Best Amp for Electric Guitar and Pedal Steel Guitar

Tom Gorr · Post by **Tom Gorr** » 26 Dec 2014 1:43 pm

Many new production amps use sovtek wa preamp tubes to ward off warranty claims. They impart harshness like no other tube i know...but they are reliable and seem to be consistently strong gainwise.

Before you dump the amp and assuming store return policy isnt violated you may want to try a sovtek lps in the 1st stage just to see if it mellows things out. Its not a perfect tube but theyre general stock in most stores. Another possibly better option is a jj ecc803s...not the ecc83s.

the other possible issue if this is a new amp is it takes 30 hours at stage volume to break in a speaker.

All said...my wingmate used to use an original issue Blues Deluxe and before i joined the band i heard his amp from in the audience and it was great with a tele and strat...never heard one with a pedal steel. If youre into cheaper amps that sound good..thats an option.

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 26 Dec 2014 1:49 pm

Chris Grigsby wrote:

Life would be so much easier if these amps were available to demo!

Jim Palenscar has a wide variety of new and used amps in his shop that people can try out.

Brett Lanier · Post by **Brett Lanier** » 26 Dec 2014 4:43 pm

Chris Grigsby wrote: Also considering a Quilter, Evans, Stereo Steel, Fender Pro Reverb (vintage), and a Milkman. The latter looks really great, but I'm not sure I can bring myself to spend $1700 on a solid state amp.

Sounds like you already have some nice sounding guitar amps and may be even picky about tone. If that's true you would probably save money in the long run by buying a Milkman.
I've bought what I consider to be a lot of steel amps in recent years. I don't think any amp is perfect, and for me it depends on the band and type of music we're playing. The Half & Half seems like a good mix of vibe and tone, and loud and clear. Which will probably suit any situation pretty well.

Chris Grigsby · Post by **Chris Grigsby** » 29 Dec 2014 7:00 am

After much deliberation, I decided to try a Milkman Sound amplifier and was fortunate enough to snag a 40w Pedal Steel Mini 1x12 from another forum member at a slightly discounted price. I was sorely tempted to buy the Half and Half based on the glowing reviews, but I think the all-tube Mini will be a better fit for me as a 6-string guitarist and brand new pedal steel guitarist.

Thanks to everyone who offered their time in this thread with such great advice. Much appreciated!

Best,
Chris

Steve Lipsey · Post by **Steve Lipsey** » 29 Dec 2014 9:33 am

The Mini is a good choice....remember that an amp has to be 10x as powerful to sound twice as loud...so the 40w Mini isn't a Twin, but gets you close enough most of the time (and only 35 lbs, sort of a Bassman in a Princeton-size cab!). Louder and cleaner than a Deluxe by an audible amount (6L6 vs 6V6, bigger transformer).

And you can just push it into a little nice sustaining breakup on guitar if you try, which even sounds fine on steel....(if you don't mind playing pretty danged loud, at those gigs a little hair on the tone seems called for, anyway)

Although the Sideman has a channel "voiced for guitar", it is still too powerful to push into breakup in most situations...only 10 watts more than a Mini, but bigger transformer, definitely more clean headroom. Bigger cab, heavier, also. And an EQ pedal into one side of an input switch gets you the two voicings you need, on the mini...Sideman is perfect if you are playing the medium-to-larger venues and really need the volume. Also works fine at smaller ones, of course, if you like totally clean tone...(and just use a pedal for grit).

Note that all the tracks on the record at my link below were played on a Sideman (Give Old Hell has clean steel intro and gritty steel solo at 3:20), with a Crowther Hotcake for grit (I now use an Earth Drive).

And tubes is tubes....congrats to Chris on finding someone who had too many Milkman amps (!!) and was willing, albeit a tad reluctantly, to sell one....