The Steel Guitar Forum

I noticed most of the Pros' turn to lapsteels
when looking for that "ballzy" slide sound that David Lindley made famous.
My question is why cant that same sound be found on a pedal steel with the right effects?
I sure cant seem to find it. I've tried both the MXR pedal and also a BOSS DS-1 to no avail.. On stage the distortion is way to thin.. Any suggestions on how to get the
"Lindley" sound on a pedal steel would be appreciated.

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Bob Grado, Williams D10 (lefty), Peavey 1000,
Profex ll.

i know i get a great dirty sound out of my peavey delta blues amp on the distortion channel, and if i use a bbe 882 sonic maximizer in the effects channel, it is really tasty. the six stringer i play with, who loves distortion, always comments about how he wishes i would play more dirty stuff because he likes the distortion so much. i am switching to a new amp soon because the amp won't give me a clean sound unless it is at very low volumes, but i will keep the delta blues for that dirtiness. i have tried other boxes to get a thinner sound (for a more retro beatle esque sound), but they haven't gotten me far, so for that deep water swamp kind of distortion, i use the delta blues. just my two cents, i hope this helps.

Thanks Chris,..but I forgot to add ..I also play thru a Peavey Nashville 1000 and a Profex ll..
No tubes to heat up on the 1000 unfortunately.

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Bob Grado, Williams D10 (lefty), Peavey 1000,
Profex ll.


<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by BobG on 23 April 2003 at 08:11 PM.]</p></FONT>

Maybe Andy can help ... http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum3/HTML/016698.html

BobG,
Try a smaller amp, like a Pignose or any of a slew of "practice" amps in the $70 - $130
range. They usually have an 8" or 10" speaker.

I just bought a RANDALL 25watt from Musicians
Friend for $89. It has tone controls and reverb and 2 separate channels = 1 for CLEAN,
and 2 for DISTORTION. You have so much control with the distortion......you can make it as subtle as you want or muddy up the water as much as you want, too.

I run it thru an Evans amp and thru the loop
feature. And it also runs thru a Mosley A/B
switch, which allows you to go from distort to clean.

This is all I need. I've played thru all kinds of effects in the past, and where I'm now is just clean and distort, with a bit of reverb.

When it comes to playing slide guitar on a pedal steel, you're better off just forgetting you have any pedals and knee levers. Just use the bar as you would a finger mounted "slide" for straight guitar.

Keep it simple. Single notes and long sustains seem to be the key to a great slide sound. With distort on, if you're not careful, can muddy up in a hurry, and sound, well, like doggy-doo.

There is a big difference clipping a wave b4 it gets to a clean amp and sending a clean signal to an overdriven preamp. At one time- b4 the days of Howard Dumble amps, etc, where David was playing thru a 200 watt Princeton (mid 70's)- I personally don't think that one can use any steel amp for any decent distortion- even tho I try

To reinforce what Jim just said, my experience is, if you want the sound of an overdriven amp you have to overdrive an amp. I have a number of overdrive boxes, and some of them sound really good, but it's not the same as overdriving an amp. My current favorite is the THD BiValve amp head. http://www.thdelectronics.com/ They're not inexpensive, until you compare them with the tweed Fenders.

I think David Lindley uses a compressor like a MXR Dynacomp to drive the amp. It evens out the volume going to the preamp and adds sustain. You can get close by running the compressor into a overdrive pedal with a tone control on it, like the Ibanez Tube Screamer, but to use that setup live you'd better have an A/B circuit cutout or you'll be doing a lot of stomping. Put the stompboxes before the volume pedal.

I get a great distorted sound by combining an old Electro Harmonix Big Muff from the 70's, (IMHO, which is shared but a few others, the best fuzz box ever made) and a 6 band EQ unit. I don't EQ the basic steel sound, just the distortion.

Both pedals are on bypass loops, so the signal does not pass through them when they are not in use. Bypass loops are easy to make. If anybody wants the directions, Email me and I'll send them. (Please wait till after May 1 though as I'll be busy for the next few days.)

I've been searching for something for distortion the last week or so too. Mike I still would like to be able to do that loop thing you speak of.
I've used a Goodrich Steeldriver II for over 15 years. I play an Emmons p/p and I adjust the tone control to almost full bass. It's the best distortion I've heard so far and if you use a pitch shift it can sound kind of like a synthesizer, really good for rock tunes. The Steeldriver is on the blink right now so I'm looking around for something I can step on instead of taking my hand off the guitar. The tone control is a distraction as well so all the more reason for a stomp pedal.

I use a lap steel for slide stuff because they sound better for it. Also the open E tuning (E,B,E,G#,B,E) is more fun for that style. Beat up old Supros and Magnatones are little,cheap and fun to play.

I also play my D8 Stringmaster instead of my D10 in some bands because of the sound.

Bob

This is a good and informative thread. Thanks everyone, and thanks Mike P. for that
offer on the distort bypass. I may take you up on that after May 1.

Chipper

I get a great sound using my tube works preamp. It's really full on. The idea is that you drive the tubes before the amp stage, and because it's twin channel I can switch back to the clean sound instantly. Of course, it probably isn't as big a sound as a full valve stack, but guitarists marvel at it. I use a Nash 400 (LeMay mod) and a PV vt artist 15 BW running them in stereo.

mesa boogie v-twin kicks serious booty, you can get the creamy distortion and the clean channel adds a lot to your tone as well, you can get it in a rack mount or in a stomp box.Its got tubes in it to give you that thing.

Moved to 'Electronics' section