Solidstate?

Crate makes a series of tube emulating amps.  The flex wave amps.  Though solid state, they sound like tube amps.  Check them out.

Roland, newer Behringers and you'd better check out the Marshalls too.

Well i got the Fender Hotrod DLX. She sure is nice looking. Right now my younger son is taking a nap so i can't play right now :'(

ive got a marshall MG250DFX... i LOVE it... i cant justify buying a tube amp on account of the upkeep for tubes, so i decided to get the best marshall solidstate i could find... its has a Frequency Dependent Damping switch which is supposed to make it sound like a tube amp... it DOES add some warmth to the tone, and i NEVER use it without the switch engaged... overall, for 500 bucks its a great amp... i wish it had more of the Fender sparkle sometimes, but i can dial in a bright clean with it and get some SRV tones from my Strat and TS-7.

You'll have a hard time convincing me that tube amps require more maintenance than solid state. If properly taken care of they will last a life time without a problem. Folks who have mistreated tube amps and have problems are the ones being negative about them.

I have some very, very old tube amps that still have their original tubes in them and they work and sound just great. As of lately I've been using a Gibson amp from the eary 60's that has the original tubes in it. For only being about 12 watts it still rocks.

What type of amp you choose is something that you have to decide on what sound and tone your looking for. I also use solid state power amps for monitoring my dry signal, then I use tube amps for my wet signal. The wet signal is what the audience here's.

Try a few different amps out both tube and solid state. crank them up and put them through the moves. You soon find that the feel of a all tube amp breaks up nicely with different emotions in your playing.

joe

actually... there are two 1962 Gibson Skylark Tube amps in my garage (no worries... it doesnt freeze) only one of which needs new tubes... but ive always heard that tubes burn out with use... i decided to circumvent that possibility and avoid them altogether. (the Gibsons arent mine, theyre my grandpa's)

I'm sorry to disagree with forrok, but I had three Rivera tube amps (one M-60 and two R5512's) that all needed constant attention.  Yes, I've heard from dozens of people that they've never had any trouble with their tubes and never even changed them in years.  They just look at me and shake their heads and say I must be having bad luck.  

But even with trips to the repair shop for amp tune ups, I would get weird noses from my tubes that could pop up any time.  Yes, I know all the tricks about checking tubes.  Believe me, I spent hours bent over trying to ping this one and that one with a pencil point so that I could find the culprit, only to wind up having to replace one tube at a time.  This was valuable time I would have preferred to have spent practicing.  I put up with it because the Rivera's sounded great and they had a great reputation, so I figured everyone had to deal with this at some point.  

One day I bought a Line 6 Ax2 and my life changed forever.  Not only did it blow the Rivera's away sound wise and flexibility wise, but no more maintenance PERIOD!!!   Now I have a Line 6 Flextone, Flextone II, and POD II.  Hey, you get the tube tone (even down to the change in distortion with change of attack) without all the tube trouble and you don't have to worry about environmental repercussions.  Line 6 rules in my opinion.  I'm definitely not going back to tubes.  

Oh yes, for those needing a low price tag, Line 6 recently came out with the Spider II.

Here's the link:
http://www.line6.com/spiderII/home.html

Click on it to hear the array of sounds and effects.  Find something else that matches it for only $300 if you can?

Find something else that matches it for only $300 if you can?

The Behringer V-ampire owns the Spider-II in my opinion. Although I have to admit the more expensive line-6 amps will tear the behringer to little bits if need be  ;D

But yeah, Modeling rocks. I've heared the Line6 Vetta, and it was amazing. Almost as amazing as its pricetag  :'(

Yes, but you have to figure out  if you are a programmer or a turn-the-knob kind of player.  Eventually, I figured out I was the latter and that's why I prefer the Flextones line the more advanced programmy bethren.

I know a band where both guitar players use Line 6. They sound great on rhythm and the effects were very impressive. However, when either played lead, you could barely hear them. Maybe they just didn't have them tweaked right.

This is just my personal opinion, but I think effects are overused today. Everybody sounds the same. They are the same. They're using the same pre-sets.

I own a few pedals, but the older I get I just like the sound of the amp. You get a great tone on your amp and you'll be alright.

I also have to agree with Joe. I've never had a problem with a tube amp, and I've owned a few. I had a solid-state quit on me at a gig (It was 10 years old), I owned another where the footswitch quit working at a gig, and another where the gain knob stopped working (full gain at all times regardless of position).

But, there might be a good reason for this. Being told that tube amps are delicate, I've always been very careful with them. Being told that solid-states are indestructable, I've tended to throw them around.

They're both good, and both have their pros and cons. To each his own.

The way I see it, if you have almost a grand to spend on an amp, there are a lot of good tube amps that you could get, and still have a fair bit of cash to spare.

Check out this link
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/sid=040513134703069157061238135569/g=guitar/s=amps/search/c=6271

All of them are tube or tube/solidstate hybrid amps, and all of them are between 500-750 dollars.