Electro Harmonix Lester K Rotary Simulator (For Keys and Guitars)
Rotary simulators generate a lot of discussions on the web and the Lester K is the newest arrival to try and simulate the holy grail of organs, namely the Leslie cabinet. The Lester K has some great features and is half the price of the Neo Ventilator so how good is it?. Well I've owned a Ventilator 1 and although it's not as accurate I find it more exciting. I really like the spin up/spin down speeds and it doesn't suck any of the tone from the dry organ - in fact it enhances the key click and drawbar harmonics giving it a real vintage hammond vibe. The drive will not suit everyone as it's more modern and aggressive sounding but for rock and blues it's perfect and adds plenty for grit. I mainly use it around halfway - you don't need anymore unless you are going for that Jon Lord sound.
It is quite a bit smaller than the competitors and fits neatly on top of my Nord. The foot switches are momentary and very light so they can be operated by hand. This was not the case with the Vent although that had a remote option. It's true stereo in and out with true bypass which is another plus. You can also adjust the Rotor/Horn balance which is great for removing some of the treble and it also has a volume control on the output so you can crank it up for solos without risking overloading the inputs.
Finally, the Lester K sounds more like a Leslie in the room than a mic'd Leslie and I think that why I prefer it to the Vent. It sounds great with the Nord Electro 5D using Clean B3 and no effects. I think different organs suit different Leslie simulators and you really have you try each one till you nail your sound. At the moment the Lester K and the Nord E5 does it for me! Well done EHX!
It is quite a bit smaller than the competitors and fits neatly on top of my Nord. The foot switches are momentary and very light so they can be operated by hand. This was not the case with the Vent although that had a remote option. It's true stereo in and out with true bypass which is another plus. You can also adjust the Rotor/Horn balance which is great for removing some of the treble and it also has a volume control on the output so you can crank it up for solos without risking overloading the inputs.
Finally, the Lester K sounds more like a Leslie in the room than a mic'd Leslie and I think that why I prefer it to the Vent. It sounds great with the Nord Electro 5D using Clean B3 and no effects. I think different organs suit different Leslie simulators and you really have you try each one till you nail your sound. At the moment the Lester K and the Nord E5 does it for me! Well done EHX!
July 18, 2017
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Charlie G.
