Telecaster Guitar Forum - View Single Post - Are There Any REALLY Good Solid-State Amps (Don't Pass Over Just b/c of the "SS"!)

bosstone · April 11th, 2009, 06:33 PM

I have gone through over 60 tube amps and generally prefer them for most uses but there several ss or hybrids I have come across over the years that are worth mentioning. In the hybrid category, most if not all the Music Man hybrids sound very good, primarily for the Fender black face sounds. Notable users have been Eric Clapton and Mark Knophler. The Marshall Artist is a very versatile amp that has decent cleans and truly surprisingly good Marshall JCM 800 types of distortion. Both the Music Man and Marshalls mentioned use SS preamplification and either EL34 or 6L6 driven.

In addition to the ubiquitous Rolland Jazz Chorus that has a well deserved reputation, of all things I bought 2 Marshal Pacer amps for $100.00 just to get the speakers. One had a Boogie Black Shadow 90 watt Celestion an the other had my favorite speaker the Celestion G12-65! To my surprise I really like the clean sound and it's reverb and the lead channel is very good within a very narrow range. At 45 watts, in a lightish weight package, I thing it is very good amp. I know some of the ratings for them on Harmony Central are lowish but I think it is mostly because I can see where the distortion wouldn't be all that great for some uses. I also have a Marshall G15R CD, 15 watt practice amp that is amazing and sounds bigger than any amp anywhere near it's size. Roland Cubes are a bargain for what they do too.

April 11th, 2009, 06:33 PM	#14 (permalink)
bosstone Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Alameda, CA Posts: 1,009	I have gone through over 60 tube amps and generally prefer them for most uses but there several ss or hybrids I have come across over the years that are worth mentioning. In the hybrid category, most if not all the Music Man hybrids sound very good, primarily for the Fender black face sounds. Notable users have been Eric Clapton and Mark Knophler. The Marshall Artist is a very versatile amp that has decent cleans and truly surprisingly good Marshall JCM 800 types of distortion. Both the Music Man and Marshalls mentioned use SS preamplification and either EL34 or 6L6 driven. In addition to the ubiquitous Rolland Jazz Chorus that has a well deserved reputation, of all things I bought 2 Marshal Pacer amps for $100.00 just to get the speakers. One had a Boogie Black Shadow 90 watt Celestion an the other had my favorite speaker the Celestion G12-65! To my surprise I really like the clean sound and it's reverb and the lead channel is very good within a very narrow range. At 45 watts, in a lightish weight package, I thing it is very good amp. I know some of the ratings for them on Harmony Central are lowish but I think it is mostly because I can see where the distortion wouldn't be all that great for some uses. I also have a Marshall G15R CD, 15 watt practice amp that is amazing and sounds bigger than any amp anywhere near it's size. Roland Cubes are a bargain for what they do too.