Clavia Nord Electro 2 User Manual page 54

9. History: The story behind the Electro 2 instruments
He filed a patent application in 1940. Don Le-
slie met with Hammond representatives that
same year and gave them the opportunity to
buy his invention, but they refused. Instead, he
started his own company and launched the
product into the market under the name "Vi-
bratone." In 1946 the name was modified to
"Leslie Vibratone". Finally, in 1949, The name
"Vibratone" was dropped and the models
where named only "Leslie" after its inventor.
Over the years, Don Leslie improved the design and introduced
a vast number of different models. In 1963, he began shipping
the Leslie 122 cabinet and it became the most popular model.
The basic principle behind the Leslie 122 is the incorporation of
two rotating objects. One is a spinning drum with a deflector
mounted beneath a downward-facing 15" speaker for bass fre-
quencies -- those below 800Hz. Higher up inside the 122 is a
compression horn-driver attached to a rotating dual-bell horn
assembly for mid range and treble frequencies. One of these
horns is actually sealed; it's only there to serve as a counterbal-
ance. Therefore, you only hear higher frequencies emanating
from the open-ended bell. The sound is amplified by a 40-watt
tube amplifier. The 122 also features two rotation speeds: The
slow speed, which creates a chorus effect, is known as "chorale,"
and the faster speed was named "tremolo." Switching between
these two speeds at musically appropriate times creates a won-
derful -- and even emotional -- effect.
Don Leslie, who turned 91 in 2002,
estimates that around 200,000
original Leslie 122 cabinets were
built in total. Laurens Hammond
himself never liked the Leslie cabi-
net and refused to have anything to
do with this product. Instead, he
tried to manufacture other solu-
tions hoping he would make the Le-
slie obsolete, but he never
succeeded. The Leslie speaker was
an instant success. Pairing a Leslie
with a Hammond organ proved the
perfect match, and this combina-
tion became a "must have" for many
Hammond organ players.
Page 54
The patent for
the "Apparatus
for imposing vi-
brato on sound"
filed by Don Les-
lie in 1940.
The treble horns in a Leslie 122. One
horn is a dummy to give the right a
balance during rotation. Only the
horn rotates; the horn driver remains
stationary. At the mouth of the horn
is diffuser cone which widens the dis-
persion to give a "more musically
pleasing tone".
The bass drum. The deflector inside
the drum isn't visible. A thin cloth
covers the round drum. The Leslie
122's 15" speaker doesn't rotate. It
remains stationary while the drum
spins.
NORD ELECTRO 2 V3.0x
Inside a Leslie 122. Each rotor has its own
motor. A 40-watt tube amplifier drives the
speaker components.