CHEAP-O Solid state recording amp recommendations?

[;ivlunsdystf]

Funny ... I just walked through the local music emporium where they sell stuff like Peavey and Fernandes because they are not in the Gibson PPO/HMO or whatever. They had about 600 square feet of floor space full of Peavey cartons that had just been delivered. It was an awesome sight, all that brand new Peavey still in the box.

Also, all my harping about the superiority of the older "brownface" Yamaha g100 212 lately, and in there I see something entirely new to me: That same vintage of Yamaha g100 but JUST A HEAD! I almost bought it (just over $100) but then I settled down and made my getaway.

Anybody out there still have a Gorilla practice amp? My friend used to have one that had an interesting button called "Tube Stack" that produced the ugliest sounding gain ever. I guess that's all you get when you are resonating four ounces of softwood with a five-inch speaker.

[r0ck1r0ck2]

well i blew up that Gorilla for fun....it's kinda like feeding the python...
a sacrafice for the greater good...
greater bad more like...

now blowing up a peavey bandit...hard work

[kayagum]

Bob Mould (Husker Du era) used to split between a Fender Concert and a Yamaha solid state amp. He still blends solid state and tube, but now it's between a Roland Jazz Chorus Head and a Bogner head.

Peavey solid state? Liz Phair played through one for Exile in Guyville. Peavey bass amps seem to go hand in hand with chick post-punk bassists named Kim (Gordon, Deal).

And although everyone seems to hate SansAmps on guitars, try patching one into a keyboard amp or a PA, and it's a totally different ballgame.

[hammertime]

I remember at GIT they used to use Peavey's because i guess Peavey gave them all their amps. I remember quite a few guitar players getting some pretty great tones out of them. I actually used to have a Peavey as a practice amp when I started playing guitar, and sort of missed it when it was gone. I don't know what happened to them since, though, since that was a long time ago. I've played a bunch of little Marshall solid state combos that I thought were pretty decent little amps. And I've played alot of little tube amps that I thought sounded like shit -- those little ampegs, fender silver-face champs, and a bunch of others.

[;ivlunsdystf]

I like how the smaller Peavey amps have scrappy names like "Bandit", "Rage" etc. It's like they're naming the amps to appeal to thirteen-year-old boys.

I don't know how they came up with "Backstage Plus" though. Is there an earlier version called the "Backstage Minus"?

[Electro-Voice 664]

I had a little beige dean markley practice amp that kicked ass.

Yeah, I had one that was pretty good too, not loud but good.
Lately I've been liking a VOX Kensington Bass combo. You can find them kinda cheap.

[JustinHedrick]

for cheap, get yourself one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/rickenbacker-vintag ... dZViewItem

i have the 50 watt version that I have turned into a plexiglass enclosed head, and it works really well. Their also really cheap.

justin

[nlmd311]

...Anybody out there still have a Gorilla practice amp? ...

YES!!! An old friend of mine got one used, years ago when we started a band. It was supposed to be a bass amp (20 watts?, I think). Never worked out and sounded awful on just about anything we tried it on. Years went by and about two years ago his brother stopped by and said "here, take this". I tried it out again. Didn't like it, but couldn't force myself to get rid of it. When I got my 60's R.I. Telecaster last year, I decided to try it through the Gorilla. AMAZING! Cranked all the way, all the knobs all the way up, it sounds great. The speaker distortion is really happening with the tele. Nothing else sounds remotely close to useable with it, but the telecaster just owns that thing.

So that is my Gorilla story.

I vote for the Vox Pathfinder 15R as your next, cheap Solid State amp. I picked mine up after all the rave reviews on the board back then. Pedals sound alright through it. The clean sounds (low volume) are pretty nice. The distortion has a very nice quality to it and you can do quite a bit with it. I really enjoy the reverb and tremolo too. It records nicely. It doesn't take up too much space and has some of that nice "Vox-y" vibe to it that actually makes it nice to have around visually. New for something like $115 or used for around...?

-Darrill

[Justine_X]

i had this CRAZY yamaha solid state...
i couldn't find ANY info about it...
really sounded good..
2 speakers...
well they weren't round..
more like 4 sided
$75...
that thing was crazy..

tell me bout your thirty 112

I saw one of those on ebay once while I was searching for another Yamaha. It had square speakers and was wedge-shaped... right? it looked bad ass, the seller said they were only sold in Japan, I think.

Hmmm... a lot of votes for the Pathfinder. They're pretty affordable, that's for sure... I'm just looking for a little amp that won't crap out when I slam it with noisy pedal combos... (something my Fenders can't take)

About my Yamaha, I think it had an aftermarket speaker in it. The amp has a very cool, dry distortion... I was jamming out one day enjoying it and smoked the whole speaker. Bought a new one and turns out I had fried the box, too.

I had a 70's Pignose that I burned up, too... very sad. I bought a replacement and it's just not the same, the classic farty Pignose sound, but too grainy. Like young vs. old tequila... *Sniffle*

[r0ck1r0ck2]

love the tequilla

[Dubious]

man this thread is bringign back the memories.. other small solid states ive liked

Roland Cube - this is a lil 20 watt sucker.. surprisingly nice clean sound.. and a very weird overdrive that could have its uses

Crate - i had a crate with one tude in it (so i guess that doesnt count).. man that amp sucked.. clean, distortion, reverb.. IT ALL SUCKED...

Gorrila - somebody gave me one of these.. was on its last legs at the time.. but man the gain on this thing was truely retarded.. you could get some insane breakup on it.. then it died : (

im telling you peavey rage all the way.. i got mine as my first ever amp when i was 13 or 14.. so ive now had he thing for 16 years of solid continuous near daily usage... it is my defacto goto amp ... i mentined in another thread that a buddy of mine (with a real nice bass man and tremolux and a princeton) had to go out and get one too... and he uses it more than the other three amps put together.. the new ones have more bells and whistles.. but they stil lsound exactly the same.

[space_ryerson]

I've had a lot of luck with older Randalls. A 80's rg-80 with a celestion and footswitch is a pretty good bet. They are built very solidly, but most of mine are experiencing cap failure here and there, since they are 20 years old.

I also have a newer rg-80 which is pretty good as well. It sounds a little more midrangy, but I can't tell if that's the 'randall jaguar' speaker, or the actual amp. The original randalls (pre-washburn) have much higher quality components inside.

[nlmd311]

... It sounds a little more midrangy, but I can't tell if that's the 'randall jaguar' speaker, or the actual amp...

I would have to say the speaker has a great deal to do with it. I have a Randall 4x12 speaker cabinet (Model R412) that is loaded with 4, 12" Randall Jaguar speakers and that thing has some serious midrange. Great on somethings, not so on others. It really imparts a larger footprint than most amplifiers I have run through it.
Just my observations.

-Darrill

[;ivlunsdystf]

Somebody should do a Gorilla mod where they turn it into a little tiny head and speaker cabinet. Maybe two cabinets like a stack. Then that "tube stack" switch would really SAIL dude.

[Bill @ Irie Lab]

Some talk about small amps for recording including my own gems of wisdom are in this thread: http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?t=31041

A quality repalcement speaker makes a hugh difference with the better models and 8" speakers are pretty resonable in price for those little guys.

Bill