Leslie Rotary not that Rotary-ish?

[bifbangpow]

Before I bother posting my multimeter readings on everything, let me first ask is there an easy way to make my Leslie Rotary Effect pedal more Leslie-ish? What I mean is that I made the pedal, and it works. But the effect is insanely subtle at its very highest.  I've even played around with the internal trimmers on the PBC, and I'm just not finding the sweet spot by ear.  (The only oscillascope I have doesnt work yet... building it myself so I have to work by ear). 

Heres the project I used: http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/effects-projects/modulationecho/weslie-modulator/
And Here's the Layout: http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf/ggg_weslie_lo.pdf

tips?

[Mark Hammer]

Yeeeeeah.....about that.

The original was one of the early PAiA kits, and was basically a bandpass filter with a centre frequency modulated by an LFO.  Think motorized wah pedal.

Now, while moving peaks and notches of such a thing share something in common with the moving peaks and notches of a Leslie, it can also be said that I share something in common with Guthrie Govan and Fabio, in that I play guitar and I have 2 arms and two legs.

A few things to note:

• there are a lot more peaks and notches inmany other effects, like phasers or flangers
• as the bandpass filter sweep upward, you lose the bass, which a true Leslie will always retain

As many threads here will attest, there is a LOT more going on with a Leslie than that, but at the very least, those particular differences will leave you sorely disappointed.

Now, to be fair, the Weslie, and the design it is derived from, having some controls very often not found on phasers and similar.  So it has that in its favour.  BUt it would probably sound a whole lot better to your ears if it had at least two bandpass filters instead of only one.  That way, you could at least retain more bandwidth.

IN general, that circuit should be appreciated for its own unique charms, and not pursued  while searching for a Leslie tone.  You might be better off making yourself a UNi-Vibe (which was originally sold as an ersatz low-cost-and-lower-weight Leslie, with the name "Resly-Tone").

[bifbangpow]

Thats fantastic! Thank you for that information. I do wish I hadn;t made this as a gift for someone before knowing what you know.  Lesson learned. Thanks!

[garcho]

[armdnrdy]

Sometimes it's best to search for reviews from others that have built the effect in question.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=66050.0

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=88358.0

You probably want a sound more like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p76UNOX9CVU

That sound sample is from a Hughes and Kettner Rotosphere.

There is a project (very involved) on the other site...which I believe never got all of the bugs worked out of it.

[DougH]

Keep in mind, that although a univibe is a cool effect in its own way, it too was a crude attempt at mimicking a leslie. It was only marginally successful in that sense, IMO.

[garcho]

i just played through a Leslie a couple of weeks ago, with a number of instruments. definitely no pedal i've ever heard can achieve that same exact sound. there are plenty of tricks to getting guitar-organ sounds (mild overdrive into stuck wah into deep chorus into squishy compressor, or more specifically dedicated pedals) but the Leslie does something that makes everyone in the room go "whoa". i'm sure some DSP modeling or the perfect circuit can get close but i imagine there's something magic in the physicality of the "signal processing" that won't be reproducible without the mechanism.

you could always just build one of these:

[Mark Hammer]

I may be wrong, but my sense was that bif's original request was to simply move more in the direction of Leslie-ish tone, than to nail it flawlessly.  A simple search through the archives here will reveal that the subject of what makes for "ideal" rotating speaker tone comes up again and again.

Doug is correct that the Resly/Uni-Vibe did NOT nail it.  But it did come closer, especially when used with a footpedal to be able to mimic ramp-up/down.  I think bif simply wants something a little fuller sounding and not quite so gimmicky.

Note to Larry (because you're probably reading this):  Getting very close to finally wiring and boxing up an AP-7, with the full complement of controls, including width, variable slow and fast speeds (maybe even ramp time), variable gain and tone (instead of 2-position switch), and a momentary "insert" so that the distortion can be used on its own and impose phasing on top for as long as the switch is pressed.

[garcho]

^ oh yeah, myopic topic wandering

let me first ask is there an easy way to make my Leslie Rotary Effect pedal more Leslie-ish?

maybe mess around with C7 and C8 values? also try increasing/decreasing one incrementally and keeping the other the same

maybe R7?

sorry for going off topic, maybe these guesses can help wrangle us back in

[DougH]

I guess "more leslie-ish" means different things to different people without a more specific description of how he wants it to sound. To me it means a different circuit. I've played with this circuit before, and it does a wonderful psychedelic auto-sweep-wah kind of sound, that IMO is nice in its own way. So it's pretty useful in that sense, to me. But if you want a leslie sound, IMO you should go in a different direction.

[armdnrdy]

Note to Larry (because you're probably reading this):  Getting very close to finally wiring and boxing up an AP-7, with the full complement of controls, including width, variable slow and fast speeds (maybe even ramp time), variable gain and tone (instead of 2-position switch), and a momentary "insert" so that the distortion can be used on its own and impose phasing on top for as long as the switch is pressed.

Mark, you sure know how to spark my interest!
I'll PM you for more info.
If you recall....with the AP-7....for me....the third time wasn't a charm!