BEST SOLID STATE

Funkfingers

DrCornelius said:

You can pick up an old jc120 for £500.

At my age, I'd be lucky if I could roll a JC120 along on castors. They are heavy. 

ICBM said:
I love the sound of a JC-120 but I wouldn't choose something that large and heavy these days.

Lower wattages are available. Some variants now accept stereo input signals. This might be important for pedalboard use. 

bingefeller

Any of the Roland Cube amps are great pedal platforms.

ICBM said:

metz3683 said:

I' looking at getting rid of my 2 valve amps and get a solid state, purely for reliability. I can spend about a grand. What would you all recommend? 

Probably either a Quilter Aviator or a Yamaha THR100 and a nice lightweight 2x12". The Yamaha is digital and does have overdriven sounds as well, which you may not need - the Quilter is purely analogue apart from the reverb.

I love the sound of a JC-120 but I wouldn't choose something that large and heavy these days.

I'm surprised you didn't mention the Peavey Bandit.  

ICBM

bingefeller said:

Any of the Roland Cube amps are great pedal platforms.

I've just found the exact opposite with a Cube 40.

Terrible with pedals, even on the 'JC Clean' sound - my little Vox AD15VT sounded far better with any type of distortion in front. I was really surprised how bad it was.

bingefeller said:

I'm surprised you didn't mention the Peavey Bandit.  

Because the budget is up to a grand, and even I would admit you can get a better solid-state amp than a Bandit for that .

A Supreme, for example .

mani

metz3683 said:

Thanks for the replies, It will be used a a pedal amp. So needs a great clean, not bothered about the drive 

+1 for the Trademark 60, does a fab Twin style clean - perfect as a pedal platform ime.

bingefeller

ICBM said:

bingefeller said:

Any of the Roland Cube amps are great pedal platforms.

I've just found the exact opposite with a Cube 40.

Terrible with pedals, even on the 'JC Clean' sound - my little Vox AD15VT sounded far better with any type of distortion in front. I was really surprised how bad it was.

bingefeller said:

I'm surprised you didn't mention the Peavey Bandit.  

Because the budget is up to a grand, and even I would admit you can get a better solid-state amp than a Bandit for that .

A Supreme, for example .

Ah mate, I've had great experience with the Cube amps, pedals and a post distortion EQ pedal to shape the sound.  

Supreme was the one I meant, I knew you were a fan :P

cj73

Sweden.

ICBM

bingefeller said:

Ah mate, I've had great experience with the Cube amps, pedals and a post distortion EQ pedal to shape the sound.

I really wanted to like it - it was both louder and lighter than the Vox, even at more than twice the power and with a bigger speaker, and it’s own clean sound was better. But it just sounded terrible with pedals - really boomy and buzzy, almost like DI’ing the pedal. I didn’t try an external EQ, but that would be missing the point of a grab-and-go amp to use with a pedal or my ME-50.

The Vox was just so much better and more valve-amp-like.

jpfamps

Danny1969 said:

ellwood said:

Tech 21 Trademark 60. I have two. They are not just my favourite solid state amps - they are one of my favourite amps full stop. Very tweakable, take pedals well and respond well to modulating the guitar volume control.

My first one cost me £160 and the second (which is a lot more worn and needs some tlc) was £220.

I love those amps, have had 2 myself. 

Nightmare to repair though, power section is OK but pre amp and eq Sansamp bit must be a bit of a secret because it's potted in epoxy resin in a metal frame on the PCB ... so any problems there mean a new PCB !

I've got a 120V Trademark 60 that someone has stuck 240 V up, and the signal is going into the epoxy and not coming out...........

jpfamps

ecc83 said:

Danny1969 said:

I would recommend a reliable valve amp, there's quite a lot out there. 

Solidstate amps can and do go wrong and with a modern BGA LSI chips design it can be terminal rather than a case of changing valves. 
From an engineers point of view I don't see solidstate as being more reliable 

Tend to agree except that power valves, especially todays, have a definite lifespan in amps.

Solid state amps SHOULD  be bombproof and many top designs for hi fi and PA really are. It seems however that such design care is rarely put into guitar amplifiers.

(I COULD of course mention "A Name" but my experience is now several years out of date. Others might like to comment?)

Dave.

Many of those "bombo proof" PA and hi-fi designs would not be if run hard into clipping a la most guitar amp.

darthed1981

Could try a Katana head...?

HAL9000

Orange Crush Pro. I’ve got the CR60C which is an analogue solid-state 1x12 master-volume combo. This amp is designed as a gigging, rather than a bedroom, amp. So no built-in effects (other than reverb), no built-in tuner, no aux in, and no headphones out. Just a  straightforward amp. Build quality is good and sounds are pretty much what you'd expect from an Orange, plus it takes pedals well.

Babones

How much power do you need? I really like the Vox MV50 Clean. Use a decent speaker/cab (8 or 4 ohm) and you might be alright.

Funkfingers

If @HarrySeven had a Mastermind specialist subject, it would probably be vintage solid state amplification. He is sure to have an opinion on this topic.

HarrySeven

Funkfingers said:

If @HarrySeven had a Mastermind specialist subject, it would probably be vintage solid state amplification. He is sure to have an opinion on this topic.

Ideed.

There's only one for me...

timmysoft

Over the years I’ve had a few really great solid state combos, my favourites would be:

Trace Elliot Supertramp(v1) - 80watts of great clean and crunch tones, I actually toured the head version for 3 years.

Kustom KGA65 - brilliant sounding compact combo that can be had for very little money.

Marshall VS100r - three channels and they all sound excellent.

ICBM

timmysoft said:

Trace Elliot Supertramp(v1) - 80watts of great clean and crunch tones, I actually toured the head version for 3 years.

Those sound fantastic, but I'm amazed you got three months out of it without it breaking down, let alone three years... a practice studio I work for had about half a dozen of them, and every one blew up within the first six months. The head version is better though, since the combos all had under-rated speakers.

The funny thing is that they sound better than the second version with the valve in it, although the second one is more robust.

timmysoft said:

Kustom KGA65 - brilliant sounding compact combo that can be had for very little money.

I really don't understand the lack of awareness about Kustom - every one of their amps I've played, from the Coupe valve amps right down to the little 10W 6" speaker practice amps, sounds far better than it has any business doing at its price point and in many cases genuinely good at any price.

timmysoft said:

Marshall VS100r - three channels and they all sound excellent.

These sound brilliant too, just with a couple of minor reliability issues that are easily fixed - the unnecessary headphone jack in particular - but the long-term prospects aren't great, they're just a bit too flimsy to hold up in the very long run. If they were built a bit better they'd be a real classic.

jaysmith

Matrix VB 800 ?

Fretwired

ICBM said:

timmysoft said:

Trace Elliot Supertramp(v1) - 80watts of great clean and crunch tones, I actually toured the head version for 3 years.

Those sound fantastic, but I'm amazed you got three months out of it without it breaking down, let alone three years... a practice studio I work for had about half a dozen of them, and every one blew up within the first six months. The head version is better though, since the combos all had under-rated speakers.

The funny thing is that they sound better than the second version with the valve in it, although the second one is more robust.

I had a Supertramp that I gigged ... the solid state amps were OK in my experience. I never had a problem with mine. It was the tube amps that were unreliable.

The best solid state amps are the Roland Jazz series - if you have a PA then a Roland JC-40 Jazz Chorus is worth checking out. Takes pedals very well and has an fx-loop.

timmysoft

ICBM said:

timmysoft said:

Trace Elliot Supertramp(v1) - 80watts of great clean and crunch tones, I actually toured the head version for 3 years.

Those sound fantastic, but I'm amazed you got three months out of it without it breaking down, let alone three years... a practice studio I work for had about half a dozen of them, and every one blew up within the first six months. The head version is better though, since the combos all had under-rated speakers.

The funny thing is that they sound better than the second version with the valve in it, although the second one is more robust.

timmysoft said:

Kustom KGA65 - brilliant sounding compact combo that can be had for very little money.

I really don't understand the lack of awareness about Kustom - every one of their amps I've played, from the Coupe valve amps right down to the little 10W 6" speaker practice amps, sounds far better than it has any business doing at its price point and in many cases genuinely good at any price.

timmysoft said:

Marshall VS100r - three channels and they all sound excellent.

These sound brilliant too, just with a couple of minor reliability issues that are easily fixed - the unnecessary headphone jack in particular - but the long-term prospects aren't great, they're just a bit too flimsy to hold up in the very long run. If they were built a bit better they'd be a real classic.

The trace was genuinely brilliant, I had three of them at one point! I always took a spare out because they were so compact and light. None of them ever gave me any issue and they were played through shit cabs in shit venues, loaded in and out of shit cars and leaky vans, stored next to a tumble dryer and treated with very little regard at all! I sold two of them to the same guy, as far as I know he’s still gigging them! Maybe I got lucky! 

Jalapeno

jaysmith said:

Matrix VB 800 ?

Absolutely ! (WIS awarded)