battery powered amps for lapsteel

Jerome Hawkes · From: Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA

i wanted to post this in the non-pedal section cause i know most of us dont venture over in electronics - but before i make the purchase, do any of you have any recommendations on a battery powered amp for lap steel?

went to a lot of festivals this summer where it would have been nice to have one as most of these are acoustic swing jams. the one i see most is the roland cube rx which looks nice, but i've heard clean is not its strong point - mainly for a crunch sound.

any thing else out there in the $200-400 range?
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David Soreff · From: North Las Vegas, NV

Jerome...the Roland Cube Street is a real winner. I've had one for a while, and never been let down. Great sound, VERY portable and the batteries last forever. Great clean sounds!

David Matzenik · From: Cairns, on the Coral Sea

The Vox battery amps have very good tone, and reverb if you like that sound.
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Joe Snow · From: Argyle,Texas, USA

Vox DA-5! I've played a cube and own a Vox. It works well and has an extra input for a mic.

Stephen Baker · From: Lancashire, UK

I’ve got a Vox mini 3. It cost me about £85 here in the UK and it’s amazing. The clean setting is good , the tweed twin and bassman are great for a little crunch but the “line” setting is loud and ultra clean, I even use it for nylon string guitar. Plus it has all the various distortion settings, delay( with speed & repeat setting), reverb, compression, chorus, flanger, tremolo( if you want them), built in tuner and separate mic input. The other selling point over the Roland etc. for me was the AC input is 12v, the same as most auto batteries. I use a cigarette lighter attachment to a battery booster / jump starter or straight to the car. I can’t recommend them enough. Steve

Steve Hamill · From: California, USA

I recently went to a Hawaiian music camp and every
lap steel player in attendance including me was
using the mini cube. They have great tone and a
line out to the PA if you need it. I paid $60 used
on Craigslist.

Bill Creller · From: Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)

The Roland Micro Cube seems to sound good with some guitars, and not so good with others. Nice little amp though.....

Todd Clinesmith · From: Lone Rock Free State Oregon

I have a Roland Micro Cube. The tone is not ideal, but you get used to it. For what it does .... it is a great unit, and a good bang for the buck. The batteries last for close to 40 hours+ ( 6 AA's) too. The clean tones do go away after volume and gain is 1/2 way up. or so If you are playing with acoustic players you should not need to exceed that.

Geoff Cline · From: Southwest France

The L'il Chuckster. Built like a tank and tone for days...particularly if you like playing blues or stuff with some "attitude."

http://www.chucksteramps.com/

Steve Hamill · From: California, USA

Looks very interesting. Nothing came up when I clicked on the Buy button. Still making them?

Bryan Daste · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

I have an audio demo of an Artisan lap steel (not the best, I know) through a Vox DA5 here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCQUV-FmnXY

It was a demo for a package deal I was selling with the amp, steel, picks, bar & cable. It sold fast!

Jeffrey Wewers · From: New Jersey, USA

I build my own. Easy, fun and they sound good. I get pre-wired amp modules on Ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Low-Voltage-Audio-Amplifier-Module-Kit-NJM386D-LM386-/250530511493?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item3a54c83a85

Then I mount them in old intercom speaker boxes (more Ebay), using the intercom speaker, add a jack, and I'm done. Here's a pic:

The two on the left are finished - I use them regularly. Of these two, the tweed one took a little more work. I made it from an old suitcase I found at a flea market. Same electronics, speaker and grille were more inexpensive online purchases.

Bob Russell · From: Virginia, USA

Steve Ahola · From: Concord, California

It's not battery powered but IMO the coolest tiny amp is the Kustom Tube 12. Although sold as a practice amp I have played gigs in small bars with a full band and it kept up with the drummer. For regular guitar I replaced the 8" Celestion with an Eminence Beta 8 (a 225 watt driver for PA's and bass cabs) to fill out the bottom end a bit, although I prefer the stock speaker for lap steel. The "tube" in the name refers to the 12AX7A preamp tube, although the rest of the circuitry is analog solid state.

I keep a "20 ft. 16/3 Cord Reel with 4 Outlets" ($20 from Home Depot) in my car at all times:

I also keep a 12" piggyback plug adaptor on hand so I can plug into a power strip that is already full. This is the closest picture I could find (imagine it terminating in a regular 3 prong female jack rather than an IEC connector):

My favorite one has the cord coming out at a 45 degree angle so it can fit most power strips although I do have all 3 styles.

BTW I recommend a rig like that even for a battery powered amp to keep from using up the battery power when AC voltage is available. The Vox DA-5 uses 6 C cells which can get a bit pricey. I would try using some of the new high amperage rechargeable NiMH AA cells with the adaptors to allow them to replace C cells. Or you can just keep buying the alkaline batteries from Sally- you know, the Sally who sells C cells down by the seashore... Whoa!

Steve Ahola

P.S. For the Lil Chuckster or the Vox DA-5 I would use a small 12 volt automotive power pack (for jumping your car when the battery is dead). They usually come with 1 or 2 12v sockets so you would need to buy or make a DC power cord.

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Joe Snow · From: Argyle,Texas, USA

Your amps are mighty cool.

George Piburn · From: The Land of Enchantment New Mexico

Check out the Roland KC 110 Keyboard battery amp.

This version is 399.99 at all of the stores. It Has 10 watts per each of the 2 -- 10 inch loudspeakers On Batteries , and 15 watts per side with the AC Adapter.

The big issue with the micro cube type amps is the low watts and quick distortion.

This fellow has the most watts and the most ability to push air with the 10" loudspeakers. Resulting in the loudest clean of the offers.

It also has 3 inputs 2 band EQ the mic in has both 3pin and 1/4 jack.

If the piezo tweeters are too sharp , a simple piece of Gaffers Tape is enuff to dampen them.
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Steve Ahola · From: Concord, California

Good point about the lack of clean headroom in many/most of those small portable amps, George.

The KC-110 has a li'l brother that some people have raved about for about 2/3rd the price, the Roland Street Cube, but I don't know how well it would work with steel guitar. It has one channel for a microphone plus one channel for a guitar. Downside in my opinion is that the Street Cube uses digital modeling to recreate the sounds of several vintage amps and effects- I prefer the good old fashioned analog amps whether they might be tube or solid state. No pretending that it is one amp or another- they are a real amp in their own right. (I believe that the KC-110 amp is analog solid state rather than digital- right?)

Steve
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Recordings on electric guitar:
http://www.box.net/blue-diamonds
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Steve Hamill · From: California, USA

Dan Rasp with Lil Chuckster amps emailed me and said he is no longer making the amps as they were too labor intensive.

David Matzenik · From: Cairns, on the Coral Sea

Jeffrey, If your amps sound as good as they look, they must be 'way cool! What size speaker will that unit run? PS Is that a Bronson bakelite?
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Jeffrey Wewers · From: New Jersey, USA

I've run a 6" speaker with that amp module. Yes, that's Bronson(Rick in disguise).

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

That's how to do it, Jeffery, nice stuff!

Steve Green · From: Gulfport, MS, USA

Bob Stone · From: Gainesville, FL, USA

George P.,

The Roland KC 110 has 6.5" speakers.

http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.php?ProductId=1057

Still looks good, though.

I'm pretty happy with my Vox DA-5, prefer it over the Roland Micro Cube.

Best,

Bob

George Piburn · From: The Land of Enchantment New Mexico

Dear Bob -- Good catch,

I love my mini cube too. They (mini- and Vox ) do tend to run out of clean volume when in a playing condition with other amplified instruments.

So far as getting the maximum clean volume from one of these battery amps , the KC 110 is for certain the best one ,2 separate amps@ 10X the power = a full double in volume without distortion from the amp portion. The 6.5 sized loud speakers X 2 will also double the output volume naturally by pushing a lot more air + a much more distinct Tone range of Lows and Highs.

The other features like the 3 pin , 3 channels - hi low EQ - metal thingy to lean it back - all add to a superior item for the original request of this thread.

Roland also makes one of these for Acoustic instruments , Gerald Ross loves his , and the power is basically the same as the KC110 - this would be a really good choice if the player doubles on Ukulele or guitar.

I am pretty sure the Street model still has the 1 watt amps, not the 10 watt ones. The additional power makes a huge difference for the better over all performance.
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Maker of One of a Kind Works of Art that play music too.
Instructional DVDs
YouTube Channel

Jeffrey Wewers · From: New Jersey, USA

Steve, that's it exactly.

Jeff

On these units you link to on ebay: Do you simply wire CN1 to a 9v battery, CN2 to an input jack, and CN3 to a 6" speaker?

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