Let's start the Solid State debate.

I am thinking about buying a soild state head (50 or maybe 100 watts).

Any ideas?

Do you want it to have DSP for distortion or simply a loud clean sound?

THE solid state amp as far as I'm concerned is a Roland JC-120 (available as a head or combo)....I've had 3 in my career since the 80s. It's clean, loud and can get some really unique tones....when I run my PodXT through it, it sounds like just about any amp I emulate. It does some really cool stereo chorusing going direct into the amp. Fills a room like no other amp I know when playing jazz or blues. This amp really brings out the sound of the instrument. Good clean fun...

If you want something with a bit of bite (perhaps emulation of a tube amp), I've played through the Line6 Vetta heads/combos...and have heard good things about their HD147s (very loud)....A buddy of mine plays through the Vox Valvetronics (combo), and is happy with the result. These are basically loud clean amps with the modeler built in...I actually prefer the Roland...simply because it can sound great without any modeling.

Although not really a head, I also play through a Bose PS/1 system, which is very very clean, solid state, and ideal for running a modeler though. It's huge and awkward looking (I've had folks tell me it looks like a palm tree!), but it disperses sound better than any full stack with better bass response. It doubles as a small PA, and works well for acoustic instruments. It's 4 pieces and takes up a lot of room in a small car (although much less than a full stack). The main drawback is that it's impossible to mic. I sometimes run two lines out of the PodXT if I'm playing through a large PA in a large room or outdoors....one for using the Bose as my monitor, and one for going direct or into a smaller mic'd amp (AC-15 pointed at the wall). In smaller clubs, I don't even run through the PA, and people in the back of the room still compliment me on my tone.

All of these amps are great tools... but for me, they lack the authenticity of a tube amp, particularly in the studio. There is a bright attack that I can only get from a Class A tube amp going through speakers that I haven't been able to emulate with any modeling technology.... but tube amps are very finicky (warm up time, potential of faulty tubes, prune to noise, very unidirectional).

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I used to get bass lessons at school, and my guitar teacher had a JC120, sounded beautiful. You can only buy these second hand now, right?

Nope....

Buy Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus Amp online at Musician's Friend

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wow, they're still going!

I remember plugging into a Roland Jazz Chorus amp while I was in college in the 80s, at the height of the "ultra clean" guitar movement with bands like...the Fixx, Haircut 100, Scritti Politti...

I hit the first chord and was blown away by how LOUD that amp was, and how there was not a hint of breakup. Of course, today I'm looking for just the opposite - a quiet amp with lots of overdrive.

Roland doesn't want to mess with a good thing. Actually, short of studio monitors, a JC-120 is probably the best guitar amp to run a Pod into. I did a gig about a year ago through one, and I remember being astonished how good the Line6 emulation sounded through it...perhaps better than through my Bose PS/1....and certainly easier to cart around. I even had it on its side, so it looking like a mini-half stack and projected higher.. When I play in the SF Bay Area, that's what I play though...

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