From bruce@ashbysolutions.com Wed Mar 10 07:21:25 2004
Subject:Re: New Leslie 2121 vs MS Pro-145

Hi Richard,

>It's a pleasure to talk to you. I have enjoyed your insights to this group and your fabulous website. I have referred it when tweaking my gear (VK-7, Korg BX3).
>
>My message was more of a compliment to you. I've enjoyed your reviews of other gear and know that you would present an unbiased review of either the MS 145 or "new" HS leslie. I understand if you can't due to a review right now, but when and if you do...I look forward to it.

I'm glad you have enjoyed my reviews. As far as the reviews themselves: I'm not a "professional" reviewer, and companies don't send me gear to review. (The only exception to this is Steve Hayes, who sent me an early Speakeasy Classic a couple of years ago for my comments.) I review gear I own, usually after playing it for a few months on gigs. I don't feel that a review based on an hour of doodling in a music store is all that valid, so the only way that I'm going to review either the Leslie 2121 or the MS Pro-145 is to buy one, and use it on gigs for 3-6 months. Since I build and use my own high-power Leslie, that's not likely to happen anytime soon. So it's not a question of when will I get around to it; I will probably never be in the position to review either item.

My situation is probably unusual, compared to some list members. I'm a big gear-head, and I do a very methodical investigation of gear before purchasing anything, but I'm not a big gear-ACQUIRER. When I was young, I bought a lot of arguably duplicate instruments, but as of late I've trimmed my purchases down a bit, and adhere to a strict rule of no duplicates. I also have a lot of non-clone musical interests, which further limits the amount of clone gear I might want to own. If I ever buy another Hammond clone, it's because I plan to sell my BX-3, just as I sold my CX-3 when I bought the BX-3, and sold my V3 when I bought the CX-3 before that.

Regards,

-BW
--
Bruce Wahler
Ashby Solutions™ http://music.ashbysolutions.com
978.386.7389 voice/fax
bruce@ashbysolutions.com