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DIY Leslie II Songbirds

DIY Leslie Part II: The Reve-less-ion

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Around this time in 2022, I attempted to build my own DIY Leslie Rotating Speaker. The honest and unfiltered process is documented here, as well as the loose guide that I followed from Premier Guitar. Ultimately, building that was a frustrating but fun experience, and after using my DIY Leslie a couple times, I moved it to storage. I’m sure that it’s not as bad as I remember, but I filed this project in the deep and dusty mental bin labeled “failed projects, may experiment later”… knowing full well that I’d probably never get to it. To recap, the Leslie worked, but the effect wasn’t as pronounced as anticipated, there was a decent amount of operational noise that I couldn’t tune out, and it took up a lot of space. Plus, I was forever scarred from trying to get that styrofoam baffle to spin on a perfectly balanced axis. Still, I wanted to find a usable Leslie tone for the studio. Even with my DIY Leslie build, I could tell that there was some magic in the sound of the baffle spraying the sound through the air as opposed to using a pedal or some other type of simulation.

 

Enter, Don:

Recently, I was scrolling the local online marketplaces (as one does, when one has an obsession with finding vintage gear), and I came across a listing from a local musician with a Fender Vibratone. We’ll call this person Don, in homage to the inventor of the Leslie Rotating Speaker, Donald Leslie. The Fender Vibratone was produced between 1967 and 1972, and is the exact same thing as the Leslie 16, just with a Fender logo slapped on. In short, it’s a real deal vintage rotating speaker that you can use with guitar or keyboard. There’s an incredibly detailed article here that explains everything you’d ever want to know about the Vibratone.

I don’t have much luck with the marketplace that I was on at the time. You know, the one that starts with an “F” and ends with “-acebook”. It’s rare that anyone responds at all, but our new friend Don was quick to communicate and eager to meet up. You see, his original listing stated that he might be interested in trading for other vintage effects, and it just so happened that I had several weird and wacky pieces that I had restored. They were looking for a new home. Don made it clear that he loves finding “effects that he’s never heard of” – we’re evidently kindred spirits in that regard!

After arranging a time, we both walked away with a happy trade, an incredible deal for both parties, some arrangements for future work and jamming, and in my case, some extra back pain from the Vibratone. That’s right – after two years, I had my hands on a rotating speaker.

 

Guts and Dust:

After getting it home, I took time to restore it with some trusted 303 vinyl cleaner and elbow grease. For being as old as it is (I’m guessing 1970?), there were surprisingly few creepy crawlies inside. Just a few eight-legged audio engineers who spent their lives laboring to keep the Vibratone running smoothly. They have since been evicted and laid to rest in the bottom of my vacuum cleaner bag. There were some creaks and squeals from the motor that sounded shockingly like a baby pig, but those have been sorted out with the help of Bill over at BB Organ and some special motor oil.

The Vibratone is unique in the way that it sprays the sound around the room. The DIY Leslie (and most real Leslies) operate on a horizontal axis, meaning that the speaker (or speakers) are mounted parallel to the ground and shoot up towards the ceiling. From there, the styrofoam baffle spins and sprays the sound around the room in all directions. The Vibratone works vertically, meaning that the speaker is mounted perpendicular to the floor like a normal guitar amp, and the baffle spins parallel to the floor. The Vibratone sound is sprayed to the sides and top of the cabinet, meaning that the strongest effect is heard when standing beside the Vibratone.

This model works with two separate but connected motors. One is responsible for the “chorale” setting, a slow speed of about 40 revolutions per minute, and the other controls the fast “tremolo” speed which is around 340 revolutions per minute. The hardy and molded styrofoam baffle is spun with a cloth belt, and a magnetized control quickly jumps an axle barrel in between both motors when the different speeds are engaged. Rubber grommets and wingnuts hold the motor assembly to the pine cabinet to prevent knocking and excess vibration during operation.

For better or for worse, the Vibratone utilizes an audio crossover system. Long story short, it has to be driven by an amp as the actual speaker is passive. The crossover connects in between the amp and its speaker or connected speaker cabinet. Due to the inductors in the crossover, the guitar signal from the amp dumps all of the midrange frequencies to the Vibratone, and the amp’s speaker gets only the treble and bass frequencies. This creates a unique wet/dry blend as the input signal is shared by two separate speakers. Most players opt to bypass the crossover and send the entire frequency range to the Vibratone, but the intended crossover system sounds excellent as is. The “advanced mode” layout consists of using two separate amps, one for just the Vibratone mids and one for the rest of the frequencies, which allows you to balance levels and further craft the tone.

 

Self-Indulgence:

So what does it sound like? Absolutely incredible, that’s what. The slow setting is a very subtle phasing that sounds simultaneously trippy and disorienting. The fast speed is a watery, complex amalgamation of sonic bliss. This effect is musical self-indulgence: it’s tricky to capture live or on a recording in its entirety, so it’s really for the player in the room. Ripping tired blues licks and strumming cowboy chords never felt so good. Even the most rudimentary songs sound interesting, fresh, and complex with the Vibratone engaged. If you are a guitarist or keyboardist and get the chance to play one of these (or buy / trade one), do it!

 

Okay, but Pedals:

The burning question that everyone has: can a pedal do what a Leslie / Vibratone does? The answer is yes, and no, not really. Like any piece of gear, you’re going after a specific sound for a certain reason. If no one in your audience can tell if that cool keyboard lick uses a Leslie or a digital plugin, does it matter? I’d argue no, and in that regard, you don’t need a real rotating speaker to get the sound of one. Any good pedal that gets close or in the neighborhood (like flangers, univibes, vibrato, etc.) will be just fine unless you’re hunting the real deal. Which brings me to the other half of that answer: there is no substitute for a real rotating speaker in a room. There’s an extra five percent of magic and je ne sais quoi that comes from the air spraying around the room. It’s pure musical bliss, and I can’t help but smile when I play it. For me, this Vibratone is already a staple part of my rig that I’m not giving up. It’s truly incredible. That doesn’t mean that I’m crazy enough to take it to a gig, though. Your mileage may / will vary, of course.

 

The DIY Side of Things:

So, after all this rambling, let’s compare the Vibratone with the DIY Leslie that I made. Even before I met Don, I was doing some rudimentary research on the Vibratone and found some pictures of it open and in an exploded view. The genius of the design is that the baffle rotates parallel to the floor, and that there is a metal bracket on each end that keeps the styrofoam from wobbling and getting out of balance. I bet that I could apply some kind of bracket to my DIY Leslie speaker and make it a lot more reliable.

People rag on vintage gear for its simplicity. Don’t get me wrong, the motor and assembly inside the Vibratone is ancient by our modern standards, but it’s all sturdy and is specifically designed with quality in mind. It’s meant to do its one job and never break down, which is a stark comparison to what I was able to cobble together with my DIY build. As Eric Haugen said in this awesome demo video of a Vibratone, “everything is just a little bit broken all of the time”. I’d rather take the vintage and creaky model with quality parts than the new DIY Leslie build with questionable life expectancy.

Speaking of quality parts, I was super surprised by the firmness and durability of the Vibratone’s baffle. The molded styrofoam is hard. My DIY version looks like tissue paper in comparison. In addition, my DIY Leslie model has a motor controller that can set the speed wherever you like within the designed range. While the old-school Vibratone only allows for two locked-in speeds, I’d rather have that than one variable option. What’s that saying about how limitation encourages creativity?

In my research, I ran across a good amount of forum posts, reddit posts, articles, and blogs of people that also built their own DIY Leslies. Some went from scratch like I did, and some used old motors and baffles that they had rescued or cannibalized from old vintage models. Across the board, every builder seemed ecstatic and claimed that their project had turned out perfectly. To the true scratch-build DIYers: I don’t believe it, unless you used reliable parts and/or vintage specs. To the vintage cannibals: Maybe, I’d have to hear it. In my limited experience, it seems like there isn’t quite a substitute for the real thing.

 

If I Were to Do It Again:

If you’re trying to do the DIY thing, I bet you can implement some massive improvements. I’d use my previous article to get started, then try the following, in order of suggested importance:

  1. Mount the baffle parallel to the floor like the Vibratone.
  2. Get a vintage baffle, or find some way to mold styrofoam or other lightweight material. Low density foam won’t cut it.
  3. Install a metal (or otherwise sturdy) bracket to keep the baffle axle straight and noise-free.
  4. Get a quality motor that won’t cause wobble or noise. There's no comparison between the cheap, but functional, motor that I purchased from Mr. Bezos and the heavy-as-a-brick-murder-weapon motor that came installed in the Vibratone.
  5. Find ways to lubricate the motor and axle to reduce noise (felt pads for oil, like the originals)
  6. Find ways to dampen everything with rubber grommets and/or insulation. No noise!

Let me know if you try your own build, and once again, if you get a chance to play a real Leslie or Vibratone, do it! It truly is unique and sonically incredible. 

DIY Leslie II Songbirds
Leslie Rotating Speaker

DIY Leslie Rotating Speaker

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Wait! We've expanded on this post and have added a Part II. Check it out after you read this one – it has a lot of great extra information!

The Leslie Rotating Speaker – a holy grail of weird and wacky vintage music gear. This is one of those things that seems to have fallen into a lost ravine of history. I find that most musicians today have never heard of it, let alone seen one. Let’s dive in and explore exactly what this is and hear what it sounds like because… I built one! 

Note: Vintage or analog gear IS NOT better than modern, and it doesn’t make you play better. However, it’s imperfect and a little cooky. There are a sea of options with digital plugins, emulators, effects, and programs available that sometimes it’s overwhelming just to start. Having a piece of tangible gear in front of you really narrows down your field of possibility and forces you to get creative with what you have. For me personally, I like playing analog (or vintage) gear because it helps me write and get in the zone.

 

History:

The rotating speaker (or Leslie) was first innovated by Donald Leslie in the late 1930s. It was originally designed to help an electric organ sound more like an authentic pipe organ. The Leslie was soon adopted by guitarists and swelled to popularity in the 1960s and 1970s with artists like Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd using it on their records. Since then, the Leslie has seen a dramatic fall from popularity mostly due to its clunky size and the availability of guitar pedals that can kind of replicate what it sounds like. Vintage Leslie speakers are nearly impossible to find nowadays as they weren’t made with very robust materials. The ones that exist really belong in a museum. If someone sells an original Leslie, it goes for multiple thousands of dollars. Yeah – I can’t afford that.

 

So What Is It?

The Leslie is a speaker cabinet, usually larger than a medium-sized guitar or bass amplifier. Internally, a molded cardboard baffle (or drum) is suspended over a speaker. This baffle has a chunk missing and is connected to a small motor that allows it to spin. The majority of the baffle blocks sound traveling upwards from the speaker and encourages it to exit the cabinet through the bit that is missing. When the baffle spins, the cavity throws sound around the cabinet and the room. This creates the Doppler Effect – that thing that happens when you hear sirens on the road, and as they get farther from you, it sounds like the pitch goes down and gets distorted. The result is a watery, warbly tremolo-like effect that sounds absolutely psychedelic.

 

The Build:

I stumbled upon this amazing DIY article from Premier Guitar when I was searching for a way to build my own Leslie. It is pretty thorough and served as the template for what I did. If you would like to replicate this build, start with this article. I’d say that this project rates as follows:

  • Time Commitment: Medium. This would take a full weekend if you don’t take breaks like I did.
  • Difficulty: 7/10 with no experience, 4/10 if you understand basic carpentry and electronic wiring.
  • Frustration: 5/10 with experience, but my notes should help lower that number.
  • Satisfaction with End Product: 9/10. My only grumbles are with cosmetic issues and things out of my control.

Note: The article is a great starting point, but don’t get too bogged down with the details. I used it as a loose template and everything worked out great!

 

Issues that I Had:

Check this part out if you’d like to build your own! Here’s a list of the steps that were problematic and how I would recommend doing this better next time. I’m comparing my experience to the article listed above:

  1. The parts listed in the article were fairly difficult to find. I had absolutely no luck finding a cake dummy out of styrofoam that is as big as the article suggested. Instead, I hot glued several layers of thin styrofoam together to make the complete baffle. For some reason, styrofoam is expensive.
  2. The motor was also more costly (and larger) than I expected. I had to hollow out the center of the baffle to accommodate the motor. On the plus side, the motor that I used is very quiet and is capable of going very fast.
  3. Speaking of fast, the PWM controller that I used allowed the motor to spin way faster than what is usable. I ended up soldering a 200k resistor between the output pin (pin 3) of the potentiometer and the lead going to it in order to slow down the motor control. Before I did this, less than 10% of the pot sweep was usable before it got to be too fast. Now, the entire sweep works and sounds musical. *see footnote*
  4. I decided to wrap the cabinet in vinyl tolex-like material. This was my first time wrapping a cabinet from start to finish. I can’t state enough how miserable the glue was that I used. I chose a thin glue that is intended for vinyl flooring, mostly because it was cheap and in a small container that wouldn’t create a ton of waste. It adhered to the cabinet and the wrap well, but EVERYTHING in my house got sticky. It also has a ridiculous cure time. I finished applying glue over a week ago, and there are parts of the wrap that can still be pushed around. When I build another cabinet, I’ll likely just use a natural wood finish. If there is glue involved, it will be of better quality.
  5. I didn’t plan ahead with the electronics and controls for the outside of the cabinet. This is mostly because I didn’t decide what I wanted to do until it was finished (should I build a spring reverb in the base? Should there be LEDs? Does it need a second input jack?). After testing the speaker and hearing how awesome it sounds with the basic setup, I had to attempt to cut and drill through ¾” plywood on the finished product with paddle bits. Ick. I got lucky, but that could have gone badly.
  6. The article hints at the importance of centering the baffle on the motor’s spindle, but it gravely understates the frustration of that process. I originally made a thick cardboard sheet that held up the styrofoam and spun on the motor’s shaft, but it wasn’t strong enough to prevent the baffle from wobbling at high speeds. This wobble caused a TON of vibration in the cabinet and frankly made it unusable. (It also led me down an annoying rabbit hole learning about how to balance spinning objects and how static balance is different than dynamic balance and… I don’t know, I didn’t pay attention in high school physics.) I ended up using a wooden disc with perforations that allow the sound to pass through. This was cut on a laser machine, so I know that the center is true. Even with this, the baffle still wobbles and the cabinet shakes at high speeds. I don’t know how to attempt this most accurately with hand tools, and I would plan on making several baffles before settling on the one that works best.

*footnote*: There is a sweet spot with the speed of rotation. There is very little musical difference in the last 15% of the potentiometer sweep (after adding the 200k resistor). It's worth experimenting with 100k or a smaller value. There is also a faint electronic whine that can be heard with the use of the resistors. It is less pronounced with smaller resistance values.

 

The Final Product:

Overall, I’m very pleased with my DIY Leslie Cabinet! Unlike the original vintage models, this does not have any onboard amplification and is only a speaker. My signal chain starts with my guitar, then goes to any effect pedals that I want to use. It then goes to my Fender tube amp, but I bypass the amp’s speakers and send the signal to the Leslie. This means that I get to enjoy the EQ and gain controls of the amp! The Leslie is plugged in, but I can turn it on and off with an onboard switch which is mounted next to the speed control and the input jack. It’s a lot larger than I anticipated, but I’m very glad that I made it because it does sound quite unique.

 

So How Does It Sound?

I’m surprised by how unique the sound actually is. Many pedals attempt to replicate the sound of the Leslie, but I haven’t heard anything that is absolutely accurate yet. I’m convinced that is because of the way that the cabinet reacts with the room. The natural reverb, echo, and Doppler Effect decay that happens with the air is the secret sauce that can’t be easily replicated in a pedal yet. Granted, I’m not sure that the sound is so unique that it warrants making a big Leslie cabinet. I definitely plan on keeping it and making some cool recordings with it, though!

 

If you’re looking for a Leslie subsitute, I’d recommend one of my favorite pedals – the Walrus Audio Julia. This one packs a big punch because it includes the “Lag” control which detunes the delayed sound of the guitar. It’s not quite like the Doppler Effect, but it adds that watery shimmer that makes the Leslie so unique.

 

Sound Sample: (see bottom of page)

 

Here’s a sound recording of my DIY Leslie in action! This is a clean tone with the aforementioned signal chain, no pedals are used. There is also no EQ or mixing applied.

The recording was taken with an SM57 microphone mounted in the room before going straight into my audio interface. My guitar is a double humbucker setup with DiMarzio pickups.

For a cleaner and more usable sound in a mix, I am excited to try recording this in stereo or with several different mics placed throughout the room at different heights. The Leslie causes sound to swirl around you, and this wacky trait is a bit lost in mono.

 

Conclusion:

I hope that you learned something cool about the Leslie Rotating Speaker, and maybe you’ll try to build one someday! Stay tuned (pun intended) for the next Knowledge Blog, and keep on making art!

Internal Leslie