From bruce@ashbysolutions.com Fri Jun 07 09:36:27 2002
Subject:Re: Vibratone


>Lately, I've seen some vintage Fender Vibratones for sale, and their
>cousin, the Leslie 16/18. I believe these all lack a rotating horn.
>Any opinions on these models? Are they mostly designed for
>guitarists who want Hendrix/Stevie Ray sounds? Do they tend to sound
>any better or worse than something like a leslie 125, which also
>lacks the rotating horn?

They sound pretty much like a Model 125, as they use the same basic components. It gives a great feeling of 3-D and motion, but misses a little of the scream of the two-way models. FWIW, Steppenwolf's early songs like "Born To Be Wild," "Pusher," and "Sookie, Sookie" were recorded with a single-rotor Leslie, so that's the kind of sound you're going to get.

I used a Vibratone for a couple of years in the late '70's. The Vibratone is actually like the Model 18, which has a full range speaker; the Model 16 has a midrange speaker, and requires another speaker for the bass/treble.

>Finally, has anyone yet heard the new "world class" $100 Alesis
>simulator?

No, but I used a Quadraverb+ in 'Lezlie' mode for a couple of years, and it was close, but no cigar. Granted, things have changed since then, but I'm suspicious of anything that cheap, that does a number of different simulations. For reference, the Line 6 counterpart is a couple hundred dollars more.

Regards,

-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