ok I did it again.. I played for years through a Randall solid state amp.. everytime I used this amp people would come up to me ...." Hey man  what are you playing through" (I replaced 2  hot rodded Marshall JCM 800 with this amp).  Proving to me that solid state can and does sound as good as tube amps.   Current deal......
I have several tube amps, some quite elaberate midi stuff .. but , last night I did a gig in Wichata Ks.  It was gonna be a quick in quick out deal (just stage gear and smaller venue).  I used a Hughes &Kettner Matrix 100 for  a practice amp.(freaking thing can put out some sounds). Last night was the first time I have mic'd it up live. I was a little worried about how it work sound/react to my live gig playing style. This thing ROCKED.. a little tiny light weight combo amp ... up against Marshall JCM 900's .... at the end of the night... yup , both guitarist up there asking " Hey man what the F are you playing through, your sound is F'n awesome" .  I gotta say from what I could tell it sounded like a wall of amps coming out of the front mains.  The onboard effects worked perfectly and the 4 channel settings all sounded good......no I am not paid to endorse these amps (wished I was though).
I just remember that somewhere in this thread we were talking about good working man amps ...... The matrix 100 is a steal at the price.... I only have $ 150.00 total in this amp (bought it used).

  It worked so well I think I"ll use it from now on............Yes it mic's up and records extrememly well too.

Man for a solid state amp thats good!!! REALLY GOOD!
I absolutley love the sound of tube amps as they give you that realistic guitar tone. (I own a tube amp), and I never really like solid states sound as much, but yes there have been times when I have been very surprised from the tone that comes out of some solid states.

For $150...Im speechless. Way to freaking go man.
I really like tubes cause they have the analog signals which give you the real tone while solid state are digital signals, which usually sound "digital"...but like, way to go man.

I dont need to tell you how lucky you are in this case. Way to go

love the story, this was my main amp:

http://ottawa.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-musical-instruments-Yamaha-VR6000-W0QQAdIdZ79837468

and this one for the stereo spread of my effects:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PEAVEY-PACER-GUITAR-AMP-COMBO_W0QQitemZ260306628975QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item260306628975


both solid states, never owned a tube amp

I too was a tube guy. started out on fender twins, moved on to own an elaborate double marshall stack with a Bob Bradshaw clone effects/amp switching system.. Both marshalls were hot rodded and had great tone.

The problem was 2 to 3 months giggin and a pre amp tube would go bad (microphonic). It got to the point were I  alway carried spare parts plus a spare amp.... one was the Randall (very old blue faced rack mount). One night my main amp went down, I used the Randall , I had so many people come up (most had seen us quite a few times) and said something like ... "I don't know what you did but your sound was great tonight".. still a non-believer I did this a few more times I started testing the amps , use one at one gig , change up use the randall at another.. It finally got to the point where I felt more at ease and less worry about the amp (no tubes to go out).  Eventually the Randall became my main amp for years (I still have it). 

 I have an all tube set up now that I was using for my main show rig , fairly elaborate midi set up.  I was blown away by the sound I got last night. The amp reacted so well, I use controlled feedback in a couple of songs, It responded perfectly (especially for a little combo amp). I swear this thing reacts just like a hot rodded tube amp.  I was not an easy convert at all. It took years to get me to accept the fact the there are a few solid state gems out there.... Oh I must say this though.. The randall... I have had several different ones.. none of the others had the tone or response of the one that I have, It was a special purchase from someone who may have had it  tweaked a little.

 Anyway  the most important thing to remember is .... solid state or tube doesn't matter nearly as much as how good the player is.... you can have a  one of a kind boutique amp sitting in your bed room...it won't make you sound any better if you don't have the chops or skills to shine with it.

I used to have a Kelly 100W head with a Laney 4x12; very smooth tones, hardly needed any effects as the overdrive was just about all I wanted.  The thing went on for years, and did sound great - but then we were only playing about 5 times a month.  The biggest downside for me was the size and weight!

I sold all my stuff in the early 80s and didn't really start getting back into playing until the mid 90s.  At that point I just got a 2nd hand 30W ss Peavey.  I still have it, and have used it a few times in rehearsal (it's there just in case my main rig lets me down).  The punch that this combo has is pretty amazing - but it does have to be set up right for the tones I like.

But my main rig is very simple indeed; I have an amp and effects modeling pedal and split the signal between a 120W solid state monitor (yup, no names here - I wanted a clean unaffected sound that wouldn't colour the effects pedal) and the mixer (giving a very low ambient sound, similar to having a mic on the amp).  This works really well for me.  That said, when we play it's only ever in small venues - and we do the mix ourselves from the stage.... I don't see it working so well for a large venue where having a decent FOH sound-guy is a must.

BTW, the 2nd amp that MaxdB is showing is a) the big brother to my Peavey, and b) is being sold by someone that lives a few miles from me!!!

i think the only reason i wanted a tube is to have more gain control by the guitar pot.., 15 years ago processors weren't as sensitive as now, and still there is a difference (even in my boss gt-6), but i have found my way with presets for clean, crunch and distorted sounds.

i always made an amp setting to get the best clean sound as possible, and tune my distortions in a way that they sound good through that too, so i never used the second amp channel, but just the effects on my floor board.

once we were doing the warming up for another band, so i had to put my gear just in front of theirs, imagine my tiny amps in front of the big marshall cabinets,   but some ppl ánd both guitarists of the headliner came to me  to compliment my sound, and think of the advantages for your back and transporting the gear..
( i got more comps for my sound then for my playing as i remember lol)

for an impression how it sounded you can listen to this live recording, both amps are used there, only didnt have the gt-6 by then (but a gt-4 and some boss pedals)
http://forum.bandamp.com/Audio_Review/2426.html

and yes Goat, sound is in the fingers and the heart

Sometimes theres only one in a million solid states that sound good, but if you can find one, then use it use it use it.

I still perfer tube (Class A Tube), but I havent found that golden solid state yet. Marshall and things like that are pretty good though...(even the solid state versions)

But it can totally sound like crap if you are using the best amp the best guitar the billion dollar set up if you dont know how to use it, and if you cant play!

What really makes me mad though is ive got these friends who have these really terrible sounding solid state amps (one of them has the Line 6 Spider III 75watt) and I mean sure they have billions of different features, but they break really easily cause of all the techno crap thats in them, and they just dont ssound real, you know? And then they keep saying like "OH Man your amp sucks" (to me about my Crate Palamino V16 Class A tube amp)just cause my tube overdrive on my amp isnt as death metallish as theirs.
I use that with a lineup of MXR pedals cause they keep your amp and your guitars tone without changing the signal to digital which makes it sound a bit lifeless...

Do you guys like MXR? They are probably my favorite.

Heres my setup for anyone who cares. (Not trying to brag just wanna show you guys my stuff)
Washburn X25 With Floyd Rose Bridge electric guitar (discontinued)
Crate Palomino V16 15watt Class A Tube Amp 1x12 Celestion speaker (discontinued)
Dunlop Original Crybaby Wah
MXR Phase 90
MXR Double Shot Distortion (discontinued)

Lots of my stuff is discontinued cause I get it really cheap and it sounds amazing.

I am gonna wait till I make any comments on the spider thing , I happen to know that there is someone here on the amp that used one.. I think you would be surprised at the sounds he is getting.  I have heard a lot of bands using the pods and line 6 amps... seems like only a select few know how to get decent tones out of em .. I have stuff posted on here that is nothing more that a pod 2, and or the cheap tone port (line 6).  I also have stuff posted one here that was recorded with Jcm 900 and fender bassman 70 (old amp) . I think a lot of people would be surprised at some of the tones that came from the solid state stuff.  I hear it all the time about tubes but sooner or later (unless your using tape) the signal is gonna go digital, unless you know that your pedals are analog, your sending your guitar signals through solid state electronics. 

kunadian, nice rig,
   I don't use any pedals anymore unless it's my mdi controller (tube rig) or the foot switch pedal that comes with the H&K amp.  guitar goes straight into the amps , nothing to color the sound of the guitar other than amp, signal processors, wireless, microphone, eq setting at the board, the room I'm in at the time ect, ect, ect.

what a coincedence Jim!   great!  the price they offer him aint to great though  lol
(50 bucks!!)

btw. at home i use a small peavey backstage 110(1x10inch speaker), its great at low volume, and again i only use a nice clean sound channel to amp my effects.
works perfect for me.
while recording i use it as monitor(never any latency) while the signal goes from the boss gt-6 straigt into my soundcard(s/pdif)

Hey toastedgot: yeah I like the setup, and as of right now, I really like pedals. Eventually ill probably get something like you have, but for now its working fine.

I guess there are a few that know how to get some good tones out of the Line 6 Spiders...and i know guitarwizard (zach) has one but hes trying to sell it...
I mean if you know how to use it you could make it sound great, but most people dont...

Exactly if you are using tubes and stuff but then have like digitech and boss or pods and that stuff thrown in your signal gets turned digital anyway. Thats part of the reason i like MXR.
But man, even with a digital signal you can get some really nice sounds.

man played thru tube amps for years ..once the tubes get hot man! i picked up a little traynor at agarage sale $20.00 50 watts 1- 12  in cab it screams and like you toast this aint my first bbq! ..didnt sun make the first solid stae amps?..back then didnt like them..actualy played thru great peavey classic with 4 10s hot tubes..for a long time i giged with this amp. for those who remember me ..havent posted in a while,,,the digital world will win.
but for this player just turn on that tube amp an hour early....i gotta stay tubal
but im an old dog
btw gl ..always liked your tunage
buzz

btw ? can you say mesa boogie?
lmao ...rock on ampers

I don't give a shit about any set up.
I just have my Line 6 POD xt Live were I can get any sound I want. Actually, I don't understand so much about amps, effects and that stuff; I just play, and if I can sound at the same level of drums and the rest of the band, then it's OK. For rehearsals I have a Peave 65 watts ( no idea of the model... it just sounds). I've just noticed that sometimes the sound lack a bit of "weight" or "body" so I was thinking about buying a tube amp to fix that, but it's OK anyway.
But, as I said, I don't give a shit about playing with any amp, while I can get a sound and the note and effects I use can sound properly, it's all good for me.

        > Iszil

I just got a Fender Frontman 15g at a yard sale for $20 (its regularly $90 new)
and it was in perfect condition.
This thing has AMAZING tone for the price, and for a solid state amp.

I still love my tube amp, but this is great for practicing and traveling

Yeah... I liked the spider III but i thought i'd take it up a notch and buy a tube amp because some weird canadian or should i say Kunadiun convinced me to. so i ended up selling the spider 3 ( Good ol' eBay) And then my bad luck began. As soon as the guy got it, he freaked out because it was all damaged somehow...luckily i had it insured....then i tried to buy the tube amp i was looking at before....COULDN'T FIND IT ANYWHERE. I thought it was discontinued and i was like oh crap. since it was the only tube amp i could afford at a whopping 200 dollars for a 50W 1,12 crate with 3 12ax7's and 2 6l6. I eventually found it at one online store and bought it. THENNNN................1 week later..... it breaks...How? i dont know...so i had to send it back to crate and then they sent me another one..which took almost 1 month. some of the plates on the corners were not fully screwed in and all this other stuff... i ended up fixing it myself. and now it works fine.....and im content for the time being but i cant say i don't see myself switching to a marshall or a mesa boogie in the next two years.