any worth while solid states out there ?

dan30185

New member
Ok, so once upon a time i had a room of guitars and amps. These days as i made the financial suicide of getting married etc, i have had to depart with my gear and somewhat gave up on the whole music thing, as being viable in my area was getting too difficult and work etc.... So i have decided that i am going to get a hold of solid state amp head and cab. Before people bash me for not getting a tube amp, i play predominately metal with its roots in thrash. Kind of if you took Testament and sprinkled them with Pantera is kind of where we are these days. I do not require a tube amp to achieve this , i do not require 4 channels etc. I have played for 20 years nearly, my days of spending thousands on Diezel, Mesa, Engl, Buddha etc are done.

I also quite like the sharp, harshish edge solid state amps can carry with the distortion being so responsive. They are also alot easier to manage and dial in at lower volumes than most tube amps. I dont have alot of interest in digital amps, i think most of them sound pretty ordinary. So anyone have any ideas?.

At the moment im playing a Mustaine Sig model, mahogany body, mahogany neck, Ebony fingerboard, set neck, SD Livewire active pickups. I have never owned many solid states before, but from what i know, Randall RG100es, is usually a pretty good option and Laney made some decent ones in the HCM series. There is the Warhead and X2 etc, but is it justifiable considering the price point difference. Does anyone have any ideas , any new solid states that are in the sub $800 au range worth a look at?
 
Re: any worth while solid states out there ?

used RG 80 or 100es

hell you said pantera.. LOL besides amp has an excellent and well deserved reputation

edit.. ouch i really should read the full post before commenting.. you already mentioned it as a possible
 
Re: any worth while solid states out there ?

Check out some old Peaveys...you might be surprised at how good they sound clean and you can slap a pedal in front of the clean channel.
 
Re: any worth while solid states out there ?

A combo option is the Fender Mustang at least a II. They can sound excellent with a little tweaking. Tweaking is easy via the USB interface and very good software provided by Fender.
I have and prefer the sound of my tube amps but the Mustang is just so user friendly and sounds darn good I find myself using it more than the tubers.

If you are going to spend $800 why not go for a Fender Bassbreaker tube amp?
 
Re: any worth while solid states out there ?

I think you'd get a lot of use out of a Blackstar ID100 head....or combo. You even get to choose each tone through a simulated tube type, until you've really pinpointed your sound.

If anyone here wants a great deal on a mint Vox AD60VTH 60W Valvetronix head for $350 shipped, PM me.
It's an amp head that gets virtually any tone you want, from The Beatles to Metallica.
 
Re: any worth while solid states out there ?

Marshall mode4 is a beast, although sellers often seem to think they deserve tube-head prices on craigslist.
 
Re: any worth while solid states out there ?

As an alternative to tube amps, i've heard a lot of nice thing about tge fractal axe-fx amp emulator. Not cheap, though
 
Re: any worth while solid states out there ?

The Orange Crush Pro stuff is really good for what it is. Probably closer to later Pantera than the thrashier stuff you seem to be going for.

I believe Dimebag liked Randall back in the day for exactly the reasons you stated, the fast response. Old Randalls might be the ticket for you.
 
Re: any worth while solid states out there ?

Don't forget about the Roland Cube series. I also recall the ZT Lunchbox which is 200 watts. Comes with a 6" speaker, but has an output jack for an extension cab.

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Re: any worth while solid states out there ?

TL : DR

good solid states
Randall RG most recent or RG100es/Century II (If you are into metal)
Roland JC-44/77/120 (if you are into blues and jazz stuff)
Blackstar ID (if you want a bit of everything)
 
Re: any worth while solid states out there ?

Roland JC-120 will do metal if you use a dirt box into the clean channel.

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Re: any worth while solid states out there ?

Is that a bad thing?
Iced Earth's Jon Schaffer also uses a JC-120.

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Re: any worth while solid states out there ?

any old block logo peavey transtube, or a peavey supreme if you don't want to convert a combo to a head, seriously, my old block logo envoy just slays

this tone was recorded with a phone camera, i was going for a heavily inspired by dime chainsaw tone
i will upload another video tomorrow which showcases a thrashier tone

those amps are out of the box pure classic thrash, if you want death metal, modern thrash levels of gain or simply dimebag you will have to boos the mo***r f***r up with an overdrive or an eq, not that it needs so much boost but i like how it sounds with gain tween 6 and 7 with a pedal in front doing some hefty boosting
 
Re: any worth while solid states out there ?

Many years ago, someone at these boards recommended the Peavey Bandit for me. I just bought an old early '90s model about a year ago, and I am totally enjoying it. 80wRMS 1x12, 2 effect loops, built-in reverb. The distortion can be switched to an overdrive tone, & both sound great! This amp is part of the reason I've been trimming down my pedal collection to the bare necessities.
 
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