Best Solid State Amp Options

[Todd Simpson]

This is a really good point, thats a GREAT amp. It really shines on CLEAN TONES though, more than high gain craziness. WHich is of course perfectly valid and it's a legend for jazz/Pop/even metal clean chorus sounds.

Todd

Best means different things to different people.

If I had to choose the 'most iconic' solid state amp I would choose the Roland JC-120. It pretty much replaced the Fender Twin as the standard combo rental amp for quite a few years and it was the first amp to have the chorus built in. The JC also has a sound all its own that some people really like.

Many solid state amps are made for lower price points but the JC-120 was the first that you saw across a lot of different styles and was widely accepted.

I suppose Polytone could be considered one of the more popular amps for jazz players, but I don't think they're as popular as they once were.

I prefer tubes which are obsolete for a lot of things. Musical amplifiers (tell your friend to look into the audiophile market) are one thing most people feel they do better then solid state.

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[Slavenko Erazer]

I don't like solid states.
U can't get decent metal solo sound with those.
Now you even have Randall full tube amp for just around 400 $ i think..

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-...uitar-combo-amp

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[TwistedHeaterWir...]

To the original post. There are some very good solid state amp on the market today. I don't however from playing several feel they have the tone, feel, harmonics or response of a good tube amp. Tube amps obsolete? No way. Your friend doesn't sound like a guitar player. I have several tube amps, now mostly home builds, that I play regularly. I own a ZT Club SS amp and carry it to gigs as a backup.( light weight, loud) It's ok but still lacks the feel and response of a tube amp. I also own a '67 Vox Cambridge Reverb that I use as a bedroom amp at times. Cool amp for what it is but the tube Vox of the same name blows it away.

So in either the modern era or vintage gear I don't believe SS technology has quite gotten to the point to replace tube tone. Modeling is just that and although much improved in recent years, it doesn't have the drive, punch and feel of the real deal.

SS amps excel where tons of power is required. Bass amps, PA systems etc. Give me a 40 tube amp with 2-6L6 power tubes and I'm a very happy guy. A solid state amp is a great tool for the beginner on a budget, as a practice amp and lightweight back up. You just don't see them on the big stages very often and with good reason. The jazz genre may be an exception to this. And so it goes.

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[deeaa]

Sonically, on record, I don't find tubes are that much better in an amp, I use a plugin modeler quite happily, but I do like the sound of tubes as an easy, organic way of EQ'ing and warming up the signal. For instance, I run all my D/I guitars thru a tube direct box.

Furthermore, when lots of volume is needed, tube amps simply have a far superior signal to noise ratio. When no sound is input, tube amps make no sound of their own (except whatever buzz other gear like pedals may present). SS amps always amplify everything, even if you don't hear it, there's much less 'headroom' when played loud.

Everybody who's played an all tube stack without a lot of pedals for instance knows this - when you stand in front of the amp and experience the impact of a chord hit from silence, the air movement and all - there is no substitute in SS or modeler world for that. SS may move air just the same, but that raw, incredible punch with great SNR can't be copied.

However, once you put five pedals in front of it, all that matters next to nothing.

Also, once you record it, no matter what you use pretty much. Just personal preference.

SS amps shine the greatest in home use when little sound is used - there they beat tube 10-1. NO tube amp exists that can really sound superb at very very low volumes. They may sound good, but you just know turning that knob a little more will make it even better. I've had 2W tube amps that were loud enough to break eardrums at short distances. So it's SS amps at home for me, tube when I play out loud with a band for my own enjoyment only. Likely will not change in near future. If I toured pro, I'd usemy JVM's D/I and the amp for monitoring.

IMO Tech-21 is one of the best, and their el cheapo copies Behringer GM series are excellent sounding as well. They all work great for home 'bedroom' amps especially, and I know a couple of pro acts such as an AC/DC cover band who've toured 10 years using only Tech-21 with great results.

Here's a few of my demos of SS amps:

Techie 21:



The cheap copy of Techie:

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This post has been edited by deeaa: May 28 2013, 06:56 AM

[pdf64]

I've not a whole lot of knowledge of the current or historical market of silicon device based amps, so I can't offer much to the original post; Session Award developed some good sounding amps and this page has a couple of useful articles regarding the issues http://www.award-session.com/award-session_geartalk.html but they're no longer in production.
Tube amps have a couple of performance characteristics that have sonic impacts that tend to be valued by many musicians;
A/ inherently high output impedance - this reduces efficiency (ie wastes power) but facilitates the amp's power output level tracking the impedance of the speaker. Speaker impedance varies significantly with frequency and the tube amp's high output impedance enables a more balanced power output across the frequency range of interest.
Whereas a standard (silicon device based) amp with very low output impedance will tend to sound muffled in comparison (because it will have more gain / power in the low mids, less in the bass and high mids / treble).
B/ a noticeable degree of dynamic compression, ie output power does not track the input signal level in a closely linear manner; when heavily overdriven, the power level will tend not to increase significantly. The transients effect of the note being picked may even result in a slight pumping effect, which can usefully be employed to create a smooth, 'singing' note envelope.
Also the classic tube amp designs are fairly simple and are in the public domain, so may be copied as desired.
It's possible for silicon device based amps to mimic all the above, and amps that do it really well will get cheaper I'm sure. However, quality costs and the market for high quality (ie expensive) silicon based amps is small currently.
The dynamic compression thing requires the amp to be pushed hard; when used with regular guitar speakers, that results in a high sound pressure level and, as noted above, even low powered tube amps are too loud in the domestic environment to be used to best effect.
However, attenuators can be used between amp and speaker to bring the sound power down. Even better is a guitar speaker of variable efficiency; my Fluxtone speaker is incredible, allowing me to overdrive my AC30 at family friendly sound pressure levels.
I hope the above makes sense and is helpful - Pete

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[Britishampfan]

I would like to offer my experience.

Are tubes obsolete? Yes they are for many applications, there are only a few vacuum tube factories left in the world today most of which survive because of the need for tubes in military applications.

In the 80`s there was a great move to new SS amps and literally I saw stacks of Marshall, Fender, Vox, in the used piles of amps priced next to nothing, Plexi heads $300, nobody wanted the stuff.

Most pros never really left tube amps, but the popularity of tube amps came back because people liked the feel and the sound.

People believe a lot of things some of which is not true.


There is no BEST when it comes to sound, It`s all different, There are things ss amps can do that tubes amp don`t. There are advantages to tube amps over solid state and modeling.

There are many advantages of modeling over both tube and ss amps.

I`ve heard and know great guitar players that have had flawless sound with all the above. Platinum works of musical art have been made with all three singly and in combination.

I was invited once years ago to hear BB King small private affair, I sat right in front of him, He played a solid state lab amp, his sound and playing made my hair feel like it was standing on end, it was super natural, He still rates as one of the top players I`ve ever seen across all lines of music.

I`ve seen a lot of bands, more than the average person or musician that is for sure.


Again I say there is no BEST, the gear is nothing more than a tool, and as a craftsman I have a lot of tools, I know what my tools can and can`t do, and how to use the correct tool for the job at hand, and they are all different.

I`m dealing with all the time, Different rooms, different volumes, different styles, different textures, different visions and colors, and all of this changes everyday because my mood changes, my ideas change.

And trying to deliver a sound for someone else, it may not be the sound that I hear in my head, they want on their song.

I don`t think that tubes, or solid state, or modeling will be disappearing any time soon, but some day the tube factories will be gone that is for sure.

Other new choices will be available, and I`m never selling what I have right now either.

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[Blue Willy]

Roland JC120 is a nice clean amp and very versatile. I have a Laney 65R 2 channel combo with a 12" speaker. I haven't used it very much lately since it seems more metal oriented than blues oriented but friends have told me I sound good through it. I like tubes myself.

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[deeaa]

Tubes will be around in military for quite a while. An emp-creating nuclear bomb can wipe out every single transistor within thousands of miles easy, very hard to protect the electronic equipment from it. Needs like feet of lead.

I have been inside a Russian nuclear submarine and I was amazed there were stacks of, hell walls of old-school ceramic fuses and tube based computers, radars etc. Looked like some steampunk affair. And then I understood...it's impervious to emp pulses. A sub with modern computers would be useless within minutes of nuclear war while those Russian mariners would just laugh at the electro-magnetic pulses. Same with nuclear power stations and all...everything in Russia was apparently built to withstand a nuke attack.

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[SixStringSamurai]

To be honest, I don't count modelling as solid state. Modelling amps are now their own branch of the amp evolution, and they are constantly getting closer and closer to the real thing.

Pure solid state, like Peavey Bandits and JC120s and the like - now that is definitely a dying breed. With the advancements in low wattage amps, and the increasingly accessible prices for tube amps, there is simply no need for a solid state amp.

That being said, I'm a huge Dimebag fan and have always wanted to own a Randall Warhead X2 just because of him.

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[Spock]

I am really diggin this Yamaha THR10X. My friend just got one and it it FUN!!!! The sound coming out of those little speakers is incredibly fat.

Would it be considered Solid State - it being software driven? If so I'm also a huge fan of Line6.


Gotta luv Satchel of Steel Panther - he's a nut case!
"...some of the first things you learn are..." <---- plays Eruption hahaha



My first 1/2 stack was a Crate system back in the early 90s I purchased used for $600.

I have to admit, I NEVER liked the heavy tones on it, very thin sounding to me - and way too, i don't know the word - tinny maybe? Tin can-ish? But to this day, I haven't found a clean tone that I like better, the dash of chorus it had, to me it was perfect. I still compare all the clean tones I try to achieve against that P.O.S. Crate amp, and have yet to copy it perfectly but have come close. I do like the clean tone of my Marshall, it's much rawer sounding, but I wish I could find some sort of setting that matched that old Crate clean channel.

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This post has been edited by Spock: Jun 4 2013, 10:47 AM

[deeaa]

Every amp I ever tried, maybe save some 20 dollar starter toys, have had at least one sound that would be very good for something. I think a great player makes any amp sound good.

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[Darius Wave]

I don't know if this could be called descent but ...I think it works for the purpose and You could use it if there would be no other amp available at the moment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VbSqRPiGv4

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This post has been edited by Darius Wave: Jun 4 2013, 12:02 PM

[Blue Willy]

As has been said before in this thread, best means different things to different people. If I was playing in a cover band and needed to get a lot of different sounds heard on hit recordings I'd probably go for a modeling amp. A friend of mine who plays metal doesn't even use an amp on stage, he plugs into a Pod and into the PA.

But I play in a blues band mostly or when I do rock it is original songs or arrangements not direct covers so I don't need to sound like somebody else's idea of great tone. Me, I just use my old familiar 1954 Gretsch Country Club and plug into my favorite tube amp. a modified Traynor. I don't use my pedal board much since I have grown tired of it. I stopped taking it to gigs a year or so ago and frankly, I don't miss it at all. The stompboxes seem to destroy the tone of my guitar and amp or destroy the dynamics or both.

I use this guitar:


And this amp:


I recorded the following with that guitar and that amp, fingerpicked the background and overdubbed the melody parts. I even used the exact same settings for both parts on both guitar and amp. All knobs on the guitar are dimed with the neck pickup backed down very slightly. Both pickups engaged. The amp settings are: volume - 1, treble - 5, bass - 5, reverb - 2, vibrato - off.

Try that with your modeling amp!

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[deeaa]

How do you like the guitar sound on this one:

http://deeaa.pp.fi/Bousos/2013/kes%e4mixit...puolue_6_13.mp3

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This post has been edited by deeaa: Jun 12 2013, 07:16 PM

[bobg]

I grudgingly sold my1985 Solid State Yamaha G100-112 III 2 years back.
It was a GREAT amp, was quite loud and took well to effects pedals.
I believe they (2 of them) were the amp of choice by Mike Stern ( or was it Pat Metheny?) for a time.
BG

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

How do you like the guitar sound on this one:

http://deeaa.pp.fi/Bousos/2013/kes%e4mixit...puolue_6_13.mp3

Hi man, I like it. It also has some phaser or any other modulation...

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