how do guitars sound through steel amps?

[Randall Meeker]

Steel Amps (good ones) are designed differently than guitar amps. Depending on what you are doing with them will determine whether you can or will decide to use one amp for both instruments or different rigs for different electical / musical setups. I play 4 different instruments and prefer different amps for each one. And while a good guitar amp (Fender Twin Reverb) usually covers most of them it is just too heavy and usually too loud for stage. A fender Steel King works ok a Webb or Standel would be great but live I use a Roland Cube 80X, for a festival stage when we have to play loud (rather than quiet stage with IEMs through our IEM Monitor Mixer) I might use two Roland Cube 60s equal to a Roland Jazz Chorus or the Fender Twin. Sometimes I use the Fender Steel King for steel but it doesn't translate well for Lap Steel (guitar like pickups) and the desire for an amp with more reactive speaker load interaction in the output sound along with classic tube preamp and power amp distortion warmth. Baritone and 6 string acoustic and electric guitar have differing amounts of various sound qualities required for optimal production of thier sounds - and then again it depends if I am going to the studio to record or to the stage. Small stages require minimum electronics large stages require quicker setups unless you are with the headline act. Typically it is a compromise at best and I tend to lean toward not compromising the steel sound as much as the others. I tweak the signal path of the lap steels with a dobro pedal (BobBro)and amp modelers (tone and electronic mods) and work the tone knobs of the lap steels a lot to tweak a range of sounds out of them. Baritone goes to the Roland Bass Cube 100 but everything will run through one or two Roland Cube for a live stage. Recording is entirely about "the sound" so more gear and more time to get the best sound available - sometimes I even go direct without amp and add all the jazz and bling afterwards in the control room - recording is an art - and you need to open your mind to the possibilities, not to clamp it down on one sound.
Dream Setup: Webb on the Steel,
Lap Steel and Electric Guitars:Fender Pro Reverb Reissue with a 15" D130 Extension Cabinet
Baritone: Fender Twin with 2- JBL D130 Extension Cabinet and no Jensen 12s
Acoustic: Roland Cube 60 and or Fender Acoustasonic Jr.

[Ron Leegate]

I'm playing contemporary and traditional country at dance club venues (150 - 250 person capacity). Very happy with my Nashville 1000 for all'round duty - plenty of power (300 watts/Black Widow/Neo) - I get around the single channel using the following chain:

OUTPUT FROM TELECASTER TO - BOSS TUNER, BOSS COMPRESSOR, BOSS BLUES DRIVER, MAXXON OVERDRIVE, DELTA LABS DELAY, DELTA LABS CHORUS, BOSS RV-5 REVERB, BBE SONIC MAXIMIZER(FOR GUITAR EQ), BOSS EQ
- MORLEY A/B PEDAL (GUITAR IN "A" INPUT)

OUTPUT FROM GOODRICH STEEL PEDAL TO - DELTA LABS CHORUS, BOSS DD-7 DELAY, BOSS RV-5, BOSS EQ, MORLEY A/B PEDAL (STEEL IN "B" INPUT)

MORLEY OUTPUT TO NASHVILLE 1000 HIGH GAIN INPUT

STEEL AND GUITAR SHARE THE DELTA LABS CHROUS, RV-5 AND DD-7, AND BOSS EQ - YOU JUST HAVE TO GET CREATIVE WITH YOUR PEDAL BOARD CABLE ROUTING.

ABOUT THE BOSS EQ: I USE THIS PRIMARILY AS BOOST FOR BOTH GUITAR AND STEEL, WITH EQ's SET FLAT AND A LITTLE GAIN - I LIKE IT BECAUSE OTHER BOOST PEDALS WITH ROTARY KNOBS ARE TOO HARD TO DIAL IN "JUST A LITTLE" GAIN, AND THE ROTARY KNOBS ARE EASY TO TURN IF YOU ACCIDENTLY HIT IT WITH YOUR FOOT (SURPISE!) THE BOSS EQ SLIDER STAYS PUT. ALSO I CAN EQ THE WHOLE SETUP FROM THERE IF I WANT, DEPENDING ON THE VENUE AND WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH THE SOUND -- MY STEEL IS NOT AS HOT AS MY GUITAR SET-UP, SO I HAVE TO BOOST IT A LITTLE WHEN PLAYIN' THE STEEL.

I SET THE AMP UP FOR MY STEEL SOUND (BASS, TREBLE, AND PRESENCE ALL THE WAY UP, MIDS @ "4" AND THE "SHIFT" @ "300" AND USE THE BBE SONIC MAXIMIZER
IN THE GUITAR CHAIN TO EQ MY GUITAR SOUND -
PREAMP KNOB NO MORE THAN "4" OR YOU'LL GET DISTORTION - VOLUME KNOB @ "4-5" (P.S THIS IS LLLOOUUDDD) ----- DEPENDS ON WHEATHER THE OTHER GUITAR PLAYER, WHO HAS A NASVILLE 1000, IS TRYIN' TO IMPRESS THE GIRLS

Anyway, (whew!) I've had many compliments on the sound of both my Tele and my steel, and I like it, so it ain't broke, ain't gonna fix it.

Alot depends on the volume you are going to be playing at. We are a drivin' band and it's been my experience that the only amps that can stay clean at volumes are the Peavy Steel amps - I can always dirty up my guitar.


The Nashville 1000 Kicks

[Alan Harrison]

My SE-200 sounds equally as good with my Mullen or either the Gibson SG or my Strat. I always use two amps because I have to change the knobs so much to go between Steel and Standard.