Electric Guitars

[mschafft]

Ok, I know tube amps have a great reputation, but I'm told that some non-tube amps sound really good too. I'm not knowledgeable enough about that. Please name the ones you have particularly liked, and possibly the genre they'be best for. Thanks

[GilmourD]

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mschafft wrote:

Ok, I know tube amps have a great reputation, but I'm told that some non-tube amps sound really good too. I'm not knowledgeable enough about that. Please name the ones you have particularly liked, and possibly the genre they'be best for. Thanks

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I love my brother's Line6 Flextone III XL. It's loud, toneful, and versatile. I believe a BIG, BIG, BIG part of the equation is that the speakers are specifically chosen/designed for digital modeling, so they don't emphasize anything that shouldn't be, like a standard guitar speakers HUGE midrange emphasis.

[Ancient Mariner]

Tech 21 trademark series amps. Set up well they can sound great (set up badly they sound like a Marshall MG15).

Polytone amps. Sold originally to the jazz community, they are much more versatile, though won't do serious overdrive sounds.

Roland JC120 - THE classic clean solid state amp.

[VTEC_Dreams]

Roland's JC's are probably the most well known.

Really, really nice bell-tone clean sounds and one of the best 2 speaker chorus' anywhere. They also take pedals like nobody's business.

Otherwise, to my knowledge solid state amps are mostly used for hard rock and heavy metal.

Ampeg made a lot of great solid state amps in the early 90's.

Randall, as well, and believe it or not, Marshall's solid state series is fairly well regarded in the heavy metal community.

Gallien Krueger made an amp; 250M I think it was called (?) that Iron Maiden and Chuck Schuldiner both used.

I currently own an Ampeg VH-140c. I owned three tube amps before the Ampeg-- a Peavy Ultra Plus with a Marshall 4x12 cab, a Fender Hot Rod 4x10 combo, and an Ashdown 1x12 combo.

I'm in love with the Ampeg. So simple, so nice sounding. I feel like I could drop it down a staircase and it would be fine. The tubers--especially the Ashdown--were very temperamental and inconsistent. I got fed up with the maintenance.

I'm really, really curious to see what Roland's GA series sounds like. I haven't even seen one, let alone heard one, in real life yet. 

I'm sure there are other great solid states out there.

[Special J]

The Roland JC120, and it's variants have been heard on many many albums and live performances. It's an industry standard for clean tones. The name would imply that it's made for jazz (JC stands for Jazz Chorus) but it's been James Hetfield's clean tone on many albums. I used one for clean tones for a while in the 90's in an indie/alternative rock band. Not a fan of the on-board distortion, but you can get some good tones with a pedal out front.

Randall's made some great solid state amps for metal. I forget the model number, but I had to borrow one for an extended period of time once when my amp was in repair. It did some monster high-gain tones.

You can get some good tones out of some of those Fender solid state amps like the Princeton Chorus. Again, you're best off using them for cleans with a pedal out front.

[Special J]

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VTEC_Dreams wrote:

...

I currently own an Ampeg VH-140c. I owned three tube amps before the Ampeg-- a Peavy Ultra Plus with a Marshall 4x12 cab, a Fender Hot Rod 4x10 combo, and an Ashdown 1x12 combo.

I'm in love with the Ampeg. So simple, so nice sounding. I feel like I could drop it down a staircase and it would be fine. The tubers--especially the Ashdown--were very temperamental and inconsistent. I got fed up with the maintenance.

I'm really, really curious to see what Roland's GA series sounds like. I haven't even seen one, let alone heard one, in real life yet. 

I'm sure there are other great solid states out there.

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There's been a VH140 for sale on my local Craigslist for a while. I've been tempted. They seem like really cool amps.

[VTEC_Dreams]

Dude, go for it!

They're cheap, and they sound terrific.

[Grantus]

If you're not looking for a big amp, the Yahama THR series sounds really good for a desktop amp.

[lz4005]

The Yamaha G50-112ii is my favorite SS amp.

It has a great spring reverb, two channels, and a parametric eq. Best sounding warm/clean SS amp I've ever played through.

Edit: oops, the G50-112ii, not the G30.

[JoeBoy]

Peavey Transtube Bandit 1-12. I bought 2 used from GC one was $130 shipped to my door and one was $199 shipped to my door. Check it out.

[Marko]

Those Roland Cubes are pretty sweet. I just have the small discontinued 30, but I really like it, and they have an 80 which should crank out a bit.

[Kevman]

For higher gain I am partial to Randall RG-80/100. For clean im going with JC-120. I lovemy Line6 stuff but cant quite get to my old RG tones with it.

[benzem]

LOVE my Lab Series L5.

Hard to come by these days.

Sounds like a twin but does have master vol. and with the on board compression you can get some nice crunch and tons of sustain.

[kit_strong]

The new Blackstar ID series amps seem quite impressive based off the videos I've seen.

[AlamoJoe]

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Marko wrote:
Those Roland Cubes are pretty sweet. I just have the small discontinued 30, but I really like it, and they have an 80 which should crank out a bit.

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 Yeah buddy. I have a cube 15 and I love little thing! Built in power soak, headdy jack and Boss distortion. Great for late jams when the wife and kiddo are conked out.

[k_strat]

I have the 60 watt head paired with a Peavey Classic 4 x 10 cabinet. I'm very happy with it so far.  The base tone of the 6 preamp voicings is quite good.  Between the EQ, ISF voicing control anf the TVP power tube emulation I can get just about any tone I like.   While it's digitally based it's not being marketed as a modeling amp.  Tthe built in effects are decent in my opinion. However, it should of had an effects loop built in.  Also the dedicated footswitch should have been bundled with it. I really haven't done much with the GIU editing software though.

[honeyiscool]

Roland BC-60.

[vintagevalves]

Marshall 'Lead 12.'  Good enough for Billy Gibbons!

[Lonnie99]

I've got an 83 Fender London Reverb that get lots of compliments. People that play it swear its tube.

[GreatDane]

i really like my Line6 Flextone v1 combo amp that i bought when they first came out.  got it at LaSalle in east hartford from Jimi Bell (he gave me a killer deal at the time).  i gigged that thing for 6 years straight without a single issue.  i brought it back out for a benefit show i helped out on up in Portland ME over a year ago, and it sounded great.  i actually got compliments on my tone from the other bands on the bill.  go figure.