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Topic: Amp Pedals for small rigs? |
Joseph Smith
From: United Kingdom
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Posted 9 Jul 2021 8:44 am
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Has anyone gigged or rehearsed their pedal steel/lap steel using any of the new amp pedals available nowadays like the Strymon Iridium, Walrus ACS1, Foxgear amp pedals, etc?
I'm looking to create a super small steel rig for some of the artists I play with in smaller venues or festivals where I don't want to carry a tonne of gear as maybe only playing steel on a few songs. I'm talking about the kind of gig where I ditch the pedal steel and use my lap steel.
I've used the Milkman 'The Amp's DI and thought it sounded pretty darn good! I'm wondering if there are any other options though; maybe something smaller. If not, may just rely on the Milkman 'The Amp'.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Joe |
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Tal Herbsman
From: Wisconsin, USA
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Steve Lipsey
From: Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 9 Jul 2021 2:34 pm
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One big difference is that The Amp preamp is tube-based - that's a big reason for me to use it for everything...the advantage of the others is they they will operate on 9V instead of house current (110/220), if that is a factor... _________________ www.facebook.com/swingaliband & a few more....
Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor |
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Tal Herbsman
From: Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 9 Jul 2021 3:09 pm
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i'm into this topic right now. I have a furlong split and am just trying out various things in front of it. so far everything I've tried has been a pleasant surprise:
1. Sarno v8, sounds great but not really a pedal board solution
2. Ethos Clean is wonderful, all analog with a seperate 1/4" jack DI out + Cab/Speaker emulation. sounds and feels like a really nice fender BF amp
3. surprisingly the TEch21 Q strip also sounds great as a pre amp and has separate XLR out
it's worth noting that the strymon and walrus boxes are DSP based solutions if that matters to you. |
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Joseph Smith
From: United Kingdom
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Posted 11 Jul 2021 3:29 am
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Thanks for the help, guys.
Tal, there was some really useful info there!
Just looking into them all and the Tech 21 Q strip is certainly the easiest for me to buy and would work out being the cheapest (with shipping to uk, etc).
May have to go to a guitar shop and try out either the Iridium or Walrus ACS1 as would be very interested to hear how they differ to say, the milkman'the amp' which I've used a lot. Just worry about about how much headroom i'll get with the Strymon and Walrus. |
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David Spires
From: Millersport, OH
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Posted 11 Jul 2021 4:55 am
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I've used several things through the years to give me more headroom through modelers. This is what I use now. I turn the level down all the way (-12dB), and with a tuner output, it serves a dual purpose for me. My wife's company carries them:
https://www.guitarpartsfactory.us/023-4530-000-Genuine-Fender-Level-Set-Buffer-Guitar-Effects-Pedal-0234530000
Best of luck,
David Spires _________________ 2021 MSA Legend XL 10&7; Asher Electro-Hawaiian Junior Lap Steel; '79 OMI Dobro 66 w/ Scheerhorn cone and setup; '64 Hand-wired Re-issue Fender Princeton Reverb |
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Ian Worley
From: Sacramento, CA
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Posted 11 Jul 2021 1:14 pm
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I picked up an Iridium a while back and I am very impressed with its sound and versatility. It's definitely worth looking into. It's kind of the poor man's Kemper or Fractal rig, the three amp models are set and unchangeable, but the cab IRs are user changeable. I haven't used it on a gig yet, but I have rehearsed with it and done some A/B tests with my old BF Twin and Mesa Lonestar, it stacks up really nicely. I've been running the Iridium through my lightweight bass rig, a TC BAM200 and a 2x10 cab with Eminence DeltaLite IIs, it's a closed back front ported cab, it sounds surprisingly good for steel.
The Fender ("clean") model with the 2x10 cab IR sounds really good, but the Vox AC30 ("chime") model with the 4x12 IR sounds best to my ears. The mid control works a little different on the Vox model vs. the Fender, it's very steel friendly and gives a really nice mid punch without sounding harsh or shrill. It's very clean with the gain set fairly low, it has a really nice, sparkly tube amp sound and feel, dialing up the gain a little bit gives some crunch with a little bit of squish. For more of a full-on overdrive sound it really needs to be ahead of the volume pedal, I prefer it downstream so it feels like you're pushing the preamp on a tube amp (which it does very convincingly).
As far as headroom, this is really a non-issue. The sky's the limit as long as whatever you're using to power it has adequate headroom. In my case, using the bass rig, I'm sure I could perforate a few ear drums with clean volume if I wanted to (I don't!). I haven't tried it through a full-range rig with a flatter response like a wedge monitor or one of the Fractal powered cabs, but I am curious do that sometime.
I guess my only gripes with the Iridium would be that it is very slightly noisy, but that's minor, it's certainly not unbearable, overall it sounds and feels great IMO. No onboard reverb is another minor gripe. I have it on a small pedal board on the right leg of my steel, super nice having so much control right there. I think I'm ready to give it whirl in the real world. The bass rig weighs less than half what the Twin or Lonestar do, so that's a bonus for my achin' back.
_________________ All lies and jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest - Paul Simon |
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Greg Lambert
From: Illinois, USA
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Steve Lipsey
From: Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 12 Jul 2021 1:15 pm
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Well...it would be really nice if we've gotten to really have a $19 tube amp sim that sounds real...and it probably is good enough for most audiences....but I'll reserve judgment for now.
On the other hand, I've found this pedal to be quite amazing!
_________________ www.facebook.com/swingaliband & a few more....
Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor |
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Ian Worley
From: Sacramento, CA
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Posted 12 Jul 2021 2:08 pm
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I think I need one like Steve's to put in the signal chain ahead of this one. Mine doesn't seem to do much by itself.
FWIW, I have one of those Behringer TM300 boxes that was given to me, I'll just say that you get what you pay for (in my case $0). I'm sure it would be useful to some, but it's not really comparable to an Iridium or the Ethos boxes, etc IMO. _________________ All lies and jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest - Paul Simon |
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Stuart Tindall
From: England, UK
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Posted 13 Jul 2021 5:46 am
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I recently got hold of a used Shiftline Twin 11 preamp pedal and have been using it straight into the power amp of my Session 400 limited to warm up the tone as it uses a 12ax7 valve. It is supposed to emulate a 65 Blackface Twin amp, and I must say it livens up the sound noticeably.
It can be used for rehearsal purposes as it as an aux in socket for music and headphone socket.
Stuart |
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Bob Tuttle
From: Republic, MO 65738
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Posted 14 Jul 2021 12:54 pm
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This is my amplifier rig for lap steel. It is a Quilter Micro Block 45 amp and a Hall of Fame reverb pedal into a 12 inch Eminence neo speaker in a
16X16X11 cabinet.
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Brian Evans
From: Nova Scotia, Canada
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Posted 15 Jul 2021 10:01 am
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I'm using a Traynor Quarterhorse, which is a 25 watt RMS Class D amp with a tube amp kind of emulation, reverb, delay, two switchable channels, into an old Ampeg B15 cabinet. It looks like an oversize pedal, has a wall-wart power supply (not the typical 9 volt, it has a dedicated 24 volt supply)and has a line-out if you want to go to another powered situation. It tends to go all tube-ampy a little too soon, I can't get great clean loud tones out of it, but it was only $99. When I think about it, I bought it as a lark off a remainders table at a local store, and what is the point of having a 2 lb 25 watt amp when you still have to carry the speaker around? |
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Ian Rae
From: Redditch, England
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Posted 16 Jul 2021 3:23 pm
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I have a regular date in a tiny bar where there's no room for my Telonics rig (and no need). I've been using my Roland 60XL bass amp which is fine and has enough effects, just about. My next step would be to ditch that and go straight into the PA if I could find a preamp with reverb, delay and chorus and enough headroom for a clean steel sound. Out of all the myriad boxes mentioned here, what might I consider?
Thanks _________________ Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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Larry Dering
From: Missouri, USA
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Posted 17 Jul 2021 5:35 am
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Ian, kinda old technology, but my line 6 pod xt on a leg mount will feed a PA with plenty of tone options and effects. I use a mike stand mounted Behringer monitor to tweak my settings and hear up close. The Tommy Dodd bracket is no longer available, so I made my own for the rear leg. I'm sure there is other modern pedals that could be used. My Roland Micro Cube has a line out and sounds great. |
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Ian Rae
From: Redditch, England
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Posted 17 Jul 2021 7:36 am
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Larry, I know Line 6 stuff is good, and I'm not embarrassed about old tech. I know the future lies in digits, but until low latency becomes affordable I don't mind twisting knobs! _________________ Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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Bob Hoffnar
From: Austin, Tx
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Posted 17 Jul 2021 7:38 am
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I tried a number of things out and ended up liking my Milkman "The Amp" best. It's sound is it's best attribute. Its versatility has been a life saver.
While you are checking things out make sure you look at what bass players are using.
Let us know what you come up with ! _________________ Bob |
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Jack Hanson
From: San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 17 Jul 2021 8:32 am
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I have a similar rig to Bob Tuttle's:
It's a Quilter Micro Block 45 into an Eminence Double-T 12 enclosed in a GPA cab. |
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