Are solid state amps a risky buy, considering repair ability after warranty expiration

[Fat Daddy Sambo]

My last gigging amp was a Fender 85. It was loud, a good pedal platform, and easy to transport.

That said, I dunno what I’d do if I went back to band life today. It seems to be a different beast than it was when I left the scene. Good luck.

 

[Jakedog]

Nothing lasts forever. But decent quality SS amps will last just as long as anything else. Kustom, Acoustic, Peavey, all have 50 year old amps that’s are still trucking. There are literally truckloads of forty year old SS amps doing just fine. I’d trust a forty year old SS amp I had no knowledge of its history or maintenance before I’d trust a tube amp of the same age, if I had to pick one blindly to walk on stage with.

They are very repairable, as long as the tech knows what they’re doing. I think a lot of so called technicians only work on old or hand wired tube stuff because that’s all they’re capable of handling. They don’t have the proper skill set (or tool set) for PCB or surface mount electronics repair.

My previous tech before he moved out of state always said “no difference at all to me. Parts is parts.”

Now- The cost associated might not always be worth it. Some of the stigma surrounding SS amps as disposable or throwaway tech is that techs charge by the hour, and it’s not generally cheap. So will you really want to spend $175 repairing a 30 year old SS amp you bought for $200 and got a few years of use out of? Probably not, but who knows? Maybe you’ll like it enough that it’s worth it. People tend to not worry about spending $300-$400 fixing a $1500 amp. That makes more sense, and for good reason.

But yes, they are definitely repairable.

Even the digital modelers are totally repairable and maintenance friendly, people just aren’t doing it much yet. But as the market grows more service will be available. They’re just computers. People repair computers and smart phone tech all the time. Every day.

Right now computer and smart phone techs don’t work on guitar amps and modelers, and guitar amp techs don’t work on computers and smart phone type tech. But the way the world is going, we’re going to see more and more crossover with those types of repair technology. It’s just the next step.

 

[AliceAngelTele]

Do you consider solid state amps like Fenders Tone Master series or the Laney Foundry series to be risky purchases, with regard to potential failures when they are out of warranty?

I'm not a "knowledgeable amp tech" but I will say this:

If you named pretty much any traditional Fender solid state amp like the Ultimate Chorus, I would say those are pretty bulletproof from my experience.

But a Fender DSP product like Tone Master? I consider those to be borderline "disposable technology". They will be forced into obsolescence by their manufacturer so you are motivated to buy the next one. Like Apple has done in the past (throttling their phones/batteries through updates and blaming it on reliability issues).

 

[Harmonic]

The newer digital amps - with lots of effects built in - I'm thinking that 20 years from now those might not be the sounds that we want. Even if they break we might not replace them. We will buy the latest greatest sounding amps then.

I spend most of my time playing through a cheap multi effects pedal and headphones. It sounds better than my other amps.

 

[telemnemonics]

Will the cabinets even last that long?

This Terror Stamp cabinet is steel and should last 40 years!

 

[regularslinky]

Solid state and modeling are different. I would expect that it wouldn't be too hard to find a tech to repair a true solid state amp, whereas if the computer chip in the modeling amp goes down, it would be a bigger problem.

That said, I've owned a few modeling amps and they all became obsolete before they stopped working. The only exception for me has been the Roland Cube 60. I've been gigging with one for years (I keep a second at home just in case) and even after almost 20 years it sounds great - amazing piece of gear.

 

[schmee]

Generally SS are lower value used and not repairable due to cost unless it's just a simple thing easily accessed. Some have stacked PCB boards making them difficult to work on.
PA systems and mixers are far too complicated and expensive to have repaired. The disassembly and reassembly takes a lot of time.

OTOH, they are quite reliable in good brands.
Old Peavey traditional SS amps are heavy as tube amps but keep on chugging.
The lighter Class D SS amps unfortunately go bad a lot more often .... based on my experience.

 

[msalama]

mixers are far too complicated and expensive

Am quite sure all vintage SSLs, Neves and Harrisons still operative are indeed maintained, as many PCBs as one may contain OK, I'll get my coat...

 

[Musekatcher]

These appear to be to scale. The S3 chip on the left (if you can read it) has about 80 traces on each side...nanometers?:

 

[11 Gauge]

Something else just dawned on me - most bass amps are all SS. How reliable are they? It's not like bass amps are built in some unique way that is totally different from guitar amps. If anything, their preamps are probably similar in complexity, since bass players might also want comprehensive EQ shaping, and they might contain a compressor/limiter and other such similar features.

You could probably just also extend this out to SS power amps as well - what does the durability look like for those? Because your typical guitar amp is just going to borrow tech from that, and then put a guitar-specific preamp in front of it.

...If anything, I'd think guitar amps would probably fare better than bass amps or pure power amps, because the vast majority will be lower power designs that don't have to produce such a wide range of frequencies, with ridiculously low harmonic design figures. We also mate up a guitar amp to ridiculously crude old tech when it comes to speakers, and they will never be pushed as hard as bass speakers will.

Long story short - we've had a ton of data for a long time, regarding the whole reliability of SS amplification. But in 2025, comparing it to the reliability of tube amplification (especially when comparing to repair/maintenance) is IMO mostly pointless.

 

[Lawdawg]

But a Fender DSP product like Tone Master? I consider those to be borderline "disposable technology". They will be forced into obsolescence by their manufacturer so you are motivated to buy the next one. Like Apple has done in the past (throttling their phones/batteries through updates and blaming it on reliability issues).

I just don't see that being the case, and it has nothing to do with blind faith in Fender. Turn a TM amp on and it works the way it works. It doesn't need any updates or OS changes to work with the latest and greatest apps, it will just play like it always does. You're right about Apple and other tech companies, but what's true for a phone and phone batteries isn't true for a guitar amp.

What Fender would more likely do, is release a TM II amp series with updated features and a more powerful DSP, but doing that won't cripple the original TM.

Solid state and modeling are different. I would expect that it wouldn't be too hard to find a tech to repair a true solid state amp, whereas if the computer chip in the modeling amp goes down, it would be a bigger problem.

At least in my experience a computer chip just 'going down' is pretty rare outside of some physical damage. With old phones the batteries eventually go bad or the manufacturer stops releasing updates for the old hardware, with old computers it's usually a HD failure or even a failure in the SSD or some other component, but not the CPU just up and dying.

 

[Henry Mars]

I have owned a lot of SS amps from Kusom, Gibson, Peavey and Quilter over the past 55+ years ... other than cleaning the controls on some of the ones that are over 40 years old .... not one issue.

 

[Musekatcher]

I have owned a lot of SS amps from Kusom, Gibson, Peavey and Quilter over the past 55+ years ... other than cleaning the controls on some of the ones that are over 40 years old .... not one issue.

You must not have owned a lot of Valetronix' or Crates.

 

[11 Gauge]

You must not have owned a lot of Valetronix' or Crates.

I still have an AD15VT that I got brand new in '05. I have too many hours of usage on it to count, at this point, over the course of 20 years now. It has worked without issues for all of these years.

It's also my favorite practice or pedal testing amp. I can get really good clean BF and crunchy AC15 sounds out of it at low volumes. I've had these same two model presets on it, all this time. That's really the primary reason it has so many hours on it now.

My '65 Champ, Blackheart Little Giant, and VHT Special 6 all go unused, because the AD15VT simply sounds better and is way more flexible.

 

[schmee]

Something else just dawned on me - most bass amps are all SS. How reliable are they? It's not like bass amps are built in some unique way that is totally different from guitar amps. If anything, their preamps are probably similar in complexity, since bass players might also want comprehensive EQ shaping, and they might contain a compressor/limiter and other such similar features.

You could probably just also extend this out to SS power amps as well - what does the durability look like for those? Because your typical guitar amp is just going to borrow tech from that, and then put a guitar-specific preamp in front of it.

...If anything, I'd think guitar amps would probably fare better than bass amps or pure power amps, because the vast majority will be lower power designs that don't have to produce such a wide range of frequencies, with ridiculously low harmonic design figures. We also mate up a guitar amp to ridiculously crude old tech when it comes to speakers, and they will never be pushed as hard as bass speakers will.

Long story short - we've had a ton of data for a long time, regarding the whole reliability of SS amplification. But in 2025, comparing it to the reliability of tube amplification (especially when comparing to repair/maintenance) is IMO mostly pointless.

Not sure about all brands, but Carvin SS bass and PA amps are 'dog doo'. Avoid them like the plague.
My ex Bassist went through two SS Carvin heads.
My ex drummer had some big PA Equipt: 24 channel (?) Mixer and a 4 channel 2000 watt power amp. We attempted to use the mixer, it was defective on a few holes, 2 of the "monitor out" channels would work only intermittent. The 2000 watt power amp we tried to use a few times for our monitors outdoors and it failed every time. Was "fixed " under warranty and still failed. Was "fixed" again and still failed. Basically an unused amp. The Mixer wasn't very old either.
The small powerful Bass amps were said to be expensive to fix by a tech who does warranty work for some of the big names.

OTOH, my Peavey and Mackie powered PA heads never failed. I still have the Mackie 800/1200 watter and use it now and then. They each probably weigh 35-40 lbs!
I see old Peavey Bass amps that weigh a ton still working, Dirt cheap to buy.

I think good SS amps will continue to work a long time, but the ones I see doing that are not CL D lightweight amps. Will some of the CL D amps be long lived? We'll see. Some already ae but I dont know their trouble rate. Even JBL powered speakers have plenty of problems. E Bay is loaded with replacement parts.

 

[Musekatcher]

I still have an AD15VT that I got brand new in '05. I have too many hours of usage on it to count, at this point, over the course of 15 years now. It has worked without issues for all of these years.

It's also my favorite practice or pedal testing amp. I can get really good clean BF and crunchy AC15 sounds out of it at low volumes. I've had these same two model presets on it, all this time. That's really the primary reason it has so many hours on it now.

My '65 Champ, Blackheart Little Giant, and VHT Special 6 all go unused, because the AD15VT simply sounds better and is way more flexible.

Great. A single data point out of millions produced, and one of the widest recognized bad build amp series due to solder process errors. My vt50 was great, when it worked. I cracked it open no less than 5 times to search and destroy bad solder. I made sure the new owner new that too.

 

[11 Gauge]

Not sure about all brands, but Carvin SS bass and PA amps are 'dog doo'. Avoid them like the plague.
My ex Bassist went through two SS Carvin heads.
My ex drummer had some big PA Equipt: 24 channel (?) Mixer and a 4 channel 2000 watt power amp. We attempted to use the mixer, it was defective on a few holes, 2 of the "monitor out" channels would work only intermittent. The 2000 watt power amp we tried to use a few times for our monitors outdoors and it failed every time. Was "fixed " under warranty and still failed. Was "fixed" again and still failed. Basically an unused amp. The Mixer wasn't very old either.
The small powerful Bass amps were said to be expensive to fix by a tech who does warranty work for some of the big names.

OTOH, my Peavey and Mackie powered PA heads never failed. I still have the Mackie 800/1200 watter and use it now and then. They each probably weigh 35-40 lbs!
I see old Peavey Bass amps that weigh a ton still working, Dirt cheap to buy.

I think good SS amps will continue to work a long time, but the ones I see doing that are not CL D lightweight amps. Will some of the CL D amps be long lived? We'll see. Some already ae but I dont know their trouble rate. Even JBL powered speakers have plenty of problems. E Bay is loaded with replacement parts.

Other than a couple of Strat-style pickups that I bought from Carvin back in the mid-90's, I have no experience with them. I remember getting their catalog for quite a few years and thought that the guitars in them certainly looked very pretty, and was maybe hoping to get one of their Strat-style guitar kits, but it never happened. I just could not imagine ordering anything like an amp from them from a catalog - that's something I always had to try before purchasing.

Peavey SS in particular does have a proven track record at this point, with the same reliability found with SS PA, bass, and guitar gear. I have a cousin who primarily plays bass, and he's had the same old Peavey amps forever (like roughly 40 years now!).

Regarding class D power amps - I would just be careful not to lump them all together. I think Quilter amps will be problem-free for a long time. It really comes down to design and construction IMO - if that's done right then it really shouldn't matter if it's class AB or class D.

 

[11 Gauge]

Great. A single data point out of millions produced, and one of the widest recognized bad build amp series due to solder process errors. My vt50 was great, when it worked. I cracked it open no less than 5 times to search and destroy bad solder. I made sure the new owner new that too.

Well, I'll consider myself very lucky then, and I'll be sad when it finally croaks.

I might be a single data point, but I'm being absolutely honest that the amp has worked flawlessly for 20 years, and literally has tons of hours on it. I guess not every unit had solder process errors.

 

[schmee]

Other than a couple of Strat-style pickups that I bought from Carvin back in the mid-90's, I have no experience with them. I remember getting their catalog for quite a few years and thought that the guitars in them certainly looked very pretty, and was maybe hoping to get one of their Strat-style guitar kits, but it never happened. I just could not imagine ordering anything like an amp from them from a catalog - that's something I always had to try before purchasing.
Peavey SS in particular does have a proven track record at this point, with the same reliability found with SS PA, bass, and guitar gear. I have a cousin who primarily plays bass, and he's had the same old Peavey amps forever (like roughly 40 years now!).
Regarding class D power amps - I would just be careful not to lump them all together. I think Quilter amps will be problem-free for a long time. It really comes down to design and construction IMO - if that's done right then it really shouldn't matter if it's class AB or class D.

Yeah, I've only ever seen one Quilter being sold etc as "not working".
My backup amp is a little Crate Powerblock bought for $59 on sale over a decade ago, maybe more than 15 years? Still working! It has saved my bass players (2) and worked as a backup PA amp once too!

 

[Musekatcher]

Well, I'll consider myself very lucky then, and I'll be sad when it finally croaks.

I might be a single data point, but I'm being absolutely honest that the amp has worked flawlessly for 20 years, and literally has tons of hours on it. I guess not every unit had solder process errors.

Of course. Its the difference between 1 failure per 100k, and 1 per 1k. The reliability is 99.9% for the latter. That's good enough to go to market for some segments, It would bankrupt a cell phone maker, auto, TV, watch, shoes, candy bar, pencils, etc.