Results of testing two pedal steel guitars yesterday, it was a pleasure to meet Rodger and listen to his playing.
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=237617
Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Mark Fowler (fowleramps@yahoo.com) at his workshop in Moorhead, MN and take a look at the 5b6 cage amp pictured in the link in Tim's post above. I've followed the enthusiastic response to the "Little Walter" but hadn't heard one. Mark has been building amps mostly for guitarists in the Trainwreck, Dumble and classic Marshall, Vox and Fender styles and had a roomful when I arrived. He built the 5b6 as a lark a few years ago and was surprised to hear in the last few weeks that pedal steel players might like it.
I brought along a Clinesmith and a Cater U12 with an Alumatone along with a 15" Black Widow Neo to test with the amp. I have to say that to my ears, the enthusiasm for this circuit is deserved. The tone is round and musical, with articulate highs and lows, with no dropouts in between. There is this sort of 3d effect from the octal tubes; a gentile natural reverb and single notes blossom with an almost symphonic full spectrum ambience. The Don Helms high 6th chords nailed the original sound and Hughey-land was the best I've heard from my guitars. The low B6 chord combinations were detailed, not veiled and single note and chordal runs onto the higher strings and registers maintained a tonal quality and evenness that surprised me.
Of course with a roomful of Dumble, Vox, Marshall and Trainwreck clones, I couldn't resist trying them all, wearing out my ears in the process, but I have to admit none of them sounded as good to me as the 5b6. Overdriven, the distortion was creamy and musical.
Mark is adding an effects loop and a line level, post power stage output to the build to increase the versatility of the amp. Mark is easy to work with and happily tweaks his builds to suit the preferences and needs of his customers.
rodger
