Is solid-state dead?

Re: Is solid-state dead?

@Brandy: I was reacting to the fact that the bulk of your initial statement was about how much you paid for an RG relative to a Marshall head. Irrelevant, unless you are leaving the price tag hanging off the front of the amp while you play it. Silvertone made budget amps to be sold in the Sears catalogue, yet they are still some of the most sought-after amps today.

It also depends on what type of music you play. If you seek clean tones, or highly driven chainsaw buzz, SS will deliver. But if you are talking about good old rock-and-roll soft clipped distortion, I have yet to hear it come out of a solid state amp. And yet, I crank up my Blues Jr. and there it is, dripping all over the floor like blood at the scene of a murder.

Solid state circuits that emulate the characteristics of tube amps are nothing new, but very few SS amps even attempt to do this. Any tube amp gives you this as a matter of course.

So if you must argue on the basis of price, $850 is a lot to spend to emulate a Fender Champ. Hell, you can get a Twin Reverb for that kind of scratch!
 
Re: Is solid-state dead?

MetalManiac said:
Solid state amps are cheap. Tube amps are expensive. Expensive stuff is expensive cause its built better and sounds better. Of course Im mean guitar amp heads. Noone will ever make a expensive solid State amp head, becasue it defeats the whole purpose of tone.
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Solid state is cheap because manufacturers made it cheap, not because it's solid state. While SS does enjoy some inherent cost benefits over tubes, the big reason why SS amps are cheap is because they were built to hit a low price point.

The reasons we don't see more high quality SS amps are 1) tube amps are still affordable, 2) getting a SS amp to sound tubey isn't easy, 3) there's a stigma to playing SS gear that makes folks reluctant to shell out good money for SS stuff. Throw in electric guitarists' struggles to embrace new benchmark tones and new technology and there very little demand for good SS gear. The one factor that does drive it is the trend towards silent / quiet stages. Inability to have a raging tube amp on stage has provided impetus for alternatives, even if the timbres haven't changed all that much.
 
Re: Is solid-state dead?

aleclee said:
Solid state is cheap because manufacturers made it cheap, not because it's solid state. While SS does enjoy some inherent cost benefits over tubes, the big reason why SS amps are cheap is because they were built to hit a low price point.

The reasons we don't see more high quality SS amps are 1) tube amps are still affordable, 2) getting a SS amp to sound tubey isn't easy, 3) there's a stigma to playing SS gear that makes folks reluctant to shell out good money for SS stuff. Throw in electric guitarists' struggles to embrace new benchmark tones and new technology and there very little demand for good SS gear. The one factor that does drive it is the trend towards silent / quiet stages. Inability to have a raging tube amp on stage has provided impetus for alternatives, even if the timbres haven't changed all that much.
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Very Well Said young man.....:clap:
 
Re: Is solid-state dead?

A tube amp is about electrons traveling through vacuum, a transistorized amp is about electrons traveling through a cristal! When semiconductors became popular in the mid-1960's people loathed their old tube amps, radios and TV sets and swore allegiance to the SS technology. Heck, SS amps were more expensive than tube amps! Now that technology allows us to make an excellent SS amp for $200 people think they are "entry-level" equipment, and tube amps are the "professional" ones because they are more expensive! Bottomline: get the amp that gets you the sound you like.
 
Re: Is solid-state dead?

Dr. Vegetable said:
@Brandy: I was reacting to the fact that the bulk of your initial statement was about how much you paid for an RG relative to a Marshall head. Irrelevant, unless you are leaving the price tag hanging off the front of the amp while you play it. Silvertone made budget amps to be sold in the Sears catalogue, yet they are still some of the most sought-after amps today.

It also depends on what type of music you play. If you seek clean tones, or highly driven chainsaw buzz, SS will deliver. But if you are talking about good old rock-and-roll soft clipped distortion, I have yet to hear it come out of a solid state amp. And yet, I crank up my Blues Jr. and there it is, dripping all over the floor like blood at the scene of a murder.

Solid state circuits that emulate the characteristics of tube amps are nothing new, but very few SS amps even attempt to do this. Any tube amp gives you this as a matter of course.

So if you must argue on the basis of price, $850 is a lot to spend to emulate a Fender Champ. Hell, you can get a Twin Reverb for that kind of scratch!
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I did not fully explain my argument.. just a bit lazy...

At the time time when I bought the amp for $950 back in 1990.. had the music store ordered it straight from the cali factory for me:) list said$799 + 80 for footswitch and then there is tax.. one note about the RG series.. YOU must have a footswitch for it as the sound actually is a tad different w/o it hooked up. mainly because both channels are infact always on with out one.. shrewd marketing or engineering oversight.. dunno

Quality SS amps and there are a few BUT almost all if not all of the quality SS amp where made 20+ years ago.. Now adays.. everything is just cheap modellers and not so cheap modellers or Overpriced tube amps or cheaper tube amps made in china.. i heard the JCA amps made im china are good tube amps for the price.. just gotta change the stock tubes..

Awhile back i had the Ampeg V4 which was built like a tank and had so much warm tube power.. Used to experiment by using the preamp section of my randal or using my Rat.. not them chinese rats they make now adays with inferior parts but one made in the 80's.. Amp was stolen many years ago.. boy i sure wish i had that amp now.. A tube amp from 1970 that i bought from a friend for like 150

prices on music gear now aday are just so screwed up... In the mid 90's.. I bought a 85 Gibson SG and a 1979 Gibson LP from a local music store for 350 each and i bought a fender strat w/lace pups for 350 from a pawnshop as well.. not to sound old but i miss those prices.. now adays a vintage LP will cost major cash.. bright side is the LP still lives on in my jackson DK2.. bridge pup is a 1979 T-Top neck pickup that sounds dreamy.. The way the prices are is the soloe reason i exclusively buy used.. have had excellent luck doing so and the only time i bought a new guitar.. it was pretty but it played awful.. a Kramer focus 1000 w/reverse headstock and a EMG 81.. wasted 1400 on that adventure

not trying to derail the topic on posting pics.. but here are the prices 24 years ago.. some are tube and some are SS



and here is the mag these scans came from


ok.. ive derailed this thread enough.. in closing, I will say... cheap is cheap and quality is quality.. to say an SS amp is cheap JUST because the amp is SS w/o even hearing one is pretty close minded and immature as not all SS amps are created equal much like tube amps..A RG 100es is no cheap practice amp and this irritates me when PPL say SS is cheap.. most are referring to cheap SS practice amps..wasnt referring to anyone here. just a general statement.. tube amps can sound bad too.. irony.. some people talk how great tube amps are but feel compelled to use a SS boost.. there is irony in that IMO
 
Re: Is solid-state dead?

Tym guitars in Brisbane has a very interesting 100 watt SS amp head in development. True analogue with none of that digital switched mode stuff. Single input and output. Volume, Treble and Bass knobs only.

Tym doesn't mess around with making gimmicky modern stuff either. For a small scale operation that specialises in vintage orientated equipment it sounds very promising. Pre-release reports are saying that it's a great sounding clean amp that easily surpasses a JC-120 and reacts to pedals very well. Although the OPs question was specifically in regards to straight up SS preamp distortion, it shows that SS is still considered a serious platform.
 
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Re: Is solid-state dead?

Personally and in my humble opinion, I have never really been any kind of tone snob, or been about the Blue Kool-Aid.... But I know what I like and I know what sounds good in my ears.

I have always had my distortion on the floor in front of the amp. I have never really loved any tube amp tones.. save maybe the Mesa.
So for me it's never been any issue other than watts/per dollar.
Solid state takes that competition easily. I got a 200watt Randall head with George Lynches autograph on it. I think it gets VERY loud indeed... ouch loud!
Plus they seldom wear out or need parts replaced, I really like that factor.

Simple and effective wins for this boy.

Plus as its been said here, there are a lot of very functional and popular bands that use SS amps exclusively.
Maybe it's just to stand out as different, maybe that's what sound they like.
 
Re: Is solid-state dead?

I'm not a fan of modeling amps but I do play SS combos. Fender still makes their Frontmans which come in various sizes along with Peavey and their Bandits . I myself own a 1989 Bandit 112 Solo Series which sounds better than any of that modeling crap that's pot there today. I wouldn't sell it for anything.
 
Re: Is solid-state dead?

Bludave said:
SS amps have their place. The advantage to them is in Winter months you don't have to fear bringing a tube amp in from the cold and fire it up. The heat of the tubes could cause a problem with the tubes. With SS they are what they are. I know many Jazz players that prefer the convenience of SS. Polytone makes some surprisingly good amps for Jazz. The Acoustic image Claris is also very good for Jazz, but for metal. I don't think so
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Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, Prong, Ministry, Death, and Fear Factory would like to have a word with you.
 
Re: Is solid-state dead?

What is real funny is the title of this Thread.
TUBES are the device that is DEAD. Only in the niche of guitar amps, broad cast power and a few other exceptions, do you even see a tube anymore.
Tubes just seem to thrive in that 100-5k band that a guitar loves to live in.
SS should just do what it is best at, and forget about tying to "sound like a tube"....they don't and cant...no more than a tube can do what a transistor does.
best
 
Re: Is solid-state dead?

Solid state is useful for bass amplification because you can achieve much greater wattage and wider frequency range at much lower weight than tubes. If I was a touring musician I would probably opt for solid state due to lower weight, lower cost and improved reliability. I can't see dragging $2,000+ tube amps on the road where they get beat to piss or stolen.
 
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Re: Is solid-state dead?

I've had a SS Marshall Combo - Sounded pretty good dimed and pushed with a pearl distortion (SD Hot StacK in bridge), but compared to a lowly Silverfish Vibrochamp - not very warm. This was in the mid 1980s when I used the SS Marshall.

The higher end modelers have carved their own niche lately, but there's no place like the gaseous state. At least at the moment.
 
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Re: Is solid-state dead?

Inkstained said:
This. My Mustang III sounds pretty good. No, I wouldn't want it as my only amp, but it's fun.

Even when I'm in a "tube mood," I have solid-state pedals in front of my "tube" amp. A lot of players do. Pure tubedom is pretty rare.
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Yeah dude the Fender ones right with all the modeling? SO much fun. Crushes any line 6s I've played. So cheap too, there's one around 300 and I've been itching to buy one as like a jam/practice amp. Covers a LOT of ground, but yeah, still doesn't beat my handwired custom roided twin reverb(ish) amp through an OCD. Most pregain channels on amps are the same thing anyway. Solid pedals and preamps are just that much more consistent and manageable. The ART is in how you use each.
 
Re: Is solid-state dead?

Frankly I think it's a conspiracy. The former soviet block and china is in bed with the amp makers. Right now I'm on a device that has GPS navigation, internet, language translation, access to more music then I can listen to in a lifetime, but they can't make a transistor sound better than a technology that hasn't been widely used since the 50's and 60's?

/sarcasm. But only slightly. I just think about spending a couple hundred dollars on new glass and biasing every so often and opine for a suitable modern solution to this.
 
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Re: Is solid-state dead?

Mattr4president said:
Frankly I think it's a conspiracy. The former soviet block and china is in bed with the amp makers. Right now I'm on a device that has GPS navigation, internet, language translation, access to more music then I can listen to in a lifetime, but they can't make a transistor sound better than a technology that hasn't been widely used since the 50's and 60's?

/sarcasm. But only slightly. I just think about spending a couple hundred dollars on new glass and biasing every so often and opine for a suitable modern solution to this.
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That was a good piece of writing.:)
No matter how many Chemists, 'F' around with how many polymers, there is no way you can make anything that feels as good as a 100% Cotton T-Shirt. Things are just the way they are. Nature is King.
best
 
Re: Is solid-state dead?

Thank you. I have to admit that if there was a SS out there that moved air, and felt like a tube, I'd have no hesitation in switching. I'm intrigued to hear what the new RG series sounds like. I don't know. Whatever magic happens in that glass vacuum is good and hasn't been convincingly replicated yet
 
Re: Is solid-state dead?

I'm more interested in the new stuff that Mike Fortin designed for them. I had a Randall for a while, but it had a solid-state preamp that I could never gel with. I sold it, went tube and am very happy. I also like that I can modify the simpler circuits you find in tube amps. My Jet City is a PCB design, but I've been able to do a lot inside it despite that fact.
 
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