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Topic: Info. on Pick-ups / Amps for LapSteel. |
Mike Dexter
From:
Derbyshire, England
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Posted 13 Feb 2004 1:58 pm |
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| How to get that 'old'(1930's) sound. What Pick-ups/Amps are available today that do that? Anybody experimented with Fingerboard Nuts/Types of Bridges? Comments Welcome. |
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Bill Leff
From:
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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Posted 13 Feb 2004 6:28 pm
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This question is better asked in the "No Peddlers" section, not here in Buy and Sell.
That being said, it's pretty difficult to get the "old" sound of what you are hearing on 30's recordings. Part of what you are hearing is the limitations of the recording process in those days. Even with the same guitars and amps, it doesn't sound exactly the same.
That being said, the obvious answer is to find the old amps, tubes, speakers, guitars, etc. That being said, there are some people building equipment with the old sounds in mind. An example is the Jason Lollar/Rick Aiello collaborative effort to build the old Ric horseshoe pickups. |
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basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 13 Feb 2004 7:09 pm
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Mike.. drop over and see me... I have a collection of steels from the 30's, 40's, 50,s etc..
and a few Vintage amps including a Gibson "Goldtone" 50's "Fender" and a NICE Ashdown Reso, we can probably find the sound you're looking for..
B76-2UZ check it out on multimap
Apatment 89 Elizabeth House.
0121-682-2315..or cellular 0781-687-2166
Baz
www.waikiki-islanders.com
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| Quote: |
| Steel players do it without fretting |
http://www.waikiki-islanders.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
[This message was edited by basilh on 17 February 2004 at 07:33 PM.] |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 13 Feb 2004 8:52 pm
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| Moved to 'No Peddlers' |
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Tim Whitlock
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 16 Feb 2004 8:24 am
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| Mike - I too love that old sound, which I like to refer to as "lo-fi". I've been able to replicate it very nicely using my inexpensive Nioma lap steel (a Rick would certainly be better) and an old Magnatone (50's) tube amp with a 6 or 7 inch speaker. The old recordings sound good to my ear, despite limited technology, but when you play a lap steel through one of these "primitive" old amps, you get to hear what the players on those recordings heard. It is the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. In my opinion, the amp is the key. Most have volume and tone controls only and that's all you need. Good luck! [This message was edited by Tim Whitlock on 16 February 2004 at 08:27 AM.] |
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Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 16 Feb 2004 9:23 am
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Tim.....thanks for the reinforcement of my own findings this past year.
My little 1940's, Harmony six tube amp with Rola Speaker, transformed my "sound" into the era of sound I've been searching for, for decades. Jerry's old Volu-Tone amp was most likely the same basic set up and it sure does sound "close".
Then two weeks ago, I chanced to plug into an old Epiphone Electra 10" and WOW! FANTABULOUS SOUND! Exactly what I've wanted and needed to round out my music life.
It's that small speaker sound and the warm pop of the tubes that seem to do it. |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 16 Feb 2004 9:43 am
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This is why I like my Fender Pro Junior amp so well. I find that it gives "just enough" overdrive to mimic the sound of those early Fender Deluxe and Princeton amps without breaking my budget.
There are a LOT of different little Hawaiian amps out there at very affordable prices. I think one of the best sounds I ever had was through a Magnatone lap steel amp.
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Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 16 Feb 2004 12:48 pm
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I recently picked up a new Gibson Goldtone amp off of ebay. I think it is basically a Trace-Elliot with Gibson's name on it. Gibson bought the company a while back. My amp is one of the last models built in England with the Gibson name on it. It is still has the brown covering, now they are black and made in the USA. I feel that it is an outstanding amp. It is a class A tube amp with a lot of nice features. I tried it with my 1948 Gibson Console Grande and it made for a great combination! 
Erv[This message was edited by Erv Niehaus on 16 February 2004 at 12:50 PM.] |
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Mike Fried
From:
Nashville, TN, USA
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Posted 16 Feb 2004 5:48 pm
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A large part of the old sound is the simpler preamp designs in use back then, which didn't have the big "hi-fi" midrange scoop that later designs such as the blackface Fenders used. Using singled-ended Class A output did help sweeten the harmonic distortion and dynamic response, but limited the power available.
Using a "soft" rectifier such as a large-bottle 5U4 instead of a 5AR4 can help a medium-power push-pull amp compress more like a single-end amp. On newer "reissue" amps such as the Fender Blues Junior, Peavey Delta Blues, etc., you can get them to sound "older" and rounder by using lower gain preamp tubes such as the 12AY7 in the first gain stage instead of the stock 12AX7. This provides more headroom for the hot lap steel pickups so they don't overdrive the preamp stages as easily, which provides more dynamic range and a rounder "attack envelope".
If you're using a tube amp with multiple tone controls, setting the treble and bass to their lower ranges usually provides a flatter frequency response that better approximates the old circuits. I believe that Jerry said he sets his Fender Twin with his treble control (the worst "offender" for scooping the response on that design) pretty much off.
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