For many years, pedal builders have attempted to package the swirling sounds of spinning speaker cabinets into effects pedals. Some attempts are more convincing than others, and some have even spawned new rabbit holes of pedal sounds. But when it comes down to it, not all of us are strong enough to lug around a Leslie cabinet, and good luck fitting one in a studio apartment! For most of us, all we need is a pedal-size approximation of those swirling sounds.
The Strymon Lex produces an impressive recreation of the nuances a spinning speaker cabinet. It's flexible and easy to use, and unlike other pedals which may sound more like a phaser or chorus, the Lex sounds authentic. It provides a complete, accurately reproduced rotary system: the low-frequency bass rotor, the rotating treble horn, the tube-driven amplifier, finely tuned microphone placement, and all the complex sonic interactions between these elements. With four adjustable parameters, you're able to dial in a wide range of enchanting spinning speaker sounds. The "Slow/Fast" switch changes the motor speed on the fly, and you can hold it down to recreate the sound of a rotary brake.
Like other Strymon pedals, the Lex is a nice pedalboard-friendly size, especially considering its complexity. If desired, you can add an expression pedal, which can be assigned to any of the four front-panel controls. The Lex also has stereo outs so you can separate the rotary horn and rotary woofer and send the sounds to different amps.
This 2010s Strymon Lex shows some signs of use, but it's fairly clean and functions 100% as it should. The box and Strymon power supply are not included.