Electro-Harmonix Lester G

The Electro-Harmonix Lester G is a digital rotary speaker emulator in a compact pedal format, released in 2015. It recreates the sound of a '60s Leslie rotating speaker without the huge speaker cabinet and motor of the original, and it packs in extras aimed at guitar players: a specially designed compressor circuit, a fully adjustable tube-style overdrive, and stereo outputs¹².

Electro-Harmonix describes it as "the ultimate rotary speaker emulator packed with goodies like a specially designed compression circuit to supercharge the front end"¹. The compressor is there to give the fat, full sustain of an organ, which sits naturally with the rotary effect, and the stereo outputs provide what the maker calls a lush, realistic effect¹.

What it does

A rotary speaker like the '60s Leslie the Lester G is based on moves sound through a spinning low-frequency rotor and a spinning high-frequency horn, producing the doppler-style modulation players associate with organ and classic guitar records. The Lester G is a modern re-imagining of that effect in a pedal, without the cabinet and motor².

What separates the Lester G from a plain chorus or vibrato pedal is the complete package: the rotary simulation itself, a built-in compressor to shape the front of the note, tube-style overdrive for grit, and stereo outputs that spread the effect across two amps¹⁵. MusicRadar's review team found the onboard compressor and drive circuitry made it "even more lovable"⁶.

The pedal is the deluxe version of Electro-Harmonix's rotary speaker effect. The company also offers the Lester K, a less expensive version aimed at keyboard players⁷. At launch, the Lester G and Lester K sold for $298 and $237 respectively⁸.

The controls

The front panel gives you independent control over the two rotating elements and the drive section⁹:

There are also independent controls for slow and fast rotation speeds, so you can dial in each speed separately rather than one knob scaling both⁹. MusicRadar noted the balance control lets you sweep between emulations of the woofer and horn sounds, the two components of a real rotary speaker⁶.

Two footswitches run the pedal. The BYPASS footswitch and LED selects whether the Lester G is in buffered bypass mode or effect mode. The SPEED/BRAKE footswitch selects the speed mode, switching between fast and slow rotation; hold it for half a second and the pedal enters Brake mode, decelerating to a stop the way a real rotary speaker's motor would when powered down¹⁴.

Power and connections

The Lester G has a single 1/4" audio input jack and two output jacks, L and R, for connecting to two separate amps or inputs on a mixing board¹. You can run it in mono into a single amp, but Premier Guitar's reviewer found "the best tones and textures come via taking advantage of the stereo outputs"⁹.

An expression pedal jack lets you control the rotation speed with your foot, sweeping between speeds continuously rather than toggling the footswitch¹. Delicious Audio also lists the Lester G among pedals with a CV input for synth integration⁵.

The pedal measures 5.75 x 4.75 x 2.5 inches¹.

What reviewers said

The Lester G was reviewed widely at launch and earned strong verdicts. Guitar World's Chris Gill gave it the magazine's Gold Award in May 2016, writing⁷:

MusicRadar's review team was similarly impressed, calling it the most convincing rotary speaker simulator they had tried in a long time⁶. Premier Guitar highlighted the drive and compression controls, which its reviewer found add "very sweet and organic grit, and extra swirl," along with the useful, easy-to-use additional features and the price-to-performance ratio Electro-Harmonix achieved⁹.

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