| Danny Hullihen | home |
| Lashley LeGrande 600 Amp | Remington | Webb |
| Lashley LeGrande 600 Amp |
Announcing The All New
|
|
As many of you are probably aware, the worlds leading steel guitar manufacturer is now offering an all new pedal steel guitar amplifier which has been dubbed the "Emmons Lashley LeGrande 600" This new amp was in the development stages at Emmons for quite sometime, and it remained there until the company knew for sure that this new amp would live up to the very high quality standards of the Emmons Guitar Company, as well as meet the demands of today's discerning pedal steel guitarists.
The new Emmons Lashley LeGrande 600 is a portable high-power amplifier that was specifically designed for use with today's high tech pedal steel guitars. This new amp incorporates the world renowned patented "Mos Valve" circuitry for power, and is coupled with an extremely versatile pre-amp. The amp is conservatively rated at 240 watts Mos Valve power, (225 watts RMS) at 4 ohms. The 4 ohm rating was selected by the amps designers, BK Butler of Tube-Works, and Ron Lashley to be the most versatile choice for the steel guitar, which enables a vast array of cabinet combinations to be used with this amp.
The simplicity of layout and design of this amplifier provides for great reliability. As an example, the Mos Valve power amplifier section contains up to 60% fewer parts than conventional amplifiers, yet has vastly improved performance and sound, and provides a more direct noise-free tone.
The Emmons amplifier features dual inputs that allow use with today's extremely high gain after-market pickups, such as those being produced by George'L, as well as with the stock pickups found on production instruments. A "Brite” switch has also been incorporated into the Lashley LeGrande 600 to add highs to your signal, while the "Contour" control has a very wide range that allows the user to add a tremendous amount of bass to the output signal. The Contour control is used to form a gentle over-all bass response slope across the -most active bass frequencies. You'll find that this control is also very useful in helping to compensate for stage size and room acoustics.
There's a three band E.Q. section consisting of Low, Mid, and High. The ranges and frequencies of these controls have been carefully selected to be the most useful for steel guitar applications. The E.Q. section is a combination of both active and passive designs. The Low control shelves frequencies in the extreme low end of the sound spectrum of 15OHZ or less. The Mid control has an extremely wide range to control frequencies between 40OHZ and 15OOHZ. The High control shelves and controls frequencies of 15OOHZ and higher. The E.Q. controls on this amp are interactive. There is a mild reaction between the controls including some phase shifting. This interaction results in a continuously variable coloration of your tone, including aural enhancement. Of course the key to good tone is your own ears, and this amp is quite capable of delivering it.
The Master volume control allows the player to add a bit of "bite" when used in conjunction with the Volume control. I found that setting the Master control full up, and using the Volume control to set the level provides for the cleanest sound. Of course for those who purposely want to get a slightly overdriven sound, you would set these controls just the opposite.
One of the unique features of this amp is the "Effects Mix" control. This control can be used to increase or decrease the amount of effects being delivered to the output signal by the turn of a knob on the front panel. This control mixes the signal present at the "Effects In" jack on the rear panel. Rotating the control towards "FX” mixes more of the effects sound, while "DRY" mixes more of the pre-effect signal to the power amp output. The variable send-receive effects loop easily adjusts to virtually any signal of rack mount type processors on the market, and regardless of the input/output level or impedance.
There are two speaker output jacks on this amp making hook up of external speakers easy. Any combination of speaker cabinets with a combined impedance of not less than l ohms can be used. The extremely powerful and versatile Mos Valve power section will provide ample power with an abundance of headroom. You will discover that the Mos Valve power section will produce approximately 2 times the expected acoustic volume over similarly rated solid-state amps.
Another plus feature of this amp are the "Dual XLR Direct Line Outputs" This feature allows the user to send a "dry" unaffected signal to the PA, and a "wet" signal that has all the off-board effects incorporated into it. With this, the sound man can blend the two signals to get the best over-all tone for the house, and in stereo if desired. You can also use one line to go to the house sound system, and use the other to send a signal to the monitor system.
On the rear panel, there is also a "Pre/Post Loop Switch." This switch selects the output mode of the "preamp out" balanced connector. The "pre" setting will send the amplified preamp output directly to this connector. No master volume of effects will be included when switched to this setting. The "Post FX Loop" setting will include all front panel control settings including everything you have plugged into the Effects Loop, such as the Peavey Pro-Fex or Tube Fex, and/or other type of off board effects processors.
The new Emmons steel guitar amp also has a "Line out" jack which is useful for slaving amps, or for getting the entire sound of the amp including the power section to a mixing board. This output has also been isolated from the chassis ground to help prevent ground loops.
There is also a "Direct Out" jack on the rear panel for use in sending a true balanced output of the guitar signal, and is useful for sending direct-to-board signals through long snakes, etc. The impedance on both this output and the previous mentioned is less than 200 ohms, and is completely balanced.
The speaker being used in the new Emmons Lashley LeGrande 600 amp is a custom designed 1511 Eminence, model E115L-4 1511 RTL, and has been built to the exacting specifications and high standards of the Emmons Guitar Company. This custom designed speaker is rated at 250 watts at 4 ohms, and delivers clean warm tones, crisp highs, and exceptionally low end bass response.
The Emmons amp measures approximately 22" high by 20" wide. The cabinet is tapered in depth from approximately 11.5" at the top, tapering out to @14" at the bottom which accounts for some of the amps capability to deliver it's warm low-end bass response and punch. The total weight of the amp is approximately 58 pounds.
The current retail price of the new Emmons Lashley LaGrande 600 amplifier as of this writing is $1396.00, and it is available both directly from the Emmons Guitar Company, or through some of their select dealers.
The new Emmons steel guitar amp has plenty of power, lots of headroom, and lots of low-end punch. It delivers clean crisp tone, clear reverb, and is very quiet for recording. If you're looking for an amp that can deliver that big, full, and rich warm tone with powerful low-end punch, then you owe it to yourself to check out the new Emmons Lashley LaGrande 600 steel guitar amplifier.
On another note of interest, Emmons has also recently developed a Match Box for the steel guitar called the Emmons Lashley LaGrande Ultra Match." Model LL30. This is a match box that is somewhat similar to those being produced by the Goodrich company, and has some very nice features such as a bypass switch, and an expand and boost control knob. If you're looking for a match box that will boost your output signal as well as providing good sustain, give this new unit a try as I think you'll really like it.
Last, but by no means least, the Emmons Guitar Company has produced some very educational pedal steel instruction videos by Steve Palousek. These videos are without a doubt the absolute finest instructional videos I've ever had the pleasure of viewing. Currently, there are 10 videos available in the line up, and there's everything from the beginner, to the intermediate, to the advanced, and for both E9th. and C6th. tunings. I'll be doing a complete story on these videos in the very near future, and I will cover everything in detail about each individual video, so be sure to keep your subscriptions current. However, don't wait for that, as these excellent videos are available right now both from Emmons Guitar Company, and Steel Guitar World Magazine. For both quality and quantity of instruction, I guarantee you that you won't go wrong if you get yourself some of these new pedal steel guitar instructional videos by Steve Palousek. They are the absolute finest you'll ever find anywhere, and they will dramatically elevate your musical knowledge and accelerate your playing ability quicker than you can imagine.
A very special thanks to the hundreds of you that have been taking time from your busy schedules to write to me. As always, your correspondence is very much appreciated, and your input is as much welcomed as it is needed. Feel free to write anytime you have the opportunity.