Solid-state amps 1977-82. Do you know any?

[jamerson_fan]

Hi

I have a Peavey Mark 4 bass-amp from '78 that I'm quite pleased with.
Just wondering if anyone knows which SS bass amps were made/available in these tube-dominated years?

I can think of these:

-Peavey Mark-series
-Acoustic
-Traynor Monoblock I & II

Do you guys know anyone else?

regards
Magnus

 

[Ampeg SVT]

Sunn?

 

[Merton]

Trace Elliot appeared end of the '70s.

 

[4Mal]

Lessee, Acoustic, Ampeg, GK, Marshall, Kustom, Sunn, Fender ... tube dominated ? Hardly ...

 

[KPAX]

I don't know if those years were exactly tube dominated:

Acoustic, Sunn, Quilter/QSC, GMT/GK, HH were all good plus a LOT of bass players were using component systems using various preamps/biamps (like Alembic) with Crown and other power amps.

 

[JTE]

I was in music retail at that time....

Yamaha had three series of amps over that period, and the Mk II series were very good. I'm not such a fan of either the first series or the Mk III however.

Kustom was still struggling for that era too. Acoustic Control ruled the SS amp leagues and probably high-end bass amps in general at the time. Fender's first good SS amp came at the end of your time frame too. Don't recall the model, but it was a 2 space rack mount with crossover and pretty sophisticated EQ. They also made a 200 WRMS solid state amp with a graphic EQ that was OK, but not real competitin to the Peavey MkIV. Gibson had the Lab Series which were really pretty good. Standell was gone (thank goodness!) by then however.

jte

 

[GeoffByrne]

I had a Maine guitar amp, but they made a bass version too.

 

[Stumbo]

Standell was gone (thank goodness!) by then however.

I played through a Standell stack (2x15 w/1x15 combo on top) with a '63 Hofner back in the day. I thought it sounded great. Bought a Sunn 2000s though.

 

[bigbajo60]

First "high-tech" solid state amp that gave me my first case of G.A.S. was the Cerwin Vega BG-250 with the matching 1x18+1x12 (or was it 1x10?) cab.

The first "real" amp I actually owned was a circa 1979 Peavey Mark III Bass 400 sitting on top of a Peavey 2x15 cab. A real workhorse of an amp!

 

[Interceptor]

I don't remember being as concerned with the finer details of tone in the '70's.

I was happy with anything that could keep up with a mic'd drummer and not break down real often. Solid state at the time brought the promise of higher reliability and more power. I used Standel and Sunn solid state gear with good success. Several other players I knew had success with Kustom and Peavey.

Around the guys I knew in that time frame, all that gear was considered to be in the same class, and you bought whatever you got the best deal on.

 

[JTE]

I played through a Standell stack (2x15 w/1x15 combo on top) with a '63 Hofner back in the day. I thought it sounded great. Bought a Sunn 2000s though.

Well, I only played through one Standell that was working, so my comment had nothing to do with tone. But they were impossible to repair. Those little epoxy-filled modules couldn't be purchased after the original designer/owner died. So, if your Standell amp died, it was generally time to buy a new amp.

jte

 

[markorbit]

Don't forget HH!!!

 

[busmandan]

The Sunn Coliseum and Acoustic 360/370 were the SS amps to beat in the '70's. The first amp I ever bought was an Acoustic 140 w/106 2 X 15" cabinet, followed a couple of years later by a GK 400B.

-- Dan --

 

[funkytoe]

I have a 1978 Roland RB-120 head. It was an import from Japan. Fully solid-state and LOUD!!! The Bass version of the JC-120.

 

[xk49w]

I might be remembering (eek!) a solid-state amp around 1970 called a Coral. 100W. It was a head/bottom combo and maybe the bottom was a 6x10. They were relatively inexpensive too IIRC. Everybody wanted one. Anyone else remember that one?

I did find a Coral on Invalid Link Removed.

 

[60bass]

I might be remembering (eek!) a solid-state amp around 1970 called a Coral. 100W. It was a head/bottom combo and maybe the bottom was a 6x10. They were relatively inexpensive too IIRC. Everybody wanted one. Anyone else remember that one?

I did find a Coral on Invalid Link Removed.

Oh yea remember them fondly. My cabinet was a tall monster that had three 15's in it. Sounded pretty good too. I didn't have the amp, just the cab. Powered it with a Fender Showman head. It was a nice souding rig for that time. I think Carvin was doing SS rigs too around that time.

 

[xk49w]

Oh yea remember them fondly. My cabinet was a tall monster that had three 15's in it. Sounded pretty good too. I didn't have the amp, just the cab. Powered it with a Fender Showman head. It was a nice souding rig for that time. I think Carvin was doing SS rigs too around that time.

Three 15's. I remember. A friend of mine used two of those bottoms.

 

[fdeck]

I went with Peavey in 1981 -- the "centurion" head. It got me through the next 15 years before I downsized to the little GK combo.

 

[Lowbrow]

I had a great Yamaha B100 SS head and matching 2x15 cab rig. Those 100 watts were all I needed for about 15 years of heavy gigging. Heavy as hell, bass, middle, and treble, bright, and distortion knobs.

The cab was really full range - vertically side-ported with plenty of oomph with a really clear top end; I received nothing but compliments on the rig, except from the roadies. But just about all bass amps were built like that back then; even a "small" amp, like the indestructible Peavey TNT 1x15 combo, weighed a freakin' ton.