NEO INSTRUMENTS
VENTILATOR
BY CHARLES SAUFLEY
Of all the analog effects painstakingly emulated through the magic of digital
signal processing (DSP), perhaps none is as
difficult to nail as the swirl and warble of a
rotary speaker cabinet. It’s easy to understand
why. Unlike, say, an analog fuzz, which is
merely another tone-altering circuit between
your guitar and amp, the rotary speaker
is practically a living, breathing thing at
the speaking end of your signal chain—an
organic combination of machine and moving
air that’s exceedingly difficult to imitate with
a computer chip and mounted speaker.
Rotary speaker cabs have the distinc-
tion of being immensely impractical too.
The largest and most powerful specimens
are hefty enough to justify the use of a
small forklift. And even more manageably
sized units like Fender’s Vibratone are still
potential maintenance nightmares—if you
can find a solid working unit at all. This
conundrum leaves a lot of players lusting
for the authentically wobbly sounds of Pink
Floyd’s “Us and Them” arpeggios, Stevie
Ray Vaughan’s queasy and chugging “Cold
Shot,” or George Harrison’s funky Let It
Be tones between a rock and a hard place.
But if Neo Instruments Ventilator rotary
cabinet simulator is any indication, DSP
technology—aided by some very inspired
and obsessive engineers—has taken another
important step in bridging the gap.
Spinning While Sitting Still
A lot of manufacturers had a go at rotary
speaker manufacturing in the ’60s and
’70s. Fender’s Vibratone (a derivative of
the Leslie 16) was among the most suc-
cessful, finding favor with the Beatles,
and more recently, Heartbreaker Mike
Campbell. Odd brands like Cordovox,
Elka, and Dynacord, to name a few, also
made very cool sounding rotary cabinets
that have found their way onto records
ever since. But none are more legendary
than the Leslie—the original rotary speaker
cabinet, built for use with the Hammond
organ, and adopted by guitarists in the
mid ’60s. The Neo Ventilator is modeled
after one of the most famous Leslies of all,
the 122, which features a tube amplifier
section, woofer and treble speakers, and
most importantly a cylindrical lower rotor
that disperses the woofer’s output, and two
Bass and
treble rotor
emulation
control
Microphone
proximity
emulation
Slow/Fast
modes
Tube amp
overdrive
emulation
