Friendly w/ pedals, *reliable* SS head

Yorkville 400B
Hartke 2500 3500 1000
The GK 800 RB currently in the classifieds for 175$
Fender BXR
Kustom 1200

 

GK 700RB II can be had for around $300.00 - $350.00 if you buy used.....

 

Not sure if any head, SS or tube, is friendly with all pedals. I do know that the Mesa Walkabout sounds great and so does the GK MB200. (I only have tube heads right now, but those two are very nice.)

 

I have found that GK is more than pedal friendly for the most part. I can't think of any effects that didn't gel with mine.

 

GK rb series or most any Peavey are some of the most reliable out there IME. Okder Hartke Transient Attack heads as well, if you can find one that doesn't already look like it's been through a war. Ampeg SVT Pro series SS heads are also a field proven reliable amp. Pre-fender SWR SM series amps as well, although their eq controls aren't exactly simple, but very good. This coming from someone who doesn't think any of the newer micro amps have been around long enough to even know if they're reliable long term or not. I still play 20-30 year old GK's and Peavey's, because they sound good and still haven't broken down on me.

 

Need more info. How much power do you want, and what's your price range?

 

What speakers and how many are you using. Huge power doesn't get you much if any further than medium power due to most speakers not being able to do anything with it. FWIW, I do outdoor gigs, rock gigs, etc. with 300 watts and a speaker compliment that runs 100db or so at 1 watt. So, what's the rest of your gear and what defines expensive? All those amps I listed are available used. Something used in good condition gets you better quality than something budget line new does. Dallas should have a pretty good craigslist martket, if not, we do down here....it's the only music store I need.

 

Some of us think most Ampegs are pretty sweet. But any decent amp will do you, just need to find the one you like best to tide you over till the inevitable SVT

 

I listed the Pro series.

3-pro's are pretty common around here. Not sure what does well with pedals means, but with a real SVT, you don't need any.

 

You can find an Ampeg PF-500 for less than $300 used these days. I find mine pedal friendly, plenty of power and the built in compressor works well.

 

+1 to this. The built in compressor is the key phrase here IMO. With my tube amps, the tube gain stage on the input really helps to mellow out some of my more over-the-top pedals in a pleasant way - or at least, I've been using them live so much that my settings are built around how a tube amp reacts to the pedals. That said, with most solid-state amps (or when taking a direct signal from my pedal board) the pedals react much differently. Having a slight bit of compression on the front end of my PF-500 really brings the amp into tube-ish reactivity overall. At least I think that's what's going on. Either way, it works well for me.

 

Huh?

Unless a tube goes bad, you'll never have to spend money more than once. Any SS head could have a problem with internal parts as well.

 

If you can find a T-MAX (no longer in production), those are one of Peaveys gems. Sorry, mine's not for sale.

 

There's a huge difference between a hybrid amp with a tube or three in the pre-amp and a full tube amp with an output transformer. You'd do yourself a favor to familiarize yourself with the difference as you're missing out on a good section of the bass amp market that might fit your needs fairly well. FWIW, a hybrid amp with a tube in the pre-amp would last decades before the tube fails unless you're running the tube at distortion levels of gain.

 

+1

Preamp tubes can last for decades, and if one does wear out, they're only $10-$15 and you just plug the new one in yourself. No biasing, no tech, etc. Some of the most reliable amps I've ever owned are full-on tube amps, others hybrids, others full-on SS. Having tubes in there has nothing to do with reliability or lack of it. I don't know who keeps spreading that myth but it needs to end. If you run your amp cranked to 11 every night, yeah, it's going to fail sooner, tubes or not. FWIW, even power tubes that are adjusted properly and not abused last for thousands and thousands of hours of play time. There are plenty out there older than me and I'm almost 40.

 

I've got a pair of power tubes in my Super Reverb that are likely older than you, and I've cranked that amp like crazy many times. But while it does take its toll on tubes to crank, being scared that you'll have to spend a few bucks now and then on a tube is just silly. I'm down with choices, and I know not everyone likes tube amps, but I found a problem with my SVT that I fixed with replacement of a single tube in 10 minutes by myself. Had that been a SS amp, I'd have had to take it to a shop. Plus it sounds way better than anything else. I'll spend a few bucks now and then for that.