new amp?

[alfred]

i am looking for a good solid state amp to buy must be 100 watts
or better. i cant use my sabbath amp all the time. so im going to
buy just a head and use my laney cab. what solid state amp would
you buy for the ave. bar band? thanks for your help

[alfred]

i would like to keep the price under $450.00

[songsmith]

I think there are a number of choices where you're concerned. I really like the Line 6 stuff, it's inexpensive and has all the bells and whistles. Crate's NOS stuff is pretty good, but I'd stay away from anything they made in the newer series with the white face... they've got to be the deadest-sounding amps ever. I like the Fender FR's too, with the 5-year warranty, they're loud and tough as hell.
Me, I'd probably look at used stuff in that range, there seems to be a glut of new amps, and one a few years old usually has any bugs worked out of it, and still has years of life left. I like to take advantage of others' "on to the next toy" habits, and buy things lightly used, but honestly, the new ones can be pretty attractively priced, so it's up to you.
Just be sure to try before you buy... there aren't many blues players using Line 6, the toy should match the boy.------>JMS

[orangekick]

Personally, I wouldn't buy any solid state amp. There are so many options out there these days for tube amps that are well made and decently priced.

[metalchurch]

Personally, I wouldn't buy any solid state amp. There are so many options out there these days for tube amps that are well made and decently priced.

I agree here. I'd go for a used 50w tubed amp over an SS amp. But I'm partial to tube amps.
I'd go for a rack setup myself because you can mix and match and find the sound that you want by merely switching out the preamps most times.
But of course youre budget will be surpassed here very quickly as well.


You are not gonna find many good brand new SS amps for the price range you have in mind either.
If you are set on SS, then I would suggest buying used.


More importantly, what type of music are you looking to play?
I'm kinda waiting for you to say Sabbath
In that case try to find a used Laney SS head.
I had a Laney Linebacker 100 head and it was ok for the Sabbath stuff, but those are long discontinued now.

[songsmith]

Not to start a tube v. solid flamewar, but there are advantages to SS.
1.) Way cheaper.
2.) Tougher. Drop any tube amp, and see what I mean.
3.) Easier to maintain. I love that tube sound, too, and obviously have owned a bunch of them, but they were all so cantankerous for me.
4.) Lighter. I'm old, and dislike carrying heavy objects in general.
5.) Easier to figure out. Working on tube amps is really more of an art than a trade, which is why there are tube-amp "guru's" and solid-state "repair techs."
7.) They produce less heat.
8.) Availability. There are jillions of 'em in every place you look.
9.) Effects. Tube amps seldom have anything more than reverb, or maybe tremolo.
10.)Way cheaper. Ya, I know I said that already, but it really is a huge part of it.

Advantages for tube-amps:
1.) That sound.

I'd say it's pretty much even. ------>JMS

[alfred]

i know tube amps sound great, i have a laney. but the guys in the band
are always asking me to turn down the fuzz. yea right like you can turn down a sabbath sound. so all i need, is a amp like all the other bar bands
have so i can get these guys off my back. so i have to get a different head
or get a new band. thats a tough one, sound like sabbath or get a new band. i dont get these guys i could pull out any old ss amp, add a lot of
reverb and these guys would love it. thanks for listening while i rant

[orangekick]

Not to start a tube v. solid flamewar, but there are advantages to SS.
1.) Way cheaper.
2.) Tougher. Drop any tube amp, and see what I mean.
3.) Easier to maintain. I love that tube sound, too, and obviously have owned a bunch of them, but they were all so cantankerous for me.
4.) Lighter. I'm old, and dislike carrying heavy objects in general.
5.) Easier to figure out. Working on tube amps is really more of an art than a trade, which is why there are tube-amp "guru's" and solid-state "repair techs."
7.) They produce less heat.
8.) Availability. There are jillions of 'em in every place you look.
9.) Effects. Tube amps seldom have anything more than reverb, or maybe tremolo.
10.)Way cheaper. Ya, I know I said that already, but it really is a huge part of it.

Advantages for tube-amps:
1.) That sound.

I'd say it's pretty much even. ------>JMS

1) Check out the Epiphone Valve series. My 1x12 combo was $269.
2) Don't drop your amp.
3) I have only swapped the tubes on the Epiphone since I bought it 2 years ago.
4) Huge amps will be heavy, the smaller tube amps are not so heavy. I have a Budda head that is easily under 30 lbs.
5) I have to disagree here. With the exception of multi channel, MIDI equipped monsters, tube amps are super simple to figure out.
6) Heat? Is that really an issue?
7) With the internet, availability really isn't an issue these days.
Effects are always better when they're separate. I have yet to hear an integrated amp where everything in it sounded awesome and was controllable.
9) This isn't so much a factor if you'r just looking for something cheap and decent. If you are looking for a Mesa/ Orange/ Bogner/ Diezel/ etc, then it will be expensive.

Yeah, the sound is where it's at.

[orangekick]

i know tube amps sound great, i have a laney. but the guys in the band
are always asking me to turn down the fuzz. yea right like you can turn down a sabbath sound. so all i need, is a amp like all the other bar bands
have so i can get these guys off my back. so i have to get a different head
or get a new band. thats a tough one, sound like sabbath or get a new band. i dont get these guys i could pull out any old ss amp, add a lot of
reverb and these guys would love it. thanks for listening while i rant

If it's really just a volume issue, you could try picking up a set of Yellowjackets. They switch any tube amp over to using EL84's. That would bring a 100 watt amp down to 30 watts. It'll still be plenty loud and you should be able to get the same sound with a minor EQ tweak. The low end will be a little different, but you can always bump that up on your amp a touch.

You can find them at a bunch of different places. Here's an example:

http://www.portlandmusiccompany.com/yellowjackets.html

[bassist_25]

One of the best sounding solid-state rigs on local stages, IMO, is Chris's from This Calling. I think he's running one of those Beheringer Line 6 clones (don't knock it 'til you hear it), and a solid-state Peavey power amp. He puts it through a Marshall cab.

[Bloodsong]

bassist 25 is right on the $$$. Chris from This Calling has some of the best solid state tone i've heard.

[lonewolf]

Buy Jimi Hatt's Boss GT-8 floor processor for under $300 and run the output to your Laney's power amp via the FX return jack. I think his asking price is $260 or $280 (if he still has it).

It will sound monstrous at lower volume and you can also use the GT-8 with the Laney in your regular destruct mode as an FX processor. If your Laney has channel switching, the GT-8 will switch it for you too.

[metalchurch]

thats a tough one, sound like sabbath or get a new band.

Follow your heart Al

[orangekick]

You could also tell the guys in the band to suck it because Sabbath should be loud. It's not dinner music.

[RamRod 1]

Vox "Valvetronix". They're modeling amps with a 12aX7 for a tube effect.
They make big and little ones and they're cheap. I have one and it's my amp of choice right now.

[alfred]

im going down terrys today at lunch time and im going to try a fender
metal head maybe i could get a different sound from that.

[metalchurch]

im going down terrys today at lunch time and im going to try a fender
metal head maybe i could get a different sound from that.

I think that was Bushy's old amp actually. It should get you where you need to go, but turn the mids up, unless he broke the knob off after he scooped them out.

[onegunguitar]

Yea,that's my old MetalHead along with the Mesa/Boogie 50/50 power amp and a Engl Fireball

[slackin@dabass]

like it's been said, you can't beat line 6. they really have that modelling down, and i'd bet with a little patience, you can get that sabbath sound out of one. the spider series, even though it's budget based, are probably some of the best sounding amps i've heard, and that's their budget based stuff!! if your missing the tube warmth, get an ART tube preamp for 50 bucks and run your guitar thru that before the amp. it'll warm the tone up, and you've still got a nice rig for under 600 bucks.

just my 2 cents

[Killjingle]

I could get u into a Mesa for close to what u are looking to spend.

Single Rectifiers have a lot of characterisitics of SS; and lots of characteristics of their big brother too.

PM if interested.