Pedal Steel through a Marshall stack?

Peter Siegel · Post by **Peter Siegel** » 4 Mar 2003 4:07 pm

Hi everyone.
Has anyone experimented with pedal steel through a Marshall stack? Anyone use one regularly? I have always thought it would be a great rock steel sound, and maybe even good for country if not turned up to the real distorted level. I've used the cabinets (4 x 12") before and found them very nice outdoors, where I find a closed back cabinet really helps. But I've never used the amps with the cabinets.
How does it sound?

-Peter

Bobby Snell · Post by **Bobby Snell** » 4 Mar 2003 5:59 pm

Marshalls w/Celestions have their own unique sound...I love a good crunch. They color the sound pretty early in the headroom curve, and may be a little too rough for many country tastes.

I have some Seymour Duncan pickups on an old Emmons GS-10 that went well through my Marshalls. I also had a ZB that sounded good in rock applications through that.

In high volumes, the usual steel pickup may have uncontrollable shrieking feedback problems. YMMV.

[This message was edited by Bobby Snell on 04 March 2003 at 05:59 PM.]

Al Miller · Post by **Al Miller** » 5 Mar 2003 4:42 am

WHAT DA?.......
Eddie Van Emmons ? well i never thought it would come to this

JUst kidding guys . heck if a Crate!! amp!! is where you get your sound I say plug it in ..
Boo

Jody Cameron · Post by **Jody Cameron** » 5 Mar 2003 8:36 am

Once, when touring with David Kersh in 1998, we did a week in Hawaii at a club in Honolulu. Believe it or not, in all of Hawaii, there was not a Session 400 or Nash. 400 or any other "steel" amp to be found! We had it in the contract rider to provide a Nash. 400 or "equivalent", but they could not find one, so I had to my choice of a '70's silver face Fender Twin with about half the tubes working, or a Marshall stack.

I switched off every night for 5 nights, and they both sounded like hammered crap. Couldn't get a decent sound out of either one! I'm all for thinking out of the box, but steel guitars require steel amps, IMHO.

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 5 Mar 2003 12:10 pm

I've never liked the harmonic structure of the British tube sound very much. I prefer the way 6L6's "sing", especially for pedal steel.

I'm moving this topic to the 'Electronics' section of the Forum, where it belongs.

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<img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9), Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6),
Roland Handsonic, Line 6 Variax

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 5 Mar 2003 3:03 pm

Marshall has a new amp head out (Mode Four) that has a tube preamp and a (digital?) power amp that supposedly gives 380 watts for the purpose of providing a lot of head room. This amp is also supposedly designed to handle big low end sounds like drop tunings and low string power chords.

This might be worth a try. But I'm with the others above, previous Marshalls have had way too little head room for pedal steel.

SveinungL · Post by **SveinungL** » 6 Mar 2003 6:08 am

Totally disagree that Marshall won't work for steel!! And I also disagree that steelguitar needs typical steel amps!
If you had heard Al Perkins here in Oslo last year, you would have changed your mind. He played his Fender stringmaster (at least I think it was a stringmaster) through a small Marshall combo and it sounded great! I mean really great!!
I've played through Marshall my self and had excellent results (to my ears that is....).
Now I go through a Fender Pro Reverb for rockabilly/smaller country gigs. Mesa Boogie Studio Pre + Mesa 12" cabs for bigger gigs.
Both these setups knocks out the P****y N*******e and the P****y S*****n (typical steel amps) in my opinion.
But of course, what sounds good to me maybe sounds crap to others.

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Thanks Sveinung Lilleheier
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Kentucky Riders

Leslie Ehrlich · Post by **Leslie Ehrlich** » 6 Mar 2003 12:30 pm

I don't know about the Marshall amp itself, but I do like the sound of PSG with Celestion 12" speakers (clean or distorted). I've found that much of the 'Marshall sound' comes from the Celestion speakers.

Gino Iorfida · Post by **Gino Iorfida** » 6 Mar 2003 12:42 pm

.... and remember, all marshalls are not created equal. For example:
1) JTM45 -- bluesy bassman tone
2) 50w plexi lead, crunchy, compressed when cranked, very fat (100watt similar, but notably brighter)
3) you have the plexi 'keyboard/bass' amps, which are more bassman than 'marshall crunch' -- also noted, they had PA heads
4) then you get to the metal panel, still similar to the plexis, but louder, brighter, and more gain
5) marshall major, 200watts of power, can be VERY loud and clean
6) master volume marshalls/jcm800 80's hair metal crunch
7) modern Jcm900 and all the channel swtichign and new marshalls, even more gain..

so in other words, you could very easily ahve a nice, loud, CLEAN and FAT sounding marshall, or a gainy, crunchy distorting grind-o-matic marshall... and note, any of the above 'marshalls' have been used in a stack configuration

(it's like saying 'is peavey a good steel guitar amp', well the Nashville 400 is, but I dont quite think I'd want to play steel through a XXX or a 5150

Steve Stallings · Post by **Steve Stallings** » 6 Mar 2003 1:29 pm

Hey... I just got a JCM900 half stack. I've not tried it for steel but it sounds great on clean guitar! (Of course, my 13 y/o thinks that there is only one control on this amp...off or on.....way on!

)

Dan Tyack · Post by **Dan Tyack** » 6 Mar 2003 6:51 pm

My experience with Marshall stacks is that they sound great when they are really pushed. Clean, they tend to sound pretty midrangey, cold, and brittle. People who know a lot more about this than me tell me it's a preamp voicing thing.

I don't think the EL34s can be blamed. Steel can sound great through EL34s.

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www.tyack.com

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 7 Mar 2003 3:46 am

I had Elliot Easton's (Lead guitar for The Cars) JCM800, that was modified for him, in my studio for 3 weeks around 1989. I played glass slide guitar through it and I really sounded great.
A BIG FAT singing tone at several different settings. I imagine with a 4x12 cab it would sound real purdy on my Sho-Bud. But who wants to carry it.
[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 07 March 2003 at 05:30 AM.]

Larry Robbins · Post by **Larry Robbins** » 7 Mar 2003 1:37 pm

I am currently playing through a MG100
head(no tubes) with an old Pevey 4/12
(celestion green backs)bottom.The clean
channle sounds very good to my ear,and the
overdrive rocks if that happens to be your
cup of tea.I also use a 30 watt MG-DFX
that is much easier to carry and gives a
decent country sound IMO.Your mileage may
vary!

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Larry Robbins
GFI-s 10
Morrell lap steel,Reagl 75 dobro and Marshall half stack(I know,I know)

Paul Brainard · Post by **Paul Brainard** » 11 Mar 2003 2:32 am

I've used a JCM 900 + 4-12 cabinet on gigs a few times - in a rock band. I thought it sounded pretty cool, even more or less clean. Real fat & thick, which I like. But definitely not a Nashville sound.

Jerry Tillman · Post by **Jerry Tillman** » 11 Mar 2003 5:23 am

This summer I plan to play my outdoor gigs through a vox super beatle.It is 120 ss watts with 4 12 inch celestions.I feel sure I will get a good sound as I have yet to plug my 66 Emmons into any amp and not get a good sound.My mojo and cool factor will be extremely high. ls

Bobby Snell · Post by **Bobby Snell** » 11 Mar 2003 6:35 pm

Never underestimate good Mojo!

Glenn Austin · Post by **Glenn Austin** » 11 Mar 2003 8:11 pm

I played thru a Marshall 1 x 12 JCM900 combo with 6L6's recently, and I must say that it was fantastic sounding. When I first started playing I had a Silver Jubilee Marshall a la Guns'n'Roses and it absolutely stank for steel use.