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Stewart Ward has been building great sounding SS amps since the 80s. I gigged my old Sessionette 75 for decades - and it handled everything from country to punk. Great little amps if you know how to dial them in, and also offer superb pedal platforms.
They aren't for everyone - I know @ICBM for example doesn't rate them - but those who do are fanatical. My cousin has two Sessionette 75s that he uses with his Les Paul most weekends - two because they tend to 'beam' and that way he can fill the stage.
FWIW there have been *LOTS* of great SS amps - but because it isn't "cool" to talk about them, they get forgotten about. The Peavey Bandit is absolutely brilliant - and bulletproof for example.
The modern one weighs as much as most valve amps though iirc!
http://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=11865.25
In comparison the Katanas use DSP to model what the Blues Cube's achieve with analogue circuits. This - along with the use of a cheaper speaker and a particle board rather than beech ply cabinet - is what accounts for the difference in price between the Blues Cubes and the Katanas.
I wonder how different they are from the original Blue Cubes, the schematics for which seem to be widely available? (See below.) I have read these even these early models were basically 'a Bassman realized with FETs'.
http://www.blueguitar.org/new/schem/misc_amp/roland_blues_cube30_60.pdf
Actually I don't have a bee in my bonnet about this at all (although I consider the policy of not giving out schematics as counter productive, especially for obsolete products).
Companies are free to pursue whatever policy they see fit.
We fix tons of stuff without any tech support / schematics, however for some gear, pedals especially, this either impossible or uneconomic due to the low price of the item.
Some companies are "better" than others in this regard.
We are very much at the front line of repairs and from time to time have to explain to customers why we can't fix something (or even attempt to fix something). Most customers are very reasonable, but a few aren't.
I do have a bee in my bonnet about gooping PCBs though...................
I don't have any problem telling someone I can't repair their gear, and for the rare awkward ones, why I won't even try. If they want to find someone else who will, they're more than welcome... chances are it will be a waste of their time and money, but if there's someone who can genuinely fix it then good luck to them.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
My feedback thread is here.
The Katana is based on (IIRC) the GT100, and with the right software (not official though) you can access lots more amp models etc.
According to several sources on the web the Blues Cubes use discreet FET transistors, both in their analogue preamps and tone stack, whilst the Katana the signal is processed via an ESC2 DSP chip. (Which is used in a lot more Roland products as well.) No ESC2 chip in the Blues Cube! Might be some DSP going on late in the signal chain but the basic sound does seem to be produced by analogue circuits using discreet FET's.
Some more details of just what chips the Katana's use can be found following the links on the page below. Unfortunately many of the pictures seem to be gone now. (But can still be found via Google.)
https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/boss-katana-amplifiers.1744135/page-291
My feedback thread is here.
The "official" people recommended by Roland on their website (thanks @RiftAmps) finally replied today, after I called on 9 November, thus:
I called Guitar Aid (thanks @Gassage) just now who said, "bring it and we'll have a look". So, off to Putney for me some time this week, with fingers crossed.
A big raspberry to Roland.
You need an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea.
My feedback page: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/91654/
Puretech call themselves a 'Digital piano and keyboard repair specialist' and don't seem to mention amp repairs anywhere on their web site, just the following.
It sounds like they just don't want to know, to me. Either that or they think that all guitar amps contain valves . I could understand a solid-state engineer not wanting to work on valve gear if it's outside their experience.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
It could just be that they only want to deal with keyboards.