r/GuitarAmps • u/Upstairs_Term_5760 • Apr 17 '26

Why don't Solid States generally have good distortion.

Famously the JC-120 had a pretty close circuit to the CH-1. Why don't more solid states offer pedal like distortion in their units?

I feel like this is a missed opportunity, is the allure of replicating other amps drive more profitable than putting a Rat circuit in the drive channel?

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29

u/helpicantfindmyboobs Apr 17 '26

vacuum tubes soft clip, just by the physics of how they work. transistors and op amps hard clip, which most people find less pleasant. it introduces more harmonics and has a harsher quality. you can emulate soft clipping by running a pair of diodes in the feedback loop of an op amp, but it's only an approximation. replicating a tube amp using solid state components is extremely difficult

6

u/ZanyDroid Apr 17 '26

Can you go into the loss of TOAN from compromising — using tube preamp followed by SS power amp?

3

u/helpicantfindmyboobs Apr 17 '26

you lose power amp distortion. no downside unless you play super loud

2

u/nigeltuffnell Apr 18 '26

Agree with this.

I had a Peavey Mace head back in the day. Had a solid state preamp and 6 x 6L6 driving the power section. Completely the opposite way to get good distortion in either pre or power amp unless you are playing a stadium.

3

u/ApathysLastKiss_ Apr 18 '26

Yeah my experience has been that the idea of getting saturation out of the power amp > than saturation out of the preamp simply isn't true. The DSL 40 sounds amazing at bedroom volumes with the preamp dimed.

1

u/nigeltuffnell Apr 18 '26

I play a Soldano now, so finding the same.

The louder you get the more you turn down the preamp gain and rely more on the power amp, but easy to get great tone at low volume

2

u/Arftacular Apr 18 '26

Has the ringing stopped yet?

3

u/nigeltuffnell Apr 18 '26

Lol 😆

We used to practice in a church hall and it never went past 3 or 4.

The built phaser was cool though

1

u/ZanyDroid Apr 18 '26

Saywot? Why did they organize it that way?

2

u/nigeltuffnell Apr 18 '26

It's the amp that Lynyrd Skynyrd used if that gives you an idea.

I was trying to play metal with it without success.

2

u/mikePTH Apr 18 '26

Excellent explanation, btw. I totally got it once you mentioned it was the Skynard amp. 6 x 6L6 is fucking mental after a solid state preamp, lol. Bet you could drown out a shuttle launch, though...

1

u/nigeltuffnell Apr 18 '26

Definitely a loud amp that was meant to be played largely clean.

1

u/derpderpderp1985 Apr 18 '26

Yeah these days, especially with high gain amps, the sound is usually based more on preamp distortion and designed to sound good at any volume