The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi All

I'm new to the forum and to pedal steel guitar. I've been a frequent visitor here over the past year. I decided to join today as it is my birthday. I bought a Stage One in April and have fallen in love with it.

Over the past few months I've used several different guitar amps (I'm a player of 37 years).Ihappened to pick up a Peavey Classic VXT last week and I'm surprised at how well it seems t work with pedal steel. Does any one else use this model with their steel? It's OK as a guitar amp, but it seems to shine as a steel amp. Any comments?

Thanks

Paul

Hey Paul welcome to the SGF. I remember the old Peavey Classic but had never heard of the VTX version. I am not surprised it's a good steel amp. Two 12s, 6L6 output tubes (is it 2 or 4?), ss preamp. I read that they were equipped with STR-387 type 6L6s. Does yours have those? They are nice tubes. I have them in my Twin.

I actually have two of them, well a VT and a VTX. I like matched sets of things. The speakers in each of these were shot when I got them so I replace one set with old Altec 417s and the other with Celestions. I am not crazy about the phase shifter built in, nor do I care for the reverbs. But I use one, (Altecs) for steel, the other for guitar. I choose these for certain rooms I might play in. They are punchy, plenty loud enough and they break up just a little when pushed hard. Oh, they each seem to respond well to outboard effects.
I have also used a Renown 400 with a 15 inch BW and I have had 2 different Peavey Duece amps, one I liked, the other not so much. So, to answer your question, Yes, I use one for steel, sometimes.

Thanks for the response guys!

I retubed mine with a matched set of Ruby Tubes (I'm not real wild about Ruby Tubes, but they were affordable and they work for now). The originals had developed a severe rattle. Mine has 2 6L6's, I'm not sure of the particular designation, they're actually marketed a Peavey tubes.

I'm no expert in what constitutes a great pedal steel amp, but the VTX seems to sound more 'steely' than any of my Fenders, Vox's, or Marshall's.

Thanks again for the info. Your input has been very helpful.

With only 2 6L6s, you'll need a restrained drummer or miced amps, or you'll run out of headroom. In general steel amps have 2 characteristics:
Enough headroom to stay clean even with a loud drummer banging away.
Either a tone stack that naturally presents the midst in a pleasing way or one that lets you tailor the midst.
If headroom isn't an issue, the only thing that matters is whether you like the tone. Most modern lead guitar amps fail as steel amps because guitar players like breakup and we generally don't.

I used to use one in the mid 1980's and thought that it worked plenty good enough. I've still got one that I inherited from a deceased friend. You can get a very good clean sound out of it and I never found it to be lacking in volume. These were VTX models with Scorpion speakers.

I also used a Classic VTX in the late 80s as a beginner. I heard all kinds of advice about how you have to have tons of power for steel and started trying all kinds of amps from Twins to Standels. In retrospect, the Classic was really quite good for steel and very reliable as are most Peavey products. I sold it years ago to a punk rocker who painted it neon green, but I think I could easily make one work for my steel guitar needs today if I had to.

Happy birthday and welcome to the SGF!

Ten years ago, I bought a Heritage vtx, which was the 4x6L6 version, two channel (for 100 bucks non-working, cost 15 bucks to fix). I liked the idea of a solid state front end with para-mid control, and a tube power amp.

However...peavey used a class b power amp design, the phase inverter was a matched set of small power transistors, and the preamp was all op amp circuitry. I think this is common to the vtx line.

Thus, the amp was exceedingly clean and powerful. Too clean. Mind you this amp is 130w or maybe higher compared to the classic at half this.

If it would have been discrete front end, and class ab power amp, i'd be more interested in it today. A bit of cork sniffery for sure.

Realistically, I bought it cause a tele player I heard was using one and he had really good live tone with it.

With the right speaker, any of these peavey hybrids should be an acceptable steel amp.

Thanks for all the replies. I really appreciate it!

I used the VTX for the first time at rehearsal this week, it really cut through. I'm very happy with it as a steel amp... it's a keeper!