A Change of Setup

[Davie Holland]

So....

After years of playing through combos, I`m gonna try a more modular approach.
My current setup is :

Steel - Hilton - Telonics Pre 1000 - Power amp in on Nash 1000 (110v with torroidal transformer for UK voltage) Now this is kinda heavy! Black Widow speaker has been swapped for a Telonics Neo 15-4 to make it lighter.

New setup I`m going to try is...

Steel - Hilton - Telonics - IMG Stageline Class D STA-500D - Passive Cab with Telonics 15 -4.

Now I have a dilemma, because most amp manufacturers say tou need a more powerful amp than the speaker is rated,,,but by how much?

My TS-Neo is rated at 300W and my new amp gives out 250w per side...so under rated maybe? but if I bridge the amp to 500W might blow the speaker...or I get another Cab and run 2 x 250w but adds another piece of kit.....brain hurts already lol

[Basil Henriques]

Put the two 15" speakers in a single cab, they're light enough. Maybe make it a V front like the old Watkins Dominator..

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Davie, Amp makers can say what they like but I have JBL E120's rated at 300watt powered by 80 watt Roland cubes X 2 these little amps turn into monsters with these speakers I will never change and nobody blows me away..........

[Danny Mitchell]

Hi Davie,
If you bridge your amp it will change from 4 to 8ohms.

[Davie Holland]

OK so not gonna bridge the amp unless I get a 8 ohm speaker..or connect two 4 ohm speakers in series.

[Billy White]

Hi Dave

The ratio of rms to peak is not fixed, it depends on the shape of the waveform. For sine wave it is 1.414. As we play clean on the pedal steel this figure would be about correct. So your 500W would exceed this. However if you are getting enough volume driving the 300W speaker with the 250W amplifier - whats the problem.

[Davie Holland]

Sorry for the confusion. Just putting it out there to see what came back...At the moment I`ve only tried putting the 250W amp in to a 8 ohm monitor speaker to try it out, which cuts the power from 250w to 150w. I have treated myself to a very nice tweed cab with a 4 ohm telonics 15" bought from Alan Cannell so will wait to hear what it sounds like once I get it. First outing will be Glasgows Grand Ole Opry on Feb 8th

[Basil Henriques]

The Telonics preamp is stereo, the FX inputs are stereo the built-in reverb is stereo, WHY have a unit capable of all that and then go mono ?

[Davie Holland]

The steel is mono Baz.

[Basil Henriques]

And all recordings of steel guitar are in stereo. The FX send and return system in studios is basically the same as the Telonics uses and all the delays and reverbs and time modulation FX are in Stereo specifically to broaden and deepen the sound perspective. Personally I've used stereo on my guitars and PA systems since 1963. Stereo sound systems have existed since the early 1930's. EMI even broadcast in stereo on some of the early TV test in the late thirties.
Just think about this, the vocal on a record is mixed to be in the centre BUT the reverb and delay is chosen to put the vocal in certain perspective in relation to the rest of the mix, not only it's centre position but its perceived depth back from the centre image, and if the steel guitar is taking the place of a vocalist in an instrumental why should you treat it with lesser attention to its listenability ?