The Steel Guitar Forum

First post here! Here's a video from one of our recent shows with an overdriven Peavey Powerslide. These little guys give a lot of lap steel for not very much money.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYfSD4yuR-U

Nice job, William (BJ)! Interesting that you're sitting playing that guitar, even though it was designed for standup playing.
The overdriven sound you're getting compliments the music perfectly. What's your signal path (amp/effects)?
Thanks for sharing.

IT DOESN'T WORK WELL AT ALL WEARING THE GUITAR STANDING UP. THE STRINGS ARE TOO CLOSE TO YOUR BODY. BECAUSE OF THE CUTAWAY,YOU CAN'T GET PAST THE 15TH FRET WITH THE BAR STRAIGHT. IF THE GUITAR WAS SHIFTED TO THE LEFT & THE CUTAWAY WASN'T SO DEEP, IT WOULD HELP. THE STRAP THAT COMES WITH IT IS TOO SHORT, EVEN AT IT'S LONGEST SETTING.IT'S GREAT SITTING DOWN. I'VE EMAILED PEAVEY WITH MY OPINION & THEY WERE VERY RECEPTIVE.

Yeah, the strap with it is pretty worthless and it's really uncomfortable... not to mention ridiculous looking. I stand up now to play all of my lap steels. I had a friend build an ironing board type folding stand that fits in our stand case. It's much easier to have good stage presence standing up. I've got the slide running through two overdrives and a delay into a Rivera amp. I always stack TS-9 like overdrives for leads. Thanks for checking it out.

Sounds great! I really like the band sound...great vocals, and the percussion adds a cool flavor. What kind of tone bar are you using?

I love it! You're getting the right tone, the right vibe... sounding good! I also like your overall presentation. You're having fun, relating to the crowd, singing and playing with lots of attitude... positive attitude and a kick @ss attitude. That kind of energy is infectious and audiences respond to it. Well done.

Our live shows are pretty high energy which is the main reason why I started standing up to play slide. Robert Randolph can kick his chair out and stand up and still play his pedal steel; us lap guys are stuck. The tone bar is a Rocky Mountain Slide prototype which I'm pretty sure is in production by now. In my opinion Duane Allman and Derek Trucks have the best slide tone ever recorded and they both were medicine bottle guys. The ceramic slides with the glass glaze are the ticket for me; very light and very warm. check out Doc at RMSC's site here
http://rockymountainslides.com/

And here's a video link to me demo'ing another one of Doc's newest slides. This one is the only one I use live now, just perfect for what I'm trying to do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrQnmXvnfgA

I finally found a picture of the slide, just thought I'd share. Looks like something straight out of the Jetsons

Cool tune. PS sounds great.

Robbie Bossert

That's a great sound you got going - the tone, the song, and the band.

Duane & Derek had/have the tone going on for sure, but don't forget Ry Cooder, Sonny Landreth, Greg Leisz, and David Lindley. They all coax a respectable growl outta their guitars.