Best Solid State Amp for gigs

Bridgehouse

Travisthedog said:

Man I'm looking at all these amps now thinking "fuck valves - no one at this pub/wedding/corporate gives a flying fuck"

Half the audience won't know which one of the many square boxes you are plugged in to. And they will judge the performance by whether it vaguely sounds like the original or not...

ICBM

Bridgehouse said:

Half the audience won't know which one of the many square boxes you are plugged in to. And they will judge the performance by whether it vaguely sounds like the original or not…

I think the average non-musician *can* tell the difference between a good tone and a bad one, but mostly only in the sense that they don't notice a good tone because it fits the music and do notice a bad one because it doesn't.

'Bad' means a volume, distortion type, EQ or dynamics so that the guitar doesn't sit properly in the mix. You can easily get all those things wrong with an expensive boutique valve amp and a fancy fuzz pedal… or right with a cheap overdrive pedal and a decent solid-state amp.

The most common complaint about electric guitars is them being too loud and trebly.

Reverend

I gigged last night through a matrix vb800. A pretty decent take in an 800 but lighter than a guvnor pedal. 

pintspiller

I tried a Bandit once. It was thirty years ago. I thought it was bollox. But I knew Fuck all then. I still do mind you.

Spikeedog

I tried the Boss Katana 100w 212. It's really good. And I can use it for Acoustic too!

p90fool

Travisthedog said:

Man I'm looking at all these amps now thinking "fuck valves - no one at this pub/wedding/corporate gives a flying fuck"

Me neither, but it's the valve amp feel I find is elusive in solid state amps, the actual sound is perfectly acceptable to me for gigging.

If I found one which responded the right way when I dig into the strings I wouldn't bother with valves ever again.

Spikeedog

Try the Boss Katana....Honest. is good.

Voxman

Or the original blue series Vox Valvetronix amps. Hybrid design with valves effectively in the power section...different to subsequent Valvetronix designs and responds and feels very much like a valve amp especially as volume is cranked...the master volume controls tube saturation levels and just like a valve amp the valve reactor circuitry reacts to speaker impedance, and adjusts automatically between class A and class A/B.  

These amps were very expensive in their day and whilst newer variants have some nice features and upgraded modelling algorithms, and still sound good, the original design is still the best and has never been replicated in any subsequent Valvetronix because of cost.  The AD60/120VTX versions were the best combos.  Celestion Neodog speakers (80w version of G12 Century Vintage), birch ply cabs, closed back, and 8/16 ohm extn cab impedance switch.  

MattBanshee

A friend's band gigs regularly with an Orange CR120 head into 4x12 cab, and it actually sounds pretty good even at volume, using drive from the amp itself.

Shelders

Voxman said:

Or the original blue series Vox Valvetronix amps. Hybrid design with valves effectively in the power section...different to subsequent Valvetronix designs and responds and feels very much like a valve amp especially as volume is cranked...the master volume controls tube saturation levels and just like a valve amp the valve reactor circuitry reacts to speaker impedance, and adjusts automatically between class A and class A/B.  

These amps were very expensive in their day and whilst newer variants have some nice features and upgraded modelling algorithms, and still sound good, the original design is still the best and has never been replicated in any subsequent Valvetronix because of cost.  The AD60/120VTX versions were the best combos.  Celestion Neodog speakers (80w version of G12 Century Vintage), birch ply cabs, closed back, and 8/16 ohm extn cab impedance switch.  

I had one of these and my biggest guitar regret was selling it. 

Voxman

Shelders said:

Voxman said:

Or the original blue series Vox Valvetronix amps. Hybrid design with valves effectively in the power section...different to subsequent Valvetronix designs and responds and feels very much like a valve amp especially as volume is cranked...the master volume controls tube saturation levels and just like a valve amp the valve reactor circuitry reacts to speaker impedance, and adjusts automatically between class A and class A/B.  

These amps were very expensive in their day and whilst newer variants have some nice features and upgraded modelling algorithms, and still sound good, the original design is still the best and has never been replicated in any subsequent Valvetronix because of cost.  The AD60/120VTX versions were the best combos.  Celestion Neodog speakers (80w version of G12 Century Vintage), birch ply cabs, closed back, and 8/16 ohm extn cab impedance switch.  

I had one of these and my biggest guitar regret was selling it. 

I rest my case!  

Seriously, you'd be surprised how many times I've read the same thing on a host of different forums.  I think these amps really do fall into the category of 'you don't know what you've had til its gone'.   Stick an EQ and a BBE Sonic Stomp Maximiser in the effects loop, and an already good amp transforms up to another level.   

These are getting rarer on EBay, Gumtree etc as I think more owners are realising how good these amps still are and holding onto them instead of buying 'newer' modelling amps tempted by promises of 'more accurate amp modelling' etc. only to find they just don't sound as good.  The only problem nowadays  at my age and with my bad back is the weight - at 58lbs carrying my AD120VTX  up and down stairs and loading/unloading in/out of cars is now a real problem - hence why I now use a Tonelab SE or LE.  

Its a real shame because in all my years of playing, my rig (with the AD212 extn cab & VC12 floor controller) was one of the most versatile and best sounding rigs overall I've ever had.  

Shelders

Voxman said:

Shelders said:

Voxman said:

Or the original blue series Vox Valvetronix amps. Hybrid design with valves effectively in the power section...different to subsequent Valvetronix designs and responds and feels very much like a valve amp especially as volume is cranked...the master volume controls tube saturation levels and just like a valve amp the valve reactor circuitry reacts to speaker impedance, and adjusts automatically between class A and class A/B.  

These amps were very expensive in their day and whilst newer variants have some nice features and upgraded modelling algorithms, and still sound good, the original design is still the best and has never been replicated in any subsequent Valvetronix because of cost.  The AD60/120VTX versions were the best combos.  Celestion Neodog speakers (80w version of G12 Century Vintage), birch ply cabs, closed back, and 8/16 ohm extn cab impedance switch.  

I had one of these and my biggest guitar regret was selling it. 

I rest my case!  

Seriously, you'd be surprised how many times I've read the same thing on a host of different forums.  I think these amps really do fall into the category of 'you don't know what you've had til its gone'.   Stick an EQ and a BBE Sonic Stomp Maximiser in the effects loop, and an already good amp transforms up to another level.   

These are getting rarer on EBay, Gumtree etc as I think more owners are realising how good these amps still are and holding onto them instead of buying 'newer' modelling amps tempted by promises of 'more accurate amp modelling' etc. only to find they just don't sound as good.  The only problem nowadays  at my age and with my bad back is the weight - at 58lbs carrying my AD120VTX  up and down stairs and loading/unloading in/out of cars is now a real problem - hence why I now use a Tonelab SE or LE.  

Its a real shame because in all my years of playing, my rig (with the AD212 extn cab & VC12 floor controller) was one of the most versatile and best sounding rigs overall I've ever had.  

Yeah I sold mine thinking I would be better off with a tube amp. Since then ive been going through loads of amps that werent as good

erky32

when I got into serious gigging (pub/wedding sized) in the 90's my best amp was a Marshall vs8080, later added a matching 1 x 12, and I sold that to go valves & bigger cabs. Since then I've had/gigged loads of valve & ss amps, but I still look back to the days of my 8080 which was hassle free, had great sound,drive & volume for the job, lightweight. Certainly with an ext cab it covers most needs , sounds great - and I wish I'd never moved on from mine!! (I do keep a 8100 head in reserve nowadays tho!)

thomasw88

MattBanshee said:

A friend's band gigs regularly with an Orange CR120 head into 4x12 cab, and it actually sounds pretty good even at volume, using drive from the amp itself.

I've used these at a number of gigs and festivals.   I don't mind using them, but they lack any type of responsiveness that you get from a valve amp.  

samzadgan

When you say solid state I assume you mean all analog...not digital modelling or tube preamp stuff (which I've never liked)

as as far as solid state goes I thought the Orange CR120 was one of the best...and it's not bad...but recently I picked up an early 80's peavey special...and it has blown me away. 

I reheased with it against my matamp GT1...and I have to say the peavey held its own...plays great with pedals too...thinking about converting to a head.

the other option I would say you should check out is the quilter amps...I know a few people who have them and raving about them...these are people who own/played a lot of vintage tube heads as well the old solid state Sunn's and Acoustic amps at very loud volumes...they basically say the quilters are modern day versions of those old iconic amps.

ICBM

samzadgan said:

recently I picked up an early 80's peavey special...and it has blown me away. 

I reheased with it against my matamp GT1...and I have to say the peavey held its own...plays great with pedals too...thinking about converting to a head.

That's why I'm selling my Mesa Trem-o-verb. I just don't need it - the Peavey is as good really, although I did change the speaker for an Eminence Delta Pro and it now sounds even better.

What's possibly interesting is that when it's running at 8 ohms this amp does have an output transformer, of sorts - the new speaker is 8 ohm, and the old one was 4 (Peavey Black Widow) so that's possibly one factor in the improvement.

Voxman

erky32 said:

when I got into serious gigging (pub/wedding sized) in the 90's my best amp was a Marshall vs8080, later added a matching 1 x 12, and I sold that to go valves & bigger cabs. Since then I've had/gigged loads of valve & ss amps, but I still look back to the days of my 8080 which was hassle free, had great sound,drive & volume for the job, lightweight. Certainly with an ext cab it covers most needs , sounds great - and I wish I'd never moved on from mine!! (I do keep a 8100 head in reserve nowadays tho!)

The 8080 has no extension cab out socket - how did you add an extension cab - did you modify the amp, if so what did you do?  Did you have to change the 8 Ohm internal speaker?

erky32

Voxman said:

erky32 said:

when I got into serious gigging (pub/wedding sized) in the 90's my best amp was a Marshall vs8080, later added a matching 1 x 12, and I sold that to go valves & bigger cabs. Since then I've had/gigged loads of valve & ss amps, but I still look back to the days of my 8080 which was hassle free, had great sound,drive & volume for the job, lightweight. Certainly with an ext cab it covers most needs , sounds great - and I wish I'd never moved on from mine!! (I do keep a 8100 head in reserve nowadays tho!)

The 8080 has no extension cab out socket - how did you add an extension cab - did you modify the amp, if so what did you do?  Did you have to change the 8 Ohm internal speaker?

Hi @Voxman  , no i dont recall doing any mods, at that time (around '97) i just bought a matching 1x12 cab and plugged it in, so there must have been an ext spkr on my amp. Easy enough tho if you were interested in that amp, being ss they are impedance tolerant down to 4ohms, so you could make a parallel link to another 8ohm.spkr.

ICBM

Are you sure it wasn't a VS100R? The 8080 definitely doesn't have an extension speaker jack as Voxman said.

(Edit) Not sure if you can safely run an 8080 at 4 ohms - although most of the circuitry is identical to the 8100, the schematic specifies a different PT for each model, and a pair of different resistors in the power section, so they are not the same.

Voxman

erky32 said:

Voxman said:

erky32 said:

when I got into serious gigging (pub/wedding sized) in the 90's my best amp was a Marshall vs8080, later added a matching 1 x 12, and I sold that to go valves & bigger cabs. Since then I've had/gigged loads of valve & ss amps, but I still look back to the days of my 8080 which was hassle free, had great sound,drive & volume for the job, lightweight. Certainly with an ext cab it covers most needs , sounds great - and I wish I'd never moved on from mine!! (I do keep a 8100 head in reserve nowadays tho!)

The 8080 has no extension cab out socket - how did you add an extension cab - did you modify the amp, if so what did you do?  Did you have to change the 8 Ohm internal speaker?

Hi @Voxman  , no i dont recall doing any mods, at that time (around '97) i just bought a matching 1x12 cab and plugged it in, so there must have been an ext spkr on my amp. Easy enough tho if you were interested in that amp, being ss they are impedance tolerant down to 4ohms, so you could make a parallel link to another 8ohm.spkr.

Weird - the 8080 definitely had no extension cab out (I have one).  I can only think it must either have been a later version of the Valvestate and not an 8080, or it had been modded.  Did you buy the Valvestate new?