Best sounding lap steel amp?

Paul Honeycutt · Post by **Paul Honeycutt** » 29 Mar 2018 10:07 am

At the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association convention we backline with Quilters and a Twin Reverb. (And one other I'm forgetting). Last year a lot of the guys started on the Twin and were requesting the Quilters by the end of the festival. I'm considering a 101 Reverb. I have plenty of speakers to use with it.

George Macdonald · Post by **George Macdonald** » 29 Mar 2018 1:19 pm

It would be great if the Quilter 101 reverb just had an aux. input for tracks.

Jean-Sebastien Gauthier · Post by **Jean-Sebastien Gauthier** » 30 Mar 2018 5:27 am

George Macdonald wrote:It would be great if the Quilter 101 reverb just had an aux. input for tracks.

The MicroBlock 45 did.

My current setup is a Boss Fender 63' reverb, MicroBlock 45 and a Lil Texas speaker and I love that light setup!!

Jean-Sebastien Gauthier · Post by **Jean-Sebastien Gauthier** » 30 Mar 2018 7:46 am

Love that setup!

David Becker · Post by **David Becker** » 20 Apr 2018 7:44 pm

Jean-Sebastien -
What in particular do you like about the Lil Texas speaker for lap steel?
I'm thinking I'm going to need an amp with more power than my Roland Microcube's 3W for some small gigs (my first) with other electric guitars.
Thanks!

David

Steven Paris · Post by **Steven Paris** » 21 Apr 2018 3:30 pm

I'd use whatever amp Doug Beaumier uses---that tone can't be beat!!!

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 21 Apr 2018 4:10 pm

Steven Paris wrote:I'd use whatever amp Doug Beaumier uses---that tone can't be beat!!!

Doug would sound good coming through a 2-transistor radio. (Remember them?)

David Becker · Post by **David Becker** » 22 Apr 2018 5:33 am

I fell asleep many a night listening to WLS out of Chicago on one of those under my pillow!

Stephen Abruzzo · Post by **Stephen Abruzzo** » 22 Apr 2018 5:28 pm

David Becker wrote:I fell asleep many a night listening to WLS out of Chicago on one of those under my pillow!

I use to listen to the Phillies games in the summer on my transistor radio. Memories!!!

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 22 Apr 2018 6:04 pm

Stephen Abruzzo wrote:I use to listen to the Phillies games in the summer on my transistor radio. Memories!!!

For me it was the Twins! (Sorry about the topic drift.)

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 22 Apr 2018 6:24 pm

Back to the subject of lap steel amps, I favor smallish tube amps. I love my Silverface Princeton Reverb. My Silverface Musicmaster Bass also sounds sweet, especially when dimed. Never played the new ones, but I have two older (1995) Pro Juniors that double as harp amps and they both sound good. MMB & PJ are easy to adjust with just a single volume and a single tone control. Also have an older Blues Junior, but I definitely favor the PJ for lap steel.
All are dead-stock with the exception of the MMB, in which I installed a killer Vox Bulldog from the mid-sixties. Definitely part of the reason it sounds so good.

Ken Metcalf · Post by **Ken Metcalf** » 23 Apr 2018 3:18 pm

The best ?

Ken Metcalf · Post by **Ken Metcalf** » 23 Apr 2018 3:20 pm

The best ?
How loud?
Fender Deluxe reverb.

https://sanantonio.craigslist.org/msg/d ... 29391.html

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 24 Apr 2018 6:33 am

You guys are taking me back to the early 60s with your talk about transistor radios! For me it was Red Sox games, surf guitar, doo-wop, Motown, British invasion... with the radio next to my pillow at night. And when I touched the antenna to the metal lamp shade on my desk I could pick up radio stations hundreds of miles away!

As far as amps, I don't use one for recording. Well, not really. I go into a black box, a Peavey Nashville 112 "line out" - not the speaker sound, a Holy Grail reverb, volume pedal (sometimes), and direct into the computer. I turn the post gain on the amp down completely so no sound comes from the amp and I monitor though a small pair of powered speakers on the computer. So I'm only using the preamp section of the amp, not the speaker sound. For gigs I use a blackface Vibrolux Reverb (1967). I also have a 1959 tweed Deluxe that sounds pretty sweet. For pedal steel I use a Quilter combo. The 112 I use mostly for teaching lessons. I played through various amps on my early videos, but in recent years it's all direct recording.

I think the guitar has a lot to do with it. It's hard to get a vintage tone from a modern steel guitar IMO. The older, single coil pickups "breathe" more than modern humbuckers. That allows the player to vary the tone with his pick attack or where (along the string) he picks. That makes for more expressive playing and different tones available from the guitar. Just my opinion.

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 26 Apr 2018 4:56 pm

I've got a Forties Gibson. BR-1? Two 6L6s, loud when you wanna be. Great tone! I think it's a 1946 amp.

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 28 Apr 2018 6:01 am

My favorite lap steel amp is a Fender â€˜64 non-reverb BF Deluxe. They are a bit rare, but suprisingly reasonable in cost. I put a Telonics neo 12â€ in mine and have been gigging it a lot. I really love it.

If you have the budget for it, you might consider a Milkman amp too.

Justin Brown · Post by **Justin Brown** » 29 Apr 2018 3:57 am

Hereâ€™s the 70s Princeton Reverb I used on that video referred to above ( https://youtu.be/VwjBar9xPzA )

It works great for practice and low volume settings. Iâ€™m picky about reverb tanks and put one I liked from another amp in it. I also swapped out the speaker with one of those new Jensens which I know are not supposed to be great but it really helped open up the sound of the amp. This amp works well until it starts to overdrive and then it gets really ratty almost immediately.

Steven Paris · Post by **Steven Paris** » 4 May 2018 12:52 am

Now what if we restricted this discussion to PORTABLE (battery-powered) amplifiers? THEN what is best?

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 2 Dec 2019 8:05 am

Steven Paris wrote:Now what if we restricted this discussion to PORTABLE (battery-powered) amplifiers? THEN what is best?

I like these things alot:

Jim Newberry · Post by **Jim Newberry** » 3 Dec 2019 12:49 pm

The Roland Mobile Cube that Jack posted above is the best battery solution I've found. I also have a Yamaha THR10C that's pretty good, but has a 1000 unused doodads on it. I just want a clean signal with some tone control and reverb plus a line-in for play-along during practice and headphone out. The Roland has that plus a few more doodads (chorus, delay, a few gain settings). At 5 watts, it is actually pretty loud with those two big-ish speakers. It's still a little flat and lifeless compared to a nice old Valco single-ended tube amp, of course.

Now what I REALLY want is a simple battery-powered Quilter at about 10-20 clean, fat watts + reverb in a small 1x6 or 1x8 combo. For the Hawaiian jam session or other mixed acoustic/electric session with friends, that'd be just perfect!

Patrick Strain · Post by **Patrick Strain** » 6 Dec 2019 1:59 am

I see someone brought this post back from the dead. Was there a conclusion to the original poster's quandary?

Nic Neufeld · Post by **Nic Neufeld** » 6 Dec 2019 5:11 am

On mobile amps...Alan Akaka uses the Yamaha THR10 and said he likes the bass response on an 8 string a bit more than the Roland battery amps. He gigs with it mic'ed up some times which is a pretty good testimonial (a lot easier to haul than his silverface fenders!).

Andy DePaule, your suggestion definitely goes against the grain of conventional wisdom (cheap, solidstate, bass practice amp?? the horror!) but I have personally had more experiences where I plug into "fancy" tube amps of various stripes and am left wanting, then go and plug into a cheap bass amp and the smooth, deep tone is exactly what I was missing. I've even plugged into a super cheap Rogue bass practice amp and been surprised how satisfied I was with it. No accounting for taste I guess, haha, but definitely a reminder to use your ears instead of using preconceived notions about gear. If bass amps typically had built in reverb I might have ended up using one...

My favorite right now with my Clinesmith is my new amp, a 90s Fender Custom Vibrasonic. Has a 15 and a nice deep well of low end...and more power than I'll ever need. Heavy though, but I'm still in my 30s and have no excuse...

Fred Treece · Post by **Fred Treece** » 6 Dec 2019 10:00 am

Patrick Strain wrote:I see someone brought this post back from the dead. Was there a conclusion to the original poster's quandary?

Yes. Try 10 different amps and then buy one.

Patrick Strain · Post by **Patrick Strain** » 6 Dec 2019 12:08 pm

Fred Treece wrote:
Patrick Strain wrote:I see someone brought this post back from the dead. Was there a conclusion to the original poster's quandary?
Yes. Try 10 different amps and then buy one.

I'm really just interested in what the original poster ended up buying. I don't play lap, but it was an interesting thread.

Andy DePaule · Post by **Andy DePaule** » 11 Dec 2019 8:28 pm

Nic Neufeld wrote:Andy DePaule, your suggestion definitely goes against the grain of conventional wisdom (cheap, solidstate, bass practice amp?? the horror!) but I have personally had more experiences where I plug into "fancy" tube amps of various stripes and am left wanting, then go and plug into a cheap bass amp and the smooth, deep tone is exactly what I was missing. I've even plugged into a super cheap Rogue bass practice amp and been surprised how satisfied I was with it. No accounting for taste I guess, haha, but definitely a reminder to use your ears instead of using preconceived notions about gear. If bass amps typically had built in reverb I might have ended up using one..

Hi Nic,
Last year I got my long dreamed of amp. An older Webb and it really sounds great with every steel I own.
The little Danelectro is retired to my bedroom for bedtime playing and still good to take on my motorbike to jams.
As for using bass amps for steel. Many steelers used the older Fender Bass amps in the early days for their pedal steels. Usually used them with the separate Fender reverb unit too is my understanding.
You said one thing I agree with 100%. Listen with your ear and don't consider the price.
Best wishes,
Andy

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