Solid state amps question - Orange Crush Pro

[belovedmonster]

I've always ignored solid state amps so I am a complete noob about them. But the recent Orange Crush Pro has piqued my interest.

Q: Does a transister amp still need a certain level of volume to get the full juice of the power amp tone? Or is the tone the same on volume 10 as volume 1, just louder?

[VTEC_Dreams]

 

I'm not an expert by any means, but I will vouch for "some" solid state amps needing volume to sound maximum awesome.

 

I use an Ampeg VH-140c (a solid state amp) and it doesn't sound *truly* good until you can really crank it. Don't get me wrong, it sounds really great at low volumes--way better than tube amps I've had before in that regard--but it really starts getting rich and awesome when you get it past 9 o' clock. That said, it's a bit of an oddball in the world of solid states, as far as I can tell. Most are just loud, or get worse the louder they get, or both.

 

Could be Ampeg's circuitry, but realistically I have no clue. I just play on the damn thing and love the way it sounds.

 

Other solid staters that sound good loud are some of the old Randalls and old Sunn's. King Buzzo from the Melvins uses a Sunn Beta Lead...it's louder than **** God and it sounds absolutely glorious. He has one of my all time favorite "live" tones, and it's literally just the amp with an occasional Boss overdrive for leads.

 

I'm pretty tired of folks bagging on solid state amps, frankly. I'd go for it, and definitely let us know what you think.

[Just Mike]

With solid state amps, there is no "full juice of the power amp tone". They just get louder until they start to sound bad. The reason people think SS amps sound better louder is because everything sounds better louder...up to a certain point. Part of it could be the speakers breaking up at high volume but SS amps themselves don't sound better louder.

 Even the modern generation of tube amps don't rely on output tubes for distortion. Their power stages are throttled back to stay tight. Think about it, who really needs a 120 watt amp? Nobody in a band I know of. It's just there for headroom and clarity.

[belovedmonster]

This was the reply I was hoping to read. My interest in those new Orange Solid State amps is because for me digital tones don't cut it, but valves are too loud, even at 5 watts. I like the idea of recording a real amp at a sensible volume.

[doomedfuzz]

I'm really intrigued by that new Orange Crush Pro 120 head. I can't wait to try them out. I've played some of the lower end Crush amps (30 watt for instance) and it sounded pretty good actually. It did sound like an Orange to me (and I own a 2007 Rockerverb 100).

While I gig with tube amps, my main home amp is a Sunn Beta Lead 2x12 combo. Let's put it this way, it's difficult, but I do it somehow, to play at a volume that isn't just insane. It goes from 0 to 3,000,00 decibels between 0 and 1 on the volume knob. I've played it on 4 against a Matamp GTO 120 played on 10 and my Beta Lead was just as loud - and I have room to go.

As mentioned, Ampeg makes some righteous solid state amps (SS-140 or SS-150 for instance and like what Eyehategod plays and others), so does Sunn (Beta Lead and Concert Lead series), and vintage Acoustic amps such as the famous Acoustic 270 for guitar that Frank Marino used to play. Randall makes some great solid state metal amps and for a more modern tone and especially if you play some more brutal stuff, Peavey makes some really good solid state amps like the Revolution series and for death metal the XXL is hard to beat. Good luck - if you play one of those, let us know.

The Beta Lead under my Orange RV100 and 80s Peavey Butcher. Beta Lead is an amazing amp.