GEAR REVIEW
BOSS RT-2 ROTARY ENSEMBLE PEDAL | Michael Hodge
KEY FEATURES
• Authentic Organic Vintage Sound
• Stereo In & Out
• Virtual Rotor LCD Indicator
• Three Individual Modes
• Fast and Slow with Drive Control
Many of the Classic Rock genre guitar tones from the‘ 60s through the‘ 80s came from guys who figured out a way to play the guitar through a Leslie. It’ s an exceptional sound, especially when you speed up and slow down the Leslie in real time. It’ s one of the most expressive factors in the sound of a Hammond organ and is fantastic on guitar.
An organ Leslie is big and heavy, so Leslie created a smaller version, the G37 design for guitar, using a Styrofoam horn. Not the same sound, but much smaller in size. BOSS released their original RT-20 Rotary dual-pedal version approximately twenty-five years ago. It’ s still a great pedal. BOSS has now released a new, smaller, and even better-sounding RT-2 Rotary Ensemble. Everything gets better at BOSS.
OUT OF THE BOX: The RT-20 comes in a cool Black box. Inside are some paperwork with QR codes for registering the pedal and an online manual. RT-2 is sturdy with a metalflake gold coating. On top are two Dual-concentric knobs. Level / Drive on the left and Fast / Slow on the right. There’ s a beautiful dynamic spinning Blue( drum) and Magenta( horn) LED that shows the speed of the Horn and speaker turning. It looks impressive on any pedalboard. There’ s a mini three-way switch for Modes 1,2, and 3. Lastly, an LED indicates your rotor speed, with Red Indicating fast and Green Indicating slow. On the rear panel is a 9V DC jack, running at 115 mA, and two mini slide switches. Rise / Fall time: determines how fast the speed changes between fast and slow— Drive / Balance alternates increased Drive, and Horn / Drum balance.
The main latch pedal can turn the unit on / off, or by holding it down, change the speed from fast to slow. On the sides are two ¼ inch jacks for stereo input and output. Also on the right is a third ¼ inch jack for an external speed switch— alternatively, a BOSS EV-30 pedal can be used to adjust speed from slow to fast.
IN USE: I once had a Leslie guitar cabinet, and I loved it. The problem was live switching between that and my regular amps. I had to have two extra mics, and it’ s a lot to haul around, though it sounds impressive. I loved the original RT- 20, and it’ s been a staple on at least one of my pedalboards. The new RT-2 is a fantastic recreation. It sounds very true to the sound
WORSHIP
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