From jgand@gand.com Sat Mar 24 11:38:17 2007
Subject:Re: OT anyone doubling on guitar?

John,

Gary Gand here. I worked with Steve Hayes to adapt the Roadbox III
into a cool product for guitar players (like me). Inside, we call it
the GARIE (like the Leslie). My wife Joan, who is a member of this
forum, plays organ thru a standard Roadbox III, which is how I got hip
to it.

First let me say that I listen to and have worked with the players you
mentioned. I have played guitar thru real Leslies in the studio and on
stage since the late 1960's. Joey, the guitarist on the video, is 21
and speaks in the language of today's youth.

To translate: "the organ guys crapped it up" in plain English means
that a stock Leslie is electronically configured to function with a
Hammond B3 organ, not a guitar. Aspects such as 11 pin connectors, 15"
speaker facing the floor thru a rotor, small power amp section, large
size and weight, improper cross-over frequency for guitar voicing,
etc. are what "the organ guys" did.

To use one, as you know, requires a lot of "plumbing" such as a
pre-amp with 1/4" input (that doesn't really talk to a guitar that
well) and some kind of switching set-up to go from your amp in to the
pre-amp in or some kind of looping arrangement so your guitar amp tone
"gets into" the Leslie.

What we did was address those issues and make this a cool box for
guitarists by using a front facing guitar style 12" speaker (Jensen,
Celestion, Eminence depending on you tastes) change the cross-over
frequency, eliminate the onboard amp so you can power it from the
output of a good sounding guitar amp (Fender, Marshall, Boogie, etc)
make it fit in the back of your hatchback car, and put a bypass
foot-switch on it so you can play it as a 12" extension cabinet OR as
a rotating speaker with two speeds.

Now all you need is the GARIE and your guitar head (plus your axe,
pedals, tuner, etc). No more "plumbing".

I will be posting a video soon for more technically minded / adult
players. In the meantime here's a clip of me using it at one of the
first gigs I had a chance to work with it live. This is a first take
of an unrehearsed song live at a club we play every week. I am using
it with a Budda Superdrive 18 combo amp as a head. You can hear it
works great as a stock guitar cabinet and then turns into a tornado of
rotating sound with the push of a button. I'm also using an Xotic BB
pedal for distortion and a Budda wha.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLtkRRbShuc
On this video, both Joan and I are playing through Roadboxes, but mine
is the GARIE version. I start out without the horn rotating, playing
through it just through the 12" speaker, full range (bypass mode).
Then, at 1:55, I switch to the rotating horn, plus crossover, plus 12"
speaker - full on GARIE, which goes until approx. 3:07, and then there
is GARIE + wa section later at around 4:21. Enjoy and let me know what
you think. The main problem with a video demo is that "you have to be
there" to really hear the difference a real rotating horn makes, vs. a
pedal. Take it from me, this thing sounds awesome, and Steve builds a
great product.

You can read more about it on our store website in Chicago:

http://www.gand.com/store/product.php?productid=848&cat=1&page=1