a propane powered fork lift for anyone out there that still uses Leslies and B3s. Also have the names of several nuerosurgeons that do great back surgery!

Cheers,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

I used the Fender Vibratone with my Cordovox for many years. People couldn't belive the sounds I was getting. I still have the Vibratone. I recently gave the Cordovox to an electrician friend for some electrical repairs he did around the house. He was tickled to get it,and I was happy to see someone get some use out of it.

Jerry

I use to own a Leslie 122 and Hammond L100. Sweet. The bass on the leslie was so clean.
Starkeeper

For years in the '60's I trundled around with a big Lowrey (various models, all a ton and a half) and two Leslies (I actually can't remember which models now).

The 'band' was mainly myself and a drummer but occasionally went up to a 4 or 5 piece (depending on the gig's budget). The rush to arrive late or getting away after the gig quickly so as to avoid having to help load/unload 'Freddie's organ' was always something to behold!

I tried to ensure that at least one other person came in the van with me, but that wasn't always practical. Sometimes there was a kind person at the venue but usually not.

I think the worst were steep cellar steps (common in the sort of 'dives' we often played in London then) or those tight spiral iron staircases.

I still suffer from a bad back caused by my missing a footing on one of those and my taking the Lowrey's full weight unexpectedly. It was agony playing that night and we often played non-stop for 5 or 6 hours for dancing (couldn't do it now - oh, the resilience and energy of youth!)

When I look now at the sounds (including Leslie) I can now produce with the heaviest item being a sub-woofer I can lift pretty easily, it's sheer luxury!

But I did love that tone of the Lowrey with those two Leslies. Especially timing the switch on the motor (I thought) to maximum effect as it built up speed.

Oh well - progress, but heady days.

Freddie



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www.easiplan.biz

I am a partner in a sound company. You'd be surprised at the national acts that require 122's and B-3's.

Of course, they don't do the lifting...that's what they pay us for.

Rentals have paid many times the value of the old equipment.


Russ

I use a Motionsound pro3T with my Hammond XB1 ,i love this combination ,I have also used it with the Tyros drawbars sound also awesome (separate output).
Lightweigt and a real rotor,and a tube amplifier !

Regards,
Arno

Aside from a "REAL" Leslie, what amp & KB has the closest sound to a
Hammond B3/C3/Leslie combo?

I'd say the rig Arno (above) uses would be close. It would probably be a MotionSound something and one of the new Hammond/Suzuki keyboards.At a minimum, you need a rotating horn for the doppler effect. Static simulators just don't cut it.

A key to the B-3 sound is tube amplification.
147's, 145's and 122's were tube units.
Adjusting your timing for the Leslie brake to compensate for the streaching of the belts separated the pros from the pack.

Russ

[This message has been edited by captain Russ (edited 03-07-2006).]

As a kid I loved it when Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant used a Leslie to sing thru in the middle of the song "Whole Lot Of Love" Awesome!!

I use the Roland VK8m Drawbar module for my leslie sounds. It's a few notches above my Korg TE samples and MANY notches over the Tyros 2 samples. This module allows me to adjust the Tonewheels, amplification, reverb, distortion, and of course the drawbars themselves. It's worth it's weight in Gold!

Al

I have been given a roomfull of furniture from a friends family member and in it was 3 old radios and this 5 ft cabnet (Leslie Vibratone) can you tell me some things about it like date and possible how to hook it up to my radio or TV or price if I can't hook it up?? it's a modle 31A I got some info from a captin foldback site as to it's name and that's about it

http://www.mosweb.com/knowledgebase/leslie/id22.htm



[This message has been edited by Fran Carango (edited 11-03-2006).]

I can remember going from a 20 watt Panaramic/Magnavox 'accordion' tube amp at about 15 pounds directly to the 40 watt 147 system and I was in heaven even at 150 pounds(the speaker was heavier than me in those days). From there, I went to - what was like a 145 but vinyl clad rather than a wood finish. Then, to an Ampeg Quad 4 system. I had to borrow my brother-in-law's truck for gigs - vans weren't as plentiful then.
Ciao,
Jerry

And the memories just keep on coming . . .

I'm right in there with you guys who lugged the heavy duty gear around back in the day.

I can remember one night our dragging my M102 plus Sharma (UK-made leslie) up three flights of stairs, one half of which was lined with well-oiled patrons queueing to get in.

After moving the Hammond around in one piece for a few years with one guy at each corner, the inevitable happened one night when one of us tripped on a kerb and the organ tumbled keyboard-first with a solid thump on to the pavement. Arrrgh! But, guess what, we took it into the gig, plugged her in, and away she went none the worse for wear, except for a few more road scars.

After that incident my old M102 was umm, 'modified' for ease(?) of transport - we sawed it in half and chopped the 70 or so wires and routed them via six multiplugs.

Did any of you guys ever crank that little set-screw (I guess it was some sort of gain control) on the amp? Man, you could really get that Steve Winwood overdriven sound - the classic hot, bitchin' Hammond.

I forgot about this thread. I own a Roland VK-8 which runs into a Speakeasy Vintage Tube Preamp and then runs into my Leslie 142. I guess I'm spoiled since I play a C3 and a Leslie 122 every week, so I couldn't settle for the internal simulator.

Take a listen to Sly & The Family Stone's "DANCE TO THE MUSIC"
Hammond SOLO...Oh man let that Leslie RIP!!!!!! or the Zombies "Shes Not There"
or Vanilla Fudge's "You Keep Me Hangin on", "Eleanor Rigby" if you wanna hear RAW Leslie!!
http://www.vanillafudge.com/

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 11-08-2006).]

Man I wish that EVERY player who never played through a real tube Leslie could locate a B-3 and Leslie and just play it once. If you haven't done that, you will never really understand what Leslies are all about. the simulators still don't come very close.

The experience is one of the VERY FEW good things about getting old!

Russ (four years til SS benefits) Lay

Hi folks, don't know what your problem is in gigging a B3 and cabs, what about the big one, I used a Hammond H112,2xD10 Hammond cabs for the straight side an 2x147leslies(which Hammond said they could not be fitted to the H series), 25 note pedalboard and bench. Then do the gig in the 1st floor function room till 2.am then take it all home afterwards!!!!
now ex organist(worn out) JOHN.
P.S. it's easier with a Technics KN 7000!!!

A guitarist named Lonnie Mack ( #1 song of 1969-WHAM!), Stevie Ray Vaughan and Three Dog Night used Leslie's when playing guitar. It is a GREAT way to use a Leslie. I did it this way in supperclubs for about 10 years in the 70's.

Russ

[This message has been edited by captain Russ (edited 11-09-2006).]

I sure wish my G70 had separate outs for the HB section..... My Motion Sound Pro3T (my second, as I had the pre-tube one too) sits there idle, just waiting.....

While the G70's basic VK engine is fine, unfortunately, the way they have cobbled it in to the G70 architecture is flawed..... the overdrive is POST-fader in the main G70 mixer, so it is very hard to get a death grind out of it without it being very loud, and the reverb send is pre-Leslie. That's right, you heard it here first. PRE-LESLIE!

What moron came up with that brilliant concept....?

But...... to be fair and balanced (well, a bit more than Fox News!), I do have to say that the slightly rounded key ends makes for some very comfortable palm smears, something not easy to do on other, sharper keys.

Reminds me of when I was playing a showband in England in my youth and they provided a Boosey and Hawkes Hammond X-5 clone for me to play, with the sharpest key ends I've ever encountered..... Every single night my palms would get cut and the keyboard get smeared in blood. I just figured, what the hell, rocked it forward on it's stand so the audience could see the blood, and watched the crowd go crazy! Aaaahhhhhh, happy days...!

And how did you like the reverb on the B3...that's right...so why use it with the VK?

AH, Diki...PALM SMEARS!

What B-3 memories!

Russ