The Steel Guitar Forum

Only thing I see that might be of interest to some of us steel pickers is a choice of various colors other than the traditional black which is fine. Thanks to the folks at Peavey.

All of your questions will be answered as soon as it begins to ship. thanks for your responses!

I bought my first Peavey back in the 70's for guitar and wouldn't have been able to afford an amp if it wasn't for that company. I'm a little bummed after seeing the show where they shafted the employees during the "Undercover Boss" episode where they are shifting their manufacturing overseas, but my Egnater that is made in China is rock solid, so hopefully they make it work. Kudos for the company to continue supporting the steel market. I have a 1980's Peavey rig that I still use to play bass, so I'm not going to complain about the quality until I have a reason to do so. I will definitely check this amp out.

I was about to say, all this hype over an amp, on the heels of the "Undercover Boss" episode, really?

To each their own, and no reflection on Mike Brown for whom I have nothing but respect. I'm sorry, that episode still sticks with me especially being a pink-slipped victim after 42 years of continuous work (not Peavey). Guess you have to walk in those shoes to understand.

My 2 cents, YMMV.

Oh, I hate this but it needs to be said. The revolution WILL be interneticized.

Well, if the sound is tailored to RR's sonic tastes, I guess not many other steel players will want it.

I'm not trying to respond to a single person, because this kind of exemplifies a common attitude:

"I don't know or listen to any steel players who play much different than me."

Here - listen to these 112 (or so) steel guitarists:
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=208507

Traditional, 1955->1980 "classic country" is dead'n gone, with classic country steel guitarists not far behind. Especially ones who don't/can't/won't play like the guys above.

Fortunately, steel guitar playing is a thriving, burgeoning area. It would take MONTHS of listening to exhaust all the different styles of music with steel guitar in it. These guys (and many, many gurrls!) need amps that work well for steel guitar. Their instruments are the same, and they play in the same frequency range as the CCers, and they need a good clean sound, even if it's only as starting point for them. I agree about Peavey personally - Undercover Boss - but you can still be HAPPY about steel guitar, Dude!... man. Sir? Bombs away....

David, I don't disagree that PSG is expanding into a lot of other areas of music, it must evolve to survive, that's a given. That would be the case for most things I would think.

My deal was Peavey making an amp "geared" perhaps to RR's niche? If you are going to make an amp geared to PSG in total, then (in my opinion) make it with enough punch (clean power) with options to add whatever effects folks want to plug into them and then make it light-weight. IOW, a clean base amp and be able to configure the way you want it.

But again, this is just my thinking, and I would not buy one anyway, so nobody needs to pay me any attention to start with.

Best of luck to those that do.

Well, I have played pedal steel through the new RR amplifier and we made sure that you could get a great tone/sound for all of us players who seek that classic steel sound. Yes, you can get that sound and the RR sound too. More than enough power and with digital effects and a handcontroller for attaching to the leg of your steel are standard features. I think that you will like it.

Mike Brown
Peavey USA

Mike, Which speaker did the new amp have that you played through?

A 1501-4 ohm Black Widow speaker.

Thanks Mike. I've always thought they are great speakers.

Sounds great Mike. Cant wait to hear it.

Well, I'm interested to see it (and hear it) before I judge it. I know that RR is more than just blues licks too.... From what I understand his tastes in equipment are pretty demanding. Hard for me to say anything bad about peavey's product quality. I've owned several peavey products over the years,including a peavey Wolfgang guitar that I wish I had back !

I've had several Peavey amps and one guitar that I wish I had back, too. Looking forward to trying the RR out. I have a feeling it's going to be pretty awesome.

Is this amp made in China?

Good question Tom.

Yawn

Thank you for your input Bill...

Hey Mike, "MADE IN CHINA?"

Sounds like a great amp to me, depending on the price.

Tom, probably won't get answer on that, it appears Peavey have selective deafness when they don't want to answer.I have on this thread, and others asked about their provision of steel amps ( and there repair) for UK/Euro players now that they have closed their UK depot, and it would appear that they are not supplying us now. I have always had swift and helpful responses from Mike, but despite asking, what I think is a relevant question, he appears not to want to answer, perhaps due to pressure from above.I think it would be helpful to steel players over here if we could have answer to the question, we can't get the 112 let alone the RR model.

if pedal steel guitar doesn't "branch out" of traditional country music, it will die out in the next 10-15 years, and I can almost guarantee you that... go to the St. Louis convention, and look around how many young players you can find... Robert Randolph may not be your cup of tea, but we wont save the instrument playing Cold Cold Heart at the local VFW ... Robert Randolph and guys like that will... we need one Robert with his steel guitar on the stage with Beyonce or Kanye West, or on one of their hit albums, and that would do more good for the instrument then 20 years of playing your local Honky Tonk ... thats the fact... steel guitar needs to change if it wants to survive , design needs to change, and style of playing needs to change, to be appealing to new modern artists... Peavey is trying to adopt, and the is good, steel guitar builders need to adopt as well, big old D10 rosewood guitars are not attractive to look at for most people in the audience... steel guitar is dying because it is closely connected to country music, and as much as we love our George and Merle, if that doesn't change, steel guitar will disappear in a few years...

I totally agree with Demir's opinion about the evolution of the steel guitar. He is right. All of us love the classic songs and artists who played and sang the hits, but reluctantly we have to move forward. I have learned from Hartley Peavey to strive to do something different. You can look at the Peavey Powerslide guitar, which is totally Hartley's idea. It looks a bit "different" but makes sense. What present-day manufacturer other than Peavey would introduce such a weird concept guitar? Probably none.

The RR steel amplifier is an electronic innovation for steel guitar. It does not take a step backwards, it takes a step forward. How long have you been thinking, "if someone would just make a steel amplifier with the built in effects"? Well, it's here. Just like the Profex II. If Jeff Newman had not tried it with his steel, I'm sure that there would be some player out there thinking, "when is a company going to design a processor for steel guitar"? Fortunately, Jeff did and that opened the door for everyone.

We have got to embrace the technological improvements that a lot of companies offer, otherwise the steel guitar will fade into history.

Tom Quinn, yes, the RR amplifier is being made in China. Peavey held off from this as long as we could, but it wasn't possible to make a product in the U.S. any longer and continue to be profitable. But, that is a another discussion for another time. Everyone knows this and Peavey Electronics is one of the last "holdouts". How much does an American-made Gibson guitar cost these days? It gets to a point where the average American cannot/will not pay the high prices for a product used on a part time basis. The Robert Randolph amp is still designed by Americans though.

George MacDonald, I have played through the two twelve version and also the Black Widow 1501-4sb speakers and it sounded incredible!

Mike, thank you for ignoring my question once again,.

I have no issue with Made in China....I would guess that about 70 percent of all the consumer goods people in North America purchase are made there. I suppose I would rather buy a guitar amp than food from there given the choice. I heard that Mesa is also manufacturing there. ..Peavey and Mesa both held out a long time.

Honest answers Mike...Good luck with the new amp. ..I am looking forward to hearing it!

Malcolm, the distributor for the UK is;
Barnes and Mullins Ltd. - our main Distributor in the UK
Unit 14, Mile Oak Ind Estate,
Oswestry, Shropshire,
SY10 8GA, United Kingdom
Tel: 0044 (0)1691 652449


You can place your order for new Peavey gear there. Sorry for the delay, but some information hasn't been ironed out yet.