The Steel Guitar Forum

Im in a band where I play half of the tunes on guitar and half on pedal steel. Im running through the same amp and just letting off the volume and pulling the chord out to make the switch. This gets annoying, along with the fact that ive got to adjust the volume every time. Is there a solution to this problem other than to quit being lazy a lug two amps to the gig?

An A/B switch and a POD XT would solve your problem.

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Bob Grado, Williams D10 (lefty), Peavey 1000,
Profex ll.


<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by BobG on 13 October 2005 at 05:53 AM.]</p></FONT>

An A/B switch going to your volume pedal.

Or perhaps a 2 channel amp.

If you're willing to go a little over the $35 an A/B switch will cost, you can get a little 4, 6 or 8 channel mixer from Samson, Rolls, Behringer, Peavey and probably others. You will end up finding a huge number of other ways to use it in practicing, recording, stereo-izing your signal etc.

I made my own A/B box that also switchs between amp and tuner. I've never had anyone tell me that it made a differance in tone. No batteries, just wire to jak/switchs. It cost me about $10.00 to make it. Clips to the leg of my steel so at the flip of a switch I can go between amp and tuner or for switching from steel to six string.

Geo

For a lot of gigs, my signal path is guitar + steel into A/B switch, into volume pedal, into Pod, and finally into a very clean bass amp with a flat EQ setting. For me, the Pod is important, because my steel tone and guitar tone are often very different.

Although a Pod footswitch is available, I just put the Pod close to me and reach over to change the setting. I often switch in the middle of a song - for example to take a guitar solo break while padding on steel during the vocals. One just needs to program the needed settings and place them next to each other in the Pod banks.

Probably lugging 2 amps is the way to go. Is it worth it? Probably not. Bob

Dave,

Does the pod allow you to change the volume of the amp? I usually dont mess with changing the tone of the amp on the switch, I just have to turn the volume way down on the amp when changing to pedal steel.

An A/B box with individual gain on each channel works great(check out the Boss line selector...It is almost like having a buffer pre-amp too)...then run through A POD xt or Profex with steel patches and guitar patches conveniently mapped out close together.(I also use a midi program changer to quickly change patches)

Works great for live playing, and makes you an asset to your band!

Now you just have to sort out the flatpick/finger picks issue

<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Rick Schmidt on 13 October 2005 at 10:19 AM.]</p></FONT>

Alex, the POD has a channel volume that can be set different for each preset channel. Also, the tone knobs can be set different, as well as reverb and other effects. If the preset volume is not just right, you can twist the channel volume knob to where you like it. If you hit the save button twice, that becomes the new volume setting for that channel. Otherwise, it returns to the previously preset volume the next time you switch to that channel.

By far the simplest solution is to get one of the classic Fender silver-face master-volume amps, such as a Twin Reverb, that has two channels. There is a seperate volume control for each channel, and separate tone controls. You can keep both instruments plugged in at all times, and don't need an AB box.

I currently do it just like David described; I run the guitar with a POD (usually set to "Tweed Blues" so it´s still a classic Fender sound) through channel 1 of my Fender Vibrosonic and use channel 2 (the one with reverb) "as it is" for steel. You will just have to experiment a little to get the volume levels right.

Regards, JH

As David D. and Joe H. say, you can adjust the all aspects of each Pod patch independently, including level. With a little fiddling around, one can set things up so a simple flick of the Pod switch or a click of the Pod footpedal just switches everything, no messing around onstage. The key is that you should run the Pod into an amp that does not further color the tone. That is my experience, at least.

Nothing whatever wrong with running directly into the two channels of a BF/SF Fender, I've done it plenty. A couple of things. First, those channels are out of phase, so be sure you only use one channel at a time. In addition, this does not have remotely the tonal flexibility of a Pod. But it is a very good tone for both steel and, let's say, a fairly clean guitar sound. IMO.

Peavey Vegas 400 is a great alternative, it has a seperate plug in, eq section and volume control for guitar and one for steel. Works for me.