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I just got a Tornado..!


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I"d like to know how much clean tone it has before it gets really distorted. The fact that it"s more than double the wattage of a valve Leslie is interesting to me.

 

Also, if you take it to gigs, I"d be interested to know if it handles being your only amplification in a big room, especially one with a high ceiling. My valve Leslie"s always struggle with that scenario.

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PhD in Jazz Organ Improvisation.

BMus (Hons) Jazz Piano.

my YouTube is Jazz Organ Bites

1961 A100.Leslie 45 & 122. MAG P-2 Organ. Kawai K300J. Yamaha CP4. Moog Matriarch. KIWI-8P.

 

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Feel free to ask me anything. I got the new 115 model with built-in 80w tube amp. It"s small, lightweight and sounds killer. I"ve set it up with my XK5 in my studio, next to my A-100/122 and I"ll try to match the sounds over time.

 

When I "google" for that new model,- I only get the same info about Tornado rotary speaker I got way earlier,- 115 model w/ the ext. tube amp,- or the 300+W (and more lightweight) sollid state model.

Same when I loook on youtube ...

 

Is there any link to a rotary speaker w/ integrated 80W tube amp existing ?

Where to buy,- what´s the (improved ?) specs, price and conditions, any non-italian distributors/dealers existing ?

What about service once it fails ?

 

A.C.

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I"d like to know how much clean tone it has before it gets really distorted. The fact that it"s more than double the wattage of a valve Leslie is interesting to me.

 

Having tried it out for an hour or so it definitely has more power than my 122, which is by no means weak. There"s a knob for overdrive, I haven"t tried it out yet but there"s loads of headroom. My modded 770 goes into transistor overdrive at lower volume levels.

 

Also, if you take it to gigs, I"d be interested to know if it handles being your only amplification in a big room, especially one with a high ceiling. My valve Leslie"s always struggle with that scenario.

 

Yeah, me too... so far, all gigs of 2021 have been cancelled.

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When I "google" for that new model,- I only get the same info about Tornado rotary speaker I got way earlier,- 115 model w/ the ext. tube amp,- or the 300+W (and more lightweight) sollid state model.

Same when I loook on youtube ...

 

This is a new model with the tube amp in the cabinet. I can"t seem to be able to share pictures here but it looks like the 315.

 

Is there any link to a rotary speaker w/ integrated 80W tube amp existing ?

Where to buy,- what´s the (improved ?) specs, price and conditions, any non-italian distributors/dealers existing ?

What about service once it fails ?

I bought it direct from organmusiccenter.com, Guido will send you a brochure if you send him an email. If it breaks down, I hope I have good friends that are tech savvy. Guido has been great to deal with and I"m sure he"ll be supportive if anything happens.

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Congrats! I'm quite intrigued to see pics of the new model and more to know about its weight. I'm sitting on the fence regarding the Tornado, as I have Leslie 2101Mk at home. Maybe for the future studio.

Gear: Nord Stage 3 76HP, Moog Little Phatty Stage II, Hammond XK5, Solina String Ensemble

My Bands: Aperco, Ummagumma, Amity Band

 

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80 watts is loud if your pumping guitar with a more compressed frequency response through it. Not so much when you are driving organ low notes through the 15". Equivalent to two 122's, loud yes, crazy loud, maybe not.

 

What's the weight? What was the cost including delivery to Sweden (if you dont mind sharing the cost info)?

57 Hammond B3; 69 Hammond L100P; 68 Leslie 122; Kurzweil Forte7 & PC3; M-Audio Code 61; Voce V5+; Neo Vent; EV ELX112P; GSI Gemini & Burn

Delaware Dave

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What's the weight? What was the cost including delivery to Sweden (if you dont mind sharing the cost info)?

 

+1!

"This is my rig, and if you don´t like it....well, I have others!"

 

"Think positive...there's always something to complain about!"

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Ok, sorry, I caught a fever and have been offline. Waiting for a Covid test right now! :)

 

- The weight is about 66 lbs/30 kg. The cabinet is rather thin and I wouldn't want to crash it into anything hard or with sharp corners. It comes with wheels and a cover, it has handles on the sides and is very manageable. My studio is two flights up and I have no problem carrying it.

 

- The tube amp is inside the cab, and the design is basically identical to the 315 (pics at the bottom of this page). Silvio will probably release the new info shortly.

 

- Comparing the sound to my A-100/122 right out of the box, I can't really say anything yet. I'm going to try and match the tonewheels of my XK5 to my A-100, the stock sounds in the XK5 have a rather different response in the lower mids and bass, and it's not just EQ, I need to dive into the editor. The basic tone is there, though. The Tornado growls like my 122, it fills the room with sound in a way that my 2101 doesn't. Right now my 3300 (Yes, I have too many Leslies!) needs a fix, it has a noisy bearing, but I'll try to set them up next to each other sometime soon.

 

- Since my 3300 is in a flight case, I don't think I'll use the Tornado when/if I need to send backline off on a tour, but for all of the gigs where I carry my own gear and use my small-ish Opel, the Tornado will be a huge improvement. The 2101 sounds great, and I love that I can put mics on the top rotor and get the low end on line out jacks, but it's not as much fun when playing un-miced in a room where the sound bounces off the walls. Loading the 3300 by myself isn't all that much fun either, and parking in downtown Stockholm is 99% hopeless.

 

- Using a smaller cab doesn't affect the sound as much as I thought it would. The bass is solid, the sound spreads very well. The advantage of a big cab (122 size) is that the bass hits the floor while the top rotor is close to my ears, it's a very balanced sound from the start. I'll try to see what happens if I lift the Tornado to ear height, hopefully the bass will still be there. In my trio, I've been using the 2101 with a sub, if necessary I'll route the pedals through the sub with the Tornado too. Even the 3300 benefits from a bit of external bass help. :)

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  • 6 months later...

I have had a Tornado T315 (solid state) for a few weeks. $3K shipped from Italy, had to wait 2 months for it to be "built".

 

The weight and size are just right, as I"m sure we are all looking for the best 'all-in-one' gigging cabinetâ¦â¦.BUT, I"m still listening and tweaking to hopefully get it to sound better than my Hurricane 210 or QSC K 8.2"s overall with LH bass (both are louder and clearer)â¦â¦.or close to my 145 (which never leaves the studio).

 

I have been A/B-ing these amps in my studio with my Legend Live w/a Tall and Fat and, alternately, my 1963 A-100 w/a Neo Vent 2. Both pedals have excellent overdrive/thickening results.

 

In a nutshell, there are some low bass note buzzes/resonances, even at low volume (QC?); and my biggest concern is the horn is very midrangeyâ¦..

 

The sales brochure stated the DSP and 4 preset eq settings were editable with the 'supplied software'; but, unfortunately it is not available yetâ¦â¦'soon'. The Legend"s eq is pretty basic, even with the iPad editor app. Maybe a graphic eq might helpâ¦.So, I"m trying to be patient with Silvio to see if this system will work for me with LH bass.

I hope this helps. If there are any other T315 owners, let"s hear your thoughts.

 

Overall: So far, it didn't WIN in my A/B/C/D tests. I prefer the Hurricane 210 or 2- QSC K8.2's.

Legend Live w/a Tall and Fat; 1963 Hammond A-100 w/a Neo Vent 2. , 1963 Leslie 145 (which never leaves the studio), Hurricane 210, 2- QSC K 8.2âs,

 

 

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At this point in my life if I were going to spend $3K on a leslie (and I wouldn't) it would need to be a leslie with tube driven amplification. I already own a Motion Sound LowPro/Pro3T, it's designed to be transported in two pieces, the Pro 3T is 27 pounds and the Low Pro is 55 pounds, so from a transportation perspective it isn't that bad. What I mainly don't like is the solid state amplification. So if I were in the market for a leslie I would require one that that has a tube power amp, so it would be the new 115 or nothing, since I already own a 'portable' leslie. As much as I like the real leslie spinning the convenience of the Vent or Burn just makes things simpler. I decided to use my Motion Sound a couple of weeks ago at a major gig we did and I hurt my back (again). My wife warned me it was a bad move; should have listened to her. Still paying for it, pain-wise. Hindsight after two weeks; for health reasons don't move portable leslies to gigs.....

57 Hammond B3; 69 Hammond L100P; 68 Leslie 122; Kurzweil Forte7 & PC3; M-Audio Code 61; Voce V5+; Neo Vent; EV ELX112P; GSI Gemini & Burn

Delaware Dave

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Hey Dave, not sure if you're having to kick bass, but have you considered just using the Pro3t bass sim without the low pro?

 

I had posted in another thread about recovering from hip surgery: Was looking at that Tornado, Leslie Studio 12, and possibly a Leslie 145 for live gigs. Unfortunately, right now I'm not supposed to be lifting more than 20 lbs. Haven't used my Pro3t in a long while, but thinking of taking it out of storage.That said, it sure is easy to just use a vent.

Chris Corso

www.chriscorso.org

Lots of stuff.

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Hey Dave, not sure if you're having to kick bass, but have you considered just using the Pro3t bass sim without the low pro?

 

I had posted in another thread about recovering from hip surgery: Was looking at that Tornado, Leslie Studio 12, and possibly a Leslie 145 for live gigs. Unfortunately, right now I'm not supposed to be lifting more than 20 lbs. Haven't used my Pro3t in a long while, but thinking of taking it out of storage.That said, it sure is easy to just use a vent.

i used the Pro 3T with its sim for a few years into a KB300 keyboard amp. i purchased the low pro because i wanted a spinning drum and at 55 pounds the low pro made sense. i gigged with both combinations, the spinning drum sounded better than the sim on the Pro3T. With the deep bass setting on the low pro i could get more than adequate bass. i could also get deep bass with the KB300 and its 15" woofer. Then the Vent came out and the two pounds and quick setup anywhere was good enough for me. rig simplification and trips to/from the car with my back issues are front and center on my mind (as i lay here in pain while typing this note).

 

As the Studio 12 also sports a solid state amp as does the Motion Sound and is 100 watts as compared to the MS combo at 175 watts it is not a consideration. They both weigh about the same but the MS is broken down into two pieces with the heaviest being the low pro at 55 pounds. also, the MS combination costs a little more than half of what a Studio 12 costs. My two cents.

57 Hammond B3; 69 Hammond L100P; 68 Leslie 122; Kurzweil Forte7 & PC3; M-Audio Code 61; Voce V5+; Neo Vent; EV ELX112P; GSI Gemini & Burn

Delaware Dave

Exit93band

 

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  • 3 months later...

I picked up a Tornado 115 earlier this year. Great little leslie.

 

If anyone is interested - here is a video of me playing it live with one of my bands. This is at a local casino and the recording is taken directly from their house feed with the leslie miced in stereo. I have other videos on my channel where the Tornado 115 is recorded using a go pro without being miced so you can hear it in that context also. Keys solo is at around 2:35.

 

[video:youtube]

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I picked up a Tornado 115 earlier this year. Great little leslie.

....

Keys solo is at around 2:35.

Great video -- great job on the solo too! Sounds great!

 

Old No7

Yamaha MODX6 * Hammond SK Pro 73 * Roland Fantom-08 * Crumar Mojo Pedals * Mackie Thump 12As * Tascam DP-24SD * JBL 305 MkIIs

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I picked up a Tornado 115 earlier this year. Great little leslie.

 

If anyone is interested - here is a video of me playing it live with one of my bands. This is at a local casino and the recording is taken directly from their house feed with the leslie miced in stereo. I have other videos on my channel where it is recorded using a go pro without being miced so you can hear it in that context also. Keys solo is at around 2:35.

 

[video:youtube]

 

Great playing! Great sound too :thu:

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  • 1 month later...
On 1/22/2021 at 9:41 PM, Al Coda said:

 

When I "google" for that new model,- I only get the same info about Tornado rotary speaker I got way earlier,- 115 model w/ the ext. tube amp,- or the 300+W (and more lightweight) sollid state model.

Same when I loook on youtube ...

 

Is there any link to a rotary speaker w/ integrated 80W tube amp existing ?

Where to buy,- what´s the (improved ?) specs, price and conditions, any non-italian distributors/dealers existing ?

What about service once it fails ?

 

A.C.

Here is the New Tornado T115 2021 with INTERNAL amp:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsK2_pyQDrI

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  • 3 months later...
  • 1 year later...

@Analogaddict any info that you can now share with experiences with the T115?  I really miss the spinning leslie from a tube amp when playing live and the only portable tube leslie I'm aware of is the T115.

57 Hammond B3; 69 Hammond L100P; 68 Leslie 122; Kurzweil Forte7 & PC3; M-Audio Code 61; Voce V5+; Neo Vent; EV ELX112P; GSI Gemini & Burn

Delaware Dave

Exit93band

 

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Sure! I did about 25 gigs with the Tornado this summer, playing a Mojo. All IEM. It sounds and feels great to play, the bass response is even bigger than on any of my bigger Leslies (147, 142 and 770) so in a pop/rock context I needed to roll off a lot of bass. Having dual rotors does a lot for the sound, it sounds IMO way better than my 2101 and I don’t miss my 3300 at all. :)  Next week I’ll play it in a more jazzy context, it’ll be interesting to see what it’s like when played 100% acoustic in a bigger room, I don’t think I’ll be disappointed with it at all. 

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