The Steel Guitar Forum

I'm going to loan my Half and Half to a friend of mine who didn't come to town with an amp for her fiddle.
Do any of y'all use it for that?

Yep, three nights a week. Depends on the room and all, and I usually run it through a single 12 in an open back cabinet, but I usually like to have mine set with the treble around 4, mids around 5, and bass between 6 and 7. Just keep the reverb tone totally off till she finds a setting she likes and then add a little if she wants it.

So just like steel: lows hotter than mids, which are hotter than highs. I don't think she uses much reverb

That seems to be a good generic fiddle formula for any amp - but be aware that some amps have a Fender-type tone stack. If so, I dime all three, and pull back the bass if its distorting, then pull back the treble and mid till its balanced.

I've never really found a good sound doing the dime trick for fiddle on any of my amps, but I've heard a few guitar players use that to dial in their fender amps.

John Dowden wrote:I've never really found a good sound doing the dime trick for fiddle on any of my amps, but I've heard a few guitar players use that to dial in their fender amps.

No doubt - but its a process, not a setting for Fender's. we may be hijacking the thread, but here's the Fender dial-in process I believe is most conventional, and what I use:

1) FIRST start with all three tone controls dimed (dimed means that are all set to 10, set to maximum, twisted fully clockwise, etc)
2) SECOND adjust the volume or master to something less than 2 o'clock, but louder than you plan to play
3) THIRD pull back each tone at a time to the desired tone. I start with the BASS, then mid then treble. Also, pulling back the bass often affects the other frequencys leading to step 4)...
4) FOURTH you may have to go from bass to mid to treble two or three times, adjusting up and down to "dial in" that evasive but eloquent tone
5) LAST make the final volume or master adjustment and write everything down

When I do this for MY fiddle and MY pickup, I generally have the mid and bass somewhere between 1-3 o'clock, and the treble (and presence) at 10-1 o'clock for a Fender Twin or Twin-like amp. Much like what's been shared.

Why this process? Because Fender controls are designed that way.

Try this: set all the tone controls to zero, minimum, all the way counter-clockwise, all the way to the left - on a Fender, you'll get NO volume regardless how you set the volume or master.