Solid state vs tube power amp?

[horns666]

i used the rivera hammer 120 for a few years to power extra cabs. prior to that i used the marshall 80/80. there was NO comparison. the all tube rivera DESTROYED the valvestate power amp. save up and get a tube power amp. you will be happier in the long run, ESPECIALLY if you gig (or intend to). if you just jam at home, a SS amp would be fine.

Absolutely. I witnessed the same thing at gigs of all places. That is not the time to give that shit a try for the first time with the band!

VS 80/80 may be cool for recording and practicing. But if you have a gorilla on drums or another guitarist like mentioned above forgetaboddit!!

Now They do make some decent high watt SS amps that have enough power to do the job. If you rely on nothing but preamp distortion, which is not really a bad thing depending what you're doin'..especially Metal. That's cool..more reliable, and consistant. But they don't have that organic life, and dynamics of tubes. But tone is in the hands. I've seen people play SS and do great. The entire King Diamond camp including Glen Drover, or Chuck Schuldiner for example. who love their beloved Marshall 8200. But have their soundguy to make things right..

I had the same problems with all my old Randall amps. I owned 8 randall heads, a couple RG120, but I like the sound of those smaller RG80s better and they came in all kinds of cool tolex colors, including snakeskin , and I bought most of them "mint" for approx $150. They did the George Lynch Tooth & Nail sound titties!!! I loved them, and I though they were loud. enough. One day my drummer bud came over to jam, and discovered I couldn't hang with him at all with them completely dimed! They sound really "hairy" pushed like that..not good at all. Peavey had their high powered flagship poweramp back around 1984 called the CS800. Rudy Sarzo used them. I owned a Peavey Max bass amp with that poweramp section built in..they came in a flight case and heavy as hell. Those had more than enough headroom. They were 400 watts a side bi-amped or 800 wats bridged. Later Carvin came out with even lighter, more powerful SS poweramps. which I also used in all my Probass series stacks. Thay were extremely loud with not even 50% volume . If you find the right SS, you may be very happy...but something like the 80/80 just isn't gonna cut it. I know people like John G really loved the Vettas, but he knew everthing about milking those, and I'm sure they sounded cool. Mike Romeo sounded pretty fuggin' good with his, but spoke with Cleveland Metal and disclosed he wasn't that happy with it because he couldn't really hear it on stage. Line 6 should have beefed up the power on those a tad. I played the HD147 @ the store when they came and really liked it, it was really fun to play. But the proof is paying with your band or at least drummer.

You certainly can't depend on soundguys and stage monitors. Sometimes your rig is the only stage monitor you have..which is a shame but true! So if you don't have a monitor, and can't hear your amp on stage..that's a scary moment. I been there with my bud and his stupid 80/80. He was fuggin' pissed that I demanded him to haul his Peavey 120/120..but it made a world of difference.

[lefty]

I have been using the Mesa 20/20 for years and I love it. I ended up in a situation one time where I had to plug into a Mono cab. I thought I was in trouble, but just one side of the unit (20 watts) was plenty loud enough for stage volume. The tubes mount right in the back of the unit so you can have something right on top of it without the worry of it overheating. It's a bit pricey, but I am glad I got it.

Matt

+ 1 on the Mesa 20/20. And they aren't all that expensive if you
dig around for a used one. I got a mint used one for ~ $300.
It's way too loud for me to use but it should handle anything
you need it for unless you've got a really pounding drummer...

[OnlineStageGear]

I would say that even just one side of the 20/20 would outpower most drummers. If you have a drummer that could outpower both sides, then he ain't gonna make it through a single song without destroying his heads. The thing is just that powerful. I did a search on ebay for completed items and they are all over $600.

[emperor_black]

+1 on that value Matt. I looked long and hard for a Mesa 20/20 under $500 and could not find even a single one. They are really really expensive. So, I settled for a carvin ts100.

But I'm still not sure if the 20 watts can hold up in a band with two guitarists and a drummer. Because when I asked about the Orange tiny-terror which is 20 watts, the general opinion of everyone on the board was that it cannot. Not sure how the situation is different in this case.