The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi, I play a home-built 8-string lap, a sort of "stringmaster" clone (24.5" scale, with this 'stringmaster style' pickup: http://www.vintagevibeguitars.com/pickup_lap.html)

I recently got a peavey Nashville 112 amp. I can get a nice tone for most of my playing, but a few tunes I want to get closer to emulating an older pedal steel sound (my favourite tone at the moment being something like Sneaky Pete in Flying Burrito Bros: https://open.spotify.com/album/2EVjsZND ... j0TH8XsNie ... is that considered Bakersfield?)

Can anyone suggest some amp settings (or ?!) that might help me get that type of tone?

I know, it's all in the hands etc, but any help I can get would be appreciated

I play a 6 string lap 24 1/4 scale into a 112 peavey and for me I keep the bass turned kinda low and I go a little heavier on the mid range. Have been good with this setup for a while but for each instrument it may take trial and error

Long time since I even sat at a PSG, let alone play it, but to my ear one of the biggest differences between PSG and Lap is the "nature" of the sustain of notes. Not necessarily longer, but somehow more forceful (?) I'm wondering what you might get with something like the Boss CS3 compressor/sustainer. I could be way off base but . . . .

PS How's the storm watch out there, James?

You are never going to be able to emulate that tone on a lap steel, in my opinion. And you will get frustrated trying. If you want to sound like that, get a pedal steel.

Lap steel is its own instrument with its own characteristic sounds and tones. And they sound different for a number of reasons. My advice would be to find your own voice on the lap, or switch over to pedals.

Tommy Whites setup.

Thanks for the insights, David -- that's maybe what I'm hearing... I feel like it's a bit more of a growl or something that normally I'd attribute to scale length, but that argument fails when the scale is the same
A compressor of some sort might be just the ticket -- i have some gear I'll play around with in my studio!

The storms have been nuts this winter -- I surf and it's (often) been too big!! Today we ended up at the far east end of Barkley Sound before we found anything manageable

David Knutson wrote:Long time since I even sat at a PSG, let alone play it, but to my ear one of the biggest differences between PSG and Lap is the "nature" of the sustain of notes. Not necessarily longer, but somehow more forceful (?) I'm wondering what you might get with something like the Boss CS3 compressor/sustainer. I could be way off base but . . . .

PS How's the storm watch out there, James?

Thanks, Dale!
Those settings are remarkably similar to what I've settled on, actually.
Do you happen to know if that's what he uses for lap, or pedal, or both?

Dale Foreman wrote:

Tommy Whites setup.

Thanks for the thoughts, Bill.
Don't worry, I'm not planning to switch to the dark side anytime soon
But, I'm inquisitive and curious why exactly that is...
What is it about a pedal steel that makes it inherently sound different -- or impossible to sound "very similar"?

If you built a pedal steel and a matching console non-pedal steel with the same pickups and the same scale would they sound the same (excepting the obvious use of pedals...)??
Thanks!

Bill McCloskey wrote:You are never going to be able to emulate that tone on a lap steel, in my opinion. And you will get frustrated trying. If you want to sound like that, get a pedal steel.

Lap steel is its own instrument with its own characteristic sounds and tones. And they sound different for a number of reasons. My advice would be to find your own voice on the lap, or switch over to pedals.

If you built a pedal steel and a matching console non-pedal steel with the same pickups and the same scale would they sound the same

Probably. I recently began playing PSG after many years of playing a Rickenbacker twin 8. Without plugging the instrument to an amp the acoustic differences are huge. The PSG doesn't have a solid wooden body, just a shell to enclose the mechanics of the pedals whereas the Ricky has a rich and quite loud natural acoustic tone.

I use the same setup for home practice. A Boss MS3 (same presets for both instruments), a cheap mini-mixer (no EQ) and a Phil Jones Double4 with all EQ set flat.
When I plug in the Ricky it sounds like a steel. When I switch to the PSG it sounds like a PSG.

But even if you achieve your tonal goal, it is what one plays musically and even the instruments' tunings that contribute to the tone.

\paul

A pedal steel sounds like it does because of the pedals.

You might as well ask how to make a piano sound like a trombone.