Solid State amps and pedals

[Guardians of the analog]

I think a lot of the wariness some have towards SS amps is due to the fact that they don’t known how to use a SS amp. You have to approach the amp as having far less an impact on the tone. The amp is designed to amplify what you put into it (at least with a good SS amp). With tube amps, the amp is providing much more of the tone. When you are used to the amp shaping your tone, and then you plug into a SS amp, it’s going to sound wrong…

It's also the compression. A SS amp will respond very differently to playing and dynamics. That combined with the tone creates a very immersive experience. With a tube amp your playing the amp, with a SS amp your playing the pedals more.

 

[Passinwind]

My Bass head is a tube amp also. I prefer tubes as well. But if you think about it. Back when the tube screamer was created, there weren't as many tube amps as there are now. We had to use solid state because they were more affordable.

To be clear, I greatly prefer certain solid state bass amps to any tube bass amp I’ve ever tried. I started on an old Ampeg B-15 and it just never worked at all for what I needed. But luckily it blew up pretty quickly, and I moved on to some pretty janky SS amps before I eventually found the early G-K stuff, which was a huge step up. I’m old enough that inexpensive SS guitar amps just weren’t a viable option, and my crew started on Traynors, Sunns, and especially Twin Reverbs, which are still my favorites for clean guitar. But my tastes evolve over time and I’m just looking for some new adventure, and ready to try just about anything with an open mind. Not being much of a rocker at all tends to complicate things a lot though!

 

[Locrian99]

I’ve been playing quite a bit with one of the ehx howitzer pedal amps into a 12” cab or even headphones (made a little box for it). I love it. I’ve got a couple of those victory preamp pedals and sometimes I just rub my board straight I to the return on the loop or others times I’ll just go through the I out like normal either way works great. Lets me play at a decent volume after the kiddos go to bed.

 

[Feral Feline]

PW said "Traynor".... MMMMmmmm.

Monoblock B
Monoblock II
TS-50B
TS-200

MMmmm Bass.







One of my guitar-fiends, uh friends, prefers SS amps full stop.

 

[Passinwind]

PW said "Traynor".... MMMMmmmm.

Monoblock B
Monoblock II
TS-50B
TS-200

MMmmm Bass.

Don't forget the mighty SB200H:




That's a crazy nice grab and go rig for my semi acoustic jams, at 26 lbs all-in even with Baltic Birch construction. The tiltback wedge attaches to the top back edge and creates a cable storage space for transport. Not my build, but done by two local bass player friends. The former owner had 200 and 500 watt GK MB amps in there, I actually like the Traynor a lot more though.

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

I've always been a solid state bass amp dude but that's mostly because I never could afford a tube amp I felt would be worth the trouble. I always lusted for the Benson Gnostic though. Only ever got to play one quietly at one of my favorite guitar shops, Old Town Music in pdx. Sounded really nice, I bet it was magical cranked up.

 

[perfboarder]

Almost all poorman builder here(of course, me included) use peavey bandit. Its all rounder. Yet, i know some prog and blues boys use modified Peavey KB80 (or clone) as test rig and main amp, they sound awesome. The fvckin part, they build it with cordwood and manhattan style. Crazy!

 

[jimilee]

Almost all poorman builder here(of course, me included) use peavey bandit. Its all rounder. Yet, i know some prog and blues boys use modified Peavey KB80 (or clone) as test rig and main amp, they sound awesome. The fvckin part, they build it with cordwood and manhattan style. Crazy!

I’d love to find an older bandit at the same time I have the money to buy it. Those have always had a special place in my heart. Besides, who doesn’t need 10 amps laying around?

 

[p_wats]

I've built 2 tube amps (Fender 5F2-A and Tweed Deluxe) and have an awesome old Garnet, but these days I'm almost always playing through my tiny ZT Lunch Box amp. Sounds great to my ears and so convenient (super small, but loud, and a direct out for the PA).

Works very well with my pedal board too. Never cared much about emulating certain specific tones though and mostly play rhythm with a few leads here and there.

 

[Feral Feline]

I'd love to have a clone of the Traynor Monoblock preamp, fed into
a Garnet PRO SLAVE, preferably the LB600S, 225w with six 6CA7 tubes.

I can do the preamp on vero, but I don't have a schematic for the LB600S.


@perfboarder Got any gut-pics of that Peavey Manhattan-style? I couldn't find any online.

 

[perfboarder]

I’d love to find an older bandit at the same time I have the money to buy it. Those have always had a special place in my heart. Besides, who doesn’t need 10 amps laying around?

I cant hear night day difference between old and newer bandit. Hahaha.

I'd love to have a clone of the Traynor Monoblock preamp, fed into
a Garnet PRO SLAVE, preferably the LB600S, 225w with six 6CA7 tubes.

I can do the preamp on vero, but I don't have a schematic for the LB600S.


@perfboarder Got any gut-pics of that Peavey Manhattan-style? I couldn't find any online.

I can ask the owner tomorrow after sunday morning cycles. We usually cycling together. Dont hold your breath.

 

[franblanc]

I have a Solid State vintage Japanese 10 watt amp from the 1980's. The PCB is about the same size as the pedal pcb designs advertised here. I replaced all the caps with Nichicon Gold audio caps and replaced the speaker with a Jenson JCH615-4. I fixed the tremolo loop with three new tantalum caps and bought new pot switches and transistors. There are three controls, tremolo, tone and volume. It sounds great, lots of chime and bell ring tones. I am posting the circuit schematic here. The manufacturer seems to be Chukyo Denshi but I believe the original design might be Panasonic. I replaced some of the cabinet with plywood and drilled holes in the back for extra bass tone. It weighs less than five kilos which is a blessing compared to my old Marshall 2150 which was 30 kilograms. One cautionary note, the power transformer is set for EU 230 volts.

 

[Dysvalence]

Kinda wish we saw more development into discrete transistor power amps before everything went class D. My favorite amp of all time is probably my 1st gen fixed cable GK 400RB. One of these days I need to make a ~300W load box for it, the power amp overdrives like nothing else out there. Haven't tried an AD200B yet but I'm pretty sure I prefer SS on bass.