Fender Steel King Settings

[Derrick Unger]

Just got a Steel King and am used to my peavey equipment..can anyone help me out on rough in settings for this amp that they use?? Thankz!!

[Dave Diehl]

Derrick, if I'm not mistaken, there are some settings listed in the rear of the Users Manual which is a pretty good place to start. If you don't have the manual let me know and perhaps I can scan them and send them too you.

[Lee Baucum]

I always start with all the knobs straight up. Depending on the venue, sometimes all it takes is a slight adjustment of the Tilt knob.

A couple of years ago we played at an event that was held in a large venue that could probably accommodate 400 people. It is a very "bright" sounding room with a concrete floor and block walls. Great natural reverb, by the way.

I played my BMI S-10 (705 pickup) through my Fender Steel King and was very pleased with the sound. Here are the settings I used:

Treble 12 o'clock
Mid Level 11 o'clock
Mid Frequency 1 o'clock
Bass 1 o'clock

Because the room was pretty bright sounding I dialed the EQ Tilt back to 10 o'clock.

I had my guitar running through a Sarno FreeLoader and a Goodrich pot pedal. I had the FreeLoader dialed back to 6. Usually I run it at 8. Again, it is a very "bright" sounding room.

Again, I always start with all the knobs straight up at 12:00 o'clock.

[Greg Cutshaw]

I've gone back and forth between Peavey steel amps and the Steel King a few times. Both sound great to my ears but I prefer the lows and mids in the Steel King. Your guitar, pickups, effects and cord etc will all affect your sound as well as your playing technique. Preferences come into play a lot too. Assuming that your Steel King has the OEM speaker, you should be able to get a good sound with these settings with the amp up on a chair:

Steel King Settings (O'clock positions)

Gain = 10
EQ Tilt = 10
Treble = 2
Mid Level = 10
Mid Freq = 2
Bass = 2
Reverb = Off (I use external reverb)
Master = 12
Normal Switch Out
Limiter Switch In

Similar settings have worked great on my Sho-Bud, Williams and Excel guitars with various pickups.

I did run a Peavey Black Widow speaker in my Steel King for a few months and that required some changes to the above settings.

After swapping a MOD reverb tank for the OEM tank, it impressed me how close the Steel King reverb sounded to a good reverb stomp box set on hall mode.

[Tony Edwards]

I had a steel king and I can truthfully say it was one of the best sounding steel amps I ever owned. It had a tube sound, yet without the tubes. I have had several other brands of amps but the Fender Steel King is one of the best.

[Derrick Unger]

Thanks for the replies fellows...I really appreciate it..it looks like about straight up is the preferred starting point
with slight adjustment to taste from there..again thanks!!

Greg..thanks for such detail that is a great reply!!

[Kevin Mincke]

EQ Tilt: 9 o’clock for C6 and around 10 or 11 for E9.
Treble: around 11 o’clock.
Mid Level: 10 or 11 o’clock.
(Mid Level doesn’t work unless the Mid Frequency knob is moved from the center setting.)
Mid Frequency: 11 o’clock.
Bass: 1 o’clock
Reverb: 10 o’clock