Looking to replace my old amp that's broken down on me. Price isn't an issue as most SS's are in my price range.

If price isn't an issue, Randall should be investigated.

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Dime played Randall SS. He had a killer sound!

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crate shockwave. pretty fucking sweet amp

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Crate GT3500 seems to be reccomended by some. I don't know if it's good or not, but the half stack sells for 700$ new.

One extremely good solid state is the Tech 21 Trademark 300. It's a 300W amp head. Not sure if you need all that power, so also check out the Trademark 60(60W combo), the Trademark 30(one I have), or the Trademark 10.

Roland Cube 60 is probably good, but I think Tech 21 has better sound quality.

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Ampeg vh-140 is popular.

You have any sound clips?

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lot's of headroom is always good when playing solid state

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yeah man.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pag...m?bandID=485323
i recorded all this song on my crate shockwave.

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sound nice.. which cab you're using?

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the matching one. not an amazing cab, but it works well.

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The drums and vocals are too loud, I can't hear it well. But it sounds sterile-ish, that's pretty cool.

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Line 6 - HD147

I heard beneath the massacre use them live, sounded good.

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it's pretty cool if you can find one used. i'd rather have a vetta II or a pod xt setup.

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Get a Triple XXX or a 5150. I hate solid states.

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I've tried the HD147. Its got lots of sounds on it. But i only use a few of them. Its definitley a good SS amp, but not worth it for the money. Randalls on the other hand are pretty cheap $300-$500 and sound really good IMO. Go for the higher wattage ones(200 or more) so there is more headroom for the clean channel and distortion. I know cuz I got a RH200SC. Just try a whole bunch of SS amps to see what you like better.

I like SS amps myself. Randall being my favorite.

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MARSHAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

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Marshalls suck teh big one. Especially the Marshal solid states.

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The Vetta II is one immense amp'.
Meshuggah have been using them since the Nothing album and they have such a unique, heavy sound.

Marshall's SS's do suck. They drive so easily, and high-gain distortions sound so gnarly and minging through them. Too trad'.


What about Laney SS?

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not espeicially, only the s.s. and hybrid ones(the mode four being "ok" imo)... i cant think of a tube marshall that sucks.

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I can, the JCM 1200 or something like that. I played it, not enough gain.

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well mine doesn't. but then again, mine is over 20 years old..

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JCM2000's?They have awesome gain,when cranked.They sound like shit on low volumes.

Some crates are actually pretty fucking good. I'm considering snagging one of the >$200 heads for backup/random jamming.

Also, DeathCS, the guitars in your song sound awesome but uh...your vocals arent too great.

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Nile played JCM2000's live, no booster pedal at all. How much more gain can you possibly want?

"Not enough gain" is a lame excuse to diss Marshall amps. They weren't built for brutal death metal. A tube modification or the use of hotter pickups or booster pedals can fix that. But some models can acheive a lotta gain(JCM900 ie) without the need of any pedals.

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if you're talking about jcm 2000's, you must be talking out of your ass, or the one you played must have been broke, or you were playing on the clean channel. you can get brutal death metal levels of gain out of those things.

maybe if you were playing a jcm 800 or 600. i could see the not enough gain comment. but even still they certainly don't suck, they're still amazing amps, just not for metal or high gain applications.(unless you have a boost pedal)

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yeah the 2000 is amazing. i can definitely see how Nile gets their tone out of that.

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I even think they sound good on low volumes

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Meh,the combo's sound alright,not high gain,though.Clean sounds fine low.But they do sound like crap at low volumes compared to what they do dimed.

HOLY SHIT!
Seriously?

They got that brutal hiss as well...

I put a mid-scooped, bass-high, treble-maxed Digitech Death Metal through an RP50's Envelope Filter to get that and now I learn it's an amp's bog-standard distortion?!

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I have a jcm 2000 head sitting around in the garage. But i'm still waiting for my cab to arrive. But it sounded brutal at band practice.

A short question : What is the best way to connect 2 amps with one cab ?

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with a speaker cable?

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haha no sorry I had a typo

I meant i have the marshall head and the engl head. but only one cab. What's the best way to connect them to that single cab ? should I just use an ab/y pedal ?

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if your cab is stereo just connect one amp to one side and one amp to the other. theres proble another way but its 6:19 in the morning and i dont wanna think

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if it is a stereo cab, plug one head into the left side, the other head into the right side.

then you'll want an a/b/y box or similar splitter to be able to run your guitar into both at the same time.

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oh i know. its kinda lame, i have done better vocals but i just dont put much time into that aspect. i showed it to demonstrate the guitars, as i am guitarist much more than a vocalist. i do like to do some vocals sometimes and if i put some effort into them, i can make them sound acceptable.

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Easy on the hybrid Marshalls. I've got a valvestate 8100 that gives sweet sound after sweet sound.

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I've had that amp for not so long time ago.. It sucks, I don't care of the haunted, meshuggah, chuck chuldiner, in flames, etc has used it.. it still sucks

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im not saying they all suck, im just saying the only marshalls i know that suck are in the s.s./hybrid category... the mode four is alright, way overpriced. and the jmp-1 preamp is hands down one of the best preamps ever made. not too familiar with the 8100, some seem to like it only because chuck played them.

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Heh,you have the same sig I used to have.

Guess it depends what kind of sound you want. The 8100 isn't gonna give a superbrutal tone or an overdriven powertube sound, but it still kicks ass for a thick tight sweet tone. I tried it a year ago and thought it sucked but then just hooked it up again and now I love it.

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isnt the 8100 the one with the solid state pre and tube power?
if so you should be able to get plenty of "tube crunch"

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nope, a tube in the preamp.. still not %100 tube preamp. just the gimmick. and all s.s. poweramp.

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It's not just the tone that I don't like.. it's the way it feels playing thru it.. no muscle at all!

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The 8100 on its own is quite a thin sounding amp, it doesnt really have much bass, thats why chuck had a X2N fitted in his mahagony bodied bc rich to get more muscle. If i m not mistaken , i swear chuck always said that the key to his tone was the X2N.

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Just make sure the cab is rated for the huge load from both heads. It's usually 16 ohms mono, 8/4 ohms stereo, but thats one head into two cabs stereo. I'm not sure what the impedence should be if your running two heads into one cab. Why would you want to do that anyway? If your using something like a powerblock to add to the sound, I could see that, but don't try to run two guitars into one cab. I've seen so many nice amps get fried because the person didn't take 2 minutes to read the owners manual.

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It still feels horrible to play.. just sooo booring! no matter how hot pickups you got (hell I even have EMG's) it's still the same booring amp

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Maybe you really prefer the sound and feel of the tube power amp since you so much prefer the JCM2000 to the 8100. I think I know what you're talking about. The reason I went back to my 5150 after trying the 8100 the first time is that the 5150 combo definitely has a more "muscley" feel to it than the 8100, it just feels more like its consuming the room and getting into your bones. But since the 5150 preamp gain feels thin to me and is not to my liking I've gone back to the 8100. Maybe the difference is just that the 5150 and the JCM2000 have more low end, but maybe its the fact that they're tube amps, I'm not experienced enough to say for sure.

About the 8100 sounding boring... try it with some toneful hot passive pickups and see if you like it. It's not just the hotness of the X2N that sounds great, its full of deep fat tasty sound that IMO has a lot more personality than EMGs.

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I play an SS poweramp at the moment, and when I still had the 8100, playing a good preamp thru the effectloop, ie the poweramp section of the amp, it sounded alot better.. I asume that amp is just not for me at all.. or maybe it just sounded that bad because I suck at guitar

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So be it! I guarantee most of us here at gear talk could stand to practice a little more

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It's just that I have these 2 amps I like but only one cab. It would be cool if I could switch between them without un plugging cables etc. But I'm saving up for another vader cab at the moment. they sound really good

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They do make a pedal that allows two heads to share one cab and switch between them. Enjoy!

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the 8100 really isn't an amazing amp. if you get it on ebay for $190 then yeah its a good deal, and a good amp for the price, but i wouldnt pay much more for it.

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I was originally partial to tube heads, my favorite being a 5150. I didn't know shit about solid state amps until I needed something to push my first 4x12 cabinet, a Marshall JCM 900. I wound up buying a QSC USA400 SS stereo amp because it was the best wattage for the price. I've run a lot of different shit through it over the years, and it's always satisfied. Hell, for a while I was even pushing it with just an original Zoom 505 and my 31-band with not a tube in the chain, and it easily made a Marshall full-stack thump with the loudest of drummers. it's better with at least a pair of 12AX7s in front of it, though. but overall, it's pretty responsive to high-gain signals, and it keeps my JCM sounding full and bottomy even with a clean reverb.

just my $0.02

Oh,no wonder it sounded awesome,you had a Zoom 505!

Valvestate 100 head with a jcm900 cab has a nice very clean souding metal distortion. Use overdrive #2 and crank the contour knob to 10. very nice sound. also switch the power dimension button on for an even deadlier sound.

that the best ive heard from a solid state, thats for sure

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I dont know if youre looking for a head or combo, but i love my peavey bandit 112, it sounds great imo. if your looking at heads, the crate shock wave seems good to me, i dont own one, but played one many a time.

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If I remember correctly, putting the countour all the way up made it sound like a chainsaw

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Ha ha. That's hilarious.