From tonysounds@yahoo.com Tue Jul 17 09:30:08 2007
Subject:RB3 Convertible AMA is here!!!!

I got my RB3 AMA Convertible yesterday. Arrived safe and sound. And lucky for me, my family was gone when I got home from work so I had an hour to play with it before they returned. A very quick setup: ¼” cable from my XK1 to my AMA module; multi-pin connector from back of AMA to lower rotor box; shorter multi-connector from low rotor box to upper rotor box; footswitch to lower rotor; done. Only one AC cable, from the AMA module; the AMA supplies electricity to both boxes. (My Pro3t/LoPro set up had 2 AC cables, midi cable connecting the upper to lower rotor, instrument cable to Pro-3t and I think an instrument cable from top to bottom as well, plus the footswitch.) Of course the Speakeasy connector cables are precut leaving no doubt which goes where (longer one from AMA to lower rotor, short one from lower to upper rotor).

Most of you have probably already read or heard how the AMA works; but if you haven’t, there’s the familiar Volume, Treble, Bass knobs, and in the next section, the Power Amp knob and the Line Out knob. I look at it as the first 3 knobs work like the SE Pre, and then the Power knob works as the channel volume and the Line Out knob works as the Master volume on an old Marshall Plexi. Whatever you do, start with the Line Out knob all the way off, cuz there’s a lot of power to be throttled. I set the eq on my XK1 flat, and the volume at full; the AMA was volume (V) 12:00, and same for (T)reble and (B)ass. (P)ower was set at 9:00 and I increased the (L)ineout to a nice hefty volume.

WOW! Just a simple 888800000 was warm and fat, and it was powerful, and clean! When my expression pedal was floored, I got a little of that grind at the top, which I wasn’t looking for yet. My first test was to see how loud I could go before that. I found that for the loudest possible mellow Gregg Allman tone using that 8888 (of course reducing that drawbar setting gets you closer, but I just want to see how loud I can get it) was leaving the V T B knobs where they were, dropping the P knob to just above off, and winding the L knob all the way up, and setting the XK1 at 12:00. That gave me a nice chunk of volume, more than I could get with my Bulldog or shortboy 122, or my 21H/122. Of course goosing the P knob started pushing volume way up (and added some pleasing McDuff-type grind). I also found by putting P back down, I could introduce the right amount of grind by just turning up the XK1. Pulling L back to about 2:00, and going to 888888888 was magnificent! No
shrill hash, no flabby bass, the RB3 AMA was begging for it! Hearing the low rotor again was very sweet, but sweeter than my other leslies because the low end was just smooth as can be. I don’t kick left hand bass in the bands I’m in, but I wouldn’t have been able to do with my shortboys as the low-end was kind of saggy and sloppy at that volume, mostly because of the cabinetry. Speakeasy has really tuned this low end box; the low end is fat and yet tight, and can take everything you give it. It makes me wonder what the “sub out” jack was for!!!

Clean tones were nice and loud and grin inducing. I find it easy to get grimy organ tones through a leslie (even without swapping tubes), but the problem you run into is the outer limits of the frequency range, the low end again and in some registrations the top end (which is why most rock organ revolves around 888800000, but no problem with this beast. Even with 888888888, this thing was smooth top to bottom, and percussion really had that THUNK! But going back to 8888 on the XK1, leaving the preamp section alone and increasing the (P)ower knob to 12:00 and reducing the (L)ineout knob back to 10:00, I could get screaming Lord/Goldie tones with no flatulence or flab, and with a TON of headroom.

But the best part??? Stopping the rotors and turning up gave me the most authentic Machine Head tone I have ever heard, better than seeing Lord live (who by the time I saw him was using leslies *never stopped* with 15” boxes underneath for straight tone). This was loud as hell, and in stop mode, with the AMA being driven, was giving me Highway Star nastiness like you wouldn’t believe. Adding in a little onboard delay on the XK1 had me just about crapping on myself; jamming on the staccato 8th note riff with the L knob at 2:00 had the walls and windows of my studio literally rattling. Riffing on the arpeggiated solo didn’t feel fake (I can’t play like this on a “polite” setting….it just doesn’t inspire the same sort of uber-dominant alpha-male approach this music demands), and jamming on the harmonic minor melody at that volume was an epiphany!!!! Capping off that sequence with the iv-iii change (and using the modwheel to trigger the ‘kill motor and amp’ effect) was
simply pants wetting. And I don’t even like the stop setting!!!!!! But I can see now that that may be a stunt that comes into play for a while.

Two quick knob turns and I was back into clean territory with a vanload of volume. This was the most flexible organ rig I’ve had short of B4, but obviously more believable, or at least more inspiring. I was wrecked!!!!!!! By this time, the family was home and I had to power down. But I went back into the studio at 11pm, and found myself back in Steppenwolf territory, but at a super low volume. All that harmonic fire, those little overtones just waiting to be goosed out at max volume were there at “late nite, don’t wake the wife and kids” volume. I have NEVER been able to practice with a leslie at night EVER. But everything I wanted was right here.

I have said before that Bob Manzitti’s Speakeasy RB2 is the best leslie I have ever heard. (If I could have fit it in my car without risking the headliner on a regular basis with my other gear, I’d have bought it.) But I truly believe this thing will spank it. It has all the power and then some (I’m sure of it as I like to run the leslies full out, and I know the AMA has even more to spare) of the RB2, all the tone and even more tonal capabilities. But this is way more manageable in terms of moving it. The RB3 convertible is a one man job for just about anybody, pre-existing back issues aside. The lower rotor box is the same size as the RB3 (it’s an RB3 box), but is much lighter as the tube amp is not in there. Picking it up and lifting into my car was a breeze. The top rotor box is much lighter than you would believe looking at it. (This has the Speakeasy build quality and construction you expect….I think the term is ‘over-engineered’, but for a gigging musician
who ends up banging these things around in and out of clubs, halls, vehicles, up and down stairs and all the possible hazards that entails, I don’t think you can over-engineer anything.) And of course the 3space rack with the AMA doesn’t weigh much at all.

Fits in my Highlander with my Motif 8, XK1, Yorkville 300K, cable/pedalboard case, keyboard stand (and possibly my 8space synth rack…I’ll check that out soon), takes less than 5 minutes to set up, and sounds better than any leslie (or impersonator) I’ve ever owned, and is definitely the most maneagable.

As the former owner of a LoPro-Pro3t rig, Pro 145, and 2101 (x2), I found all of these solutions unworkable. They all lacked the warmth and depth of a real leslie, and were power deficient (some more than others). While my RB3 has been fantastic, for the really stupid volumes I play at with one of my bands, it comes up short (but still better than any other leslie or solution I tried). Now I have power to spare, and have the luxury of the lower rotor again. And the 15” supplies all the bottom end I would ever need, even if I was to start an organ trio (the race is on Moe!).

Unfortunately, I’m out of town for baseball this weekend, so the maiden-gig is still next Saturday, at the Taste of Lincoln. But what a coming out party it’s gonna be!!!!

T

"The meek shall inherit nothing." -FZ
www.myspace.com/pinkfreudchicago
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