The Steel Guitar Forum

what would be a good amp for both pedal & lap?

Agreed.....

I bet you get a real.....clean sound.....

How loud do you want to play? How much money do you want to spend?

I'd agree that the Nashville 112 is a very good amp for both lap and pedal steel. If you want a tube amplifier, some people are sold on the Fender Deluxe Reverb for low volume settings.

I bet you get a real.....clean sound.....

...just like Mary Poppins was my sound engineer.

What Brad says...........

If you have an EMD Stagg dealer in your area, check out the 60GR. I have 6 amps, most with 15" speakers and lots of power, but this new Stagg amp is what the band likes best. It is clean, clear and priced right at under $300. If you can't find a dealer let me know and I'll track down the closest to you.
jerico47@sbcglobal.net

The Crate Power Block could also be effective if you can find one.

I've been using a Roland Cube60 for lap steel with excellent results, and surprisingly it sounds very nice on pedal steel too. For lap the vol. capability is more than adequate - for pedal it can't handle too much vol. but if you can mic it you're set. This amp is surprisingly loud.

Actually I've never played a gig with the Roland for pedal. But in rehearsal it's great. All the built in effects and models make it a super portable option for rehearsals. It records well too.

It has two channels and switchable effects - the JC clean sound is nice for my Stringmaster or Bakelite, the 'blackface' model is quite good too - depends on your state of mind at the time I think

If roland added a sweep mid, and a tad more power this amp could be ' a contender ' ! They can be purchased new for less than $400.

worth a listen

chris

I have been using the Roland Cube 60 (using the Blackface Twin amp model ) with a P/P Emmons for around a year now and IMHO it sounds great. I play in a classic C&W band and we play mostly in American Legion, VFW and Eagles clubs. I always have plenty of headroom and have even been asked to turn it down a few times. It works fine with both necks but I do get a little distortion out of the C6 neck sometimes when I hit some of the lower notes if I get on the volume pedal too much. I have used it at outside events that we were mic'd through a big P.A. and it worked great in that situation too. I suppose that if I was doing shows with a band that had a loud stage volume that it might not cut it, but for right now, I like it as much or maybe even more than my Peavey LTD. It also sounds great with my early fifty's 8 string Fender Deluxe lap steel and 6 string guitar.

If you get a big clean Fender tube amp adequate for your pedal steel needs (Pro, Twin, Dual), it will also sound good with your lap steel.

Ya Bob - nice to hear your report, I really like it with the pedal steel. Very good tone. It will break up a little on C6 at loud vol. , but it's a very sweet amp. Extremely versitile. I got it for my G&L Asat, but the more things I use it with the more surprised I am. I do love big Fenders - but my little car and my back don't

chris

If you want something small with clean and tube modeling, try the Vox DA5, 10, or 20. Most people think they blow the Roland Cubes away. The smaller Vox Valvetronix are also amazing.

I use my old (69) Fender Deluxe Reverb for most live gigs and recording these days. My 8st Ricky Panda and my Rains D10 both sound just about perfect with it.

If I need to push the room with my D10 in a band with a drummer I bring a Twin or a Nash 400. The Deluxe gets plenty loud with the lap though.

Dave, ya, the DA5 is nice, I sold my MicroCube after I got the little Da5 - I guess Vox is Korg - and I've always liked the Korg modeling in the Pandora, it's nice in the DA5. Have not tried the bigger Voxes -

with those amps with all the FXs on them do they ever sound to processed? some times i wonder "is it me or the pedal?"

Dion Stephen wrote:with those amps with all the FXs on them do they ever sound to processed? some times i wonder "is it me or the pedal?"

Compared to a Peavey Session 500 with its "string tone" and built-in phaser?

The small Vox and Roland amps sound really good to me (at least for six string; dunno about pedal steel). The Line6 amps don't. Neither holds a candle to a quality tube amp, imho, but with tubes you're paying a price in weight, flexibility, and, well, price.

The older I get, the less processed I want my tone to be. I like to hear lots of string. I use a little delay, but no chorusing, flanging, or reverb.

Have a look at the Walker Stereo Steel for Sale.
Two separate preamps, two separate efx units, thru one power amp.