Solid State amps.

[Fryderyczek]

Hi all

I'm Fry and it's great to be here.


Now, after saying that, I'm wondering about SS amps.
I'm looking for a list of solid state amps that would do 90's metal well. Think Pantera, Exhorder, maybe Fear Factory and some Death.
I know Dimebag used Randall Century's and RG's and Chuck used Valvestates but what other amps are there?
Location:Central Europe, Poland. If I can't find gear on Polish sites I usually go on German Ebay(I live 15 km from the border)
Budget:No budget for now I'm just thinking stuff through
Gear I have now:
Randall RG1503H
Laney IRT 2x12 I think I'll swap the speakers for V30's, or get a new cab all together
Sterling by MusicMan AX3 TBL I'll get a Dean ml 79/Showdown ML in the future.

Thanks.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

2) On the top of my mind...
Randall T2/V2
Randall Vmax
Rantall Titan
Randall RH100, 200, 250
Randall RH150G3+ and RH300G3+
Randall RG1503 (You already got that. It's perfect for what you want IMO)
Randall Warhead and X2
Ampeg SS140C
Ampeg SS150
Ampeg VH140C
Ampeg VH150
Crate GX130C
Crate Excallibur series
Crate Shockwave and Tidalwave
Crate VTX series
Marshall Mosfet + OD pedal
Marshall 8200
Marshall VS100
ISP Theta... anything
Peavey Supreme 160 and XL
Peavey XXL
Line 6 HD147
Line 6 Vetta and Vetta 2
EDIT: Ibanez TBX150H. Can't believe I forgot that.
Hughes and Kettner SS stuff (Attax, Warp 7, etc)

That's a list of good SS amps that comes to mind. There's more, but I can't remember the rest.

For getting '90s Fear Factory, you're out of luck. That .... is hot-rodded Marshall JCM800. Exhorder will be a lot easier... I'm pretty sure any high-gain amp with a MAJOR scoop in the mids will do the same with. You can also probably get Pantera tone with your Randall by boosting the front end with an EQ pedal and cranking the mids (or using a Tubescreamer) to tighten things up, then using another EQ in the loop to scoop those mids back out.

 

[Fryderyczek]

Do you know of any amp that is similar to the Century gain wise? The tone on FBD is just mind mindbogglingly good.

Thanks for these amps. I could have bought the GX 2x12 combo, but shipping from America was more expensive than the amp it self.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

The only amps I can think of are the Randall RG170, RG200, the actual Centuries, and your RG1503 with a bit of tweaking. The Warhead and X2s can probably get there.

There was a Randall combo that supposedly has the same circuit as the Century as well, but I don't remember the name. The RG-DX or something like that.

EDIT: The RG-180DX. And there's the Randall Century 3000 and RGP1000.

 

[Spinedriver]

Shy of getting a modeler & power amp, I think JazzHands covered pretty much everything that would be worth getting. I'm sure there are other solid state amp makers but they are mostly just 10 watt combo amps.

Ibanez has the Tone Blaster (TBH150) head but I don't know how good or bad it was. All I know is that they sell for dirt cheap prices.

I agree though, if you already have the Randall 1503, you're probably not going to get much better than that aside from maybe a Line 6 Vetta II or HD147.

 

[Fryderyczek]

OK, thanks both of you.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Ibanez has the Tone Blaster (TBH150) head but I don't know how good or bad it was. All I know is that they sell for dirt cheap prices.

The TBX150H is very solid. Very bright and fizzy in the high end, but paired with a dark sounding cab, you have a damn good amp for the price. I've seen them sell for as low as $100.

Make sure it's the TBX150H, not the TB100. The TBX sounds overall better and has a switch that makes the amp tighter than all hell. Gives it a bit of a cocked wah sound, but will make it easy for you to cut in the mix. It won't do Pantera (or might if you're good with dialing in amps), but it's a REALLY nice amp, and could make a solid live backup amp.

Like I said, you need a dark sounding cab, though. Like a Mesa Recto cab. If you use a Marshall 1960, your ears will bleed.

EDIT: This is making me want my TBX again.

 

[Fryderyczek]

The TBX150H is very solid. Very bright and fizzy in the high end, but paired with a dark sounding cab, you have a damn good amp for the price. I've seen them sell for as low as $100.

Make sure it's the TBX150H, not the TB100. The TBX sounds overall better and has a switch that makes the amp tighter than all hell. Gives it a bit of a cocked wah sound, but will make it easy for you to cut in the mix. It won't do Pantera (or might if you're good with dialing in amps), but it's a REALLY nice amp, and could make a solid live backup amp.

Like I said, you need a dark sounding cab, though. Like a Mesa Recto cab. If you use a Marshall 1960, your ears will bleed.

EDIT: This is making me want my TBX again.

What are some darker sounding cabs, may I ask?
I'm guessing V30's and a lot of wood in the cab?
EDIT:Should I ask the dude on UG if he still has that Crate and buy it? He wants 100 bucks for it. The shipping is 200.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

The Mesa Recto cabs can be dark, as well as Krank cabs. Mesa cabs have specialty-made V30s that have a darker tone compared to regular V30s, and I don't remember which speakers the Kranks have, but they're pretty big sounding. Can't remember .... at the moment.

I'm not totally sure on the GX, also. Are you sure it's a GX130C combo? Because I've seen some other GX heads that aren't too good.

 

[Fryderyczek]

The Mesa Recto cabs can be dark, as well as Krank cabs. Mesa cabs have specialty-made V30s that have a darker tone compared to regular V30s, and I don't remember which speakers the Kranks have, but they're pretty big sounding. Can't remember .... at the moment.

I'm not totally sure on the GX, also. Are you sure it's a GX130C combo? Because I've seen some other GX heads that aren't too good.

Yep, Crate GX-130C 2x12 combo. Do you think I should buy it, or pass?
100 USD is a bit of a steal. Do you think there'll be a huge difference with the Randall?

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

It'll be different, IMO.

The Randall sounds like Pantera. The Crate sounds like old-school death metal.

 

[Fryderyczek]

Well, you see that's kinda a toss up.
Whilst I ain't the biggest DM fan around, when I'm in the mood I jam out sometimes.
Honestly, I need to get myself a new guitar as well. So I can buy the Crate and some lower end guitar, or get that Dean and later the Crate. But then the Crate might be gone.

I sent the dude on UG a question if he still has the GX.

 

[Ulvhedin]

What about the AMT Stonhead etc? I've heard they're good for it.

 

[Fryderyczek]

What about the AMT Stonhead etc? I've heard they're good for it.

I've heard about those on here. I don't know too much about them I'm afraid.

 

[Mprinsje]

The new orange crush series, especially the larger ones, is pretty good.

 

[CTID]

Shy of getting a modeler & power amp, I think JazzHands covered pretty much everything that would be worth getting. I'm sure there are other solid state amp makers but they are mostly just 10 watt combo amps.

Ibanez has the Tone Blaster (TBH150) head but I don't know how good or bad it was. All I know is that they sell for dirt cheap prices.

I agree though, if you already have the Randall 1503, you're probably not going to get much better than that aside from maybe a Line 6 Vetta II or HD147.

The TBX150H is very solid. Very bright and fizzy in the high end, but paired with a dark sounding cab, you have a damn good amp for the price. I've seen them sell for as low as $100.

Make sure it's the TBX150H, not the TB100. The TBX sounds overall better and has a switch that makes the amp tighter than all hell. Gives it a bit of a cocked wah sound, but will make it easy for you to cut in the mix. It won't do Pantera (or might if you're good with dialing in amps), but it's a REALLY nice amp, and could make a solid live backup amp.

Like I said, you need a dark sounding cab, though. Like a Mesa Recto cab. If you use a Marshall 1960, your ears will bleed.

EDIT: This is making me want my TBX again.

I feel you. Before I got my Valveking I had a TBX150H and it was a ....ing incredible amp. Had one of the better clean channels I've heard on a solid state amp and the lead channel killed it for the music I was playing at the time. Scored that amp for $100 + $20 shipping from Guitar Center's used section, and a friend with the 2x12 combo gave me the footswitch for free. Oddly enough it had a much better built footswitch than a Peavey 6505, an amp literally 5 times its new price.

 

[coldandhomeless]

New randall rg3003 has 3 channels, noise gate, and i think built in effects. Fer sher the ibanez tbx100h is a great solidstatr, nails 90s death tones easy as hell

 

[sevenstringj]

If you don't mind going rack, there's Rocktron's new Widowmaker and Tech 21's Sansamp PSA 1.1. The Sansamp is obviously more versatile, but costs 2x as much. (I have one, and I recommend having Mike Putnam mod it with a cab sim bypass switch or blend knob.) Then you'd just get a solid state power amp, power strip, and shallow rack.

There are also plenty of 90s tube preamps on ebay. You could always pair one with a solid state power amp.

 

[Fryderyczek]

Wouldn't happened to have been Cathbard would it?

How did you know?

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

(I have one, and I recommend having Mike Putnam mod it with a cab sim bypass switch or blend knob.)

Wait, you CAN'T bypass the cab sims on a PSA stock?