Reliability of Some SS Amps: 3 Fenders, 1 Line 6, 1 Carvin, 2 Peaveys, 2 GK's

S

stevieb

Just another guy, really.
Thinning the herd at Studio101nola.

We are WELL fixed for amps with great tone- recent stroke of luck took care of that- these are simply work-horses- all of them make decent enough tone and power, but reliability is something we can't be sure of- neither DJ nor I have enough experience with any of them to have a good handle on reliability- we have SOME, but not enough to know much.

Please tell me if you have any first-hand experience with the reliability of any of these- but second-hand knowledge or persistent rumors are helpful, too. We are not too worried about tone unless one is just horrible.

These amps are being considered as for sale's:

Fender Frontman 212R (we had to put this one in the shop, once already. Not a good sign.)

Fender Roc Pro 1000 Yes, I know this one's got a 12AX7 tube. cheap and common tube, so it's close enough to be considered SS, for my purposes here.)

Fender Deluxe 112

Line 6 Spider 212 (Red Face) This one required service once, too. ARRGGGG.)

Carvin TS-100 all-tube stereo power amp for guitar. We have 6L6's on one side, EL84's on the other (I get 6L6's confused with 6V6's; 84's confused with 34's- the bigger of each is what it has.) It's made for that, the only one we care about tone.

Peavey Stereo Chorus 212. Damn thing is so powerful- 260 watts- that it blew the Black Widow speakers in it.

Peavey Basic 40. Bass amp.

Gallien-Krueger Backline 115

G-K 250ML, the one with heavy-duty 6's in it.

If anyone is interested in any of these, let me know. And thanks.
 
I own a Frontman 212r. It's reliable. It's never crapped out on me. I certainly haven't lugged the thing around as much as Lt. Bob plays, but it's a good amp for sure.
 
I owned the GK 250ML in the past and for solid state it's a great sounding little amp.It's a solid reliable amp.It was my first nice amp so i'm a bit partial to it,but i owned it for 5 years.A few months after i bought it one of the 6's went out but it was still under the warranty.After that i never had any issues.I threw it in the trunk and took it to keg partys on a regular basis in my youth and a bunch of us would always jam on it.It survived all of that so i'd say it's reliable.

It's also possible to get more gain out of the dirty channel by turning up the blue disc in the pot inside.Ihad it done by the mom and pop store i bought it from and it does make a difference.The only drawbacks is that the compressor,chorus,and i think echo IIRC,are push button preset.It may be possible to mod these to taste some by adjusting those pots inside but i can't say for sure.

Even so,being preset from the factory the chorus sounds great.Not over the top but just enough to add what's needed.
 
fuzzsniffvoyage said:
I'd love to get a GK-250. Never found one at a reasonable price.
Click to expand...

Yeah i've looked at some on ebay out of curiosity and i'm amazed at how much folks are asking for them used.They are a good amp but they are solid state.I paid about $600 for mine new in 1988 and they'll go for $300-$400 used on e-bay.I wouldn't mind getting another one myself but i have enough amps already and don't do enough recording to justify buying it.The GK's have a nice sounding clean channel
 
If you're selling these amps why would you care about the reliability. It seems to me that the reliability concern is just a bogus excuse to post items for sale in the guitar forum instead of the classified forum where it belongs.
My 2 cents
 
Jimistone, you obviously didn't read my post very well- "considered for sale." We probably won't be selling them all, but rather keeping the ones that may have better reliability. And anyway, I sell locally via craigslist, esp. when we are talking heavy, expensive to ship items like combo amps.
 
Crack that GK250ml back panel off and experiment with those pots.Like i mentioned previously is does help on the gain channel and i can't say what it may accomplish on the other channels.It may be possible to get different tones or more desireable tones for your ear out of this amp.If it's one of the amps you may consider selling or keeping it would be good to know just what all it's capable of.
 
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