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Topic: Steel King vs. Custom Twin |
Dominic Macrone
From:
Florida, USA
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Posted 6 Dec 2009 4:06 am |
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Hey everyone - looking for your thoughts....I play acoustic / electric guitar in a rock band and I do have an occassional solo. My main guitar is a Gibson Chet Atkins with upgraded electronics. It has a big, full sound with a bit of brassiness but is still mostly acoustic; not soft and natural like a Guild Peregrine or Turner Rennaisance (I have owned both of them and they didn't cut through enough). I built a nice rack amlification system with a Sarno RTP (bought here!) and Accugroove cabinet but that is too big to bring to bar gigs....so I use either a Fender Steel King (my main amp for the last 4 years) or a Rivera Sedona Light (tube amp with 1 - 12" + horn). In rehearsal I stack them and together they are awesome; the Rivera's tubes and smaller speakers are a great balance to the solid state FSK with the 15". My goal is to have 1 amp to bring to gigs and have as simple a set up as possible. So, I am about to buy the Fender Custom Twin as I figure it will have the sounds I love in the FSK with a bit more tube punch. I am curious if any of you have tried these two side - by - side and / or compared them with Rivera amps. Or, if you have any thoughts about the Custom Twin as a clean guitar amp that also has a lot of bite? By the way, before the FSK, I played through a Vibro King and I loved the sound...but it was a bit big / heavy / bulky (about 75 pounds?). The FSK size is great and the weight doesn't bother me - and I believe that the Twin Custom is similar in size and weight.
My apologies for the long post! |
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Joe Alterio
From:
Irvington, Indiana
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Posted 6 Dec 2009 7:48 am
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I've been using the Steel King as an electric-guitar amp with my Gretsch 5120 and Telecaster with good results....nice clean tone and have had good comments about it. I had the Custom Twin 15" but the tubes tended to rattle at certain frequencies, so I didn't hang on to it...
May I ask how you generally keep your settings on your Steel King with your Chet Atkins? |
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Jerry Malvern
From:
Menifee, California, USA
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Posted 6 Dec 2009 8:33 am
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| I have them both. I believe the Twin Custom is heavier and has a larger cabinet. The Twin is a great 6 string guitar amp, but lacks enough headroom for steel on the bandstand. |
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Dominic Macrone
From:
Florida, USA
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Posted 6 Dec 2009 4:03 pm My settings
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Joe - I run the FSK with the Chet like this;
No pad (button out)
Gain around 4 (10:00)
EQ Tilt - just to the treble side (2:00)
Treble - around 11:00
Mid - around 11:00
Mid Freq - around 2:00
Bass - around 1:00
Reverb - very little
Gain around 4 (10:00)
Limiter out (used to have it in but felt I was losing soem of the biggness)
I have the treble and bass at their middle detents on the guitar and run the guitar volume at about 6 - 7 for rythm and crank it up to 10 for lead work.
I used to use less middle and have the EQ flatter otherwise, but I am enjoying having a bit more bite lately |
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Dominic Macrone
From:
Florida, USA
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Posted 6 Dec 2009 4:17 pm
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| Jerry - thanks for your thoughts! And, we'll trade emails offline about your amp. |
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Joe Alterio
From:
Irvington, Indiana
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Posted 8 Dec 2009 6:56 pm
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Thanks, Dominic...sounds pretty good with that set up and my Gretsch, though I am having to bring the EQ Tilt to about 3:00 to get the "twang" I like  |
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