Product: Neo Instruments Ventilator
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted
10/12/2009
at
05:12am
by
dave oakley
Ease of Use
:
9
Simple, plug it in and go. Drive, Mic distance, balance and speed are all adjustable from pots on the face of the unit.
It also has a break option but this is not provided for on the interface of the unit and can only be activated using an external footswitch or Leslie half moon switch.
Sound Quality
:
9
It's modelled on a Leslie 122. I've compared it to my Leslie 145 and the sound is very very close. It has plenty of natural sounding tube warmth, which can be dialled in from subtle to massive grungy, distortion. Unlike the pre amp overdrive, this thing emulates power valve overdrive and it really does sound like a pair of 6550's being well and truly saturated. The actual doppler simulation sounds correct, ramp up and down etc, and this can be adjusted to taste, but the best thing about this unit is the way it emulates the Leslie amplifier and the characteristics of the Leslie cabinet. This unit emulates a MIC'd leslie and there is a sense of moving air generated by this box. If you set the MIC to a close mic position, you can hear the air 'effect' as the horn sweeps by and there is a real throaty tone. This is easily the best sounding Leslie simulator i've heard to date and i've heard most of them. For me the best aspect of this unit is the valve emulation. It could even be used set on brake, with a solid state Leslie to 'warm' it up and make it sound like a 122. The ventilator should make any Hammond clone sound better and for me it definetely achieve's it's design goal.
Reliability
:
7
too early to say. Wish it had a proper mains connection instead of a wallwart as these always break eventually, but the cable feels pretty sturdy.
Customer Support
:
8
Excellent. You can email the manufacturer and he'll get back to you straight away. The company are based in Germany, so repairs might be an issue if your outside of the EU. Thankfully i'm not.
Overall Rating
:
9
This is head and shoudlers above anything else available on the market at time of writing. It ain't cheap, but compare it to the cost of a tube Leslie, it's peanuts. It's significantly better than the Leslie sim. on the Nord C1, XK3 etc. I can play this thing through my PC speakers and still forget that its not coming from my 145, which sits next to the PC at home, it really is that good, AND i can get full on Leslie growl without blowing the windows out. If it was lost or stolen i would buy another one without a moments hesitation
