My Experience With & Thoughts on Sleeper Amps [solid state discussion] (Guitar)
submitted by Hall_of_Cost to Guitar 1.4 years ago
7 comments
I've been sitting on a lot of cheap solid state amps. I've been picking up cool amps that I find for under the market value, collecting sleepers and stuff. Mostly, I started doing it because I didn't trust my Peavey Deuce to last and wanted a lighter weight replacement. Also, I wanted to test out some older practice amps and see what tones I could get.
It's been really fun, and I encourage you guys to scoop up some of the 80s Peaveys out there. I got a Backstage Plus for a hundred bucks a couple of years ago or so. I fried it by plugging in ear buds to the headphone jack and had do open it up and swap out the fried parts. Noticed that it had fried once already, probably a similar story, somebody used high impedance earbuds in an old appliance. Back in the day, headphones didn't have 20,000Ω they had 4-8Ω values. I think the Peavey could've taken it if I hadn't been playing totally cranked, because it lasted for an hour like that before I started to smell smoke.
It was really late, like 3A.M.. All the lights were out, I just had computer screen illumination to see by. I started to smell smoke and turned the lights on. My Backstage Plus had become a magic smoke machine lol, but it still sounded good! Anyway, when I replaced the fried parts I also swapped out the opamps. These are little operational amplifier IC (integrated circuits) that act as transistors. There are many opamps to choose from, they come in standard sizes and normally are interchangeable because they share the exact same shape. These IC chips can change how your tone sounds, because they operate at different values and perform different functions from model to model. Even the same model IC, from the same manufacturer, will sound a little different chip to chip just because of the doping/lottery. Most have tolerances that allow you to hear differences from chip to chip.
Since I'm in a shitty apartment at the moment. I decided to use opamps that would quiet my amp. The Backstage Plus is an incredibly loud 10" combo amp, I think 40w, but either way it was way too loud and you all know amps can be too quiet on 1 and "the cops are here" on volume 2 at times (there's probably other ways to get a better sweep, but this IC method is cool). So, with the aftermarket ICs, the amp sounds like gold at low volumes. And because I think the ones I put in there require more voltage to work at their best and intended than the Backstage Plus provides them, they choke out like a fuzz pedal circuit.
This amp went from having decent solid state "breakup" and early transtube tech from peavey, to having pretty much any type of fuzz you can imagine. It has such amazing velcro-fuzz sounds, and can fuzz out so hard it doesn't output when you dime it. The volume went from too fuckin loud to "hey this apartment amp might keep up with the drummer at practice". I've loaned it to a friend, but when I get a chance I'll load up a soundclip so you guys can hear.
I really like the Peaveys from the 80s and 90s. I really want a Stereo Chorus from Peavey, and should be on everyone's radar especially if you find one for under 300 bucks. Here are some amps I've got that I really like that you can find for cheap still.
Randall Commander IV - 4x10 120w
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The Commander IV is from the mid to late 70s and I call it the poor man's Super Reverb. It's got Eminence Alnico 10" speakers (mine are from 77) and these babies are worth more than the amp costs. I paid 180 bucks for this gem, because it needs new filter caps. It makes a loud pop when you turn it on. That could be caused by many things but ultimately what does it is this; one side of the speaker gets more power faster than the other side. There's plenty of videos on this, as it is a common problem with amps from this era. Shouldn't be too hard to fix, just haven't done it yet. I do play it occasionally (even though I should fix it first) and honestly it may sound better than my tube amps. In a sound test between the Commander IV, Peavey Deuce, and Fender Vibrolux Reverb, one friend of mine preferred the Randall Commander. This is at apartment volume, I doubt it will shine like the Deuce or Vibrolux Reverb at higher volumes, but I want to test and see soon. It has very responsive tremelo that has great range. Kurt Cobain used a Commander head for the Bleach album, or maybe Insecticide I'm not totally sure, but the amp can sound great in many genres.
Yamaha JX65D - 2x12 65w?
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This is an 80s or 90s (it's hard to find documentation on this one) Yam with nifty speakers, bad distortion, and amazing cleans. Crystal clear and responsive Jap speakers that break up nicely. The amp doesn't have a great dirty channel for rock, but it does a good job of giving a clean boost kind of tone if you lay off the distortion. What the amp is great for is being a pedal platform, in my opinion. However there is a video of a fellow in Scandinavia who pretty much dimes everything (I've not been able to in the apartment) and his sounds like gold. He credits the speakers. I paid 150 for this thing and it is worth every penny. At practice it had no trouble cutting through the bass/drums. The reverb is a bit lacking because it has really small springs/tank but honestly most reverbs go too hard for me anyway.
Peavey Envoy - 1x10 35w?
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This was a 200 dollar closet queen teal striper that honestly looks brand new. Which is why I paid the price for it. I think you can get a good model for about 150, I wouldn't pay much more again but I'm glad I got this pristine model. It is the little brother to the Peavey Bandit which many think is the best solid state amp dollar for dollar. I'm not sure, I love this amp and it is what I'm playing through now in my bedroom. However, I think the 10" speaker robs the Envoy of the tones that the Bandit can get. It's either that or the Scheffield/Scorpion/BlackWidows are 10x better than the Blue Marvel that mine has. I'd be interested in changing the speaker and seeing if it sounded better. Stock, it really wants to sound like a mid 80s synthy/progrock amp and dialing in classic fendery tones is hard. I've been playing the clean channel and just using my pedals for distortion because the distortion makes me feel like I'm trying out for Boy George's band. The backstage plus has vastly superior out of the box tones.
Finally, the used gear market is wild. Selling and trading to stores is a joke these days. The margins are predatory in many places I've gone. I was offered one hundred and fifty dollars for a NOS Traynor head at one store, I guess that's just their way of saying they can't sell it. I think big ass heads sit longer in stores and if you're going to trade, they'll want practice amps and cheap guitars. Shit they can sell quickly. The private market seems to be leveling out and prices aren't insane as a year ago, this is cool.
What are some cooler old solid state amps you've messed with lately?
What are your thoughts on the used gear market?
