The Steel Guitar Forum

A question for those of you who use a Peavey Nashville 112 amp: What effects unit do you use for "tube-like" rock and blues tones? Also, what have you tried that didn't work very well with that amp?

I've been using a tube screamer which kinda works, but there is distortion patch on my el-cheapo Digitech RP50 that sounds really good. I have another patch that I use for Dirty Business, basically envelope follower with distortion and delay. JP

I'm using a Zendrive with the NV112 and a Fender Blues jr. Works great with both amps. I didn't really like the Boss DS-1.

I have a line 6 DM4 that i've been usung for a few years on both nash 12 and Rev pre and have a couple settings that i use all the time, sounds perty good, prob a little better on the 112.

I don't know much about achieving `a sound`, but I experiment until I like what I hear. This experiment was short-lived:
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=157595

I now have the wah to the right of my volume and just use a Steel-Driver for distortion. The volume has to be set, obviously, before I use the wah. Which, itself, changes in volume the treblier(?) it gets. A gentle hover over the wah can give a nice sound without doing a speedy foot-trembling Hendrix action. Although I do like that, too.

Arch.

b0b - i dont often use it but for distortion i use an old ibanez fat cat - it's kind of like a rat and a tube screamer had a kid

For true and dependable distortion, I usually rely on White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs.

Geez, Tony, talk about off topic!

deleted for b0b's sake.

Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Classic into an old Pod 2.0 (using Deluxe Reverb emulation, but the tweed or Marshall emulations can be interesting also if the gain isn't pushed too much) into the NV 112. The Duncan works OK by itself, but I prefer it pushing the Pod and then use the NV 112 to simply amplify that signal as cleanly as possible.

A Zen Drive in place of the Duncan works pretty well too.

As for what else doesn't work - nothing else I've tried sounds good to me for good old rock and roll and blues type sounds. I don't like the sound of pretty much any clipper-diode distortion units - I just find them too ratty for that vibe. On guitar, I haven't used them in years - gimme a cranked-up classic old tube amp, possibly with a little clean gain and compression between the guitar and amp. But when I double on steel (which is most all the time), I use that rig for guitar and a Tubefex directly into my pedal steel amp du jour (often a NV 112).

I too have difficulty getting a good rock sound out of my NV112. I have used the old Boss tone forever and never needed anything else. But with the 112 it seems the compressor cleans the sound up and I don't like it. Other than that the amp is wonderful.

I refuse to haul that old Randall Steelman 500 around anymore. But it did peel the paint off the walls.

Doug

Kline U10 & U12 > Freeloader > Womanizer (Damage Control) > Hilton Ped > Eventide Timefactor > Mesa Boogie preamp > TC Electronics G Force > Amp in on Nash 112.
The Womanizer doesn't get me any lady action but does have tube distortion w/ tone in and out and compression...all variable! Gerry

b0b wrote:A question for those of you who use a Peavey Nashville 112 amp: What effects unit do you use for "tube-like" rock and blues tones? Also, what have you tried that didn't work very well with that amp?

1- I use a Peavey Classic 30 for drive

2- I tried a Telecaster with the 112, it didn't work too well for me !

I love my Barber Drive; that and my SansAmp work very well.

I've used a
90s reissue Big Muff
90s reissue Ts9 Tube Screamer
Zvex Box of Rock...

right now i'm happy with the tube screamer

Gordon

I have an rp150 hooked up to my nv112 in the pre amp eq patch on the front of the amp. all the clean effects sound great, but the distortion sucks. I have to stand on my volume pedal to get the right sound, but then it's too loud, if I back off the volume pedal, it cleans up and the distortion goes away. I must have things hooked up in the wrong place. I'm using a Hilton pedal, and I don't think I'm supposed to hook the rp150 between the guitar and the VP. any thoughts? anybody?

I've found Tube Screamer-type overdrives are very poor sounding "distortion" units with a SS amp. They're intended to push a tube amp into saturation AND add a little distortion - but the distortion part is the weak link.

The best distortion box I've found is the BJF Dyna Red. It's smooth and creamy or can be dialed in for a really aggressive tone (and does not have the lame -sounding compression most overdrives add to the signal when used as distortion devices.)

Surprisingly, my second favorite is really inexpensive - the simple MXR Distortion+. It's very controllable, works fine alone or in combination with other effects, and is very, very rugged.

There are tons of other boutique units on the same level as the Dyna Red, but I noted that one as I've used one extensively.

As far as other inexpensive units (akin to the MXR) - you get what you pay for - most are simply horrible.

I have to stand on my volume pedal to get the right sound, but then it's too loud, if I back off the volume pedal, it cleans up and the distortion goes away. I must have things hooked up in the wrong place. I'm using a Hilton pedal, and I don't think I'm supposed to hook the rp150 between the guitar and the VP. any thoughts? anybody?

If you like the distorted sound of this rig with the volume pedal full-up and don't when the volume pedal is backed off, then one solution is to put the rp-150 before the volume pedal. Another solution would be to leave it hooked up after the VP, but increase the gain on the effect so that you get the distortion level you want at the lower volume pedal setting - if you have enough gain on the effect to do that. But then it's gonna sound very ratty indeed if you crank it - you'll have to have a deft touch on the volume pedal. I'd probably try the rp150 between the guitar and VP. The worry is that it might change your clean tone if the effect's input impedance isn't right.

Personally, I haven't yet found a strong-distortion setting on any modeler that I can live with. To my tastes, most of them are fine for blackface Fender types of modeling, or a super-ratty Mesa Dual-Rectifier type of sound. But the stuff in the middle just doesn't cut it for me. That goes for everything I've tried, anyway. That's why I use the Duncan Twin Tube Classic, which generates nice smooth (to my tastes) distortion on its own, without having to crank the amp to the point where the band (and I) get fired.

All this depends on what you want for distortion. I'm coming from a blues/jazz/old-school-rock/country guitar background - mostly guitar straight into a classic tube amp with reverb, sometimes with a little compression, delay, or clean gain.

Just to clarify, the topic is specific to the Peavey Nashville 112, an 80 watt solid state amp that's voiced for pedal steel and doesn't include distortion.

Thanks for the responses, everyone.

Use a DD-3 or a RV-5 with my 112. Don't use any distortion. I prefer a clean tone with plenty of sustain.

Yes, b0b - to be clear, my suggestions are specifically to generate tube-amp like distortion from a pedal steel amp like the NV 112.

Pedal steel (or guitar) => VP => SDTTC => Pod 2 => NV 112 or whatever steel amp. Sometimes I omit the Pod, but I think it works best with the Pod on a Deluxe Reverb type of emulation.

Some players prefer to put the VP after the SDTTC, but I prefer before, and control both volume and amount of saturation with the volume pedal.

I wish I had some sound samples, but most if not all the steel tracks I have recorded are clean. My new band will fix that, but it's just getting going now.

not sure if it's what you mean but i use a boss ds-1 when i add distortion in a song ,works for me all though limited to one note at a time other wise garbled and muddy,also have a bosstone that doesn't work well with the 112 for me so it stays home

Doug Palmer wrote:I too have difficulty getting a good rock sound...

You can't get a good rock sound without a Celestion twelve inch speaker. If I had a Nashville 112 I'd remove the stock speaker and install a Celestion G12K100 speaker in it. It'll have the bottom end and clean headroom for steel yet still have the midrange growl when you hit the overdrive pedal.

You can't get a good rock sound without a Celestion twelve inch speaker.

I think old Jensens have a great rock and roll or blues sound - the best of the great old Fenders used them. Not all "good" rock is "British" rock.

Still - I like Celestions for some things. The speaker emulation is one of the reasons I prefer the Pod in the signal chain - and I use both Jensen and Celestion speaker models, depending on the situation.

Naturally, the disadvantage of putting an actual Celestion in the NV 112 is that it fundamentally changes the clean pedal steel sound, which the Blue Marvel transmits very nicely, to my tastes.