I was thinking about Solid State amps as an alternative to the typical tube tones and the modelers that emulate them. I know Johnny Greenwood used a Fender 85, and there were a bunch of other great SS Fenders. There's also Sunns etc.

What's out there that's great? I'm looking for affordable, lightweight(a lot of the best SS amps can be annoyingly heavy for not having tubey bits), good low end response, some kind of on board distortion(i.e. not Jazz Chorus), and preferably reverb and a direct/speaker out.

Considering the Tech 21 stuff though it seems a little pricey for what it does, it's older Tech now too with the Character pedals out.

haha yah the Jazz Chorus is a big one. You should try the Vox Valtronix, those have pretty good modeling effects with pretty great distortion. I think they have direct output too but I'm not sure....

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Kid: "Hey Smokey! Where did you get your name?"
Smokey the Bear: "Well..."
(former user jimbo612)

I have an old Fender sidekick reverb 35...I love it and I have had it for like 20 plus years.It has a 12 inch speaker and this little thing pumps

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1986 Fender Sidekick Reverb 35
1990 Fender Red Knob - "The Twin"
1992 Fender Newporter - Acoustic
2000 Fender American Series Strat - Natural ash
2010 Fender Mustang 1
2011 Fender Blacktop Jazzmaster -Sunburst
2012 Fender Champion

if you look for used, tech 21 is a great find. they also have a power engine. it has a power amp only, so you can plug youe effects in directly- keeps your tone great.

i have a fender stage 100. loud amp-great sound

Isn't volume gain AND master kind of overkill for a non master volume amp, unless it's an amp modeler?

Best sounding solid state practice amp is the Vox Pathfinder 15R. Classic sound and good reverb as well.

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2008 MIA Telecaster Crimson Red
2009 Highway 1 Telecaster Sunburst Maple
2010 Martin D-1
Vox Pathfinder 15R
Vox Night Train 15W
WhiteBox Cab w/12in Eminence Man O' War

It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive...

Fender Frontman

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Try to find an early 90's Fender Princeton Chorus. Almost everyone agreed it was pretty decent for solid state.

In the later 90's look for an amp called the Fender Rok-Pro 1000. It came as a head or a 112 combo. If you get the combo be sure to swap out the stock speaker as it was total crap.

In the early 2000's there lived a line of amps called the Fender DynaTouch Series. Try to find the 90 watt version. The 90 didn't have as many bells and whistles as the 100 but it sounded just a little better.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I'd give a vote for the Vox Pathfinder 15R too.For a S/S amp it sounds very very tube like and also has a dandy boost function.The reverb unit sounds great and the tremolo is just fabulous,you can get tremolo effects that go from the from some Beatles low intensity to Crimson and Clover medium intensity all the way up to the intense How Soon Is Now by the Smiths. Added benefits are the headphone and extension speaker jacks.
The Pathfinder 15R was only about $130 new and are not made any more but you can pick up used ones on ebay etc for about $70-$90 and they're well worth it.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

For a good Fender SS amp you can't go wrong with the any of the "Fast Four" amps that came out in the early 90's with the Red knobs and Grey Grill cloth, good tone and very reliable.

These amps later were reclothed in a more traditional Fender color scheme with black knobs and silver grill cloth, but were basically the same amps...either are great choices for solid state amps.

The Sidekicks were not bad the clean tone was pretty good, but the distortion channel was only mediocre IMHO...but with a good pedal (which they took pretty well). I had a Sidekick 65 Reverb and the reverb was not to shabby either IMHO.

FWIW

T2

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What time is it? It's Fender Time.

My favorite SS amps have both been Peaveys. I had a Renown 400; 400w 2x12 combo and that amp was awesome. My first amp which I still have is a Peavey Bandit 65. It has an awesome clean channel. Most of the recordings on my YouTube channel were through that amp.

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If you like a real clean sound from an amp an Acoustic S/S amp from the mid to late 70s would do the trick.When amp shopping back in the mid 70s I almost bought a 200W Acoustic combo but didn't get it because no matter how loud I turned the brute up there wasn't a hint of overdrive or distortion.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

1970s Gibson G20 or G10.

Bloody great Vibrato/Tremolo/Whatever circuit.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

The two that I use the most are my Roland JC-50, and an Ampeg SS-70. If you haven't heard an Ampeg SS-70, they really are cool. You can get a Fender-ish sound, and with more adjustments get the JC sound. Probably the coolest SS amp I've run across. Has real RCA parts inside too. It's built very solid.



If you ever run across one, snag it.

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HaleAmano- House Of Sharks (Now On iTunes)
http://www.reverbnation.com/haleamano
http://www.haleamano.com

Shame it isn't bigger/louder.