Decent loud, light SS amps?

[jimfog]

Hey,
I'm totally happy with an old DR for most situations. Perfect size, tone and power for 90% of my gigs. Every once in a while though, I get a LOUD gig, or something with a function/wedding band, where it's just not enough. Also, since it seems there's always something going on repair-wise with my tubes amps, I wouldn't mind having a SS in the stable...........

Any suggestions for something loud and fairly light? Don't need a ton of bells and whistles.....just a decent base clean tone, and maybe some 'verb.

Any ideas?

-Jim

[gls500]

I feel like a broken record here, but the Roland Cube 30 or Cube 60 (not the blues cube).

I pretty much only use my Cube 30 in the clean channel w/ a little bit of reverb or delay (built in). I bring it to gigs as a lightweight backup. It's capable of a lot more, though.

[Pepi]

Tech21 amps are killer for SS. A real close tube sound.

[PSWoods]

+1 for Roland Cubes. They are really not horrible at all to play. I got a microcube for an outdoor wedding ("classical" guitar), then the store let me trade up to a Cube 30 after the Micro fizzled.

I can't remember what I was thinking I would do with the Cube 30, other than I had very low expectations. Now I use it all the time. It's so great when I want to get in and out with no setup/teardown. When it's a crappy gig/rehearsal, I bring the Cube 30 in lieu of copping an attitude.

The 30 prob won't be much louder than a Deluxe. There is definitely a hump at about 10:00 on the volume knob, past which you get diminishing returns. Plenty loud enough for a medium room with a normal band, tho - the 10" speaker moves a lot more air than a typical guitar 10" - no clue why that is. It projects and cuts. Never played the 60, but I'm guessing it's loud.

Cons: They are really made more for a wide market than for pros: e.g. line out instead of DI; on the 30 the line out defeats the speaker. If they really wanted to make it a plug-n-play amp they could have included a tuner.

On the Cube 30, they made the wrong effects switchable. You can turn off the stuff you usally leave on thru a song (e.g. chorus) but not delay. DOH! I think they must intentionally design stuff like that to make players upgrade to the Cube 60 and leave the 30 for kids.

And good luck finding a good footswitch that is in proportion to the price of the amp (I made my own).

The power cord is fixed to the amp chassis, and it doesn't stay in place on the wind-up pegs with the supplied bread tie type thing. I squoze (yes, squoze) a Planet Waves cable tie onto the power cord and now it stays in place; you can buy those ala carte.

Other than that the Cubes are about perfect for what they are. Really usable. You're not going to fool anybody into thinking you have an actual AC30 or tweed Bassman, but they get the gesture across just fine. And you can be the first to set up and the first to tear down for once.

And the price is right: about $200 for the Cube 30, which will cover anything I play.

[Cam]

I used this combination at my NYE gig. First set was the JC lined out into the DRRI with a strat plus. Second set was same amp config with a 52 ri. Last sets were the DRRI jumpered into the JC with the 52 ri. I used the chorus only twice in the eve. I prefered the latter combination tonally. Granted the 120 is a larger 2 X 12 amp, but for its size it is light. It is about half the weight of a twin reverb from point of view of my back muscles. It can rip really loudly too. My gig was out of town so this is why I took the 120, in case of tube troubles. I have had the 120 since about 1984. The only thing I have ever fixed in it was replacing the reverb tank. It is built like a tank and has never failed me. I trialed a new roland cube 60 but there seemed to be a tiny annoying ss buzz or hiss on the note fade (noticeable to my anal ears , it might not bother other folks). I must try out a different one sometime as perhaps it was just this amp.
IMO the weakness of a jc120 or cube is the reverb. The reverb on the 120 is functional up to about four, after that it sounds ss cheesy and if fully cranked it whines. The verb on the cube 60 I trialed bothered me on the note fades, but like I say, it might have been problematic to the particular amp I tried. The "tremelo" on the jc120 sucks big time and is more like flanger than a vibrato. Nothing beats the verb and tremelo on an older fender tube amp.

[Sarge]

I have a Ross Fame 50 CR thats near 25 years old that still amazes me for a SS amp. It's so damn versitle with built in Chorus, spring reverb and Tube Blaster. 1 input, 7 outs w/effects loop. It's a great clean amp yet really screams over driven. Since I've owned it it's never let me down nor needed repairs. Good luck finding one though, this is the only one I've ever seen and once I test drove it I fell in love with it. And I thought Ross only built pedals!

[Wally]

Jimfog wrote: "Also, since it seems there's always something going on repair-wise with my tubes amps.."
My first thought is that you need to find a better tech. A well-prepared DR should work and work and work. If it is often needing repair, it is probably not ever truly repaired and put into proper working order. I know a fellow who makes a living with one on the road and it has yet to fail him during a period of about 8-9 years. We retube it once in awhile, but it does nothing but perform and help him make his living.

[trag-o-caster]

I really enjoy the fact that the mighty SS question keeps coming up! REALLY - I'm not being facetious! Call me nuts, but I really like some SS amps a lot. I've got three Lab Series, two of which were my main gigging amps for about a year or more. Those are quite heavy though. My L5 2x12 weighs about as much as my Pro Reverb.

In the light and loud category, I'll say the Roland BluesCube 30, since I just got one from ebay, and really like it, although I haven't used it much. It's really loud for a SS 30 watter. Very giggable. You can snag 'em off of ebay for less than $200, and they sound just great. They make a 60 watt as well, but I haven't tried those.

[Scott M]

I have been through several tube amps including a SFTR and a great sounding '64 Gibson Falcon since my old poytone died after about 12 years. I made and obscene amount of money with that amp considering I paid $175 for it. Recently, I stumbled onto a used minibrute IV, and am I glad I did. Just like my last one, it is very small, very light weight, 100 watts, sounds warm, sounds bright, can be VERY clean, and goes from Santana to Merle Haggard to Pat Metheny. Highly recommend it, but you will need at least an overdrive pedal if you are going down that road.

...well, at least it works for me.

-Scott

[Scotland]

Do they still make them ? I have tried a search in the UK but it comes up with nothing.

[Ringo]

I've had a couple 80's Yamaha SS amps, they were loud , lightweight and actually sounded very warm and "tubish".
Can't remember the exact name, maybe 50 112?
Both were 50 watt 1 - 12 combos with reverb (also decent) one had a better EQ with notch midrange etc...
And you can usually find these pretty cheap.

The older Peavey Bandit and Special amps are very loud but not real lightweight.

Also had a Fender Deluxe 112, it was a newer 1-12 combo, lightweight, good clean channel w reverb, gain channel is a high gain monster.

[Oldschoolwax]

My "Easy Carry" rig is a Gk 2100 SEL 100 watt head (50/50 stereo) 2 ch with eq's for each and a gain on the lead chan. It has comp/rev/chorus and noise gate. It's simple and had been almost reliable to a fault for me. I run it into a pair of ADA SplitStack (2x12) slant cabinets, so it fits real well even in a small car. Depending on what kind of music you like, this setup could be real nice for you, it's real loud!

If you need less power, I kinda like those Vox 50 watt combos.

I really like the above mentioned amps too. There are a lot of good choices out there... I think you should go out and start test driving some.

[Scott M]

I had one of those at one time, and it was a great sounding amp. I do remeber it being compact but heavy.

There was another generation of those amps that was probably just before the G50, and it sounded terrible with no personality - very sterile. There is no mistaking one for the other, as they were cosmetically very different.

[Scott M]

I have always heard good things about those. I would love to try one.

-Scott

[Marshall Thinline]

Small, cheap, loud and gigable(if that is a word).
The Behringer gm110. You can pick them up for about $99. They are a knockoff of the Tech 21 amp.

[Cam]

on the Roland website www.roland.com

[DADGAD]

Decent loud, light SS amps?

My main amp for the last 12 years is a Fender M80, 1X12, 80 watt combo. Loud, clean and an excellent reverb. It has gray carpet covering and was built in 1990. How's that for reliability? I use external effects pedals. I think it weighs 30 pounds.

If you prefer tubes, the Pignose G60V combo is very light, too. A friend has one and it's tres cool.

Gary