Leslie Speaker Review - 122H, 142H, 3300, 122

[@mrw301]

That vintage 122 sounds great. There is a huge distinction in the sound between it and the other three. This would be fun to do with a vintage tone wheel organ as well since their sound is so much different from the xk5

[@soundmindmusic-cy1sk]

Agreed use a vintage tonewheeel organ to test them out

[@CX2Pilot]

Well done video!! All the leslies sound good and more different from each other than I thought. The 3300 is the brightest to me. I prefer the vintage 122/145 leslie's. I'm playing out with a vintage 145 leslie, stock jenson driver, stock crossover, aftermarket 15" speaker, all new matched tubes, hammond B3 organ. My choice would be the vintage 122 or 145. Then the 122H or 142H. For extreme volume I would go with the 3300.

[@NicolaMenel]

142h it’s my favorite, thank you!

[@abwdoc]

Thank you so much for doing this, Nick. This kind of shootout is awesome… Where else can you hear all of them? I have several Leslie 122s and 147s… But honestly, I prefer my 3300 onstage. It’s a little easier to move…allows me to overdrive it at any volume, and gives me all the power I need with that classic Leslie sound that sims don’t quite seem to nail. Keep up the great videos !!

[@nickfoleyuk]

@@abwdoc the reason I own a 3300 too!

[@kierenmoore3236]

Which of these sounds most like your 147s, would you say?

[@nickfoleyuk]

@@kierenmoore3236 the 142h probably. The 122h also sounds great. The new ones have a flick switch to emulate them too

[@kierenmoore3236]

@@nickfoleyuk Why would a 142 sound more like a 147 than a 122? Aren’t the 147 and the 122 far more similar?

[@Nik79845]

Hello Nick, in my opinion the large throat bakelite horn of the vintage 122 is the best choice. Why they don’t equip new Leslies with that type of horn is a mistery. New Heritage Leslies seems to have large throat horns too but they are plastic made and sounds quite different. Not to mention 3300 models equipped with narrow throat horn that is suitable for clean or jazz sounds but absolutely not for rock and heavy overdriven sounds. I would like to know your opinion on this matter. Many thanks.

[@nickfoleyuk]

Agree on the whole and thats why I think the 122 sounds he best. The 122H is not bad though, it just gives you a headache sooner (probably for reasons you have described). I play with a 3300 in a heavy rock band and there is a sweet spot (just) where it works how you want it to. Is certainly more screechy and you wouldnt want to A/B it with a vintage leslie but it sits in the mix well and get the point across. The recording of this video was actually done on an XK-5 and 3300 for example: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sHjPoXyGp5qFgqs

[@Nik79845]

It sounds very good, even if it’s a new model (with new horn inside). Years ago I’ve swapped a narrow throat horn of a Leslie 2101 with a vintage bakelite one and the result was very good (new and reliable components with a vintage sound). Maybe you can try that horn swap with your Leslies, the bearing base of the two horns it’s of the same measures, even the screw holes. Bye.

[@sagaciousp5267]

The new 122h sounded gorgeous on the hymn riff - the most lyrical sounding to me overall. They all have their own unique desirable characteristics though.

[@Trewqgtt]

Great demo. All of them sound superb. Personally I played with a Farfisa pro 88 with drawbars and and Sharmette Leslie years ago. Now I want to purchase a Leslie 3300 basically for the wheels and portability for gigs, with a M Solo Hammond, for I play mostly guitar but with a little bit of organ and I refuse to use a virtual rotary speaker. Great channel, greetings fro:Spain.

[@kierenmoore3236]

Love the old 122. 122H my next favourite. Which of these would an old 147 sound most like … ?!

[@georgebarabas]

Vintage 122 is the winner...the H series were great too but there's no magic...(perhaps the old cabinet, speakers and the amp makes the difference...) Anyways...thanks to Hammond Suzuki for still producing these rotary speakers!

[@Ianplankton]

This looked like a LOT of work - thanks for doing it! For me the vintage cab sounded the best for dirty organ noises and the 3300 next closest (but perhaps 100x more reliable?)

[@robinhodejesusrobinson6263]

That 142 was my favorite sounding Leslie

[@Jenairaslebol27merde]

these leslies sound quite different to each other, more than i would have expected. especially the 122H vs. the vintage 122, that was a bit surprising; at the price of the 122H i would have expected they make it as close to the vintage one as possible. but apart from this, real mechanical leslies are always better than digital simulations. way, way better. :) (one last note... i would have appreciated the review to be with less overdrive effect all over the place... i love the "rock" sound, but there's also many situations where you would prefer a cleaner sound, e.g. jazz or in churches or so. no effects, just the leslie itself occasionally adding a bit of dirt. i think this review could have been the place to show up maybe even more (and subtle) nuances between the different models).

[@artie218]

This comparison is interesting, but ultimately for the organ pro ultimately.. I am very interested in the Numa SE X with its drawbars and tonewheel engine

[@JC-td4gg]

Even with the 3300 all new Leslie are priced out of reach for most organ players when the old ones are still available at reasonable prices!

[@gregkrouse9015]

I wonder what Hammons keyboard Leslie simulators sound like in comparison. Hammons been very good at duplicating sounds. Perhaps you can do the same thing with the internal unit obviously not as great as Leslie box. The other thing I’ve wondered about is if there’s anyway you can mess with the speed of ramping between slow and fast and also I know that some of the old organist actually put floppy belts or drives in their Leslies to get them to wow, a little bit. Theresa back to be done electronically.

[@hammondvoodoo9555]

Great video! Despite the premium quality of the new Leslie models 122H/142H, which are a drastic improvement over the Leslie 122XB in every way, I would never buy one. It's simply much too expensive for what it is. For half the price of a 122H I could buy a vintage 122 and refurbish it to pristine condition, given that the cabinet is still OK. But the latter isn't too important anyway for most musicians considering stage-use as opposed to having it as home decoration. However, one would require a flightcase to protect that beautiful lumber core cabinet, which makes it really heavy. Soundwise, the 122H is the first Leslie in decades (!) that rivals a vintage 122. Both are way superior to the 3300, which sounds dull to me.

[@teashea1]

Very interesting video. I prefer clean sound and reliability - thus I have a 3300 with my XK5/dual.

[@nickfoleyuk]

Let’s hear some Leslie’s folks!

[@user-pengyi]

It doesn’t show preamp mode 122h in 147 transistor preamp mode or 122 type of tube mode , 142h just means cabinet size it’s a 142/145 size right? 122h is a 122/147 standard size, but the preamp you can setting to 122 tube style or 147 pedal preamp style

[@lengletmichel9507]

Bonjour Votre avis sur le leslie Hammond 2103 mk2 ? Bonne journèe

[@innerfire-graham9016]

No studio 12?

[@nickfoleyuk]

@@innerfire-graham9016 nope. I don’t have one

[@jimn6218]

I vote vintage 122

[@B3-R]

122 more balanced, nicer, thanks lots of work there👍

[@mikeh-mikesvintagekeys7739]

Nick, thank you, I posted on the live bit. For me, the new 122H or 142H sound most to my tastes, the 3300 is a little harsh for me( somewhat like my 760s), your original 122 sounds very bright, at least more than my 147 or 251. So for me I like the totally unaffordable H Leslies, I also prefer the sound on your C3! Cheers!

[@mrdali67]

Kinda disappointed as I thought that the price of the Heritage models would indicate better work at getting them to sound like the Originals, there is absolutely no comparison. They sound all fine .. too fine. The 3300 is much better tho. I actually like the sound of it very much for a modern leslie and its much more practical to handle, but would still prefer to have an old 122 .. so dirty and much more "Full" sound. There is tones in that thing that don't come out at ALL in the modern Leslies. I'm not too impressed with the XK-5 either as is but it actually sound very good with the 3300, but absolutely nothing like a vintage Hammond. Other clones sound better and closer to a Vintage Hammond than the XK-5 for less money. As long as you have a good Vintage Leslie.

[@CarSimping]

All you ever play is f blues scale, or f blues none sense. Cmon brother… it’s been months if not years