Need advice on buying a new amp

James Mayer · Post by **James Mayer** » 9 Jul 2007 10:52 am

I'll have an insurance check at some point and will be buying a new amp to replace my stolen one. I'd like to get one that sounds great for lap steel and pedal steel as I'm thinking of buying a psg in the future. I recently played a 65' Fender Deluxe Reverb reissue. I thought it sounded great and was about the right size(12' speaker) and volume (22 watts).

Any opinions on these or something else I should look into that is of similar weight and power. How is the Steel King?

Roger Crawford · Post by **Roger Crawford** » 9 Jul 2007 12:40 pm

The Steel King is 200 watts of power and a 15" speaker. It weighs in about 65 pounds. If you're looking for a lower output unit with a 12" speaker, the Peavey Nashville 112 may be the way to go. Its rated at 85 watts and has a 12" Blue Marvel speaker that is voiced for steel. Big difference in weight, too...45 pounds. I've used my 112 in a lot of large venues, and it has never let me down.

Jim Eaton · Post by **Jim Eaton** » 9 Jul 2007 1:22 pm

In a perfect world, the Deluxe & a NV112 would be ideal, but if I could only have one of the two,......NV112 hands down.
JE:-)>

Sonny Priddy · Post by **Sonny Priddy** » 9 Jul 2007 2:36 pm

Nashville 112 all The Way. SONNY.

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 9 Jul 2007 3:22 pm

James, a Deluxe sounds great with lap steel, but most pedal steelers using a volume pedal find it doesn't have enough clean headroom. Many opt for the ultra clean solid state amps mentioned above. I prefer tubes with both, and like the silver-face Fenders like the Twin. They are big and heavy, but for me, the tone is worth it. My favorite is a Dual Showman Reverb head (helps with the weight issue) through one or more 15" speakers.

James Mayer · Post by **James Mayer** » 9 Jul 2007 3:42 pm

Yeah, I see now that the Steel King is way too heavy. I've considered a Twin but thought that maybe it was both too heavy and too powerful. I need something that can sound good at low volumes and I've heard a Twin is pretty bad when below a certain volume point.

The NV112 looks interesting. I'll start researching that.

James Mayer · Post by **James Mayer** » 9 Jul 2007 3:46 pm

The NV112 descriptions says: "Pre-EQ patch send return for volume pedal patch. "

Why? Never heard of an effects loop for just a volume pedal. What's the benefit of this method instead of simply running it between the instrument and the amp input?

Mike Wheeler · Post by **Mike Wheeler** » 9 Jul 2007 4:36 pm

James, that was designed into the amp for those who use pot pedals. It's a built-in impedance matching interface. It's not really an effect loop.

Those who use it refer to the hookup as the "three cord hookup". One for the guitar to amp, and two for the pedal to amp.

KENNY KRUPNICK · Post by **KENNY KRUPNICK** » 9 Jul 2007 5:33 pm

Nashville 112.

Jonathan Cullifer · Post by **Jonathan Cullifer** » 9 Jul 2007 6:13 pm

Nashville 112 all the way. I've owned or played through Peavey Session 500s, Nashville 400s, and Nashville 1000s. I also have an old Webb. The 112 goes out. All the others are either gone or collecting collecting dust.

Chris LeDrew · Post by **Chris LeDrew** » 9 Jul 2007 8:28 pm

James, I have a '65 Deluxe Reissue that I use for guitar at shows, and for pedal steel at home. I used it for pedal steel at a few shows, but there wasn't enough headroom without breaking up (my band gets loud at times.) Having said that, it stays pretty clean below 3.5, so it may suit your purposes if your band plays quietly - especially if it's all E9. If you are using an active volume pedal, you can also roll your gain back to clean up the signal a bit. Going into input 2 also cuts back on break-up.

It all depends on what you want tone-wise, I guess. For a lightweight amp (mic'ed) I'd choose my Deluxe Reissue over my (former) Nashville 112 on a gig, break-up or not. The EQ on the Deluxe is more straightforward, and the tubes give it a warmer sound overall. Just my experience, that's all. However, on a loud gig with no amp micing, you'd need to the 80 watts of the Nashville 112 to be heard clearly without break-up.

Tommy R. Butler · Post by **Tommy R. Butler** » 9 Jul 2007 10:39 pm

Nashville 112

Perry Keeter · Post by **Perry Keeter** » 9 Jul 2007 11:47 pm

Nashville 112. You won't regret it....

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 10 Jul 2007 1:50 am

For multiple sounds, I often use a NV 112 with a Pod. The amp alone is nice for clean pedal steel, while the Pod or another modeler can be inserted for more standard guitar and less clean steel sounds. The NV 112 makes a good slave amp for a modeler, to my tastes.

Don Sulesky · Post by **Don Sulesky** » 10 Jul 2007 4:02 am

I've owned a dozen or so amps over the years and the Nashville 112 for size and weight is the way to go.
Don

James Mayer · Post by **James Mayer** » 10 Jul 2007 8:20 am

Well, finding a NV112 locally is proving more difficult than expected.

Hmmm, I may be changing my criteria. This one has a lot of attractive features and I already know I love the Twin sound.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=480649

The parallel effects loop and power cut switch may outweigh the weight issue. I can't actually find the weight specs anywhere but I'm guessing it weighs more than 60 lbs.

Anyone tried one of these newer Twins with the modern features?

Chris LeDrew · Post by **Chris LeDrew** » 10 Jul 2007 8:28 am

James,

I used this new Twin a few times as provided backline at shows. It's certainly a powerful amp, but I would prefer the more basic BF Twin Reissue, unless I was looking for overdriven tones and such. I would never have use for the gain stages the new Twin offers. I think these amps are more designed for modern rock.

Fender makes a Twin "Custom 15" that's basically the same weight and price, and it's more less designed for steel. It would be perfect for you, if you're thinking about a tube Twin situation.

http://www.fender.com/products/search.p ... 2173000010

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 10 Jul 2007 9:04 am

You could call Bobbe Seymour up - http://www.steelguitar.net - and have him ship you a NV 112. I don't think anybody's gonna sell a new one for less dough. He buys 'em by the dozens and I got mine in the original shipping carton within a few days after they shipped it.

I personally don't care as well for the modern-voiced Twin Reverbs - I agree with Chris that, to my tastes, they are voiced more for modern rock. That's not necessarily bad - it just depends on what you want.

The more traditional Twin Reverb Reissue is fine, but if going in that direction, I prefer an old silverface Twin Reverb, or even better, an old silverface Dual Showman Reverb head with separate speaker cab to split the weight. Traditional point-to-point wiring means easier to tweak and easier to maintain, and these things just keep on going up in value. Just a thought.

Marvin Born · Post by **Marvin Born** » 10 Jul 2007 10:20 am

Take a look at the Evans amps. www.evansamps.com They use the same power amp section, 200 watts, in all their amps with a choice of either solid state or tube pre-amps. You can choose between 10, 12 and 15 inch speakers all neodymium for light weight.

The 10" JE200 weighs only 25 pounds.

you can plug in any extension cabinet so you can have the 15" when you want it.

The other choice is to order the amp section stand alone and which ever speaker you want for a two part system.

They sound good, light weight, but cost double what a Nashville 112 costs. They work well for Jazz guitar as well as steel.

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 10 Jul 2007 11:22 am

I agree that, unless cost is a big factor, you should look into the Evans amps. The NV 112 is obviously a serviceable amp, as so many here are pleased with it. But for my taste an Evans blows it away, tonewise. JMO

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 10 Jul 2007 11:22 am

Oops, double post.

Michael Haselman · Post by **Michael Haselman** » 10 Jul 2007 1:24 pm

Ditto for NV112. I also have a Webb that is not getting used. (I don't want to sell it yet, though

) Got it from Bobbe, couldn't have been easier, and by far the best price.

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 10 Jul 2007 2:03 pm

The Pro Tube Twin Amp is listed as 80 lbs. in the specs over on the Fender site. Haven't tried it myself. But I have never heard any Twin that didn't sound better than any solid state amp, at every volume level. But then, I just like tube tone. Pedal steel requires a bigger amp than you might think, not for the volume, but to get clean headroom for the way we use the volume pedal for chord sustains. I deal with the weight problem by using separate head and speaker cabs. The new Twin Amp is unique in having a 1/4 power switch to cut it down to Deluxe territory. That might come in real handy for playing both lap steel and pedal steel.

Billy Carr · Post by **Billy Carr** » 11 Jul 2007 12:25 am

NV-112 is my carry around to different gigs amp. FSK w/1501BW Peavey speaker is my Saturday night amp. 1501BW speaker reduced the FSK weight also.

Don Sulesky · Post by **Don Sulesky** » 11 Jul 2007 8:59 am

James
There's a NV112 for sale cheap under the amps section.
Don