[HAM] chopped Leslie

[kipswork at aol.com]

Well fellas, lets sum up what we know:
 
a: 145s and 122s are easy to chop if you feel like it. Gut everything out of it, put it on a crappy table saw and clamp the fence down tight and you CAN'T screw it up. I put a piece of masking tape all around the cut line to eliminate split-out, and it worked. As I think of it now, there's no way to screw it up, even if you use a sawsall because the two halves will ALWAYS go back together perfectly. So it's easily done.
 
b: Should you do it? Probably not. I regret doing mine now these many years later. I shoulda just committed to casters and a towel bar or decent handles or something. I gigged it unchopped for years, and though it took two guys on stairs it wasn't bad at all. Set up like an Ampeg 8x10 cab, I could have done it myself easily. I now have a 147 tall boy and I have no intention of chopping it - it's even easier to move because it's taller and two guys can get on it more comfortably. 
 
c: You hurt (but not destroy) the resale value if you chop. 
 
d: The 145 is nice because you can stack crap on top of it in the van. Since mine is now chopped, nothing can stack on it very well, and it would be counterproductive to build cases for the two halves. Unless you plan on flying it.
 
e: Building a new cab for a complete pile of leslie guts would be cheap, easy, fun, and creative. My thoughts were if you wanted a truly portable Leslie, either get an 860 (the SS on with the 12" in it, it sounds great and it's toteable) or get a 25/125 and add the 15" instead of the 12" and add the horn and amp. THAT would be a very cool little rig for very little dough.
 
I have spoken,
Kip Amore
-chop liver! as in living with my chop-
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