Steel King vs. Nashville 112

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 22 Dec 2004 1:21 pm

Well, I guess at this point...it's as you
mentioned before. Either the tone change
(when it's cranked up) is inherent in the amp itself or the speaker might not be handling
all that's being pushed into it. You could
jump over to another type speaker that you're
used to, get a decent tone at lower volume...
then crank it up and see what happens just
for the heck of it. Worth a shot.

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 22 Dec 2004 2:06 pm

Coming from Paul, this is pretty revealing. Maybe some of the other forum members cab crank theirs up and see if they get the same results.

Larry Robbins · Post by **Larry Robbins** » 22 Dec 2004 3:39 pm

Amp was not mic'ed. I used my amp stand so the amp was tilted back,and about 1 1/2'off the floor. Gain was set at around 5 and master was around 7. Seemed plenty loud.

Franklin · Post by **Franklin** » 22 Dec 2004 3:50 pm

Larry,

In the studio I set the master on 8 and the volume at 6 and it was fine. At the rehearsal the master was at 10 and volume at 8 and I was maxing out the volume pedal.

We are obviously talking about different volume levels. Playing live, I often have to max out amps, as I did when playing with Sid Hudson and Phil Baugh. I was hoping the King could handle it. I should note that my Fender twin could not handle this volume as well as the Stereo steel or the Peavey amps. It may be a Fender thing. Don't know?

Paul

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 22 Dec 2004 7:57 pm

Yeah, but don't those Stereo Steels
use a stereo power amp which is actually
double the wattage of the Fender?
If I remember right, when I had my Nashville
400 (from '85-'95), that Black Widow could
take just about anything you could throw at it. I just wasn't crazy about that speaker's tone (whatever the volume level). I used to use
one of those Lil Izzy's with it to compensate
a little.

Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 22 Dec 2004 8:15 pm

The Stereo Steel amp is 300 watts per side into 4 ohm speakers and 200 watts per side into 8 ohm speakers. I've never had mine over 3 and still get told to turn down.

David Higginbotham · Post by **David Higginbotham** » 22 Dec 2004 9:52 pm

With all intended respect for the comments made here in reference to the Steel King, I feel "Paul" by far has more than enough experience to make a professional opinion of quality as it relates to amplifiers. This combined with previous statements of concern with the output level, reverb, and "hum" noise are primary reasons I steered away from the Steel King. One has to take into consideration the different opinions from various players with different expectations from any musical equipment and weigh them as a whole. When a substancial number of these players report having the same problems occur, then that certainly affects my judgement. Paul, many of us novices out here really enjoy people such as yourself, and many others as well, taking the time to express your opinions to help us out.
Merry Christmas to all of you!

Dave

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 22 Dec 2004 10:29 pm

"Anyone know why guitar players play so loud?"

CAUSE I'M LOTS BIGGER THAN YOU ARE, BOBBY!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Y'ALL!!!!

Michael Johnstone · Post by **Michael Johnstone** » 23 Dec 2004 1:48 am

Paul - I had the same issues and I pretty much solved them by changing out the stock Eminence to a Black Widow 15". The mids are a little different with the BW but it's so tweakable as to be a non-issue EQ-wise. The one thing I would wish for on the Steel King is that the compressor would kick in more like a Peavey - that is to say before the speaker craps out.But like I said,the BW just about takes care of that problem by about 90%. I've been gigging with it 3-4 nights a week now for about 4 months at reasonably high volumes and It's still my favorite amp currently. -MJ-

Andy Zynda · Post by **Andy Zynda** » 23 Dec 2004 6:46 am

Just my own opinion, but it's been my experience that there are very, VERY few amps that can keep up with a Fender Twin, if it's properly biased, has a decent set of output tubes, and a good pair of efficient speakers.
A Twin like that will peel paint off the walls if you give it the chance.
(BTW, I love my new Steel King. Every Steel I have sounds awesome through it, but it's especially excellent with my Ricky Bakelite)

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 23 Dec 2004 7:31 am

Michael, you bring up a good point. If people are finding that the King sounds strained when pushed, it would be pretty wise to find out first if it's an electronic issue or a speaker issue. What Paul described sounds to me like what a speaker does when pushed beyond its comfortable range. But then again, sometimes transistors do a similar thing when strained. Electronically, it seems like the King should be relaxed enough up in that 200watt realm.

Brad Sarno

Boo Bernstein · Post by **Boo Bernstein** » 23 Dec 2004 8:03 am

Paul --

When you recorded with the Steel King, what settings did you use to get the best tone? Thanks in advance.

Happy holidays to everyone. Boo

Chuck Lemasters · Post by **Chuck Lemasters** » 23 Dec 2004 12:42 pm

I tried out a Steel King recently. A Low volume job in the afternoon, where the amp performed well, very nice Fender tone. The evening gig was for a large crowd of noisy revelers, and the amp did not do so well. Seemed to crap out at a level where my Nashville 400 would still have been going strong. Granted, it was at a much higher volume level than I would like to play, but left me wishing I had also brought along the Peavey. I never thought I would have any brand loyalty to anyone other than Fender, but the Peavey's dependability, clean power, compact size, and Mike Brown's customer service prevented me from trading. At lower volumes, the Steel King is a bit sweeter, especially in the higher register. But for now, I'll keep the Peavey.

chuck

Terry Sneed · Post by **Terry Sneed** » 24 Dec 2004 1:18 pm

Shucks! with all the good reviews on the Nashville 112, I wish I had bought one instead of the session 500rd. I love the 500rd, but it's just so dadgum heavey!

------------------
Zum D10 /8x5 / session 500rd
steelin for my Lord

Louie Hallford · Post by **Louie Hallford** » 24 Dec 2004 4:34 pm

In reading some of the posts regarding tweaking different settings on the King,did I not hear some where, that the optimum settings on the amp are designed to at or near the zero settinngs? When I first tried the amp out in St Louis I was fiddling around with every knob and could not get anything that attracted me until some one told me to set everything on zero. (except the volumes,of course.)
Being told to set everything on zero and to tweek only the mids to accomadate the size room,crowd,etc all of a sudden I heard the sound that I would have expected to hear out of a newly released Fender product.

I have one of the new light weight speakers in a Webb amp and find that it will not handle the lows that a Widow will without breaking up. Raise the lows and I am back in business and probably where I should be any way, as I am continually told I use to much lows in my settings.