The Steel Guitar Forum

Any opinions on using two fender deluxe black face amps for pedal steel.A single 12 fender speaker in each one. 60's tube vintage

I have a Siverface Deluxe that I put in a new Weber 50 watt 12F150 speaker and new tubes.
I had the amp tech go through it and adjust it for maximum clean headroom.
It works really well.
Old speakers and old tubes are okay for 6 string guitars but a little fuzzy for steel.
A Twin is more the ticket.
https://www.tedweber.com/12f150

Your speakers might be a limiting factor unless you can keep the volume low. My current gigging amp is a 1974 DR with a JBL K120. I'm almost always mic'ed on stage, and although it gets a little hairy when I push it, I kinda like it.

Don Glasrud wrote:Any opinions on using two fender deluxe black face amps for pedal steel.A single 12 fender speaker in each one. 60's tube vintage

Sounds like amp heaven to me ! If the speakers are old Oxfords you might want to check out a JBL D120. It should give you a bit more headroom and clarity.

Amp heaven, for sure!
Just between us... I kinda favor my Deluxe Reverb to my Twin Reverb, just a bit, as far as the tone

I used a silver face deluxe w/jblk120 for years. Loved it and I was still able to annoy the sound men with it😜. I managed to somehow blow up the speaker...I miss that rig! The jbl was the key ingredient.

For big stages and outdoors I recommend something with more power.

Thanks for the advice to all who posted!!

Ken has the right idea: get your amp guy to set the amps up for maximum clean sound. The speaker makes a big difference - a more efficient speaker will make the amp seem louder at a lower number value on the volume knob. Use a 5AR4A rectifier tube. A well-matched PI tube will help. You could try a ss rectifier but I've heard of problems with 6V6s and Deluxe Reverbs using the diode rectifiers. Make sure your filter caps are new/good. I agree that the Deluxe Reverb produces a very sweet steel guitar sound but it's a matter of how loud you play these limited headroom amps. If you play quiet enough, it will sound fantastic.

Bob M.

Thanks for that Bob

I've run smaller Fenders together a bunch of times. Sounds great! It is fun to have all of that tone control. It is pretty common to get a fairly loud buzz, depending on how you split your signal but you can work through that if it comes up.

When using amps in stereo or just two amps for one signal, read up a little bit on grounding. In my stereo rigs, I use a ground lift switch on one of my amps and the ground buzz disappears. You can also use one of those adapters that fits on a 3-prong AC cord that lifts the ground for one of the amps.

Bob M.

I used a backline Twin Reissue and 65 Deluxe Reissue the other night for steel and guitar. Decided mid soundcheck to use the Deluxe for front of house and the Twin as a fill because the Deluxe sounded that much better.

I think I'm going to go with two Deluxe's in the future when I can't bring my own amps. Reading through this thread has got me thinking I should try a solid state plug-in rectifier for the deluxe that I send out front for steel...

I have 64 and 72 DRs that I often use together in stereo. I use a Radial Switchbone to do the amp combining for me.... The switchbone eliminates grounding noise issues and includes a tuner out, for silent tuning, etc.

You will want to change out the original speakers for something a bit more robust... A JBL is a good choice, but I favor the Tone Tubby Red Alnico, and have a Telonics in the 72 at the moment.

Tubes can make a big difference. I do like the JJ 6V6S tubes for steel applications lots of clean headroom and nice high end. They can take a lot of voltage, giving you a lot more room to fiddle with bias settings. They are fairly neutral, so you can tailor the tone via preamp tube choice.

You can use a solid state rectifier with the Deluxe Reverb but you'd do well to check the voltage first on the filter caps and then the B+ on the DR once the diodes are in place. I would think about 50 volts+ rating above B+ on the filter caps is a good minimum. Depending what model of tube rectifier you're now using, your voltage may rise a little or a lot. You'll have to re-bias your power tubes. There are some or possibly, many type of 6V6 tubes that are unhappy at voltages above around 450Vdc. However it's possible to do - Jim Kelly (amps) did it quite elegantly at nearly 500 Vdc.

My experience has been that unlike amps sound better together in stereo (or 2 amp mono) rigs than using two of the exact same amp. Of course, no two amps ever really sound the same but if you're using two of the same model amp, try different speaker makes in each or try one of the amps running 6L6s. You'll get a more complex, more nuanced sound. If each amp is as about as loud as the next, that's a good thing. Also having about the same speaker efficiency (SPL) from each is important as well. Once you get this down, it's hard to carry one amp anymore.

Good luck, have fun,

Bob M.