The Steel Guitar Forum

Phil just starts with good tone, so you don't need to eq the nasty bits out.

Tommy Boswell wrote:Only one tone control knob?

My Bassman 70 has bass, treble, and bright switch, and that's not enough. I have to use an EQ pedal and cut the 800 band to get good tone.

How does the LW do it?

What's SO interesting about the LW is that there is NO cutting or dipping of midrange frequencies. No 800Hz dip at all. Your Bassman 70 can be improved quite a bit with good cap's, resistors, and tubes, but the type of circuit and component selection in the LW gives such a pleasing and harmonically sweet and rich midrange that there's no reason to cut any of it out.

B

The reason Fender amps have that cut in the midrange is because Leo was compensating for the 12AX7a tubes produced at the time, which have a spike at the same midrange frequency. That is all it is.

So if you have a Fender style amp with a new production tube that is not a Tung Sol 12AX7a or RCA 12ax7a from the 1960's the midrange scoop is not going to be in the right place. It gets more complicated by modern tubes which vary a great deal from one to another tonally.

Tweed style Fender amps, which is what the LW is a clone of as discussed earlier, used 12AY7 or in this case an octal 12SL7 tubes which did not need to be flattened out with an eq circuit because they did not have that spike.

A Bassman 70, which is an amp designed by Rivera in the 1980's for CBS/Fender has no breath like a Fender amp from the 1960's. The values for the phase inverter are too tight, and there are also ceramic disc caps mounted to almost every tube socket. Also, rivera's power supply was very stiff. The result is a nasal pinched sound.

Didn't mean to hijack this thread, but thanks for the tips on my Bassman. I picked it up because the price was right, not because I expected it to sound like a LW or any other boutique amp. I'll spring for one of those when I get rich and famous.

They took down that link----anyone know where it might still be?

Jerry Kippola wrote:They took down that link----anyone know where it might still be?

It was a CMT Crossroads program, they still have it on their site:

http://www.cmt.com/videos/shows/cmt-cro ... oads.jhtml

Been playing my new Little Walter PF Twin 50 for about 3 months now and the more I play it the more I love it. Incredible tone and very clean sound. It is very responsive to a players touch and I have never felt so connected to my steel guitars. Has to be played to be appreciated.
With effects the sound is huge. This amp really shines and after 3 months of steady playing have had no tube issues at all, it sounds sweeter each time I fire her up. I like the fact that I can also swap out and experiment with different speakers and cabinet setups.

For guitar and pedal steel, my 58 Fender bassman gives me a sound that's hard to beat from anything on the market today, nuff said.

Tim,
Thanks, sounds so pretty!
George,
Way to go on your new LW!

I agree Theresa. I`d use the word perfect...
The playing, the tone. Perfect.

Just ordered my L walter PF 50 lacquer tweed today and going to use 2 1201-8s with it, can't wait till it gets here to try it out.

I know Paul prefers BW 12's with his various rigs but has anyone used 2 1501-4's through the LW twin 50 ?? or are they just a better match up with the 12's ?

Paddy, I run my LW twin 50 thru 2 eminence-15c neo’s housed in 2 Telonics cabinets. I tried to get 1501-4 but Peavey said they did not make them anymore.
The sound is big, crystal clean, a hair bright but seem to be mellowing with use and yes they sound close to JBL’s. These Telonics cabinets are fantastic and will be ordering 12’’ fronts so I can try some 12’’ speakers. Can hardly wait. Cheers.

George I have 2 1501-4 baskets I'll sell ya just give me a shout

Thanks Roger for the offer, I will be purchasing some 12’’ speakers next to
try out. After that it will be time to balance my budget. Cheers.

Thanks George, yes I will be picking up my second Telonics cabinet in Dallas in March, an open backed one to go with my closed back !

The quality in little Walter amps is as high as you can get. Not sure where you're getting your informations from Tim but they are very high quality amps.