Finally found a decent steel amp

Leslie Ehrlich · From: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Well, I did it. I finally broke down and bought a tube amp to play steel through. It's a 1981 Marshall JMP 2204 50 watt master volume head and a new Marshall 1960AV 4x12 cabinet. I plugged my Sho-Bud Pro III into it and I was in tone heaven! With the pre-amp gain full out it grinds quite nicely when I pluck the strings hard, and when I pluck them lightly it cleans up for a good 'country' tone. No reverb, but it's going to be used for recording only. I can add the reverb and other effects during mixdown. Sho-Bud and Marshall... what a great combination! Smile

Bill Moran · From: Virginia, USA

50 watts ? Wait until you meet your first Tele
and Twin Reverb. Whoa!

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Bill

James Quackenbush · From: Pomona, New York, USA

Leslie,
Ya like a Marshall for your pedal steel ? .. Check out a JTM45 running KT66 tubes, and you will THEN hear a sweet sounding Marshall for pedal steel ....Jim

Byron Walcher · From: Ketchum, Idaho, USA

Yes indeed, tube amps for sure. There was an original JTM 45 on E-Bay a couple days ago, I think it brought about $5000. I'm going to need a bigger piggy.
Byron
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74 Black Emmmons 8x8 Wood Necks, Georgeboard, '80 OMI Dobro, '64 Fender Pro Amp , "76 Vibrosonic Reverb

Lewis John Foote · From: Dorset, UK

howdy, a pal of mine has a MARSHAL, lead, 50, it makes a scratchin noise when you touch control knobs, is it worth sortin, for steel playin, its a good few years old, lew.
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pro1,s two round fronts, one square front, sho-bud, S12, LDG,1977, built by paul franklin sen, [THE PROFESSIONAL]nice all original, bandit65, nash, 400, profex 11,match-box, 7A,DD3, delay,various accoustic guitars, amps, and other necessitys,

James Quackenbush · From: Pomona, New York, USA

I surely can't afford an original , but i did buy a JTM45 clone from Rockytop Electronics ...It's an incredible sounding amp, and while not sparkley clean like a Fender, it's probably the most clean sounding of the Marshall amps , and has a LOT of character and full bodied tone, and when pushed , has a very nice sustaining quality to it , sort of like a natural sustain that works very well for pedal steel ....If you want more overdrive you can always add a pedal ...Speaking of a pedal , plug in an overdrive petal of your choice and plug in your favorite lap steel , and this amp SINGS !!!......Jim

Dave Zirbel · From: Sebastopol, CA USA

I've been thinking about trying out a Marshall or Hiwatt or something like that. I recently got into playing out of old tube PA heads that have been converted for guitar. They have a fatter full bodied sound to my ears as opposed to the Fenders which have the mid-range dip to them, which I like too. It's nice to hear something different sometimes. Smile

Do any of the desired Marshall model amp heads have spring reverb?

David Doggett · Posted 1 Oct 2008 8:59 am

Lew, notice that Leslie uses his Marshall in the studio. Most pedal steelers find Marshall and other guitar amps have too little clean headroom for steel, and many are overly bright for steel. They may work okay at low volume before they begin to break up, but that is a lot of size and weight to haul around for so little clean volume. For rock and blues steel, a guitar amp can work, especially for lap steel. But for anything that needs lots of clean volume, most steelers prefer silver-face Fenders for tube amps.

James Quackenbush · From: Pomona, New York, USA

David / Dave ,
For MOST Marshall amps I would tend to agree with you .....The JTM45 actually has 4 inputs ....2 of them are controlled by one bright volume control and the other two are controlled by a normal volume control .....The 2 Bright inputs are voiced somewhat mellow inputs ..Not all that bright at all ...The other two are voiced VERY mellow ...The tone is very clean and rich and does not overdrive like a typical Marshall ...The overdrive is actually more of a compressed tone and it gets fatter and sustains more rather than get fizzy and ratty like a lot of other Marshalls with higher gain .... The JTM45's that I have played almost shouldn't have the "Marshall" name on therm they are so clean sounding ....Try one out and see....It's a real eye openner .....Grant it , it's no Twin Reverb , or Solid State toned amp at all ...It does NOT have that much clean headroom but it has plenty ....It's very FAT and very FULL sounding with plenty of body and sustain ...Jim

David Doggett · Posted 1 Oct 2008 2:52 pm

Thanks, James. I'll admit I'm not familiar with the various Marshall models - my impressions are generic. That model sounds interesting.

James Quackenbush · From: Pomona, New York, USA

David,
I originally bought my JTM45 clone as a guitar amp reccomended from a friend of mine .. ....I basically stumbled on how good it sounded for steel after using it for guitar ...It was a pleasant surprise ...Somehow Marshall and Pedal Steel didn't seem to go too well together in the same sentence ... Had I not tried this combination, I would have thought the same thing as you did ....Jim

David Doggett · Posted 1 Oct 2008 3:41 pm

One Marshall that intrigues me is the modern Mode Four. It is 350 watts; and one of the four channels is supposedly a clean channel with lots of headroom designed for Metal heads using 7-strings and drop tunings. On paper it seems like that would be able to handle any pedal steel demands, even C6 or E9/B6 unis. And you would also have three overdrive channels for getting blues and rock sounds. But I've only read about these, never tried one.

James Quackenbush · From: Pomona, New York, USA

In case you want to read up a little on it ....

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar+Amp/product/Marshall/Mode+4+Head/10/1

Dave Zirbel · From: Sebastopol, CA USA

There is another model made by Marshall that someone mentioned on the Forum. I can't remember the name or number but it was similar to Twin reverb, about 100 watts and 2-12's or a 1-15". Stevie Ray Vaughn had one in his arsenal. I think they called it a Town and Country Combo. I don't think it was in production very long.

Mark Eaton · Posted 1 Oct 2008 6:01 pm

I'm still mulling over Leslie's title to this thread:

Finally found a decent steel amp

It kind've makes it sound like all amps that have come before aren't very good for steel.

So Dave, if you agree, and want go for a Marshall - I'll be happy to take your Webb off your hands for really cheap, and I'll even drive over and pick it up! Winking

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Mark

Dave Zirbel · From: Sebastopol, CA USA

You funny! Mark, there was a Nashville 400 for sale in San Anselmo for $100 yesterday on Craigslist! I almost went for it but I'm broke with too many amps.

dz

Mark Durante · From: St. Pete Beach FL

Dave, I too have started using old Bogen tube PA heads. Great sound and dirt cheap

Leslie Ehrlich · From: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Being a hard rock guitarist, the sound of a Marshall half stack is something I'd grown accustomed to hearing while learning how to play.

The particular amp tone I had in mind was the sound Glenn Tipton got on Judas Priest's 1979 live album 'Unleashed In The East'. It's a very honky midrangey Marshall tone with some crunch, and that was exactly the tone I wanted for pedal steel. I believe he used a stompbox to get distortion, but I prefer to overdrive the pre-amp. It's not as distorted as Tipton's sound, but close enough.

Dave Zirbel · From: Sebastopol, CA USA

Hi Mark, I don't have a Bogen but I have a 22-25 watt Stromberg Carlson with 2 6L6's. That works great for guitar and screamin' lapsteel. I have a Newcomb Pathfinder that is closer to 40 watts and has 4 EL84s and sounds great for pedal steel and guitar too. If I need to play at stupidly loud volumes I have an arsenal of high powered tube and solid state amps.

Larry Bressington · From: Nebraska

Lewis, get the pots cleaned mate, and you will be a smokin! Razz

Brick Spieth · From: San Jose, California, USA

The JTM 45 is very close to the tweed bassman circuit. Different trannys and EL34s instead of 6L6s is about the only difference. Plug a Bassmann into a closed backed 4x12 and they are very close.

James Quackenbush · From: Pomona, New York, USA

5881 power tubes were used in the very early (62) JTM45's with very close to the Tweed Bassman circuit ...During 62 they switched to KT66's for power tubes until 66 when they went to EL34's and the amp was called the JTM50 .....The JTM45's were not as powerful as the Bassmans either , and broke up a bit quicker , but at lower volumes did have a similar tone ..There's a certain FATNESS about those KT66's that just give it a fullness when you crank the volume a bit since you are starting to drive the power tubes , not just the preamp tubes .... Not fizzy like a high gain tone at all ....The Tweed Bassman is no sloutch eithers with the 5881/6L6's ....Both great amps ....Jim

Lee Jeffriess · From: Vallejo California

Dave Z, Billy Wilson had a Marshall PA head that he was really into.
My first legit steel rig was a Hiwatt custom 50 head and 2 Altec 417s.
It was ridiculously loud and clean, we ended up running it at half power (removing two tubes) and it still was too much for me.
That said, I was after a sweeter tweed Pro kind of sound.
I think someone who is going for a 60s Brumley/ Mooney sound would dig it.
Also we had changed over to 6L6s, we meaning Tim Maag.
I remember at the time him saying this amp is like a Bassman that was built by NASA.
Lee
BTW, check out early Traynors

James Quackenbush · From: Pomona, New York, USA

Got a couple of those old Traynors around too !!....The clean channel is like a B.F. Bassman, and the dirty channel is like a poor mans Plexi ....Great amp that can take plenty of abuse ....

Traynor Bassmaster ....and Traynor Bassmaster II .... The II had more power and also had a fan built into the head ...Heavy Duty EL34's only ...High plate voltage ....RIPPIN amp !!...Jim

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