Milkman half and half amp

[Terry Pendlay]

Just checking has anyone used a Milkman half and half amp with pedal steel.how did it proform..any issues?

[David Wren]

I'm happy to say I picked up my new version of the Half and Half back in early Feb... but so far have not played it on a full stage... with that said, what a wonderful sound here in my home studio.

Also, be aware the new version has two speaker outputs, at 200 watts for each speaker.... so ideally that would be 400 watts total if using the internal speaker, and also an external cab.

I opted for the 15" neo dyne internal speaker for my Half and Half.... love the sound at lower volumes, so far I will say, it may be one of my lightest amps. One feature that sold me was the separate volume control for the low Z direct out. I can see many uses for that on stage.

Also, since the preamp is tube powered, there is a great deal of tone differential depending on how much pre gain you use, vs the post gain power section (class D solid state).

Hope this helps.

[Nathan Pocock]

I have an older Half n Half and it is my favorite steel amp. I also have a Milkman The Amp 100, a Telonics TCA 500, and a Peavey Sessions 115. The Half n Half is not as clean as either the Peavey or the Telonics but it has much more character. It’s not quite the same as a tube twin but I would say it leans that way. I really like more of a Bakersfield style and I think you can easily get that out of the Half n Half.

The place where it really outshines some of the other steel amps is the reverb. The tube spring reverb that is in that amp is absolutely beautiful. Haunting, vibey, surfy.

Mine had a Telonics Neo 15 when I got it, and as an experiment I took the 15” Black Widow Neo out of a peavey session extension cab and tried it in the milkman. I like it better. It does weigh a little more but it’s still a Neo and the whole package is still very light. The Telonics is not a bad speaker by any means but again I just think there’s more character in the BW. I would love to try a real JBL in there but I’m not sure how much better it would be and if the weight trade off would be worth it. Also the half n half does have enough power to blow up a JBL although I probably wouldn’t run it hot enough.

Super cool amp, especially if you like fender style tones. If you are looking for ultimate clean, no distortion, high string separation then I think the Peavey and especially the Telonics do that sound better. Depends what you’re looking for and maybe also what guitar/pickups you pair it with.

[Tucker Jackson]

Super cool amp, especially if you like fender style tones. If you are looking for ultimate clean, no distortion, high string separation then I think the Peavey and especially the Telonics do that sound better.

That's a good rundown, Nathan, and more broadly, it's just the description of the difference between a rig with a tube preamp and tube-driven reverb (the Milkman) versus one with solid state preamp (Peavey and Telonics).

Meanwhile, all of these amps have a solid state power amp section.... it's just the all-important preamps that are of a different design.

My buddy has the "Steel Guitar Half and Half" and it's the bomb... and if weight is a concern for gigging, I think that amp is the gold standard for a combo pedal steel rig with a tube (just 30lbs with a neo speaker).

The only way to make it sound better would be if the power amp was tube-driven too, but that would dramatically increase the weight (see: the awesome but heavy Milkman 85-watt all-tube Pedal Steel amp for comparison. Or a Fender Twin). The Half and Half's ratio of "tube-ish tone" to "low weight" is maximized to the limit. Recommended! All it takes to get a hand-made in America boutique amp with the finest components is "all the money in the world"... but we're all going to be dead someday, so get it while you can!

https://milkmansound.com/collections/am ... 4634472615
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