little over a year ago, I purchased
a new amp for several reasons, but
it came down to price, features,
reputation, and how it would work with
my guitars and pedals. Another important
consideration for me was that it should
work well for home, studio and stage use.
Now, if I could have afforded multiple amps
for all the different tones and applications
needed, I would have. But I have neither
the space, deep pockets nor time to do so.
As it turns out, the amp I purchased wasn’t
the right one for me, and for several good
reasons—none of which were apparent
when I first got it, and it took time for me
to discover its flaws (not to mention I spent
more time changing tubes than playing it).
To make a long story short, here I am a year
later, with yet another new amp. In many
ways, the new amp has similar features to
the old one, with one big exception. The
new amp has NO TUBES. (Gasps from
the audience) That’s right, I bought a new
amp, and not a cheap one either, one that
is solid state, yet without any of the cheap
digital modeling features that plague many
non-tube amps, and I have to say, I love it.
And hopefully I won’t be writing part two a
year from now, on how I’ve switched back
to tube amps.
In our recent Tone Report, September 23
2016 edition, Jamie Wolfert wrote “Five
Small Combos that Crack the Mix,” and
a few of those amps I have owned, but
the one that caught my attention was the
Quilter Labs Aviator Gold HD, because it
was the only solid state amp of the bunch.
While this is not my amp, I’ve been hearing
good things about Quilter, and Tech21 is
another company that has been making
some stellar solid state amps for quite a
while now. But the amp I purchased (at
full price, with no endorsements it should
be noted) is the Roland Blues Cube Artist
($899 street). For whatever reason, this
amp is seldom found in actual stores, but
is readily available online from different
dealers.
It’s funny that I ended up with the BCA
because it wasn’t initially on my radar. So
what changed? It was actually a couple
of online guitar forums, from players who
were very experienced (it sounds nicer than
saying old, even though I’m a half-century).
These were players who already had very
nice, expensive amp collections, had a ton
of gigging experience, with some making
their living this way, and had decided the
BCA (as well as the aforementioned Quilter
and Tech21 Trademark series) checked all
the boxes. So I did some more research,
and here’s what I discovered: When solidstate is done right, it can sound very close
to a good tube amp—and in my own
experience, it has performed even better.
The clean channel is very full, robust and
can be pushed hard with natural harmonics
in abundance. But the very good crunch
channel has been the biggest surprise.
There’s no fizz or hard clipping, just a
very natural, honest to goodness gentle
compression—the kind you get when
power tubes are pushed hard.
What else do you get with a good solidstate amp? Well, it’s almost what you
DON’T get that makes it rewarding. No
tubes means no overheating and wearing
ToneReport.com
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