After falling in love with an old Marshall VS265R and then an old Marshall 5213 Mosfet 100w Twin Reverb I am getting bit by the solid state bug again. Tonight I am picking up an old Marshall 8100 head. 100w. Single tube driven gain channel. SS everything else. This particular head has what I would consider a cult following. I have owned a few VS100's in the past. Always though they were great sounding amps. I am sure this one will sound just as great. I am really digging the solid state thing lately. I have a ton of tube amps but most of them just don't sound that great at useable stage volumes. They all have their sweet spots but unfortunately that sweet spot is usually WAY too loud for any clubs I play.
Especially the Marshalls. The SS Valvestates seem... to my old ears... to directly address this problem. They sound great at low to pretty damn loud volume levels and they take pedals very well and have user friendly effects loops.
Anyway... I am looking forward to adding the 8100 head to my collection.