Given the current tube situation, what's your fav solid state power amp these days?

VH4_BigRig

VH4_BigRig

Active member
Was thinking about getting a tube power amp sometime and was leaning VHT/Fryette, but given how prices are likely going to go through the roof shortly, it made me wonder what the best solid state alternatives are these days. Would be using it for my rackmount Kemper to go into my Mesa cab w/V30s.

What do you guys like or use these days? Matrix seemed to be the big hitter for profilers/modellers, so it was probably the highest on my list, but have seen other things pop up since, so not sure what people actually use these days. Matrix? Seymour Duncan PowerStage? Rocktron Mainline? Quilter Block? Let me know your favs!

PS I have a 44 Magnum for my jamming/backup rig, but it didn't provide what I was looking for the last time i tried it. Cheers
 
This is my kind of post. I have a randall rg150h that just sits on my floor unused. But i love the damn thing. Very versatile and very easy to silently record. Imo, it sounds 10x better than any of the Neural stuff. Unfortunately, It doesn't sound as good as my Wizard, hence why it is lonely
 
I have a Marshall 8008 valvestate and like it for reamping, but not as much with a tube preamp where even in the valvestate setting it sounds kind of flat compared to a tube amp. Might be great with a kemper if you don’t need much color, it does have two modes.

I would probably go with a matrix or a old mosvalve, with the latter still being available for good prices.
 
I believe the tube thing is a very short term problem, but if it weren't, it could lend an excuse for builders to make some super badass solid states. I know that some guys gotta have some ideas. I would be open to buying a well built high gain ss amp.
 
DanTravis62 said:
Absolutely. If someone redid the 140c I would be ALL OVER that shit.
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It’s funny that we talk about trouble getting tubes, but trying to get some old silicon for these old SS amps can be just as hard. The vh140c is a cool amp for sure, but the one I fixed was the text book definition of a cascading failure in the power amp. You had to get all the bad transistors out or the new ones you would put in would be taken out.
 
Smashedguitarist said:
This is my kind of post. I have a randall rg150h that just sits on my floor unused. But i love the damn thing. Very versatile and very easy to silently record. Imo, it sounds 10x better than any of the Neural stuff. Unfortunately, It doesn't sound as good as my Wizard, hence why it is lonely
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Which wizard do you have ? And thise Randall’s can sound good at low levels
 
blackba said:
It’s funny that we talk about trouble getting tubes, but trying to get some old silicon for these old SS amps can be just as hard. The vh140c is a cool amp for sure, but the one I fixed was the text book definition of a cascading failure in the power amp. You had to get all the bad transistors out or the new ones you would put in would be taken out.
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They are also the textbook example of a SS amp I actually like 🤣
 
DanTravis62 said:
They are also the textbook example of a SS amp I actually like 🤣
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The vh140c once working was a super cool amp. Really enjoyed testing it. But SS amp repair is either pretty easy or a pain. There are some SS amps I will no longer work on if I at all suspect an issue in the power amp due to not being able to get transistors.
 
I like the old peavey transtubes quite a bit for solid state. I either run a good pedal into it for distortion or sometimes run the preamp from my mesa into it for kicks.
 
ZEN Amps said:
My thoughts exactly. Unless there's a problem, tubes can last for years - or decades. Tubes and toilet paper, what a weird world we live in.
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Yep. The tubes in my Larry Dino (NOS tungsram) are original to the amplifier, which was built in the mid 90s - they still sound (and test) amazing.

I think part of this is because lots of people randomly change their tubes out constantly. Or replace them when there's no need.
 
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