What's Your Favorite Cheap Solid State Half Stack?

Lucid_Lunatic

Lucid_Lunatic

Rebelyellologist
I have had a few. A Line 6 Spider head, I Marshall MG series, an old Randall (this thing was a pile o. poo) , a Crate Excaliber, (this thing actually sounded pretty mean and I wouldn't mind having another just to play with, plus it was a large head and looked pretty cool!) and a couple others. My favorite thus far was a Vox Valvetronix AD120, one of the older models. This thing had some pretty good sounds for just playin around the house, although I never gigged with it. I would like to try some of Crates digital stuff too. I like the idea of a decent SS practice stack with effects built in. My only complaint about the Vox was that you couldnt run any pedals without it seriously messing with the sound. The only pedal I would have wanted to run with it would have been a wah.

So whats your favorite cheap solid state stack?
 
Re: What's Your Favorite Cheap Solid State Half Stack?

I havent tried the vox valvetronix heads but that'd prolly be my first choice. runner up would be a used line 6 head they are fun, I played some metal with my friends telecaster through "insane" and was really cookin - blew some of the minds of some of the eyecandy there till I broke a string :)
 
Re: What's Your Favorite Cheap Solid State Half Stack?

Can I cheat, and throw in a combo? Hughes & Kettner Edition Blue 60R. Genuine Celestion 12" speaker. Killer cleans. Nice distortion with the right pedal. (Twin Tube Classic, for example.) Leave the internal "dirty" channel alone. Worthless.

Nice little "bedroom" amp.
 
Re: What's Your Favorite Cheap Solid State Half Stack?

Do you still have the VOX AD120 old style head? And is it for sale?
 
Re: What's Your Favorite Cheap Solid State Half Stack?

Behringer analog modeler. Irs also my only solid state head ( besides a vintage Sunn Concert bass-yeah for guitar).
 
Re: What's Your Favorite Cheap Solid State Half Stack?

The old Peavey Transtube stuff was pretty decent (black/silver cosmetics).

The coolest looking SS stack though was an old Roland half stack I saw a guy playing a while back. Looked like a couple of chopped up JC120's mashed together.
 
Re: What's Your Favorite Cheap Solid State Half Stack?

The Spider II heads from Line 6...only if you had the footswitch though, without one they're a pain!
 
Re: What's Your Favorite Cheap Solid State Half Stack?

If somebody made me go get one with a gun to my head, i'd get the Fender Frontman...but part of me would die inside for the love of my 68 Bassman/4x12.
 
Re: What's Your Favorite Cheap Solid State Half Stack?

supernosher said:
Do you still have the VOX AD120 old style head? And is it for sale?
Click to expand...

Kind of and no.


I gave it to my ex-old lady when we were still together. We finally got to where we could be friends and see each other, so I still play it every now and then.
 
Re: What's Your Favorite Cheap Solid State Half Stack?

Hard question, since I haven't played through many solid state half stacks tha tI liked. And a cheap one!! Cheap solid state amps are usually a letdown.

But I did come up with a couple that have impressed me!

1.) A Trace Elliot Super Tramp. The one covered in forest green tolex. I used to own the combo version and it's not bad at all. Sounds like a tube amp. I saw a head-only version a few years ago, and the MGR on the other side of town has a Trace 4-12 speaker cab with Celestions in it now. Put the two together and you have a cheap half stack that sounds pretty decent!

2.) The Peavey Wiggy. They're pretty cheap on the used market. The last one I played through was capable of some pretty cool clean and half-overdriven tones. It also emitted some ugly farty noises if I turned the bass control up too much and I had some gain going. But that's SS for ya. It also didn't do mid-scooped thrash and nu metal tones well, but I'm not after those sounds anyway.
 
Re: What's Your Favorite Cheap Solid State Half Stack?

So far the Tech21 amps have been my favourites of solid state ones. I could actually use one to practice with late at night. Maybe I'll get one when I have some spare change and one comes up with a nice price tag. I was really bummed last year when I saw their sweet PSA-1 preamp for sale for ages around my home town. It didn't cost much but I simply had no money at all to spend on gear. Now when the times are better it's gone, of course.
 
Re: What's Your Favorite Cheap Solid State Half Stack?

only cheap SS half stack thing i have is a 2003 era Fender Stage 100DSP head... it would not be that bad at all but it's noisey as hell!!!

Most of the modeler half stacks sound pretty good... but i find it hard buying a half stack modeler since the combos sound just as good, cost less, and are easier to carry...
 
Re: What's Your Favorite Cheap Solid State Half Stack?

I've gotten a lot of use out of my Vox bluegrill AD60VTH head. I can get a lot of very useable tones out of it. However, I'm souring to the idea of buying any more modelers because they're simply disposeable amps. They have a shelf life, then they're not even cost effective to fix if they go down.

Just lately, it's been giving me headaches. The power section is dying....probably a transistor.
 
Re: What's Your Favorite Cheap Solid State Half Stack?

If the vox valvetronix amps are considered to be cheap solid state halfstacks (they are hybrids you know...), I'd choose an AD120VTH for my halfstack with two vertically oriented 2x12 cabs underneath slightly spread and angled apart (think tubeworks but with vintage 30 speakers mixed with red fangs in an X pattern).
 
Re: What's Your Favorite Cheap Solid State Half Stack?

my head was 300 so thats cheap to me and the cab i built so a 300 dollar 1/4 stack is a-ok with me anyway Line 6 Flextone II HD
 
Re: What's Your Favorite Cheap Solid State Half Stack?

I got another one!
The MGR on the other side of town has a Yamaha G100 II head, from the 80's. I used to own a Yamaha G100 2-12 II combo amp back in '84 and '85. It was a really great amp. Solid state all the way, but it had a nice punchy clean channel. It didn't sound flat or sterile like a lot of solid state amps, espacially back in those days.

That Yamaha head and a cheap used speaker cab would make a killer cheap solid state half stack.
 
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