The Steel Guitar Forum

Does anyone use a battery powered amp with a lap steel?
www.steadybrooksaddlery.ca

The Peavy solo is a great little battery powered amp, pretty loud and clean sounding. I hook mine to a deep cycle battery that fits into a small Inglo ice chest. I've checked out other battery powered amps, but the peavy is the cleanest sounding IMHO. The deep cycle battery lasts for a very long time.

In the past I used a Fender Amp Can which I was very happy with until I replaced it with the Crate Limo. The Fender has a nice tone but no reverb, which I tend to use a lot. I had to carry an extra pedal with me and replacement batteries, a hassle. The Crate has two types of reverb (nowhere near a Fender spring reverb in sound, but does the job just fine), delay and chorus.

The Fender has a 6" speaker, the Crate a 10" and a tweeter. The Fender costs about $175 the Crate $350-$375. Both amps have built in rechargeable batteries. A charge lasts around 6-8 hours with the volume set at around 2-4. Higher volumes, less battery life.

The Crate has a nice full tone but tends to sound a bit "hissy" in quiet performing venues (living room etc.). In jam sessions the hissing is barely noticable. The hissing is noticeable if you mic the amp through a PA system.

The older Crate Limos had a plywood frame. The current models have a fiberglass body which cuts the weight down to about 12 lbs.

For impromptu jam sessions at music festivals, in hotels, in the woods etc. a battery powered amp can't be beat. No need to look for an outlet, you can set up anywhere.

Don't waste your money on a Pignose product. Both the Crate and the Fender beat Pignose by a mile.

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'

Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 13 June 2003 at 08:25 AM.]</p></FONT>

Thanks for the replies.

James,here's a link from our website.

Mike Brown
Peavey Electronics Corporation

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Brad Bechtel on 15 June 2003 at 05:34 PM.]</p></FONT>

I use an AER Compact 60 which I love for steel and acoustic guitar. It's an amazing amp (*). AER makes a battery powered version called the Compact Mobile.

Compact mobile: http://www.aer-amps.de/Sites_E/index_e.htm

chris

(*) last week our band played 'acoustically' in the middle of a downtown street fair. The Compact 60 has two channels that support a dual-source rig (mic, line). I ran my Stringmaster thru the AER and also a vocal mic. Guitar, uke and bass were acoustic. Sounded great for a 13lb 'P.A'. If we had two of these we would not need a PA for 90% of our gigs - serious.

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Chris Kennison
Ft. Collins, Colorado
"There is no spoon" www.book-em-danno.com


<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by seldomfed on 13 June 2003 at 08:38 AM.]</p></FONT>

The Peavy solo has two channels for guitar and a mic jack like on a P.A. There is also a tape input jack and the amp can hold 8 d size batteries. The amp is rated at 10 watts on batteries or 15 watts with a transformer like you would use on a foot pedal. The best part, I paid only a little over a $100.00 dollars for it. I did see one that came with a mic package for $160.00 in Austin Tx a couple of years ago. I usually don't even turn it up to three to compete with downtown stop and go traffic. I've heard the "Fender amp can" out on the street and it's pretty loud for being so small.

I played my EH-185 through an old portable Maxi Mouse amp- they don't make them anymore-and it sounded fantastic. You might find one on EBay.

TL

I used a little $35 Epiphone amp I got from Elderly Instruments; it also worked well with a dobro (although tone left something to be desired...). It's unbelievable how long the 9 volt battery has lasted in this thing.

The trick with a Pignose is to turn the volume down on your guitar a little. If your volume control is full on, they distort like a buzz-saw (which is what alot of players like about Pignose). Opening the cabinet helps get some air into the sound. If you turn your guitar volume down a little, the tone cleans up alot, though still a little gritty. Adding a delay pedal also helps clean things up. I got my Pignose cheap ($39.00 on sale). They are small, simple and reliable, look fairly cool and you get pretty good life out of 6 AA batteries. I've heard the Crates in action at Venice Beach. They are probably the best battery powered amps out there. The little plastic Honey-Tone by Danelectro is a waste of time.
Haere mai,
Steve H.
S8A6

Info on Crate Limo (Crate Website):
http://www.crateamps.com/products/tx/tx50dbe.htm

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'

Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website


<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 13 June 2003 at 01:39 PM.]</p></FONT>

I was recently given a tiny little battery-powered Samick amp, the model with a belt clip and built-in tuner. My Melobar sounds amazing through it, especially for recording...sweet and hollow and mid-rangey, just a little dirty; like it's coming out of an old radio.
Plus, it's nice to sit out in the backyard and play some steel...

Thanks again.Lots of options to choose from and thanks for the links. www.steadybrooksaddlery.ca

For my money, much better than any battey amp I've ever heard is a converted Magnasynch Moviola URS amplifier. These green metal, lunch-box-sized, industrial-looking amps were originally made in the 50's & 60's as an audio reference speaker for 16mm film editing. Sage Harmos & Rick Aiello gave me the tip about how good they sound for lap steel. There's very little clean headroom but at low volume, they sound full and warm and distort nicely when overdriven.

I got mine on eBay for $50 and put in another $65 to have a 1/4" jack and three-prong plug and long cord installed. Where else can you get a small portable tube amp that sounds really good and has a unique head-turning retro look?<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Andy Volk on 14 June 2003 at 04:33 AM.]</p></FONT>

Andy, you got me droolin, thanx for the tip!

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Andy wrote: "Where else can you get a small portable tube amp that sounds really good and has a unique head-turning retro look?"

How about the Little Lanilei 50watt amp.? Small 10lb. amp - looks like a perfect steel amp to me. But I can't buy everything at once http://www.songworks.com/

I still want to know if anyone's tried one of these?

btw, I have a Moviola and it is a killer little amp. Very cool. (thanks again Sage)

btw again, the "Smokey" amp is a neat little amp (.5watt) that will amaze you if you plug it into a big speaker. Fun to have one of these little guys. http://zinky.com/Smokey.html

Chris



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Chris Kennison
Ft. Collins, Colorado
"There is no spoon"
www.book-em-danno.com

'Always wanted to try the Little Lanilei. If memory serves however, I've heard that the the clean headroom is marginal. I'd like the Smokies better if they came in Curly Maple with aluminum trim - like an old Bigsby. The one's I heard sounded like a tiny Pignose amp.

Andy - so the Songworks web shows a model with 50 watts (Little Lanalei) that they claim has more clean headroom. A little pricey perhaps - BUT a modern alternative to the Magnatone Moviola? or just a nice small amp for small gigs, and then add an extention cab. for larger gigs. I don't know but someday I'll get to hear one.

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Chris Kennison
Ft. Collins, Colorado
"There is no spoon"
www.book-em-danno.com

For my money, I reckon that the Electro Harmonix Freedom amp is unbelievable. It is very clean and serves you well in a small venue when you can play dynamically. Apart from lap steel (I play an Eharp) it also supports the low end of my E13th pedal steel (which goes down to "B" below the low "E" on spanish guitar).

Things like the Fender amp can don't rate against this little beauty.

Graham

I was hoping that someone would mention the Carvin Stagemate.I've never tried one but I think it might make a great portable amp. 100 watts, 4 channels, digital effects.... http://www.carvin.com/cgi-bin/Isearch.exe?CFG=2&P2=S400&P1=SYS1
And with 100 watts, you might even use it with one of those funny guitar contraptions with all the pedals and stuff.

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Cartwright Thompson on 18 June 2003 at 03:51 AM.]</p></FONT>

Well, as a seasoned street artist, I have to admit that when someone wants to know what kind of amp is under the black T-shirt, I always tell a little white lie and say it's a pignose, Why? Because the Peavy Solo amp is the best sounding small 12 volt amp out there and I don't need any competetion. A digital delay is the only effect that is needed, huge difference in tips. The Ibanez tube screamer can give you any slight overdrive you might want to use (I play clean). I have tried the Crate amp and it's a real looker but it's heavy and not as clean plus 3 times the money as Peavy. The small Pignose sounds awful, the next size up is o.k. but not as good as a Peavy, Crate or fender. The Soundworks amps are hybrid tube/transistor amps aren't they, they don't mike that great when it comes to tone? The Peavy Solo has been through all kinds of weather outside and lived in the back of a truck and never had a problem. The screws and washers are all rusted but it still kicks butt. It sounds good for guitar and Lap Steel.

Lots of information here.Thanks again, www.steadybrooksaddlery.ca