What Were The First Solid-State Guitar Amps Like?

[phaeton]

The little 1/2W amps that a few of us built about a month ago got me thinking about this. Mind you, I have a 1975 Peavey Pacer, which is an SS amp, but I don't know when or how the SS amp thing got started.

 

Was it sometime in the early 1970s, when transistors and things switched over from germanium to silicon and started to become easy to make, very consistent and at least as cheap as tubes? (what a concept! ).

 

How were they marketed? As "Affordable, sturdy and reliable!"? Was there an entire slew of manufacturers building them that have long since gone defunct? Peavey is still around, but iirc nobody (important ) ever took them seriously until the 5150 and Classic series.

 

How long until the big names (Fender, Marshall, Ampeg(?) et al) "caved in", came down off their high horse, and started to enter the SS market? Or did one of the big names start into it right away?

 

How well were they received? There are obvious and inarguable differences between the two. Was the SS sound looked upon by some as "Modern" "New" "Interesting" and "Desireable" compared to tube amps of the time?

 

Was there ever an SS amp that was considered "boutique" at the time (or even now?)? Or was it just a sudden rush of supercheap, supercrappy little overgrown stompbox-driving-a-transistor-radio-circuit and speakers in pressboard boxes from Japan that sold like crazy, sounded horrible, and were simply thrown away as soon as they were outgrown?

 

(p.s., i'm sure that SS P.A. equipment and KB amps showed up around the same time too, but i'm mainly talking about guitar amps here, since guitarists are the ones that are so bent about tone)

 

Thanks!

[D. Gauss]

a whole slew of solid state amps came in the 60's:

those terrible vox amps come to mind.

 

look at a led zep video and john paul johns plays an acoustic 270 bass amp. guitar legend albert king used one of these solid state monsters as his main amp.

another legend (and another king) named b.b. uses a solid state amp made by gibson called a "lab 5" that actually sounds ok.

 

the two granddaddys of the bunch that folks still use today are probably the roland jazz chorus jc120 (often considered THE clean amp), and the polytone brute.

 

pre-peavey, there's tons and tons of crappy solid state buzz boxes out there including fenders, marshalls, univox, kustom, harmony, standel, etc.

 

as for now, there's that dead dude dimebag who got murdered recently. he built a whole career on a randall high gain solid-state amp.

 

there's a decent 80's version of the peavey bandit that actually sounds really good.

 

-d. gauss

 

http://www.betteroffdead.com

[Dennyf]

While I'm sure there were others (like Sunn, who also had tube amps), the first solid-state amp I saw make much of a dent profile-wise among guitar players was Kustom. This was in the early-to-mid 70's. Typical early SS sound, but they looked cool with the roll-&-tuck upholstery.

 

Solid state amps were among the hot ticket for bass players. Sunn Coluseums and Acoustic 370s.

 

Editorial comment follows: Ya know, nobody *designed* amps for distortion back in the day. That simple tube designs produced pleasing distortion when cranked is just a happy coincidence. Engineers all thought minimizing distortion was the goal, and solid-state amps excelled at this. Which is probably why the bass community welcomed them quicker.

 

Unlike tube amps, solid-state amps wouldn't distort in a very pleasing manner. Engineers couldn't get the hang of what exactly marketing wanted when they wanted "fuzz" or "distortion" in the amps, so their attempts to add that "feature" often weren't executed very well. In my opinion, this is where the whole "ss-sucks-tubes-rule" mentality got started. A decade or so later, we have young guitar wankers who are now engineers, and know what the sound is they're looking for, and some good solid state designs begin to appear. Nowadays there are plenty of good-sounding solid state amps, but you know, it's cool to be part of the elite cadre of those who "know" the difference, so jump on whatever bandwagon trips your trigger.

 

As far as boutique SS, google Pearce amps. There may have been others, but it's easier to build tube amps in a cottage-industry setting and still make money. Plus ya got that whole "legend" thing goin' for ya.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Fender had nearly all of their line of tube-amps "doubled" in SS, with new cosmetics, in '66 through '71. The Dual Showman, Twin Reverb, Bassman, Super Reverb, Pro Reverb, Vibrolux Reverb, and Deluxe Reverb all had evil dopplegangers... all in extremely dorky looking "futuristic" cosmetic make-overs. All but the Vibrolux and Deluxe were radically changed in their cabinetry. (They would even have been too weirdly ugly for Star Trek or Dr. Who.) If I could find a pic to link to, you'd understand.

 

They were amongst those at the forefront of bringing SS guitar-amps to their mass-market lines.

 

They were amongst those at the forefront of halting production of the SS guitar-amps in their mass-market lines, with their tails between their legs.

 

"Fender Amps: The First Fifty Years" (Hal Leonard Corp.), by John Teagle and John Sprung, icludes some brief, but informative, passages on these with some excellent "vintage" advertisement photos...

[Gabriel E.]

Originally posted by phaeton:

How were they marketed? As "Affordable, sturdy and reliable!"? Was there an entire slew of manufacturers building them that have long since gone defunct? Peavey is still around, but iirc nobody (important ) ever took them seriously until the 5150 and Classic series.

SS hit the market in the late 50s. It didn't filter down to MI gear for another 5 years or so.

 

They were marketed as "new technology" and "high tech". They were also a LOT lighter and generally more reliable than (although not necesarily as serviceable as) tube amps.

 

Manufacturers loved ss because it was a lot less expensive to produce than tube gear and easier to ship.

 

Almost all of it sounded like ass. As previously mentioned, the bass gear was better received. The guitar gear left such a bad taste in players mouths that it wasn't until digital modeling that it gained widespread acceptance again for anything other than beginner amps.

 

A few notable SS players:

 

John Fogerty (Kustom)

 

Albert King (Acoustic)

 

BB King (Lab Series - While it was also a Norlin company, Lab Series was NOT produced by Gibson).

 

Ty Tabor (Lab Series)

 

Dimebag (Randall)

 

Alan Holdsworth (Pierce)

[Caevan O’Shite]

Those Pierce amps sounded- and "felt"- pretty "tubey", though!

 

Actually cool amps in their own right. I wouldn't mind having one, they'd make a great addition as an option and back-up. They had a lot of good, well thought-out features; I believe that they had some models with stereo output and I/O...

 

Though a different approach, I'd have to say that they're comparable in tube-like qualities to the Tech 21 Sans-Amp line.

[fantasticsound]

Hey, Phaeton! I still have the 1978 Peavey Pacer my parents bought my older brother, along with the Peavey T-60 they bought at the same time. It needs to be overhauled, though. It's one of my summer projects I'm bound and determined to complete this year!

 

But as to early SS amps, no one has mentioned Norlin/Gibson's 1970's SS amps branded as Lab Series. These have come into vogue in the past 10 years. I toured for a short time with a group whose guitar player used one onstage. It sounded great.

 

Here\'s a web page with info about the Lab Series. The L7 is the most coveted, live performance amp in the line. There are links to scans of the schem and board layout.

 

Dennyf beat me to mentioning Pearce Amps. I played Pearce amps at Gand Music, outside Chicago, in the 1980's and was smitten! They were fantastic. But I couldn't come close to affording one and never managed to purchase one. They're crystal clear, but absolutely not bland like many SS amps tend to be.

[Caevan O’Shite]

"...no one has mentioned Norlin/Gibson's 1970's SS amps branded as Lab Series..."

 

...except for 'gauss 'n' gabriel...

 

(Just razzin' ya, Neil; excellent post, as usual!)

[fantasticsound]

Originally posted by Gabriel E.:

...BB King (Lab Series - While it was also a Norlin company, Lab Series was NOT produced by Gibson)...

That's not entirely true. While Lab Series was a separate company, everything I've read about them says Norlin borrowed heavily from Gibson and Moog research in design and manufacturing of the Lab Series amps.

 

I missed d. Gauss's mention of B.B. King. Gabriel simply typed faster than me.

[myles_rose]

Some were pretty awful from some accounts such as the Fender "Zodiac sign" series. Their Deluxe Reverb and Twin Reverb SS models were not much better. But ... I'd love to have one or two of these for the fun factor.

 

Some of the GREAT ones were Standel, Jordan, and Acoustic.

 

Lots of the Accoutic amps on stage at Woodstock with many of the performers. The Doors used these too quite a bit.

[The Geoff]

Actually, I have two which I use as my main amps - still!!!

 

Both are MAINE ss amps. I don't think these were on sale in the US. They came along at much the same time as the original HH amps.

 

I bought new in the mid seventies a Musician Head giving 80(ish) watts through 16 Ohms, with the matching 2 x 12 cab (Celestion G12-65s closed back). This is pretty bassy/middy sort of tone along the Marshall model of sound. I use this for gigs in bigger halls, as it's a bit more focused than my Fender Studio 85, (1x12 open back) whose tone I love, although their isn't a lot between them in either power or volume - the 2x12 closed back is just more punchy.

 

I also recently picked up a Maine model 150 lead/bass 2x12 combo which I use for bass. It is PLENTY loud on the bass channel although tonally the lead channel is very disappointing. I have a couple of odd speakers in it that seem to work (Fane Studio KT100 twin cone and a Far Easter 250watt unbranded). I use a pedal as a pre-amp and I can get it to sound pretty good up to pain level.

 

These have been in use for 30 years and are obviously pretty reliable. They are both Loud Enough for my purpose, but neither is the greatest tone machine in the world.

 

When I win the lottery, I'll get some decent valve amps (not necessarily new).

 

Both can be overdriven, but as has been already stated, most amps in the 60's and 70's were designed to be clean. I tried the early HH and found them to be clinically clean - the Maine is 'dirtier'. The separate head is quite nice with a bit of EQing, but the combo is rough. I tend to set clean and use FX to get my distortion.

 

Hope this is of interest,

 

Geoff

[phaeton]

Excellent responses, folks This is very enjoyable and informative. Don't stop here!

 

Neil, regarding the Pacer, PM me if you want a schematic.

 

Part of the reason I ask these questions is morbid curiosity, but also because i like SS amps, especially for high-gain sounds. I've got a small tube combo which rules, but it has some well-defined abilities and limitations, and much as i hate to say it, it doesn't always match my playing style.

 

Like Myles said, sometimes mediocre equipment is fun to have around just for kicks. I will also note that Myles was probably the first person I ever met to justify my owning of said Pacer when I asked a minor repair question or two

 

I played a Peavey once in a pawn shop that looked older than my Pacer. I forget what model it was, but the distortion channel literally did nothing but fart. Like the bottom end of the absolute worst fuzz circuit you've ever heard being blasted through a razored speaker cone.

 

Say what you want, but stuff like that just fascinates me

[picker]

I had a Heathkit 40 watt solid state amp that I and my father put together from a kit back about 1967. It sucked. Bad.

[the stranger]

From what I know about researching an amp I have is that Vox switched over to ss in '65.

From what I can determine, the Vox Berkeley II I have is the last year that it was made with tubes.

 

The first appearance of The Berkeley was called the Berkeley II Super Reverb, which was the tube version of this amplifier model. It has two cathode biased EL-84's along with an EZ81 rectifier, two ECC83 (12AX7) and one ECC82 (12AU7) tubes.

 

By the end of 1965, Thomas had introduced its first transisitorized version of The Berkeley - The Berkeley II Super Reverb. This model utilized Germanium transistors in the output section and the pre-amp was hard wired to the power section.

http://www.voxshowroom.com/us/amp/berk.html

 

http://www.voxshowroom.com/ct/amp/us/berk.gif

 

Sadly, the amp isn't currently functioning and needs a complete overhaul. I haven't taken it in for an estimate because I'm sure it's going to cost an arm and a leg to get it back in action.

 

I need to, though. For one, a PROCO Rat 2 through this amp was one of the best guitar tones I've had the pleasure of playing.

Two, for 17 watts, this sucker is louder than any amp I've played, except for my buddies Peavey Butcher head (run through two ADA 2x12's....remember those?)

[fantasticsound]

Originally posted by phaeton:

...Neil, regarding the Pacer, PM me if you want a schematic...

Thanks, but I ordered schems for both the T-60 and the Pacer from Peavey years ago. Still have 'em. I'm just really bad at reading them!

 

Want to come over and.. er.. experiment with my Pacer?!? Maybe I can convince Lee Flier to show up with hers! (Oops! Maybe not. I think three Peavey Pacer amps in the same viscinity is a sign of the apocolypse! )

[Blue Strat]

I was going to say that Vox made a lot of SS amps early in the 60's, but The Stranger beat me to it. The tremolo on the Kustom that John Fogerty used is cool. A lot of the SS amps were considered state-of-the-art and were top-of-the-line (read as "expensive") amps. The designers tried to add lots of features like tremolo & reverb and other things.

[phaeton]

Maybe I can convince Lee Flier to show up with hers!

 

Actually, i think she got rid of it. Sort of a funny story, but I dunno if i'm priveliged to tell it. And you know, she tries to come across as some bonified Gear Snob, but i can tell she really wants in on the Vintage Peavey tones and Classic Korean Squire Strat sound

 

(j/k Lee )

 

I took the big, bulky, ugly Peavey logo off the front of mine, (and sorta lost it) but nowadays i kinda wish i still had it, of all oddments. I couldn't find an "AMC" logo so it became a "Ford Pacer". It sounds much better, now.

 

Btw, what's yer amp doing (or not doing)? And is it a Pacer (A) (w/ footswitchable distortion) or a Pacer (B) (w/o)?

[doc taz]

For years, Ty Tabor of King's X used Gibson's Lab Series amps. In the early 1990's, he had some LS amps taken out of their original enclosures, and put them in a custom rackmountable box.

 

Here's a pic of the old amps, which were recently sold on eBay:

http://www.tytabor.net/images/lab.jpg

click on the pic to see how he liked to use them

[Blue Strat]

Ebay had several old transistor amps, some of which look pretty darn cool. I kind of regret selling my old Peavey Rage 158.

[phaeton]

Plenty o' Peavey Rages on ebay

 

Btw Neil, is the T-60 an amp, or a guitar?

[fantasticsound]

Originally posted by phaeton:

Maybe I can convince Lee Flier to show up with hers!

 

Actually, i think she got rid of it. Sort of a funny story, but I dunno if i'm priveliged to tell it. And you know, she tries to come across as some bonified Gear Snob, but i can tell she really wants in on the Vintage Peavey tones and Classic Korean Squire Strat sound

 

(j/k Lee )

 

I took the big, bulky, ugly Peavey logo off the front of mine, (and sorta lost it) but nowadays i kinda wish i still had it, of all oddments. I couldn't find an "AMC" logo so it became a "Ford Pacer". It sounds much better, now.

 

Btw, what's yer amp doing (or not doing)? And is it a Pacer (A) (w/ footswitchable distortion) or a Pacer (B) (w/o)?

You mean Lee's not the pack rat I am?!? Lucky her!

 

I like your style. AMC would have been the way to go, had you found one to get the logo from.

 

Mine is the original article. A 1977 or '78 vintage. Footswitchable overdrive (as the label states.) and Metal Knobs. I just hated when they went to plastic knobs in the early 1980's. The Accusonic spring reverb has a sticker on the pan that states: "Built by beautiful women in climate controlled conditions in Baraboo, Wisconsin." (I think that was it. I'll have to check tonight.)

 

Either way, it was the first amp I ever played through, the amp I used on my first gig in H.S. and I still own it. It's out of commission right now. After a few minutes of low level amplification, it starts reproducing the signal as a triangle or square wave. Any idea where I should look first. (I'd be surprised if the speaker isn't shot, but I think there's something more going on and I don't know how to test circuits, transistors, capacitors, etc. for proper operation.

[phaeton]

I think mine says "built by beautiful women in climate controlled conditions in Lexington KY", but i haven't looked at it in years. Maybe it's Lafayette...

 

And yeah.. "overdrive", not distortion. Provided by a pair of germanium diodes, no less!

 

Not sure where to start, but i bet some noodling and testing of things could figure it out.

[Robman2]

I still have an Acoustic 150 head.

 

Aspen Pittman would know about this stuff.

 

R

[Caevan O’Shite]

Clearly, the problem lies somewhere between the input-jack and the speaker-output...

[fantasticsound]

Originally posted by Caevan O'Shite:

Clearly, the problem lies somewhere between the input-jack and the speaker-output...

Have you heard me play? Could just be my skill. (Or lack thereof! )

[Caevan O’Shite]

Oh, a wise-acher, eh?!

[Blue Strat]

Originally posted by fantasticsound:

It's out of commission right now. After a few minutes of low level amplification, it starts reproducing the signal as a triangle or square wave. Any idea where I should look first. (I'd be surprised if the speaker isn't shot, but I think there's something more going on and I don't know how to test circuits, transistors, capacitors, etc. for proper operation.

What's the input/output options on that thing? If you could scan and e-mail me a schematic, I'll give it a look and see if I can develop a plan of attack.

[phaeton]

Bluestrat:

 

PM me an email address and you'll have a schematic in pdf form

[Blue Strat]

Phaeton,

 

click on the little grey envelope at the top of my post, it'll give you my current address.

[phaeton]

Bombs away!

 

btw, that lil green bottle that your Southparked Self is holding... what's in it?