Actually it’s like when I was a kid, hoping for a G.I. Joe for Christmas, but got a Military Manny, and it didn’t have a kung fu grip.
Aw no, it ain’t THAT bad 
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“Survival kit contents check. In them you’ll find: one .45-caliber automatic, two boxes ammunition, four days’ concentrated emergency rations, one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills, one miniature combination “Rooshin” phrase book and Bible, one hundred dollars in rubles, one hundred dollars in gold, nine packs of chewing gum, one issue of prophylactics, three lipsticks, three pair of nylon stockings… Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff!”
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OK, in the side by side I’ve done today the old version has more grit and character and is on the whole hotter in terms of gain and presence. The new version is quieter with the same settings, is that what others that have seen? And to @Corky do you find it smoother sounding than 1.4, more detailed?
You summed it up exactly I think. For a light overdrive, or clean sound, with organ up front there’s a lot of clarity and detail some players are going to love. For rock, I think I like the old one better- well for using self-contained I absolutely like the old one better. In combination with IK the jury’s out.
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I don’t about sounding smoother. Here is what I am noticing: Leslie can run faster without a “warble” sound like 1.4. The leslie itself is smoother, but it is a one trick pony so far. Go all out drawbars on both, and II wins hands down. The drawbars, especially the higher pitched ones really stand out more than 1.4. I haven’t played with the drawbar parameters yet, so can’t comment on that. For Jazz-1.4 For Soul or Gospel - V2 For Rock- well that’s where I split. Too many kinds of Rock to make a general statement on it. Where Fred wants a Keith Emerson, I want a Jon Lord. It’s a matter of taste, so it’s kinda hard to break it down like that. I like the subtle grit in 1.4 for Steve Winwood, but I think the Winwood preset in V2 has too much grit, but all I had to do was adjust it. Same with a Jimmy Greenspoon sound 1.4 not as good as V2 and the grit is perfect in 2 for that. Booker T sound not as good in 2 as in 1.4. It’s all in adjusting to preference. Of course, we are just talking about existing presets.
Compare the Brother Jack preset in both. I use it a lot when playing RnB. Love it in 1.4, but in V2, it really stands out. I can dial in any sound I want with both. I play many different styles of music, so my Hammond is ever changing. Ever watch the Blues guys or the Gospel guys play? I grew up watching them, and drawbars and settings are constantly changing throughout a song. That’s what the real players do, and that’s how I test a Hammond. How playable are they? They are both great, but it’s like comparing a 1962 B3 with 122 Leslie against a 1974 C3 with 147 Leslie. They have their own character.
I thought the same thing until I found the gain and volume. Running these through a real amp, the V2 is much hotter. I was pleased with that.
One day in just isn’t enough to really make a good judgement yet. I am torn between the two as of now. This is maybe one of those things like me using B5, and Blue 3 for different songs. I surely will make new discoveries in the coming days and let you know what I find. I do, however, know that the IK Leslie is a game changer on all these plugs.
Regards
A very tired
Corky
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I do want a Kieth Emerson- but that’s relatively easy. I also want Tony Kaye, and that’s very hard. And Tony Banks, which is a different thing altogether. Also, I’m finding that when I get the basic sound I like dialed in that warble at fast speed is still there, just like 1.4…
I was a longtime fan of VB3 (after NI gave up on B4 and went sample-based), but have switched to Blue3 and love it’s sound (especially what I’ve heard of v2). I will be trying out VB3-II, but I’m even more interested in the IK Leslie.
But I have a dumb question for @Corky or anyone else on here: for someone like me that does not have Amplitude or T-Racks, which Leslie should I look at? Pros-Cons? Everything being equal, I would prefer a simple VST plugin rather than something that has to run inside another framework.
Hi Roland
The Leslie in both are virtually the same. The Amplitube has a few more user settings, but has to be used within a running version of Amplitube, which adds to system load. The T-Racks is independent of a host program and runs on it’s own as a normal VST, which means less system load, but less user settings. Pick your poison, lol. I am using the T-Racks version, which I already had, but never used.
Hope this helps. The only dumb questions here have been my own. 
Regards
Corky
@Roland_Robertson: I bought the T-Racks version for use with Blue3. I made a bunch of changes to my organ rack that day. After practice yesterday, I’m gonna make some more. Blue3 -> DirectOut -> Leslie. There are some Hiwatt-type settings I wanna look at, too. I don’t think I need a Jon Lord sound, but I’m curious. Most of my organ stuff is more Gregg Rolie/Santana. Original tunes, but very Latin/Santana sounds. I’m happy with what I’ve go so far. Leslie is definitely an improvement.
Thanks guys! That helps. The sounds I need are all in the rock genre, ranging from the classic American 70s/80s sounds (think Bob Seger / Kansas / Tom Petty) to Gregg Rolie’s Santana sounds to the Uriah Heep / Deep Purple sound.
I’ve been getting a good growl with just the IK amp settings but I’m also messing around with BIAS Amp and that’s pretty stellar. (Bypass the built-in cabinets of course). I really like the combo of the VB-3 1.4 overdrive and IK. Just light on both and they seem to re-enforce each other well.
Check this out- just the start of a track, me and the drummer. Forgive the harsh edits. This is definitely the kind of sound I’m going for, only without a heavy drive. I used VB3 1.4 --> Mercuriall Amp --> IK Leslie.
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Bias is my favorite amp sim, unfortunately it is a terrible cpu hog.
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Hi Roland,
I think for use with VB3 or Blue2 I would go with the T-Racks version - I will probably install T-Racks 5 Custom Shop and then purchase the T-Racks Leslie from the Custom Shop application.
For Amplitube 4 I went the “Custom Shop” route. I just wanted their suite of bass amps called SVX and SVX2. Nothing beats those for recording rock and R&B bass direct. I had to install a Custom Shop application, then login with my IK user/pw and then buy just SVX through it. They have all these cross grade deals, it all started when I bought Miroslav Philharmonik 2, again my SampleTank 3 is also Custom Shop meaning the only instruments available are some (pretty good) free ones and the Miroslav I bought. It’s sort of like when you buy a Kontact5 based instrument that runs on the free Kontakt5 Player.
Initially figuring how IK sells and installs this stuff seemed complicated but it has been working fine on multiple machines for me.
Doug
@Roland_Robertson
@RackedBrain
As I mentioned above, I play many different styles with many different musicians. That said, roughly 70% of the music I perform is Classic Rock. I can dial in most any organ sound I need with VB3 1.4. I can also do it with Blue 3 and B5. Recording is one thing, live performance is totally different in shaping your sound. These new plugs are fun to use, but quite frankly, the presets on most of them are lacking. It takes some experimenting tho. There is one little option on the new one that might possibly change some opinions. I have yet to try it out. It may be nothing, but I will get back with what I find.
I’ve got to say, I’ve been really rocking out with VB3-II. My particular rock organ preference is Rick Wakeman’s classic Yes sound (check out the tone on this isolated version of Roundabout), and Tony Banks’ classic early ''70s organ sound. I can get a pretty authentic version of either.
Full drawbars, chorus C-3, vibrato on, keyclick at about 5 o’clock and drive at about 11 o’clock. Turn up and rock out. Sounds far more living and breathing than VB3 1.4 - those higher drawbars, especially with the C-3, really sing!
I haven’t tried it with the IK Leslie yet - I have a big rehearsal to prepare for. After the weekend I’ll allow myself that pleasure 
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Thanks for sharing Neil. I call for:
PRESET EXCHANGE !!!
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I’m becoming less enamored of the track I did, apart from the opening section which sounds pretty perfect. I’m going to go back and re-track it with VB3 2 now, even though it’ll have the dropouts.
Try your “Wakeman” setting with IK 122 vintage & 147 vintage. IMHO it brings a little more realism and sweeter dirt on lower octaves.
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