Looking For Tremolo Pedal

[Dugz Ink]

Background

When I was a kid, we had a small church organ in our house, with a Leslie that was almost as big as the organ. You could control the speed of the Leslie speakers with a lever that was located near your knee; the harder you pressed on the lever, the faster the speakers revolved. That was great for sustained notes!

What I Want

I've been searching sites for a tremolo pedal that does the same thing. In this case, I want a pedal that adjusts the amount of the effect... NOT a foot switch that turns on/off the effect and has a small knob for adjusting the effect.

In other words, I'm looking for a non-springloaded pedal that works like the adjustment knob on the typical tremolo boxes. When the pedal is tilted one way, you have a very slight tremolo effect, but the effect increases as your foot tilts the pedal the other way. (I hope that makes sense.)

Does anybody know where I can find something like that?

D~s

[thedoctor]

Ahhh! The old Hammond B3 with knee Leslie speed switch! Love it! I have an old J-Station with a pedal board that you can assign the parameter of the rotary speaker effect as percent, speed or swell to the pedal. Out of production but I believe the Boss pedals with rotary(stereo, no less) have a parameter selection that allows you to assign the pedal as speed. Same thing with the Pods but I don't own the pedal for a Pod so I haven't ever tried it.

[Dugz Ink]

Well... it was a Yamaha church organ, not a Hammond... but same concept.

I did locate something (listed under "vibrato" not "tremolo") that looks like it will do the trick, but I hate to spend $140 on a pedal without knowing anything about it. Will the Dunlop Rotovibe sound decent? Or are their claims of being "an electronic rotating speaker simulator" over-blown?

D~s

[thedoctor]

Well, that Dunlop is new to me but it looks like it MIGHT fit the bill. It is returnable, in any case. What I thought was important is that for true Leslie effect, the tweeter (horn) and the rotating main baffle spun at different speeds. I used to change belt-tension on the Hammond units to get what "artists" thought was the right "slip" between the two. They would fall into phase and out of phase on a (to me) random pattern. Hendrix didn't fool with any of that phase-relation stuff, if that is what you are after. My customers were keyboard people ( with the exception of Taj) and they Knew when the belts were loose enough. Go figure.

[Dugz Ink]

What I thought was important is that for true Leslie effect, the tweeter (horn) and the rotating main baffle spun at different speeds.

You know EXACTLY what I'm talking about! WHAT A GREAT SOUND!

I was looking for something that I could plug into the FX Send on my mixer, that way I could rock the pedal and apply it to my synth, a guitar, or vocals while recording. I just think that would be totally awesome.

Several years ago, I bought a church organ (that had 18-Gazillion vacumm tubes inside) and two leslies. Not only did it take 6 people to move the organ into the house, it litterally shook the entire house when I turned on everything. I loved it... but the wife was not happy, so I sold everything... and had to find other people to move the organ out because the people who helped me move it in knew what they were in for and came up with various excuses.

So I figured a pedal would be better... if it can actually replicate "that" sound.

D~s

[Mickguard]

There's a couple of Rotovibes on ebay right now...definitely sounds like a cool effect to have...

I don't usually go for pedals, but this idea I like...

[lovekraft]

The Rotovibe is a great pedal - I don't think it quite gets the classic Leslie sound because it's full range/single speed, but it's mighty close, and the expression pedal makes adjusting the "spin" speed really convenient. Try one if you get a chance, it could very well be exactly what you're looking for (and it's a lot easier to tote around than a Leslie 120 cabinet! ). We dragged a chopped Baby B and a Leslie tallboy along on the road with us for about 3 years, but I was a lot younger then - no way I could do that now!

[antonio jueveras]

couldnt you use a regurlar tremelo pedal with a wah style casing and a volume pot?

[thedoctor]

Now, dangit, SOMEBODY makes an effect that you can set the bass-baffle and horn speed seperate! I saw it and thought how cool that they really understood the Leslie sound. I'm gonna reread all the crap I read last week and find that booger. Let you know.