The Steel Guitar Forum

Is there anybody out there who uses no effects except the reverb in their amp?

I believe Roy Ayres, a Forum member here, plays that way. He told me once he enjoyed the sound of his Peavy with the amp alone just a little reverb.

I use other effects, but not very often. About 95% of the time when I'm playing, it's just a small amount of reverb.

Hi Skip...I tried the Behringer Ultragain Tube Pre-Amp and the Boss DD3 Delay. I then had the Ken Fox mod done to my Session 400 and installed a Jerry Wallace True Tone pickup. Once the latter was done, I put away the Pre-Amp & Delay. So now it's just my Excel S10, Goodrich vol pedal, and the Session 400...Bob

Guitar -> V-Pedal -> Session 400.

I made the rounds through a bunch of the effects goodies. Sold them all. Still boiled down to the fact I still needed to just learn how to play. All I use now is some amp reverb. Once in awhile, I even shut off the reverb. Playing dry with no reverb is an "effect" in it's self.

Except for an amp's onboard reverb, I often use no effects - maybe about 50% of the time. It's just straight from the volume pedal into the amp. It depends on the job and, frankly, the mood I'm in. Sometimes I just want "straight and simple". Sometimes setup time is limited and that's the wisest choice because I'm often called to double on guitar, too.

Sometimes I do get tired of always plugging and unplugging all the boxes and cords, often for a change in sound that, truth be told, so few people of the audience hears.

Put another way, there's something starkly great about hearing Don Rich's tele on a Buck Owen's recording or the straight sound of Jimmy Day.

The other 50% of the time I go with various levels of effects use. Full out is a stereo rack and amp setup and, you bet, that is definitely nice. Sometimes it's just a pedal or two, one of those being a delay.

From a 6-string perspective, there is the same approach among its players. Sometimes the best sound comes from just plugging straight into the amp. That's it. And that means no tap dancing on stompboxes, no tweaking sets of knobs and levels and a whole lot less stage clutter. You're no longer being some kind of a tone traffic cop for all the boxes. Just you, the guitar and the amp. Steel guitar is the same.

I only use my Zum, Volume Pedal, and Nashville 112 amp.

I have tried everything, but to me nothing beats simplicity.

I guess I'm the exception. I like to play through a rack setup. I have a TubeWorks spring reverb in it and also a Lexicon MPX 200. On the 200 I have just a tad of delay, chorus and compression.
Your mileage may vary.

My taste is swinging away from a combo amp's reverb and instead using only delay. I just added an MXR analog delay stomp called "Carbon Copy" and I'm lovin' it...

Prior to that I always used the onboard reverb for all 2 years of my steel career!

It appears that many steelers don't consider reverb to be an effect...

Skip, not sure if you know who Gary Carpenter is but he uses pretty much no reverb and no other effects and has one heck of a good sound.

He maybe has some installed under the hood on his Rains.

Skip,
I don't use any effects except for the reverb in my Fender Steel King. I was using a Boss RV-3 reverb and delay for awhile but found that I didn't need it. When you have a really good steel like my Sho Bud Pro I, no effects are necessary in my opinion. If you listen to the old recordings of the masters, many of them just played with the steel to the volume pedal straight into the amp and that was it. They were able to get a great sound that way without the aid of any effects. I'm not saying that using effects can't sound good also. I just think that sometimes too many effects will mask the true inherent tone of the instrument. Anyway, I just play my Sho Bud through a Hilton volume pedal straight into my Steel King with the amp's reverb, and that works just fine for me.
Mike

Usually just gutiar, VP, Fender tube amp with reverb.
I do some gigs where the artist wants lots of effects and ebow.... I take a small pedal board for that. I played one gig where the "Boss" wanted a pedal steel guitar, but didn't want a pedal steel guitar sound.... "Can you make it sound like a synth?"

On the gospel songs that I specialize in, I like to use an H & K Rotosphere to add an organ and Leslie speaker sound.

I'm one that has tried effects over the years and haven't realley liked what I've heard.....to me the best sound is just a good steel matched up with a good amp and the reverb of that amp.

On all of my smaller gigs, I don't use anything except verb. On bigger gigs, I use a rack with a tube preamp...and nothing but verb.

I used a PODXT for over a year and a half. One day I was at home practicing for a recording session and was lazy and just plugged straight into my Session 500. I couldn't believe how much better my steel sounded. Now its Emmons > Hilton Pedal > Session 500. A little internal reverb and that's all I need.

The original reason I bought the Pod was we often play parades during the summer and I can't use the internal reverb so I would disconnect it and use the Pod. I just stayed with it after that. If we are in a parade or very shaky stage I'll use it for reverb, but otherwise it is straight to the amp.

I just got my Lexicoan MPX-1 back from Buddy Castleberry.
He programmed it with presets taken from Buddy Emmons, John Hughey and etc.
I guess they must have been doing it wrong all these years.

Most of the time I play straight into the volume pedal. Then into either an N'400 or Evans SE-200. However, at any given gig, I'll play a couple of "rockers", and for those I'll use a Jordan Electronics "Bosstone". The setting on the Bosstone is just past the beginning threshold of distortion, with the output gain equal to the dry signal. To my ears, it gives my otherwise, clean amp sound a little simulated "dirty" tube amp sound.

I'm a sucker for outboard effects. In the past I've used 'em to the detriment of my ability to accurately hear what I'm playing. Especially with chorus or some delay settings.

Keep on pickin'!
Glenn

I use a Rains D-10, Goodrich Pot Pedal, Webb Amp. That's it and the reverb that is in the amp only.

John Buffington

Sho Bud and blackface twin. little reverb

I use nothing but reverb. I use the internal reverb in the Fender Steel King because it's so lush but with Peavey amps (which I like quite a bit) I use an Alesis Nanoverb set on "medium hall" because the Peavey's internal reverb is a bit springy and boingy for my taste. Besides that - once in a great while if I'm playing in a southern rock or blues rock band and I have to cop a Duane Allman or Billy Gibbons tone I'll use a dirt box - mostly an old BossTone just because they're so small and easy to pack.

Can't say as I think of reverb as an effect; at least not in the sense of something that significantly alters an instrument's sound. For most of my playing years, I played straight, and only when needed did I use a fuzz or distortion device.
However, after years of relative inactivity, I've become involved with a band where effects can play a large role. I purchased a few "boutique" pedals and an Eventide Eclipse. MAJOR changes for me, and for the sounds I can now get. One beneficial result: I now practice more than I ever did without effects, and I enjoy it. I even enjoy playing straight as well. Effects can take the place of real work (although it WILL show), but they can also inspire.