From res0isa4@verizon.net Sun Sep 29 18:29:51 2002
Subject:Re: voce key5 organ and leslie 21


I've got the Leslie 2101 in my studio this weekend. It's our company's rep
sample. I've had a little time playing around with it. Don't know when
I'll take it out on a gig. The 2101 is roughly twice the height and weight
of a Pro 3T. It seems to be built quite a bit more robustly than the Motion
Sound counterpart. The finish of the 2101 is the black pebbly finish that
seems to take abuse quite well. The plastic corners are very thick and well
secured. There are large rubber feet on the bottom as well as one side of
the unit. Sturdy rubber handles grace the left & right side. The front of
the Leslie has a black grille cloth with a stunning gold Leslie logo. On
each side above the handles are plastic louvres. The back of the Leslie has
a wooden panel similar to standard wooden Leslies that can be removed if
desired. The unit weighs about 45 lbs.

The rotor assembly is exactly like your typical Leslie including the
inverted conical baffles. There are two 50w amplifiers in the rotor unit.
One powers the rotor section and the other powers a pair of 5 in. woofers
and a pair of 2 in tweeters. The 5 in speakers seem to have a dual purpose.
They provide the electronic Leslie low end, plus act as the stationary
speakers for the additional input on the Leslie designed to accept audio you
do not intend to run through the rotary section. The 2 in. tweeters are
active only with the stationary channel.

On the backside of the unit is a plethora of i/o's and controls. Besides
the Leslie 11-pin connector, there is a 1/4" input to the rotary section, as
well as a 1/4 input for the stationary input. A pair of 1/4 outputs allow
you to take the electronic Leslie low end and run it into anything you
choose to. I ran them into a pair of Barbetta 31c's. Leslie has a product,
the 2121, which is a 150w two-way system to accomplish this. There also is
MIDI in/out as well. I ran a MIDI cable from my Roland A-70EX and
controlled the rotor speed with the modulation wheel.

I haven't had the time to do a thorough run through on the unit, but I'll
mention some of the other cool features the 2101 has as well. This unit
allows the user a lot of control over both the actual rotary horns and the
electronic low rotor. Controls over the slow & fast rpm's as well as the
brake time of the rotors is a snap to adjust. There also are microphone
setting adjustments-allowing you to control virtual microphone angle and
distance placements for the low electronic rotor effect. Rotor direction -
a very cool feature- I could actually decide which direction the mechanical
and electronic rotors direction could be. Other features I did not check
out yet, but are available is settings for horn resonance, crossover
frequency and cabinet resonance.

How does it sound? I ran mono out of my Nord Electro, bypassing my rack
which houses a Speakeasy tube pre and a Lexicon MPX-200 effects processor.
I plan on playing more this week with these outboard toys. At first I just
ran the signal into the Leslie without connecting my Barbetta 31c's to see
how it sounded. The sound was very full and though not a lot of low end
material was being reproduced, those little 5 in woofers produced a warm
full range sound. I wouldn't recommend doing a gig without the low end
outputs being hooked up to some amplification, but in my studio setting it
sounded fine. It probably would work perfectly in an intimate rehearsal
situation. I mentioned I was controlling the speed with my modulation wheel
on my A70. I also connected a generic latch type footswitch into the input
that is provided and discovered that if I held the pedal down for a second
or two, the Leslie would brake to a complete stop. Very nice feature.

One downside to this unit is its' size. It begs to be sitting on a very
sturdy stand. As opposed to the Motion Sound Pro 3T, it will not balance
well on a narrow type keyboard amp. My little Barbetta's held it up only if
I placed them side by side and straddled the 2101 on both of them. I don't
ever place my Barbettas side by side onstage that close.

Anyway, that's my story for now. More posts as I get deeper into the new
toy this week. Stay tuned.....

Mark