Little Walter amp

Larry Behm · Post by **Larry Behm** » 10 Dec 2012 8:34 am

Dan T had one at the Portland steel jam, it was a bulldozer, talk about big and round!!!. I did not get a chance to play it, maybe next time. Other thoughts.

Larry Behm

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 11 Dec 2012 6:12 am

Larry Behm wrote:...it was a bulldozer, talk about big and round!!!.

You talking physically or tone wise?

Larry Behm · Post by **Larry Behm** » 11 Dec 2012 12:05 pm

But tone of course.

Larry

Michael Hummel · Post by **Michael Hummel** » 11 Dec 2012 12:14 pm

Fondly reminds me of a cartoon in a wine magazine -- two gentlemen are tasting a wine. One happens to catch a lovely lady out of the corner of his eye, and says, "Delightfully full and round!" while the second has just taken a mouthful of the wine and is making a sour face and looking at the first guy in disbelief!

My favourite steel guitar shop stocks Little Walters but I've not yet been able to try one. I'm afraid I'll really want one.

Cheers,
Mike

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 11 Dec 2012 12:30 pm

I even hear Santa's been loading up on them.
Maybe a few of us will find one under the tree
in a couple weeks.

Tim Marcus · Post by **Tim Marcus** » 11 Dec 2012 2:02 pm

For those really good boys who can wait until January - the Milkman has a new bottle to leave outside your door...

If you dream of a cathode biased amp with 6550's - but also desire on board reverb and internal 15" speaker with 2 channels (one voiced for guitar another for steel) and saved up $2500 you might tell Santa to chill out for a few weeks

(sorry to sandbag this post - let me know if that was not appropriate)

Paul Brainard · Post by **Paul Brainard** » 11 Dec 2012 6:04 pm

Hey Larry, great playing at the Jam this weekend! I just picked up one of the Fender FRV-1 pedals to try out. I have a re-issue Fender tube unit which I like pretty well, had it redone all point-to-point a while back and it sounds great. But most of the time I don't like to haul it around so I've been using a Holy Grail which I never really liked that much (although the "Flurb" setting is interestng sometimes.) This Fender pedal sounds a little better to my ear - though probably not quite totally equal to the real thing. But I was torn between that and the Boss RV-5, which actually sounded very similar.

I'm wondering, as a stereo pedal, can I use the RV-5 with two separate instruments, going to two separate channels on my amp, without mixing the signals? Basically get two single-channel reverb pedals in one. . . this would be going into my early-60's Fender Pro which I love but of course it doesn't have verb - would be handy to have it on both sides for guitar & steel!

Gary Skelton · Post by **Gary Skelton** » 12 Dec 2012 6:33 am

Hey Larry, I just want to let people know that a Little Walter amp is a lot more affordable than most people think, if you if you are listening to the chatter on this forum. A 50 head and 15" bw speaker cabinet will be priced very close to any other boutique amp that is used for steel today. And with a 15% christmas discount it will most likely be less. So if you want the tone, the top steel and guitar players are playing give me a call 423-914-2436 or contact Little Walter direct.

ps- There will be a RUSSLER STEEL guitar in the Little Walter room for people to play at the Dallas show.

Gary

Gary Skelton · Post by **Gary Skelton** » 12 Dec 2012 7:01 am

Another thing I forgot (happens a lot lately) the really high prices you see thrown around for the Little Walters, are for twin heads and multiple speaker cabinets. PLayers like Paul Franklin and Tommy White need the extra power for the venues they play. I am sure Paul has one of the first 50 watt heads that was made. The average steel player will be very happy with a 50 or VG50. And if you are just looking for a fender sound I have a 1969 twin in pristine condition with original cover and a foot switch for $1000.00

Gary

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 12 Dec 2012 7:38 am

Gary Skelton wrote: A 50 head and 15" bw speaker cabinet will be priced very close to any other boutique amp that is used for steel today.
Gary

So, are most guys going with BW speakers on these? Do their Neo's sound the same?

Gary Skelton · Post by **Gary Skelton** » 12 Dec 2012 8:12 am

I have a 15" cabinet with a BW, it's not very heavy, so I have not tried anything else. To my ear the 15" gives a little more traditional sound. But I like 2-1/12 BW cabinets. The 15" sounds good and is something a lot of players are used to and helps keep the cost down. The beauty of the LW is that it from the lowest note on C6 to highest note on E9 there is no tone loss or muddiness. So if you want to play in Hughey land or compete with the bass player you can do it clean.

Gary

Steve Lipsey · Post by **Steve Lipsey** » 12 Dec 2012 8:38 am

To you guys who are discovering boutique amps....I've played them for decades, and know that there are many out there, each with a signature tone......and ANY of them will kill a stock tube or solid state amp for tone and tactile feel....

You owe it to yourself to try a few, and then you will immediately know which one you "bond" with for life....

I have a Milkman Pedal Steel amp here in Portland (80w, 15" spkr, tube reverb, 55lbs), and anybody in the area is welcome to take it for a spin, just PM me and we can hook up....I chose it because it is specifically designed for pedal steel...the EQ is different than guitar amp EQ....and the 3-knob reverb is sweet....etc. But mainly, once I played it, I knew which amp was MINE!.

Kyle Everson · Post by **Kyle Everson** » 13 Dec 2012 2:43 am

My favorite attribute of the LWTA is the bottom end. I have a 1250 (new single-channel 50-watt model with a huge power transformer) and the 2x12 cab. I use Black Widow 1201-8s (with all my steel guitar amps). The lows are thunderous. Phil says that's the best sounding cab, and I agree, having played other configurations. Our FOH engineer also told me the highs were smoother than my previous rig (he used no high-pass filter on me after I switched).

There are other amps that I prefer for some applications, but the LWTA is really fun to play through. I like to bring 2 amps to a session for variety (most guitar players bring 4-5!).

The most interesting thing I noticed when I got my amp was how sensitive it was to my right hand technique. I really had to back off on my attack for a smooth sound, but if I wanted something really agressive, digging in did the trick. The amp has 5 tubes and two controls, so there is very little to mask what you're putting into it. Really fun amps.

Rick Johnson · Post by **Rick Johnson** » 13 Dec 2012 8:01 am

Kyle
Phil does have a great product. Its just
a matter of time and every working steel player
will own one of his amps.

Rick

www.rickjohnsoncabinets.com

Jamie Lennon · Post by **Jamie Lennon** » 13 Dec 2012 10:42 am

Getting mine in January !!!

Gary Skelton · Post by **Gary Skelton** » 29 Dec 2012 7:09 am

Len Amaral · Post by **Len Amaral** » 29 Dec 2012 9:15 am

Got mine this week but have to recoup a bit from some medical stuff. Plan on using it with a single 1203-4 Peavey speaker in a mesa Boogie cab.

Phil is a great guy to deal with and he requests you give the amp a name and labels it. I named the amp after my mom "The Eunice" How cool is that?

Lenny

Len Amaral · Post by **Len Amaral** » 29 Dec 2012 9:16 am

double post

Charlie Powell · Post by **Charlie Powell** » 29 Dec 2012 9:39 am

I am still loving mine. I try to listen to it a little every day. I've not tried the particular speaker you mention but I bet it sounds great. Seems the majority prefer a pair of BW 1201-8.

Hope you feel well soon. Have a blast with that new Little Walter, "the Eunice"!

Matthew Dawson · Post by **Matthew Dawson** » 30 Dec 2012 9:13 am

For the DIY minded among us, it looks like the Fender 5b6 Bassman is a good starting point for building a Little Walter-esque amp.

http://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... sc&start=0

Tim Marcus · Post by **Tim Marcus** » 30 Dec 2012 10:16 am

you'll see me posting in that topic too - the shots of the internals of his amplifiers raised a lot of questions from the veteran amp builders that frequent the forum.

It seems that his curcuit/layout is taken from the 5b6 plan in Tino Zottola's "Building Tube Guitar and Bass Amplifiers volume 1" so yeah, very easy to DIY. I might build myself one because the 5B6 is supposed to be one of the best amps Fender ever made.

For those who want the exact same amp, but don't want to pay extra for the cabinet work I suggest the Fowler cage amp - its the same exact amp and Mark Fowler is a very talented builder. Bet it would sound great for steel as well

http://tonesyndicate.com/cage/

rodger_mcbride · Post by **rodger_mcbride** » 9 Jan 2013 6:44 am

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Mark Fowler (fowleramps@yahoo.com) at his workshop in Moorhead, MN and take a look at the 5b6 cage amp pictured in the link in Tim's post above. I've followed the enthusiastic response to the "Little Walter" but hadn't heard one. Mark has been building amps mostly for guitarists in the Trainwreck, Dumble and classic Marshall, Vox and Fender styles and had a roomful when I arrived. He built the 5b6 as a lark a few years ago and was surprised to hear in the last few weeks that pedal steel players might like it.

I brought along a Clinesmith and a Cater U12 with an Alumatone along with a 15" Black Widow Neo to test with the amp. I have to say that to my ears, the enthusiasm for this circuit is deserved. The tone is round and musical, with articulate highs and lows, with no dropouts in between. There is this sort of 3d effect from the octal tubes; a gentile natural reverb and single notes blossom with an almost symphonic full spectrum ambience. The Don Helms high 6th chords nailed the original sound and Hughey-land was the best I've heard from my guitars. The low B6 chord combinations were detailed, not veiled and single note and chordal runs onto the higher strings and registers maintained a tonal quality and evenness that surprised me.

Of course with a roomful of Dumble, Vox, Marshall and Trainwreck clones, I couldn't resist trying them all, wearing out my ears in the process, but I have to admit none of them sounded as good to me as the 5b6. Overdriven, the distortion was creamy and musical.

Mark is adding an effects loop and a line level, post power stage output to the build to increase the versatility of the amp. Mark is easy to work with and happily tweaks his builds to suit the preferences and needs of his customers.

rodger

Matthew Dawson · Post by **Matthew Dawson** » 9 Jan 2013 9:26 am

Nice. The builds Mark posts on Amp Garage make me envious! Great builder and he has always been very patient and helpful in answering my sometimes-naive questions over on that forum. My power and output transformers for the 5b6 showed up a couple of days ago. I'll start a new thread when I get my build started.

Tim Marcus · Post by **Tim Marcus** » 9 Jan 2013 6:39 pm

Matthew Dawson wrote:Nice. The builds Mark posts on Amp Garage make me envious! Great builder and he has always been very patient and helpful in answering my sometimes-naive questions over on that forum. My power and output transformers for the 5b6 showed up a couple of days ago. I'll start a new thread when I get my build started.

awesome! I can't wait to see what you come up with - are you following the Fender layout or the Tino Zotolla layout?

Rodger - do you know if Mark ended up changing out the grid resistor on the input to 10M? He mentioned doing that before you came over.

Kyle Everson · Post by **Kyle Everson** » 9 Jan 2013 6:45 pm

Getting back to the original topic, I used my Little Walter on a session tonight and it killed. Cuts like a knife in a cluttered mix. Great response from everyone that's heard it. If you're in middle Tennessee this weekend, come check these amps out at Bobbe's.

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