The Steel Guitar Forum

Has anyone played with the new fender steel king amp.It 200 watts and the speaker is design like the JBL D130 speaker.I had to order one today.I hope i am not disapointed with it.You can check it out on the fender site.

Dan, I believe I read a thread in another post by Buddy Emmons, and if I read it right, I believe he just took possesion of a new Fender Steel King amp. He had nothing but good to say about the product. I did a search to see if I could find the thread, with no luck, but I think if you post asking him about it, he'll help you out.

And, I believe this post will probably be moved to the Electronics section of the Forum. It has nothing to do with Steel Players.

Bob<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Bob Wood on 02 August 2004 at 08:13 PM.]</p></FONT>

Also, I found this post by Mike Smith and he gives you all the specs for it! http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum11/HTML/005449.html
Here's another one! http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum11/HTML/005626.html

Bob<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Bob Wood on 02 August 2004 at 08:10 PM.]</p></FONT>

Bob and Dan,

Go to Events and Announcements and look for JCH and Steel King maiden voyage and you will get some feedback you are looking for.

Jim

Here's the link:

Steel King info

I've read all the posts, but no one posted the weight. As they say in PA Dutch country, "How gross is it?"

I finally found the weight. 66 Pounds! Forget it.

Any good amp w/ 200+ watts & a good speaker will sound great! I'll never lug 66lbs or more again, I had a Randall Steelman about 70+lbs &300watts a Webb 225watts,about 60lbs I now get all I want from my Evans SE200 at 34lbs!the Steel King sounds like a great amp for the under 30 player! au<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Al Udeen on 03 August 2004 at 08:46 AM.]</p></FONT>

Amp discussions belong in ELECTRONICS.
moving

The weight thing is something I think about more as I get older. The amp has casters and for lugging up and down stairs a two wheel cart works perfect. This method works great for any heavy amp.
I posted a thread about this amp also and gave my thoughts on it. If you're in the market for a new amp you owe it to yourself to at least test drive one.

Mike

There's a store about a half hour from here
that's got 3 on order. They're selling them
for $629. Two of them are already spoken for
so I reserved the last one.
Best thing about this place is
they'll let you take the amp home for a few
days and make sure it's what you want.
I've got a Webb & an old original '65
Twin Reverb to compare it to.
I've also had Evans & Peavey amps in the past.
So, we'll see how this thing stacks up.

<font face=radagund><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jay Ganz on 18 September 2004 at 08:02 AM.]</p></FONT>

Designing and building another solid state amplifier is nothing that hasn't been done in the past. I haven't read in any post or article on the Steel King where it has something new to offer. Granted, I haven't heard this amp yet, but from the input that I've received on it, I find that quite a few Forumites are a bit apprehensive about this new model and then there are others who just get "google-eyed" at the mention of the name of the amp. Since there literally has been no support to speak of for the steel guitar community from Fender for years and years, I am on the apprehensive side.

Let me state this though, I do own a Vibrolux that I use occassionally for six string electric guitar. But, Fender is not the same company that it used to be when Leo owned the company and there are books written by ex-employees of Fender that pretty much state this in so many words. Most companies have their "bread and butter" products(including Peavey)and it seems that the Fender company can't get past those products to offer any new innovative ideas.

My point is that when you read or hear about a product, you owe it to yourself to form your opinion of the product after you've had a chance to demo it, and not just by word of mouth. Then, compare to what you know as a good, honest reliable comparable product of the same type.

meow

Mike, once again shows he has class. Instead of tearing into Fender with a bunch of our's is better than yours attitude, he gives very nice, honest, and useful comments. Peavey, give Mike a raise! He is one in a million. Every company should have a Mike Brown.

Let me state this. Although the new Fender amp sounds great, I'm not going to sell my Session 400's and buy one. As far as support goes I don't believe anyone will come close to Peavey.

Mike

Case in point---I was gonna order a new Stratocaster, American made. The guitar was gonna be a stock guitar, no "custom" features, just a plain old American Standard Strat. The only reason it had to be ordered, was because the store didn't have one in Arctic White.
Two weeks later, still no guitar, and Fender says,"back-ordered, don't know how long it'll take, maybe a couple more weeks..."
I got my money back, bought a Mexican Strat, correct color, plays like a dream.
My point, though---if Fender doesn't know when they can deliver on what is probably their bread and butter guitar, just how far down the line does that put a steel player with a noisy amp? And speaking of amps, have any of you guys seen the guts of the so-called "reissue series?" Pencil-thin solder runs, shaky connections---Cosmetically they may be the same, but they look sick inside. Now I know that point-to-point wiring is impractical for mass production, but building something to LAST, is not. I'm sure the Steel King is a good-sounding amp, and, as much as I hate to disagree with Mike Brown, I doubt if any new improvements need to be made in steel guitar amplification! An old Session, an old Twin, an old Evans, an old Christmas Tree...
So I'd imagine the Steel King's gonna do OK. Buddy likes it, and if Buddy likes it, I like it. No ifs, ands, or buts!
But how's Sam Ordinary gonna be treated by Fender a year down the road? I promise and swear that Fender will NEVER have somebody like Mike Brown, who remembers peoples' names, and I furthermore promise and swear that Fender will not have a service department like Peavey.
And, uh, I LOVE my Twin.

When the Steel King thread first started, someone said, when a well known player said it was good , thats good enough for me, I gotta have one, pretty well ties in to whats been talked about here! kr

I was making the point that you should consider all factors when comparing products, ie; servicability, service after the sale, warranty, price, etc.. That's all.

I aint going to go against Buddy Emmons but I aint buying no Fender either. Peavey has been very good to me

Mike Sweeney, I heard you play the new
Fender amp along with Buddy and Randy
and the others, I agree that the presence
of Mike Brown on this Forum and his
personal interest on the sound and performance
of Peavey products will be hard to compete
with, I'll never sell my Session 500.
I bought it new and its one of the first 500's ever built.
I have sent it to Peavey three times for
service and the total for all service jobs
was less than 75.00.
I may have missed the posts but I have yet to see Shane Nicholas or anyone from Fender post on the Forum like Mike Brown does.

Just my .02 worth



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Rick Johnson

Hello Fender Amp Rep(s),

If you are serious about the Steel market, which I suspect you are based on the Big E's involvement, then I also believe you are reading these posts.

I'd like to welcome you to join our Forum. Prove that there's real people at Fender, not just a marketing division making your ad copy.

You'll be treated with respect, and you can provide us with straight info, rather than our speculation.

This type of interaction results in better products and a knowledgeable customer base.

Sincerely,
Joey




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<img align=left src="http://www.joeyace.com/img/joey2.jpg" >
-j0ey-
www.JoeyAce.com

Regarding support after the sale from the company, which is a very important part of the relationship, here's my personal experience.

The best service after the sale, hands down IMHO, is Peavey and Evans. Call Peavey and you can talk to Mike Brown, and he'll remember you from the last steel show you attended. Likewise Ed Buffington from Evans, whose always been super-helpful and effective over the phone for me. Ed even suggested a Peavey Black Widow speaker for my Evans when I blew out the Eminence.

Sadly, I didn't get the same response from
Webb, although I must acknowledge that since Jimmie Webb's health had been fragile for years, I can understand his... ummm... lack of enthusiasm for dealing with an individual amp's problems. Fortunately, he made a great product (I still use one, also Evans), but when I had to have it serviced, he told me the amp repair guy was on vacation and wouldn't be back for "a couple of months." This is a problem when dealing with a smaller operation; the occasional lack of back-up personnel to handle problems in a timely manner.

(Jimmie, towards the later years, seemed to occasionally be a really reluctant merchant. I called and asked about buying a new amp from him about 5 years ago, and he gave me every reason why I wouldn't want to get one... "we're out of stock, don't know when we'll make any more, the guy is sick, and there's gonna be a big price increase. Call back in a couple of months." )

Fender, OTOH, has a huge dealer network of authorized repair people in music stores throughout our great land . But good luck in finding the personalized service I mentioned above. The guy fixing your Steel King will probably be the same guy working on a Crate amp, or a Traynor, or a Marshall, or any other amp some rockandroller might bring into the store.

The best bet is to find and shop at the local Fender dealer with it's own repair staff that you like, if it's convenient for you, and develop a relationship with the repair guys there. That way, you're a real person who they know to be a repeat customer they will be answerable to.

If you live out in the boonies, finding a store like that with the necessary staff will be tough, granted.

Just my dos centavos. Herb out.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association


<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Herb Steiner on 06 August 2004 at 06:36 AM.]</p></FONT>

As usual the Herbster is right on.

Hi, my name is Sam Marshall. I am an engineer with Fender (8 years) and the designer of the Steel-King among other amps in the product line. I appreciate Joey's invitation to engage in these discussions.

I know, what is a guy named Marshall doing working for Fender?? I only once owned a Marshall, and that was for 6 months. My style has rarely been such that I needed a Marshall stack again.

I really want you to know that the development of the Steel-King is the closest thing to a labor of love that I have experienced in my professional career as an engineer of 20 years. By the time I was given the green light for this project, I had developed much of the design on my own in my music room. Of course, the highlight of it all was hearing Buddy play through the Steel-King at Nashville NAMM.

FYI - Around 5 or 6 years ago, Fender was considering a steel amp and we had discussions with Buddy regarding this. During that time, I had the pleasure of meeting and visiting with him for several hours in Vegas when he was playing with the Everly Bros.

Now, I would like to share some background information on myself. I am a hobbyist steel player at best. I have been playing steel for nearly 20 years, while I have been playing guitar for over 40 years. I used to play steel on a semi-professional basis in the Phoenix area, but gave that up due to hip problems.

I occasionally still take gigs on guitar (jazz/blues/country/pop/rock/soul) and at one time (the late 1970's) I toured as a guitar player with the Air Force field bands in Texas and Europe for 4 years. I am one of those rare guitarists that can read music, but I also play by ear and can improvise over almost any changes that come my way. So, as you see my musical interests are pretty broad.

Still, I love Johnny Bush, Johnny Paycheck, Ray Price, and George Jones, as that was the music I grew up around in Texas. Like many of you, I attended several Jeff Newman seminars and once had the pleasure of an intense day long lesson with Maurice Anderson.

I have been on & off this forum since its inception. I also participated in the steel forum that used to be active on AOL that predated this one, I believe. I have attended the St. Louis convention 3 times, the Dallas convention once, and I a member of the Southwest Steel Guitar Association and the Pedal Steel Guitar Association. Also, I once contributed an article and tab to Scotty's old newsletter.

I have seen numerous questions and comments in the threads concerning the Steel-King. I would like to make a few comments in response now with more to follow later. I look forward to continuing these discussions.

One question that has been raised is the retail price. It is $999.99. You, obviously, will pay less if your dealer will discount. The first production run is complete, so if we are not shipping amps at this very moment, we will very soon. I have personally inspected and tested samples of the Steel-King from the first production run to ensure that they are built the way I want them to be built. I know that steel players are a hard crowd to please!

Another area I have noted Forumite concern is with reliablilty and service. This amplifier comes with a 5 year warranty. If you need help, please get the amp into a service center ASAP so we can help you. Fender Musical Instruments Corporation sincerely wants you to be happy with the Steel-King or any other Fender product you purchase.

I've had to take my Peavey equipment (including a NV400) into a service center that also works on Fenders, Crates, Kurzwiels, and Korgs. The use of service centers for repair is the nature of our business. Fender prides itself on the fact that many service centers have responded that we are the easiest and most helpful company to work with in the musical instrument industry. We also pride ourselves on an extremely low failure rate. Of course there are isolated cases of problems, but these are not the norm for Fender products. We enjoy lots of repeat business and our company's sales continue to grow thanks to a diverse product line with a good reputation for tone, value, reliability, and quality.

I have seen that our European forumites have noticed that we are selling export models. It is standard Fender policy that we sell our products throughout the world. Our export products are tested and approved to IEC standards for safety and reliability by NEMKO (for US products, they are tested by CSA).

Our products must pass rigourous electromagnetic compatability testing as required for FCC and European (CE) compliance. This is something older technologies pass far more easily than so-called "digital" power amps (I prefer to think of them as switch mode or class-D power amps) and switching power supplies. Also, the classic Class AB power amp and linear power supply, which are used on the Steel-King are much easier to understand, troubleshoot, and service should a problem arise.

I look forward to continuing this dialog in hopes that it will help Fender better understand the steel guitar customer.

Best Regards,
Sam Marshall
Principal Engineer
Fender Musical Instruments Corp.

Wow, that sounds good. Fender has his own Mike Brown
I think the steel community can be happy with this.

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Steelin' Greetings
Marco Schouten
Sho-Bud LLG; Guyatone 6 string lap steel; John Pearse bar; Emmons bar; Evans SE200 amp