Dual purpose steel/guitar amp

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 23 Apr 2011 8:13 am

Those are so purdy James!

rpetersen · Post by **rpetersen** » 23 Apr 2011 4:13 pm

Geat looking James - Just guessing - Did that package cost a little more than my $350.00 Vegas
Just Kiddin"!!!

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 23 Apr 2011 4:31 pm

rpetersen wrote:Geat looking James - Just guessing - Did that package cost a little more than my $350.00 Vegas
Just Kiddin"!!!

Barely.

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 23 Apr 2011 5:10 pm

The Vegas amp I bought was the most disappointing amp I've ever owned. I celebrated the day I got rid of it, and got my Twin!

Matthew Knapp · Post by **Matthew Knapp** » 14 May 2011 9:11 pm

I think the twin wins, but I recently picked up a mesa boogie mark 3 and I really like it for both. Lots of knobs, and maybe tough to set for both, if you have to make a quick change. The clean channel is reminiscent of a blackface and the drive channel... Thats what the boogies are known for.

Olli Haavisto · Post by **Olli Haavisto** » 15 May 2011 3:39 am

The boogie`s great for both ! My problem was that the settings for guitar and steel are so different that you have to fiddle with the controls when switching instruments. If the mark 3 has a switchable graphic eq you could use that as a preset eq ?

Per Berner · Post by **Per Berner** » 15 May 2011 4:30 am

My 1980 JBL-equipped Twin had a great tone for Steel and Tele, but the weight – 105 lbs – was just impossible to live with (I lived on the third floor with no elevator back then...)

I've found that all tube amps I have tried produce quite a lot of intermodulation distortion (compared to solid state amps), which is especially annoying with ultra-clean pedal steel (i.e. playing two strings at the same time, bending one of them – you get an overtone note that's a mix between the two, thus bending out of tune).

This applied to the Fender Twin, but the problem went away when I got a Roland JC120, and stays away with the Nashville 1000.

When I plug in my tube-equipped Black Box though, some of that intermodulation reappears. Nowhere near the annoying levels of the Twin, and not enough to be a deterrant, but there's a hint of it.

Hugh Holstein · Post by **Hugh Holstein** » 19 May 2011 10:25 am

I have a Mesa Boogie MK III as well and aggree that this is a good dual purpose amp, but also agree that it does have a lot of knobs to fiddle with, that was real cool in my twenties when I bought it, but now it's somewhat cumbersome, but I still like it.
Mine is a head model with a hardwood cabnet with a 15 EV, might not be the most optimum setup for either but it makes me happy.

Curt Langston · Post by **Curt Langston** » 19 May 2011 12:44 pm

Well, what's wrong with this one ?

They sound amazing..............

Franklin · Post by **Franklin** » 19 May 2011 3:08 pm

The Little Walter amp.......Paul

Edward Byrne · Post by **Edward Byrne** » 19 May 2011 4:23 pm

well, i tried them all, twin reverb, boogie, musicman, peavey nashville 400 and 112, came to the conclusion that one amp cant do the job, until that is, i adopted the use of two pre amps linked into the front of my peavey n112, both pre amps are English made sessionmaster pre amps, one is factory voiced for steel guitar, a much deeper, rounder sound, endorsed by jerry donohue [hellecasters] they really bring the n112 to life, i set my n112 to a pretty neutral sound, but set volume and eq on pre amps to suit both instruments, i dont use amps inbuilt reverb, as i consider it naf, i use an electro harmonics reverb pedal into the fx loop, oh, did i mention i replaced stock blue marvel speaker with an EVM 12L speaker? it works for me, i found twin channel guitar amps to tinny for steel, and hated my tele going thro a 15" speaker,

Steve Hotra · Post by **Steve Hotra** » 19 May 2011 7:14 pm

I'm mainly a electric guitar player first, who plays a little steel on the side.
I've been using a Mesa Express 5:25 and been getting a lot of great comments about my tone ( even with my pedal steel guitar playing)
Amp is not too heavy, nice tube sound, and has the option to change to 5 watts for home playing.

Darrell Owens · Post by **Darrell Owens** » 21 May 2011 9:25 pm

Get a Music Man RD 50 (IF you can find one) and stick a 12" JBL in it and you have a monster tone amp with a distortion channel (If you are into that sort of thing) and a clean channel with true channel switching. It has a solid state preamp and tube output power. At 50 watts, it is loud enough unless you are already deaf.

With the JBL. it weighs about 50 pounds and is about like have 1/2 of a Twin reverb.

By the way, If you have one for sale, call me first.

Jimmy Gibson · Post by **Jimmy Gibson** » 16 Jul 2014 12:58 am

I used to use a Peavey Rhythm Master400 4 independent channels superb all round amp.

Jimmy G

Ollin Landers · Post by **Ollin Landers** » 16 Jul 2014 2:11 pm

It's not a Twin but I really like my Roland Cube 80XL. For the price you could try one and not be out a lot of money. I use an AB/Y switch and a foot switch to switch between the JC-120 for Steel and the Lead channel on BlackFace for Tele. The built in reverb and delay are adequate but the other effects are not usable for steel.

Weight to sound ration is unbelievable and the BlackFace COSM modeling comes somewhere close to a twin. It also has a tweed and deluxe setting. I use the tweed setting sometimes with guitar when I want a little more break up on the Tele. I actually use two and get a pretty big sound.

If you're a real Fender Tube guy or one that can really hear the subtle differences it's not going to work for you.

For the bar band kind of music I play it works great.

David Rogerson · Post by **David Rogerson** » 16 Jul 2014 2:45 pm

While I agree with all comments regarding the Fender Twin ( I've used a Silverface with JBLs for 40 years so I KNOW about the weight issue) I recently bought a Quilter Steelaire from Jim Palenscar & am so impressed with the result for my Emmons p/p & Telecaster that the twin is now for sale.
Up to this point I was always unhappy with the 6 string sound from a s/s amp - the high strings were always too sterile with no character for my taste but the Quilter has changed that. The 15' speaker gives a lovely richness to the low strings
with plenty of warmth in the treble end - reminds me of the James Burton sound on the early Rick Nelson hits. And I'm more than happy with the sound I now get on steel. This is a good example of new design taking another step forward.
This is one topic that is so subjective - everyone has their own interpretation of what makes up a pleasing sound, so this is my contribution - for what it's worth.

Tim Marcus · Post by **Tim Marcus** » 16 Jul 2014 2:59 pm

I built myself a little 2 channel version of my 20W Creamer. This has a 15" JBL and 6L6 Blackplate RCAs on the output for just a hair more headroom.

Reverb and tremolo on both channels - and each piece weighs under 30lbs. I have not built myself an amp in nearly 4 years. Figured it was time for the Milkman to deliver himself something nice

Adam Sorber · Post by **Adam Sorber** » 16 Jul 2014 7:39 pm

I must be crazy because i am using two fender super twins!!

Ian Worley · Post by **Ian Worley** » 16 Jul 2014 8:51 pm

I use a Mesa Lonestar Classic 1x12 for both steel and guitar, it sounds fantastic for both. It has a great clean channel, nice warm tone with clear and complex highs, great reverb, and as loud as you will ever need (louder than I need). The second channel has an extra preamp stage, with lots of tone options for guitar from super clean to that sweet squishy Mesa overdrive. Both channels are switchable between 50w or 100w (shuts down two of the four 6L6s). Overall a great single amp for both steel and guitar tone and performance-wise. The only problem, like with a twin, is the sucker weighs over 70 lbs.

Be nice to have something smaller/lighter with similar tone. Tim Marcus' 50w Sideman model looks like the cat's meow to me for this application, ~40lbs and designed with steel in mind. I like the idea of the smaller 20w two channel amp too. How much would that setup weigh as a combo, Tim? Still around 40lbs? Out of my price range at the moment anyhow.

Olli Haavisto · Post by **Olli Haavisto** » 16 Jul 2014 11:25 pm

I had one made.
Half a Twin, half a `75 Dumble. The best ever!

Daniel Policarpo · Post by **Daniel Policarpo** » 17 Jul 2014 4:44 am

Nice one, Olli. What does the "Accent" switch do?
-Dan

Tim Marcus · Post by **Tim Marcus** » 17 Jul 2014 8:08 am

Ian Worley wrote: Be nice to have something smaller/lighter with similar tone. Tim Marcus' 50w Sideman model looks like the cat's meow to me for this application, ~40lbs and designed with steel in mind. I like the idea of the smaller 20w two channel amp too. How much would that setup weigh as a combo, Tim? Still around 40lbs? Out of my price range at the moment anyhow.

the 2 channel 20W combo is about 35lbs

this is one I built that had 2 knobs for reverb and no tremolo:

Jimmy Gibson · Post by **Jimmy Gibson** » 7 Aug 2014 6:36 am

I have been using a Tweed Fender Stage 100 for a while,it has 2 channels separate tones ,work great with both steel and guitar. Light but very loud with loads of headroom.

Jimmy.

Joe Kaufman · Post by **Joe Kaufman** » 7 Aug 2014 8:57 pm

Well I just picked up a Peavey Vegas 400 for this role ($150, I love craigslist!). I've been less than pleased with using my Nashville 400 for both in the past.

Godfrey Arthur · Post by **Godfrey Arthur** » 8 Aug 2014 3:26 am

Fender twang is a Fender amp. The Twin would be the go-to for both guitars, although solid state proves best for steel. If you have your heart set on a Deluxe, it would serve your guitar but not your steel.

The Steel Guitar Forum

Dual purpose steel/guitar amp

Guitar and Steel Amp