[keefsdad]

Just scored one for $80 from Marketplace. I'm wondering if anyone has favourite settings they would like to share.

 

[mhammer]

Run it in STEREO, dammit. As I've repeated here ad nauseum, rotary sims come alive when run in stereo, where the spatial swirl becomes audible, and the emulation of what a rotating speaker does becomes more authentic. Operated in mono, they get perceived as just another modulation pedal.

BTW, great deal.

 

[keefsdad]

Thanks Mark, I'll try that. So far I find it's a good sound but it's not going to fool anyone in a blindfold test. I can actually get pretty close with my $45 Coolcat Vibe pedal.

 

[mhammer]

Thanks Mark, I'll try that. So far I find it's a good sound but it's not going to fool anyone in a blindfold test. I can actually get pretty close with my $45 Coolcat Vibe pedal.

And that's what a lot of folks say...until they run it in stereo.
Tim Larwill, who makes Retro-Sonic pedals, and a praise-worthy clone of the Boss CE-1, came over to my place about a decade back. When I learned he had never played through an actual rotating speaker, I said "You HAVE to try one at least once before you die." and hooked up my little "cheesewheel" Vibratone cab, excised from an organ. Tim's jaw dropped. He was stunned. He thought that a really good chorus would do a passable job mimicking a rotary. Good choruses are wonderful things. But 60% of the experience is the spatial swirl that an emulator of any sort going into ONE amp simply cannot replicate.

 

[Guest]

I agree that the real thing is far better. I used to get a great tone playing live with a Pod V2 (the red bean 2nd chip) and a tube amp with a 15" speaker. Really good sound.

 

[Hammerhands]

I wonder how close the RT-20 is to the rotary sound in the VF-1. The default slow sound on the VF-1 with or without the distortion engaged is very good. I would use my favourite distortion unit, but the OD sound is ok, sounds better when you’ve been using it a while and are starting to get hypnotized. You love Boss, all hail Roland.

Run it in STEREO, dammit.

Plug in the headphones for hours of self-indulgence.

That Slow Rotor sound, where it has similar controls to the RT-20:

The slow rotation speed is about 2 times for every 3 seconds, 0.65hz.
The fast rotation speed is 9hz.
The balance is 80% horn.
Overdrive is 60%, hard to say if that translates to 3 or 6.
Rise Time is 50%.
Effects Level is 100% and Depth is 20% for horn and 50% for rotor. I’m not sure how that would translate...Let’s read the manual!

https://static.roland.com/assets/media/pdf/RT-20_OM.pdf

The manual for the RT-20 shows it connected to the GT-8!

Oh, effects level is a master volume, so Direct would be all the way to the left.

This would be a Mode I sound, I think [the mic setting on the VF-1 is off-mic].

The manual says:
Mode I Leslie 122 with natural overdive.
Mode II same with the speaker on-mic, more tremolo effect.
Mode III Marshall 1959 distortion. That’s probably better.
Mode IV Univibe, balance control becomes intensity.

 

[John Fisher]

arrgh ive been looking for one for ages doh! very nice price

 

[keefsdad]

arrgh ive been looking for one for ages doh! very nice price

Yeah, I got lucky. Actually the guy didn't have an amp to test it so I gambled and won. I'll let you know if i decide to flip it.

 

[keefsdad]

I tried it in Stereo, but I'm still underwhelmed. Sounds like a nice chorus pedal to me, not much like a Leslie. Oh well, it's the coolest looking pedal I have

 

[Hammerhands]

Keep the pedal slow. Put the rise time slow, so when you bounce between slow and fast you get a nice build up. You want less direct sound, more rotary sound.

 

[keefsdad]

Yeah I tried that actually. the Univibe mode sounds nothing like a Univibe to me.

 

[John Fisher]

Somewhere online you can get Snowy Whites' setting for this pedal on one of waters solo tours. If i can ever find it I will post the link.

I have heard it is a tone suck pedal. Have you noticed that at all?

 

[keefsdad]

Somewhere online you can get Snowy Whites' setting for this pedal on one of waters solo tours. If i can ever find it I will post the link.

I have heard it is a tone suck pedal. Have you noticed that at all?

No but I haven't really checked it for that. I'll do that tomorrow.

 

[keefsdad]

I tried it again in stereo today and I got it sounding better. The rotary effect is good. There's still something missing, maybe it's a touch of breakup, the overdrive on the pedal sounds awful. No discernable tone suck. Boss buffers are usually pretty good.

 

[John Fisher]

If i did this correct, the vid should start with you being able to see where his rt 20 is set at

and kilminsters setup using it

 

[keefsdad]

Cool, thanks.