The Steel Guitar Forum

Walter, thank you very much for your support. Last weekend, I traveled to the NTSGA Jam in Nashville and had a great time. It was good to see friends again.

Hartley Peavey has been dedicated to offering at least two steel guitar amplifiers to the steel playing community for over 25 years now. I can't say the same for our competitor who just this year offered their first steel amp and even attended their first St.Louis Convention. Peavey has been a sponsor of this event for over 25 years!

The Steel King amplifier is nothing new that hasn't been done in one of our previous models. The only new idea is the tilt control. I invite you to test drive a Peavey Nashville Series amplifier at your local Peavey dealer to hear the difference.

As always, we offer a toll free consumer line, but I understand that our competitor does not!
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Mike Brown on 13 October 2004 at 05:51 AM.]</p></FONT>

Hey Guys, Would someone please talk about the "Blue Marvel" speaker,and or, compare it to the BW, i.e weight/sound,etc. Thanks, Ron

Hey Ron,

Please email me at: info@slidestation.com, and I'll fill you in on what I know...

Great seeing you after many years in Nashville too!

Jerry

Ron, if you learn something interesting or usefull, and if it doesnt put our national secutity at risk, would you mind sharing it with the forum? Thanks, Steven

Absolutely, I'm still waiting for a response, I guess most of the guys are at Ronnie's in Hot Springs, Thanks, Ron

I myself witnessed some great players coming to SGN and trying out 112 and couldn`t believe the tone.Many times you could hear words like:"How did they do that?"

Db

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"Promat"
~when the tone matters~

If anyone had told me six months ago that I'd be delighted with the sound of my steel through a 12" speaker I would have laughed!

I'm a total convert to these amazing amps - I'm on tour right now with 'Best Little Whorehouse....' and the 112 is performing beautifully.

RR

Jim Peters, if you don't play pedal steel, you don't understand the headroom issue for steel. It's all because of the way we use the volume pedal. Many players typically attack the notes with the volume pedal only on about 1/4 or 1/3 of the way. The rest of the volume pedal travel is used only for sustain and expression. So playing through an 80 watt amp is about like a regular 6-string player using a 20 watt amp. Where we have our foot on the volume pedal is played by ear. In a big room with a loud band, if the amp is underpowered, your foot will have the volume pedal opened up almost all the way. On the long notes you'll be bumping the end of the volume pedal throw and running out of sustain.

Another big issue is harmonic distortion. Six-stringers like a little distortion or "crunch" to soften their attack on the note. Then as the string vibration dies down a pure tone comes through. But with steel, we already soften the attack with the volume pedal and don't need that crunch. Furthermore, as the string vibration dies, we add gain with the volume pedal to get a sustained tone, or even a swell. Any distortion that is present at the start of the note is carried right along, or even made worse. And we play alot of chords, making any distortion worse.

The bottom line is that pedal steel needs at least four times more clean power in an amp than a 6-stringer. In one of my groups the guitar player uses an old '50s Tweed Deluxe. It's rated at 15 watts, and he bumps it up to probably 20 or 25 watts with some extra gain from his Echoplex. He plays it wide open, and I couldn't keep up with him on pedal steel witha NV 400 rated at 200 watts. But this brings up another issue. His amp sounds best maxed out. But a solid state amp (yes, even the good Peaveys) don't sound good maxed out. So again you need more volume for steel.

Finally, playing with finger picks and fretting with a bar is not as loud as flailing away with a flat pick and holding the strings down to a solid fret board.

Take your 6-string, play it with a slide and finger picks, and have your guitar volume knob only turned about 1/4 of the way on. You'll begin to get the picture.

Yes, you can mike the amp or play directly through the board. But the tone is not the same, and most of the small rock clubs I play in don't mike things well, and don't expect to mike guitar amps.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by David Doggett on 18 October 2004 at 06:47 AM.]</p></FONT>

Hi David, how's the weather in Philly? Thanks for bringing up the headroom issue, and I bow to your experience on steel, 'cause I havn't had the nerve to play mine out just yet( but soon). I hear what you're saying, but there are a lot of posts from people using 112's out, that think there is plenty of power. Maybe I've just been lucky and not been in a really loud group. My best steel buddy uses a session 500,so I catch your drift about the headroom. The way the steel amps are pointed at the player's head all the time makes me wonder if loss of hearing might also be a part of the headroom equation. Thanks for your post, you bring up valid points. JimP