Grateful Dead Music Forum

I have always been a proponent of tube amps. I am having difficulty with the thought of going solid state but I am just too frustrated over the finickiness of tube amps. I have a mesa boogie lonestar and a fender 100 watt twin and they are just not reliable enough for me.

So I am considering a solid state amp. I want something loud enough for outdoor gigs. I was thinking about a Roland JC 120 2 x 12 Jazz chorus but I am open to suggestions. I cant get a small amp to mic to a PA because the PA my band uses is too small and we just put the vocals through it. I was thinking about a really clean sounding amp and using my stompboxes.

Another reason I am thinking of changing over is economics, my business is slow and I can probably sell my amps and buy a nice solid state amp and come out with a good chunk of change as I can use the money.

Mostly I play blues and classic rock with my band. Not too much dead (although I do backdoor some dead cover tunes in whenever I can get away with it). For some reason I have not been too fond of Line 6 amps. Lets hear some suggestions for me to start researching. Feel free to ask me questions to help narrow it down. I am a bit overwhelmed with the choices.

What issues have you been having with tube amps?

Honestly, the JC120 would be the only logical combo choice I could think of.

But 100W of tubes are louder than 100W of circuits.

Don't know how big of an outdoor volume you need but you should keep that in mind.

There always seems to be something. Bad tubes, grounding issues, humm etc. They sound great and work right most of the time but I guess I am just a bit frustrated about having to tinker with them. I am not real good at tinkering with amps but I have a great tech that I dont want to keep visiting!

Believe me 100 watts of tubes is way loud and I almost never use it. I usually keep the lonestar on 10 watts or maybe 50 outside and the Fender twin mostly knock it down to 25 watts. We play at parks, small ampitheartres and some football fields. I am sure a 100 watt circuit will be fine. My other guitar player uses a 130 watt line 6 which is too loud for the most part.

I may regret it but I can always go back to tubes if I want. I still have an older peavey heritage with is a hybrid and that is nice and I have for the house and some rehearsal a fender blues jr.

strumminsix wrote:
Honestly, the JC120 would be the only logical combo choice I could think of.

I do have a 2 x 12 Mesa Retco cab that I can use or sell so I am open to a head or head and cab and not a just combo amp.

That sucks. Not trying to call you out or anything but how do you transport your amps?

I've known a few people who have made similar claims and at the end of every gig I watch them throw their amps in their trunks and get bounced the whole way home.

In contrast, I set mine in the back-seat and seatbelt them in and have had very few issues.

I put it in the back of the van and sandwich it in between other big gear but it will get jostled around a bit if I hit a bump. Most of my transporting is very very local and not mostly very smooth new roads. I live in the west palm beach area and everything is pretty new here, not many bumps.

I am usually pretty careful as I know they can be sensitive but I dont buckle them in to the back seats! That could be a new product like a child car seat.

jackr wrote:I am usually pretty careful as I know they can be sensitive but I dont buckle them in to the back seats! That could be a new product like a child car seat.

Have you heard of LeCover? The dude is about 20 minutes from me and I have a few of his covers. I had him build me one with a seatbelt slot and it rocks!

Thats pretty funny, when I think that even in my car,(ford van). Taking all of my gear to a show is work. No strapping in a 16 space case, 6 space case, 2 guitars, milk crate with extras, anything else rented for the gig. This takes at least 2 people and is still not easy. I just ordered a 20 space ata flight case. When that thing arrives, I think Ill try throwing the seat belt over it and cruisin to the show! Oh and I forgot the cabs, usually I would bring (2) 2x12 w Jbl e120s. Or for the next shows maybe a 3x12!

Another reason is somebody was telling a story on TGP about in their younger days they got into a head-on collision. Amp went flying for cracked the person in the back of the head and into/through the windshield.

The amp was ruined.

Oh, I mean, of course he survived and wrote about it but the dude's neck has been jacked since and the amp was ruined, etc, etc.

Confession - years back I drove to a gig with my guitar case on top of shit load of gear. Hit the brakes hard and cracked my noggin. That only happened once.

I went to his website, is his name actually Larry LeCover? That is funny if that is his name and he makes covers.

Kind of like my dog trainer who's real name is Tim Barker.

Anyway even with that tube amps still get jostled around while driving but maybe a bit less.

jackr wrote:I went to his website, is his name actually Larry LeCover? That is funny if that is his name and he makes covers.

Kind of like my dog trainer who's real name is Tim Barker.

Anyway even with that tube amps still get jostled around while driving but maybe a bit less.

Not sure if that's his real name.

My amp does not get jostled. Firstly, she sits on the backseat so the cushioned surface absorbs most of the road. Secondly, being seatbelted in she doesn't sway so that eliminates the other jostle what I call "the return" where the amp sways softly to one directly then returns with a bang.

Getting back to your original query, I just came across a listing on CL for a Vox Valvetronix and that sparked my memory of trying one a number of years ago. There are Vox VT50 and Vox VT100 models. They might be too low end for what you are looking for and also they employ a single preamp tube to add to the tone but the amp is mostly solid state and has amp models and built in effects to boot. Generally preamp tubes seem to be the most problem free in terms of tubes and would likely not present the issues you are dealing with with your other amps. I remember liking the VT50 but was being pressed by bandmates at the time to go for a tube amp so passed on that. The VT100 has a 2 x 12 configuration and 100 watts of solid state power. Might be something to check out.

Dave