Cron said:
widrace said:
Cron said:
...big shots on the board have said that solid state amps only differ slightly from one another and can usually be made to sound almost the same with a db or so boost/cut here and there.
That's a load of crap. Mental masturbation at it's finest.
You owe it to yourself to audition a decent SS amp. It is a very competitive market and you absolutely get what you pay for. Cheapo amp = cheapo results. It takes a lot more SS power than a tube amp to do the same thing so don't skimp.
This was the impression i got from reading this board for 2 years. Ive never seen a post along the lines of: "I had the art sla2 and now use brand X SS power amp and tonally its better than the Art when used with the axe-fx"
FWIW.... I NEVER had a problem power wise with the art sla-2 into guitar cabs. It was plenty loud without ever clipping.
Recommend me some SS amps and please be specific about make and model.... I'll be sure to try them If i can find them and report back. (Sorry for slight thread jack Clark but we are after the same thing after all
)
I guess it always seems to boil down to dollars and cents. I have used several SS amps and though I can hear slight differences, in all the amps I have plugged into in the end it's what works best for you and your budget. If a Tube amp, power or a traditional head twirls your beanie and works for you then that is what you need to use regardless of what anyone says... Rock on :twisted:
I use the ART because if fit my requirements, 1st it was single space, 2nd it was fairly light weight when comparing it to other two space amps of the same type, toroidal transformers in this case. 3rd the build quality was the best when comparing it to other single space amps in it's price range.
To date I have played my Axe through the following SS amps - ART SLA-2, Carvin DCM150, Crown CE1000, QSC RMX 1500a, 1850, 2000, 3000 and the PL4 and Crest Audio's CPX 2600. All have their slight differences at volume but the biggest difference seem to be in total available power to deliver enough authority at higher volumes, the ridiculous kind that requires earplugs volume and still keep headroom. Personally for FR I think speakers play a bigger roll in your tone then the amp does. If a decent quality SS amp is built to be transparent then aside from the way you tune your presets in the Axe the speakers that you use are going to be the biggest coloring factor in the signal chain.
The high end brittleness you speak of with the ART is there and I notice it when ever I really turn things up so I just retune the preset to work at that volume. Funny thing is I have noticed that with all the SS amps I have worked with wether it be for PA or the Axe, some more than others but it is there to some degree. Call it Fletcher–Munson or whatever I have accepted the fact that you need to tune your preset or your mixing board to work at the volumes you want to listen at this goes for FR as well as guitars cabs.
FIW one thing that I remember doing with tube heads that used to own is when I turned it up I always backed off treble and or presents to compensate for the increased volume.