From NJmm973@aol.com Fri Aug 18 07:54:39 2006
Subject:Roadtrip to See the Roadbox III

Hi Everyone,

Last week Mikael (Mijo) asked if anyone had a RoadboxIII to demo in
the New York City area since he would be in town for 10 days. MikeW
offered his in central New Jersey. Since I am in North New Jersey
and have wanted to hear this thing since it came out, I offered to
take Mikael down to MikeW's place to hear this thing in its full
glory.

Let me first say, this baby does NOT disappoint !!! It is the real
deal and even though your mind may not be able to comprehend it,
none of us there missed the "low rotor". I defy anyone to do a
blind sound test. In fact, that would be a great test. Have
someone blindfolded and A/B a real leslie and the RoadboxIII and see
if you can guess which one has physically has a low rotor and which
one doesn't. Becaue I can tell you that I coudln't hear the
difference and I believe Mikael coudln't either.

So, the details of the trip. I had Mikael taook a train out to me
in NJ and we drove to MikeW's house. I brought along my Roland V760
Combo to see what my rig would sound like through the roadboxIII.

We arrived at Mikes place and we began to play with Mike's rig.
Mike uses a Voce 5. Mike also explained that, true to the original
Leslie the roadbox does not include any equalization and his Voce
does not put out a strong bass, which is one thing he loves, so he
fronts the roadbox with a small equalizer which really makes the
roadbox come to life in his case. (My V760 did not need the
equalizer to have that kicking bass).

After a while of Mike, myself and Mikael playing on Mike's Voce, we
set up and plugged in my Roland. I turned off my internal Leslie
sim and we kicked it through the RoadboxIII. What a sound!

Deep rich booming yet crisp sounds filled the room. Each of us took
a turn playing on the V760, experimenting with drawbars, percussion,
etc. It didn't take long to realize that both MikeW and Mikael were
truly talented and skilled musicians and they made the rigs sing and
dance in ways that are beyond my skill and i was humbled, impressed
and inspired all at the same time.

Then Mikael asked about how his electric pianos from his Nord might
sound through it. So we stopped the rotor, called up some EPs from
the Roland and Mikael went nuts on how the Roland sounded through
the roadboxIII with the rotor stopped. The bass was kicking, the
sound was tube sweet and it was a dream. Soon, Mike's son Jordan
started accompanying Mikael on the drums from the next room. We had
swinging jazz/blues filling the room. We tried the other EPs on the
Roland, the Wurrly and Clav. I even ran a few synth sounds through
it. It was loud, strong, and completely impressive.

Both Mikael and myself did one man lifts of the unit to see how
heavy it felt. Both of us could lift it off the floor with one hand
on each handle. Of course this isn't the proper way to lift it, but
we wanted to feel the heft of it and get a sense for its weight. I
think the fact that both of us, I at 6'3" and Mikael definitely
under 6', both could lift it off the floor at all speaks volumes to
its portability compared to a real Leslie.

But back to the organ sounds. The bass was shaking the walls, the
rotor was sending sweet sound swirling around and again, I could not
tell that physically, there was no low rotor, and I've owned a 145
in the past. The chorale sound was there on the slow rotor and to
me it WAS what I look for in a Leslie.

That said, I'm not yet in a position to own one, but I definitely
have the jones for one now more than ever.

I'm not related to SpeakEasy, I don't own any of their products. I
have no investment in their success or lack of it on this product.
But I can say without a doubt, it is what I always wanted. A "true"
Leslie with a loud, commanding sound in a portable form.

It was defiantly worth the trip. In fact I plan to head down to
MikeW's church when I can to hear him play it live in a large
setting. It's more than I can afford at this time and actually a
bit more than my talent deserves at the moment, but I'm going to
make the RoadboxIII my reward for practicing and playing better.
That will motivate me to practice, practice practice. By then I
will have the funds and the skill to have this amp.

If you get the opportunity, hear it live!

By the way, MikeW took some pictures of our visit there which he
said he'd post when he got some time.

Gene in NJ

PS.. The keybed that MikeW has for his midi controller project is
SWEEEEET!! Man what a feel!!