I agree that the VB3 2 Leslie is inferior. It went the way of other Leslie emulations that do not represent the Doppler effect on the high frequencies but are more vibrato sounding. I have been managing this by attenuating the high eq from within the program. Seems to work. Playing some Santana tunes tomorrow evening at an event. I am going to use VB3 2 with my Leslie eq adjustments. Then it is back to the lab on Saturday, since I have no shows that eve. The on board distortion/drive emulations have always been a “settle for it” sound, for me. I have not used Amplitube in a while. Just got lazy.
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Same here. I think v 4.5 update is where the “good” Leslie appeared. I am on 4.6 now, and really impressed with the new Leslie. I’ve been using it on T-Racks for several weeks now.
Hi @Corky,
I was reading about the process of going from headphones to amp to stage I was wondering how you monitor in your process for the stage sound. In mono or in stereo?
Dave
Depends on venue and band. I am with 2 bands using in-ears…always in stereo. So there are no amps…just PA. In some places I have a FOH guy that will run direct out from my amp and give me a single monitor. So, I have amp and floor monitor…mono. Other places no FOH so I run mono out of a single amp behind me. In another band, two powered monitors, used as amps, at back on both sides of stage in stereo. Hope that answered you question. At home, when setting these sounds, I run through headphones (stereo and mono), then test through amps the same way. Take it to stage and try it out during performance, and hopefully it will work, but many times I have to do some adjustment.
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Wow! I own Amplitube Custom Shop and T-Racks and didn’t even know it! I am crying right now. With joy.
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Smeg! I keep forgetting to pull up that sound and tweak on it! Tomorrow I hope I remember… and I’ll try Corky’s as a comparison.
I bought the IK Leslie for AmpliTube. I was thinking of getting the TRacks version for some reason, I guess I was worried AmpliTube would result in a larger “load” on the system. They had a sale on only the AmpliTube version (I think I paid $45) which decided things for me. I’m now glad that happened because I think there is more flexibility with the AmpliTube version. For instance you can replace the Leslie amp with a Hi-Watt head as posted here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERtzFwf7IHY
I don’t own AmpliTube “Deluxe”. I just have the Custom Shop version with the Ampeg SVX bass amp collection and now the Leslie. I would like to have the Fender 2 guitar amp collections and will get that next time they do a promotion. I’m tempted to shell out $20 and get that Hi-Amp model in the above video.
Hi Corky,
I have a pair of Alto TS115 powered monitors that were given to me free but had blown woofers. I put Eminence Kappa C’s in them and they sound great (weigh 10 more pounds though!). I have only used one at some rehearsals. Does the stereo pair work?. All my research indicates that stereo doesn’t really work for the audience because only a few of them are in the sweet spot.
Hi Doug
In most cases, I go mono. Speaking for myself, and my situations, it is useless to use stereo. Most FOH people will not mix stereo, and unless we are in a venue where the spread is feasible, and worth the effort, it’s always mono. I occasionally use two speakers on stage, to the back, and on both sides of the stage (if large enough), and in stereo. It really fills the stage sound, allows me to cut through without pushing my levels, enables bandmates, and audience, to hear a full sound, even though the stereo is not really noticeable to the crowd. In two other bands I perform with, stereo is essential for our in ear mix. As far as whether it is advantageous to the audience, in most cases it is not, but stereo in any of these situations is not panned hard to either side, just a spread to give fullness. Also, in most cases, we mix ourselves, so it is our choice on what need, with what area we have.
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I agree… assuming a PA is in stereo at all (which is a big assumption) having a simulation of a 30’ wide Leslie cabinet that pans across the entire stage is rarely a good thing. 
I go through my synth pads, especially from a VST like Omnisphere and try and make sure bad things don’t happen when they’re in mono, like weird phase cancellation. I do like my ears in stereo; mono in ear buds is always really harsh. If I’m working with an FOH engineer we don’t know and the PA is in stereo I usually have him pan the stereo width down to a 11 o’clock - 1 o’clock spread; not quite true mono. If the PA is mono it’s a moot point.
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Thanks for the advice Fred and Corky, this kind of advice helps you stay friends with sound guys 
.
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Try Blue 3 v2 Evil Ways (under Rock in the preset menu) with IK Leslie 122/122 set at 2 o’clock for gain and volume. Expression pedal all the way down sounds pretty close to my inexperienced ears (B3 wise).
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Same here. In Welsh Floyd we finally had a great soundman who wanted everything in Mono and he worried about how he placed each source. Working with such a guy was quite an education from that perspective.
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Sadly, I was naive enough to thing that a serial number for Amplitube meant that I owned it. Amplitube is the environment but you still have to purchase the cabinet. I used Blue 3 and liked it, and used the Evil Ways without the IKmultimedia plug. These virtual B3s would better than most of the previous emulations, but there is something about them that looses the full wooden (that’s all I can think to call it) sound of a Hammond. Dance floor was full. Our drummer liked that. Fundraiser raised $140,000, so they were happy.
Hi John
Sorry about the Amplitube mixup. They tend to confuse things.
They are getting closer to the real Leslie sound, which is where that “wooden sweetness” resides. That is why many of us keep looking, and looking, and looking…
Acoustic samples b5 comes closer to that sound than the others. I would think (wink wink, nod nod) Ray and Guido would, at the very least, check out the sound B5 gets thru it’s Leslie (which I think is partially, or mostly, sampled) and emulate that great cabinet sound. I use Blue3, and both VB3’s, and they make me very happy, but there is still something that makes me play much better when hearing the cabinet sound of B5, even tho it isn’t perfect. (nothing is)
That said, there are many parameters I haven’t set hands on with the NEW VB3 II and Blue3. I expect I will find more in these plugs than what is on the face value. I been extremely busy with a wealth of gigs, rehearsals, and Dr appointments the past several weeks, so my time has been limited, but I do stay up to 4 or 5 AM after gigs doing new song setups and testing sounds. Of course, I work on my Hammond sounds as well.
In the end, the audience doesn’t care how your organ sounds. They never did. BUT, us Hammondites know the difference, and I gotta tell ya…if I am playing the real thing, I become a Hammond playing fool. A keyboard SUPER GENIUS …at least in my demented mind. 
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I still play a B3 every week at church, and it’s amazing- it’s like hey, there it is! You don’t have to do anything, you don’t worry if it actually sounds like a real organ and Leslie- because it is! I can just play. And as an added bonus, you get the real waterfall keys which makes a big difference to me.
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Hey Doug
I got a few minutes to look at Blue3/IK Leslie setup. Really nice for the Santana sound. Just as an experiment try the drawbars as pictured below. If you go to Evil Ways at Woodstock on YouTube, you will see this as his settings. It adds that slight sparkle in the sound. During the solo, there is more key click in his tone, and I tried to find it in Blue3, but was never able to dial it in. I tried the “key click” volume knob, but got nothing more. I will work with it a little more when I get a few
.
Corky
EDIT:
i took a few more minutes to do a few more experiments on the Santana Evil Ways sound. I used the same drawbars above. Here are my observations.
B5/Internal Leslie - Used a 1968 B3. Great response on organ sound, but had to tweak Leslie and other controls on main page. Tried it with IK…big difference…was really good.
Blue3/internal Leslie - Used a late 60’s B3. Another great response. Spent a lot of time getting the sharp flutter of the horn reduced, EQ’d less highs, and was able to get a decent sound. Pulled up IK…no comparison.
VB3 II (1st version…my test machine hasn’t been updated to the new version) There are plenty of parameters, but Leslie just not good. Added IK…big improvement. I will try this soon with the new version.
VB3 1.4 My best friend for several years. It did very well with it’s own Leslie. Again, IK…big improvement.
Overall, I was able to get a decent Evil Ways sound with resident Leslies (except earlier VB3 II). The IK Leslie just puts all these plugins in a different class. If IK Multimedia ever decides to develop a Hammond, they will probably run away with the prize. Once I get this sorted out, I will share the settings on the individual plugs if anyone is interested.
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There are threads on other forums bitterly complaining about IK’s confusing sales and marketing. It took me a while to understand the method to their madness. I got on their radar when I bought an iRig for my bass. They then started sending me emails for free amp simulations which turned out to be “Custom Shop” versions of AmpliTube and TRacks. Indeed you do get generic Ampeg, Fender, Marshall and Mesa amps and cabinets and a few microphone emulations that are pretty good considering they are free. For some reason I at that point had a $15 credit (Jam Points) so I bought the $50 Ampeg SVX “collection” (all their Ampeg bass amp emulations) for $35 which seemed a good value to me. Since then every purchase I have made has been anywhere from 50-75% off. The Amplitube Leslie cost me $45.
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It’s a very strange system, but like you said, doors will eventually open. A good way to keep you on the hook.