I'm running it through my Crate solid state amp, and am playing an Epi Dot, BC Rich Mockingbird, and a New York Pro (Strat copy), with many other pedals in the chain.

I would not expect this pedal to make a solid state amp growl like a high gain tube amp, but at the same time it might give some nice overtones and grit that could be exactly what you're after.

I have not tried it with a solid state amp, and I believe that the sound with solid state will be quite different.

My little 25W solid state amp now sounds (to my ears) like the tube amps my other band mates have

I did notice it doesn't "pop" when used on my Line 6 solid state amp but that amp has so many effects built in I don't need a separate pedal

I used an old solid-state bass amp head I had lying around (an old Marshall from the 80s), and I threw a Soul Food into my pedal chain.

I used an old solid-state bass amp head I had lying around (an old Marshall from the 80s), and I threw a Soul Food into my pedal chain.

In that setup I can dial in more gain without getting harsh overtones and with a little clean volume boost as

I have tested both the buffered and unbuffered signal options (as well as on other pedals) and I can not tell a huge difference between the two, though this is almost certainly due to my personal rig rather than any benefit or flaw of the pedal.