Bought a great steel amp.. rare too!...

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Bob Carlucci
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Bought a great steel amp.. rare too!...

Post by Bob Carlucci »

DID NOT want another amp, and really don't need one,but 140 watt, all tube hand wired amps are not that easy to find.

Went scrolling through ebay for NO good reason and stumbled on a Fender 140 head.. It was @ about $260 with 8 hrs to go and reserve wasn't met.. I used Buy it Now @ $389 to snap it up..

They were made for about one year [1980].. Abe Rivera designed.Super loud and clean.. Classic fender sound. I owned one of these beasts about 5 years back and STUPIDLY sold it for next to NOTHING.. $150 maybe?...I have wanted another one ever since.. It has that unmistakable Fender glassy warmth and sweet reverb, with massive power and headroom.[ultra linear transformer]. Also has very flexible EQ setup which is a distinct improvement for pedal steel over the "standard" bass/treble/mid of my older Fender heads. It will cost about $425 shipped, and I wasn't looking really, but these are so rare I felt I might never see another.

This is one of those amps that no one knows about and might sell dirt cheap if you are in the right place/time, but if you LOOK for one,GOOD luck trying to find one.. It will be my main gig amp. They are really spectacular steel amps for us tube guys,[great for my pyucky lead guitar playing too Image!!!]I'll let you know how she sounds..bob<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Bob Carlucci on 19 December 2005 at 06:36 AM.]</p></FONT>
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Tony Palmer
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Post by Tony Palmer »

I'm sure this is a killer amp, but to echo the cliche, "don't try to reinvent the wheel", I think the Steel King has essentially taken everything sweet about the Fender sound and repackaged it specifically for steel.
I'd be real interested in comparing these two side by side.
But congrats on your amp....I'm sure I would have bought it too!
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Bob Carlucci
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Joined: 26 Dec 2003 1:01 am
Location: Candor, New York, USA
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Post by Bob Carlucci »

The Steel King is a great amp from what I've been told Tony, but I use head /closed back cabs and really don't use combo units on stage these days.. Also, I use tube amps only because I also play a LOT of lead guitar and generally I can't get "my" sound out of any SS amp... This head is pretty heavy @ 50 lbs, but they do sound nice..bob
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