Yo. What's up?

lol

Just kidding. Seriously, I was just wondering how many of you own a solid state amp? So many people say "If it ain't got tubes, don't waste my time". lol But I still have a solid state amp and I'm pretty fond of it... I'm sure if you'd put a Mesa Boogie Erectifier (joke) next to it would pale in comparison in a lot of ways...but using my Park solid state combo in combination with my Boss multi effects unit...I get some pretty good sounds.

When I record it, it sounds terrible though. Kind of like a chain saw compared to nice, warm tube sounds. But I use a so called "Clip distortion" in the software I use to change that.

Anyway, any thoughts? Any people out there who have solid state amps and are lovin' 'em?

I use all Marshall's.

TUBES - 2 DSL100 heads, a JCM900 head and a JTM60 head -all with tubes.

SOLID STATE - AVT150 head, AVT50 head, MG15DFX, MG30 -all solid state.

I love 'em all. SS for practice/studio and tubes for gigging out.

Ah, interesting how you use the SS for practice/studio. Here's a pic of mine:



It's a discontinued 25W amp made by Park which is/was a subdivision of Marshall. Kind of like what Squier is for Fender, I guess. But its clean channel is nice and warm yet sparkly sounding which I like. Anyway, I've had it since the 1990s and the only thing that has kind of deteriorated over the years is the pots.

Incidentally, what do you think of that mic placement? lol

I still use my Roland Cube 30 on a daily basis. Great amp.

I must say that is a beautiful array of amps

I recently bought a Peavey Vypyr 30 for practicing at home and I love it! I have a Carvin Legacy for playing live with my band but for a little solidstate amp that cost under $250 I think the Vypyr rocks! Way better than the Line 6 stuff. Tubes are great but I'm not gonna practice at home on a 100 watt legacy. I've also heard good things about the Tech 21 sold state trademark amps.

I've got an older Peavey Bandit. Not a bad amp. It's not as nice as the AC30 I'm using, but it can hold its own.

My only solid-state amp is my Marshall MG15 Micro Stack. Dimed out that thing has some rockin' overdrive and good tone. Two 10" speakers, each in their own cab.

However, when practicing I usually use one of my modded or low-wattage amps:

Marshall 1974X
Marshall Class 5
Epiphone Valve Junior with Tone and Gain mods
Crate V5

The Boogie Mark V combo does ok in 10W mode.

There's also the solid state preamp, but you don't give out the formula to the secret sauce, now do ya?

Cheers,

Race

I own two transistor amps (a mini Marshall and a crappy Korean piece of junk that I never got rid off)
but I almost always use my GSP2101 (twin tube) into a Marshall JCM900 (bypassing its pre, into 4xEL34).

I must admit that I very rarely use one of the solid state pre amp settings on my 2101
It's basically got several Digitech pedals built in, which are good for certain tones, IE Dimebag.
But more importantly, that I usually have the GSP hooked up to my HiFi as well, so I don't need to power up my JCM every time I play.
At which point I am using the 2101's solid state speaker emulations (not digital), and my solid state HiFi, which is really a mini PA.
But still that tone is no match for a proper tube poweramp.

As far as mic placement - it looks like you're right on the edge of the speaker from that pic angle- you may want to try 2 inches in from the edge towards the middle for a deeper tone.
one inch in mic placement makes a huge difference in your recording.
I use two mics - one like yours and a cardioid about 3 feet back dead center. pan each left and right and tell me how you like it!

I still have my Randall RC-235 Stereo Chorus 2x10. Actually got it out of storage last night and fiddled around with it.

I use a Peavey Supreme XL through a Framus cab with V30s and actually quite like it.

I still have an old 12w Marshall SS amp that my 8-year old daughter uses with her Hello Kitty Strat. It still sounds sweet, but I use my Legacy...

I don't, but that's because I lent my Peavey Stereo Chorus 212 to someone and they moved away with it It was a cool amp though, sounded great for small gigs.

That would upset me deeply