Recommend a fairly inexpensive solid state amp for abrasive tones

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Horkin My Lunch

Horkin My Lunch

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Lately, I've been into really nasty, clangy, scratchy, trebly tones a la Gang of Four, Big Black, and Rapeman. I'm not too well versed in the realm of solid state amps, but I know there are plenty that don't sound like ass (well, sort of, but not like the ass of some crappy SS practice amp, the ass I'm INTENDING). What would you suggest?
 
Roland JC120 is pretty sterile but bright. Yamah put out alot of pretty good transistor amp's in the 1980's, but most of them are in the mode of the JC120.
 
Try running your guitar into a fuzz pedal or distortion pedal, then straight into the PA system/mixing board. There are few things that can make a guitar sound worse.

Or, pick just about any preset off of a Behringer V-Amp :D
 
crate

crate makes very inexpensive amps, that in my experience are high quality. i got my half stack, the gt1200h from musiciansfriend for bout 500 bones. it also has a "shape" knob that relle adjusts the tone. this could prolly give u what u are searching for, and i bet they have similiar options for smaller amps. also very roadworthy. mines had the shit beat out of it for bout 3 years now and had no problems, except all the missing chunks in the exterior. best of luck
 
In my experience, Crate does not make high quality amps and would likely be pretty far down my list.

I'm not very familiar with the tones you're looking for, but the best (YMMV) affordable solid state amps pretty much come form the big names in amps. Fender's older FM line, Marshall (Valvestate or newer MG series), Vox (pre Valvtronix), and Peavy (Transtube series, notably the Bandit). If those don't tickle your fancy, you might try something from Tech 21 (Trademark 60), Yahmaha (G series),Traynor (DG series), or First Act (V-Stack amps).

Then there's the classics Roland JC-120, Randall RG100, and Lab Series amps.
 
i only recommended the half stack i own, i can't speak for the rest of their amps, and i said good quality for the price as well, realistically its not going to compete with a marshall twice its price although i do love the solo channel and clean on it. rhythm channel does kind of suck tho...
 
didgijimmy said:
i only recommended the half stack i own, i can't speak for the rest of their amps, and i said good quality for the price as well, realistically its not going to compete with a marshall twice its price although i do love the solo channel and clean on it. rhythm channel does kind of suck tho...
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Tones are completely subjective and really not part of my suggestion, I'm responding to the "high quality" portion of the question. I just listed a bunch I've tried before (and a couple I haven't).

I've owned (or have had long term access to) Fender, Marshall, Tech 21, Yahmaha, and Roland solid state amps which haven't broke down over a 10+ year period. I can't speak for you amp, but have seen at least a handfull of Crates die in much less time. Not that your's is going to keel over suddenly, just speaking from my experience.
 
line 6

nice little solid state amps, sound decent, cheap.
 
fair enough

you may be correct, this ones only had three years of wear, although its certainly tripped over its wheels and bit the dust a few times and survived. also i ditto your fender fm recommendation, but have had many problems with the input jack on the frontman series.
 
Horkin My Lunch said:
Lately, I've been into really nasty, clangy, scratchy, trebly tones a la Gang of Four, Big Black, and Rapeman.
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How about the tone of D. Boon from the Minutemen? Your description above sounds really close to his tone. He played a Telecaster into a variety of amps. The amps I see mentioned along with him are a Fender Bandmaster and a Fender Bassman (neither of which are solid-state). He'd turn the treble all the way up and turn the mids and bass all the way down.

So maybe solid-state isn't necessary for your desired tone. Although it'd certainly be cheaper!

Hope that helps. Hope you return someday to read our responses :)
 
crate amp if its not nasy enough for you put a small tear in the speaker
 
My vote is for Lab Series

I have a Roland JC120, a Lab Series L5, and a Yamaha G100 112 III, all of which are mentioned in the posts above. The Yamaha sounds great, but very smooth, clean and warm in general, although it's fairly versatile tone-wise. I like the Roland, but it doesn't do it for me the same way the Lab Series does. You can get an amazing variety of sounds from a Lab Series, and if you can get one I don't think you'd be disappointed.
 
i liked the old fender fm65 and the DG series are pretty decent, i had mine for a couple years and it was pretty good for what it was, the distortion channel was alright, but the clean channel would get a nice crunch and take pedals really well.
 
BruceM001 said:
You can get an amazing variety of sounds from a Lab Series, and if you can get one I don't think you'd be disappointed.
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Thanks, Bruce, for reminding me of my old Lab L5 that I sold for a song when I needed money. Man, I liked that amp and still regret selling it. I don't remember much about the overdriven tones, but everyone liked the jazzier stuff we could coax out of it.
 
jeffree said:
Thanks, Bruce, for reminding me of my old Lab L5 that I sold for a song when I needed money. Man, I liked that amp and still regret selling it. I don't remember much about the overdriven tones, but everyone liked the jazzier stuff we could coax out of it.
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I still have a Lab L5 that I need to get serviced-it has a transistor overheating...:(.....but it had some sweet tones. With that compressor I could get amazing FAT FULL sounds that would sustain like crazy!!:D

BB King played in town last fall and both he and his rhythm guitarists played through LabSeries amps throughout their set.

As for the original post, if they are looking for Nasty, Abrasive sounds-I think the Crate would fit that request. Their distortion channel has a annoying nastiness alright!:mad:
 
Yeah, I forgot about the Lab's compressor. That was a big deal for its age, and my first real experience with compressing guit. I now recall, too, that a very good guitarist in the 70s, Ronnie Montrose, led me to that amp. He used it for an entire solo album, very impressive stuff. Come to think of it, I may start watching Craig's list!
 
If you are looking for a solid state head with some nuts...I would recommend the peavey supreme 160, ampeg 140 stereo chorus, good ol' fender M-80 chorus, or an old randall RG-120. I have used all of these amps in the early to mid 90's and they all can get nasty! Then I found god...TUBE AMPS...and never looked back. I also think there is a new line of ss amps i saw in guitar center called RAVEN. Maybe want to look into them as they seemed affordable.
 
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