From bruce@ashbysolutions.com Mon Apr 11 05:00:51 2011
Subject:Re: Why no mini-Leslies?

The sound of a Leslie is a very delicate balance between the woofer and
tweeter, both of which have somewhat unique sound on their own. As
someone who has hot-rodded Leslie cabs for years, I know that it's
extremely easy to change the tone during the process.

Most of the 'tiny' bass amps trade off solid bass for efficiency. So,
one could make a smaller cabinet on the bass side, and boost it up by
bi-amping at say, 5:1 power (ex: 250W to the woofer, 50W to the tweeter)
or even 10:1 instead of the 2:1 that Leslies have used for many years.
However, most of the small, high-powered woofers that are available are
extremely flat response, while the Leslie woofer is somewhat 'scooped.'
An EQ network would likely be needed to ta

And then finally, there is the problem of the rotors themselves, which
add a tonal character to the sound (especially the horn). Although
probably not intended to be so, both rotors end up being something of a
tuned bandpass filter for their respective slices of the sound, and add
to the 'Leslie sound' that we all know and love. Shrink the horn and
the rotor, and the sound will change. Make them 1/4 their size, and the
sound will change a *lot*. (I think the Leslie horn is one of those
'happy accidents' that sometimes happen during product design.)

Of course, all of these problems could be solved using enough modern
CAD/CAM techniques and active electronics, but the Leslie Speaker is a
niche product. The Acoustic Image bass amp concept works because a)
there are thousands of bass players looking for a very small bass amp;
and b) the products deliver 100% on that requirement. Leslie buyers are
a much smaller group these days, and because of the rotors, a 'tiny'
Leslie wouldn't actually be all that small -- just *smaller*. So, I
think it would sell, but not in the numbers that are required to make a
successful product. If we look at modern clonewheel products, most of
them are 5-10% of the size of their original ancestors; that's clearly
the level that the majority of users want.

Regards,

-BW

Bruce Wahler
Ashby Solutions.com^(TM)
bruce@ashbysolutions.com
http://music.ashbysolutions.com
877.55.ASHBY (877.552.7429)

On 4/11/2011 1:17 AM, Funkster wrote:
> This might be a naive notion, but I've been pretty amazed by these tiny Acoustic Image bass combo amps that can easily fill a small venue with bass. Now why can't someone create something similar, add a small rotating horn and drum, and either real tubes or -- if that adds too much size/weight -- top-notch DSP tube simulation and create a small physical leslie reproduction? Some of the Acoustic Image models even have a down-facing woofer, which even more reminded me of a Leslie. It just needs a rotating drum underneath it. :)