Heavy AF Solid State Love

[Choop]

I'd still like to own an AMT Stonehead -- I'll have one saved on my Reverb wishlist every now and then. They have 4 channels and sound great for a variety of tones.

 

[Deadpool_25]

Nah, they're digital. If you Google pics of the guts it's just a power supply, amp, and DSP board.

Oh wow, even the older ones?

Thts a common misconception. They have analog distortion. I had to open mine up to put an FX loop in it and can confirm there are capacitors and whatnot (mounted on a PCB). And there are also digital boards inside of course.

There are pics floating around of the insides that show that stuff.

Edit: Here are a couple pics I shamelessly stole from UG

 

[ExMachina]

I'm surprised no one brought up the Blug stuff. The Amp1 stuff is fucking great and it's pretty much mostly solid state, except for a tube in the power section to give it a bit more tubiness. Basically how the Randall hybrid stuff (t2, v2, G3) worked

Honestly, I should have bought one of those but bought that ksr Orion instead. Ngl the Orion will be my first tube amp.

 

[Deadpool_25]

I'm surprised no one brought up the Blug stuff. The Amp1 stuff is fucking great and it's pretty much mostly solid state, except for a tube in the power section to give it a bit more tubiness. Basically how the Randall hybrid stuff (t2, v2, G3) worked

The Blug stuff down look interesting. Not sure which would suit me. Maybe I should look into them.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

The Blug stuff down look interesting. Not sure which would suit me. Maybe I should look into them.

The Mercury is more versatile by the sound of it. The clean are more like a blackface Fender, vintage channel is jtm45, classic channel is a jcm, and modern is like a Soldano SLO

With the Iridium the Clean has more headroom, vintage is more like a bright Plexi, classic seems to cover a modded Marshall or Recto, and Modern to me sounds like an Engl or Mesa Mark.

 

[Kosthrash]

Joyo Zombie ii has a crazy heavy tone too...

 

[MASS DEFECT]

I've been gassing for an ISP Theta Head for two years now. I played it in San Diego when my band had a gig there and one of the other bands had this one. Good god. It sounded loud. Clean and detailed distortion. The low end was massive. AND IT SAGGED! There is some power amp voodoo in there for sure. Because I bought a used Theta preamp when I got home and plugged it into my Matrix GT, and it sounded thin.

Should have bought one of these when they were selling for 400 used.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Thts a common misconception. They have analog distortion. I had to open mine up to put an FX loop in it and can confirm there are capacitors and whatnot (mounted on a PCB). And there are also digital boards inside of course.

There are pics floating around of the insides that show that stuff.

Edit: Here are a couple pics I shamelessly stole from UG
View attachment 125514 View attachment 125515

Isn't that just the power amp?

http://zorkmids.com/Download/PowerAmpBoard60-01.pdf

 

[0rimus]

Did anybody else completely miss that Hiwatt launched a new bunch of Solid State heads? Got a 50w, 150w, and even a Crate Shockwave-esque 350 watter.

I remember everybody goin crazy over the Super Hi Custom, but that's an expensive tube amp.

Anybody know how Hiwatt fairs in the SS game?

Sorry for threadjacking if it goes that way, just thought it was relevant enough.

 

[Kosthrash]

Trademark 60 (original) – Tech 21 NYC

OWNER’S MANUAL TRADEMARK 60 Two Channels, 60 watts. Channel 1 offers a range of Fender® styles, from chiming clean to sizzling, saturated ‘tweed’ tone. The cunning Punch control sets the amount of midrange break-up and overdrive, and a Bite™ button tightens the low end and adds brightness...

www.tech21nyc.com

https://www.tech21nyc.com/products/amplifiers/trademark30/

Trademark 10 – Tech 21 NYC

OWNER’S MANUAL TRADEMARK 10 Single channel, 1×8, 10 watts. We call this our Direct Recording Combo Amp. We should have called it Yoda, because there isn’t much this diminutive wizard can’t handle. The heart of the crafty Trademark 10 is a modified version of the super flexible SansAmp GT2 pedal...

www.tech21nyc.com

Some of the finest ss amps...

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Did anybody else completely miss that Hiwatt launched a new bunch of Solid State heads? Got a 50w, 150w, and even a Crate Shockwave-esque 350 watter.

I remember everybody goin crazy over the Super Hi Custom, but that's an expensive tube amp.

Anybody know how Hiwatt fairs in the SS game?

Sorry for threadjacking if it goes that way, just thought it was relevant enough.

Damn, didn't even know about these. The Super Hi also had the Fortin hype behind it.
Also IIRC Hiwatt did some solid state amps back in the day and they were... ehhh? Can't find much about these new Crunch amps.

 

[0rimus]

Yeah, I had no idea until today that they even existed. Prices are pretty good. Kinda wanna get one. Unfortunately been playing more bass than guitar lately. Still looks interesting though.

Edit: Here's some quick dirty cellphone screenshots of the new SS lineup:

 

[ExMachina]

Aren't hiwatts pretty low quality these days

 

[aesthyrian]

The Peavey Bandit, XXL, and Supreme are all awesome and not overhyped to hell and back(yet) like the Ampeg and Crate, so they can be had for good prices. And they're all old school, American made and seem to hold up for eternity.

And I've never used one but Dino used the Line 6 Flextone II so I bet quite a few of us could find tones that we like with that amp.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I've been gassing for an ISP Theta Head for two years now. I played it in San Diego when my band had a gig there and one of the other bands had this one. Good god. It sounded loud. Clean and detailed distortion. The low end was massive. AND IT SAGGED! There is some power amp voodoo in there for sure. Because I bought a used Theta preamp when I got home and plugged it into my Matrix GT, and it sounded thin.

Should have bought one of these when they were selling for 400 used.

View attachment 125537

Every time one of these go up for sale, something stops me from buying it and it always pisses me off lmao. Like legit one of the coolest SS amp heads out there and only a handful of people know about them.

 

[sylcfh]

Surprised at how amazing this sounds. Not surprised that it came from a Randall.

The cabinet broke during shipping. Called the seller an asshole for using newspaper to pack an amp and then forgot about it because I only spent $45. I took the amp apart and kept the chassis and plan on making a mini head from it.

 

[col]

Sansamp PSA1

 

[Deadpool_25]

Isn't that just the power amp?

http://zorkmids.com/Download/PowerAmpBoard60-01.pdf

It has analog distortion. Even according to the literature.

 

[youngthrasher9]

Every time one of these go up for sale, something stops me from buying it and it always pisses me off lmao. Like legit one of the coolest SS amp heads out there and only a handful of people know about them.

I hate myself for selling mine. It was fucking nasty.

Also one of the heaviest amps I’ve ever carried.

 

[Crungy]

And I've never used one but Dino used the Line 6 Flextone II so I bet quite a few of us could find tones that we like with that amp.

I forgot about that! I was also going buy one of those combos recently for dirt cheap but someone beat me to it.