Solid state amps

[Ian Price]

Hello all,

I'm looking at buying a solid state amp for someone over the next few weeks. Can anyone recommend a decent one that is fairly cheap (sub £250!). EDIT - happy to go second hand.

Also, is there a major difference in sound/tone between a solid state and valve amp at bedroom volumes? I've never A/Bd them against each other before so would be interested to hear opinions on this!

Cheers,

Ian.

[dheim]

it really depends on the music style you play... hard to say without this basic information... :) ever tried a POD or something like that? anyway solid state amps usually sound almost the same whatever the volume is.

[dheim]

ok, i've read just now that's for a present... a used fender 212 could be nice... or a PODxt, i think it could be the best thing!

[Matt77]

tech 21 amps can sound pretty good at low volumes

[Ian Price]

it really depends on the music style you play... hard to say without this basic information... :)

It would be mainly clean going up to blues rock (Black Crowes) sort of territory. Nothing too gainy!

[Philly Q]

Is it just for a home/practice amp or stage use too?

[Ian Price]

Is it just for a home/practice amp or stage use too?

Just home/practice.

[MDV]

Vox valvetronix should be your mates first port of call.

Not stricktly speaking SS, but near enough (especially price wise!)

[ailean]

The Roland Cube range gets a lot of love, we have the microcube which is pretty impressive, I believe the Cube 30 is supposed to be pretty good.

[HTH AMPS]

it really depends on the music style you play... hard to say without this basic information... :)

It would be mainly clean going up to blues rock (Black Crowes) sort of territory. Nothing too gainy!

hmm, that's the toughest type of tone to get with SS amps - pristine cleans or Dimebag distortions are easily available, but not much inbeween in my experience.

the Line6 SpiderII isn't a bad amp (used to have one myself as a backup) and the new Peavey modeling range is worth a look.

[Twinfan]

The old Marshall Valvestates are pretty good.  The 8080 I had was OK for that sort of thing....

[Jonny]

Vox valvetronix should be your mates first port of call.

Not stricktly speaking SS, but near enough (especially price wise!)

+1 I have an AD30VT, it's awesome

[MDV]

+1 for the 8080s as well.

They were pretty good.

But I think the ADVTs are better.

Cubes are decent for pretty much anything, but I'd only give the cube the edge if metal was on the cards.

For me, it goes like this

Cube - Good for metal and lots of other stuff
VT - Not as good as the cube for metal, but better for other stuff
VTXL - Best for metal, but metal only.

[Philly Q]

And there's the Peavey Vypyr range - I think they look fairly hideous but they're getting decent reviews.

[MDV]

Oh, the 8080s in this lineup I'd say are best for rock sounds, not so great for and breakup, but better than most SS amps.

They're at a big disadvantage against the cubes and VTs, because the latter sound pretty convincing in a wide range of applications. The 8080s have basically 1 sound (a small, tame, fizzy JCM800, to my ears) and you like it or dont. There are lots of sounds that fit the description available in the voxes and cubes.

I havent played the peaveys.