Does your steel feedback?

Doug Jones · From: Oregon & Florida

A few times, over the years, I've experienced feedback from my steel. This has occurred both with single coils and humbuckers. I figured it was amp proximity or excessive volume levels. I was discussing this with a fellow steeler who has had this occur quite a bit of late. He plays a '69 PP with mid-80's 19.5K stock Emmons single coils. His NV-400 is placed behind him to his left and off the floor. He also uses a Quadraverb. It seems to happen mostly when sustaining with the volume pedal. Any ideas what causes this and how to remedy the problem?

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

I had feedback issues the first times I played out, some years ago. These were the first times I was trying to find my sound at high volume levels after shedding at bedroom level.
I had some bad microphonic-type squeal---I actually was giving dirty looks to several other band members, not realizing that I was the source (embarassing!). The amp was an 80's Session 400 Limited. I later discovered that my GeorgeL TPP was extremely microphonic and I changed that out. But I also discovered that the reverb pan of the amp had come loose from the cabinet--the whole bag--and was magnetically attached to the speaker. That can't be good.
Ultimately, with a new pickup and a screwed down reverb bag, I had cured the feeback but I didn't really nail it down as to which was more of the cause.
So one question I'd ask of anyone with feedback issues is: do you still have problems with the reverb turned down?
Reverb tanks are fairly primitive electro-acoustic devices, compared with the rest of the workings of the amplifier. I often look to them first as a source of sonic problems.

[This message was edited by Jon Light on 05 November 2006 at 01:38 PM.]

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Like Jon said, it may be something else feeding back, microphonic tube, bad reverb tank, or something like that. I've played louder than anyone I know (well, maybe not Jimi Hendrix), I always "max out" the volume controls, and have never had a feedback problem. The only thing that will cause it in a steel is a bad pickup, and that's rare, but it does happen.

Also, keep in mind that the reverb tank shouldn't be solidly fastened to the amp (best to use 2" long screws so you don't tighten them down, so it can "float" a little). They put in a bag to isolate it from the speaker, and any contact with the speaker, or really solid contact with the amp cabinet, is just asking for trouble.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Spring reverb is always suspect, and Donny is on the money about isolating the reverb pan from the chassis vibrations. Either way, that's pretty easy to figure out - just turn the reverb off and see if it goes away.

But most of the time, for me, really problematic feedback is due to a microphonic pickup. I like nice, controllable feedback, either on steel or guitar. But the shrieky high-treble feedback that tends to come from loose pickup windings is trouble. I have had some luck dipping pickups - what they should be dipped in depends on the pickup, and I'd leave it to someone who has a fair amount of experience.

Of course, any pickup has a microphonic threshold - if you get the sound pressure level loud enough at a pickup, the windings will physically vibrate and create feedback. For me, that threshold and the sonic character of the feedback determines whether I like it or not.

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