We cranked three solid state amps... | Thomann

Solid state amps deserve our love and the ultimate scientific duo Kris and Guillome will demonstrate the potential of an elite selection of Solid State Amps, of course cranked.
Gear used: tho.mn/jyrzy
Recorded in Presonus Studio One: bit.ly/S1Pro6
Recorded and mixed with Universal Audio: tho.mn/uadx1
Monitors optimised through Sonarworks: tho.mn/sonar
Interesting bits and pieces:
0:00 intro
2:59 Orange Super Crush 100 Combo Cranked
5:09 Boss Katana 100 MKII Cranked
7:02 Roland JC-120 Cranked
11:26 Orange Super Crush 100 Combo with Pedals
12:13 Boss Katana 100 MKII with Pedals
13:03 Roland JC-120 with Pedals
14:57 Conclusion
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[@GitShiddy]

Honestly the JC-120 made the other two sound like toys. No wonder that thing is a heralded amp.

[@vincentl.9469]

The JC 120 became famous for it's clean sound...and I can see why. Overdriven it's just awful ..imo

[@what1864]

@@vincentl.9469 thought is sounded wonderful cranked , sounded like a dumble overdrive ...

[@reidanderson8734]

I’ve owned several brown, black and silverface amps and they all sounded great, absolutely. About a decade ago I was turned onto teal Peavey Bandits which eventually lead me to my Quilter amps. The Peavey’s sounded good and the Quilters sound great! To me there is no tube vs SS, just what works for you. If it sounds good it is good!

[@BigEdWo]

i bought a jc120 in 1978. still have it. it's a great amp, amazing tone even at living-room volume. it's a man's amp, you need to be able to have control over your instrument, because it will show everything. but in the end this is what you want. it's heavy, unbelievable. and very very bright. if you play hard rock or heavy metal it's probably not your thing, because of that brightness. what else can i say. i came back to this amp after testing some other things, because it's just so great. no problem in band context, it cuts through very easy and still sounds nice. since it's too loud and too heavy i would choose the jc-40 probably instead.

[@ericv7720]

Whether tube or solid state, it's about the circuit design. I've heard amazing solid states, and mediocre tube amps. That said, I'm a metal guy, and I'd love to get a hold of one of those old Crates or Randalls!

[@JoeBaermann]

I got an RH200SC G2 in mint condition for $100 recently, completely does the Dimebag thing but also prettyer cleans, crunch, and lead. So it is possible to find them in good condition without breaking the bank. Only downside is that Randall made them for 4 ohm on the stereo outputs to get full wattage, allthough it can get loud enough with 2 linket 16 ohm cabs, but to use the chorus it needs to be stereo. But since I mainly use a digital preamp pedal I prefer an Orange Pedal Baby or the clean channel of a Crush 120H.

[@FooVines]

hey guys, i just commented on another video about you not mentioning hearing preotection. so it is nice to see that you did it here right in the beginning :)

[@BrandonOutside]

Both of these maestros continually proving that if you can play great, you'll sound great! 🤘 Also, lmao at 9:29 with the muffled earplug effect 😆

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Well thank you so very much 😍 glad you enjoyed the video and the edit haha

The late great Wilko Johnson used a JC120 for a number of years from the late 80s and it was my favourite sound of his. If you were in front of it, it sounded like breaking glass. Absolutely fantastic.

[@joehoppard814]

Great description

[@what1864]

what a great under rated guitar player with a unique style all his own .

[@Da_Publick]

Do you know what effects he ran that amp through to get that sound?

@@Da_Publick Who, Wilko? He didn’t use pedals. I saw tell an audience at a Q&A, that when asked by journalists about pedals, he’d ask what he needed pedals for. “I’m a guitarist,” he’d say, “not a bloody cyclist.”

[@Da_Publick]

I meant in the studio. If he played that amp, the amp's signal was sent into a mixer with advanced EQ, and probably other sound reinforcement. Kudos to him for not using effects, though.

[@joejohn6694]

9:13 I died. Whoever is editing is a master comedian.

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Thanks man, I was crying when I saw that. I agree, our audio dude, Manos did a fantastic job editing this video. He deserves a comedy award. 😆 //Kris

[@GraniteSoundtrack]

Nice! I gigged some with pedals into a JC120 as backline. It preferred it to a Marshall head and 4x12 cab because it was consistent and easy to set up quickly. I knew what I was starting with. It’s a good amp.

[@tonedowne]

The JC is an absolutely monstrous amp. I spent years ignoring them and eventually had to play through one, and it blew me away.

[@rallereloaded2180]

Holy crap, that Roland had some sounds in it!!!!! LOVED it!!

[@matzer8846]

Great demo ... - the Orange super Crush is a great modern amp - Katana ... YUP - JC ... amazing "stage authority" - still after all those years The JC-120 came to Germany when i was like 19 ... mid 70s and i was impressed : even liked the distortion and the chorus was just amazing! So i acquired a - more flat compatible - JC-22 when it came out ... still toooo loud but i love it

[@T.m.K]

Crush + LP was excellent! I waited for that comparison. I have an older version crush, for the clean channel I like to set: Vol Ch. at 11-12 o'clock, Bass at 9 o'clock, Treble at 13 o'clock, Master at 13-14 o'clock and I leave that way. If I want more Volume, I add by Volume on the channel side. You can easily have 2 type of distortion, similar to a tube amp, from the power section or pre-section. With Jazzmaster sounds a little bit strange, but at home with single and humbucker much more pleasant.

[@Stratisfied22]

Would've liked to see a Quilter combo in there. That's the best solid state amp I've ever played.

[@grilledspaghetti]

Damned right. They are amazing as hell.

[@JH-qg5ho]

Another greaaaat video... Thank you. I liked the JC the most. I now hesitate JC40 or JC22 to play at home... mmhhh I prefer to get 10" speakers but on the other hand the JC22 volume is more adequate 😅 for such purpose.

[@sparkyguitar0058]

My addition to the party ; a Lab Series L5. B B King's s s amp. Not correctly working at this time but my amp guy knows all about them. Another to throw in the basket a Peavey KB60 keyboard amp. Best part of both of these is, I got them free.

[@KellyEastwood855]

You should have turned the amp volume of the Katana all the way up! The amp volume behaves like the master volume of a tube amp, it sounds like a sweating tube amp when dimed! Would be nice to see the overall breakup.

[@DiscoBiscuit21]

I was most surprised by the Orange. It sounded really good in the room mic.

[@iamgribs]

Dimebag Darrell used Randall SS heads. With the parametric EQ. Obviously, this sound is not for everyone, but a lot of people love it and it worked for him.

[@jasondorsey7110]

The marshall vs100 was the best of both worlds, a great pedal platform with built-in tube overdrive

[@olafnelsonduerksen9676]

Guillaume dialing in the Chorus for Chris just sounded magical.

[@scoresandflames]

The Roland JC-120 was the clear winner for me

[@amaup83]

Yes! Crank all JC amps! Would love to see and hear what each of them can do with pedals as well...

[@SomeKindOfMadman]

Not mad at the JC, it’s a decent pedal platform amp if you don’t own a tube amp. Great demo guys, you two are awesome.

[@therewasascene]

JC takes pedals great. RAT is brutal through it. Real chunky.

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

I was so surprised to hear how good it is with pedals. So yeah, I fully agree. //Kris

[@marianocolombatti4942]

people doesn't believe me when I say that a RAT throught a JC is one of my favorite high gain sound

[@therewasascene]

@@marianocolombatti4942 :D Yes! I was loving it combined with the classic 30 but I needed a stereo volume pedal or something to calm down the solid state volume jump compared to the c30

[@francescofusca4466]

My m80 so good crancked on clean channel

[@chrisb8193]

God that Les Paul into that cranked Orange is incredible. The best sound.👌

[@Da_Publick]

Here's the Orange salesman! 😂

[@chrisb8193]

@@Da_PublickLol, I actually only own a couple of Marshalls atm. I DO want that Orange though.

[@evandijk1983]

My amp of choice is a Roland Blues Cube Hot EL84 modified and im getting praise for the sound even too an extent , who needs a tube amp when u have this altough i own one and only use it outside my apartment

[@scottbrodie3071]

That’s an awesome amp I had three of them Roland amps running at once one of each version is was awesome. Any solid state amplifier will benefit from some sort of tube preamp pedal some pedals better than others for this but it’s the main component of circuit before pre amp section which most tube amps use solid state power sections. The fender cyber twin is an example of this trying to have a tube in front of the power section yet mainly solid state circuits. I’m convinced the right tube preamp pedal with solid state amp just as good if not better than an all tube amp.

[@waynedoherty7758]

How do the Blackstar Debut 50 hold up to these? I thought the JC was impressive.

[@matzer8846]

I spot a JC-120 ... great ... this is going to be fun

[@vantonilin]

May have missed it, but I didn't see the Orange drive channel cranked (w/o pedals). Also, the Orange with pedals using the LP. Anyone has timestamps for these?

[@brrblack497]

I always thought the Tech 21 Trademark combos sounded pretty good, but never compared them with anything else.

[@JosephGallagher]

More than the amps, I fell for that Jazzmaster 💙🤍🧡

[@heggy_69]

God that jazz chorus sounded good. Now shove a fuzz into it

[@niasboiii]

Used to own a JC120. Sold it because it is just too heavy to carry. But that stereo reverb sound. Jesus.

[@onlyshallot]

glad to see jazzmaster here, maybe next need to add shoegaze riff

[@Gibson1976uk]

I love the JC vibe! not for the sloppy player who makes too many mistakes! it will highlight you a bit more :)

[@Da_Publick]

love the vibe, hate the bandwagon

[@walkingdirt138]

Dimebag cranked solid states most of his life. Love or hate his tone, he was instantly recognizable.

[@ericv7720]

He also pushed his Randall with an EQ pedal, so his tone was solid state on top of solid state, and he became a legend!

[@motorrebell]

Interesting facts ; Metallica used the JC 120 , John Fogerty (CCR) used a Solid state Kustom K200A-4 amp LIVE , Billy Gibbons - ZZTop also used a solid state Marshall Valvestate 8008 live ! BB KING always used a solid state Lab Series L 5 combo etc .😅👍

[@wildcook5953]

Do a review on the JC40, I play it just as much as my tube amps, it sounds great. Takes time though to dial it in with effects to try to make it more tube like.😮Why aren’t there more stereo combo’s??? An affordable good sounding stereo tube combo would be a bestseller.

[@michaelforde4373]

Darn right there

[@damasterkarej]

Guys, is it possible for you to play in a studio here with drums and bass, so we could see the mix sound with room mics?

[@vincentl.9469]

I notice they were wincing! no surprise as the sounds were dreadful. it takes a good SS well set up, to sound as good as tube amps

[@Musicman3832]

I own a katana and you really have to have it insanely loud for it to break up like that.

[@oliviermalhomme9923]

I loved the Orange for its crunch but darn doesn’t the JC-120 clean so well? And you get that far away clean sound at the tip of your finger and volume !

[@JoeBaermann]

The Orange can clean up well on the gain channel too. With other speakers it can go into more treble and high mids as well, got to keep in mind that the VotW they come with is into the direction of V30.

[@joermnyc]

“These all go to 11.” So many stories of studios hiding the Marshall stack in another room, or in the basement because cranking it up was just so loud it was painful even WITH ear protection. (Or stories of the “original” metal band (up for debate) Blue Cheer out of San Francisco, whose live shows made the audience retreat because being too close to the LOUD amps was simply too painful, AND it made them almost impossible to record in a studio because the microphones would just blow up.)

[@PatTheDude999]

Oh Guys, I have some Marshal Micro Amps and one Mini Tonemaster by Fender and the Speakers are not desinged for the fully cranked sound. But, who am i to stop you from having fun with these. So Rock on and keep up the Volume ;-)

[@jasondorsey7110]

What's true of tube amps is also true of ss...the low watt amps sound much better through a large ext cab...but the low watt ss amps in particular are generally designed to be cheap practice amps so people don't expect much of them, but a vox pathfinder 15r through a good 12" speaker sounds killer

[@scottbrodie3071]

If you get one of them universal 500ma power supply units that allows for selective voltage and has the post negative or positive switch run your micro amp at 3 volts you will be amazed at the difference in tone. I did this to my Evh micro amp and added the external speaker switch mod. 3-4.5 volts turns the amp into a naturally fuzz driven tone with superb clean up on volume knob. I ran the stock 9v battery down till it was dead and kept track of which voltage sounded best. The power supply keeps it at a steady 3 volts and is very Hendrix like tone. Hope this helps someone.

[@tonya4157]

Jazz Chorus was wild. Lol Super Crush crushed it. I hate Katanas. Not a fan of the Fender either.

[@joejohnson8966]

9:20 looooooool

[@guitarado]

acoustic amplifiers too please

[@michaelforde4373]

There is quality in weight its got to to be the jc

[@sebrura]

JC120 dBA

[@jumpeyjumpey8312]

forgive me for being stupid but wher is the mick plugged in?

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Hey, we were using two different mics. A close mic right in front of the amp and a room mic (the plastic head with mics built in). Both of these were plugged into our audio interface and that goes into the computer to record the tone. I hope that answers your question. Cheers //Kris

[@what1864]

at least recorded i thought the jc120 sounded glorious cranked , as good as any tube amp , sounded like a dumble extremley 3D/hifi ...

[@ashwitmoro]

Why do these guys always look at each other like lovebirds while they play?

[@roboravitz5572]

7:52

[@diex2663]

If You wanna listen to a cranked solid state amp listen to white light white heat by the velvet underground

[@mckengineer5727]

TBH I’m a little dumbfounded with the superiority of the JC120 compared to the others, especially the Katana, which frankly sounded v bad in comparison!😮

[@klausfritsch4350]

I son't know about the amps, but the Les Paul sounded much better.

[@PooNinja]

Louder is more better no matter your power source. Until the local authorities say otherwise.

[@PooNinja]

What kind of salad dressing does Jillian use for his solid state lettuce? I prefer blue cheese

[@PreacherAtArrakeen]

I'll stick with my VOX AC-15C, thengchoo.

[@DavidGodfren]

Bruhhh 9:48!!

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

😆🙌 //Kris

[@marquisdecarabas1312]

And why this is called Taboo?

[@morrismorrisson6161]

Cause of the valve sniffers

[@mr.champlinssciencechannel906]

Pedals use the same technology as SS amps, so if you pug pedals into a tube amp....

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Yeah that's a great point. Still, if you plug in a solid state drive pedal into a tube amp, you still have the pre- and power amp tubes working. So that's more of a hybrid thing. That being said, I actually prefer overdrive pedals over tube amp overdrive so I guess I have a sweet spot for solid state technology after all, haha! //Kris

[@buddylobos5277]

The only real question that matters is "Which one is the closest sound to a clean Blackface Fender?" Distortion matters not.

[@JoeBaermann]

Katana most sold? I tought more Valvestates where sold, remember those to be close to everywhere back in the 90’s Besides that while you are comparing combos with their own speakers result will be different when comparing them connected to the same speaker/speakers, dunno if that would work with the Katana though since it uses a full range speaker, so would require that the speaker simulation or IR can be disabled.

[@SanDimas234]

Katana speakers are voiced for guitar, not full range. Cab simulation is only on the line out.

[@frankhughes5702]

I think maybe they mean that the katana is the best selling s.s. in the last decade or so

[@JoeBaermann]

@@SanDimas234 Ah, I must have confused it with another amp, thought it had a line in for playback of music, in which case FSR would be best. So IR or cab sim only on line out, headphones and usb makes sense.

[@JoeBaermann]

@@frankhughes5702 Most likely, sounded more like ever though. 😄 It could be too, didn’t check if there are some charts that show it.

[@SanDimas234]

@@JoeBaermann I'm kind of a reluctant Katana owner😅. Spent months trying various mini valve heads but ended up having to admit to myself that in my current situation even with attenuation I wouldn't really be able to crank them enough. Tried a Katana under duress and was impressed. Did end up with the artist version though😄

[@jacobdowler1]

Tube Snoobs.

[@danieltambasco528]

Room mics never seem to sound what I recall hearing when actually standing in a room, room mics always sound really boxy mid-range only and do not represent at all how the human ear hears. I honestly think my iphone mic does a better job when mic'ing a room than what I hear from youtube studio mics. Close mic'ing of course never sounds like what it sounds like to be standing in the room - but at least it's a good sound. Maybe youtubers are using the wrong kind of mic for room mic'ing?

[@yetimatzenightcat8702]

😂 Herr Neumann wird immer cooler, hat der einen neuen modeberater ?

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Er hat sich auf tiktok angemeldet und wird eine Mode Ikone. 😆 //Kris

[@beyondmiddleagedman7240]

Those mics just were horrible for this.

[@nekkon1989]

I don't know, guys. I'll stick with my tube amp. I'm not a cork sniffer, but they still sound better

[@Da_Publick]

There's nothing 'cork sniffer' about it. Tube amps usually do sound better at high gain, period. A lot of the people claiming to love solid state amp's high gain sounds so much are really just being cheap, or they're romanticising over celebrities' gear.

[@ambientpickingg]

I have nothing against solid state but these all sounded surprisingly bad, whew

[@larsheuker]

Right, i have genuinely not tried a solid state in so long. I cant believe anyone would actually use these, unless its just this video lol

[@Wooburnmusic]

Aw gee sus, this isn't music ! This is just a bloody awful racket, I'd have to walk out of a venue and pretty damn quick if I was bombarded with a racket like that !

[@scamp7887]

If you're listening on a phone speaker through you tube compression it's impossible to make a judgement on anything. Comparisons within the same video hold some water because they are on level footing, but saying tube amps sound better than this is completely unfair without playing both in the same space yourself.

[@steverolfeca]

I didn’t love any of these in this context, but IMO it’s not what they’re for. I love open-back combos for airy, edge of breakup tones. I wouldn’t run a Super Reverb or a 5E3 dimed either- that’s what a closed-back head/cab setup is for.

[@jaykay3078]

Sorry, but your pronunciation is slurred. Could you say that in German?