Most durable / reliable amp manufactuers

[Marshall Freak]

Marshall

I have Marshalls that are more than 40 years old and still going strong. Marshall has more than 20-30 years on most of the amps listed in this thread. Let's revisit in 20 more years...oh wait, my amps will then be 60 years old and still going strong.

How about Fender...

This ^^^ have multiple Marshalls in the 20-40 year old range that just keep going. Even my modded Marshalls have been reliable as bricks, although I did have to send the Langner Marshall to Mike Fortin for a slight tooth cleaning

+2. Also, on the Mesas and Soldano. I'll add Splawn, they're built damn well, like Marshalls used to be.

I disagree on the Peavey's though. A lot of them have lasted forever, but if you look inside any of the 5150 or Classic Series, they're built like shit. Both of my Classics have had problems, one of them still isn't working right.

 

[thunda]

I have a 30 year old Peavey Deuce with 3 of the original power tubes still in it. It's beat all to hell but still puts out just like the day I bought it...

 

[Spaceboy]

I once saw either a dual or triple rectifier collapse a good 4-5 feet from the stage to the floor, and still work perfectly.

 

[JTyson]

Marshall

I have Marshalls that are more than 40 years old and still going strong. Marshall has more than 20-30 years on most of the amps listed in this thread. Let's revisit in 20 more years...oh wait, my amps will then be 60 years old and still going strong.

How about Fender...

This ^^^ have multiple Marshalls in the 20-40 year old range that just keep going. Even my modded Marshalls have been reliable as bricks, although I did have to send the Langner Marshall to Mike Fortin for a slight tooth cleaning

+2. Also, on the Mesas and Soldano. I'll add Splawn, they're built damn well, like Marshalls used to be.

I disagree on the Peavey's though. A lot of them have lasted forever, but if you look inside any of the 5150 or Classic Series, they're built like shit. Both of my Classics have had problems, one of them still isn't working right.

I had a classic that literally went up in flames a long time ago. We used to have problems with CS800, and CS1200 pwr amps a lot
I'm not sold on their quality like some are. We had one rack with 6 800's in it, and one rack with 6 1200's in it, half of them were spares.
Granted that they did a lot of traveling for a 7 year period

 

[glip22]

Mesa: Vintage Marshall JMP

 

[FixXxer]

For sure, I'd go with MESA.

 

[Marshall Freak]

I have a 30 year old Peavey Deuce with 3 of the original power tubes still in it. It's beat all to hell but still puts out just like the day I bought it...

I have it's big brother, the Mace that's about 35 years old that's had a ton of problems, and my cousins Classic broke constantly in the 80's. Both sound like shit too.

 

[Marshall Freak]

Marshall

I have Marshalls that are more than 40 years old and still going strong. Marshall has more than 20-30 years on most of the amps listed in this thread. Let's revisit in 20 more years...oh wait, my amps will then be 60 years old and still going strong.

How about Fender...

This ^^^ have multiple Marshalls in the 20-40 year old range that just keep going. Even my modded Marshalls have been reliable as bricks, although I did have to send the Langner Marshall to Mike Fortin for a slight tooth cleaning

+2. Also, on the Mesas and Soldano. I'll add Splawn, they're built damn well, like Marshalls used to be.

I disagree on the Peavey's though. A lot of them have lasted forever, but if you look inside any of the 5150 or Classic Series, they're built like shit. Both of my Classics have had problems, one of them still isn't working right.

I had a classic that literally went up in flames a long time ago. We used to have problems with CS800, and CS1200 pwr amps a lot
I'm not sold on their quality like some are. We had one rack with 6 800's in it, and one rack with 6 1200's in it, half of them were spares.
Granted that they did a lot of traveling for a 7 year period

Those 800's were literally the worst power amps ever. Had two of them in my old band, that had to be sent in for repair about once every 2 months of moderate gigging. I think the 1200 is a wee bit better, (Had one of those) but not much if any.

 

[stratotone]

I had a mesa burn a hole in the board, and another one blow a screen resistor. I wouldn't consider them the most reliable amps in the world. Probably an SLO or other soldano mainly because they are much more simple and have nice PCBs. Also haven't heard of many soldano failures. SLO has a lifetime warranty that is transferable, can't think of anyone else who offers that either.

Pete

 

[iplayloudly]

Id have to say peavey too.

Ive owned 5 different rectos, a mark IV, a mark III, 2 stilettos, an F-50 and a DC-5. Ive had problems with every one of them - except the mark III cause I havent had it for very long yet.

My old 5152 took a beating for many years a never had a problem

i've had a rectoverb and a tremoverb and both had problems due to crappy solder joints on the boards inside.

 

[Rayneman]

IMO, from experience Mesa is pretty damn reliable. I've never had a Mesa amp fail at all, and I've had a couple of more boutique-type amps shit the bed at critical times. I've owned a single, dual and triple rec, 2 T-verbs, a Mark 4 and a Triaxis. I still have my ever-trusty Triple Rec but have had no problems with any Mesa I've owned.

 

[degenaro]

I had a mesa burn a hole in the board, and another one blow a screen resistor. I wouldn't consider them the most reliable amps in the world. Probably an SLO or other soldano mainly because they are much more simple and have nice PCBs. Also haven't heard of many soldano failures. SLO has a lifetime warranty that is transferable, can't think of anyone else who offers that either.

Pete

The way mesas are designed is that the screen resistor functions as another fuse. Had it happen 3 times on my Tverb.
The thing is...and no offense to the majority of the guys chiming in the "abuse" most guys around these parts heap on their amps I'd expect them to last 50+ years with all they need is a retube and then a cap job once every dozen years.

 

[degenaro]

IMO, from experience Mesa is pretty damn reliable. I've never had a Mesa amp fail at all, and I've had a couple of more boutique-type amps shit the bed at critical times. I've owned a single, dual and triple rec, 2 T-verbs, a Mark 4 and a Triaxis. I still have my ever-trusty Triple Rec but have had no problems with any Mesa I've owned.

Seriously, what can break...will break. That's why amps have a warranty

 

[JTyson]

Marshall

I have Marshalls that are more than 40 years old and still going strong. Marshall has more than 20-30 years on most of the amps listed in this thread. Let's revisit in 20 more years...oh wait, my amps will then be 60 years old and still going strong.

How about Fender...

This ^^^ have multiple Marshalls in the 20-40 year old range that just keep going. Even my modded Marshalls have been reliable as bricks, although I did have to send the Langner Marshall to Mike Fortin for a slight tooth cleaning

+2. Also, on the Mesas and Soldano. I'll add Splawn, they're built damn well, like Marshalls used to be.

I disagree on the Peavey's though. A lot of them have lasted forever, but if you look inside any of the 5150 or Classic Series, they're built like shit. Both of my Classics have had problems, one of them still isn't working right.

I had a classic that literally went up in flames a long time ago. We used to have problems with CS800, and CS1200 pwr amps a lot
I'm not sold on their quality like some are. We had one rack with 6 800's in it, and one rack with 6 1200's in it, half of them were spares.
Granted that they did a lot of traveling for a 7 year period

Those 800's were literally the worst power amps ever. Had two of them in my old band, that had to be sent in for repair about once every 2 months of moderate gigging. I think the 1200 is a wee bit better, (Had one of those) but not much if any.

Agreed, we had a dealer who would sell them to us at cost, so we beat that dead horse to the bitter end

 

[Johnny LaRue]

I bought(and returned) a brand new Mesa Stilleto that crapped out on me in a week. I gigged with a Soldano HR50+ for 5 years, spilled beer on it and all, and never let me down so I would vote Soldano. My Budda has been damn reliable so far, it is a pre PV one if that makes a difference.

 

[mikey]

I'll throw my vote for my SLO even though I've only used it about 2 years. I gigged a Marshall Jubilee for 10 years, about 750 shows. Never a whimper, survived tons of abuse. It's still in the truck as my backup to the SLO although I'll most likely never need it.

 

[Tawlks]

I know it doesn't count but I had a Laney bass head that was ROCK SOLID. no bullshit about it, sounded great too.

 

[Meathead]

Depends a lot on the amp's design.
The 5150 seems indestructible, but I've heard a lot of problems with JSX's.
The Haze 40 has been a problem, but DSL Marshall's keep on going.
The bad designs seem to get heat build up and/or solders going bad. Mounting tubes to circuit boards is just asking for trouble sometimes...sometimes no.
My friends Mesa Nomad has been in the shop three times for bad solders (which are hard to find and keep going bad) but the Mk II keeps on going fine.

 

[dicky sofa]

1967 Silverface Twin - I bought it used in 1971 from Prune Music in Cali - sold to my buddy in the mid 80's - he still gig's it regular - cap job and tubes, thats all...

Amp is older than most of you...