Looking for perfect double duty amp

[Bill Hatcher]

AND, IMHO, 15s are for bass players only. No place for them anywhere over 500Hz.

You ever play through a 15” altec 418B? It will cut your head off with top end so will a JBL D or k 130.

[Tony Prior]

Eminence 1518 , while this is a 150 watt rated speaker it is MADE and spec'd for guitars. Its NOT a BASS speaker. Very pronounced high end.

Go ahead, ask me how I know !

[Dave Grafe]

[Clyde Mattocks]

"Perfect" for both steel and guitar is a tall order, but my Tonemaster Twin is as close as I've gotten. I use the Normal channel for steel with an outboard Lexicon reverb. I plug the guitar in the Vibrato side with the internal reverb.

If were only playing steel, I'd be using an old Session 400. If I were only playing guitar, I'd be using an old Fender Vibrolux Reverb.

[Larry Behm]

So what is wrong with 2 trips if you find something that works. Pop the head out of an amp and carry the speaker separately. You get what you want on stage, go the extra mile.

[Doug Beaumier]

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[Jerry Overstreet]

Some good suggestions here. You really need a 2 channel amp with dedicated eq's for ea. channel. IMO, steel eq settings have too much low end for guitar. At least, for the tones I like.

Anybody that reads my posts prolly knows I've used a TubeWorks/MosValve component stereo rig for many years. A dedicated power amp and a 2 channel preamp with a multi-fx rack, either built into the pre or stand alone and satellite speakers.

That always seemed to be the best to me. That way, you can have all your settings for both steel and guitar beside you and available with the twirl of a knob and the flick of an A/B switch.

I still think that's the best...such as an old Roland GP100, one of Peavey's ...Fex units, Q-Verb GT or others with a built in preamp into a separate stout power amp.

Lately, I'm trying 90s era MosValve RT2100 2 channel 100W mono amps. I have both a combo amp with a BW 1203 installed and a head only version I can use with cabs loaded with either 1201s, and/or 1203s. A mono version similar to the MV982 combined with the RT922 pre and Real Tube reverb circuit.

The proper 12 in. speaker will work fine for steel guitar as well as guitar. Even preferable in my case. A tighter sound in the mids and less boomy, but to each his own.

The combo weighs around 40#..less than a NV112 and is a little smaller than those. These amps are very warm sounding and quite powerful. They have a second low input which I use for steel's hotter pickups and use the number 1 input with guitar.

Using an old Boss SE70 programmed with settings for both steel and guitar hung on the side of my seat.

A foot switch lets me click on the Drive channel. It has a separate eq section, a switch for stacking both channels together, can be set to be rowdy or just eq'ed very clean as a second channel for guitar...and use the se70 for guitar friendly edgy or other fendery etc. type sounds.

These 100W amps are quite sufficient for the types of things I occasionally do.

This is all outdated 1990s era gear by some folk's standards and some of it is getting scarce, but it has the sound I like and it's versatile enough for both instruments. They used to be found for around $200, but now rare and pricey if you find one. If found at a reasonable price, I think you'd like it, but you'd need to swap out the speaker for a BW, TT, Emmy neo etc. for a good steel tone.

[Larry Bressington]

I do lots of double duty gigs, first and foremost though, i run a line to house P.A when that is possible and use NO amps on stage...I use a Boss GT1 for and a Pod XT for steel. When a stage amp is needed, i use a (2 into 1) cable splitter into a JBL self powered speaker that has 1000 watt crown power...It’s compact and powerful enough to blow any stage, and it all fits into a micro car.

[Craig Bennington]

For what it’s worth I thought I’d throw this out there. I’m in a touring red dirt act. I’m covering guitar,steel,baritone,elec banjo. My main road rig is a simple 66 Bassman head. The way I make it work for both guitar and steel is the boss Waza tube amp expander. The Boss allows me to you both channels of the Bassman set at two totally different volumes without one channel actually being a lot louder than the other. I run the normal channel pushed for guitar and the 2nd channel I keep clean for steel. The Waza re amps the signal from the heads speaker out thru a solid state 100w power amp. You can save rig presets within the Boss and adjust the output of each rig. This allows me to equal out the two channels. It also allows me to add reverb and delay to the head also save-able within the rig preset.

Sounds complex but it’s really not actually.

For my small portable rig I use a quilter aviator Mach 3. Which also does a fine job. I just prefer the real tube tone of the Bassman when I can. But that rig admittedly is big and heavy. Pic is the rig without the head as it was being serviced at the time.

[Dave Stagner]

Luckily, I like pretty similar settings for both guitar and steel. I use a Milkman The Amp 100, and a simple A/B box on the floor to switch between guitar and steel. Any additional guitar overdrive etc comes from pedals.