The Steel Guitar Forum

I use two: a full size N1000 and a little N1000 (N112 with a mod....sounds like a 1000 to me)
jas

read below

William, I am a steel guitarist who just happens to work for Peavey Electronics. Peavey has a reputation of designing and manufacturing some of the best steel guitar amplifiers in the business since 1974 when the first Peavey Session 400 was introduced. And our company has supported the steel community for over 30 years by being a major sponsor of the St. Louis International Steel Guitar Convention.

Any of our models, the Session 400(1970's), Vegas 400, LTD 400, Session 500, Session 400 Limited, Nashville 400, Nashville 1000, Session 2000 or the Nashville 112 will work fine and are designed specifically for steel guitar applications. I invite you to check out our steel guitar page at;
http://www.peavey.com/support/steelguitaristinfo/

I believe that you will find some useful information there. If I can be of assistance to you, please feel free to contact me toll free at 1-877-732-8391, ext. 1180. I believe that you will find the best factory support from Peavey, should you choose to purchase our products.

Mike Brown
Peavey USA

'71 nonmaster volume Twin Reverb in a head cab, and two Rick Johnson extension cabs, with Altec 418B 15" speakers. Sound great with my Shobuds. Lot easier to move around in the head cab, and you can put the speakers where you want on stage. I keep the head at my side for easy tweaking.

For regular gigs: 150 watts/20 lbs. plus PODxt



For larger rooms and outdoors: 560 watts/40lbs plus PODxt



Or else one of these old junkers.

Hey Jay, I like your "junkyard"!!

You know, if I had a wad of money I would try the new solid state Fender Jazzmaster Ultralight 250 watt head (7 lbs.) with the Ultralight 1x12 Neodymium speaker cab (17 lbs.). Anybody tried this rig for pedal steel yet? If it was too cold and sterile sounding, I'd put a Revelation preamp in front of it. And for distortion I'd use my Seymour Duncan Twin Tube stomp box.

How pricey IS the Jazzmaster?

At Musician's Friend: Head = $650; speaker cab = $250; head and one speaker cab = $900.

That's not bad these days for what it is. But I'm between jobs and tapped out for cash right now.

Nice "junkers".

A couple decades ago I was using a couple Ampeg B15N amps in a western swing setting, but even though they were very "warm" they were also a little "flabby".

Now I use either a "silver face" Fender Twin, that's been voiced for steel guitar, a couple of Sho-Bud "Christmas trees", an Evans or a '59 Standel.

I'm using a Dean Markley rm-80-dr rack mount with an old 15" monitor for a speaker for pedal steel right now. I only use half the thing, as I don't like the overdriven channel on this amp. Normal channel seems to work pretty good if I am careful.

I have tried the pedal steel through my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, but I don't like it too much. I don't like the overdrive or the more drive on that amp at all, but the amp sounds great with my strat and my archtop and my EM-200.

I guess I'm still looking for a steel amp.

I guess in this world size does count...I still use an AER Compact 60 and marvel at how much more floor space i have to store junk on now that my old Evans FET500 is gone.

Fender Woody Ash Jr. (Blues Jr. in an Ash cabinet.) 15 watts is enough for me!

David, I have one of the Fender Jazzmaster Ultralights and I have used it for pedal steel. I can get a pretty good steel sound out of it, but I don't care much for the internal effects, they sound pretty cheesy. I usually use delay, chorus, and overdrive pedals anyway, and the internal reverb is OK. The second channel can be overdriven if you want to dirty it up a little. I love the weight of the thing, very easy to carry around. I had D2F make me a custom cover for the speaker cab.



But, all of that said, I really prefer the older Acoustic Image amps. I have one that is about the size of a cigar box, puts out 600watts into 2 ohms, and weighs about 4 lbs. I have a couple of 12" 4 ohm Black Widows in custom closed back cabinets that will handle the power. The built in digital reverb sounds really good. I tried one of the newer AI amps and didn't like it nearly as good as the older ones, so I sent it back.



Here is another amp that is fairly small and light that I like. It is an Evans AE200 with two 8" speakers. I think it puts out 200 watts and has a surprising low end.



I should mention all of my old Peavey amps, Session 400, Ltd 400, Session 500, and LA 400. And of course my old '68 Fender Twin with a JBL D130. All of these amps sound really good with a steel, but as old as I'm getting, I would need a roadie to carry them around, so they stay at home.

I use a Fender Steel King, an SE-150 Evans & a Nashville 400 with Lemay Mods. I use two SE-50 Boss processor for delay & reverb, and one SE-50 I have set up for a kind of B3 organ sound. I like all the amps, each has its own characteristics, but that Steel King sure has a special sound.

Ernie Pollock

Nashville 1000

2 nash 112s, and Revelation pre

Fender Steel King for the last couple of years.

These days I'm using a 66 fender showman into a 2/12 THD cab for recording along with a Holy Grail reverb. For live gigs I'm using a 69 Fender deluxe or a reissue twin depending on the gig. Next amp I buy for daily live work will be a Peavey.

..late 70's Fender Vibrosonic Reverb with 15" EVM..

Sho-Bud "Christmas Tree" with a JBL D130 speaker. I use a George Dennis optical (active) volume pedal, and I use just a bit of "slapback" with an Ibanez "soundtank" deley. As this amp has two seperate channels, I can use this amp for both steel and lead guitar.

These full spectrum speaker systems (and the full spectrum amps to drive them) give better definition to bass, and also reproduce pick noise and slapping, which many bass players want.

Most of the bass players I've worked with the last few years use either SWR combos or Alembic preamps with Crest or QSC power amps - and with Acme "Low B" cabinets. Those speakers KILL with steel. They don't have that nasty Hartke-ish upper-range harshness slapper love, and instead have a full, round sound with no speaker breakup. Full-range Bass amps are simple to set up to reduce upper-mid harshness, as most have extremely precise shelving in their tone systems. I've also had great luck with SWR's - I have an old PB200 power amp that I run with a couple Eminence 10" Beta 10A's that also works well for steel, as does my little SWR Baby Blue.

The bass rigs I've tried that didn't work were anything Hartke, Carvin, Peavey or Mesa bass drivers and the Crate/Ampeg/Ibanez (SLM) stuff.

That being said, my main amps for steel are a '64 Vibroverb Custom, '69 Pro Reverb or a Holland Little Jimi. About a week ago I played at a jam with a full band (and at least 3 guitar players going at it at once) and the 40-watt Vibroverb had volume and headroom to spare - LOTS of both.

After back surgery last November, amplifier weight became a real issue. Darvin generously shared with me his experience with the Fender Ultralight and I decided to give that a try. I am still experimenting with the various channels and effects, but so far, I like how the GFI sounds through the 12" cabinet. I kept my eye on the Musician' Friend's website, especially their "Scratch and Dent" section and I was able to get the Ultralight head for around $490. The amp package had been opened, but there was not a mark on the amp itself. Full warranty. I think there is some compromise on the clarity of the low end, but I can't argue with the weight.

I'd love to know how Jay Ganz (above) gets 150 watts at 20 pounds out that Fender cabinet!!

Dennis

Dennis, Jay's secret lies inside the cabinet. It's not as it appears on the outside.

Jay, ya got any photos of the backside/inside of that monster?


Brad

For live performance - either 2 NV112s, or 1 NV112 and 1 Peavey Valve King.






Reliable and not too heavy . .



In the studio, I use various amps - lately I've been using mostly a 47 Fender Pro and a 53 Deluxe.
Reconditioned and tweaked by tube amp genius Andres Olea - http://andysamps.com





The need for tweed . .


RA
BIG STEEL