| Author |
Topic: my steel is WAy louder than my guitar. is that normal? |
Aaron Shively
From:
California, USA
|
Posted 29 Apr 2011 10:29 am |
|
| my pedal steel has a really hot signal, and seems to be pretty harsh and shrill. i dont know what pickup is in there, but it appears to be stock. my steel is a 1980-something Dekeley. any suggestions for pickups or pedals to smooth out that tone? could it be that im running it through a twin reverb type amp? |
|
|
 |
Paul Sutherland
From:
Placerville, California
|
Posted 29 Apr 2011 11:13 am
|
|
In a word: YES. I've plugged by Strat into my amp that was set up for my steel, (same channel, same volume settings, etc.) and the Strat didn't have nearly as much volume. I always have to turn the amp up for the Strat.
Steel guitar pickup are typically much more powerful than guitar pickups. I don't know why that is, but it seems to be the case. You can easily check the ohm output of your steel and your guitar using an ohm gauge. I have used an automotive tune-up thingy to check mine: my strat reads about 5,800 ohms, and my Emmons reads about 20,000 ohms.
Regarding shrillness and harshness: try moving your right hand further away from the pickup. That mellows the tone.
Classic steel tone is often very bright. But it is easy to cross the line into harshness and shrillness. With experience (lots of focused playing time) one learns to control the brightness.
I would not start swapping pickups or steels until I had played for at least a year or more. With more playing experience you may find that the problem goes away. |
|
|
|
David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
|
Posted 29 Apr 2011 11:14 am
|
|
Because of historical tweaks, pedal steels do come with what's usually a very powerful pickup (and NO VOLUME KNOB). A strat pickup is around 1/3 as powerful as a pedal steel, a humbucking-equipped six-string my be 1/2 as powerful. If you want a steel to sound good through a guitar rig, or if you want to use standard guitar effects, you usually need to attenuate the steel pickup's output. I usually use an old DOD compressor (FX80B) set not to compress, but just as a volume reduction. A lot of different boxes can do about the same thing.
Some people have installed a volume knob on their steel , and there are a number of people who make pickups that can be had at a specifically-lower output. It's like pedal steel guitar pickups followed the same trend as six-strings up until the Super Overdrive Distortion day, then guitars began using lower output, cleaner pickups again, but steels are still way high-powered. |
|
|
|
Brint Hannay
From:
Maryland, USA
|
Posted 29 Apr 2011 11:45 am
|
|
Of course, there's also the fact that steel players most often use a volume pedal, one of the main reasons for which is to obtain long sustain by picking with the volume pedal only partway on, and bringing up the volume as the string vibration decays, matching the volume-pedal increase with the string-decay decrease to maintain the initial volume. So the normal operating condition of the steel is at the level of the volume control (in the pedal) turned down approximately halfway.
That being the case, the stronger output of the steel itself followed by the pedal volume reduction makes the steel's volume more comparable to that of a guitar wide open (as most people play them). |
|
|
|
Steve French
From:
Roseville CA
|
Posted 29 Apr 2011 11:58 am
|
|
With a Twin Reverb, use one channel for steel and the other for the Strat. You can set levels and eq to taste. Put the steel through the normal side, use an outboard pedal for reverb or delay if you need it. Use your regular guitar effects on the reverb side. Works pretty well for me and lots of others.
Steve |
|
|
|
