Amp for lap and resophonics

Carl Lusk · From: Utah, USA

I am new to lap steels and dobro type guitars and am wondering if a Mesa Boogie DC3 would make a good choice for both. I have a chance to buy a nice low hour one. Thank you for any opinions.

Howard Parker · From: Maryland

(Caveate..I have not played through this amp.)

Fwiw..

I have yet to hear an amp that satisfied me for both lap and resonator (specifically dobro style) guitars.

As a result I use an acoustic instrument amp when I play dobro and a small guitar amp for lap steel.

Others may feel differently.

ymmv

Good luck in your search.

h
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Howard Parker

03\' Carter D-10
70\'s Dekley D-10
52\' Fender Custom
Many guitars by Paul Beard
Listowner Resoguit-L

Carl Lusk · From: Utah, USA

Thank you for the reply. I was afraid that would be the answer. Hmmm, well I guess I could ask the maker of the resophonic I recently purchased and ask what he would recommend. I would like a bluesy sound for the lap steel so maybe that would narrow it down some.

Carl Lusk · From: Utah, USA

I was told by the builder that a Fishman Loud box is what he uses. I hear they are a good one.

Howard Parker · From: Maryland

That's what I use on dobro (only). It's an acoustic instrument amp. Does not have the voice that I prefer for lapsteel.

h
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Howard Parker

03\' Carter D-10
70\'s Dekley D-10
52\' Fender Custom
Many guitars by Paul Beard
Listowner Resoguit-L

Joe Burke · From: Toronto, Canada

I have a Fender Blues Jr that I use for lap and dobro. If bluegrass was my main thing, I'd likely get a dedicated acoustic amp, but I find I get good sounds for both.

Carl Lusk · From: Utah, USA

Thanks guys. My main interest is blues and old country and western swing. I have heard good things about both the amps mentioned. I am bidding on a Fishman LBX 500 now, so we shall see. I will check the Fender Blues JR. I was looking at a VHT Special 6. It may be fine for lap steel but maybe not so hot for Resonators.

Carl Lusk · From: Utah, USA

Seeing I am a beginner I guess any good quality practice amp would work. I do have a little Peavy Transtube 258 but for my lap steel I just don't care for the sound. Could also just be me or the lap. Its a Chandler H5. I am sure any good player could make my amp and guitar sound good.

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

Back when I played Dobro, I used one of the tri-amped Fishman Loudbox amps. Awesome. I also used a Behringer Acoustasonic for mandolin, and my 2 dobros that didn't have pickups. You could plug a mic into one channel, and I used a Shure KSM-??? Small condenser mic. I still have the amps, but none of the dobros or the mandolin.

That Mesa would probably better than the acoustic amp for the lapsteel.
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Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 54 years and still counting.

Michael Maddex · From: Northern New Mexico, USA

Carl, another way to go is with a Bass Amp and a couple of Stomp Boxes. Maybe a Blues Overdrive for the Lap Steel and a Basic EQ for the Acoustic. Bass Amps rarely have Reverb so you may want a pedal for that too. Good Luck however you go! Cool

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"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert." -- Arthur C. Clarke

Carl Lusk · From: Utah, USA

The Mesa Boogie is out. Down to a Fishman LBX 500 and also been looking locally at a VHT special 6 that comes with an array of extra tubes for obtaining a bit different sounds. Thanks.

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

In my opinion you will need two different amps. There really is no one single amplifier that I know of that will do justice to the flat, clean tone of an amplified acoustic instrument, and the fat, saturated tone of a solid-body electric.

It's like walking into an auto dealership and asking for a vehicle that excels at off-roading and will go around hairpin curves at 150 mph like it's on rails.

I believe Michael's suggestion of a bass amp and a pile of pedals has considerable merit. But stomp boxes are akin to Lay's Potato Chips, in that you can't have just one. And good ones are expensive.

Stephen Cowell · From: Round Rock, Texas, USA

Dumble Steel String Singer for the win!
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Joe Kaufman · From: Lewiston, Idaho

Have you considered a Peavey Austin 400? One Acoustic channel and one electric with a saturation cuircuit. If it has tones you find acceptable, it was at least designed for something similar.

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

I've played resophonic and lap steel since the mid-70's and "regular" guitar longer. I've also worked the acoustic support side - mic'ing amps and rigging direct systems, mixing and doing some acoustic design for halls and clubs.

IMO lap steel and "regular" electric guitar work fine through conventional guitar amps, but acoustic instruments - especially Dobro and banjos - do not. The resulting sound is very "unnatural" and oddly mechanical sounding. Guitar amplifiers are voiced in a way that is very different than that needed for a natural sound from resophonic instruments.

Dobros specifically sound tinny and metallic through electric guitar amps, and higher-gain amps voiced like most Mesa combos accentuate the negatives - whether the instrument is mic'd or has a good resonator pickup system (Schertler, Baggs or Fishman). Banjos suffer the same fate, and acoustic guitars sound very "electrified". Cheaper pickups make things quite a bit worse.

You can get away with some guitar amps if you have both a good pickup system (these are all internal pickups, not magnetic "under string" types) and a Preamp like a Baggs Venue or Fishman Aura. But realistically using one of those as a direct box is FAR better than running through a guitar amp.

Another option is an acoustic amplifier, especially is you use one and run a direct line from its preamp output. For Dobro, though, even acoustic amplifiers may sound weirdly hollow or narrowly focused, so it's best to test as many as possible - and at the volume level you'd use playing live.

And if there's no direct option available one of the above preamp or the Baggs Para Acoustic DI used as a preamp between instrument and amp vastly improves the sound.

Unfortunately amplifying Dobro through an amp designed for electric guitar (and lap steel) is as practical as running electric guitars and bass through the same amp. They need separate amps or at minimum a high end preamp with a direct line or dedicated acoustic amplifier.
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No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional

K Maul · From: Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL

If you have the budget,a Quilter Aviator 8 is a great acoustic or electric amp. It has two channels so you can EQ separately and it has a great DI out. However, for dobro I almost always use DI or mic only and just put it into the monitors.

Do you have a pickup on the dobro? Fishman Nashville into an Aura Jerry Douglas and good preamp/DI is best. I also use the Aura Spectrum,which has xlr out,EQ,tuner,compression and resonator images.
Blues Jr works great for lap steel. Depending on where you set the gain,it can be clean and vintage or growly gnarly distortion.
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KEVIN MAUL: Airline, Beard, Clinesmith, Donner, Evans, Excel, Fender, Fluger, GFI, Gibson, Hilton, Ibanez, Justice, K+K, Live Strings, MOYO, National, Oahu, Peterson, Quilter, Rickenbacher, Sho~Bud, Supro, TC, Ultimate, VHT, Williams, X-otic, Yamaha, ZKing.

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