The Steel Guitar Forum

please? I'd just like to experiment with different settings, and pick the one I like the best. I know all of us don't play a session, but thought it would give an idea of what the majority like, tone-wise.

Terry, you gotta tell us what amp you're talking about. They don't all have the same knobs & controls. Also, my NV-400 uses different knob positions after the mod than before to get the same poor tone from my fingers.

Oops, spoke too soon, seems you're talking about a Peavey Session XXX. <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Ray Minich on 11 March 2004 at 11:25 AM.]</p></FONT>

I have a Peavey Session 400 LTD. I kind of vary my "clock numbers" depending on whether I'm going in Lo-Gain, with or without a matchbox, with our without the "three cord" hookup.

With the three-cord hookup (it sounds less dry than the matchbox sound), on Hi-Gain input, I have the Lows between 3 and 5 o'clock, mids cut all the way, shift around 1 o'clock, highs and presence at around noon.

You can find buddy's settings on his site, for either his Nash400 or his S400. I forget which... Ernie Renn sent me buddy's settings for the S400LTD, which is what I have.

I do not have a mod on the amp, neither peavey nor lemay. This is what I've been happiest with, but it changes off and on.

Hi Gain is much crisper and brighter than low, straight plugging in is a lot more muffled as well. Low gain, and/or direct hookup with no matchbox, without the 3-cord hookup sounds like there's a blanket on the amp.

"10"

Terry, I have a 1977 Session 400 that I use regularly. Here are my normal settings, keeping in mind that a very small adjustment either way on the controls can make quite a bit of difference in the sound.
Presence.......6
Treble.........3
Middle.........1-1/2 to 2
Shift..........6-1/2 to 7
Bass...........8
Reverb.........Depends on the room
Sensitivity....8 to 10, depending on the room

I'm playing a Sho-Bud Super Pro with metal necks and TrueTone pickups. The amp has Brad Sarno's upgrade kit in it, and has an early Black Widow speaker with the spider web magnet. You will probably get different results using a different guitar, speaker, etc. This should give you a place to start. Hope this helps.

Mine has the equivelent of a Tube Fex as the front end, so I have about 10 different sounds I pass through with midi control.
Sorry I can't just say one sound is it...

But that's why I got this amp ; One sound is not enough.

<H1>EVERYTHING AT TEN.</H1>

"You can find buddy's settings on his site, for either his Nash400 or his S400."

I tried Buddy's settings, and didn't like what i heard. waay to mellow for me.

Bob Tuttle, I do like your settings, that's where I have mine set now.thanks

I've never heard anybody that had all their settings on 10.might give it a try.

That reminds me of a guy I saw at a songwriters showcase night in Austin one time. He had one song where he set all the controls to 10. It was called the "Chainsaw song."

I never heard of him after that....

<H3>Take your channel locks and twixt it up to twelve</H3>.... <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Ron Sodos on 12 March 2004 at 08:51 AM.]</p></FONT>

Emmons LeGrande thru a Peavey NV400

Bass 3 o'clock.

mid 11 o'clock

shift 800HZ

Treble 1 o'clock

Presence 1 o'clock

My Excel SuperB thru the same Peavey NV400

Bass 5 o'clock

Mid at 1 o'clock

shift 800HZ

Treble 10 o'clock

presence 1 o'clock

Note: I use no reverb since I prefer the Boss DD-3 digital delay unit better. Also,

Pregain 9 o'clock (bright on for Emmons, off for the Excel)

Post Gain 6 o'clock for both guitars.

Finally; guitar plugs directly into the amp; then DD-then the volume pedal in the effects loop.

You may be interested in that the same settings on different amps produce DIFFERENT results; all else being equal. This is due to tolerances within the amps.

carl

Carl, has the capacitor/op-amp mod been installed in your NV400?

Thanks. Just wonderin' if installing the mod changes the knob postions of choice.

Thanks carl, I'll try those settings to.

another question. I know I'm showing my stupidity, but before I started back playing after my year 1/2 layoff, I was never serious about playing the steel, I was more interested in Hunting, than playing steel, but now it's just the opposite.
I'd like to know what all these settings mean. I know what bass and treble are, but what are- presence- shift- middle- sensitivity mean? I just want to learn more about my passion, which is playing steel. thanks

It is always interesting to see what others are using for settings on amps if you happpen to have the same kind of amp - it may help and may not.
BUT-----If you do not have this kind of amp or are not interested - Please don't degrade someone for asking - Even for a Moderator to come on and say "SET EVERYTHING TO 10"!!! - REAL CLASSY!!!!!<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by rpetersen on 13 March 2004 at 01:32 PM.]</p></FONT>

Clean and hard low end, somewhat bright high end with the middle set low. This should tell you that it is not about the dials it is about the sound.

Larry Behm

Ray,

Yes the mod has been installed in the amp. I purchased it AFTER Peavey began shipping them with the mod. So I have never set it any other way on the same guitar.

As to what all the controls mean. It has been discussed several times before on the forum. But I will give youa tad on the mid and shift and speak generally about the presence.

To best under stand the mid and shift, it is best to use your stereo at home as an example. If you have a high end system and all your controls are in the middle position, your stereo is said to have a flat response from 20HZ to 20KHZ.

Now this is absolutely necessary for audiophiles and those that want to play every thing precisely as it was recorded or miked in the case of a live broadcast.

However, as some have sadly found out, if you try to play your steel thru it, it sounds horrible to most players. Engineers knowing this for eons have tweaked musical amplifiers to get around this malady.

They discoverd early on that if they tweaked the response around 800HZ, an incredible different sound was put out that MOST players said was much better than the flat response amps.

Now for years and years this "tweaking" was designed and forgotten about. That is, it was NON adjustable. Note: the treble, mid and bass frequencies do not alter this region and even if they did they would not have the effect like the built in tweaking accomplished.

Long comes Peavey and they decided to make this tweaking customer adjustable. SOOOOOOO, they added two pots, A mid and a shift control. If you notice the shift is the only control that does not have sequential numbers; rather it adjusts a very limited band of frequencies around 800HZ.

This allows the player to adjust precisely the HZ (around 800HZ) that provides the best timbre. The mid control then determines whether you boost this shift frequency or attenuate (cut) it; and how much.

As an example say you discover your best sound with the shift at 850HZ and your mid at 11 oclock. What this means is, your amp is attenuating (cutting) only those frequencies at 850HZ.

The presence control varies amongst manufacturers and I am not sure what Peavey has it designed for.

But on Fenders, it was to control the amount of feedback from the speaker back into the amp. Since this is critical to the linearity of the Push Pull amp stages, it takes you from a spatial affect sound to a bland sound. The best way to set it is to have someone adjust it so you sound good out front. Thus the term presence.

The way you set the mid and shift controls is as follows:

1. Set shift to 800

2. Run the mid from say 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock.

3. Leave it set where it sounds best to you.

4. Then adjust the shift in very small increments left and right until you zero in on the precise point where your amp sounds best.

That is all there is to it. From this point on set your treble and bass controls to set the lo's and hi's the way YOU like them

carl

Thanks Carl. I guess I should have done a search on the subject, but I'm knew to the board, and didn't know it had been discussed several times before.

rpetersen- I was thinkin the same thing.
thought this board was for players of all
skill levels, maybe not.

With tube amps (and tube preamps), I set the bass on 10 then add mids and trebles until it sounds good. I usually end up with treble on 7 or 8 and mids on 3 or 4. It other words, I scoop out the mids.

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<font size="1"><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/Hotb0b.gif" width="96 height="96">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9),
Sierra Laptop 8 (E6add9), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6),
Roland Handsonic, Line 6 Variax</font>

By answering, "10", I was kidding, but not really. My steel playing is worse than anybody's on this Forum, but I can get a good sound (tone) out of my amp. But the knobs on my amp probably aren't set the same as everyone's. I've seen thread after thread, about amp settings. Set it in the floor, and mess with them knobs! You ai'nt gonna tear the amp up, and you'll find the tone that suits you! The flippant remarks made by the others were jokes, as well. I seriously doubt if Brad Bechtel runs everything at TEN!!!!, or that Ron Sodos uses Channel Locks on his amp. I've found that a sense of humor is essential to the learning of anything challenging, and that the ability to laugh at one's own mistakes, and screw-ups, is a cornerstone of knowledge.
AND, just as a sidebar, on an old Fender Champ, that only has a "Tone" knob, where should it be set?

Actually, I think Brad does run everything on ten. If you're using small vintage tube amps, that's often how you get the best tone.

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<font size="1"><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/Hotb0b.gif" width="96 height="96">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9),
Sierra Laptop 8 (E6add9), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6),
Roland Handsonic, Line 6 Variax</font>

When I was using (2) Nashville 400's back in the early to mid-'80's I used these settings very successfully. I got them from Paul Franklin and never forgot them in all this time!
Pre-Gain (5)
Lows 12:00
Mid 9:30
Shift 800Hz
High 1:00
Presence 1:00
Reverb (5)
Sensitivity/Master-Vol (10)

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“Big John” Bechtel
Franklin PSG D–10 (9 &
Fender ’49–’50 T–8 Custom
Fender ’65 Reissue Twin-Reverb Custom 15”
http://community.webtv.net/KeoniNui/BigJohnBechtels

Thanks Bobbe Lee and John, and all you guys. I bound to find the tone I like with all these different settings.