The Steel Guitar Forum

I use a 2001 Blues Jr -- it's my live amp but I could use it at home, too, since it's a master volume amp. Sounds great and bluesy, but not much clean headroom. Wish I had a Princeton Reverb, though -- I love that tone.

I also got a Line 6 GuitarPort, which lets me practice using headphones through the PC. Pretty decent amp and effect emulations, and I can mix in CDs to play along. I actually practice a lot more now, because I can play while my 7-year old is sleeping.

Peter

I've been using a BF Fender Bandmaster head with a single JBL D-130A speaker and a Holy Grail reverb unit with my stringmasters. This gets a nice clean but warm sound without any distortion. But I also use a '67 Fender Champ that has an 8" Jensen speaker for the six strings like the Oahu and the Supro. Those sound pretty fabulous with that little amp. I used to use one of my Fender Super Reverbs that I modded to take 6550 power tubes but the 4 speaker system seems to break up more than I intended even with the 6550 tubes. It is a GREAT blues amp though. I've also got a Roland JC-120 head linked through a Roland RE-501 Reverb Echo unit that has a nice tape loop delay and chorus. This runs to a 2-12 box with a pair of JBL K-120's used with an Alkire Eharp D-10. Sweet! But as you can see I'm all over the map here in the studio. I sometimes play directly into the mixing board and through a software effects unit called Guitar Rig. That comes up as a plug in for Sonar and has incredible effects features. Pretty amazing!

Favorite is still one of the Champs though. It just has 6 watts but it's a killer for tone with good 6V6 tubes.

ObeWanKobe

------------------
Gibson D-8 Console Grande - Stringmaster T-8 - Alkire EHarp D-10
Fender Super Reverb
kobe@austin.rr.com
http://home.austin.rr.com/kobeco


<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Karl Oberlander on 21 July 2005 at 03:54 PM.]</p></FONT>

Blues Jr. for home, practices and 'jams'. '68 Super Reverb for gigs.

------------------
Half-assed bottleneck and lap slide player. Full-assed Builder of resonator instruments.

I bought a Peavey Classic 30 amp when I started playing non pedal steel as I prefer tubes and immediately had to change the poor sounding stock tubes. It still sounded hot so I changed the power tubes to Czech JJ Tesla's and the first 2 preamp tubes to 12AT7 JJ's instead of 12AX7 . The JJ Tesla tubes are way better than the Sovteks and Electro Harmonix ones for me in this amp . The amp still didn't have that chimey sound I remember from playing a Fender Twin in the 70's and a Fender Super Reverb in the 80's though . The guy who sold it to me at the music store said that the 6L6 Fender amps are a Class A amp and the Peavey is a class A/B amp similar to other EL84 power tube amps like Vox. He said if a EL84 power tube amp is a Class A amp that Fenderish chimey sound would be there. Actually what really wound up making it work great for my 3 non pedal steels is the Tech 21 Sansamp Acoustic DI which is for piezo pickup instruments and fiddle , mandolin and guitar. I used to use it with great results on my acoustic bass. I plug my non-pedal guitar into it, then the amps ( also a Fender Pro Jr. ) The Tech 21 is a very quiet transparent direct box with active 3 band eq and a sweepable mid frequency knob. You can blend in a tube emulation circuit from 0 to 10 and it sounds very musical . The unit runs on a wall wart or seemingly forever on a 9 volt battery and has a built in effects loop with 3 pin xlr direct out . If I would have known all this before purchasing I would have probably bought a Fender Deluxe and I could have saved myself a lot of trial and error but I just didn't know . The Peavey seems to be really popular with electric guitar players for blues , rock or country. I use a Lexicon MPX 100 in the effects loop of the Peavey and turn off the reverb in the amp . The Lexicon sounds thin plugged into the front of the amp but great through the loop.

I'm glad we could share this amongst us non-peddlers. I think we use a wider variety of amps than those guys.

I use the same amp I use for guitar. It's a Reverend Hellhound with 2 6L6s and a 12" speaker. It can be 40 watts, or 60.

Great amp all around. It's always fun to play with the master volume and gain to shape whatever tone you're in the mood for. My only complaint about the Hellhound is that the reverb is a little thin.

------------------
Steve Pierce

Hey Brad Bechtel, when we get together and I hope soon, I'll let you try my Roland Microcube. It is quite an amazing little amp with a built-in chorus, flanger, phaser, delay and reverb. Roland must own Boss. It is supposed to run for 20 hours on 6 AA batteries. No kidding. You can get an AC adapter but why bother. Very portable but probably more as a practice amp. You can take it to the park or to the beach. My Nashville 112 sits idle because it more fun to play thru the Microcube. Kris

My favorite non-pedal amp is the same as my pedal steel amp: THD BiValve through a THD 2X12" cab with a Celestion and a K-120.

I usually play through a Mesa Boogie Studio .22+ with an Altec Lansing 417-8H speaker. Second choice is a '52 Valco "Champ" with a Weber Signature 8" speaker. It likes the steel much more then a regular guitar. I'd like to have an amp like that, but with a little more power and a 12" speaker. I guess a tweed Deluxe would work.

I've only sampled a Micro-Cube, but I was very impressed.

Gary Boyett, how do you couple your Fender Deluxe with your MicroCube? You said when both are on and balanced. Kris

The amps are tied together right now with an A-B pedal. You can choose A (fender) or B (micro)or Both. When I have two steels hoked-up I use the A-B pedal to switch guitars and use the RV-3 (reverb/ delay)pedal for the amps. The RV-3 has one input and two outputs. I currently only have the RV-3 going to the Fender so I can turn it off when I want that classic or blues sound.

------------------
JCFSGC,RMSGC,HSGA member since 2005
Fenders- Georgeboard- Melobar
Boyett's Glass Bars

<SMALL>Your remarkable non-peddle amp</SMALL>

I could be here all day if I started listing my remarkable amps.

I'll just say that I have over 20 Fender amps of every size(champ to Dual Showman) from 1949 to 1972. Then about a half a dozen Rickenbacher amps from the '30s-'50s. Along with a few Valco's, Silvertone's, Magnatone's.

For the stringmaster I really like the '58 Bandmaster with three ten inch speakers.

Gary ... That's an interesting combination.
I like to combine amps for a sound. I take
an old Silvertone 2 channel and take the speaker out into a Hot Plate attenuator,
used to simulate speaker load only. Run the
out into my Deluxe Reverb copy (Bruno). I take an A-B switch to each channel of the
Silvertone and change one channels 12ax7 to
a 5751 while I leave the other alone. This
pre-amping of the Deluxe lets it sing at
very low volumes, but the A-B switch lets
me power down the gain for a cleaner sound.
<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Joseph De Feo on 23 July 2005 at 08:45 AM.]</p></FONT>

Steve Pierce - I also have the Reverend Hellhound amp. Cool amp! I've changed out the 1st 12AX7 for 12AT7 and it cleaned it up a little. I usually use it for my strat in a country band. But it is nice for steel in blues moods. Just not as clean as a Fender for Hawaiian or Country for me.

SO! Given we all like MicroCube's - has anyone tried any of the bigger Roland Cube amps???? They all have similar features (ala MicroCube) but more power, and bigger speakers. Seem like they might be a good alternative for live.

chris

------------------
Chris Kennison
Colorado

Do you all really like the MicroCube that much? I mean, the novelty of a battery powered amp that sounds better than a Pignose is cool, but novel is about all it is for me (and a good amp to bring along to picnics, etc.). The thing really has no tone or life as far as I'm concerned. The notes are way too squashed sounding. I like to hear the notes jump out of an amp the way they do with a good Fender or the old Epis that I have--lots of midrange punch.

Mike's on the $$$.

I own a MicroCube, and it's a great little amp in a pinch, but it has a very compressed/squashed sound, even when run completely clean. I much prefer the sound of any of my tube amps (Fender Deluxe Reverb, Montgomery Wards "Airline", and Sears Silvertone). I've done my own "shootout" at my home and there really is no comparison.<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Bill Leff on 22 July 2005 at 01:44 PM.]</p></FONT>

Bobby's bakelite sounded great at the convention last week, and I wasn't aware that he was using a miked micro cube until he walked off stage with it. Maybe the PA system enhanced it, who knows.

For lap steel I like Music Man HD 130 212s. Sometimes I'll use a Peavey Session 500 and a Music Man. For console steel, like my Steelmaster T8 I use 2 Fender Steel Kings. I also have some Peavey Classic series tube amps. It just depends on the song and the kind of sound that fits it etc.


Amps


RA

The Roland Cube 30 ($225) has the same features of the MicroCube with 30 watts of power thru a 10" speaker but you lose the battery power features. It weighs 20 lbs vs. 7 lbs. The Roland Cube 60 ($500) only has chorus and reverb with 30 watts thru dual 6 1/2" speakers and weighs 22 lbs. No battery. The MicroCube is an ultralight portable amp that sells for about $110 that runs on 6 AA batteries for 20 hours. Another neat feature it has is an input where you could plug in a CD player with background music and you become a one man show. And as Bill Creller says Bobby's bakelite sounded great thru a miked MicroCube.

I am enjoying my MicroCube for guitar and steel these days, because the battery power lets me lug it all over the place without looking for an outlet. Even though the amp models and effects are not studio-grade, they are pretty cool for back porch jamming. I have also used a Crate VC-508 for lap steel. This is a small tube amp with separate gain and volume controls and a Celestion 8" speaker. It has a very handy line out (after the pre-amp tube, before the power amp tube) that can be run into a PA or larger amp. And I just put a new Jensen 8" speaker in my silverface Vibro Champ, replacing the old stock speaker. Gave it a new lease on life as well -- sounds much fuller. If you're looking for a small lightweight amp for lap steel, any of these would be good choices.

I'm wondering why nobody has mentioned using a marshall tube amp? Thats what I'm planning on trying next with my lap steel. I don't remember the model number but they have a 40 watt tube amp that sounds great on guitar. Should sound pretty good with a lap steel too. Anybody out there tried this yet?

Rick

So, has anyone found a 5 1/4" replacement speaker for the MicroCube that will give more bass response?

------------------
Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'



CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

Is this too big Gerald? https://weberspeakerscom.secure.powweb.com/weber/

I don't have any of thier speakers but I hear they'e pretty good . . .

Construction started 1956 finished 1957. I was at school at the time and could only afford to buy components bit by bit!

6J7 pre-amp ECC35 phase splitter and two 6V6's in push-pull output= 15 watts of raw guitar. Still in use up to last year until the output transformer failed.

Now using Marshall DFX 30 and STILL can't play properly!!!!!
Cheers from Wales.

I have 2 older Peavey Envoy 110's. I can play them seperately or run them through the A/B for some good stereo action. These aren't the newer transtube trash Envoy's, these are the older funky ones with aqua blue on them, funky brushed trim on the from, blue flaked black covering and awesome reverb.

The first one I got, I only paid $10. for it because it had somethig wrong with it & the pawnshop guy thought it was bad...I bought a Blue Marvel speaker for it and it is fine now...beautiful tone.

The second one I bought, I bought on Ebay. It still has the original speaker in it...I gotta buy a Blue Marvel for it too!!! I tried for months to win one and always got outbid by idiots...I finally won an auction and now they keep each other company in my living room. It's kind of an odd site since I am a Fenderman through & through.



------------------
Known Coast to Coast as
"The Man with The Plan"

Fender Pedal 800, Fender Champion & a Homemade Double-neck!

Responding to the query for replacement 5.25 " speakers , Parts Express in Dayton Ohio has a pretty huge speaker inventory of all sizes and applications