Lap Steel in the Park

Brad Richard · Post by **Brad Richard** » 10 Feb 2021 7:37 am

Has anybody used a battery powered amp to play outside? Right now it's about 10 below, but when the weather is nicer, I thought it might be fun to play some lap steel in a park or elsewhere. My only other option is to bring a banjo instead.

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 10 Feb 2021 8:18 am

No banjo, the birds are protected. I have played lap steel on my Crate Taxi battery powered amp. 30 watts and does fine. You can use a outboard pedal for distortion or other effects. I'm sure Roland has a few options like the Street Cube.

Brad Richard · Post by **Brad Richard** » 10 Feb 2021 3:37 pm

Hey Larry - I wasn't even aware of the Taxi 30. The only other battery powered amps I know of are the minis. I'll have to look into a used one. Thanks for the tip.

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 10 Feb 2021 5:53 pm

I've had mine for years. Replaced the battery and that's about it. Holds a charge, play for several hours and pretty loud. You can run a microphone and your guitar.

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 11 Feb 2021 5:43 am

I have used five different Rolands, and unless you want your lap steel to sound like George Thorogood, this model (Mobile Cube) sounds the best to me (although the Cube Street is pretty good, too):

Be certain to slip a chorus or two of Du Gamla Du Fria into Aloha Oe during Karl Oskar Days this summer!

Brad Richard · Post by **Brad Richard** » 11 Feb 2021 6:50 am

"Be certain to slip a chorus or two of Du Gamla Du Fria into Aloha Oe during Karl Oskar Days this summer!"

Excellent idea, Jack! BTW, how are your other two brothers doing?

The Mobile Cube looks pretty good. Does it have enough power to be heard in a crowd?

Skoal,
Brad

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 11 Feb 2021 9:22 am

Brad, they are 5 watt from what I read. The street cube EX is 50 watt but also $500.00. The standard Street cube is 5 watt. I believe 5 is a bit weak for a crowd. I have 5 watt tube amps and it's not enough for small clubs. Roland also make the AC30 that can operate on batteries. Roland is very reliable for the money.

Eric Long · Post by **Eric Long** » 11 Feb 2021 3:02 pm

I've played outside on battery with a Roland street EX. It's a great amp and is widely used by buskers. Of course the tone is a little lacking but it sounds great considering its battery powered. It also let me play in a park and on top of a mountain.

Brad Richard · Post by **Brad Richard** » 11 Feb 2021 3:47 pm

The Roland EX looks great, but more than I need or can afford. I'm just looking to play some lap steel. I may end up using a portable power supply and a regular amp, maybe a 25 or 30 watt bass amp. With the weather we're having here, I don't need to make a rush decision.

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 12 Feb 2021 6:14 am

Brad, watch some videos on the Buskers and their gear. They have some interesting stuff and it gets seriously road tested. Lots of portable battery gear but most lack tone. The better stuff is expensive for what it does. Nelly Slide Guitar on YouTube is a good example.

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 12 Feb 2021 6:23 am

Brad Richard wrote:The Mobile Cube looks pretty good. Does it have enough power to be heard in a crowd?

If you fired one up in that Chisago City park where the old NP caboose rests, folks in the immediate vicinity could likely hear it alright. There would have to be a lull in the traffic for the people at Frankie's Live Bait across Hwy 8 to hear you play, however. I've read on this Forum that some of the pro steel players in Hawaii regularly use Mobile Cubes for outdoor gigs such as beach luaus where power is not available.

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 12 Feb 2021 9:57 am

Look up the Vangoa 40 watt portable rechargeable amplifier. Amazon for $189.00 Very similar to my crate taxi 30 but has bluetooth and a pole mount socket. Has some examples on YouTube by Dr.McFarland

Brad Richard · Post by **Brad Richard** » 12 Feb 2021 3:36 pm

Thanks for all the ideas and tips. I really appreciate it. I'm checking into that Vangoa, Larry. I'm also thinking about a used Pignose Hog 20 or 30 if I can find one I can afford. Still in the deep freeze here so no rush. I think Jack has the right idea - I'd sure rather be in San Jose!

Brad Richard · Post by **Brad Richard** » 12 Feb 2021 3:39 pm

Oops. I was thinking you were in SoCal, Jack. Well, you're south of me anyway.

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 13 Feb 2021 11:38 am

Brad Richard wrote:Well, you're south of me anyway.

When I moved down here to south-central Colo permanently from the Gopher State in 2016, I thought I had escaped the cold weather. Not so. I was shocked one morning between Xmas and New Years my first winter when the mercury dipped to -39 in Alamosa (per the National Weather Service). The winters down here are at least a month shorter in duration, however. And if it snows on Halloween, it's often gone by noon the next day. Back in Minnie, that Halloween snow is liable to still be on the ground the following Easter. I quickly discovered there's a huge difference between sea level and 7600 feet above.

Brad Richard · Post by **Brad Richard** » 19 Feb 2021 4:45 pm

Larry - I took your advice and checked out the Vangoa. It's sure a whole lot of amp for the price. I ordered one today from Amazon. I also got a 4 year protection plan (only $30) which I hope I'll never use. I normally never get the "added protection", but in this case.... Amazon has free returns on this so I'll try it out and hope it's as good as it seems on paper.

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 19 Feb 2021 6:12 pm

Brad, I hope it's a good choice. It checks all the boxes. You made a wise decision on the warranty. Amazon has a good return policy. If you have any issues be sure to move quickly and return it. Keep us posted on your experience with this amp.

Gene Tani · Post by **Gene Tani** » 20 Feb 2021 12:02 am

Late reply but I have a super portable rig, headless/keyless 10 string by Sonny Jenkins into Boss Katana Mini and Blackstar fly, both are pretty decent sounding mini modeling amps, meaning they only have a few models plus reverb /delay thru 3" or so speakers.

The high end of battery powered amps are the Yamah THR's and Roland Cubes but there's lots to try out at a guitar giga-store like Vox, Fender, orange,

Brad Richard · Post by **Brad Richard** » 20 Feb 2021 10:25 am

Gene, I think I checked out about everything out there. The Roland Street EX or the Fishman LoudBox Mini Charge are fantastic IF you can spend $500+. On the other end of the scale, the Kat. Mini and the Blackstar Fly are also great, but limited. The Vangoa has three inputs, reverb, battery powered, bluetooth, master volume and puts out 40W (on paper) into an 8" speaker. And it's not much more expensive that the Kat and Blackstar combined. The only thing it doesn't have is modeling as it's an acoustic amp (I wasn't looking for modeling). As I said, it's got it all IF it's as good as it looks on paper. The reviews are good and may even be trustworthy. Here's hoping.

Kevin Mincke · Post by **Kevin Mincke** » 20 Feb 2021 1:49 pm

I use an older red Cube Street. Has channel available to plug an XLR in also. Quite protable and sounds good.

Brad Richard · Post by **Brad Richard** » 20 Feb 2021 3:20 pm

Hi Kevin - The cube street is a really cool amp. My concern is that at 5W, how much volume can you get out in the open?

I can get a used one for about what I'm paying for the Vangoa and I know it's a popular setup. I've just got a hang up about inadequate volume.

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 20 Feb 2021 3:31 pm

Kevin Mincke wrote:I use an older red Cube Street.

Mine's red too!
One of the online big boxes was blowing 'em out about ten years ago for about a third of the cost of the black ones, so I bit the bullet.

Cartwright Thompson · Post by **Cartwright Thompson** » 21 Feb 2021 6:38 am

Has anyone tried using a small a/c powered amp with one of the â€œpure sine waveâ€ battery units like the Jackery or Anker? Theyâ€™re not cheap but they would be handy to have around for other uses. It seems like a portable power station and a Quilter MicroPro or Spark would be way better than most of the little battery amps.
Grounding might be a problem though.

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 21 Feb 2021 7:25 am

Wow, those sine wave units are expensive. $259.00 for the Anker that will only support 100 watt supply. They go up in cost from there. Yikes.

Brad Richard · Post by **Brad Richard** » 21 Feb 2021 7:31 am

Cartwright - I looked into that option. The pros are they can be used for other things and you can use a variety of amps. The cons are they're expensive and more gear to haul. By the time I bought both, I could buy a Roland Street EX (which I can't afford either).