Solid State Amp guys list your amps

[Aceman]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

Roland Cube 30
Crate CA 30 Acoustic

Hands down best amp I have ever owned period: Peavey Studio 112; 60 watts of juice and it could do anything! One of the early transtube series.

 

[Wattage]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

I don't have one these days but I love old Randall SS amps especially the RG120 heads, the 80's Hard Rock amp.

I would love to have a Peavey Dweezil Wiggy, that would Rock my home music space in a big way.

 

[DankStar]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

crate gfx-15 (more of a backup)
marshall lead 12
randall rg75 (hybrid)
marshall micro/belt amp

been wanting to build a ruby/little gem "baby head" from runoffgroove's site for giggles.

also wouldn't mind an old rickenbacker amp, their distortion is sick.

I dig SS. SUCK IT

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

2001 Fender Ultimate Chorus +DSP

I have a big sexy Fender Ultimate Chorus from the late 90s or early 00s and it sounds like wet glass dipped in wavy lines and flavored with the color blue.

It is my favorite solid state amp I have ever heard or played.

Fender Ultimate Chorus (2x12", 130W, SS) - I gigged the bejeezus out of this amp - it has been all over the place with me playing venues as small as garages and as large as stadiums. Anyone who thinks all solid state amps are crap must not have spent much time playing clean through an Ultimate Chorus. Thick and rich.

I have actually owned a Roland JC-120 --- unlike most folks. Most people don't get all the way to the finish line because the amp sounds terrible without the chorus on - and that's true; it does sound terrible without the chorus on.

I used to play in a big funk band, and I wanted the cleanest, loudest amp in the world, so I got a Roland JC-120, and I also got a Fender Ultimate Chorus, which was kind of like getting a Camry and an Accord - two different companies' take on the same idea.

Roland JC-120:
Sterile is overused in tone discussion, so let me qualify for you a bit. This amp felt "stiff," it had a very direct tone, with 0 sag or sponginess to it. The sound that came out of it "felt" brittle. High frequencies were reproduced perfectly, and I mean perfectly --- it sounded like what you heard playing unplugged, almost as if it made your pickups a little "truer." Impossible, I know, but observable.

Mid reproduction was super "closed," like it pained the amp to do it. Mid reproduction was the thing that gave these amps the reputation for being sterile, I think. There's just something so unnatural about the mid reproduction on these amps, I can't put my finger on it too well, but the mids always sounded unnatural.

Low reproduction: there wasn't any. For a closed back 2x12, you'd expect a lot of punch and woof, but you'd be sorely mistaken - the JC-120 never thumped. Some of you know I love a big low thump in my tone, and I actually gigged for years with a subwoofer in my live rig (same band, needed big thick clean tone). The JC-120 had no low end, and you can believe that I turned every knob trying to get it there.

Fender Ultimate Chorus:
This amp sounds unnaturally warm for a solid state amp, on the clean channel. For the record, I'm only referencing the clean channel in both of my assessments. High reproduction on this amp is clear, but sweet - the speakers may be the cause of this, but the highs are not harsh, they are, well...sweet.

Mid reproduction is excellent in this amp. Fender actually added a MID BOOST button to the later revision of this amp (which is the one I had) which can really change the sound of the amp. I used the MID BOOST button a lot when switching between G-style and F-style guitars. Mid reproduction has a very lively and active feel to it --- and carries an immediacy that is generally associated with active pickups, although I never used actives with it.

Low reproduction is ridiculous --- bump city if you dial it that way, or clear and authoritative if you dial it that way.

Overall, this amp had a spongier feel to it --- almost elastic, where the amp would save up some energy and kick it out extra hard based on how you picked. It just felt alive, and the Roland didn't.

Both amps have true stereo chorus, and two separate power amps, as in the Fender, rated at 130W, has two separate 65W power amps sitting next to each other --- essentially two 1x12 65W amps sitting next to each other in one cabinet. The Roland was built the same way.

The Roland was closed back and had fixed casters, I believe, and the Fender was open back and had removable casters.

I also found the chorus on the Fender to be both more pleasing and more adjustable.

I offloaded the JC-120 to a hippie bass player who wanted it for some reason, and kept the Fender.

Real reviews based on real experience from your boy I6.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

#1 Choice - Roland JC-120
#2 Choice - Roland JC-77
#3 Choice - Peavey MX
#4 Choice - Peavey Stereo Chorus 400
#5 Choice - Peavey Stereo Chorus 212

I've used all of these in stereo with each other and I still love the sound.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

crate gfx-15 (more of a backup)
marshall lead 12
randall rg75 (hybrid)
marshall micro/belt amp

been wanting to build a ruby/little gem "baby head" from runoffgroove's site for giggles.

also wouldn't mind an old rickenbacker amp, their distortion is sick.

I dig SS. SUCK IT

I just picked one up last week. I used to have one (got it for HS graduation in '86 and it was my first "real" amp). So when I stumbled on this one I had to have it. I wired a 1/4" jack in there and I plug it into my Bogner 4X12. It sounds really GREAT through that fat cab (not so much through its stock 10" speaker).

 

[ex-250]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

Vox AC-1

Little bastard actually gets some really badass stoner/doom tones.

 

[DankStar]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

I just picked one up last week. I used to have one (got it for HS graduation in '86 and it was my first "real" amp). So when I stumbled on this one I had to have it. I wired a 1/4" jack in there and I plug it into my Bogner 4X12. It sounds really GREAT through that fat cab (not so much through its stock 10" speaker).

Was it hard to do the jack thingy? I'd like to be able to play it through my 1-12" cab, but was thinking I may just get the head version someday.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

Was it hard to do the jack thingy? I'd like to be able to play it through my 1-12" cab, but was thinking I may just get the head version someday.

It was easy... well, sort of.

I drilled a hole in the bottom of the chasis and put a regular female 1/4" jack in there and wired the red/black speaker wires from the amp to that. But there was some sort of short there. I guess that the jack was shorting-out on the metal chasis. I tried putting electrical tape around the jack (both sides of the metal amp chasis) and it still was shorting-out. When I'd pull the jack away from the metal chasis -- it would work fine. So I ended-up drilling a hold in the top wood back plate and putting the jack in there and it works fine. I'm sure that I just need some sort of ground wire running from somewhere on the amp to the 1/4" jack and it would work being mounted to the chasis. But I found a way around it that works fine. I also plan to wire a pair of wires to the stock 10" speaker to the right-angle male 1/4" plug so I can plug that into the jack and use the combo in stock form as well. I thought about buying the head-only micro stack version instead of all this, but I really don't need/want two of them. It's just a nostalgic practice rig for me.

 

[bluesbend]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

I use a Peavey Rage out in the shop. it's an adequet little fr*cker. I'd use a Fender Champ 600, but since the shop isn't heated in winter I don't want to take a chacne on tubes beaking from the cold.

 

[Hoss]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

Marshall AS50R for Acoustic Guitar/Keyboard/Harmonica/Violin

 

[TeleLubber]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

Anyone remember these? I used one for a while.. screams 80s hair metal.. mine eventually fried.. twice.. always ran really hot..
100 watts (50w stereo) and could easily push a 4x12 cab.. came with a built in chorus/echo, earphone jack..

Now as for SS amps around here, I have a Fender Frontman & a Marshall Lead 12

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

Anyone remember these? I used one for a while.. screams 80s hair metal.. mine eventually fried.. twice.. always ran really hot..
100 watts (50w stereo) and could easily push a 4x12 cab.. came with a built in chorus/echo, earphone jack..

Now as for SS amps around here, I have a Fender Frontman & a Marshall Lead 12

I do indeed! I used to really want one back in the 80s. I think that Alex Lifeson used to use/have them. Pretty handy little beasts! (Although I can't speak from experience regarding the actual tone/sound.)

 

[Dirtbagg]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

I have a Line 6 Spider II 30.
It is a fun amp. I have used it to jam serveral times, and almost kept up.
The SoCal Jam it was hard to keep up with B2D's 100watt amp.
I've built a little tube amp for practicing and use the amp right now as a cabinet for it.

 

[woemoejack]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

does a POD hd300 through my recording gear count?

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

I have a Unicord combo, an early Peavey Standard head, and a Sunn PA head, they all freakin scream when dimed. I had a Shure Vocalmaster for a long time too, great guitar amp.

 

[Mattr4president]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

Peavey express 1x12. I put a POD XT live thru it to jam at home. But the best solid state amp i've ever heard was the XXL. Played one at a daddy's junky music a couple weeks ago and it really is an awesome amp. not dead on tube but falls only inches shy.

 

[Left_Hand_Strat]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

I have the best solid state amp going.
























A fender Frontman 15G.... HOW EXCITING?????

 

[Hellion]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

Line 6 Spider. It's been faithful as a birddog for the last 10 years.

 

[saladin]

Re: Solid State Amp guys list your amps

Lab Series L2 head into my trusty Randall 4-12(Vin 30's) still makes me smile!