Who plays thru Fender Steel King

Billy Gambrell · Post by **Billy Gambrell** » 9 Apr 2005 7:32 am

Has anyone heard of using the tin can? I hook one up my steel-use .50 wire-I run 3 of those to three cans on both sides of the stage in front of the audience(6 total wires)-works great for gigs at the looney bin!

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Randy Gilliam · Post by **Randy Gilliam** » 18 Apr 2005 9:09 pm

I have had mine 2 weeks Lots Of Power Great tone.I willbuy anouther one as soon as i can get a deal. Fender is back on track.

Chris Schlotzhauer · Post by **Chris Schlotzhauer** » 19 Apr 2005 5:31 am

Can you remove the casters and put the tilt legs on these?

T. C. Furlong · Post by **T. C. Furlong** » 19 Apr 2005 10:07 am

I lifted the Steel King once and immediately put a JBL K-130 in it. It's almost managable now. I can't see any reason not to put tilt back legs on one. If you like solid state, it's a great sounding amp.

James Pennebaker · Post by **James Pennebaker** » 19 Apr 2005 10:27 am

If you pull the back two casters out, the amp will sit back just great tilted on it's front wheels. Try it!

JP

Don Ricketson · Post by **Don Ricketson** » 19 Apr 2005 7:47 pm

[QUOTE] Fender should send b0b a donation for each one of these sold. Haha, maybe so, but they better be sending Buddy Emmons a little donation too

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Mullen D10-8/5
Sho-Bud S10-3/4
Evans Amps
"Making The Stars Shine"

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 19 Apr 2005 8:40 pm

So Larry, when are you going to tell the guys that you just pulled the head out and put it in a milk crate for convenience? Or is that the secret of your fabulous tone?[This message was edited by Dave Grafe on 19 April 2005 at 09:42 PM.]

Larry Behm · Post by **Larry Behm** » 20 Apr 2005 4:10 am

The amp head sits on my high rise with me and the speaker sits on a milk crate, up in the air. We play on a large stage and the main speakers are far apart. I put my speaker behind the stack (so the sound man can not hear it directly) and angle it to the center of the room. All reports are that the steel is now providing everyone the same sound no matter where they sit.

Larry

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 20 Apr 2005 8:30 am

Larry, all I know is that you sounded really great when I was out to see you a couple of weeks ago. Your steel didn't sound half bad, either!

Just kidding - your steel sounded great, but your singing knocked me out! Mick the soundman said you were playing extra good stuff once you knew another steeler was in the room.

You are fortunate, Larry, in that Mick not only gets your excellent steel sound out into the house with tone and balance, but he also does a lot to make those other goofballs in your band sound a lot better than they really are. At least I can sit through a whole night of them without having to get really close to your amp to cope.[This message was edited by Dave Grafe on 20 April 2005 at 09:34 AM.]

Larry Robbins · Post by **Larry Robbins** » 20 Apr 2005 3:08 pm

Had mine about four months now and I'm just as thrilled today as when I first got it!
I like it, the sound man likes it, and my Strat sounds good through it so I dont have to drag another amp around (except for my back-up. Cause, you never know!)And the back up stays in the truck!Dont really care about the weight as long as I can get this sound...If you aint got one, get one! Nuff said!

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Sho-Bud ProII, Pro III custom,
Fender Steelking,Hilton pedal,Tut Taylor "Virginian"

Bob Knetzger · Post by **Bob Knetzger** » 20 Apr 2005 10:06 pm

I just got mine and I love it, too!

Could some of you guys please share your fave, dialed-in settings?-- including any other in line stuff (e.g. Match Bros or other effects before the volume pedal or stuff thru the effects send/return)? And what settings do you use for the gain and master, too?

I have a Carter with a TrueTone pickup and a passive Goodrich pedal and even with the preamp limiter on and everything set flat at 12 o clock (verb at 9) I can get a overdriven, distorted sound on closely voiced notes, e.g. if I pick strings 3&4 hard on the C neck I can get a nasty, overdriven sound. (I know--it's like the old joke: Doctor, it hurts when I do this. Doctor: Don't do that!).

Has anyone else had to lighten their touch or lower their pick up height for cleaner sound with the FSK?

David Wren · Post by **David Wren** » 21 Apr 2005 1:21 pm

bob, try removing the volume pedal, and see if the distortion goes away... I had that problem, bought a Hilton.... all bedder now.

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Dave Wren
'95Carter S12-E9/B6,7X7; Session500; Hilton Pedal
www.ameechapman.com

Bob Lawrence · Post by **Bob Lawrence** » 22 Apr 2005 4:16 am

My Steel King should be here today. Wow!

Larry Behm · Post by **Larry Behm** » 22 Apr 2005 4:22 am

Bob turn down the channel volume to 10:00 and turn up the master to taste, does this help?

Larry Behm

Bob Knetzger · Post by **Bob Knetzger** » 26 Apr 2005 9:29 pm

Just a quick follow up- -Yes, Larry, good tip (and thanks Sam M!)- - dialing down the gain control settled down the harsh attack, but I still like the sound best with the input pad OFF.

I got to play the FSK out on a gig this last weekend--worked really great! Fabulous tone, terrific headroom, very smooth, lots of string definition, and plenty of punch without having to resort to extra treble to cut thru at louder stage volumes. No "ice pick' syndrone or Weber beam blockers needed!

I also got to play my electric mandolin and Fishman pick-up banjo (or shoud I say b@anjo, b0b?) thru the FSK as well. Worked really great!! Another difficult test-- getting a good ampified banjo sound-- needs really fast tracking/transients for no "sag" *and* real hi-fi sound so that it sounds like a banjo and not a guitar. This amp is a keeper!

For players that double (or triple) on other instruments, the single channel/single input will require some kind of extra input patching. Lehle makes a pricey 3-to-1 footswitch, but I wired up a fully grounded 3-to1 switcher box with a rotary switch. Worked fine so far. There's a few clubs and practice halls around town with horrible buzzy AC and bad RF interference I've yet to try it in...[This message was edited by Bob Knetzger on 27 April 2005 at 10:42 AM.]

Joe Alterio · Post by **Joe Alterio** » 26 Sep 2005 9:53 am

I just played a Steel King on stage this past Saturday....I absolutely love the sound of this amp. Everyone in my band noticed the difference over my Session 400 immediately....and for the first time EVER, I had an audience member come up and tell me how good the sound of the steel was.

I am very impressed with the sound of the speaker, as well as with the cabinet. No rattles, no extraneous noises when playing loud.

The only issue I have is with the overdriven sound. I figured out by the third song that I need to have the Master volume at "10" and the Gain as low as possible. My brief testing at home last night indicated that having the gain over 3.5 will induce some distortion when picking hard (as Bob and Larry noted above). However, playing an unmiked gig might bring me to needing the gain higher than "3.5".

Plus, having the Master at "10" invokes some amp hiss (though certainly not noticeable on stage). If the Gain is at "5" or higher, the hiss is noticeably louder.

I use a Hilton pedal and run it straight into the amp input.

I did try using the 10dB pad, but it does not seem to do anything other than lower the volume, which in turn necessitates increasing the Gain, which then increases the amp "hiss" and doesn't appear to eliminate any of the distortion at loud volumes.

Lest I mislead anyone, the distortion isn't really as bad as it might sound. I liken it to the steel sound on the opening lick of Dwight Yoakum's "I Want You To Want Me"...maybe a tad dirtier.

Overall, I will take a GREAT sounding amp with slight distortion at arena volumes over a so-so sounding amp with no distortion ANY day.

BTW...if Sam Marshall is reading this and can offer me any insight (either here or via e-mail) I would greatly appreciate it!

Joe

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 26 Sep 2005 12:32 pm

Joe - Welcome to the club! These are wonderful amps.

You should be hearing from Sam soon.

Lee, from South Texas