From ynottnaro@yahoo.com Tue Jun 10 08:59:32 2003
Subject:Re: Chop vs. Clone

Hey Rob...

Owning a van, I had never considered putting a leslie
on its side. But awhile back there were a couple
posts regarding transporting the leslie, with the
consensus being you wont hurt it. I was intrigued by
this, so I talked to my Hammond tech about it, and he
concurs: You can transport a leslie on its side with
no problems whatsoever. But he recommends
transporting it with the back side down (the side
where you can see into the leslie's rotors) to avoid
scratching the furniture, or ideally to transport it
with the amp side down so that if tubes were to fall
out they wouldn't have far to go and thus avoid
breakage. The caveat to that is to make sure that the
leslie is braced or secured from toppling over during
a turn.

As far as the Speakeasy leslie, I don't own one nor
have I heard it, but I do have his high powered driver
currently in my Bulldog leslie, and I'm not sure (yet)
that it has enhanced my sound in any significant way
(but I'm still evaluating it: I've had a lot of
different variables involved in the testing, different
preamps, different monitoring situations) but for sure
it has not affected it in ANY negative way. I tend to
work my leslies hard and much to my tech's surprise,
I have yet to blow a driver after 4 years. He hears
and sees how I run it and is constantly amazed...I
know he's been drooling to sell me another driver!!!
I suspect with Steve's new high powered driver my tech
is going to get quite dehydrated before he gets the
chance!!!

I'm sure that the Speakeasy leslie will meet all of
your expectations and probably exceed them. He makes
great products, and he has been nothing but
exceptional in my dealings with him. I'm sure that
with the cost of shipping a leslie, that that leslie
will be RIGHT the first time its sent to you. (by the
way, if you check that ebay auction, you'll probably
find that its being sold by Speakeasy, not a
customer). I think you could buy that leslie in
confidence. You could obviously save money by looking
in your community for a leslie, but to be brutally
honest, the odds of you finding a $500 leslie that
ISNT in need of $700 in repairs seems pretty unlikely.
And if you do, it wont be a shortboy, I guarantee it.
And that extra few inches adds up to quite a few
pounds, and a bit of cargo space.

Talk to Steve, I'm sure he'll work with you. The
trick will be shipping it...if you can pick it up, I'd
go that route. Otherwise, a keyboard transporter like
KEYBOARD CARRIAGE is the way I'd go...then again, I
had my first chopper sent to me by Roadway (which was
soooo much cheaper) and it arrived just fine.

Good luck, and let us know how things pan out!

Tony
--- Robert Baker wrote:
> Hey Tony,
>
> If I were to get a real Leslie, I would have to
> transport it on its side or its back. Is there any
> possiblity of damaging a Leslie doing this? Are
> there any precautions one would have to take so
> things don't get jostled around? Finally, what do
> you think of the road Leslie that Speakeasy makes. I
> saw one on Ebay but was unsure about it.
>
> BB
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: ynottnaro
> To: CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Monday, June 09, 2003 9:12 PM
> Subject: Re: [CWSG] Chop vs. Clone
>
> Hey Dan...
>
> I have 2 chops....and I bought them both for
> gigging
> with, but to be brutally honest, their weight and
> size
> are still kind of prohibitive. I can get them in
> and
> out of my van myself, but I need help going up any
> stairs, and getting it on the stage...and of
> course on
> and off its stand. They come out a few times a
> year
> for special shows (meaning large and local).
> However,
> I still take a leslie to EVERY gig I go to. Get
> the
> Speakeasy pre and a leslie. I have a short boy
> very
> similar to the Speakeasy road leslie, and you'll
> enjoy
> the heck out of it. It's really not that big a
> deal
> to take a leslie like that. And the guys in my
> band
> like it so much they won't let leave it at home.
>
> T
> --- DanL wrote:
> > I have a little dilema here and need some
> opinions.
> >
> > If the $$ didn't matter- taking all things into
> > consideration such
> > as portability, sound, maintenance, etc., would
> you
> > prefer to get a
> > real Hammond chop with a Leslie, like the ones
> > speakeasy makes, or
> > keep your clone and get one of the speakeasy
> preamps
> > and possibly
> > the leslie? It's about 10x the cost to get a
> > chop/leslie combo vs
> > the dual channel pre alone, and about 3x for a
> > chop/leslie vs the
> > pre and a leslie.
> >
> > Part of me says, spend the bucks and get the
> chop,
> > part of me says,
> > how the hell are you going to load it up that
> fire
> > escape at the one
> > gig you play every month? And still need to
> bring
> > the Electro for
> > the Rhodes stuff.
> >
> > The SE pre thats made for a clone on one side
> and
> > keyboards on the
> > other would probably be a great addition for
> 1/10th
> > the cost of a
> > chop and leslie. Or I could get the pre and the
> > speakeasy road
> > leslie with the 145 amp and really have a
> screaming
> > sound.
> >
> > I imagine that one of those chops is still in
> the
> > 300lb range, a bit
> > too heavy for 1 person to move around easily, so
> > it's not very high
> > on the lugability scale. Add a 100lb leslie on
> top
> > of that, I'm
> > probably looking at a bigger truck and a helper.
> >
> > Opinions? I'm sort of making up my mind as I
> write
> > this but I'm
> > interested in everyone elses thoughts.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Dan
> >
>
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