Solid State Amps

[Teacher's Pet]

I've actually though about writing a book. It would be something like "Understanding your gear: explaining musical electronics for the diy/curious musician."

Would buy. Please post Kickstarter link.

[subprime]

I've actually though about writing a book. It would be something like "Understanding your gear: explaining musical electronics for the diy/curious musician."

It sounds like a lot of work. Maybe I can get an advance from Hal Leonard to lube the gears?

Fuck that, PRF publishing. Set up a kick starter, people love kickstarters (panhandlestarter).

[four_oclocker_2]

Here's a question:

The Traynor TS-25 has a line out. Does anyone know if it's possible to daisy chain the amp to another amp via the line out but still get sound out of the Traynor's speaker?

[Big John]

I think it would be great for Ben to write a book. As well I like his outlook on the subject. As I think the Tubes - good / SS - bad is really not the correct outlook.

The SS fender amps from the early 70's are very interesting if you get a chance to try one. I also like the Randal amps from the early mid 80's.

I think that the SS thing is more common in Bass amps, where the SVT is king but will cost you in back surgery from luggin it around. A lot of bass players compromise weight but not watts by going SS. Some of the SWR amps are pretty awsome I have mostly used the ones with the rack tube pre and SS power amp.

Some recient SS amps that seem intersting....

A shout out for the Vox/Korg transtube line is pretty interesting. It does the emulation of different amps with a 12ax7 in the pre but as I understand it the actual SS power amp switchs configurations configuations from A to AB and the like. Somehow they seem to pull off a better solid state sound that sounds like a tube amp than a lot of things.

Boss seems to be doing some kind of crazy stuff the last few years with their SS lines but although I use some of the old roland keyboard cube amps. They put one reciently that had some kind of multi color knob on the front that alows it to change modes. The old Roland Jazz /Chorus amps had a nice clean sound to them unsurprizingly they worked with boxes well.

I have seen the Bose stick think sound great with some folks to which I would not have suspected but one with a sub can get a good sound. I have only seen a blues electrc guy and severial acostic guys use them.

The lunchbox amps seem liek what I will need when I go to shows on a Rascal. Electro Harmonix had a similar amp in the 80s and some people I was using them sounded good.

[subprime]

Are there any solid state amps with pres that sound like an IVP or a traynor? It seems to be a sort of distortion that hasn't been explored by many people. Or maybe im insane.

[154]

The IVPs are still somewhat cheap and attainable, right?

I can't imagine wanting that sound all the time, but it does sound 'interesting'.

[subprime]

I've never seen an IVP for sale that is less than like 6 months old, or in a random craigslist ad.

edit: disregard that, apparently people list them a lot under instrument voicing preamp rather than IVP. one just sold in australia yesterday for 300$. More than I would like to pay anyway.

[japmn]

I used to be a die hard tube amp guy, but recently, Low watt (35-50) solid state bass amps into single 15" cabs has been my jam. Love it.

For guitar?

Yeah.

[Smitty Yeagermanjensen]

I just got this bad boy yesterday at the local Music Go Round. Ampeg SS-150. Production run on these was 1987-1994, if I read my Ampeg literature correctly. 2 channels, both with reverb. 150 solid-state, made-in-the-USA watts, with a single 12" Celestion Sidewinder. Awesome brutal distortion on Channel A. Very loud. Did I mention loud? If it's not loud enough for ya, it'll run an additional 4x12 or what have you. It's my first "real" guitar amp. It was seriously pwned by a cat at some point in it's life, which just makes it look more punk-rock. Everything works perfectly, no scratchy pots or any issues at all. 125 US dollars. So happy. I'd even be happier if someone could tell me of an awesome band/guitarist who used one of these, you know, for validation and all that.

[caset]

Does anyone have any testimonials to give on the old Baldwin solid state amps, AKA the Willie Nelson amps?

[numberthirty]

Does anyone have any testimonials to give on the old Baldwin solid state amps, AKA the Willie Nelson amps?

When I was a kid, my guitar teacher and I would play through Baldwin C1. It's a pretty great amp.

Con: It seems like they were north of fifty pounds.

[benadrian]

Two things.

1. Back in the mid and late 90s, Trace Elliot made some solid state guitar amps. Two models included the Tramp and the Super Tramp. They were priced in the same range as the Hot Rod Deluxe and Deville, so no one seemed to buy the trace amps. Back then, before I knew what I know now, I found the amps very plesant sounding. They were surprisingly good.

I just looked at a schematic today, for the first time ever. It is made with discreet JFETS, similar to the amps of the 70's and early 80s, and the schematic topology closely follows classic fender/marshall designs.

2. and this more directly refers to Yale of HiFi. I was thinking about this over the weekend. The HiFi are a LOUD band. Part of the job of Yale's amp is keeping up with the volume of the rest of the band. In Replicator, whenever Conan would use an amp with two speakers instead of four, he never had quite enough volume. It didn't matter how much power the amp had, in order to compete with the brutal, loud drummer, Conan needed the sonic distribution of at least four speakers. In V&A, with a different drummer (the very awesome but not as loud Mouse), his 2-10, 50ish watt combo keeps up just fine.

It's now my theory that you need more speakers. I only remember you with 2-12 combos. I'm guessing that no matter how much you crank these amps, everything is getting distorted or electrically stressed before you're loud enough to compete with the rest of the band. Yale, you might need a half stack, or a 2-12 combo with an extra 2-12 cab. Or you need to turn down Dr. Awkward, and I don't think that will happen.

Keep us in the loop.

[TheMilford]

Sound advice Ben.

It's amazing what another cab can do for volume... just be careful to observe impedances.

[scott evans]

I bought this. How could you not?



I tried the head through my Marshall cab for an hour or two (since I'm familiar with the Marshall). It sounds cool but not as articulate or punchy as my tube amps, and maybe a little "boxier" for a better term. It does stuff you expect from a solid state amp -- the tone knobs are pretty dramatic, esp the bass knob. And it has a parametric mid EQ with adjustable Q, which is actually pretty neat. Its built-in distortion isn't bad, I think.

It's also loud as balls.

I haven't tried the cab yet. It looks well-built, nice handles and casters, etc. It's labeled 8 ohms and 240 watts.The internet implies that the speakers are Yamaha-branded V30's but I haven't opened it up yet to see.

[154]

Back in the mid and late 90s, Trace Elliot made some solid state guitar amps. Two models included the Tramp and the Super Tramp. They were priced in the same range as the Hot Rod Deluxe and Deville, so no one seemed to buy the trace amps. Back then, before I knew what I know now, I found the amps very plesant sounding. They were surprisingly good.

I just looked at a schematic today, for the first time ever. It is made with discreet JFETS, similar to the amps of the 70's and early 80s, and the schematic topology closely follows classic fender/marshall designs.

A few of my friends played these at the time because it was what the local store carried (aside from crappy Fender stuff). I remember the bass amps sounding very good. The guitar amps less so, but maybe that was because people were scooping the mids and using a lot of the built-in gain. Even with my old Valvestate, I got it to sound ok if I didn't do that stuff.

I'd try out a cheap Trace Elliot head if I saw one. And unlike a lot of SS stuff, they don't look like complete pawn shop crap. One of the bass amps had a built-in black light!

[subprime]

were there ever solid state amps that had a sort of power amp distortion that didn't suck, or is that just the nature of solid state power amps.

[benadrian]

I'd try out a cheap Trace Elliot head if I saw one. And unlike a lot of SS stuff, they don't look like complete pawn shop crap. One of the bass amps had a built-in black light!

I got the idea that Trace was trying to change their image in the mid 90s. They were seen as a hi-fi, wanky bass amp company. So they release a line of guitar amps with new styling, and they were named after motorcycles. There was the Tramp and Super Tramp that I discussed; solid state amps. There was the Velocette low wattage tube amp, which sounds amazing. They also had one called the Speed Twin (I had to look it up) which was the 50/100 watt, all tube model.

They were still U.K. made at the time, I think, and they were prices way beyond other amps with comparable feature sets. Americans buy with their brains more than their ears. "Look, this has all the features of that other amp, and it's half price!" Did you listen? Do you need those features?

[154]

One of my friends had the half-stack version of this:


Predictably, it sounds ok (forgiving the Dire Straits-y wanking) until he cranks up the gain. It'd be interesting to hear it in the hands of an 'aluminum beardo' guitarist with a nice color pedal like the RB: it may be capable of great sounds.

[benadrian]

were there ever solid state amps that had a sort of power amp distortion that didn't suck, or is that just the nature of solid state power amps.

I hesitate to use words like good and bad when talking about tone. Remember, Mr. Albini plays a solid state preamp into a SS power amp into a full range PA cabinet, and most people here love it, while pretty much every traditional player would find that tone absolutely horrible.

But I kind of addressed it here.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=59169&p=1479841#p1479841

Solid state power amps just don't distort like tube power amps. Most everyone believes the sound of a clipping solid state power amps is a bad sound. If you want the sound of a clipping tube power amp with a solid state device, then it has to be added like an effect that is then cleanly reproduced in the un-distorted range of a solid state power amp.

For instance the ADA Microtube 200 uses preamp tubes to clip a bit before a solid state power amp, to add a kind of mock saturation and limiting. Vox had that thing with a preamp tube (12AU7?) running as a push pull power amp into a tiny transformer. The hope was to get the coloration of the tube/transformer interaction. Then the whole thing can be amplified with as much or as little power is needed.

Tube amps are fairly simple devices, and they sound a way that we have grown to like. It sounds like rock and roll and all of our favorite music. Solid state amps are simple devices, but in their simplest form they sound very different from tube amp. So people complicate the solid state circuits to make them sound like the natural sound of the simple tube amp circuits. There is no complicated solid state power amp that mimics a tube power amp. There are complicated solid state preamp circuits that mimic a tube power amp, and then that can get amplified.

Anyway, I feel like I talked in a big circle there. I hope it's clarifies something

[subprime]

mostly. When a power amp distorts it risks damage to the circuit or the speaker right? Thats the main thing I'm not sure about whether or not its an old wives tale on talkbass.