From bruce@ashbysolutions.com Fri Aug 23 08:04:54 2002
Subject:Re: Leslie Vs Motion Sound

Hi Galen,

>Is the weight of a Leslie's wooden shell high enough of a percentage of the
>total weight to entice engineers to consider leaving the Leslie's
>traditional size and shape as-is and concentrate instead on a lightweight
>shell material? ...Or, is the wood material itself as essential to "the
>sound" as the other, previously discussed factors?

The wood is part of the sound, as well as a major reason why the Leslie doesn't "walk" around the stage from vibrations when running on tremolo! :^D

Seriously, though, there are two a general problems when trying to change the classic 122/147 family of Leslie Speakers:

- The basic Leslie design came from the available technology of the late 1940's, and was cast in stone during the 50's and 60's. By some combination of excellent design and plain dumb luck, the basic components selected have weathered the test of time as an excellent tone modifier for the Hammond Organ, and the final result is deeply ingrained in the minds of thousands of music listeners. (I'm not debasing Mr. Leslie's work: ALL human inventions are a combination of excellent design and plain dumb luck, to one degree or another.) Every change made to the original design changes the final result. An Atlas tweeter sounds different than a Jensen V21. Tung-Sol 6550's sound different than Svetlana tubes. Bi-amping the Leslie sounds different than using a passive crossover. The list goes on and on. These are relatively minor changes; changing the case material is likely to cause many more tonal changes.

This is not a case of "finally getting it right," as in the progression of better sounding, lighter, and cheaper PA gear. In the case of the Leslie, the verdict is near universal: The big wooden box sounds terrific. Some of that sound is due to the heft of the cabinet, and removing the weight without affecting the tone may be impossible. It's like trying to shave out the insides of a Les Paul, or change a Fender Twin to solid-state. You're going to change the essence of the original. Would Barry White sound the same if he weighed 150 pounds? Probably not.

- The number of Leslies sold per year is surprisingly small, and modern improvements in simulator technology are not going to make the situation any better. It might surprise you to know that there is a tremendous amount of hand labor in a 2002-vintage Leslie, down to point-to-point wiring and hand-winding of inductors. Why? Because the parts are no longer industry-standard, and the effort required to set up custom-part relationships with vendors is hard to justify for a low-volume product. Even if the Leslie is made lighter and smaller, the sales numbers are not going to rise back to the tens or even hundreds of thousands per year mark enjoyed when Hammond consoles and spinets were must-have items for most keyboard players, and when guitarists had only one option for great-sounding vibrato. Changing the Leslie case material, while leaving the sound intact, is a huge engineering effort at best; a hopeless quest at worst. Where is the funding going to come from?

Raining on the parade as usual,

-BW

--
Bruce Wahler
Design Consultant
Ashby Solutions™ http://consult.ashbysolutions.com
CloneWheel Support Group and HiNote moderator
978.386.7389 voice/fax
bruce@ashbysolutions.com