Best sounding SS amp you all have encountered?

[Han die Blume]

My best SS-Amp was a "Rath Amp" 5050, a stereo head with 2x 50 Watts and two Channels. The other Rath´s like the 103 or the 63 are very well sounding amps too.

[bigsmitty]

Back in the 80s plugged my marshall lead 12 headphone out into my buddy's Harmon Kardon stereo, sounded killer.

[Chuck H]

Long thread (and I'm not going back to read every post, so this has probably already been mentioned, but) I played through a small Roland amp about a year ago. It sounded great, sorry I can't remember the exact model. Those 'slightly distorted, touch sensative' tones that tube amps have weren't there but the high gain and clean tones were entirely gig acceptable. Hands down the best high gain fully solid state tone I've heard and the cleans were reminicent of the old JC series amps. The JC series amps from early Roland efforts have a very good rep for good reason. Overall I'd say that Roland has the solid state thing in the bag for guitar amps. Though I'm still partial to the Peavey Bandit as I owned one and have NO complaints.

Chuck

[Hurricane]

My Polytone Mini Brute lll/lV/V/M-PA

Many a post starts with something like :

We alll started with ss amps and then ...................

But nope not moi .

It's was and always had been tubes . Through the years I had seen many nice sounding ss guitar amps like MusicMan that did cut it like the Roland 120 Chorus , but for me nope , especially for electrified harp ( Blues harmonica ) it's even more of a critical thing for harps and bullet mics .

Recently I was gifted one little 90 watt ss Polytone P . A . / guitar - harp amp in mint condition . Here's a youtube video with a really nice example of a sweet little ss amp that covers vocals as well :
YouTube - Polytone demo

And ..........

If your a mild mannered man/woman during the day and screaming Jump Blues harp blowing and or guitar monster at night , well this baby really is a stellar performer . and just what the Dr. ordered

I hook my DAW to it with it's flexibility ( stomps - fxs - and stuff ) with a Roland GR33 guitar synthesizer and my Godin LGXSA + one vocal mic and a bullet mic fo dee harps and I'm off to the races , great little system for small venues as a P . A . / instruments application and a more than decent small club guitar/harp amp too

It's got 3 channels and sports a vintage spring Hammond B3 reverb too ! I love it . Runs two Polytone spkrs with a 12" and a 8" spkr in each cabinet . It's light as a feather too so eat your hearts out .........

...... and .........

I paid $18.00 at a Thrift Shop hee hee hee heh heh heh

This thing is scary too when I put my Squier PBASS through it with a slight delay and stuff to get a " Weather Report " feel going , it's a killer to be sure .

Ebay has from time to time one exactly like mine and there are always many more models there to be had .....

- - but - -

.......not for $18,00 ! ! lol

Easy I'm going to play with my Polytone heh heh heh

Hurricane Ramon

[Prairie Dawg]

I wish one of youse guys would find me a Pwr Sonic a/k/a Powersonic, ss amp so I can relive my misspent youth.


Made in New Jersey, bought from Rondo Music along about 1967.

SS, 50w combo with reverb and vibrato, 12 inch oxfords, loud and clean.

Please please please

[xonglennao]

Your links don't work, but I know what you're talking about.

Look, here's the skinny.

SS amps use transistors to amplify. The watt rating is where the transistors start saturating, and unfortunately transistors sound like poo when they saturate (ie, overload). Transistors don't need any extra circuitry, though, so SS amps tend to be lighter. They also don't need much in the way of maintenance, except maybe a look-over every couple of years, cleaning out a jack, etc.

Tube amps use vacuum tubes to amplify. Tubes are rated weird compared to transistors, I'll just simplify it and say that one tube watt = 1.5 to 3 solid state watts, ie, they sound way louder. The closer a tube gets to being overloaded the more it spits out lots of musically pleasing harmonics. This is the "sweet tube sound" or "tube mojo" that people talk about. Tubes need heater circuits and bigger power filters, so tube amps tend to be heavier. One of the coolest things about tubes are that you can swap out similar types of tubes and get different sounds out of your amp. Theoretically tubes could break or blow, so its good to have backups. They should also be replaced every year or two. Tubes need about a minute to warm up, that's what the standby switch is for.

That Fender Champ is a tube amp, and it's a really nice-sounding amp, too. It's been a while since I've seen one, I went with an Epiphone Valve Jr. instead. For being rated low in watts, they pack quite a bit of punch! I don't know if a combo is going to be right if you want to jam with a full band, but it's just fine for one on one work, as long as the other person isn't trying to crank their 4x12 or anything.

What I ended up doing was getting an Epi head, instead of the combo, and have been plugging it into a 4x12. I use a couple of pedals, and I've got a raging monster, easily capable of jamming with a full band (okay, it's a really good 4x12, but you know what I mean).

If you were looking at a ss amp, then I would check out Marshall and Vox, as they traditionally tend to sound pretty good over a variety of different styles.

While 5 watts is okay with a tube amp, you would never want less than 30 watts for a solid state amp, as it will just sound crappy. Larger speakers are better - a 12" speaker is waaaaay better than an 8"! Better articulation, better bass response, doesn't saturate as easily, all that stuff.

[rms]

New to this forum and just found this thread. I have been playing tube amps since the 60s (Fender). I did use a number of big Kustom amps like Fogerty in the 70s and I liked those.

I have tried my share of modeling stuff. I seem to buy every thing new and return it. I have some issues and can't lug the heavy stuff anymore. Over the past 5 years, I have gigged often with a Roland Cube 30.

In the 90s I was using a Fender Stage 100 for a few years with a Morley JD-10 in fron tof it.

Last week I purchased a Frontman 65R and I think it has a wonderful clean channel like most of Fender's tube or solid state amps.

Call me crazy but I am going SS all the way now. I am tired of retubing. No one but me can hear the difference once the whole band starts playing any way.

I have a question though. With tube amps, I have always put better caps in or replaced them over time, changed tubes, put in bigger transfermores etc.

Is there any tone wise value to changing the caps to better caps in a SS amp? Making the power supply beefier? Thanks.

[Hurricane]

One More Time

This one works . just checked it now .

YouTube - Polytone demo


HR

[KGR7]

PWR Sonic"The Thunderer"

I had a Power-Sonic in high school that was pretty good-you guys still haven't found me one to replace the one that got flooded out in 1970. Made in New Jersey, good components, big Oxford speakers....the old ones had a lightning bolt on the front that'd flash on and off.
So find me one and I'd prolly buy it for shock value.

Dear Mr. Dawg,

Dude, I have one!!! I'll sell it for what I paid (plus shipping) 300 bucks it works and kicks ass ;-) the bulb needs replacing in the lightning-bolt tho'

Pics on request....

[tonybassman1]

Pwr Sonic Amp

I had a Power-Sonic in high school that was pretty good-you guys still haven't found me one to replace the one that got flooded out in 1970. Made in New Jersey, good components, big Oxford speakers....the old ones had a lightning bolt on the front that'd flash on and off.
So find me one and I'd prolly buy it for shock value.

Hey Prarie Dawg,

I was looking up information regarding my Pwr Sonic Amp and I came across your thread. I have one in my possession in good condition. Everything is functional. If you are interested you can email me at aimpavido@verizon.net.

Thanks,

Tony

[Prairie Dawg]

Somebody PM'd me about a Power sonic. Can you do that again? I seem to have lost the return address.

[tonepoet]

One SS amp that surprised me with how warm and chimey its clean sound was is the little AMPEG G-100 combo amp. I think it's about 65 watts with a 10" speaker. No frills, no reverb. Just volume, bass and treble with an on/off switch. But a very believable tube-like warm clean sound.

[Chuck H]

There are a surprising amount of SS amps out there that do a good clean tone. That is, not flat, blatty and dry. And, of course, SS distortion is a staple in guitar tone. I still miss my 1984 RAT box (incidentally, there is a good reissue of that box. But I haven't gotten one yet). It's really the tweener stuff where tubes shine. With their more musical distortion, jumping voltages and reactive dynamics. A good clean boost pedal and a tube amp is a do all rig. But if all you need is clean and balls out clipping I think SS designs do really well. And, FWIW, Peavey has really done good things with their TransTube designs that get closer to that coveted tube amp feel for slightly to moderately distorted tones. But I don't foresee other companies, or even Peavey following up on the idea. The trend is toward digital emulation.

[DrGonz78]

I recently bought a 1978 Barcus-Berry XL8 solid state amp, rather I bought it for a jazz player friend. He had this amp years ago and just talked it up. So, when I saw it on Ebay I got it for him. Very rare amp to find and have read it is similar to Standel type solid state amps. I was amazed by the tone of the amp after cleaning it up. It has this organic hollow sound that was extremely natural to the tone of my guitar. Very simple circuit design and pretty decent components on the board. Just a great jazz amp!

The other one that blew me away was a mint condition Polytone Mini Brute II that I bought. That amp sounded better than any solid state amp I have ever played.

[XxIPxX]

Valvestate VS265

very lush chorus, gain stages rock, it's the only amp I've found I can gig all night without bringing my effects bag..