Dynacord CLS-222 Leslie Simulator

Update 07-06-2024

Hammond Organs and Leslie rotating speakers have long been an inseparatable pair since the 1940s.  When I was 18 years old my first band I had started with my friends and my brother was about to start playing bars, and I bought my Hammond Porta-B and Leslie 760 from my piano teacher.  I have been using them ever since.  The Leslie was pretty bulky and a compact simulator would make life easier.  But Hammond players are a tough crowd with leslie simulators.  Attempts were made in the past but they fell short; some were phasers, some were chorus devices.  Not even Don Leslie, the inventor of the Leslie rotating speaker, succeeded in designing a processor that sounded like a Leslie.  The "Leslie sound" is a complex mix of phase shifting, pitch modulation, amplitude modulation, and frequency shifting; the balance of modulations has to be just right, and the depth of modulation changes between chorale (slow) and tremolo (fast) speeds.  On top of that, the top and bottom rotors have their own set of modulations.  Not an easy task, the proverbial car that doubles as a boat.

The first good compact Hammond clone that came along was the XB-2, which I acquired.  It had an on-board leslie simulator but it was poor so I kept using the 760.  A magazine had a product review of the CLS-222, which was very positive.  And this was a magazine that catered to keyboard players.  Touring groups were using it.  But there were no local stores that carried the Dynacord.  During a business trip to Los Angeles in 1990, I stopped in a Guitar Center store (before they became a national chain), and they had the CLS-222 in stock.  After trying it out I immediately bought it.  Since it was eight pounds and a small 1U rack format, it was easy to pack in my suitcase for the return trip home.

The CLS-222 is the most authentic Leslie simulator I have heard.  It is 100% analog; Dynacord replaced the CLS-222 with a MIDI capable programmable digital version called the DLS-223, but when the magazine reviewed it they liked the sound of the old CLS better.  The CLS-222 uses an 800hz crossover (like the real thing) to split top and bottom rotor simulators, BBD delay lines (TDA1022s) and voltage controlled dual tandem electronic potentiometers (TDA1074s) to emulate the Leslie anmiation.  A predecessor product was called the CLS-22, and not long ago I discovered a valuable discussion from the original designer who revealed:

The CLS-222 was introduced in 1981, and for a long time it was the only truly authentic Leslie simulator good enough for Hammond players. It was often seen in stage racks of major touring groups. I have never even seen an advertisement for them.  Why does the Dynacord sound so accurate?  They use separate processors for the top and bottom rotors.  It's the only way to do it.  Frankly, few emulators go to this detail of emulation.  The balance of phase shifting, pitch modulation, amplitude modulation, and frequency shifting was just right.  When I played out live using the CLS, I've had musicians come up during the break and ask me where I was hiding the Leslie cabinet.  You should see their eyes swell when I show them the box :) One of them was a guitar player with very discriminating ears, and he was very impressed.  It has some noise, but you can minimize it with the right gain settings.  The effect will only go out to 16Khz, but what the hell, a real Leslie barely makes it to 16Khz anyway!!!  If you're using a guitar with it you might want bandwidth all the way to 20Khz - subjective issue. The neat part is that it's a stereo Leslie Simulator.  You can do Mono or three modes of stereo, depending on the spread away from center.  It's ultra cool to hear those rotors whipping around the stereo PA in a live club :)  Being able to balance the top and bottom rotor is crucial for duplicating your favorite sounds.  I can get jazz, I can get blues, I can get progressive, and I can get rock.  It does it all. Some other makers of Leslie Simulators have more parameters, such as mic distance, ramp time between speeds, etc but the rotor animation is not as good as the CLS-222.

Easy to use - all knobs, no menus or LCD.  You can't store settings on it.  Just dial your settings and go. On the front panel there's a power switch, input gain with overload LED, speed switch (fast/slow/stop), rotor balance, stereo/mono mode, and output level.  There's also a pair of LEDs for the rotors, green for the bottom and yellow for the top; these show the speed so that you can tell at a glance whether it's in tremolo, in chorus, or stopped.  It's way cool to watch the LEDs while holding a chord and changing speeds. On the rear there's input, mono output, stereo outputs, fast/slow/stop footswitch, and trimpots for speed of the rotors.  No MIDI - this thing was built before those days.  Proper IEC power cord - NO WALL WARTS!!! The rear panel also has XLR outputs, but they're not balanced outputs, they're single ended.  A waste.  Early units do not have standard IEC wiring for unbalanced outputs; mine has a sticker on the top that says that the unit now complies with IEC wiring.  If you find an early one, don't sweat it's a simple 5-minute wiring change inside.

The CLS-222 is the standard against which everything else is measured.  Two panels were made in different colors - dark grey and white.  It was discontinued in the mid-1990s due to component obsolesence.  Only the DSP-powered Neo Ventilator II does as good a job, and that box is designed to emulator a Leslie 122.

Compact rackmount stereo analog Leslie Simulator that weighs only eight pounds, instead of 150 in the real thing.  Another friend who is a Hammond player eventually bought one after hearing mine.

The only thing emulators will not do is emulate the three dimensional sound of a rotating speaker in a room.

If you have a CLS-222 or are planning to acquire one, you must remove the RIFA EMI filter at the rear of the device.  These RIFA caps have a bad reputation, and have been known to ignite in flame when they wear out!  Those RIFA filters tend to appear in products from Europe.

I no longer have the XB-2, but I still use the CLS-222 with my Hammond XK3.  There are still times I gig with the 760, don't want it to feel neglected :)

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