The Steel Guitar Forum

3/nashville 400's, 2/ltd 400's, 1/vegas 400, 1/session 500, 1/special 112, 2/randal steelman 500's, and 1/shobud, these are all my favorites i got rid all the bad ones....thanks jack

best: '67 Vibrolux Reverb

worst: Session 500

Best: Music Man 1-12 EVM, 100 watt, RD version. Still have this amp.

Next Best: Music Man 1-12 JBL, 50 watt. Still have this one too.

Not-Reliable: Peavey LTD. I swear every part on the circuit board fell off at one time or another. After all that the caps ozzed stuff all over everything. Oh, I almost forgot the output transistors shorted toasting a nice JBL D130.

Not Sure Yet: Fender Twin RI, with 15 inch Fender speaker.

Worst: Fender Solid State, forget the model.

Best , webb and session 400. Worst Nash 112 no power or tone.

I love all my children.....Oh wait, I have no kids

A lot of amps have come and gone. I can't say one was over the top great but I have ones that I favor and many I wish I still had. Back in the day, I traded a black face pre CBS Fender Twin for a sparkle rolled and pleated Kustom. Someone slap me

My favorite amp (for guitar) is this 1986 JCM 800 50 watt Marshall that was modded by Suhr in 91 to a two channel with FX loop, power soak and a few other goodies:



Here are some of my other favorites:
Dual Pro with Vintage 30's:



AC30 with Blueback Alnico speakers:



1966 Bandmaster w/Jensen P12N speakers:



For steel my favorite is the NV1000 w/mod chips and the TubeWorks MosValve.

Worst amp I owned was an Ampeg V4. It really was a great old amp but needed a lot of work and probably new tubes. The other worst was an old Danelectro Cadet, which again, was a pretty cool amp for 5 watts haha.

Clete

Best all round steel amp = Bradshaw Webb 614E

Worst = Session 500 (totally unreliable)

I have to say that value for money and for tone the Roland 80XL has been a great acquisition.

Best: Victoria 80 watt tweed twin with JBL's.
Worst: Dr. Z EZG-50, sounded lousy through every speaker I could find.

thats odd so many people list the Session 500 as one of the worst, while praising the N400 - i've got both and although i would agree the 500 is not what i'd want to tote around, and the N400 about as perfect a working mans steel amp as ever was, the 500 is to me the best steel amp ever made, its downfall is obvious - you cant lift it.

i cant speak for the Session 400 - everybody raves about them but everyone i've heard/played through was hissing, coughing, distorting and in need of service so i cant make the call on them.

while i like the Peavey amps, try playing one dry with the reverb/effects off...eeks - they do require a little signal processing to sound tolerable.

Worst: Fender twin --- great for guitar but complete rubbish for steel ! it had 2 x 12's

Best: my Telonics rack rig by a long way.
I also have a really good Nashville 1000 which always sounds good.

I may be the only one to admit it, but I am really confused now.

Best > Session 500rd , 78 Session 400 , 80 model LTD 400, also loved my Nashville 112, and Evans FET 500.
Worst, tried 3 different Nashville 400rds, didn't care for any of them. Didn't like the 77 Vibrosonic I had.
terry

Best steel amp: Peavey Session 500

Worst steel amp: Any tube amp.

Best, SE200 Evans and Music Man Sixty Five. Very diffrent but great tone.

Worst, Moded Nashville 400. This amp was so bad it now is being used for a bass guitar monitor ! lol

Dale Hampton wrote:I may be the only one to admit it, but I am really confused now.

Not confusing at all. Steel players resemble economists: All the steel players laid end to end would still never reach an agreement.
Most of us have right hand technique that yields a less than perfect tone and we count on the amp/rig to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.
Some amps are better suited for some aspects of that job than others.

I'm a tube amp guy! I'm a tube amp guy! I'm a tube amp guy!
Butt,,, the best amp I've ever had for both steel and Tele,,, was a Lab, with a 15" Electro-Voice. Abdo-Lutely killer! Wish someone would revive that circuit. It didn't sound like an SS amp at all. It sounded like a beautifully clean tube amp. I'm quite happy with my split Twin with a JBL 15. Love to hear that interaction between notes. Very "Lil Darlin'" sound.

Worst amp? By farrr,,,, Peavey Vegas. Generic, sterile sound. Couldn't use it for the Tele, so I had to haul my '64 Vibroverb along. I hated that Vegas!

For 6-string,,,, my '56 Pro Amp. Unbeatable.

Lane, your post hit home with me. I have 2 ZUMS, 2 Evans fet 500's a Emmons p/p and a Fender Twin and still hear others with tone that I haven't been able to get. I know you speak the truth. Dale

Best was a 60 watt Mesa Boogie Mark IIB that I built myself when I worked there. I really regret selling that amp. Those 6L6 tubes could really sing.

Worst was a solid state Fender Bassman head. I couldn't get a decent tone out of that no matter how I much I twisted the knobs.

I have only been playing 6 yrs or so but in my limited experience playing various amps at church and around I can say that even though an old tube amp may have great tone and mojo, they will leave you hanging and break down way more often. I have been left with no amp at least twice in my band due to tube amp fail and church as well. Have gone right back to my Nash 400. I even use it for my D8 console now as well as D10 pedal. Plus great for tele. Sometimes the clipping thing bothers but the tradeoff is worth it. That amp doesnt break up per se but has a growl all its own. I am totally over the whole tube thing. Just doesnt mean much to me anymore. As much as I drag my stuff around I have no time for fussy tubes anymore. Clean rippin tone. A little slapback/verb and clean boost and I'm good to go. Best of all it works when I turn it on. I really like the uncolored tone of powerful SS amp. Blends well with others. I am actually looking for a Peavey special 130 or something like it to take when dont need so much firepower. Worst: like Gene any tube amp, Best:Nash 400.

I have NEVER had any problems with a properly serviced tube amp. 50 plus years. Although that Lab was a wonderful anomaly!

Well good luck for you. You can have em. I dont trust them anymore and dont really care much about them. Gonna work on my playing and forget about the amps for a while.

Tom Cooper wrote: Gonna work on my playing and forget about the amps for a while.

We would all be a lot richer if we would take that advice !

Best, was an early 70's Sho-Bud single channel amp with JBL, played through a 70's era Emmons push-pull, then later, a LeGrande-II. Most players that heard it, wanted to buy it from me, but one night I cracked the speaker cone due to low voltage in a VFW hall. Had a very popular repair shop recone it, but the amp never sounded as good. I still own that amp, but no interest it playing it out anymore. Worst model amps for me was two 70's era Session-400 amplifiers. They LOVE repair shops! :

Richard Sinkler wrote:Lane said:

@Sinkler: Huh? a Session 400 at the bottom?

That's a big YUP. Biggest piece of crap I ever owned. output transistors kept blowing out. Had really crappy tone. I wouldn't give 2 cents for a Session 400.

I did love the Session 500, but it crapped out too many times (under warranty) and the music store that did Peavey repairs, worked with Peavey to take back the 500 and give me the NV400 for just sales tax. Never looked back.

I TOTALLY agree. i had a beautiful session 400 Metal knobs w peavey JBL personally I hated that AMP but it had great tone for guitar,it thumped with my strat. But on my Steel no usable tones for me!. I also had a brand new LTD 400 could not get any lows out of it. Nashville 400's and Vegas 400's best steel Amps peavey ever made

Clete Ritta wrote:My favorite amp (for guitar) is this 1986 JCM 800 50 watt Marshall

I had a nice 50W Marshall "Lead" head from the late '70s. It looked different from yours in that it had tolex on wood instead of grill cloth. It had 6550s that produced a beautiful crystalline jangle that I've never heard since. (Sold that pristine amp to Daddy's Junkie Music in MA.)

I've built a PP 50W EL 34 amp based on an Orange. Sounds real nice but without the clarity of the 6550s. I've got set of new transformers for a SE 6550 project. I do miss that sound.

I've had a Fender Twin which I did not like. The sound of a Twin, at least to me, is bright, glassy and painful.

I also had an Ampeg V4, a big, massive, toneless leviathan. When I moved I just gave it away to Goodwill.

The only amp I miss is that Marshall.