Cleanest of the Clean

Rick Collins · Post by **Rick Collins** » 14 Jun 2005 4:29 pm

What amp is the cleanest you've ever heard for a steel guitar, going straight from the guitar to the amp (not even a voulme pedal)?

And, is cleanest the best possible tone (sound)? ...just seeking information.

Many thanks, Rick

Sonny Priddy · Post by **Sonny Priddy** » 14 Jun 2005 5:13 pm

I Would Say A Nashville 112 And A Nashville 1000 I Have One Of Each. SONNY.

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Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 15 Jun 2005 2:26 am

All of the Peavey steel guitar amps, that I've had have been "clean". I've had a Session 500 (original small cabinet model) a reissued Session 400 LTD, a Nashville 400 and now have both a Nashville 112 and 1000.

The least favorite of the amps for tone was the Session 400 LTD. I could never get the tone dialed in that I liked and only used it as a "back up" amp. I finally traded it for a MosValve 500 power amp.

Larry Behm · Post by **Larry Behm** » 15 Jun 2005 4:09 am

Fender Steel King.

Larry Behm

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 15 Jun 2005 6:59 am

The cleanest sound you can get is playing directly into the board or into a good PA system, or even into your home stereo. But clean and tone are not the same thing. With its overabundance of highs and high-mids, an electric steel guitar has thin harsh tone through a high fidelity system with flat full-range response.

All solid state steel guitar amps play very clean up through the middle of their volume range. The NV 1000 would be very hard to beat for clean. SS steel amps are typically voiced to emphsize the lows and low-mids, and to scoop the high mids - all of which give them better tone for steel. However, to me it is a very pure but sterile sound.

Acoustic instruments achieve their unique tones by the way their materials and shapes interact to "shape" the overtone patterns to give a pleasing texture to the tone. Magnetic pickups in solid-body instruments just seem to produce sterile tone with little texture.

Electric guitarists have traditionally used the unclean texture of tube amps to gain some texture in their tone. Even though they can be built to play very clean (for example, modern tube bass amps), many tube amps lend some tube harmonics to the tone, even at their cleanest. Also, many tube amps will play fairly clean at low volumes, but will distort at middle to high volumes. The Fender silver-face amps were exceptional in that they were designed to play clean almost up to top volume. Yet, even at their cleanest, some tube harmonics come through that lend a beautiful full texture to the lows and sparkle to the highs. That is my favorite clean tone - any Fender silver-face amp.

James Quackenbush · Post by **James Quackenbush** » 15 Jun 2005 7:57 am

Fender Steel King

Robert Thomas · Post by **Robert Thomas** » 15 Jun 2005 2:48 pm

Peavey MP-600 Amp Head into 2 cabinets with 2-12" Jensen Speakers in each cabinet.

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 15 Jun 2005 4:18 pm

Webb 6-14-E.

Jim Bates · Post by **Jim Bates** » 15 Jun 2005 4:23 pm

Session 500 with a JBL speaker.

Only other thing I put in is a regular Lil Izzy and a pot volume pedal. Super-clean.

Thanx,
Jim

Curt Langston · Post by **Curt Langston** » 15 Jun 2005 4:26 pm

However, to me it is a very pure but sterile sound.

Huh? Interesting!

Rick Alexander · Post by **Rick Alexander** » 15 Jun 2005 4:43 pm

Definitely a Steel King. Cleaner and brighter than the Peaveys. A Steel King and a Peavey Session 500 are a great combo. 2 Steel Kings will cut through anything. Steel Kings also sound decent for guitar. Amps

RA

Darrell Owens · Post by **Darrell Owens** » 15 Jun 2005 6:59 pm

My cleanest amp is a Rivera Hammer rack mount amp with 2 JBL 130 ext cabinets. I also have the original Peavey Session 500 and a Web 614E - all very clean amps with lots of power, but the Rivera is the cleanest.

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Darrell Owens
www.darrellowens.com

Billy Carr · Post by **Billy Carr** » 15 Jun 2005 11:13 pm

I understand your question clearly but I would consider what kind of steel guitar is being plugged into the amp. In my case, D-10 Carter w/XR-16 pick ups. Clean sound with the NV-1000,NV-112 & FSK. In my opinion, at a low level of volume I would say the NV-1000 is cleaner but at a much higher volume I tend to favor the FSK with the NV-1000 being used as a extra speaker coming out of the FSK. The 112 I think is probably somewhere between the other two. Good subject.

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 16 Jun 2005 5:34 am

*[This message was edited by Gene Jones on 13 November 2005 at 12:29 PM.]

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 16 Jun 2005 6:41 am

Curt, I was addressing Rick's second question:

And, is cleanest the best possible tone (sound)?

For me the answer is no. The cleanest amps are sterile sounding and lack tone. While an underpowered tube amp may have too much distortion, a powerful clean tube amp has lush lows and sparkly highs that I prefer. I guess I like a little vinegar with my greens.

Bobbe Seymour · Post by **Bobbe Seymour** » 16 Jun 2005 6:32 pm

And now! The answer is----------------------------------> COWS! Because they don't give milk at all, you have to take it away from them! Yes! COWS!

Glad to be of help here guys, but next time just email me personally!
Remember, COWS!

Jim Bates · Post by **Jim Bates** » 16 Jun 2005 6:46 pm

If you can't stand the answers, then don't ask the question. Obviously, it's still 'different strokes for different folks'.

Thanx,
Jim

Gordon Borland · Post by **Gordon Borland** » 16 Jun 2005 9:41 pm

Fender Steel King not Cows!

Dont know about your cows Bobby but Grandma
had one trained to come in and squat over the brakefast table when I was kid. Guess she figured that would keep us kids out of the cow pasture where the mushrooms grew. That is why the first amp I ever bought was a fender and I would have to agree about purple.

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Gordon Borland
MSA D10,FENDER STEEL KING, NASHVILLE 400,PEAVEY SESSIONS 2000, 1963 BROWN FENDER DELUXE NO REVERB. 1973 FENDER JAGUAR SUNBURST SIX STRING GUITAR, PEAVEY T60 SIX STRING GUITAR.

John Hawkins · Post by **John Hawkins** » 17 Jun 2005 5:54 pm

A 110 % second to what Gene Jones says about the Walker Stereo Steel combo ! It is the best I have ever had--period! User friendly and all the things a steeler needs built right into the pre-amp / amp plus having the cleanest sound of them all IMHO and PLENTY of head room to go along with it. No such a thing as having any distortion with this system !!! Not heavy either like some of the other brands of amps.

Gerry Walker- a fine steeler himself, built this system with a steel player in mind !

A GREAT system !

John

Dan Tyack · Post by **Dan Tyack** » 17 Jun 2005 6:39 pm

The cleanest I've heard is directly through a good quality DI straight into the board. And it doesn't sound very good, IMHO.

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www.tyack.com

Leslie Ehrlich · Post by **Leslie Ehrlich** » 17 Jun 2005 11:18 pm

Cleanest possible tone? Not for me.

Curt Shoemaker · Post by **Curt Shoemaker** » 18 Jun 2005 4:53 am

Rick, For me it's the EVANS 200 for clarity and tone.

Richard McDonald · Post by **Richard McDonald** » 18 Jun 2005 6:04 am

EVANS SE150 or,SE200.THE BEST.

Larry Hamilton · Post by **Larry Hamilton** » 19 Jun 2005 3:44 pm

I have played several Peavey amps and they are great amps no doubt. However for me it is an Evans E-200 large enclosure loaded with a Peavey 1502 speaker.

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Keep pickin', Larry

Larry R · Post by **Larry R** » 29 Jun 2005 10:07 am

Evans and Webb.

And dittos on David D's comments.

Go for the tone. You'll be happier and so will your listeners.