Anyone tried a Peterson amp with pedal steel?

[Sam Inglis]

I guess a lot of us have Peterson tuners, but does anyone have a Peterson amp?

As far as I'm aware there was no connection between the two companies. The amps were made in England in the 1980s. They are well featured, compact solid-state amps along the lines of the Gallien-Krueger concept. There were guitar and bass combos, and a head. The guitar amps have a bit of a cult following among jazz players.

Anyway, I took the plunge on a P100 Guitar Special combo today. Waiting for the eBay fairies to do their thing. In terms of features it seems perfect for pedal steel, on paper: small, loud, clean, and has built in reverb and a DI out. We'll see...

[Sam Inglis]

Well, I am finally in a position to answer my own question. Unfortunately the amp required a ton of work to get it fully working. Even then it sounded weird until we discovered the dustcap on the speaker had been dented. Thankfully a vacuum cleaner was able to pull it back into shape.

I used it at a band rehearsal tonight and I think it's got a lot going for it. Although it's heavy, the entire combo is only about a foot in each dimension, so it's easy to transport and fits anywhere. The EQ is pretty versatile, with high, low and two mid bands, and there is spring reverb. It's absolutely dead quiet, with zero hiss or hum. The speaker is an Electro-Voice EVM-10, which is said to be one of the best (and heaviest) guitar speakers ever made. The amp will go far, far louder than I ever need it to.

[Sam Inglis]

Some pics I found on the Internet:





The only thing I'm missing at the moment is tremolo, which I use on one song in our live set.