Worst amp you've ever played on (Tube or SS)?

[Death by Uberschall]

Easy for me, Peavy Renown, just horrible sounding. I long time friend had one for years.  :sad:

Guess I should say, an amp by a real amp company.  :toothy11:

 

[hannaugh]

One of my students brought in her guitar and a First Act practice amp from Target.  Horrible, horrible sound. 

 

[Death by Uberschall]

One of my students brought in her guitar and a First Act practice amp from Target.  Horrible, horrible sound. 

Guess I should say, an amp by a real amp company.  :toothy11:

:laughing7:

 

[erogenousjones17]

A friend of mine had a small SS Traynor and used it to play metal, sometimes with a DS-1. Some of the worst sounds I've heard in my life.

 

[big bob]

fender sidekick reverb, SUCK A55

 

[-CB-]

Univox MiniMax U4100.  A reverse design amp, for bass, with a 15 inch speaker in an 18 inch square box.  Wattage was bout 60, and it was plenty loud enough, but the tone was to die for - as in suicidal.   I had one, and never got it "right", got another thinking the first was bad, and ended up giving it away, it was THAT bad.  You see them on eBay from time to time.

 

[mayfly]

Mesa-Boogie 22 caliber. 

Just too fizzy.  Kinda like soda-pop.

 

[Knarz]

I will 2nd the vote on the Mesa 22; absolute POS as far as I could ever tell.

 

[TJD]

I had a Peavey Reknown too . It had no tone so how can you criticize it?

 

[Superlizard]

Aside from my beginner years, I s'pose I've been lucky enough not to be stuck with sh!te for amps... I generally
stuck with Marshall thru my intermediate (and later) years.

After my intermediate years, I got smart and learned about amps - hands on.  The best part about that is I never
have to walk into a Guitar Center again.

Worst I've played:  

Our other guitarist's Randall head with the fuzzy carpet covering (late 80's).  The precursor to the modern "angry bees in a bottle" scooped-mids buzz tone.
I hated it so much I bought another Marshall head for him to use so he (and I) would like his tone.

Worst I've owned:  

Some Crate 2x10 SS contraption with built-in chorus and FX loop.  It was the 2nd amp I owned (mid 80's), and I was a semi-n00b player then.
I sure thought it was kick-ass at the time, but in retrospect and with all the experience I have now (not to mention listening to recordings
of it), I realize I was a complete n00b tone-dumbass back then.   But that's how it is:  until you hear better, you think it's great.  :laughing7:

 

[Xplorervoodoo]

Peavey Rage

 

[whyachi]

Anything with the words "Fender," and "Rumble," on it side-by-side... or I played the MiniMark 206 combo once and couldn't stay plugged in more than five minutes. It just rattled. It was a floor model, so who knows what was done to it first, but still horrible.

 

[Strat Matt]

A couple friends had Line 6 Spider II's a while back.  I played extensively on them and could never get a good sound.  Also, there was some Crate in a guitar store a while back that the worker plugged me into when I wanted to try a guitar.  I just wanted a clean channel to hear what the guitar itself sounded like.  Never found it.

 

[kboman]

Matt - ouch!

The worst amp I've played was a Hughes & Kettner 112, I think from the Attax series (I never wanted to look too closely...), that I had to practice on on and off for three years during my university days. Not my amp, luckily, it belonged to the practice space and I never heard anyone sound decent through it. The last time I played it I had to play exclusively on the neck pickup with the tone knob on 50% so my ears wouldn't get icepicked to death.
Utterly useless amp. Stay far away from those.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

A Crate 212 solid state.  My neighbor loaned it to me, so I loan it out to people that need to borrow an amp.  They always bring it back.

 

[baskruit]

By far...

 

[dbw]

Peavey Pacer.

 

[erogenousjones17]

Peavey sure is taking a beating in this thread!  :laughing7:

I like Peavey amps because they're affordable and solidly built. I've got a ValveKing right now and it sounds fine for what I do and I'm not afraid to shlep it around in frigid Canadian winters because it only cost $400. Obviously it's not a vintage Vox or Marshall, but I'm ok with that. Someday I'll have a nice job, so I can buy one of those. And leave it at home. Also, Peavey's customer service is quite good.

I started out on a Rage 158, and at the time I thought it sounded great. Now I know better. It's still a good beginner amp, but that being said, it sounds like crap and is definitely worthy of this thread!

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Some of Peavey's newer stuff, basically ever since the 5150 was introduced, does sound better. But the old designs were horrible.

The JSX, Triple XXX, etc really don't sound too bad.

 

[TJD]

Peavey sure is taking a beating in this thread!  :laughing7:

I like Peavey amps because they're affordable and solidly built. I've got a ValveKing right now and it sounds fine for what I do and I'm not afraid to shlep it around in frigid Canadian winters because it only cost $400. Obviously it's not a vintage Vox or Marshall, but I'm ok with that. Someday I'll have a nice job, so I can buy one of those. And leave it at home. Also, Peavey's customer service is quite good.

I started out on a Rage 158, and at the time I thought it sounded great. Now I know better. It's still a good beginner amp, but that being said, it sounds like crap and is definitely worthy of this thread!

You're right that Peavey is taking the hit, but I actually had a Trans-tube head that was great..sounded like a Laney to me. It was pre-trans tube solid state stuff that sucked...anything solid state before 1990..that goes for hiwatt, and most of the rest too.