| PRODUCT: | Speakeasy "Vintage Tube Classic" tube powered combo pre-amp |
| MAKER: | Speakeasy Vintage Music |
| COST: | $369.95 USD for 147 Pedal, $389.95 USD for 122 pedal |
| WEB: | www.speakeasyvintagemusic.com |
| DATE: | July 2001 |
I should say first that I'm not affiliated with the maker of this pedal in any way and I don't get any money or discount in exchange for reviewing this product. I bought my pedal from Tony LaBrasca at BT Productions, and though I have spoken with the pedal designer/manufacturer on the phone recently, I've had no financial dealings of any kind with them.
I have written several internet reviews on organ related products over the years. As a gigging organ player I write reviews from the perspective of the working musician. Be advised: different players have different opinions about the same gear. You should take the views I express in this review as my own personal opinions. You may disagree...
I usually try not to start equipment reviews with my subjective judgments, but this time I'm making an exception. This pedal pre-amp sounds fantastic. The tone is extremely clear and detailed, showing off the subtlest aspects of my Korg CX-3. The CX-3's attack transients (percussion & key click) and also it's leakage and crosstalk sounds are VERY well amplified with this pedal, plainly bringing out the personality and character of the organ. Yet even though the tone is so clear and detailed, it is also punchy and meaty. The pedal has volume, treble, and bass controls and tons of output. Overall, this is the best sounding pedal pre-amp I've ever used.
This pedal is old school all the way, using a vintage style tube and transformer design that provides smooth clear tone with lots of warmth and punch. The pre-amp's electrical components are hand wired together, much the way your Leslie amp is, which should improve reliability and serviceability over time.
The pre-amp pedal comes in two versions, one to drive a Leslie 147 type amp, and one for a 122. The cost is $369.95 for the 147 version and and $389.95 for the 122 in US dollars. This is more than you'd pay for a used Leslie Combo pedal, but is in the same cost neighborhood as the popular Trek pedal. The Hampton pedal, a fine pre-amp that I've used for years, is in the $500 to $600 range. But frankly, I like the Speakeasy Vintage Tube best of all of them and my personal opinion is that cost-wise, this pedal is a very good comparative value, considering it's great sound.
First a word about the rig I play this pedal through. I use a Korg CX-3 played through a Leslie 145 (that model uses a stock 147 amp). Also, to show you the orientation of my ears, I've gigged with the Hampton tube based pre-amp through my Leslie 145 for about four years. Before that, I played through a Hammond-Suzuki 1147 kit to the same Leslie. I also used a Leslie Combo Preamp for a short time. I've owned and gigged extensively with a Hammond-Suz XB-2, XK-2, and the new Korg CX-3. I also own a stock '59 Hammond C-3 which I play regularly through a Leslie 147 at home, though I don't gig with the C-3.
Using the Vintage Tube pedal pre-amp, my CX-3 sounds very clear and detailed, yet very punchy. The CX-3 has a lot of subtlety in it's sound including generator leakage, both attack and release key clicks, all programmable through a wide range of levels. The C-1, C-2, and C-3 choruses all have different qualities. The Vintage Tube pedal does a remarkably effective job of bringing all these details out through my Leslie. Even the Hampton pedal that I've been using for years, a very nice sounding pedal, does not capture the detail that this pedal does. This is all very important because the Hammond clones normally fall down in their attempts to emulate some of the subtler aspects of the B-3's personality, and this pedal does a good job of showing what your clone can do. The CX-3 has more personality and character than any other clone I've played and the Vintage Tube pre-amp showed off all aspects of that character very well.
The overall tone of the pedal is very good. I felt that the CX-3 tone sounded slightly more open and more airy through this pedal. Also, the pedal has good punch, most especially in the attack section of the notes and so I find that the notes punch through the band mix very well.
I found that the Vintage Tube pedal made the CX-3 percussion, click, and leakage effects sound louder, so I turned them down. The turned down effects could still be clearly heard, yet because they were at a lower level relative to the drawbar tone, they seemed to blend better with the basic organ tone, making the overall organ sound fuller and punchier; more like a real B-3. Indeed, the Vintage Tube pedal made the CX-3 sound more like a "real" organ, and definitely made it more fun to play.
The basic drawbar tone output from the CX-3 are very clearly amplified with this pedal. I found I was using less of the higher drawbars than with other pre-amps because with the Vintage Tube pedal the details are so apparent. As drawbars are pulled into a sustained chord they are clearly audible, which I feel helps the organ sound fuller and more interesting, and gives it more and wider penetration in the band mix. I liked this clarity very much because it allowed me to use subtle drawbar changes to better effect within the band mix.
A possible downside of all the clarity is that the CX-3 (and most other clones) tends to sound very bright in the top octave, even harsh, and the Vintage Tube pedal can very clearly amplify that brightness, which can be too much. The Vintage Tube pedal's excellent fidelity can reveal tonal inconsistencies across a clone's pitch range, exposing weaknesses as well as accenting the strengths of a particular clone. Yet in balance I find that the advantages gained in punch and clarity of attack clearly outweigh the disadvantage of exposing a clone's shortcomings. At least, that is the case with the CX-3. And fortunately, the treble knob on the Vintage Tube pedal has a pretty usable range (as does the bass control), and you can dial out the more objectionably piercing high note frequencies put out by your clone without taking away much clarity.
This pedal has a very healthy output level, which I find to be quite useful in a gigging situation. Previously, registrations such as 800000008 could sometimes get a bit lost in the band mix, because there just isn't much output from the organ on a sparse registration like that. But with the high output levels and excellent clarity of this pedal, that registration comes through in the mix pretty well. You can overdrive your Leslie to any degree, if that's what you like. And you have enough some headroom so that when you max out the organ volume during a solo, this pedal will give you all the output your Leslie's capable of (now if only the Leslie itself were louder!).
The pedal itself is a wedge shaped box. Lined up along the top front edge of the box (the edge away from the player) are an on/off switch, 1/4" input jack, a pilot lamp (not an LED), and large volume treble and bass control knobs. The ramp leading down toward the player's foot holds a classic heavy duty foot toggle switch and is covered with a black sandpaper-like material. At the top of the ramp is another fast/slow lamp that illuminates when the Leslie is in fast (tremolo) mode.
The front edge facing away from the player has the power cord coming out of it. The power cord is about six or seven feet long and is connected inside the box (not removable). I would have liked the cord to be a foot or two longer, though the length is adequate for all the circumstances I've been in so far. Even better would be the use of a modern modular power cord receptacle such as that seen on modern synths, computers, etc. That would allow the player to choose the length cord most suitable and would make packing the pedal easier as well.
The Leslie connection method is very innovative and I feel that it's a great feature of this pedal. The pedal comes with a short "pigtail" cable. This cord is about eight inches long and has a normal 6 pin Leslie female cord on one end with a CPC type connector on the other end. The CPC connector is a durable military spec multi-pin connector with gold contacts that plugs into a socket on the side of the Vintage Tube pedal. Once plugged into the pedal, you twist the connector sleeve a half turn or so and it locks into place. You plug your Leslie cable into the Leslie end of this short "pigtail" cable, and the CPC end of the pigtail into the pedal. There are several advantages to this method. First, if someone should kick your Leslie cable on the stage or trip over it or whatever, the Leslie connector cable will simply pull straight out of the pigtail cleanly without bending/breaking the Leslie connector pins. You simply leave the pigtail connected to your Leslie cable when you coil it up after the gig and it's ready for use on the next gig. Another advantage of this arrangement is that the CPC connector has a sleeve that protects the contact pins. With a Leslie cable, the connector long pins are openly exposed to wear and tear. By leaving the pigtail connected to your Leslie cable you are protecting Leslie connector pins. So the pigtail both protects your Leslie cable and provides a more secure connection at the pedal itself.
One note on the power and speed lamps. The lamps are bright enough that I could see their state in direct sunlight on an outdoor gig, (an advantage unfortunately not shared by my CX-3's LED's!).
When I opened up the pedal to look inside I was very surprised to find no circuit board. This pedal is hand wired/assembled using all discrete components wired point-to-point and secured in the box with lug screws. This is the way your Leslie or B-3 is wired and it should make this pedal unusually durable. I feel that this is an important consideration for road musicians who routinely put their gear through ungodly extremes of temperature and rough handling. Also, the parts used in this pedal should be pretty easy to find and replace on the road if anything ever goes wrong.
The box itself is rather large, a little bigger than a Hampton or Leslie Combo pedal, though smaller than the bulky Trek. I wish it could have been a little smaller yet, but Speakeasy says that the pedal is being made in small quantities (so far) so they're using a standard off-the-shelf general purpose box, rather than a custom built box that could be tailored to save space. Also, the discrete components used in this box do seem to take up most of the space inside.
The "Vintage Tube" pedal is a great sounding pedal that delivers detail, clarity, punch, and warmth of tone that I have not heard in any other Leslie pedal pre-amp. The controls are large, heavy duty, and easy to use. Looking inside, it is very sturdily put together, and though it's a new model that has not yet stood the test of time, it looks as if it will hold up well. Priced competitively, this is truly a high end product in the sound it delivers.
m a r k l o n g o
www.HighmarkDesign.com
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