Are Solid State Amps Best for Pedals?

[Jon Rep]

Today I decided to use a Solid State Amp , A Peavey 212 Special and it was a revelation. The pedals I have built from Mark's site started sounding like the ones on People's Clips. The Tube Screamer, Muffs, Blues Driver & Barber Dirty Bomb etc all sounded much better and as they are suppose to.  I have built a heap of pedals but I have been testing them on Older Fender & Marshall Valve Amps that to me just sounded good with a bit of Delay added.  Is this the experience of others or is this general knowledge and I have been slow to catch on. ???  LOL  Anyway I have a lot of pedals to test on the SS Peavey Amp 212 now and will build more.   Thanks for a great site.

[dodido]

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[Vince]

There is nothing like an amp distortion, especially valve driven. I love making pedals but I don't use any of them. The only one that I have found that even comes close is the DAM Sonic Titan. That distortion is sweet as.

[Dave]

I'd agree with solid state amps generally being more accepting of pedals. I think of it like this, a solid state amp is like a blank canvas, you can draw anything on it, a tube amp is more like a half finished painting, you can only do one thing with it really. Thats just my opinion, all I know is that my little ZT lunchbox takes pedals like heroine.
Thanks
Dave

[Milkit]

Trust your hearing!  Tone & sound is so personal & subjective.  If it sounds good, it is good!

[Madferret]

I think like Dodido said it's mainly about how you have your amp set.  If I'm mucking around with pedals I always have my amp set totally clean because I know that'll give me the most accurate representation of the pedal, then I start cranking the pre amp to see what it'll give me. A lot of op-amp overdrives really seem to compliment my amp dirt but quite often transistor based ones can sound a little muddy or just farty, again maybe it's just how I've set the EQ on the amp and it needs tweaking. I should add though it's been a while since I played through a decent SS amp so maybe I have my own revelation waiting to happen :D

[Vince]

The last Solid state amp I played was a Randall head. Dimebag style. It sounded excellent. I wouldn't mind trying some more SS amps as we can stuck in that 'valve snob' camp. I remember my first amp being a Marshall valvestate 30. I loved it, I wouldn't mind trying to pick another up second hand just to compare....

[dodido]

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