Rotary Speaker FX - Only Two Speeds

  • As far as I can tell the rotary speaker effect has two speed options: slow and fast. For my use the slow speed is too slow and flang-y sounding and the fast speed is pretty frantic.


    Is there any way to edit the speeds?


    Thanks!

    Too many guitars, not enough strings!

  • nope.

    they reflect the two possible and authentic speeds (plus the ramp up and down between them) of a Leslie.


    you can use the Vibrato effect or a Chorus effect with very high Depth and Mix setting to get a similar sound that is fully speed adjustable.

  • This has been requested several times before to no avail.


    As Don says, the current options are SUPPOSED to replicate the two speed of a real Leslie. However, this arguement falls flat for me on a number of points:


    1 - real Leaslie cab are mechanical beasts and therefore prone to variations. So while the speeds may accurately represent one specific Leslie on any give day, there are plenty of others (or even the same one on a different day) where the speed is going to be different.


    2 - later Leslies actually had a variable speed controller.


    3. - its called Rotary not Leslie. Although a Leslie is by far the most common Rotary speaker there were also plenty of others. Even Mesa Boogie made a rotary guitar cabinet at one point.


    4 - in other parts of the system (such as the Reverbs and delays for example) the KPA uses a massively flexible engine to allow users to craft the sound they want. Instead of haveing individual Ambience, Room and Hall setting now, the KPA simply has a Reverb that cab cover anything the user wants - including sounds that don’t exist in the real world. I can’t see any logic in not extending this to something as simple as Rotary Speed. It would be useful to be able to tweak the speed to match users requirements. I try not to use any external pedals with my Kemper as one of its key advantages is convenience. However, if I was doing a lot of gigs just now wher Rotary was a core part of the tone I would use my old Strymon Mobius instead of the Rotary in the KPA as it is so much more powerful.

  • 5. - The original Leslies have a triple gear pulley for the horn, so if you want to "change gear" you can just put the belt on either of the 3 differently sized "gears". Have written that a few times over the years but sadly it keeps getting ignored.



    This setup has been the standard for all Leslies since the introduction of slow and fast speed switching (dual motor setup). The single speed pulleys were only used in the earliest Leslies that only had fast and off.


    In addition to this, I would also welcome all my fellow readers (including the Kemper staff) to the 21st century, hehe … which refers to point #4 of Alan's post. :)