Best/Favorite SOLID STATE Amp (poll)

Best/Favorite Solid State Amp?

  • Peavey

    Votes: 30 10.4%

  • Fender

    Votes: 45 15.6%

  • Marshall

    Votes: 33 11.4%

  • Crate

    Votes: 25 8.7%

  • Randall

    Votes: 14 4.8%

  • Vox

    Votes: 27 9.3%

  • Line 6

    Votes: 21 7.3%

  • Ibanez

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Roland

    Votes: 44 15.2%

  • Other

    Votes: 50 17.3%
  • Total voters
    289
i would have voted marshall or fender, but my 1980s vox venue lead 100 just kicks all ass. if i didn't know it had no tubes in, i would definitely think it was a tube amp. although for something that sounds solid state but good it would definitely be marshall or fender.
 
6gun said:
My vote is the extinct Gallien Krueger 250ML.

Great *solid state* sound. Can kick ass through a 4x12 too.
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I had one years ago,awesome little bugger aint it,I would sit that on top of my Peavy 4X12 black widow cab and people would look at me like I lost my mind,until I plugged it in and wailed,it replaced my 210 watt 212 Rewnown chorus combo.

not my pick though,I have a 30 watt Marshall that sounds really good for ss,but is no good for anything except practice

my pick if it counts is a hybrid, my Tube Works RT2100 its a 2X12 combo with 2 12AX7's in the preamp section,it sounds great clean and amazing when overdriven and stacked,this thing really sounds like a mesa,has that unmistakeable crunch...oh wait it is mistakable cuz it Tube Works baby..oh yeh :D I even had leftover money for a milkshake and fries
 
I have a Peavey Supreme 160, that I bought new 13 years ago, and it still sounds the same. A great head for chunky metal! It's manufacture date is 10-31-91, which makes it Rad! I reccomend this head for anyone starting out with their first head?/4x12. They can be had for $150! :D
 
Lanny Cox said:
Can't really go wrong with the Jazz Chorus.. I like some solid-state Fender stuff too though.
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Yes, Roland is the cream of solid-state.

And...yes, there is some nice solid-state Fender stuff. The pre-DSP Fender Princeton Stereo Chorus is not a bad substitute for the pricier Roland.

Junk: Vox. Noisy and unreliable. Sad.
 
I have an old Marshall Valvestate 8080, and an AVT150h. I like them both a lot, but at lower volumes the distorted tone on the 8080 seems to have a much smoother almost tubelike quality than than the AVT at a lower volume. Also the sound that comes direct from the line out on the 8080 is actually pretty decent and seems very usable with a little EQ tweaking. However the AVT seems to cut through very nicely in a live environment (well its louder isn't it lol), and the distortion really seems to start to come into his own when you start to crank it. For messing around and widdling at home though I tend to stick to my 10 year old 8080.

However they are indeed only half solid state. Nicer price than the all tube marshalls out there.
 
The best solid state amp (well its a hybrid but still..) I played was a Peavey Transtube XXL into a 5150 cab. It was very versitile and I thought the distorted tones were great. I almost got it over my mesa boogie F50.
 
I hated every Peavey amp I ever owned, solid state or tube and I own a lot of them. I use them because I had two vintage Les Pauls destroyed on gigs and one '59? Fender Baseman practcaly destroyed. Peavey's didn't break, you couldn't kill them ...they were roadie proof too but they sounded like shit.
I voted for other because my favorite soid state guitar amps are Kustom. You don't hear much about these amps any more. I used a Kustom 200 for a few years and really liked the thing ... I have tried several of the newer Kustom amps and I love 'em too.
If I were to play a solid state amp again it would be a Kustom.
The problem is that I am hooked on tube amps. especially Traynor tube amps.
 
jeffree said:
Older MusicMan stuff, with the tube pre and SS main.

J.
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Sorry you got that wrong..its a solid state preamp and tube power amp in a Music Man-I have the 65 watt 2x12 amp to prove it. I believe I have 6L6's in my power section-they blow EL34's away!

As for solid state, I have a Deluxe 85 that I've been gigging with lately-the clean is clean as Fender gets, the distortion channel took a while to get the sweet spot-but I finally got it and I'm happy as can be. I did replace the stock eminence speaker with a celestion for a cool upgrade too! I still hate those red knobs on it though. :(
 
Sunn Concert Lead 200w. I play 2 (stereo) of them live with the in slant 6x10L cabs. It takes an ear to tell the difference. Mostly when I play high on the neck on the unwound strings. Not as much sparkle and gets harsh. Great built in distortion, killer spring verb, boost, non master volume style loud, oh yeah drywall removing loud.
 
Australian made Jade Clubman 80 (switches between Bass & Guitar, built in distortion, balanced line to amp &&&&& NO ventilation - it fried at a very hot gig & took quite a bit of hassle to fix- but now I've added a vent panel at the back so all is fine -ish but it LOVES my single coil semi)
Cheers
rayC
 
DogFood said:
Sunn Concert Lead 200w. I play 2 (stereo) of them live with the in slant 6x10L cabs. It takes an ear to tell the difference. Mostly when I play high on the neck on the unwound strings. Not as much sparkle and gets harsh. Great built in distortion, killer spring verb, boost, non master volume style loud, oh yeah drywall removing loud.
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Yes, lets not forget the old sunn transistor amps. The concert and colesium bass amps were notorious in the stoner rock sludge bands in the 90's and even now.

I think buzz osborne used an old sunn amp along with tube amps.

I once owned a mosvalve 500 poweramp and used it with a boogie preamp and it blew my band out of the water. Years back you could find those things cheap.

I think the is with the solid state amps is you need wattage(200+) to get some real stage volume. Playing sludge rock that is.
 
I like my VoxAD50, but my little Traynor TRM40 is the most kick beutt ss amp I've ever had.......

not that I've had very many good ones..... I could certainly do a Peavey in a pinch, but I'm partial to Fender stuff too.....
 
I really need to plug those heads into some 4x12 cabs, the 10s are mid heavy and though sound good they don't have the range/depth of 12s.
 
To me, the Roland Jazz Chorus really gave solid state its first shot of legitimacy. Joni Mitchell went electric with it, didn't she? Anyhow, it has a pure clean tone and unlimited headroom. I love it, and wish I had a bigger place for it here.
 
...

I still dig my Line 6 Flextone I. The high gain stuff sounds pretty much dead on like a tube head in a live situation. Recording ain't bad either.

I've been eye-balling Carvin's solid state head for a bit now. 3 channels, built-in effects. Their amps are usually kick ass.
 
Fender Capricorn. Sweetest, roundest sounding solid state amp I've ever heard. 3 - 12" JBL's, amazing reverb. I can't find anything on these amps anywhere. Not even on the Fender support site. I would imagine it's pretty rare and worth some cabbage. Fender had a zodiac line in the late 60's early 70's but there isn't much info available about it.
 
I bought a Peavey Supreme 160 in '92. Awesome sound. And always sounds the same. Cool feature. I took it out of it's case, and looked at it's electronics. Written on one of the boards is Manufacture date 10/31/91! It makes this amp even heavier! :D
 
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