Solid State amps

Who uses one? Which ones? Gigs or practice?

Are there manufacturers aside from those specializing in jazz amps (Henriksen, Evans etc) making SS amps marketed towards the professional musician? I'd love to see one. It'd have to be cheap, lightweight and have at least 130W RMS.

I'm at a point now where I'm tired of changing tubes. Just this week, a week that I need its extra power for an outdoor festival gig, my Laney LC30 has been playing up and the culprit is one of the preamp tubes. I've taken this as the cue to either replace all of them (using the 'one bad apple spoils the bunch' school of thought) in order to avoid trouble at a gig, or put the money towards a good solid state amp such as the ZT Club.

Before anyone crucifies me for even thinking about buying one consider this - the overdrive pedals we all love are solid state.

I have two and both are for acoustic. The Crate "Gunnison" and the Carvin AG-100D. My Carvin occasionally substitutes as a chair:



They both work extremely well.


Cheers,

Will

Hi Jamie,

I aint no tube amp snob . I've had a few solid state amps over the years, and for clean sounds and reliability they can't be beaten. I've NEVER had one fail which is more than can be said for my tube amps.

The models I've played/owned over the years are pretty mainstream - e.g. Roland Jazz Chorus, a very loud 300W Peavey from the 80's (a Renown?), and an Australian made Eminar. The Peavey belonged to a flatmate of mine and was built to withstand nuclear attack.

I currently own a Roland Cube 30 (not the current 30x) which I've mic'ed up and gigged with without any trouble at all. In fact the last time I used it the sound guy came to have a look after the gig because he couldn't believe what a great sound he was getting from it. I also have an 80's model Peavey Backstage Plus which is a 35W amp that I practice on occasionally. The Peavey is a tank, the Roland follows the modern trend of being lightly built. i.e. I don't know how long it will last.

With a good OD pedal in front of a SS amp, I don't really miss tubes except for that special hint of break up that only tubes seem to do authentically.

Roland Jazz Chorus amps were somewhat of an industry standard in the 80's to early 90's so you should be able to find one pretty cheap second hand if you keep an eye out.

With a good OD pedal in front of a SS amp, I don't really miss tubes except for that special hint of break up that only tubes seem to do authentically.

That's exactly my thinking.

The first amp I ever had was a Peavey Backstage 110, which my dad bought when his own interest in electric guitar started. It was unceremoniously left on the curb for someone to take when I made the move to Melbourne. Prior to the big move it had been left uncovered in the back shed for about 10 years, and there was plenty of moisture and dust in there. It fired up first go when we got it out!!! I love the look of the Peavey logo, it's the best ever. There's one of the Renown amps for sale in the Swop Shop at the moment, it's a damn large amp!!!

To me, nothing can surpass the sound of a naturally overdriven tube amp.
BUT.......if you rely on pedals to get your overdrive sound, I don't think it matters much if your amp is tube or S/S.

One of the best solid state amps I have heard was one that I used for a few years back in the early '90s......A Randall RG-80....80 watts, switchable channels, and a 12" Celestion. VERY loud and indestructable. Surprisingly (to me) I always got compliments on the tone. It was not lightweight though, even for a relatively small combo amp.

Go with the ZT Lunchbox or Club. A pal of mine uses one of these for gigging 3-4 nights per week and swaps in different external cabinets when needed. Sounds great, loves pedals, portable, affordable and 200 watts o'power.

http://www.ztamplifiers.com/products/

The first amp I ever had was a Peavey Backstage 110

Yup, that's the one! It's a 110. The on-board Saturation control sounds horrible, but there are some very nice clean sounds in there. It has one of the nicest reverbs I've heard on a little amp.

As for the Renown, yes they are a big lump of amplifier. Probably not what you're after if portability or potenital back injury is an issue.

I have a Roland Cube 30X and a Fender Cyber Twin, first issue. Then I bought a Blues Junior, one of the anniversary models in Tweed with the Jensen speaker. I haven't really used the Cyber twin or Roland very much since. I play a clean a lot of the time, neck pickup and lots of those funny jazz chords and the Junior outdoes both of the other amps in that department. I wouldn't call myself a tube snob, my amp before the Cyber Twin was a Fender Ultimate Chorus, all solid state 60 watts a side stereo amp, that was really good for ultra clean big fat tones. Since getting the Roland, my first valve amp in maybe 10 years, I've also acquired a Vox AC30CCII and a Laney TT50. They are addictive items indeed.

No pics of the Cube or Cyber Twin but I do have a few of the others ...

Junior and ASAT Special - twangalicious



Laney and Heritage 137, Fralin noiseless P-90s and a high gain tube amp = wow !



AC30 and Heritage 575 Custom - big fat funky tone.


I know the thread title is about solid state amps, but it's good to talk gear.

Blarg, Tubes do fail, especially power tubes. Our lead player has used a SS Peavey Bandit, I think 60, since the late 80s and we just used it again last weekend. I have used SS bass amps for years and they are bullet proof (SWR). If you want bullet proof reliability, SS will do that. My Cyber Twin SE has two preamp tubes and preamp tubes rarely fail and are a quick, easy change. If you use pedals to get your sound the SS is a good alternative for gigging. My 1 year old Fender Twin Reverb has already failed. The B+ (tube filament) voltage circuit failed and I had to hard wire in an new circuit as the PC board was burned. I didn't take it in on warranty but did it myself as my rewire will not fail. The amp could go up in smoke but my wires will survive.
I have never had a solid state anything fail and I have a stereo receiver that is 35 years old and had never failed.--- Darwin

Southpaw - that Heritage is the nicest jazz box I've ever seen. Feel free to post as many pics of it anywhere!!! One thing I adore about Laney's are the cosmetics. They're simple yet beautiful.

Phil - In your description of the SUPERSAT sound you forgot to put horrible in bold as well as italics and undelined. And capitals, thusly HORRIBLE. Seriously, it is the worst distortion I've ever heard. So bad that I can still hear it clearly in my mind.

Here's an update. I've just been out looking at more SS amps. I went to a good used goods store and found an old Randall Commando hidden behind a red-knob Fender Twin, an amp I've been lusting after. It's position in the shop made me realise something - I don't want a Twin. I had to move it out of the way to get to the Randall and god damn!!! Heavy isn't even the word for it. The Randall sounded great, but there was something wrong with it - hardly any volume and for a 130 watt amp the size of a Marshall quad box pushing four 10" speakers it seemed kind of pathetic. The reverb on it was hilarious, it sounded like the notes were crashing through each floor of a 100 storey building.

I also tried out a ZT Club, which followed me home.... Here it is, sitting on top of my freshly built 115 cab, looking like a Dalek on a holiday



It was heavily reduced, so, sensing a clear-out, I offered $50 less than the ticketed price and walked out with it for a total price reduction of $250!!!! It sounds incredible and it's LOUD. It would be nice to have a mid range control, I may try an EQ in the FX loop to get some control. The Sonic Stomp really adds a lot of sparkle to the amp, makes it sound twice as good. Seriously. I'll try and record a sound clip sometime this week and will post it in the sound clips thread.

I'm now set for the weekends gig

Love them, or hate them, there are the MG series Marshall amps. They have a 100W. I think with some mods (a good Celestion at least) it would be a good amp if you like that Marshall sound.

I have a Bluesbreaker reissue, no brainer, love the Marshall valve tone with my ASAT Special.

When I had a chance to get one of those 15w solid state micro stack practice amps I did. It sounds surprisingly good. I did put some Celestion G10L35's in the cabs, and that made a big difference. I use it every day. I would be totally satisfied with a MG 100w with a good G12 Celestion.

One of the best players I have ever known, Joe "Guitar" Hughes (RIP,) used a 212 Peavey Chorus.

Seriously, it is the worst distortion I've ever heard. So bad that I can still hear it clearly in my mind.

The thought of sabotaging the Saturation knob so nobody can be mentally scarred has crossed my mind more than once.

Unfortunately, in your case, the damage appears to have been done.

The new amp looks great. A hell of a lot more portable than a Renown too........

I think you're gonna love that Club. And if you happen across a BJF SBEQ pedal try it out with the Club and you'll really be smiling. Another one I really like and which always surprises people including my boutique-only pedal pals, is the Yamaha Nathan East NE-1 parametric EQ. Though designed for bass I have used it on most everything (electric, acoustic, cello, etc.) and it's truly a "secret weapon." Btw, I like your J-20. Something about the old blue-check style tolex that brings back many good memories. Which reminds me that I need to get my old Reverberocket back from my friend. Nice stuff you have there and that cabinet is pretty sweet looking.

jonc - So far I really like the ZT. It is so loud is not funny. Thanks for the EQ pedal suggestions too, I'll look into them. The Danelectro Fish 'n' Chips is supposed to be good, and it's very cheap to boot. I love the look of the Ampeg blue diamond tolex, classic indeed. Funny thing is that the first gig I had with the J-20, an amp from the Diamond Blue range, was at a club called The Blue Diamond.

Phil - The new amp weighs 10k, which is amazing - you could probably fit about 5 of them into a 212 Renown. As for it looking good, yeah, kind of. To be honest I'm already tired of the boring grey. Thinking I'll give it a makeover, match it up with the 115 cab...

I had a Peavey Bandit 112 for a while in the 90's, 100watts, I remember it sounding decent, it was heavy as hell though!
That ZT Club looks nice, sounds like you got everything you were after

-Dave

Kinda late to the game here, since you already made your purchase, but I'll post anyway!!

I've not owned a solid state amp for several years...in my book, nothing beats tubes for overdriven or distortion tones...though I've heard some great clean tones through some SS amps. And fortunately, my tube amps have been fairly easy on the maintenance side!

HOWEVER, some SS amps have very acceptable overdriven/distortion tones. Like hubcapserf, I've been fairly impressed with the new Marshall MGs...if i was going to buy an SS amp, it would probably be one of them...prices are hard to beat, too.

Another excellent SS amp that's stood the test of time is the Tech 21 NYC Trademark 60...excellent clean and drive tones. I've not found that to be as true of their other models, but they got it right with the TM60.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the ZT Club...by the way, just as threads about new guitars without pics are useless, so are threads about new amps without clips! Let's hear 'em!!!

Only sort-of-solid state amp I use is a 1974 Music Man HD410 One Thirty. It’s tube powered but has the OP amp preamp. I use a Tonebone British pedal with it ‘cause it has a built in 12AX7 and that gives it a little more warm for distortion/overdrive. I have used the amp to record and it gets used plenty in my music lab but I don’t gig with it.

Hey Jamie, I was suprised to find that Brian May recorded a large number of Queen's hits through a home made solid state amp called the Deacy Amp (named after the bass player, John Deacon, who built it at home from scrap). I thought Brian May would be a tube guy all the way.

They're great DIY'ers the Queen guitar guys......

Last edited by Philby on Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I use a solid state amp at the moment because of monetary reasons mostly. I agree that they do get good cleans as well as they do combine well with pedals. However, my issue with ss has always been how clean it is with no pedals, and how dirty it is with. In some of our songs the clean is on the verge of breaking up and the dirty is just over that sweet break up 'line,' and I just can't achieve this on a ss..probably just me. I also sometimes like to run an overdrive with the drive down and volume up as a clean boost to more naturally overdrive the amp. On the solid state it just makes the same overall tone, but louder...there are no tubes for the signal to break up I guess. I still can get some really nice sounds out of a ss amp, but tube is more enjoyable for me to play. By the way, I am no gear snob, I play an ASAT Classic Tribute by choice, because I love the thing, and would have fun playing it through an 8 inch beat up speaker on a solid state amp that made a hissing noise.

To cut down on the treble, Brian will sometimes put a coat over the amp when recording!

Vox made a production version of the Deacy amp a few years ago. I think they sold for under $300 and looked very similar to the AC4TV, white with that Vox grille.

Brian May, what a guy - Played in one of the biggest, most influential and most original rock bands ever, played homemade guitar through a homemade amp and made a squillion dollars. It's all about talent, and ol' Dr. May isn't short of that.

Chedwerks - Sounds like you need a good overdrive pedal. Have you tried playing around with the volume knob on the guitar in conjunction with an OD? It should back the gain off to a point where it's only a little hairy.

It's all about talent

...and great hair!

Mr. May is a freaking genius on many levels, and my second favorite guitarist to boot.

I'm chiming in here just because I kind of inherited a mid-80's Peavey Bandit 75 from my brother. I turn to it when my tube amps fart out on me, and it has yet to disappoint. So what if the OD sounds like a bucket of angry bees? The clean channel goes beyond reliable to really fairly nice. The reverb is okay too, if you use just a touch (much like a good mustache ;+)!!!

Anyway, as a bonus, I plug my G&L basses into it, even though I don't really play. It handles the low end good enough for a basement wanker like me, at no additional expense. Ha! - ed

I've recently started using a Jazz Chorus. This is my first solid state guitar amp after almost thirty years of using Fender tube amps. I love it, with a couple of caveats:

1. Having a good compressor at the start of the effects chain is absolutely essential, even if it's the only effect. Without using a compressor, it is very obvious that natural tube compression is absent.

2. The chorus makes a tremendous difference in the sound, even if it's dialed down to the point of not being recognizable as a chorus effect. I think it's just a little dose of complexity that helps make up for the solid state sterility.

3. The bright switch induces pain with any of the single coil guitars I've played through it.

4. I can't think of any words to describe just how useless the built-in distortion is.

With these points in mind, I find it's been a wonderful match for any of my G&L single coil guitars. I've also run a Superhawk through it, but haven't been as impressed with the amp's response to the 'Hawk's humbuckers (compared to driving a tube amp with them). The amp has a very nice spring reverb. It also handles effects beautifully - in fact, a bit too beautifully for lower quality stomp boxes. The sound quality from the amp is so transparent that an effect's shortcomings (if any) can become very obvious. I haven't been able to find a distortion pedal that works for me with this amp yet, but with it's clean sparkle and shimmer I'm finding that I don't really want to use one.

Hi guys,

This is a topic that I've been thinking a lot about lately.

SS w/o going the modeling route poses a real dilemma

There is this guy

http://www.pritchardamps.com/pritchardamps.cfm

He was the guy who designed the first PRS amps way back and then went off on his own to perfect the concept. Not cheap by any stretch but interesting.

Hi guys,

This is a topic that I've been thinking a lot about lately.

SS w/o going the modeling route poses a real dilemma

There is this guy

http://www.pritchardamps.com/pritchardamps.cfm

He was the guy who designed the first PRS amps way back and then went off on his own to perfect the concept. Not cheap by any stretch but interesting.

Those Pritchard amps have had me intrigued since I found out about the a few months back. I'd love to try one out. The sound clips on the website aren't particularly good but I'm sure it sounds better when there's one in front of you.

One of the main things on my want list is an Evans AH-200. They're a bit cheaper, especially used, and have a pretty good reputation and pedigree - kind of like G&L!

Last week I got one of the new, uber-cheap Fender Mustang I amps. I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with the little bugger! The saving grace for this amp is that you can hook it up to a computer via USB and do some serious deep editing.

Out of the box, the Fender models are pretty decent, but all the rest needed some serious tweaking. But with a little deep editing, I'm getting some very acceptable tones out that amp with just about all the models. It won't replace my tube amps, but for a small, light weight practice amp, it'll do fine...could even use it to jam with a friend!

I have heard pros and cons from when I realized there was a difference in solid state and tubes when I started playing.
When I was younger I always used tube I had a silverface Pro Reverb.I admit l loved that amp. But the price on a used one is outrageous.
I got one tube now a 5 watt Epi VJ. My other amps are solid state.My Baldwin C-1 and Peavey Muscian. I had back in days past I wanted a Peavey Musician and 6 years ago I run across one in a pawn shop so I grabbed it up.
I run across my Baldwin at Guitar Center. The Baldwin has that clean Fender sound.
I learned playing guitar playing country and country blues so I started out with a clean sound. I remember the amps of choice by a lot of the players 30+ years ago was Peavey Sessions,Bandits and TNT Baldwin C1 and C2 when you could find one,and old tuck and roll Kustoms.
I knew and know a lot of people who used solid state amps over the years.
It seems like the tube vs solid state controversy has picked up steam over recent years. I thnk a lot of that is corporate driven
I know I would like to run across a old Sunn Beta Lead that's another of my fave old amps they were solid state. I like old Kustom tuck and rolls too but I have passed on a few of them.
I like older solid state amps. I guess you say I prefer over tube amps. Except for Fender Cyber Twin ,Deluxe and JC 120 old and new I don't really like newer solid state amps.
I had a Behringer modeling amp for a while and it just wasn't my thing. I feel the same way about Line 6 also.
Something about older solid state amps too it seems they can stay up with tube amps it seems the newer ones don't. That might just be me.

Chet

Chet - Have you ever tried an Evans? I'm really curious about them.

Jamie,
I have never played through one. I know Steel players really like them.
I know a steel through one is clear as a bell.

Chet

When I'm not playing "into the box" (the computer, via Digitech GNX4), I'm generally connected to a Peavey Bandit 112 (now with Transtube!). It came from the very first run of them, and I think it sounds quite good for SS. I also have a Fender GDEC Exec (anyone remember those? It's a little GDEC in a sunburst, flamed maple cabinet) that sounds like utter crap (speaker is sub-optimal). My 8yo son confiscated that one and uses it as his practice amp.

My belief is that in a gig context, very few people would be able to tell the difference between tube and SS. Especially, as someone mentioned earlier, if you're driving the amp with pedals. Tubes do have a special characteristic, but when playing next to drums and bass and a screaming lead singer, it's probably not going to be that noticeable. On a studio album, though...

Okay, a brief history. My first amp was a Kalamazoo Model Two that I got new back about 1965. Great, simple little tube amp with a 10" speaker. I might still have it in my storage unit. Can't remember.

My older sis helped me co-sign on a used BF Fender BandMaster head and matching 212 cab in 1966. Awesome amp, but I always wanted reverb. Used this one throughout my college years and for my first few pro jobs, but it was stolen out of my car in 1972. (Along with most of my other gear and my 1969 Tele Thinline!) Ouch!

Went amp shopping and came home with a new Gibson Medalist (?) 60-watt 410 SS combo. I realized about two days later that it was a nice amp, but it was going to be too big to carry in my car, with any other gear. Took it back and traded for a new SS SUNN SOLOS II 212 combo. With all the going back and forth, I got the SUNN for barely over cost--the sales guy had miscalulated, and he was not happy with me the next time I was in the store. (But it worked out--I did a lot of business with them over the next few years.)

The SUNN SOLOS II is a cousin of the SUNN Concert amp. It's 120 watts, though mine usually tested about 145 on the bench. Two channels, reverb and tremelo, and two SUNN speakers. It has a "x20" distortion switch, a "Brite" switch, normal and bright inputs on each channel and a "Boost" (probably a 'Cut") circuit that was activated via footswitch. The amp was replaced by the BETA LEAD, which as I remember had two switchable channels.

The Solos II really had a great tone, I think due to the MOSFET front end. I think the tone is smoother and not as grainy as the Roland Jazz Chorus; not nearly as bright and trebly as the Vox amps of the day (i.e. Super Beatle and Royal Guardsman). It was much less noisy than the Acoustic 150 amps, which were very popular back then. (I briefly owned a Acoustic 150 with a 106 610 cabinet. Sounded killer, but it was very hissy.) Like most of that era's distortions, the X20 switch wasn't really usable. While most of the time I kept the volume under 3 for the small clubs I was working in, I'd run it up as high as eight on a couple of occasions with a band, and it stayed loud and clean.

I discovered that the amp really had more of a Marshall tonality at certain settings. It did not have as much bass as a BF or SF Twin Reverb, but I got a MXR 10-band EQ (the old blue one) and used that in front of the input. The amp came with a lifetime warranty, and I took advantage of that a couple of times--but for the most part the amp was very solid--though about 15-20 lbs. lighter than a Twin. So I used this amp as my main gigging up from 1972 until 1993. I actually did a blind test A/B one time with a Marshall amp that I had acquired; and a certain settings, none of the musicians and friends that day could accurately tell which amp I was playing. At very low volume, the Marshall actually sounded more "transistor-ry" than the SUNN. The SOLOS II was a very punchy, warm sounding amp.

But after I started playing with a band in 1993, I began to want more from my amp. I bought a couple of vintage BF Fenders, a Marshall JCM800, and a Fender 75 head and 112 cab before finally hitting tone heaven with a Mesa Mark III head and 412. I now have six Mesa amps. I think the only way I would go back to using the SUNN would be if I were doing a solo act again.

Now the odd part of all of this is that I was never a big fan of SUNN, preferring the Fenders. The Concert was not a favorite of mine. The Model T and some of their other amps were awesome, especially for bass, but they never really quite did it for me. I think if my BandMaster had not been stolen, I had not bee desparate for an amp, I probably would have chosen a BF Fender. I've plyed the few Solos II amps I've run across over the years and never been impressed. There just seems to be something really special about that particular amp--I guess it was fate.

I did own a SF MV Twin for about 30 minutes one day (c. 1995). I saw a classified ad for one for $275 and my buddy and I went and looked at it. It was totally beat to hell, a real POS. Mis-matched speakers, mis-matched tubes, torn grill and tolex, AND.. .the cabinet wsa broken along the top edge! It was hanging together only by the tolex!

And it sounded FABULOUS! Ballsy, punchy and loud as hell!!! I gave the guy the money and we ran! I took it to a pro shop in town and traded it and $100 for a brand new Peavey XR-600 PA head and a Peavey reverb pedal--and ran like heck again!! We got the piece we really needed (the PA head) and made out like bandits. But I'd bet that Twin is still alive somewhere! Without a doubt one of the best deals I ever made.

I've heard some really good SS Peavey amps voer the years, and I suspect that if I were in the market for a SS amp, I would start there. I bought a used Bandt Transtube 112 for my nephew, and it sounds really good. I saw Johnny Paycheck and his band use a stage full of old Peavey amps back around 1995--cranked full up--and then literally throw them into the bottom of the bus at the end of their show. The three guitarists used Bandits; steel player had a Session 400, KB-300 for the piano and synth, and a Data Bass covered the low end.

I don't know what the future will hold, but I suspect that development of the SS gutiar amp will continue; and someday, the players themselves might not be able to tell the difference. Certainly, I don't think most audiences can tell.

And the drunk playing pool in the back of the bar who desperately wants to get laid--he don't care!!!

Bill

Hey Bill.
I'm the guy in the back of the bar playing darts and I do desperately want some action (being married for quite a few years now). And you are mostly right. After the second drink has kicked in, frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn! - ed