Detailed photos of a vintage Leslie 30C. I don’t own this speaker (or any other Leslie 30C for that matter) not sure who does, whoever they are is lucky to have one of the very first Leslie speakers ever made. The “C” stood for church, they don’t get much better than this. If you have one of these in your basement and want to get rid of it, feel free to contact me!

Here is what one (very knowledgeable) fellow wrote in when this speaker was up for sale on ebay a year or two back…

“Your speaker is a 30C Vibratone, built in 1942. It is not a prototype; there was only one prototype made in 1940. The first of five made was delivered 12/24/40, and there was no model designation — they were simply called “Vibratone”. I have the fourth one. They have a different top trim and slats on the bottom instead of the grilles. The “C” designated “church” which had a slower tremolo than the usual 6.8 Hz. It was after the “C” was introduced that the designations 30A or 30C were used. Only the prototype and the early one I have were used for promotion. The others in this first run went into private hands or stores. Your 30C was made by Lou Brittan, who was Leslie’s partner in the beginning and took over production while Leslie was served in the Navy. Most of the speakers made during this time did not have ID tags and were not serialized. The 15″ speaker is the original and correct Magnavox. Your 30C appears to be very original and correct. The upper driver should be a Stephens unit. Most of these drivers and the paper mache horn were replaced in the field after the war. I currently have 7 of these speakers and knew Don Leslie well, so my information is right from Don as well as my own experience. There were 208 BA Hammonds made. Yours appears to be totally original. The roller switch on the pedal switch cover is to control the rotor on a Hammond CX or DX tone cabinet. Your BA most probably was sold new with this type tone cabinet, as this model preceded Leslie’s invention by 2 years. The tremolo on these cabinets was not effective. I own a BA (9090) and with two CXR-20’s that was originally sold in Dallas. Hope this helps you. Sal Azzarelli”

On off switches to manually engage the rotors for tremelo effect

Notice the Papier-mâché horn and early field coil speaker

Early Leslie Crossover

Tarry crossover innards, they used the same tar stuff on early 31A and 31H speakers

Amplifier schematic for Leslies 30A and 30C

CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTOS OF LESLIE 31H AND 31A – LESLIE 31H TALLBOY 31A