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Songs that featured solid-state guitar amps

#81
Canned Heat...good one.

Also not 70s/80s, but I think we ought to consider Bob Log III here. I'm not going to post any video links because I want to remain welcome at Talkbass, and the videos have a lot of women but not a lot of shirts. But here he is in all his jumpsuit, bubble-shield, helmet, phone-handset-mic glory...with one of his little SS amps behind him on a beer crate. Vox Pathfinder here, but sometimes it's a Peavey Backstage.
0011-Bob-Log-III-by-Dena-Flows-copy-2.jpg
 
#82
swarfrat said:
I dunno about "financial necessity" - stuff that made it onto records in those days was generally well financed. But if you're looking for a bad solid state sound pre-1980, I'll nominate Jimi Hendrix's use of the Fuzz Face.
A wall of Plexi Marshalls at his disposal and a license to kill with them, and still ... Fuzz Face. :vomit:
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So, what should he have used instead? A Boss Metal Pedal?
 
#84
InhumanResource said:
If I remember correctly there's a bunch of stuff that used crappy sounding board distortion back then, if you can't that as solid state amplification. Reeling in the Years has that sound as I recall.
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Well to some people (myself included) that's an iconic sound--that Neve mic pre slammed to the red. That sound is on a lot of records (I bought a JHS Colour Box just so I could cop that myself;))Then there's tracks like "Black Dog" by Zep, "Revolution" by The Beatles - guitar straight into the board....
 
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#85
pbass2 said:
Well to some people (myself included) that's an iconic sound--that Neve mic pre slammed to the red. That sound is on a lot of records (I bought a JHS Colour Box just so I could cop that myself;))Then there's tracks like "Black Dog" by Zep, "Revolution" by The Beatles - guitar straight into the board....
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Sorry, no offense intended. Never liked that particular flavor myself but it's all good.
 
#88
mexicanyella said:
I shadowed a recording engineer once, who was recording a local punk band. The band's guitarist came in with a solid-state Crate half-stack and once he was set up, started riffing nervously and cranking out that dense, intense high-gain buzz. The engineer muttered something about the amp sounding like an air hose and set up a little Fender silverface bass combo (Musicmaster Bass? It was kind of tall and had three knobs) next to it and took a second line out of the guitar kid's stereo chorus to feed it. The guitar kid looked pretty skeptical but later, in the control room, the engineer brought up the Crate's fader and then eased in a little of the "lightly crunchy" little Fender tube amp and BOOM. It sounded rad. The Crate was supplying the teeth and the Fender was adding some warm mids. Really cool technique.
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I've been in a few bands with a guy who has only ever used a crate 212 combo, not sure of the model but it's line 120 watts and has built in effects that he doesn't use, red faceplate and "custom design" speakers. Anyways, he gets a really useable live tone out of the thing. Studio, I think it could use some work, especially with how much he insists on doubling and tripling up on guitars. Maybe something along these lines could help.
 
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#93
Bob_Ross said:
David Torn too; his Cloud About Mercury album from ‘86 or ‘87 was recorded with a Pearce.
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I've got a bunch of Pearce gear that I use mostly for bass. The overdrive is really, really good. Nothing like a a tube amp at full-tilt ... definitely a solid-state tone. But there's something about it that really works great, especially with a PBass in a rock setting. Great EQ curves, too. Tons of control over the all-important mids. Plus the ability to blend clean with overdrive. Pretty cool stuff.

5C686554-0AFA-4D11-BDDA-501707CBCC13_zpsgbbcrsxh.jpg
 
#95
LanEvo said:
There's also the Marshall JMP-1 preamp and "Valvestate" power amps. I know the guys from ZZ Top (and many others) rely on them for live use.

Billy Gibbons live rig
View attachment 3314224

Dusty Hill live rig
View attachment 3314225
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What's funny about Billy Gibbons is that he uses that Digitech MEQ to make every guitar he uses sound as close to his beloved Pearly Gates as possible, even the Teles. Seems to work, too.
 
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#96
Jack Butler said:
Also, I'm not exactly a famous recording artist, but one of the best sounding amps I've ever owned was a Marshall MOSFET 100. The cleans were decent, but that thing did AC/DC type crunch better than any amp I've owned.
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Yeah, the mosfet series in the 80's were actually quite good. I bought a Lead 12 last year because it was cheap and sounded awesome. My buddy in high school (yeah, high school) had the full stack in his bedroom with the 1965 4x10 cabinets.
 
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