Leslie alternatives

[dynanord]

I had a Hohner Ort100 Leslie clone and it sounded great !!!
It has an open and clear sound, a little less bass but its quality is superb and a lot of punch.
You can get one for about 200-300 euros.
When I sold mine in perfect condition, a guy drove about 500 km to buy it. (each way)

[Emile]

The Hohner looks likefrom the late 70ies?

Thay added a bass-speaker and gave a name to the combination:

Hohner OKB200.JPG (146.47 KiB) Viewed 11728 times

Hohner OAB 100 en ORT 100 (2).jpg (44.69 KiB) Viewed 11728 times

Even schemes
http://www.hohner.eu/ablage/med_0000640 ... plaene.pdf
http://www.hohner.eu/ablage/med_0000640 ... plaene.pdf

[Emile]

Get an old clone

There are still Leslie-likes, Rotory-speakers around from the 70ies and 80ies.
Already the divided systems (1 unit for rotor, 1 unit for horn) where build.

Like:

- Allsound, models: 1,2,3, LC90 (all 2 units)
- Dynacord DC200 (2 units), DC300
- Echolette
- Elka, models 650, 700, Elkatone (2 units)
- Hohner, model OKB 200 (with extra bassspeaker)
- Rolling Sound, models K500 (2 units)
- Sharma, Models 2300, 2700
- Solton, Model Dopplertone (2 units)
- Universal, Model RS10
and more

Elkatone 700

Elkatone 700 (4).jpg (66.79 KiB) Viewed 11686 times

Rolling Sound TW500

Rolling Sound TW500.jpg (11.75 KiB) Viewed 11686 times

Solton Dopplerton 150

Solton Dopplerton 150.jpg (98.58 KiB) Viewed 11686 times

Allsound TH85 and LC85

Allsound TH85 LC85.jpg (84.61 KiB) Viewed 11686 times

advantage
- Can be affordable
- If everything works and is compatible (11pins for example), you’re there!
- If you are a musician that has curiosity for or have skills in electronics, you can fix broken units ore replace old components with new ones.
- If you are a musician that has curiosity for or have skills in electronics, you can make the connections Nord or Hammond compatible.
- If you are not interested in Mint condition of a Classic you can chop them or make two units out of one.
- You can change speakers and amps with louder ones
- Most clones don't use tubes, they are usually loud, and use 200W or more.

disadvantage
- They still can be massive and too large to be transported by one person
- The use of incompatible connections or no connections (leslie speed control)
- You never know who worked on it and if it is save to connect your Nord (no main power on my Nord-11 pin connector please)
- Can use (mechanical) parts that are not available anymore, wich forces you to scrape the thing or replace larger parts of the system.
- If you are a musician that has no curiosity for or have no real skills in electronics, for repairs you become dependent on somebody who is, wich can become expensive (no schemes, lot of research, redesign).

I'm not sure, perhaps most musicians are not that affraid for technical stuff, specially keyboardists and guitarplayers, but are not all skilled enough to do the real electronics. Musicans want to play music. Maybe it is a matter of what kind of adventures you like; music, electronics, or both? It helps to understand about your racecar, but still not have to be engine-designer to drive. Some people like to cook, but are mostly not interested in building kitchens and designing microwave ovens or induction-cooking systems or have a cow in their garden. They have a passion for creating delicious dishes. Can we blame them?

Recycling or DYI with new parts?
Maybe the question should be; how far is it (or how smart is it), from donor to completely do-it-yourself (just get the new stuff http://www.b3guys.com/leslie_speaker_parts_all.html )

Donor-Rotory
Here is a link to a project were a d.o.a. AllSound System is used as a donor system (mainly the rotor and horn). The rest of the electronics is new, imagine what weight is left out.
The site is in German, you can paste the URL in http://translate.google.nl

http://www.gyrosound.de/2009/03/allsound-umbau/ (German)

Capture3.JPG (50.22 KiB) Viewed 11651 times

He even makes these parts by using a brassband-horn:

Capture.JPG (21.93 KiB) Viewed 11662 times

Capture2.JPG (22.71 KiB) Viewed 11662 times

His homebuild leslie
http://www.gyrosound.de/2009/03/schweizer-rotor/



More on:
http://www.gyrosound.de/sitemap/ (German)

[dynanord]

Wow,
loving the beautyful allsound reconstruction !!! Nice one Emile

[Mooser]

I've never before seen or heard about many of these! What a trip!

[andi85]

Well, Emile, I think you summed it up pretty well. In the end it really depends on what route you want to go, how much difference to the classic 122 sound you can tolerate and how much you are a DIY person or not.

You can see two of my heavily modified leslie clones here:
http://www.musiker-board.de/reparaturen ... -bass.html
http://www.musiker-board.de/reparaturen ... slies.html

It's all in German, but perhaps you'll get the idea anyway. For me those two units were the chance to get a real rotary speaker without the expense and the bulk of a "real" leslie cabinet. Installing a new crossover modelled after the 122 is a piece of cake for anybody who knows to hold a soldering iron the right way. It's really that easy, and the cost for the parts is usually below €50. Even with the stock amplifier you should get a decent sound at a fraction of the cost of a Electro-Music leslie. If you want more sound you can start thinking about adding a tube head, but you certainly don't have to.
On some of the pictures you may notice that I went a little crazy in adjusting those leslie cabinets to my personal needs. Well, I did it because it was fun and because I could achieve big improvements in usability for a limited investment. But you don't have to do all of that to get a good-sounding leslie clone. The crossover is the most important modification, you can easily skip the rest.

Also, as a working musician it never hurts to have a good tech you trust. Leslies or their clones may look complicated, but active speakers, digital pianos, mixing boards etc. - they can fail, too, and it's always good to have someone to fix your stuff up for a decent price. Plus, how many guitar players do play tube amps but wouldn't be able to service them?
From my personal experience I should also add that, once set up properly, those SpaceSound leslie clones (SpaceSound was the Italian manufacturer of the actual rotary parts) have given me years of trouble-free service without larger maintenance. Most work I did was related to make their transport even easier.

[valotus]

My contribution to this thread is Dynacord DC-200 I owned more than twenty years ago. I guess it used the same italian "spacesound" tilting friction wheel mechanics as many other clones. It was damn loud and way brighter than original tube leslies and also suffered from too open upper compartment design.

[andi85]

On most Leslie clones that can easily be cured by a new crossover and - depending on the stock configuration - a new tweeter. As the DC200 is bi-amped, at least to my knowledge, such a modification may be a little more complicated.

[Mooser]

I had no idea there were so many rotary speakers around. I got the go-ahead to order a 3300, and I think that's what I will do.

[Elias]

I have been dreaming about a rotary speaker every since I got into Hammonds, but the thing is that Leslies are EXPENSIVE. Being somewhat capable of doing things myself I decided I would try to make one myself. I pretty much have the sound generation (amps and speakers) sorted for now, because I have lots of old and working ones around. I can also make the horns and rotors from wood myself, so that should not be a problem as long as a get the balanced.

My problem is how I'm going to mount the rotating parts and what kinds of motors I'm going to use. Any ideas?