Of all the analog effects painstakingly
emulated through the magic of digital
signal processing (DSP), perhaps none is as
difficult to nail as the swirl and warble of a
rotary speaker cabinet. It’s easy to understand
why. Unlike, say, an analog fuzz, which is
merely another tone-altering circuit between
your guitar and amp, the rotary speaker
is practically a living, breathing thing at
the speaking end of your signal chain—an
organic combination of machine and moving
air that’s exceedingly difficult to imitate with
a computer chip and mounted speaker.
Rotary speaker cabs have the distinction
of being immensely impractical too.
The largest and most powerful specimens
are hefty enough to justify the use of a
small forklift. And even more manageably
sized units like Fender’s Vibratone are still
potential maintenance nightmares—if you
can find a solid working unit at all. This
conundrum leaves a lot of players lusting
for the authentically wobbly sounds of Pink
Floyd’s “Us and Them” arpeggios, Stevie
Ray Vaughan’s queasy and chugging “Cold
Shot,” or George Harrison’s funky
Let It
Be tones between a rock and a hard place.
But if Neo Instruments Ventilator rotary
cabinet simulator is any indication, DSP
technology—aided by some very inspired
and obsessive engineers—has taken another
important step in bridging the gap.
Spinning While Sitting Still
A lot of manufacturers had a go at rotary
speaker manufacturing in the ’60s and
’70s. Fender’s Vibratone (a derivative of
the Leslie 16) was among the most successful,
finding favor with the Beatles,
and more recently, Heartbreaker Mike
Campbell. Odd brands like Cordovox,
Elka, and Dynacord, to name a few, also
made very cool sounding rotary cabinets
that have found their way onto records
ever since. But none are more legendary
than the Leslie—the original rotary speaker
cabinet, built for use with the Hammond
organ, and adopted by guitarists in the
mid ’60s. The Neo Ventilator is modeled
after one of the most famous Leslies of all,
the 122, which features a tube amplifier
section, woofer and treble speakers, and
most importantly a cylindrical lower rotor
that disperses the woofer’s output, and two
spinning horns that distribute sound from
the treble speaker.
For anyone who has lugged a Leslie
(never but
never return your keyboard player’s
call when he tells you he’s moving his
Hammond), the compact dimensions of the
2-pound, 7-ounce Ventilator alone make it
worth a look. But while the German-made
Ventilator is small and light, it feels about as
rugged as an old wood-cabinet Leslie. The
enclosure is all aluminum and thoughtfully
designed with recessed knobs that are well
out of the way of errant boots, and the unit’s
high-quality switches for selecting bypass
and Slow/Fast modes feel especially precise.
The knobs themselves control five
parameters that can drastically modify the
sound in strikingly realistic ways. A Speed
knob increases or decreases virtual rotation
speed from the basic Slow and Fast modes.
The very cool Acceleration knob slows or
increases the rate at which the rotation
spools up—mimicking the mechanical properties
of a real rotary cabinet motor. The
Balance knob adjusts the relative volume
of the virtual lower rotor (for bass tones)
and rotating horn (which produces treblier
tones). Drive approximates the tube overdrive
of a Leslie amplifier. And Distance,
which really affects the rotary simulation’s
intensity, simulates a range of microphone
placements relative to the rotors.
The rear panel includes stereo outputs,
as well as a Remote jack for the optional
Ventilator Remote footswitch, which lets
you stop the effect in a manner similar to
a single-speed Leslie. There’s also a Key/
Git (keyboard/guitar) switch. Switched to
Key, it replicates the frequency response of a
Leslie 122, while in the 6-string-optimized
Git mode, the output is more linear and
has less signal coloration.
Let it Whirl
A real rotary speaker can color sound in
ways that range from subtle to extreme.
I was interested in exploring the musical
potential of the Ventilator in a quieter
setting for my first tests, so I placed it
between a 15-watt Vox Pathfinder amp and
a DeArmond Jet Star and Martin 00-15
with L.R. Baggs iBeam electronics. With
the Martin out front, faster modulations
more commonly associated with Leslies
sometimes sounded a bit alien and out of
scale. But a slow setting and distant virtual
microphone placement lent a beautiful,
dynamic, and dreamy texture to minor,
open-tuned fingerstyle acoustic sections—
a cool, if unorthodox application of the
rotary speaker sound.
The Jet Star and Ventilator were a
more obvious match. And though a small
amp and speaker can be a major obstacle
to authentic rotary cabinet sounds, the
Ventilator still sounded incredibly deep and
rich—both in slow and fast settings—particularly
when I emphasized low-end content
with the balance knob. In a small room,
there was still something almost odd about
hearing such a rich swirl in the absence of a
hulking, monolithic Leslie cabinet. But it’s
remarkable how convincing this emulation
can sound on tape—all with a rig you can
fit in a gig bag and whatever free hand you
can spare to carry a little tube amp.
To really experience how good the
Ventilator sounds, it’s good to go big.
Rotary speakers are incredibly effective at
stretching and shifting time and space. And
those aspects of the Ventilator’s performance
are best experienced with the assist
of volume and dimension. To get them, I
ran one output from the Ventilator into a
35-watt Vox TB35C2 Bruno, ran a second
output into a Fender Vibroverb, and placed
the amps about six feet apart facing each
other at a 45-degree angle. And standing
in between the two amps with eyes closed
and the Jet Star slung over my shoulder, the
sonic likeness to a Leslie was uncanny.
With the Ventilator set to Slow, a little
treble horn emphasis, and a Distance
setting midway between minimum and
maximum, the plaintive arpeggios of
Pink Floyd’s “Eclipse” came alive with a
motion and breadth that was beautiful and
startling. The same settings worked great
for deep, funky Ernie Isley-style chord
vamps too—lending a cool wobble that
didn’t obscure pick attack or string muting
dynamics. Faster settings benefitted less
from the two-amp setup, but still made
the simplest arpeggios and leads sound
larger than life. Interestingly, the pedal
often sounded best using the Key mode,
which made the signal brighter and more
defined—particularly at lower volumes.
If there’s any one mode in which the
Ventilator sounds less than completely natural
in a room, it’s when the Distance knob
is set to zero. At these levels the Ventilator
gains intensity, but loses some of the sense
of dimension that is its greatest strength
in a live setting. In a recording environment,
however—especially one with a dense
mix—the more intense pulses from the
close mic’d emulation can be a huge asset,
particularly if the Ventilator’s stereo output
is hard panned on a mixing desk.
The Verdict
At nearly 500 bones on the street, the
Ventilator is not cheap. Those who rarely
use rotary speaker sounds may be hard
pressed to justify the expense, no matter
how incredible the Ventilator sounds. But
if you tend to use phase or chorus effects
with any regularity, the Ventilator sounds
as organic as anything short of a real Leslie.
And if you’re a studio hound or a session
player who loves to keep a real knock-’em-dead doozy in your bag of tricks, the
Ventilator can totally transform a song or
composition.
It doesn’t take two amps to get a gorgeous
and very real rotary cabinet sound
out of the Ventilator. But if you have two
amps at your disposal, it’s the best way to
maximize the pedal’s potential—especially
for slow, underwater, Gilmourish textures.
Regardless of how many amps you use, the
Ventilator can enliven the simplest song or
guitar part on stage or in the studio. The
pedal’s super-solid construction suggests it
can survive regular use in either environment.
Given that, and the fact that the
Ventilator weighs about 145 pounds less
than a Leslie 122, this rotary cabinet simulator
could be worth its weight in gold to
any modulation-happy guitar slinger.
Buy if...
you thirst for the unmistakable
sounds of a Leslie, but haven’t the
space to keep one or the dough to
acquire and maintain it.
Skip if...
your limited use of this modulation
effect won’t justify the expense.
Rating...
