Amp solutions for city gigging folks who don't have a car

Rob Morrison · Post by **Rob Morrison** » 27 Mar 2023 9:04 am

Hi all,

I'm still pretty new to pedal steel (just under a year into learning the instrument), but I'm no stranger to gigging, and have been feeling the itch to start playing out on my psg.

However, I live in NYC, which means that I usually transport gear to a show via the subway. Occasionally I'll take a cab/Uber if I know I need to bring multiple instruments plus an amp, but only if I think I'll make enough money at the gig to offset what will likely be at least $60 roundtrip if not more.

Obviously pedal steel is not the most subway-friendly of instruments. But at least I have a Stage One, so a fairly light specimen. Keeping that in mind, I'm trying to find a lightweight (but great-sounding) amp solution. At home I play through a Fender Princeton RI, which honestly doesn't sound so great for pedal steel (despite my best efforts, it distorts unpleasantly far too easily).

What do folks who actually gig in a city environment use? I know ampless solutions are getting more and more popular, but I'm not sure what's considered appropriate for achieving desirable psg tones. Ampless would certainly make a subway commute less back-breaking, but I have tended to dislike going ampless for electric guitar, the few times where that situation has been necessary. Would love to hear of any recs y'all have! Quilter options seem like a promising direction, but I am admittedly pretty green with what's practical for psg. Thanks in advance!

Bill Davis · Post by **Bill Davis** » 27 Mar 2023 10:10 am

I put wheels on my Stage One case with a pull handle on the front. I removed the amp head section from a Boss Katana 50 and went direct out from the amp head same as you would if you used it as a combo amp. That seems to be the lightest burden with the best sound. I don't have a subway to deal with but some of my gigs have a LONG load in

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 27 Mar 2023 12:53 pm

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=2562142

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 27 Mar 2023 1:10 pm

I gigged in NYC for some years with a car and for a bit without. It sucks the soul out of you. Or it did out of me. First time I gigged up here, upstate, and pulled into an honest to god parking lot and loaded in....I nearly wept.

If you could count on having a board to plug into, something like a Quilter SBUS could be the ticket -- just a little larger than a stomp box (I have never played thru one). But if you are not guaranteed some good sound reinforcement, that's awfully risky. It can power a passive cab at 25w which is....not a lot but maybe could get you by...but then you need a cab.

I have a very busy NYC area gigging steel guitarist friend who uses a Quilter Micro Pro Mach 2 -- the 8" model! I have a 12"HD version and it is great. I prefer it to his but his gets the job done. I have become a strong believer in 'good enough is good enough' as opposed to the whole questing thing for the perfect sound. Little thing, that 8" amp. Unfortunately they are discontinued and I'm seeing them used on Reverb for $800 which is a drag.

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 27 Mar 2023 8:48 pm

Every place has a unique set of problems.One of NYC's enormous number is the work, expense, and just plain hassle of getting gear around. It might be worthwhile to include the cost of a cab in your fee.

It's exactly the same as my having having bought a pickup truck here in Colorado to carry my gear. Bet the ranch I log and deduct every single mile

Douglas Schuch · Post by **Douglas Schuch** » 28 Mar 2023 4:40 am

Hey Rob, I didn't know you'd started playing PSG! Cool! As far as amps go, it's hard to beat the Quilter Tone Block 202 as you can run it through a speaker, or straight to the board, or both. If I were doing the subway thing, I'd go to the board and hope they can put a monitor near you. It's got built in reverb that seems pretty good, so you don't really need anything else other than the cables. I bought a small pelican-style case to put mine in for transporting it, but if you are careful, just a backpack would probably work.

I've also got a Quilter Interblock - small 45 watt amp that also goes to either a speaker, or the board, or both. That would work fine if you go to the board - but might be hard hearing a speaker connected to it for your monitor - might need the monitor from the board. Also, no reverb - so you will need a small reverb pedal - almost everyone uses some reverb on psg. This one is part of my pedalboard for blues harp.

I've just ordered a Quilter micro-block - it's even smaller, and limited in adjustments - so more of a power amp, but it's also 45 watts. When it arrives, I will use it with a Joyo American Sound (a faux vintage Fender pedal) as a pre-amp with my lap steels - various other pedals in front of the Joyo. that Joyo pedal sounds pretty good, costs very little, and has 3-band EQ plus a volume, "voice" (gives you more of a tweed sound) and gain knobs. It's got plenty of power for me with the lap steels, but again, you might want to use it to go direct to the PA. I think you need an adapter that uses the headphone jack (3.5) (switchable between headphones or higher gain for PA) to whatever you will use for the PA input. It's very tiny, but then, IMO, needs a pre-amp for EQ and a reverb pedal - so not much smaller than the Interblock with a reverb.

Quilter stopped making both of these smaller amps (Inter-block and Micro-block), but are readily available still on Reverb, or sometimes here on the forum.

BTW, check out my FB page - I posted a video a couple of days ago with my Warner reso.

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 28 Mar 2023 4:50 am

Quilter Tone Block 202 with a Travis Toy combo (pry 12" speaker) or with your choice of speaker cabinet. You can run it with a speaker and/or to a house system or just headphones:

https://www.gregcutshaw.com/Quilter%20L ... 20Amp.html

Amp-less, I am getting great results with the ToneX pedal which also sounds great with the Tone block and/or headphones:

https://www.gregcutshaw.com/ToneX%20Ped ... Pedal.html

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 28 Mar 2023 12:54 pm

Mini amplifiers are quite common nowadays. But to move the air, you gotta have a speaker. Has anyone tried one of those little dinky cabs designed for bass (such as the 16 pound, 2 x 5" Phil Jones C2) with their pedal steel?

D Schubert · Post by **D Schubert** » 29 Mar 2023 5:19 am

The Quilter SuperBlock US is pretty small, would get you through a lot of different situations. I will occasionally use an Ear Candy "Shirley" lightweight cab with a 12" Jensen Tornado Neo speaker, light and compact, designed for fly dates.

Per Berner · Post by **Per Berner** » 29 Mar 2023 6:33 am

Jack Hanson wrote: Has anyone tried one of those little dinky cabs designed for bass (such as the 16 pound, 2 x 5" Phil Jones C2) with their pedal steel?

My bass amp is a PJB BG-300, quite compact and weighing just 15 kg (33 lbs) with 250 W, a transparent and usable limiter and six 5" Neo speakers. I have used it with my steel and it sounds good, clean and powerful. Not quite as powerful as my NV 1000, but half the size and half the weight. Don't know how their smaller models would work, though.

Rob Morrison · Post by **Rob Morrison** » 10 Apr 2023 7:15 am

Thanks for excellent suggestions, everyone (and hi, Doug!)

The solution that seems the most versatile does appear to be a Quilter Tone Block / Travis Toy (or equivalent), that way I could potentially just use the Tone Block for a gig where I can't lug an amp. I'm pretty new to the idea of something like the Tone Block, though...so if I'm understanding this correctly, it could be run straight to the board, then to a monitor, right?

Bobby D. Jones · Post by **Bobby D. Jones** » 10 Apr 2023 10:11 pm

The Quilter Tone Block 202 has a plug in on the back with 3 pins like a mike cable. 4 pounds weight, And Quilter makes padded case with a strap for over the shoulder carry. If a stage monitor was near may be a light way to go.

Good Luck finding an easy carried usable system.

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 11 Apr 2023 3:03 am

The nice thing about the Tone Block is that it is intended to be 'convertible' -- it can be quickly installed into a dedicated Quilter cabinet to create a one-piece combo amp or quickly removed and carried as a head.

My gigging experience, on the low end, the dive bar end, makes not carrying a fully self contained rig a dicey proposition. You don't know what you're going to get, if anything at all. 'Sound system' may be only good for two mics and the cabs they assured you they had may be blown (or loaned out).

But if you are confident that you can find what you need at the venue (or carried by your band) then either the Quilter TB or the smaller & cheaper and lower powered SuperBlock I mentioned above (1.5 lbs) are multi-function solutions that can do the job from powering a passive speaker cab (200w or 25w respectively) to feeding a powered speaker to feeding a soundboard.

Rob Morrison · Post by **Rob Morrison** » 11 Apr 2023 6:25 am

Jon Light wrote:The nice thing about the Tone Block is that it is intended to be 'convertible' -- it can be quickly installed into a dedicated Quilter cabinet to create a one-piece combo amp or quickly removed and carried as a head.

My gigging experience, on the low end, the dive bar end, makes not carrying a fully self contained rig a dicey proposition. You don't know what you're going to get, if anything at all. 'Sound system' may be only good for two mics and the cabs they assured you they had may be blown (or loaned out).

But if you are confident that you can find what you need at the venue (or carried by your band) then either the Quilter TB or the smaller & cheaper and lower powered SuperBlock I mentioned above (1.5 lbs) are multi-function solutions that can do the job from powering a passive speaker cab (200w or 25w respectively) to feeding a powered speaker to feeding a soundboard.

Thanks Jon! I'm fairly new to psg, but no stranger to gigging in NYC, so I echo the sentiment that oftentimes what a venue claims is on the backline may in fact be very different (or non-functional) in person. That's the whole reason I started using reverb pedals for electric guitar back in the day...I'd say about 75% of my gigs at the time, at fairly impressive NYC mid-tier venues, had oodles of Fender amps with non-functional reverb.

I'll keep all this in mind...hoping to make a purchase about 6 months from now to give myself time to do more research (and save up). Thanks for the recs, everyone!

Roy Carroll · Post by **Roy Carroll** » 15 Apr 2023 8:40 am

Quilter 202 Tone Block and cabinet with TT-12 speaker is the absolute BOMB!
Amp weighs less than 4 pounds and the speaker and cabinet weighs 22 lbs!
Best of all they sound great.Everything from Full Range to Vintage amp sound.
Don't forget to buy the case for the Quilter.

Bobby D. Jones · Post by **Bobby D. Jones** » 18 Apr 2023 9:15 pm

Here is a picture of the carry case Roy is talking about, For a TB 202. It has handles and a shoulder strap, Plus a pocket for cables and such. It is foam padded too.

Tim Sergent · Post by **Tim Sergent** » 18 Apr 2023 9:48 pm

I'll add to the votes for the Quilter TB 202 as well. I have 2 of them. They're great

Rob Morrison · Post by **Rob Morrison** » 21 Apr 2023 4:52 pm

Thanks all — ToneBlock 202 (with that sweet case) sure looks like a no-brainer! I’m savin’ up my pennies…

Brad Richard · Post by **Brad Richard** » 23 Apr 2023 2:36 pm

One other possible option is the ev everse. Rechargeable battery powered, 8" 2-way, 400W output. If I was still gigging, I'd have to give this one a hard look. ev products have always been top notch in my experience. Good luck!