Boutique Solid State

[Jakedog]

Originally Posted by jh45gun

then your not using a big enough amp. I gigged with a Super Reverb for years and used the volume knob something folks have seem to forget these days. My tone was always clear as a bell and never broke up. I can get the same thing out of my PA 100 as I am sure folks can with Twins so do not say that ALL tube amps do that they do not which is why LEO went the direction he did from the tweeds to his black face amps he wanted cleans.

Leo also hated mids, his words, not mine. Fender amps just don't have 'em. They are all scooped out in the middle. If you like that tone, I think it's cool that it works for you, seriously, I can't stand it. When I hear the words "SS amps sound anemic", all I can think of is that every BF or SF Fender or clone I've ever played through sounds anemic. The mid-range is non-existent. I played a BF Super Reverb for many years myself, as well as SFSR, SFTR, BFTR, BF and SF DR, you name it, none of them can touch my SS amps. They don't have the low end tightness, they don't have the punch and pop percussiveness to note attack when you dig in, all they do is sag, compress, and at higher volumes, break up. And never, ever, in a million years, will you hear a Fender style amp achieve the same volume levels as 100 watt SS amp and keep the same amount of bass that tight. Never gonna happen. I don't care what speakers or tubes you put in it, that power section is gonna get saggy and saturated at some point. That's the nature of a tube amp. Not a bad thing if you like it, but it ain't my flavor. I really wish I had even 10% of the money back that I spent on all the flavors of tube amps I bought and had modded and maintained over twenty plus years, trying to get the tone I have now.

Don't get me wrong, I am NOT bashing tube amps. I still own several, and I fully believe they totally have their place and in certain applications, I will still use them. But for me, 90% of the time, they don't get the job done as well (for me) as what I use. Tone is subjective, and what any given guitarist wants to hear coming out of his or her amp is their business. I hear people get smokin' killer tones out of all kinds of tube amps, tones I very much enjoy listening to. They just aren't the tones I want to hear when I play. I want to sound like me, and "me" doesn't sag, doesn't break up, and doesn't compress unless I turn on my compressor.

For some reason, every time I post about this stuff, tube people get uptight and defensive. Please don't take it that way. Tube amps are great, and I don't bag on them. I'm just a realist, and for real, they are not capable of doing what I want. Nothing wrong with that, lots of people can't get tones they want out of SS amps. That doesn't mean it's a bad amp, it just means it won't do what they want, and that's ok. We're all free to play what we please.

[tiktok]

Originally Posted by davidge1

A solid state amp will NOT give you a scooped Fender sound. When people say SS amps have no tone, this is one of the reasons. They're used to that sound. Also, as someone already mentioned, they obviously don't break up (at very loud volumes, the speaker will start to break up a little). The solid state amps I've had will give you a very nice punchy, full sound with very tight bass.

Well, that's where SS amps with active EQ and variable mid-range frequency controls come in. You can cut or boost frequencies on SS amps in a way that few, if any, tube amps offer.

[jh45gun]

I guess I do not have a problem I like both

[openbar]

I played a gig last night with my Peavey Special 112. Hoping someone would get a chuckle out of it, especially my two friends there who are gearhounds. Nobody even noticed.

[jh45gun]

Originally Posted by openbar

I played a gig last night with my Peavey Special 112. Hoping someone would get a chuckle out of it, especially my two friends there who are gearhounds. Nobody even noticed.

Don't know why any one would get a chuckle out of it there has been more peavey gear on pro stages then you can shake a stick at.

[fendorst]

Getting back to the original question...

Here's a low-tech, low-cost option. Fender Frontman 25 watt 10-inch speaker. Costs around $100-$150 depending where you buy it. Traditional Fender 3-tone-control setup, acceptable spring reverb.

The clean channel sounds very much like a Fender. If you like the traditional Fender clean sound, this amp reproduces it very faithfully.

The distortion channel, to my ears, sounds like cheap solid state, fizzy, not warm, not tubey, not pleasant. I use a Danelectro Transparent Overdrive instead. Substitute whatever overdrive pedal you prefer. Or you may love the distortion channel just as it is.

Popular speaker replacements include Eminence Ragin' Cajun, Webers, etc. If you go the Ragin' Cajun route you'll get WAY louder. Cost is between $65-$100 depending where you buy. But the stock speaker is absolutely useable. Just depends on your taste in speakers and whether you want LOUDER.

So for $200 (tops... probably less) you can have a terrific sounding (clean channel only) traditional Fender sound in a lightweight SS package that's loud as all get-out (with Ragin' Cajun speaker replacement).

It's not meant to compete with a tube amp, or any other SS amp for that matter. It isn't better or worse than any other amp. It's a sound you either like or don't. Just like any tube amp you might suggest produces a sound you either like or don't.

I like traditional Fender-voiced amps. The inexpensive SS 25-watt 10" speaker Frontman nails it. If you like that sound, go listen to one and decide for yourself whether it works for you. It may or may not. But it meets your requirements: inexpensive, 10" speaker, loud (especially with Ragin' Cajun) and toneful (provided you're after the traditional Fender sound to begin with).

[63dot]

When I first started electric guitar, I fooled around with a Polytone amp. I liked rock and didn't much like this amp. But many said, at the time, that it was "the" jazz amp to get. Joe Pass used one as well as many others. Now, 30 years later and being into jazz, I wish I had bought one of those. I can't find old Polytones, and when they do come up in the paper or the net, they are completely out of reach. Same with the Ibanez Tube Screamer and the 'mint, post CBS '65 strat at the antique store.

Closed minds who were rockers dissed Polytone (and early Ibanez effects, post CBS Fenders) regret it now. One friend of mine who loved rock and jazz equally thought the Polytone was the one to get.

Every small amp I have heard since then pales in comparison for jazz, but the closest I have heard is the Roland Cube, but still miles away.

That being said, one of my teachers played a few gigs I have seen with a Fender Frontline 25, a relatively cheap amp, and he sounded great. Of course, he's an amazing player and could sound good with any amp.

[jh45gun]

Originally Posted by fendorst

Getting back to the original question...

Here's a low-tech, low-cost option. Fender Frontman 25 watt 10-inch speaker. Costs around $100-$150 depending where you buy it. Traditional Fender 3-tone-control setup, acceptable spring reverb.

The clean channel sounds very much like a Fender. If you like the traditional Fender clean sound, this amp reproduces it very faithfully.

The distortion channel, to my ears, sounds like cheap solid state, fizzy, not warm, not tubey, not pleasant. I use a Danelectro Transparent Overdrive instead. Substitute whatever overdrive pedal you prefer. Or you may love the distortion channel just as it is.

Popular speaker replacements include Eminence Ragin' Cajun, Webers, etc. If you go the Ragin' Cajun route you'll get WAY louder. Cost is between $65-$100 depending where you buy. But the stock speaker is absolutely useable. Just depends on your taste in speakers and whether you want LOUDER.

So for $200 (tops... probably less) you can have a terrific sounding (clean channel only) traditional Fender sound in a lightweight SS package that's loud as all get-out (with Ragin' Cajun speaker replacement).

It's not meant to compete with a tube amp, or any other SS amp for that matter. It isn't better or worse than any other amp. It's a sound you either like or don't. Just like any tube amp you might suggest produces a sound you either like or don't.

I like traditional Fender-voiced amps. The inexpensive SS 25-watt 10" speaker Frontman nails it. If you like that sound, go listen to one and decide for yourself whether it works for you. It may or may not. But it meets your requirements: inexpensive, 10" speaker, loud (especially with Ragin' Cajun) and toneful (provided you're after the traditional Fender sound to begin with).

NO 25 WATT SS amp is powerfull enough to gig with by its self.

[tiktok]

Originally Posted by fendorst

Here's a low-tech, low-cost option. Fender Frontman 25 watt 10-inch speaker. Costs around $100-$150 depending where you buy it. Traditional Fender 3-tone-control setup, acceptable spring reverb.

The clean channel sounds very much like a Fender. If you like the traditional Fender clean sound, this amp reproduces it very faithfully.

The distortion channel, to my ears, sounds like cheap solid state, fizzy, not warm, not tubey, not pleasant. I use a Danelectro Transparent Overdrive instead. Substitute whatever overdrive pedal you prefer. Or you may love the distortion channel just as it is.

Popular speaker replacements include Eminence Ragin' Cajun, Webers, etc. If you go the Ragin' Cajun route you'll get WAY louder. Cost is between $65-$100 depending where you buy. But the stock speaker is absolutely useable. Just depends on your taste in speakers and whether you want LOUDER.

So for $200 (tops... probably less) you can have a terrific sounding (clean channel only) traditional Fender sound in a lightweight SS package that's loud as all get-out (with Ragin' Cajun speaker replacement).

Hmmph. I don't think this setup is ever going to make me feel like I'm floating on a football field filled with marshmallows...

[tiktok]

Originally Posted by jh45gun

NO 25 WATT SS amp is powerfull enough to gig with by its self.

It depends on the band. I gigged for several years with a 30W SS amp. I don't think that extra 5W was the key.

[jh45gun]

Originally Posted by tiktok

It depends on the band. I gigged for several years with a 30W SS amp. I don't think that extra 5W was the key.

You must have played pretty quiet then and had a very quiet drummer I know I tried it with my band which is three piece and it would not cut it.

[63dot]

Originally Posted by jh45gun

You must have played pretty quiet then and had a very quiet drummer I know I tried it with my band which is three piece and it would not cut it.

For my punk band, I use 50 watts at least, but when I was in a Brit-pop band, a 30 w. tube/transistor Crate amp with 10" inch speaker did the job with my old tele and melody maker.

We very rarely turned it up and focused more on vocal harmonies and if we cranked up the instruments too much over our small 150 w. PA, we wouldn't be able to hear ourselves sing.

I think if the drummer lays off a bit, the bass player, keyboard, and guitar players can all work down the volume to where 25 and 30 watt amps for guitar amps are suitable. I have seen my share of bands with 100 watts for a guitarists, and more for a bassist, too much volume all around, and just pure tone deaf singing since nobody could hear anybody else in relation to the closest blaring amp on stage.

Often out in the crowd the guitar and bass amps become so loud that the drums are pretty much drowned out. At that volume, it's just a shame.

[scooteraz]

To the original question of what do you get for the extra money for the boutique SS amp. You get essentially what you get with more money for boutique tube amps. What you are supposed to get is more thought in the circuit topology, and someone who has some musical background designing an instrument, as opposed to an appliance. But, you might just get hype in some cases. Caveat emptor.

What we have to remember is that the amplifier is part of our instrument. Why so many people like tube amps is the "sound" of the amp. That is, the non-linearities in the amplification. Or, from the engineer's perspective, the various distortions.

The holy grail of most amplifier engineers is the "straight wire with gain" That is pure gain, no distortion. All feedback mechanisms that are there to help kill distortion, in the end also add other distortions. Leo, Jim Marshall and in particular, Dave Reeves (of Hiwatt) all were trying to develop high power amplifiers, and all tried to tame distortion. However, the fact of the matter was that tubes did distort a bit, and that is the sound we all think of as guitar amp tone.

Early solid state, run within limits, pretty much had an order of magnitude less distortion (particularly harmonic distortion) than did tube amps of the day. Because the normal even order harmonics from tube distortions were not part of the signal, most saw the sound as dry. Also, when run out of limits, the actually wave forms were so much different that they sounded harsh. Some styles liked that, but early bi-polar transistor amps did have really harsh distortion. In addition, at the time, rating was set at the power where 3% clipping occurred (if memory serves). With tubes, you still had rounded wave tops, and a bunch more current carrying capacity left with a musical, albeit distorted, sound. With bipolar transistors, 3% distortion was essentially where the current carrying capability stopped. Hence the myth of "tube watts are bigger than SS watts". It was just that if you had a 50 watt tube amp (50 watts at 3% distortion) you might be able to get something like 75 watts at 50% distortion. However, if you had a 50 watt SS amp at 3%, you got like 55 watts at 50%. Just the nature of the amplifying device.

Later devices, like FETs, distort more like tubes, so a lot of that goes away in some of the modern amps. So, some of the later amps actually allow for some musical non-linearities in the amplification, so it is a more musical sound. I'm not sure about class D amps, and how they handle this (because they actually develop a digital signal, and run that through filters to make a sine wave). However, with amps like the Prichard, they are using mosfets to get a more tube like sound, and still have the convenience of SS.

[jh45gun]

Originally Posted by 63dot

For my punk band, I use 50 watts at least, but when I was in a Brit-pop band, a 30 w. tube/transistor Crate amp with 10" inch speaker did the job with my old tele and melody maker.

We very rarely turned it up and focused more on vocal harmonies and if we cranked up the instruments too much over our small 150 w. PA, we wouldn't be able to hear ourselves sing.

I think if the drummer lays off a bit, the bass player, keyboard, and guitar players can all work down the volume to where 25 and 30 watt amps for guitar amps are suitable. I have seen my share of bands with 100 watts for a guitarists, and more for a bassist, too much volume all around, and just pure tone deaf singing since nobody could hear anybody else in relation to the closest blaring amp on stage.

Often out in the crowd the guitar and bass amps become so loud that the drums are pretty much drowned out. At that volume, it's just a shame.

OK what your saying is you were quiet too as a 150 watt PA head is not that loud I know I have used a `100 watt ones before and way back when, when thats all you had it seemed really loud but now days thats pretty low key expecially with a loud drummer ect. back when I was gigging we used a CS 800 amp and a board and PV 115 Internationals and a bass cab. I would suspect that is a moderate system with some being smaller and some louder. Today I have a 300 watt head with ten inch cabs and horns with 250 watt Beta Eminence speakers in each cab. I know a 30 watt amp would not cut it if I was pushing this system. I have gigged with a 60 watt SS Crate amp (got rid of it) that the 4 ohm speaker had a tear in it and the only speaker I could get to replace it in time for that gig was a 8 ohm eminence which would lower the efficency of that amp by at least a third so instead of a 60 watt amp it was more like a 40 watt amp in volume. Bass Player and the other guitar player that night blew me away I could hardly hear that amp. Yet by its self it sounded loud. Nowwith a 4 piece band playing rock and roll that amp did not cut it. Band was not that loud either as for a PA we were using 118 PV subs and 10 inch speaker cabs set up like mine are. (thats where I got the idea)

[profgalen]

Anyone tried one of these?
http://www.lunchboxamp.com/

[nrand]

Originally Posted by markesquire

I started out on a cheap solid state modeling amp, then upgraded to objectively better-sounding tube amps.

I've seen a few boutique, high-quality solid state amps online lately and wondered if they're in a different league. Are Evans, Polytone, etc really that much better than the cheaper models that I abandoned for tube models?

If so, how do they differ? The real thing I'd like is a lightweight 1x10 combo that's as loud as a twin, has the warmth and response of a tube amp, spring reverb (not digital), and is dead quiet.

I use a Roland Jazz chorus amp - super clean and loud with good spring reverb and chorus, although my current one has nowhere near the loudness of my 1980's vintage model. On the plus side the modern circuitry is much quieter, making it suitable for small rooms as well as big halls. These come in single and twin configurations still I think - mine is a twin JC 120. For versatility - i.e. distortion, I use an H&K Tubeman II dialed in through the effects loop and with this I can get most any sound I need - Buuut, the Tubeman uses a real tube to achieve this so it does not purely answer your question. I can play all my guitars, acoustic and electric, in almost any style quite convincingly with my setup.

Based on my experience and some of the other comments above - any top end Roland with an effects loop will give you pretty much anything you need. Distortion sucks in these - hence the Tubeman - everything else is pure gold.

[63dot]

Originally Posted by jh45gun

OK what your saying is you were quiet too as a 150 watt PA head is not that loud I know ...

When we got a 250 w. bass amp with speaker, 8x12" Marshall, the 150 w. PA got very small. But we did borrow a 1,500-2,000 w. pro system once, 48 channels, etc but that was only while we had a pro soundman in the band. :)

[openbar]

Originally Posted by jh45gun

Don't know why any one would get a chuckle out of it there has been more peavey gear on pro stages then you can shake a stick at.

I don't know where you live, but around here a 20 year-old Peavey ss amp at a rock show is a "punchline" if you know what I mean.

The point was: all this fussing we do about tubes this, boutique that, and nobody noticed that I was playing a cheap solid state amp instead of my "cooler" tube amps. Also, I really like that once it's set, you don't have to keep fiddling with the knobs. Just turn the master up or down, it sounds the same!

Now I'm off to find a lighter speaker for it, that bugger is heavy!

[dcaulton]

I'm not trying to be disingenuous, but are well constructed SS amps able to be fixed when something goes bad? I think when anyone buys a boutique amp, it's in the hope of nailing some particular sound better than any other, and it's something the buyer probably intends to potentially work hard and keep forever. It was a strong selling point when I got my boutique tube amps - these ones are very serviceable. I don't doubt that there are techniques to ruggedize an amp.

I expect to hear that sure - it ultimately comes down to finding the bad component(s) and replacing them. But a friend of mine repairs electronic equipment full time and he turned down a request to fix another friends broken Fender Vibrasonic and Roland JC-120, saying that the value of the amp wouldn't justify the cost of analysis and repair. I can imagine how the analysis could get tricky.

Have any of you tried to service a SS amp? If this is too much of a tangent let me know and I'll start a separate thread.

[LazerMouth]

I have an old Roland Cube 20 from the late 70's early 80's.

It is amazing, 20 real mans watts, it's loud, nice clean tone, and the spring reverb is usable.
If you can find one, buy it and never let it go. I use it for my synthesizers as well. It's too useful.

[Chito]

Originally Posted by profgalen

Anyone tried one of these?
http://www.lunchboxamp.com/

I got one of this. Here's how I describe it, small, light, loud as hell even with a loud drummer!! Takes pedals well, plays even better connected to an extension cab. With the 6.5" speakers, the mids are more pronounced but that makes it 'cut' across the mix when playing in band context. Will I gig with it, sure why not. I've played it in a 2 guitar band with the other guy playing a Mesa Lonestar and had no problems with getting heard. Will I sell my tube amps because of it, well NO! Is it worth the $300 bucks? For sure.

[tiktok]

Originally Posted by nrand

I use a Roland Jazz chorus amp - super clean and loud with good spring reverb and chorus, although my current one has nowhere near the loudness of my 1980's vintage model. On the plus side the modern circuitry is much quieter, making it suitable for small rooms as well as big halls. These come in single and twin configurations still I think - mine is a twin JC 120.

There've been eight or nine versions of the JC-120 circuit over the decades.

[Jakedog]

Originally Posted by dcaulton

I'm not trying to be disingenuous, but are well constructed SS amps able to be fixed when something goes bad? I think when anyone buys a boutique amp, it's in the hope of nailing some particular sound better than any other, and it's something the buyer probably intends to potentially work hard and keep forever. It was a strong selling point when I got my boutique tube amps - these ones are very serviceable. I don't doubt that there are techniques to ruggedize an amp.

I expect to hear that sure - it ultimately comes down to finding the bad component(s) and replacing them. But a friend of mine repairs electronic equipment full time and he turned down a request to fix another friends broken Fender Vibrasonic and Roland JC-120, saying that the value of the amp wouldn't justify the cost of analysis and repair. I can imagine how the analysis could get tricky.

Have any of you tried to service a SS amp? If this is too much of a tangent let me know and I'll start a separate thread.

"Amp's not worth the cost of repairs" is a cop out. Seriously. Some are hard to work on, most are not. I've repaired several myself, and I am NOT anything approaching an electronics tech. Really, it depends on the complexity of the circuit/layout. Repair shops fix powered mixers all the time, and they do it affordably. These are not tube, and are far more complicated than your average guitar amp, so that should be an indicator right there. Every time I have had a "tech" tell me something like that about an SS amp, it could easily be translated to "I don't know what I'm doing with this, so I'm not gonna mess with it".

Boutique tube amps with PTP or tagboard circuitry are extremely easy to work on, and quick too. Less labor intensive than a PCB tube or SS amp in almost every way. Not all, but many people who get themselves a rep as a high-end amp tech, get there because these amps are so incredibly repairable and easy to work on. They poo-poo the other stuff, because seriously, they have no idea what to do with it, and really don't have a clue whether it's fixable or not, because they have no idea what to do with that kind of a circuit. But they won't tell you that, because it could make them look bad.

In the end, I've never owned a tube amp that didn't go to the shop at least once in the time I owned it for maintenence or repair. I can't remember the last time one of my SS amps needed anything, or went down. I'm racking my head, but I just can't think of anything breaking in recent times. And when it does, it's always something simple. An input jack here, a switch replaced there, nothing big. so there's something to be said for that too...

[Jack]

Originally Posted by Ringo

I've had a couple of the 1-12 50 watt Yamaha G series amps, the ones with the parametric eq are killer, great warm clean tones, not a sterile Jazz Chorus solid state tone.
.

What? Are you kidding me? "sterile Jazz Chorus tone". The Roland JC IMO and many others is one of the very best SS amps made; period. They're warm and responsive with a clean that's to die for. They love pedals and of course they're stereo chorus is world renowned. The JC-120 was introduced by Roland in 1975 and has never been dropped from their line-up for even a minute since. It's still one of the top selling models after 30 years?

I got rid of my JC and I regret it. I too followed the tube dragon, but I will soon have another JC and this time it wont get away.

Anyhow, I guess you can see what my vote is. You want a great SS amp look know further than the king of all SS amps.

[Stewart Ward]

Originally Posted by jh45gun

NO 25 WATT SS amp is powerfull enough to gig with by its self.

You just haven't tried a decent solid state amp yet... that's obvious! But maybe you mean that 25 watts is not enough power regardless of the technology producing it. Whatevr, there are still popular misconceptions about SS vs Tube amps in the loudness department.

The actual power of the SS amp, assumining the quoted power is what the manufacturer says it is... which is more often NOT the case, is not the important factor in gauging loudness. It is the efficiency of the speaker and sadly, because of general player perceptions of SS amps, most are equipped with downright awful speakers shoved into tiny cabinets!

Watt for watt, both tube and tranny amps are identical! Power is measured V²/R or VI or I²R. Neither technology can make a different watt - fact!

Due to tube amps being 'constant current' drivers of the speaker, this means the speaker is not tightly coupled to the OP transformer (OPTX). So, therefore, the speaker when driven hard will travel a further distance back an forth for a given power input due to enertia. This is 'cone overshoot', is purely mechanical and NOTHING to do with the tubes. This can give the illusion that the amp is producing more power, when in fact it IS moving more air by the simple fact that it 'suffers' with 'cone overshoot distortions'. This makes the amp sound louder depending on the output impedance of the OPTX. So, in a nutshell, tube amps can sound louder watt for watt.

However, modern decent tranny amps are now mailny designed with constant current output stages too, so the output impedance is raised and the speaker is allowed to behave just like a tube amp with an OPTX. So, these new breed SS amps are just as loud as similarly rated tube amps and suffer the same distortion traits.

If you are referring to old design and really cheap naff SS amps, then you are not comparing like for like.

Some SS amp manufacturers overrate their power output! For example, the mid 1990's Marshall 8040 Valvestate amp is quoted as being 40 watts RMS. Put it on a test rig and you find the power to be only 28 watts RMS. This coupled with the cheap Celestion 94dB speaker factory fitted results in an amp that can be barely hear over a drummer and other instruments.

So, when it comes to cheaper SS amps, DON'T believe the power rating written on it!!

I regularly gig with a 20W (confirmed) SS amp fitted with a premium Celestion 'Gold' 8 ohm 100dB (50 watt version of the Vox Blue) and it is plenty loud enough to see off a Blues Jnr on stage!

Modern SS amps are fuller toned with a bright 'sprangly' edge to the tone... just like a tube amp. But some are now allowed to be over-bright because the designers have not realised that tube amps attenuate the extreme lows and highs in the power amp/OPTX when driven at high power. But, this is simple to rectify once they get around to realising what's wrong with their designs! A few of the top SS amps have this very much sorted now... including my own!

Oh, the joy of peeing against the wind and making SS stuff work better for guitar!! You see, ANYONE can make a decent valve amp... SS ain't anywhere so easy.

I hope you find this of interest.

[Stewart Ward]

Originally Posted by dcaulton

I'm not trying to be disingenuous, but are well constructed SS amps able to be fixed when something goes bad? I think when anyone buys a boutique amp, it's in the hope of nailing some particular sound better than any other, and it's something the buyer probably intends to potentially work hard and keep forever. It was a strong selling point when I got my boutique tube amps - these ones are very serviceable. I don't doubt that there are techniques to ruggedize an amp.

I expect to hear that sure - it ultimately comes down to finding the bad component(s) and replacing them. But a friend of mine repairs electronic equipment full time and he turned down a request to fix another friends broken Fender Vibrasonic and Roland JC-120, saying that the value of the amp wouldn't justify the cost of analysis and repair. I can imagine how the analysis could get tricky.

Have any of you tried to service a SS amp? If this is too much of a tangent let me know and I'll start a separate thread.

The value of any instrument is directly proportional to how important it is to an artist and his/her act's uniqueness!

If it is not replaceable, then that amp is worth the money the performer will earn using it over their carear liftime!

Most SS amps are easy to repair. He didn't want to repair them because he probably does not have sufficient knowledge to do it well. That's usually the reason I find! Most 'valve tappers', as we refer to them in the UK, call themselves electronics engineers... but the ain't, that's for sure!

[J M Fahey]

Hi Stewart, nice to read you, straightening the truth as usual.
Fact is , tube amps are "easy" ¿¿?? for the untrained because , to begin with, they use all the same couple basic schematics fried and refried 1000 times since the 50's. How many different gain blocks can you make with a 12AX7? And when somebody makes something good sounding, 1000000 "designers" copy them to death, varying only very minor details. When servicing, it also helps a lot that they are usually AC (capacitive) coupled, which means a "bad" stage can quickly be found just with basic multimeter skills.
But an SS one, with the immense variety that exists and the usually direct coupled stages, demands quite a lot of theoretical knowledge, backed by experience.