# Best Solid State Amp Head in the market today for metal?



## eclipseall (Oct 19, 2015)

What is the best solid state for metal today. New. As in being sold in the market today.
Anything worth looking at.

Thanks


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## vick1000 (Oct 19, 2015)

Assuming you don't want modeling...

Randall RG3003H Guitar Amplifier Head

You will still want a boost out front though.


The Blackstar ID series has good metal tones, but they are pretty unreliable from what I gather.

For really great SS metal, you might want to look at a preamp pedal and power amp of some sort.


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## Breeding The Spawn (Oct 19, 2015)

A few good ones.. There might be more.

Peavey XL and XXL
Marshall VS100 0r VS8100
Ibanez TBX150H
Ampeg SS or the VH series
Randall RG100es
AMT Stonehead


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Oct 20, 2015)

Breeding The Spawn said:


> A few good ones.. There might be more.
> 
> Peavey XL and XXL
> Marshall VS100 0r VS8100
> ...



All the ones you listed, except for the Stonehead, are discontinued. 

+1 on the Randall RG3003. 
Does the AMT Theta pedal count if you include a power amp?`

Unfortunately, companies ditched solid state amps in favor for more modeling and low-wattage tube amps. A lot of the good SS amps are discontinued and on the used market.


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## wheelsdeal (Oct 20, 2015)

I think Randall RG and Orange CR120 are the best atm.From the 2 the Randall is more focused on Metal where the Orange has a vintage vibe to it since its based on the Rockerverb.


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## Dusty Chalk (Oct 20, 2015)

Anyone tried any bass amps, like the Bugera Veyron M or the Ampeg PF-500? Or something like the Vox AC15VR?


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Oct 20, 2015)

I'm dumb. Forgot about the AC-VR and CR120. The CR120 is a really solid amp for hard rock and metal and the AC15/30VR is a really, really good rock amp.


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## Bearitone (Oct 20, 2015)

The two I keep hearing great things about are the:
AMT Stonehead
Theta 300w head


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## iron blast (Oct 20, 2015)

The isp theta head is pretty insane I'm fairly certain it's still available, orange cr 120 (doomy), Randall rg 1003 and rg3003 , blu amp 1, and my personal favorite the Amt stonehead 50 watt four channel beast


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## iron blast (Oct 20, 2015)

Quilter labs also has a 100 and 200 watt pedal board sized heads that sound excellent too


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## Elric (Oct 20, 2015)

iron blast said:


> Quilter labs also has a 100 and 200 watt pedal board sized heads that sound excellent too


The Quilter stuff is not really designed for metal... I'm sure it can be coaxed with pedals, etc, but I would lean heavily toward the Randall, ISP, AMT or even the Orange as others have noted if Metal was my first priority tone-wise.

Take a solid state Marshall for a spin. Everyone hates them for not being a tube amp but Marshall makes good SS amps that are inexpensive, reliable, and have a ton of usable gain on tap, IMHO. 

The other option is modelers; but it sounds like you are looking for traditional SS.


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## Bearitone (Oct 20, 2015)

I've also heard really good things about the AMT Bulava. But that's just a preamp so you'd be running it into whatever poweramp you have


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## SpaceDock (Oct 20, 2015)

^ I've got a bulava and it has a very unique sound to it and great range. The high gain is very tight and clean like a Randall. The crunch channel leaves a bit to be desired, just not as satisfying as a Marshall or Mesa crunch, but the clean and lead rock.


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## Mangle (Oct 20, 2015)

Marshall and Randall have a long history of producing high quality, reliable SS amps. 

Played through a Randall RG150 not to long ago.... 3 channels, 150 watts... was pretty damn decent sounding. Dude said he paid $400 new for it. I know they're readily available on e-bay. Just make sure you can return it if you don't like it. RG300 is only $100 more I think with a noise gate that's not on the 150.


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Oct 20, 2015)

^To avoid confusion, they're called the RG1503 and the RG3003.


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## EmaDaCuz (Oct 21, 2015)

Do you really want to go for a head? Difficult to find something good on the market now, I have been looking for a decent SS head and there is virtually no model available here in UK.
The Orange CR120 is a good amp, I tried the combo though. But it doesn't sound like a SS, I'm afraid. It has some nice crunchy, creamy tones, and the clean channel is not my favourite.
Randalls are fantastic (if you can find one, get it); I used to own a RG3003 but it has 2 problems. First, the electronics sucks, and so they are not reliable. It was not a bad apple, apparently the issue is quite common. Second, the volume knob has virtually 2 positions: 0 and jumbo-jet-taking-off. If you can deal with that, then go for it.

I personally recommend a Roland Cube, though. Brilliant versatile amp, great SS cleans, great SS lead channel with COSM, those amps emulation sound amazing (I love the British stack), good quality foot-switchable on-board effects. I got mine as a backup amp for my IRT, now I can't use anything else. And they are cheap as hell. I know, they don't look cool, but they sound spot on. Get the 80W, if you want to gig with it.


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## Unburdened (Oct 21, 2015)

I had an AMT Stonehead and I have an ISP Theta.
I loved the Stonehead's lead channels but it wasn't enough to stick around in my vast lineup. Ha!

I will never part with the Theta head. It can create some of the most amazing low and high gain tones. The only thing it doesn't completely excel at is middle of the road, tube-power-amp-like break up. But then again I've only ever dialed it in for crushing, perfectly clear, searing distortion and sparkling cleans. I can't recommend the Theta heads enough, especially if you can find one used (Guitar Center Used always seems to have these for reasonable prices).

Past that, just get a SS head with a lot of wattage for clean head room on the cheap and slap your best distortion pedal in front.

If you have any questions about the Theta, just let me know.


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## Shask (Oct 22, 2015)

I pretty much agree with people above. Randall and ISP seem to be the best options. If you look used, Peavey and Marshall had good ones.

I agree also that modelers have pretty much taken over solid state designs. I even use an Axe-FX and solid state power amp these days.


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## newamerikangospel (Oct 22, 2015)

I have been enjoying my hughes and kettner vortex black series head more and more, the older/more experienced I get at dialing in tones.


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## USMarine75 (Oct 22, 2015)

Taurus Stomphead HG:



AMT Stonehead:



Or pretty much any of the AMT pedals, EMMA Pisdiyauwot, Amptweaker Tightmetal Pro, etc... with a power amp:



This guy demos every AMT product (especially pedals) for metal sounds:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJrvRcQiojajzHN8fuj4vtQ
eg:


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## MatthewK (Oct 23, 2015)

Orange CR120 looks cool and it's very reasonably priced.


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## Dawn of the Shred (Oct 24, 2015)

+1 Randall RGs


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## MistaSnowman (Oct 24, 2015)

I'll leave this here...


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## ProphetOfHatred (Oct 24, 2015)

It really sucks how the solid state market pretty much vanquished. No more of the 90's/early/mid 2000's Ampeg Vh140c super thick/scooped brutal death metal tone. I'd like to see a real demo of the newer Randall RG in a death metal context.


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## p4vl (Oct 25, 2015)

Ye Olde Schoole:

Crate GX130C (copy of the Ampeg VH140C). 

Cannibal Corpse recorded Vile with the Crate and the Ampeg VH140C is the signature sound of old Suffocation (it won't exactly nail that Pierced from Within tone; that was studio tricks)

The best Randall RG's are the ES series (RG80ES/RG100ES) that Dime used (I think Malevolent Creation used them on Retribution, which has a killer tone). They're old amps but if I went Solid State, it'd be an RG80ES/100ES. 

I think I read that the ES's had huge output trannys or some other component that Randall could no longer get a hold of later so they sound better than most Randalls.


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## ProphetOfHatred (Oct 25, 2015)

Pretty much pointless to even talk about those amps anymore, most I see on ebay are broken in some major way.


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## Nihilum (Oct 25, 2015)

Orange has been _slayin'_ it with their solid states the last couple of years, I got a Crush 35RT combo for practicing at low volumes and it's amazing value for the price. With the Gain at top it nails a modern metal tone no prob and as I understand it the 120 Watt head is just more of the same.


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## sevenfoxes (Oct 26, 2015)

Nihilum said:


> Orange has been _slayin'_ it with their solid states the last couple of years, I got a Crush 35RT combo for practicing at low volumes and it's amazing value for the price. With the Gain at top it nails a modern metal tone no prob and as I understand it the 120 Watt head is just more of the same.



I just ordered the CR120, and plan on connecting it to my Mesa recto 2x12. I'm hoping I can get a good metal chug out of it.


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## Bloodshredder (Oct 26, 2015)

Breeding The Spawn said:


> A few good ones.. There might be more.
> 
> Peavey XL and XXL
> Marshall VS100 0r VS8100
> ...





I second that. All are amazing and some of them go for cheap on the internet.
I especially like the VS series. The 8100 is one of my all time favorite amps out there. Even when compared to tube amps. If you are looking for some badass distortion, I think the VS8100 really deliveres. 
And that even at low volumes.


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