What amp are you using right now?

[Ken Byng]

Having heard Ken's Show-Pro through his Telonics, I can truly say it sounds tremendous. Full, even and clear in all frequencies..............

Thanks Danny - the cheque's in the post as they say. I do have favourite rigs out of my instruments and amps, and indeed the Show Pro and Telonics combination is one of them. My MSA Legend Signature that I obtained from Ivor Greenwood seems to like being married to my Peavey Valve King, and my Emmons push pull sounds really great through my Webb. Just sonic differences I guess. Willie's love for his NV400 is well founded. It is a very well designed amp, and extremely reliable. I remember one weekend at the Dallas steel show, the best tone that I heard over the whole weekend was Mike Johnson courtesy of his Show Pro through his NV400. Mind you, Mike would sound great through a transistor radio!

When I was using my Fender Twin back in the 1970's, my valve of choice was the RCA for both power and pre-amp sections. However they became more and more scarce and with scarcity comes higher prices. It may have been psychological but I just felt that the Twin sung best with RCA valves sitting in it. With the problem of the valve availability and the fragile JBL speakers in my amp, I didn't need much encouragement to go solid state with the NV400 coupled with a Black Widow 15", which I used for the next 30 odd years.

[Danny Mitchell]

Hi Danny,
I used My 300 watt powered speaker when with the regular band,We do not use monitors.
The better set up would be to use My powered speaker as My personal monitor and run a
line from the
Kemper to the F.O.H and then to stage monitors.
Our vocalist/bandleader is quite firm about not going to the desk although He occasionally puts a mic in front of the bass drum???

Thanks Billy,
I'd imagined the personal monitor/FOH setup would be ideal. And, the mic on the bass drum made me chuckle.

I use a Peavey Nashville 400, which I bought in 1986. It has served me well in all those years. I think I get an acceptable tone from it, who can say.
I dread the day when it finally gives up the ghost, yes it is a little on the heavy side, but that's what barrows were invented for
One piece of advice I would give to anyone is this, you only have to carry it for five minutes, but you have to listen to it all night.
Asleep at the steel

Yes Willie,
I can attest your tone is acceptable, in the extreme. And, fellow forumites, I can also attest that Brother Willie subscribes to the 'treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen' school of thought, as I've witnessed him belt said amp with a hammer when it was acting up , hard but firm, and you know what? It worked!

Having heard Ken's Show-Pro through his Telonics, I can truly say it sounds tremendous. Full, even and clear in all frequencies..............

Thanks Danny - the cheque's in the post as they say.

The pleasure was all mine Ken.

[Ken Byng]

......... I can also attest that Brother Willie subscribes to the 'treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen' school of thought, as I've witnessed him belt said amp with a hammer when it was acting up , hard but firm, and you know what? It worked! ............

Danny
When you see Willie next, can you ask him if he does TV repairs? One of mine is playing up.

[Zebedee]

As I don't gig anymore, I don't need any serious wattage, so a computer, some small speakers, and a Focusrite audio interface is all I need.

I have made the fortuitous discovery that there is a short latency delay between the speakers that are plugged into the Focusrite, and the two speakers that are connected to the computer, so, by balancing the volumes of the respective speakers, I can achieve a very pleasing sound (to my ears) at a very low volume

[hickenjr]

haha, you guys are a crazy bunch

Mr. Mitchell, check and raise to red wine and paella (we'll have to wait until this darned covid thing is over, in the proper places you eat directly from the dish they use to cook it! no plates, just a fork!). Must admit it sure is hard to beat haggis neaps and tatties tho! Sounds awesome, haggis I've tried over there a couple of times (reminds me of a kind of blood sausage we do over here). Neaps and tatties I had to look up what it meant, haha

Seems like Roland Cube 80 is what most of you guys use (I understand it's the latest reissue?). I'd love to try out a Telonics!! Or a Steel King for that matter.

Totally agree with Mr. Byng on everything + NOS tubes are getting SO FRIGGIN EXPENSIVE. The new ones don't last as long but worst of all... definitely don't sound so good (not even close). I've fried a couple dozens of JJs already.

Here's a pic of my office (there's a tiny spot on the other side where I have my desk, hehe), I have a soft spot for old Fenders, especially the blackface era

And here's me feeling guilty about wanting to buy a second steel and a second amp

I use a Fender Twin Reissue.
My Show Pro loves it...but my Show Pro also loves the older Peaveys too.

I'm going try and buy a Session 400 (maybe Limited) in the near future and get someone to split the weight over a cab and speaker. My dad has a Session 400 Limited. It's currently broke down but should be an easy fix with our amp tech. I love that amp even though half of the steel world hates it for being the ugly child of the vintage Peaveys. ( kind of like me really).

I personally prefer the 90s style steel sound when I'm behind the wheel. I love listening to the Greens, Brumleys and etc through Fenders but when I listen back to my gigs...I myself have always sounded best through the big fat sounding Peavey rather than the Fenders the older generation used. They can get a little shrill at times compared to the warmth of Fender highs but the boom makes up for it.

As Ken says, good tubes are running out and solid state is near maintenance free regardless of people's opinions on tone. That Peavey went everywhere with my dad and has had repairs probably 2 times in 30 years, and the last one wasn't even really a repair. It's just started making firework sounds at full power and wouldn't stop...a quick clean from the tech solved it. Unfortunately 2 years on though, I played through it the other week after it being in storage from moving house, sounded lovely but then the next day the tone was totally distorted and quiet. (Yes, we checked cables, reverb and etc). Another trip to the tech should do it but If I'm gigging...I want my own so I can split the weight without butchering my dad's.

[simon_f3]

Has anyone had a go with the Fender 'Tone Master' amps? They do a Twin Reverb and a Deluxe Reverb, it would seem, and the reviews are pretty good. Still not sure I'd be willing to go for one but would be interesting to get any feedback if anyone has tried them. A very interesting concept, a digital amp model of just one map, with the same controls as the original and no extra effects - plus they look the same and weight a lot less...!

@Steven Hicken Jr, maybe the Tone Master Twin is the way forward?

Edit - url added for the review: https://guitar.com/review/amplifier/fender-tone-master-deluxe-reverb-and-twin-reverb/

[hickenjr]

Hi mate,

I've heard good reviews on the Tone Masters. Apparently they get really close to the original and some have said they are a better Fender Twin than my modern valve reissue.
That being said they still come with non steel friendly speakers (in my opinion), and they are pretty damn expensive. If I was buying another amp I'd either buy a Quilter TT12 Combo which weighs literally nothing and has a dedicated pedal steel speaker and a faux Fender "Vintage" channel, or grab a used bargain such as an old Peavey and get someone to split the weight. I was thinking about a Little Walter but the shipping and tax basically prices me out. If I was in the States I'd grab one though. My Fender Twin has treat me well but I had a bad experience using back line ones at C2C last year. They sounded okay, not terrible but not as good as mine, and the reverb was ultra sensitive which basically meant I either had too much reverb or no reverb at all. In the sound check a couple of the band's family members complained I was absolutely flying on reverb and I made the mistake of not packing my own board to save space, which was set perfectly for any amp. So I basically had to play the set bone dry. Fortunately for me on the 1st day we were playing in the entrance which is quite spacey and produced a natural reverb. The second day I sounded . We was in the shopping center bit and any form of ambiance was killed.

I really regret not buying the Peavey Vegas Split that was for sale here not long ago. For 200 and odd quid for the head and cab that really was a bargain.

[Charlie Brown]

And here's me feeling guilty about wanting to buy a second steel and a second amp

haha, just go for it!!

I absolutely love the sound of old tube amps but even on the low-quality/shite/compressed youtube vids of the steel guitar conventions in the 80s/90s.... listen to guys like zane king, lloyd green or plenty of others on the solid state peaveys and my goodness, WHAT A SOUND!!!

damn you, now I want a session 400.

[Charlie Brown]

Has anyone had a go with the Fender 'Tone Master' amps? They do a Twin Reverb and a Deluxe Reverb, it would seem, and the reviews are pretty good. Still not sure I'd be willing to go for one but would be interesting to get any feedback if anyone has tried them. A very interesting concept, a digital amp model of just one map, with the same controls as the original and no extra effects - plus they look the same and weight a lot less...!

@Steven Hicken Jr, maybe the Tone Master Twin is the way forward?

Edit - url added for the review: https://guitar.com/review/amplifier/fender-tone-master-deluxe-reverb-and-twin-reverb/

hey Simon, yup, these are tempting but they have to sound friggin' amazing.... they're pricey!! totally agree, very interesting concept, if they've done it right they're worth a try.

every once in a while Fender comes up with stuff that has nothing to do with their current line/range (twin cyber, princeton recording, the etc) and they're usually discontinued that same year or year + half = not bad amps, but not good either. these cost like a tube amp of their vintage reissue range... and boss is doing amazing with their katanas for a third of the price, they better sound good!!!

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

We have been up and down this road a time or two, for years I played through a 66 Fender twin on top of a Roland Jazz Chorus 120 could dial in an acceptable sound for any situation and nobody blew me away, though some tried, a band called Pinkertons colors comes to mind, that lead player had a Marshall stack
But the I got introduced to the Roland 80X and the XL , I still use a standard one for playing at home but no good in a loud band situation until, you rebuild the cabinet 60mm taller and fit a JBL E120 this turns your cube into a sweet little monster Do this job twice and you can carry one in each hand ....if one fails (but they never do) you still have an amp that will do the job an yes I have been in a situation where the lead players amp has failed and we used a cube each no problem, the difference in the cube after this simple modification is absolutely awesome and there are photo's on here somewhere showing how simple it is to do, I know the Telonics stuff is great and I will never need another volume pedal but IMHO the price tag is out of line with the cube modified comparison where the amps are concerned.