front
rear
horn driver
woofer
LESLIE 147
General Check Upon Arrival
When it came to playing organ, I had mostly used Leslie simulators - until summer 2014, when I acquired a vintage Leslie 147 Rotary Speaker Cabinet. I guess it's safe to say that the models 122 and 147 are considered to deliver the classic Hammond organ sound. Designed in the 1960's, they use a tube amplifier and have all their components mounted in a wooden enclosure (more info via the organ section of the link page)
Anyway - my unit was advertised to be rather beaten up cosmetically, but technically in great working condition. When it arrived, I could see that the outer faces of the cabinet were worn indeed (obviously the unit had seen quite some gigs in it's day) - but as long as the integrity of the construction itself is maintained, this wouldn't affect performance. Plus, I wasn't going to put it in the living room for looks, but use it in the studio for sonics...
Leslies can come with various brands of actual speakers - sometimes with the originally fitted units still in, sometimes with replacements. Mine had a C15L woofer made by Rola, which is most likely stock; the horn driver was an OEM version of the Atlas PD-60. Obviously, this was non-original, as all vintage 147's came with a Jensen V21 horn driver (see the list of speakers for more details).
My Leslie didn't come with any preamp, connector box or even a cable, so I had to make my own adaptor (see amp section). Before even going into that, I was going to test the unit for basic functionality; however, since AC power, audio input and motor control are connected to the amp by one single 6-pin male receptacle, I used the appropriate cables with open leads and connected them to the respective pins (hook-up schemes see here) by use of clamped leads - which is, regarding the AC power, somewhat hazardous... but I watched myself ;-P )
The motors for slow and fast speed were spinning nicely. The sound, however, was rather midrangey. Also, distortion was setting in quite abruptly as I increased the level - while, rather, the characteristic sound of the 147 should be a gradual saturation. I initially suspected the amp but then decided to check the crossover first...
General Check Upon Arrival
When it came to playing organ, I had mostly used Leslie simulators - until summer 2014, when I acquired a vintage Leslie 147 Rotary Speaker Cabinet. I guess it's safe to say that the models 122 and 147 are considered to deliver the classic Hammond organ sound. Designed in the 1960's, they use a tube amplifier and have all their components mounted in a wooden enclosure (more info via the organ section of the link page)
Anyway - my unit was advertised to be rather beaten up cosmetically, but technically in great working condition. When it arrived, I could see that the outer faces of the cabinet were worn indeed (obviously the unit had seen quite some gigs in it's day) - but as long as the integrity of the construction itself is maintained, this wouldn't affect performance. Plus, I wasn't going to put it in the living room for looks, but use it in the studio for sonics...
Leslies can come with various brands of actual speakers - sometimes with the originally fitted units still in, sometimes with replacements. Mine had a C15L woofer made by Rola, which is most likely stock; the horn driver was an OEM version of the Atlas PD-60. Obviously, this was non-original, as all vintage 147's came with a Jensen V21 horn driver (see the list of speakers for more details).
My Leslie didn't come with any preamp, connector box or even a cable, so I had to make my own adaptor (see amp section). Before even going into that, I was going to test the unit for basic functionality; however, since AC power, audio input and motor control are connected to the amp by one single 6-pin male receptacle, I used the appropriate cables with open leads and connected them to the respective pins (hook-up schemes see here) by use of clamped leads - which is, regarding the AC power, somewhat hazardous... but I watched myself ;-P )
The motors for slow and fast speed were spinning nicely. The sound, however, was rather midrangey. Also, distortion was setting in quite abruptly as I increased the level - while, rather, the characteristic sound of the 147 should be a gradual saturation. I initially suspected the amp but then decided to check the crossover first...
front
rear
horn driver
woofer