Where the early solid state Fender amps that bad?

[Boy Howdy]

Kustom amps were better made, so were Acoustic Control amps and generally they sounded better too.[/QUOTE]

I just bought an Acoustic 150 for $100. After replacing a burnt 5-watt resistor in the power amp, the thing sounds fantastic. I'm shocked at how good it sounds. Just clean, I'm not even gonna try to turn it up loud.

[nevetslab]

Yes I am referring to the Zodiac series and ones that look like the picture.

YUP....THAT's the one I recall seeing at Wallach's Music City in Hollywood (Sunset & Vine). I never played thru one, nor seen the insides of one.. That was the period I was ditching high school for the day and hitch-hiking around town to go exploring in various music stores...before the days of having a driver's license.

[J M Fahey]

I remember being surprised by an SS Fender *bass* amp with *three* (not a typo) 12" speakers, which was weird .

Very loud compared to the typical 100W tube amp in that era (late 60´s) but "no Bass", all midrange.

[Marshtech]

I had the Bassman amp head that appeared in a couple of postings here. Got mine around 2005?, knowing what I was getting. I'm a tech so I was through the guts of it [also an oil can delay from the same era]. The bass head worked fine and there wasn't much room for making improvements - not worth the effort. It worked totally fine but had no 'soul'. Kinda like playing through an early Radio Shack PA.

[Axtman]

Late 60's and early 70's.

This amps were the solid state equivalent of Fender's famous tube amps. "Newer" amps had Zodiac names.

[J M Fahey]

People found them dull or boring because they compared them side by side with classic Fender Tube amps.

Today? Most people got used to SS and in that case I´m certain they can hold their own against any Peavey Laney Crate SS Ampeg, etc.

[teemuk]

In certain regards, yes. IMO, they do have a really nice, chimey clean tone - actually very Fender-ish too - and the tremolo and reverb effects sound great. These would totally fit to playing e.g. The Shadows or The Ventures covers, or other that type of stuff generally. (Just make sure your guitar doesn't sound dull). You know the tone I'm refering to. ...which of course was already outdated when these amps appeared.

But generally even early 90's Peavey and Ampeg/Crate amps are much more versatile and diverse in tones overall (no experience of Laney amps). In any other regards but clean tones these old Fender amps just won't compete.

[Axtman]

This is the type of amp I was referring to in my post.