Solid state

Amplification using transistors, op-amps or digital circuitry instead of vacuum valves, with no heated glass devices in the signal path.

The advantages are practical: lighter, cheaper, cooler, more reliable and able to deliver high clean power without the cost and weight of an output transformer. The character differs because transistors clip abruptly rather than compressing smoothly, so overdriven solid-state stages sound harder and less forgiving, which is why many designs either stay clean or use modelling rather than clipping directly. In recent years digital processing has made convincing valve-like behaviour possible without valves.

Example: a solid-state amplifier rated at a hundred watts stays clean at volumes where a valve amplifier of the same rating is already breaking up.

Solid state

See also