The Steel Guitar Forum

Steve Feldman, I'm glad that you brought this up. Can you tell me what you look for in an amp or do you know the amp you want when you sit down and play it?

Mike, excellent question you posed to Steve. But one that might be difficult to answer quantitatively, at least using the English language. For example, one of my guitars prefers the Peavey Nashville... or I should more correctly say... I get the sound I want out of that particular guitar most easily with my Nashville... so far, that is. Another of my guitars produces the sound I like easiest with a... uh, competing brand . But I didn't exactly know what I was seeking until I stumbled upon it.

Of course, describing the sound one seeks is much more difficult than recognizing the sound when you finally hear it.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

First of all, let me just say that I'm not trying to pick on you here, Mike. And I want to reiterate that I think the level of support that you and Peavey have historically shown for the steel guitar market is great. But you have to understand that people have their own tastes, and good, bad, right, or wrong, I have just never had Peavey amps (for steel) blow my dress up.

Secondly, I make my comments acknowledging full well that I am not a 'pro player', and in fact, I am not even a gigging player. I say that because there seems to be a very common undercurrent among many folks around here either that 'you have no business stating your opinions' - or, that 'you really don't know what you're talking about unless you are a pro player' with a record of accomplishments. Some kind of omnipotent 'monopoly on the Truth' kind of a thing, I guess. I mean, I certainly respect the opinions and defer to the judgement of other who are far more experienced in steel guitar matters than I am, but in spite of that, I do know quite well what sounds good to me, and I don't need additional credentials and experience to have valid personal preferences.

Like Herb mentioned, it is of course difficult to explain in words what sounds good to me - especially the few words I have available here, now. But in general, a couple of things:

1) I tend to like the tube sound. This extends to the warmth, reverb characteristics, and ability to dial in just a bit of 'grit' if I choose. Also, I can't put my finger on it, but I can commonly hear a 'digital' or 'sterile' kind of sound in many of the SS amps (or effects) that I've tried.
2) I also have different preferences for each of the 3 PSGs that I own. My Emmons PP sounds just great through my Fender, for example.
3) I also like a really clean, deep, and punchy low end. Many of the steel amps that I've run across sound kind of mushy in the lows - the only example of this that I can suggest is that when I find something that I like in this regard, it's like a blanket has been lifted off of the sound.

The bottom line is that for me, I choose not to weight the 'other factors' where Peavey stands out (e.g., service, support, and market presence) more heavily than I do basic sound characteristics and features.

Finally, the absence of other amp vendors on this Forum in no way suggests to me that we should pause to consider who we do our business with - or that these folks somehow (in your words) "don't care much for [the] steel guitar [market]" any more than it suggests that folks might want to reconsider their interest in Zum, Franklin, Derby, Fessenden, or Emmons steels because they don't post here.

That's the best decription of where I'm coming from that I can muster right now.

Steve
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Steve Feldman on 12 September 2002 at 07:35 AM.]</p></FONT>

Herb, I know exactly what you mean. The best that a manufacturer can do is spend the time on the front end of a project doing the R&D work. This helps ensure that you are going in the right direction with the project.

Steve, thank you for this input as well. I understand where you are coming from. As you know, the weight of an amp has been the number one concern/comment/complaint(call it what you may) and hopefully we will be at the point where we can offer a great sounding lightweight steel amp in the near future. As I've stated before, its a "juggling" situation to use a high cost neo-magnet Black Widow speaker, a digital power amp(high cost also but lighter weight than analog) in a wood cabinet that is heavy(here we go again). It's difficult create an amp without trade offs on features/weight that will sell well in the steel guitar marketplace.

As far as a tube amp, weight and the component(tube) requirements is a factor to obtain sufficient power for a 'live' steel guitar rig. It's not that it can't be done, it's all of the above and being able to offer it in a package that will sell at a reasonable price.

Thanks for the input. <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Mike Brown on 12 September 2002 at 08:36 AM.]</p></FONT><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Mike Brown on 13 September 2002 at 06:24 AM.]</p></FONT>

I too enjoy the level of support provided by Peavey. I own three Peavey guitars, profex II, Peavey crossover, Peavey Bass, 50/212 Classic, Transtube 112, direct box, and my band has one of the newer 24x10 monitor boards. I also just bought two speaker cabs with BW15 speakers. I have played Peavey amps for steel in the past and think they are a bargain.

However, like Steve Feldman, I personally prefer a slightly different sound for my steel amp. I've been playing Evans for several years but recently went to a rack system. In my own biased opinion, I feel that a modular rack system composed of high end modules is superior in sound quality, much like a nice component stereo system improves on a "all in one box" stereo.

None of the components in my rack were aimed at the steel community. I would be truly surprised to find that we are even on their radar. I doubt that the good folks at Mesa Boogie, VHT, TC Electronics, and BBE even know of this forum. That doesn't mean that they don't support their products, as all of them have websites and support info.

I do support Peavey and am very thankfull that they have folks like Mike Brown as their reps.

Thanks for the compliments. Again, my original post wasn't the intention. I just wanted to make light that we are a pretty small community and I want to make sure that all of you know that there are limitations when it comes to designing and manufacturing an amp for the steel guitarist.

Well, I have a 35 lb. power amp in my rack, so that tells you about one of the trade-offs I choose to live with. But it shore do sound good!