DIY Leslie Part II: The Reve-less-ion

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