Getting my first PSG amp

[Rob Morrison]

Hi all, I've been playing pedal steel for about three years now, and I'm finally about to start gigging with it (I play a Zum Stage One). Current band I'm playing in is a 4-piece (drums, bass, electric guitar, and me on steel). Not a traditional country band, definitely on the psychedelic/spacey side at times, though we have some tunes that are more "normal." We'll be playing bar gigs and small venue gigs in the NYC area. I have a car (a necessity for lugging a steel around in New York), so weight/size isn't the biggest concern, but having something relatively compact doesn't hurt when it comes to the size of stages and rehearsal rooms.

I've read decent things about the Peavey Nashville 112, and it does seem like it would fit the bill when it comes to size and volume. However, I've read that some folks don't think it has enough bass response to handle C6, and while I only play E9 right now, I'd like to upgrade to a D10 eventually.

Worth mentioning that I already have a Quilter Tone Block 202, which I use for recording into my DAW. I love it. I've considered getting a Quilter TT-12 or TT-15 cabinet to go with it, but I rarely see just the cabinets on the used market, and a new one would run quite a bit more than a used Nashville 112. And at that point, I might just want to get something like a Steelaire.

Anything else I should be considering? Thanks in advance!

[Stew Crookes]

Seems kind of odd to me - you already own the amp that most of us moved onto, after owning NV112's previously.
Personally I'd just get a cabinet to go with the 202... I liked my NV112 a lot, but I have no interest in going back to one.

[Bill Davis]

I'm 73 so weight matters. I used a Katana 100 when I had a Stage One. Great, small, light and tons of effects if you are doing spacey stuff. I also had a Katana 50 that I re-housed the head and went with in-ear/amp less. That was great only when I had a good sound guy. Now that I have a Sho Bud, I got a Quilter Pro Block 200 and put a TT-12 (they are made by Eminence)in the K-50 cabinet. I can go in-ear/amp less with just the Quilter or use it in the small, light cab. That combo is now my forever rig. The TT-12 is amazing

[Rob Morrison]

Seems kind of odd to me - you already own the amp that most of us moved onto, after owning NV112's previously.
Personally I'd just get a cabinet to go with the 202... I liked my NV112 a lot, but I have no interest in going back to one.

Thanks Stew, this is probably just what I needed to hear. I'll aim to find a cabinet to go with the Tone Block!

[Rob Morrison]

I'm 73 so weight matters. I used a Katana 100 when I had a Stage One. Great, small, light and tons of effects if you are doing spacey stuff. I also had a Katana 50 that I re-housed the head and went with in-ear/amp less. That was great only when I had a good sound guy. Now that I have a Sho Bud, I got a Quilter Pro Block 200 and put a TT-12 (they are made by Eminence)in the K-50 cabinet. I can go in-ear/amp less with just the Quilter or use it in the small, light cab. That combo is now my forever rig. The TT-12 is amazing

Wow Bill, that's a cool solution! When you say you that you can go in-ear with the Quilter, do you mean directly from the headphone out on the Tone Block, or are you running a separate in-ear interface?

[Rich Ertelt]

I have a "fancy" setup for gigs, rack thingy and such.

For rehearsals, I've been taking the 202, a passive volume pedal, and a 15" cab with an old Steelaire speaker in it. I put a cushion on the speaker and sit on it. I have also used some 12" guitar speakers in other cabs I've got around here.
Works fine. That's it, that and some cables is all I take to rehearsals.

I don't like it as much as my tube pre and telonics pedal and all that other stuff I take to gigs, but it sounds pretty good. Plenty of volume. You can always throw an eq pedal in the loop if you want.

You have a really good amp, get a speaker/cab. A 12" should be fine for most stuff.

[Brett Lanier]

I had a TT12 and ended up selling the cab and keeping the TB202. Much preferred the sound into a larger cab with a heavy magnet speaker like a K130 (pretty much all I use) or an Eminence PF350, which is pretty good too, and you don’t have to worry about blowing it.

My experience with extension and combo cabs is that the older, broken in ones usually sound better. My favorite steel amps are still the first fully SS version of Standel custom xv, but the TB202 might be the closest thing I’ve heard to that besides the Caine, Sho-Bud, and Gretsch copies.

[Dave Grafe]

Put a good JBL in an empty cabinet and keep the TB202, you can't do much better at any level.

[Bill Davis]

I'm 73 so weight matters. I used a Katana 100 when I had a Stage One. Great, small, light and tons of effects if you are doing spacey stuff. I also had a Katana 50 that I re-housed the head and went with in-ear/amp less. That was great only when I had a good sound guy. Now that I have a Sho Bud, I got a Quilter Pro Block 200 and put a TT-12 (they are made by Eminence)in the K-50 cabinet. I can go in-ear/amp less with just the Quilter or use it in the small, light cab. That combo is now my forever rig. The TT-12 is amazing

Wow Bill, that's a cool solution! When you say you that you can go in-ear with the Quilter, do you mean directly from the headphone out on the Tone Block, or are you running a separate in-ear interface?

Yes. I go to the board from the XLR out on the Quilter and fold back a monitor send into my Xvive in ear monitor interface. Most boards allow you to mix your own monitors wirelessly with an I pad and that's what I do. We usually have no amps or monitors onstage but if possible, I like the amp.

[Stew Crookes]

Seems kind of odd to me - you already own the amp that most of us moved onto, after owning NV112's previously.
Personally I'd just get a cabinet to go with the 202... I liked my NV112 a lot, but I have no interest in going back to one.

Thanks Stew, this is probably just what I needed to hear. I'll aim to find a cabinet to go with the Tone Block!

I'm mostly running direct with a SuperBlock US and sometimes bring a tiny TOOB 8gp speaker cab for coffee shop sized gigs or extra monitoring on large stages - I'm thinking of trying a "big version" of that rig with a TB202 and a 12" TOOB but so far am getting great results and total weight is only 5 1/2 pounds

[Mark Keogh]

Go forth and amplify!!

I’ve played a Zum Encore for 10 years though Fenders (mostly at home through a black face Vibro champ). More recently I played through a NV112 for about 12 months. Sounded great and the bass response was really pretty good but I thought overall a little cold perhaps.

I got a hardwired’ ‘64 Princeton reissue with the Jensen 10’ which harmonically sounded more dynamic and had that electric warmth that tubes offer.i had to dial back the treble to almost zero and the bass up all the way and use a boss GE7 to get any bass and dampen the high mids. (I’m left perplexed by the whole Princeton thing).

…Then… I found for sale in my corner of Australia an original BW equipped Peavey Session 400 (reportedly owned by George Xanthos (Australian country music hall of fame pedal Steeler for the Hawking Brothers). Straight off the bat that thing just sang. I was instantly enamoured with The’ ‘15 inch speaker and sonic range with that amazing bass response and crisp highs. It works great for country, jazz and even cuts the mustard for the west coast whistle! What a treat! Next move is to get a Sarno black box preamp to buffer any tonal loss (as prescribed by members of this forum) through the El Capistan, then proceed to melt some pretty faces!

I’’ve ordered a Jupiter 12LC speaker and baffle to convert the Princeton (purely out of curiosity) and I’m going to see a guy in Melbourne to buy a Fender Super Twin on the weekend to ensure my ears will bleed.

I might have a case of AAS (amplifier acquisition syndrome) and fortunately a great tech!

My advise (having zero worth) is to spend all your money on amplification. Save a few bob for a beer but don’t even change your strings, just get increasingly powerful amps and melt face….Just kidding, change your string once in a while and literally jump on your A pedal while playing 4,5 up past the 15th fret with the Goodrich through the floor!!

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[Rob Morrison]

I got a hardwired’ ‘64 Princeton reissue with the Jensen 10’ which harmonically sounded more dynamic and had that electric warmth that tubes offer.i had to dial back the treble to almost zero and the bass up all the way and use a boss GE7 to get any bass and dampen the high mids. (I’m left perplexed by the whole Princeton thing).

Interesting...granted, not all Princetons are created equal, but my Princeton is a '68 reissue and I don't like how my steel sounds through it at all. Dunno if it's a limitation of the speaker size, or wattage, but it just sounds way too hairy through the Princeton.

I'm on the hunt for a good speaker cabinet to run my Tone Block through. If I can track down a used Quilter TT-15 (or TT-12) I'll probably go with that, but so far the hunt doesn't seem to be an easy one...

[Donny Hinson]

I've played steel for over 60 years, the majority of music being country and rock music. And although I have about a dozen amps, none of them are really "steel amps"?