The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi. I'm learning lap-steel and loving it, but I'm sick of humping huge amps around. I've seen a Fender 'Jazzmaster Ultalight' on their site. Lots of power and clarity in a little package. Thoughts?

Al, you're on the right track. You don't need or want a huge amp for lap steel. A small tube amp is the way to go. A tweed Fender Blues Jr is ideal - or even smaller. That way you can overdrive the amp and get "that sound" without hurting peoples' ears.
And if you need more juice for a larger venue, you can mic it through the PA.

Unfortunately, when it comes to amps, big tone means big weight. There doesn't seem to be any way around it. Lots of folks will try to push off various solid-state or modeling designs as being the solution, but none of them really capture that elusive tone mojo like a great tube amp. OTOH, some of those solid-state/modeling choices are perfectly serviceable. Just kinda depends on how picky your ear is and how much volume you need.

If you don't need big volume, a small tube amp like a Blues Jr. might do you. Just depends on the volume of the rest of the band. I usually don't need more than 15watts to 35watts of tube power myself.

I play through a Fender Deluxe Reverb, 22 watts through a 12" speaker.

CS

I believe that Dan Tyack sometimes uses a clean power amp, which can be lightweight, with a tube preamp. You give up the power tube distortion, but get rid of the heavy output transformer.

Another vote for the Deluxe Reverb, great little amps!

Thanks Blokes for all the info and suggestions. However I've just priced the ultralight Fender I had my eye on and it's $1800 AUD over here. I had no idea that they were flown first class and delivered personally in a silver Rolls-Royce on a gold tray!! Price in USA $654 USD.
Ouch!

I use a Blues Jr for most everything these days, live and studio. Use a SF Twin if the drummer is loud. Would love to have me a SFDR!

Blues Jr for me, too! It's easy to carry, more than loud enough, and the tone is great.

According to Guitar Player, the Jazzmaster Ultralight is too wide for most venues. I'm not surprised that it's expensive to ship. What were they thinking?

Al, here are a three videos of Kevin Brown playing Steel through my tweed Blues Jr at the Non Pedal Session in Dallas a couple of weeks ago:
BELGRAVE BOUNCE by Kevin Brown
KEVIN SONG #3
KEVIN SONG #1
He was playing a National triple neck, and it sounded great - you can hear for yourself.
It has plenty of juice for most playing situations.
BTW, the black tolex covered Blue Jr is $100 less and doesn't sound anywhere near as good.
It has a different speaker.

Guitar Player wrote:The Jazzmaster head measures a mere 1214" wide x 41" high x 81" deep.

b0b wrote:According to Guitar Player, the Jazzmaster Ultralight is too wide for most venues. I'm not surprised that it's expensive to ship. What were they thinking?

I guess so! A standard railroad flat car is only 89 feet long (1068 inches).

I have a big 100 watt Fender Vibrosonic Reverb, a Princeton Reverb, and Tweed Deluxe.
But I don't use them. I wouldn't trade my old National for a Fender of any model, and I now use one of the National/Valco clones I built. Fenders have that "scooped" mid tone I don't like, but it's all in what ya like, right?

If I could only have one amp.........

John; I can't quite make out all of the Fender Model Name! Deluxe Reverb (is the last word Amp??)

I use a Fender Princeton Reverb amp for both my D8 & D10. It's relatively small, not all that heavy and has enough volume and head room to handle lap and non-pedal steels for most medium to small room gigs.

It's too small however if you are planning to do any rock music with your lap steel.

Les Anderson wrote:I use a Fender Princeton Reverb amp for both my D8 & D10. It's relatively small, not all that heavy and has enough volume and head room to handle lap and non-pedal steels for most medium to small room gigs.

It's too small however if you are planning to do any rock music with your lap steel.

The only caveat I'd add here is it really depends on the volume of the other band members. I've played in rock bands where a Princeton will handle it and I've played in others where even a Twin was struggling. (clean tones only!)

Gotta tell ya though, I find a '65 Princeton to be the sweetest amp ever made! IMHO of course...

Al,

How loud do you need to be? My Fender Princeton Reverb is loud enough to keep up with a seven piece band (sax, violin, accordion, guitar, bass, drums and me).

I love my Roland Cube 60,

b0b! that's enough room for about 300 12" speakers!
I use my Silver faced Princeton Reverb. But it's 20 watts, so it can get darn loud. Stokes mod, full wave rectifier, and 12" speaker.

I'm with you, Seldomfed. I love my tube Fender, but find I use my Roland Cube 60 much more for gigs. It's fairly robust and makes a darn good steel (and dirty lap steel) amp.

I just played last night with Kayton Roberts. He was playing through his silverface Deluxe Reverb and like always, sounded amazing! Years ago I bought my Deluxe Reverb because of the sound he gets from his.

I've heard Kayton play in all types of situations from clubs with loud drummers to living rooms where his guitar is the only thing amplified and his Deluxe Reverb always has the perfect tone at any volume.

John Betchel,

Yes, the last word on the panel of the Deluxe Reverb says "Amp". Fender stopped doing this in 1971, but the new '65 Reissue amps have it on the panel.

Chris, does Kayton use a JBL in his deluxe?

Bet that would sound great.

Yes, it's the stock JBL K120.