How much should I pay for a used Leslie 147 Cab

[Wittgenstein]

I have an opportunity to purchase an old Leslie 147 speaker cabinet that was recently pulled out of a garage after many years of sitting. I have yet to look at it in person to see what still works and whatnot, but it looks really clean from the outside. I am just not sure what is a fair price to pay. I'm sure that I could grab it for $40 but it's from family and I do not want to rip them off. I know that I will most likely have to fix it up, so the best they would be able to do is sell it on ebay or craiglist as is. Any thoughts?

[loudthud]

Kind of hard to hook those things up to anything to see of they work. Don't they have some kind of octal plug interface? It surely must be worth more if it still works. If it's a family member it would be very helpful if you could help determine that. If the speakers are bad and the amp needs a re-cap, it's still worth something if the cabinet is in good shape.

[Wittgenstein]

I was able to find this page which shows the pinout for the hookup, but that does not help me too much.




Any rough estimates on a non working model 147 leslie? I'm sure it will need caps and most likely speakers replaced / re-conned.

[52 Bill]

Like anything else condition has a lot to do with resale value. If it's been sitting in a garage there may be mechanical issues as well as electronic problems. Have you seen it yet? You need to check the motor and the rotor bearings, as well as the drive belts, etc.

[Wittgenstein]

Like anything else condition has a lot to do with resale value. If it's been sitting in a garage there may be mechanical issues as well as electronic problems. Have you seen it yet? You need to check the motor and the rotor bearings, as well as the drive belts, etc.

I have yet to see it, but I will this weekend. It is currently sitting in my parents garage. They have no idea what it is worth and are relying on me to give them a fair estimate and price.

[Wittgenstein]

Can I just bypass the Leslie's preamp and use my Fender 5E3 straight into the speakers to test out the speakers and motors? I plan on mostly using this cab for guitar, keyboards and my currently being restored wurltizer electric piano and it looks like I would need a Leslie Combo Preamp to do so. Wouldn't it be less expensive for me to just build my own preamp pedal for it? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I am going to check it out tomorrow.

[52 Bill]

Can I just bypass the Leslie's preamp and use my Fender 5E3 straight into the speakers to test out the speakers and motors?

Of course you can, just remember that the horn driver is rather easily damaged buy too much power and too much low end.

Oh and by the way the amp inside the cabinet is really just a power amp. I'd guess that there are copies of the Leslie combo pedal preamp out there, so building one of your own probably wouldn't be that difficult.

[Wittgenstein]

Got a chance to check it out this weekend. It will need some TLC. The speaker has tears, the top horn appears to be frozen (probably needs new bearings), the bottom baffle has a tear in the cloth, inside was very dirty. I have yet to test the tubes, but it did come with 2 original Leslie branded 6550's. Someone did a poor job replacing many of the cables with what looks like lamp cords as well. I took almost everything out of the cab and gave it a good vacuuming, and I wiped down the outside. I will have a chance to move it to my house next weekend where I can do more. I'm gonna end up paying around $40-$50 for it and trade my labor (helping clean out a garage) for the rest =).

The more I think about it, I really want to either buy an old Leslie combo pre-amp pedal or try to build a clone (schematic and more info attached). I am having trouble finding anyone who has done the same though, or at least with any documentation. They seem to be going for around $200 - $250 on ebay. I also plan on keeping it as original as possible, restoring the power amp in this thing so I can use in the future when hooking up to a M3, A100, Farfisa, etc organs.

Here are some photos of the Leslie 147 I took this weekend (Flicker uploads).

[Wittgenstein]

Photos

[uboat229]

this is 2016 and that leslie is worth at least $1000 if the V21 and 15'' speaker is good... to make the speakers rotate you need a leslie or alternative preamp.... you have to supply b+ voltage to the relay that switches motor speed.... the amp is worth upwards of $400. the motor stacks are worth at least $50 each... v21 about $50-100.... jensen or utah speaker.... check ebay

uboat frank

[Wittgenstein]

Thanks uboat229. I still have yet to dig into this project. I have been sidetracked with a few others including a converting a chest freezer into a kegerator (pics attached), Craigslist hunting for more amps and recapping a bunch of arcade monitors; my roommate has about 20 vintage upright arcade cabs, shooters, drivers in my garage, but I hope to work on it soon.

The speaker has a few rips, but I can get it re conned, the amp looks like it needs a good cleaning and servicing. It is missing all the tubes and one motor might need to be replaced. I think the biggest thing holding me back is trying to find a Leslie preamp pedal for a decent price. I figure it will take a good $600 - $800 to fully restore, but I still think it's worth it.

[uboat229]

on the bearing in the rotor... id try wd40 and clean it up..... id suggest similar treatment for the motor stack... usually its just gummed up oil..... i have yet to see a bad motor stack.....if you have a square magnet on the 15'' its likely to be a utah.... the round magnets are usually jensens....id try wood glue and paper to patch it...at least this way you can not spend money and better see what you got....the money adds up....only costly tubes are the 6550's.... if you dont have any try the groove tubes....oc3's are cheap enough.... and i believe there are a couple 12at7's ... tubes in the amp only make it worth more... you might need a new relay... but the amp will work without it.... its only for switching the motors from chorale to tremolo....filter cap might be bad.... new are available....if the cabinet is sorta clean and its working properly it should bring about $1200 .... they go higher and lower but this seems about average....and you can make a preamp... leslie ones are not cheap... or you could always hook it up to a hammond spinet......hope this helps....

you sound like me.... ill have plenty of unfinished projects when i kick the bucket...

Frank

[Leo_Gnardo]

converting a chest freezer into a kegerator]

Witt gets a like for the "kegerator."

One t'ing at a time with the Leslie. You can unplug the motors & concentrate on the amp first. Takes a big drive signal - short of building a copy of the Leslie pre you can take the output from a small amp, Champ size say, and boost enough to prove your amp's working. Some 147's have built in load resistors and a switch to select whether they're in-circuit or not. With that, you don't have to provide a load R for your amp while using its output signal to drive the Leslie. Hope you get your prize going. Guitar thru a Leslie is a fabulous thing, the only step better is guitar thru a Leslie plus another non-moving amp. Get all those George Harrison, Joe Walsh, Peter Frampton, Jerry Garcia, Robin Trower etc sounds.

Also note Enzo just announced he has some Leslie chrome pre pedals & 6 pin cables he's about to sell off. Bet you'll get a better deal than anywhere else.

[The Dude]

That reminded me of one of Alex Van Halen's recent kits. He has a refrigerator built in to one of his kick drums.

[Enzo]

I also have some Leslie innards, though generic, not necessarily Leslie brand. Rotating baffle assemblies, and even a oval speaker in a drum enclosure that rotates along the drum axis. And a Wurly (I think) cab which has no amp, just spinning speaks.