Best sounding SS amp you all have encountered?

[ozzybui]

I had a chance to plug my strat in to an Evans amp model EG-601E and I have to say that it sounds like a Fender Twin Reverb. Amazing clean sound with reverb. I tried to find information about that amp. but couldn't. Does anybody know about this amp ?

[Jared Purdy]

Roland Cube 30 or 80

[moonshine]

Hi all,

Best preamp sound goes to Marshall Valvestate 80, with its LED clipping followed by a real tube. However this amp squeals like a pig and generally behaves very poorly at high volumes so it is not suitable for gigging unless miced. Second best is Laney TubeFusion 400, with some CMOS inverter stages that give a nice and somewhat tubey-sounding distortion. Never tried it on stage however. Of modeling amps, Vox is the best I've tried so far, it even seems to behave quite well when cranked.

I (nearly) always play hardcore/metal with gain maxed, so I don't know much about clean sounds, but in all transistor amps I've tried cleans suck, badly. If I need to play such a beast, I put a pedal tube preamp in front of it with very low gain settings and the sound is improved from horrible to OK. So it seems that even for a clean guitar sound, some tubey distortion is desirable, perhaps even more important than for leads.

[LeoZeppelin]

The best was maybe a early 80's Peavey Renown 2x12 that I ran thru an old marshall 4x12 cab in the clubs. This amp at the time fit the hard rock style I was playing, Sabbath, Crue, Ozzy, Priest, Scorpions and many others.

Slobrain

Out of curiosity, wasn't Tony Iommi mostly using Orange and Laney? Orange rocks ! I don't know for sure if he changed amps later or not, though.

[poorboybrad]

I use to have a sand-amp myself until the cabinet got borrowed when I was fixing the amp. I, also, used a tube screamer to push it into overdrive. I remember it had a lot of personality to it, but I think it was the sand filled cabinet more than the actual amp itself. seemed like they were strangely unreliable tho. Maybe I had a lemon. knows.

I played through a bandit 112 after I fixed it for my high school a few years ago and I REALLY like the active eq and distortion sounds. I plan to incorporate some of those circuits into a stand-alone pre amp someday.

A gorilla practice amp came home with me from a pawn shop once. It was like 15 watts and had a 6.5 inch speaker. had a tube driver knob or something on it. Absolutely horrible. I plan on putting in some tube amp guts into it someday.

[Steve Conner]

The Peavey Bandit was very popular. It came out in the metal era, and had some really brutal distortion that metal players loved. I remember wanting one when I was at high school, but couldn't afford it.

[stratburst]

Music Man

That would be a Music Man 2-12 130 (script One-Thirty) with 6L6's. I picked up this amp back in the early Eighties because Claptan used one. I figued good enough for him good enough for me right?

I have bought and sold countless great amps over the years, and have Tweed and Blackface Fenders and some awesome Marshalls but I never could let this one go. With a little EQ and some help with an OD pedel this amp sings like a Marshall but more smooth and sweat. Great amp!

[Prairie Dawg]

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.

[hasserl]

I've got a solid state 2 x 10" combo amp from Mitchell out of Riverside CA, circa '77 - '78, called a Sand Amp 100. I believe the Sand Amp reference was not so much for the silicon used in the amplification, as for the material used in the cabinet. The cab is double walled and the space between the walls is filled with sand. It has a closed back with a large front open port. The amp sounds great, as good as most any tube amp I"ve played, though not real high gain. It was my practice and gig amp for years back in the day, and I still have it out in the garage underneath a stack of more recent finds. I dug it out awhile ago and plugged it in and was reminded of what a good amp it is. I could still use it today. I still have the old Ibanez Tube Screamer I use to use to get more grind out of it when I needed it.

Another real nice SS amp is one of my newer purchases, a Crate Powerblock. If you haven't tried one of these yet do yourself a favor and go try one. I picked mine up cheap, brand new and in the box for about $79.00. This is now my backup amp I take along with me to gigs. It's so small and light it's incredible, but it packs a lot of power and sounds very good.

I use to have a sand-amp myself until the cabinet got borrowed when I was fixing the amp. I, also, used a tube screamer to push it into overdrive. I remember it had a lot of personality to it, but I think it was the sand filled cabinet more than the actual amp itself. seemed like they were strangely unreliable tho. Maybe I had a lemon. knows.

I played through a bandit 112 after I fixed it for my high school a few years ago and I REALLY like the active eq and distortion sounds. I plan to incorporate some of those circuits into a stand-alone pre amp someday.

A gorilla practice amp came home with me from a pawn shop once. It was like 15 watts and had a 6.5 inch speaker. had a tube driver knob or something on it. Absolutely horrible. I plan on putting in some tube amp guts into it someday.

Hey what do you know, another Sand Amp player.



Kind of odd looking I suppose, with the expanded metal grill and exposed speakers. But I'm telling you this is a very nice sounding amp. I didn't have reliability issues with mine, I gigged it and used it at practices for probably hundreds of times.

Apparently the circuit was borrowed (or bought) from QSC who marketed a version as their Bantam.

[javelin]

Best Solid State Amp Opinion... LAB SERIES

I recently picked up a Lab Series II 100 Watt Head for $50
checked it out found a broken fuse filament ( not burned )... changed it and instantly became convinced this is the best sounding SS amp I have ever owned,this amp is totally unlike any SS amp I have owned,( Ovation, Peavey,Fender,Marshall,Traynor,Yorkville etc etc,it responds to my guitar with depth and that "bring it on old school growl"that commands respect.....I had been keeping a Marshall Mosfet head but there's no point as I wont' ever use it again after feeling how the Lab Series reacts....... Javelin

[R ski]

Back in the 90's I repaired a solid state amp I believe was GBX (Canadian made maybe) it consisted of a head and 4 X 12 speaker cabinet, not a wonderful distortion, however in clean mode this combo was awesome, it was loud an clear with my tele

A equipment friend I knew back in those days was always flipping amps and guitars, one retro 70's or 80 combo he purchased had square buttons for chorus and some other cheesy effect. the amp was not a stellar sounding combo but the pair of celestions sounded creamy and loud when I patched my 1st tube head through those speakers.

[slick8ball]

Long live solid state

Hey, I use only solid state.I have had some tube amps in my life such as a Fender Blues Deluxe, Peavey Classic, Fender Dual Showman,and Peavey Deuce.They all sounded great and best on clean settings.I used pedals for distortion like a tube screamer or those yellow Boss things even back in the late seventies.I have blown tubes in every tube amp while playing a gig.I also had a peavey pacer which with the tube screamer kicked the Classic's butt, an Acoustic 400 or some number like that (real harsh but loud) a load of solid state deluxe 95's and 65's(SS Fender).I have used Zoom ,Boss and Line 6 modeling pedals with solid state amps since the 90's.These have been the stage and deluxe Fenders and now I have two great amps for this way of playing: a Fender Ultimate Chorus and a Crate SX212.The Crate is the best so far.I don't use the distotion channel on a SS amp.The worst by far was the Acoustic.I really love the sound of a Dumble or Vox or early Fender.I also love old Boogie Amps, but with current technology the proximity of Line 6 XT to a Dumble or Mesa amp through my Clean channel is better sounding and way more reliable than most tube amps.

[slick8ball]

oops! it's GX

My best solid state amp is a GX212 not SX that was one of my worst guitars.The main thing by the way, that I can hear to make my tone sound great is of course the model and amp combination but equally important to me are Anico pickups preferably Alnico 2's like old Fender and Gibson pickups and My current ones Seymour Duncan sh-1's.I put them in a Tele custom Squier.My other guitar is a Strat I built out of parts bought online.It is part Squier too. and has Alnico 2 single coil pickups.Other pickups don't have the hollow,well defined sound no matter what amp I use.Solid state amps are great for using like a P.A. for digital modeling pedals.I personally played the Spider and did not like it.I never played a real Dumble but that setting on my Pod Xt Live is only rivaled in my opinion by the Dual Showman my dad had in the sixties.

[sebgreen]

I tried a new Bandit 112 and they're great, the clean sound is nice and he distortion is pretty brutal as you say. The great thing is you can coax pretty much any tone out of it thanks to the vicing switches. And it doesn't have any built in shitty effects.

[Brad707]

JC-120

I second the diss for the little peavey Bandit in the first or second post. I think it knocked out some upper frequencies from my hearing in high school.

However I think the Roland JC-77 is the most beautiful SS amp I have heard, and maybe JC-120 close.

I had a (Yamaha?..maybe peavey) head that was amazing too for a while, no reverb, nothing, just some kick ass volume and a few tone controls...100w i think. It sung with a DS-1 and delay in front of it. On a closed back 2x12 cabinet rarely sounded muddy.