Stage set ups

[STEDDIE EDDIE]

Just out of interest, would love to hear of other steelies preffered stage set ups, particulary if you double on lead guitar, cos it really does complicate things, but seems its the only way to get gigs, i have tried several different amps over the years, but keep returning to my trusty peavey nashville 112, although i know its not everyones cup of tea, it is in my opinion, the best E Q'd amp peavey have ever produced, although power wise, its a bit wimpy, but it pre amps so well, you really do need to add a pre amp to these for stage use, i am using steel and guitar coming from the one amp, which makes both inputs low gain, my guitar goes into a boss gt10 processor, and covers all my guitar needs, with its fx and built in COSM pre amps, a truly awesome bit of kit, whereas on steel, my needs are simpler, amp into Electro Harmonix Holy Grail nano reverb pedal, then into an old American DOD Graphic EQ Pedal, which pre amps the signal by up to a massive 18 db, whilst beefing up lows, mids and highs, and with its own level boost/cut control, so after i have set my amp to a desired tone for both instruments, i have total independance in tone and volume for each instrument, i have massive clean headroom for my steel, and love the tone i can achieve, and it is a relatively easy set up,

SO WHATS YOUR SET UP?

[Donny Johnston]

My stage set up is a bit like me, very simple, from the steel, into volume pedal, out of volume pedal, into Steel King, add a bit of reverb. I don,t think steel guitar needs anything else.

[STEDDIE EDDIE]

AH but Donny, thats only steel, if you were doubling up, its a totally different ball game, you really do have to have seperate eq's and levels if your coming from the one amp, the Fender twin and Peavey Vegas never worked for me, i do agree tho' that Steel only needs reverb, but i like delays, overdrives, etc from my lead guitar, the Steel King has plenty of power without needing to pre amp, but i think has only one input? and i hate my lead guitar going thro a 15" speaker, it wouldnt work for me

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Eddie, you say the Fender twin never worked for you?? Which one were you useing? and what speakers?? If you get one of the old ones and put a couple of JBL E120`s in it .....I reckon both would sound great (if you are up to lifting it outta the car)
The standard orange JBL speakers IMHO are crap for steel but work reasonable for guitar but the E120`s priceless! I love`em

[Zumbilly(Murdoch)]

Good post Eddie.
When I play steel only(with the five piece band) I have lately been using Steel to Telonics vol pedal to a rack which has a Telonics mark I preamp and a Lexicon mx 200 for reverb and delay,I then go to the T.C. Furlong S.P.L.I.T.12 cabinet.Easy to set up.
When I play the pub gig I go Steel to Vol ped to Sarno "Tonic" preamp to Nova delay then "Wet" reverb and to the Furlong cab.I have a strat which I connect to a "tech 21 Blond " pedal, I use the same input to the "tonic" as for the steel so I have only one connection to make,I could probably use an a/b box.
The "Blond" pedal gives Me enough drive if needed and also has tone controls,I do have to lower the bass setting on the "Tonic" though.
The good thing about the "Blond pedal is that it is also a preamp and if anything goes faulty with the other gear I can always go from Steel or guitar straight to the Blond then to an amp or to the desk.I have not yet tried the Steel with the "Blond" at a gig but at home it sounds ok.
I wear several shirts but the black one definately has the best sound.
Billy

[Ken Byng]

I have a couple of set ups that I use for gigs. I have a 3U rack which houses a DBX compressor, a Lexicon MPX-1 multi effects, and a Korg tuner. My guitar and steel plug straight into the rack - out into the Hilton volume pedal and out into my Webb. I only use the compressor for whatever guitar I choose to play.

My second rig is instruments into a Boss compressor pedal, into a Digitec reverb pedal, into a Boss Space Echo, into volume pedal then out into amp. For this rig I also use a Peterson Stroboflip from the 2nd output of my volume pedal.

It is always a compromise when you play lead and steel. I always favour the set up to get the best tone from the steel, but I get a few compliments about the tone of my guitars too so it must be down to the Webb I guess. I don't mind the sound of a 15" speaker for lead guitar, but the best tone I have ever had without doubt is a Tele through a Fender Twin with the original grey magnet covered JBL's. However, that amp is hernia time, and these days I try to cut the weight down not the other way.

[Zebedee]

It's the good old Peavey Vegas for me.
My setup (once in a blue moon when I get a gig) has hardly changed since I got the amp in 1987, my pedal steel goes straight into the amp, and the volume pedal and delay unit are in the effects loop, and my Strat goes into the other channel via an old Boss BE5 multi-effects pedal

[STEDDIE EDDIE]

John, i bought a 65' blackface reissue, probably about 12 years ago, it had 2 x 12 jensens in, which sounded good for guitar, not for steel, but i had a pair of JBL's [orange ones] d or f 120 with fender logo, so i put them in it, pure backbreaker, and our lead singer told me it sounded very toppy, and no real weight in it, and i had to agree with him, i was using an LDG and a fender strat at the time, and i love my guitars to have power and punch in the lower end, maybe it was the speakers, i dunno, but i do like the 'openness' a good valve delivers, and i have heard steelies getting great sounds from a twin, but it just didnt work for me, the same as a vibrosonic with a 15" orange jbl in it, maybe its just me???? bought a peavey L.A. 400, 210 watts with a 12" black widow, awesome power, great low end, and top, but i just couldnt dial out that nasally mid honk, which i also experienced that 'honk' in the Nashville 400, again i didnt i particulary like the guitar going through the 15" BW, also, I have found in my experience, that the solid state amps i have used dont get flabby like a lot of tube amps, when im punching out them lows, Ken, i never got to try a Webb, but have only heard good things about them, hard to get hold of them, maybe my ideal set up might be a WEBB for steel, with a Mesa Boogie 1 x 12 for guitar, in my dreams, Billy, yes a pre amp will get you through a gig, by going into the desk, if your amp ever does go down on you, happened to me a few months ago, put the Boss gt 10 straight into the PA, was pretty good, Richard, the Boss BE5 was the first multi fx i ever owned, and that was a long time ago, mid 80s i think, basically four pedals in a single unit, as i recall, overdrive, compressor, chorus and delay? must be nearly a collectors item

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Eddie, if you thought the Orange speakers were heavy.... you can nearly double it for the E120`s ! they are rated at 300 watts each and your twin will feel like its made of concrete but, IMHO worth the double hernia..... no compromise no surrender!! and anything with re-issue on it is nothing like the original in my experience you need a hot wired twin keep away from anything with a pcb in it ...... And the heartbreaking thing is that once you have tracked all these componants down and put it all together you can have two amps the same ,side by side, and one of them will be "head and shoulders" better than the other! (just my humble opinion!)
I was extremly lucky to find a twin that someone who thought he was a "Wireman"had put together from a kit to the old circuit and he had made a real pig`s ear of the job, fortunatly I have a guy here in St.Neots that is really good with electronics and rebuilt it for me so I have the circuit I love with all nearly new componants......this works for me far better than any of my other amps......

[Paul Brennan]

Steel setup: steel > volume pedal > Boss DD6 > Peavy Reno.
Guitar setup: guitar > Keeley compressor > OCD overdrive > Boss DD6 > Fender T/R 65-Reissue.

Unfortunately this means dragging two amps to gigs but I refuse to compromise! I used to play my steel through the second channel of a 70's silver face Twin Reverb and the sound was ok. That amp is now no longer with us and after a lot of trial and even more error I finally settled on the 65-Reissue. The steel sounds dreadful through this amp. However, the post above about using JBL E 120's in the Twin has got me thinking. There is a company in Europe that makes very good copies of classic speakers. My brother got one recently and he was very impressed. I can't think of the name of that company right now.