Nice sounding steel

[Bent]

Thought I would post this tune here http://www.waikiki-islanders.com/assets ... artime.mp3 We have Basil Henriques, UK, playing his Fender PS210
pedal steel. Knife edge changer underneath and keyless tuner.
Very pleasing on the ears if you ask me...

[Georg]

Very pleasing indeed!

Apart from that the (entire) recording sounds nicely rounded off at the low and high end of the frequency range - favoring the fundamental tone range of the instrument(s), the PU on that PSG sounds pretty "cold-wound", neutral and flat.

[Larry Waisner]

Who ever it is they are using a whole bunch of electronic effects. Digital chorus, delay, reverb, flange and compression. It is good but definately not your good sounding natural PSG just plugged straight into an amp by itself.

Larry-

[Bent]

Larry, you must have an ear for those things. When I listened to the piece again just now, it didn't have the same effect on me. You are likely right - to much of whatever it is that my cardboard ear can't detect without being told the details like you just did.

Whatever effects used and/or overused, it did sound quite pleasing like Georg said, and it is really that what counts.
Georg, please explain what you mean by "cold wound". .. no warmth in the tone? How is a pickup cold wound?

[azureskys]

Bent , i listened to it and i can hear the chorus and reverb which is a typical setup for a steel player , one thing i did notice was the fullness wasnt really there good but not a really full sound , its amazing how modern electronics will make up for alot of things isnt it .Russ

[Georg]

Bent, by "cold wound" I mean a relative medium output, low to medium impedance and high Q point PU, with reasonably flat frequency curve needing little to no correction in the mid-tone range. Such PUs often sound quite clear and - to me at least - more or less "cold".

That in opposition to the quite typical pedal steel PUs with higher output, higher impedance and low Q point, with more or less noticeable frequency curve bulges/notches in the mid-tone range. These are often referred to as more or less "hot", probably because they sound strong - "hot" - and must be "tamed" a little in the mid-tone range.


Since I can, let me just add that I am not all that fond of the "rich and full" sound with an emphasis on the low-mid-range, that many seem to like in a PSG - regardless of if it is the result of the PSG/PU combo or some effect units. I much prefer a less rich - flatter and "colder" - PSG sound.

[richard37066]

More of the same except eye-candy photos of a truly extraordinary instrument. For those who have not seen the "knife-edge" changer parts, there's a photo toward the bottom.

http://www.pedalsteel.co.uk/Vintage-Fender-PS210

Richard