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

[MUYFUE]

Crate Flexwave full stack.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I jammed with a guy who was so proud of his "stack" (o' junk, it turns out...)
I saw it and was impressed. It looks cool and it's big so...rock on, right?

I could barely hear it at all over the drums. When I could, it sounded like a freakin' Kazoo!

IT
SUCKED

 

[AprioriMark]

Haha, SL.  I had one of those Crate 2x10 pieces of crap too, and I got rid of it with a quickness.  That thing was awful.  

-Mark

 

[SlingBass]

I'm older than many here, and appreciate electronics and amps have come a long way.  Back in the '70's and '80's, ALL Sound City (Sound Sheety), Hiwatt, and some models of Marshall (especially solid state), were suspect.  It was a running joke that English cars, guitars, and amps were in the shop more than on the road.  Years have passed and technology improved, and though old prejudices remain - much is different.  Percentage wise...amps today (by and large) sound better and are more reliable from beginner through boutique level gear.  That said - so called higher end gear is beyond the reach of the majority of full time players that try to make a living from just playing music.  Only the very well heeled can afford certain models of Gibson or Fender Custom Shop, much less a PRS.  Back in the day almost anyone could have a USA made Fender, Martin, Guild, or Gibson.  BUT were they always better?  NOT necessarily so...

In answer to the OP:  Sound City sucks the big wahzoo  :laughing7:

 

[Justinginn]

Lemmie give you some categories...

Acoustic amps - My Laney LA30. It's not that bad of an amp but for a while I didn't have a "real" amp and drove it's speaker to distortion. I'm sure it's torn and gets this "amazing" fuzz tone.

Bass amps - Samick 20 watt bass amp at school... worst sounding thing I've ever heard. No good sounds, too quiet, ugly...

Tube amps - Hated the Mesa 22, hated the Valveking (sorry) HATED the Marshall Haze. Terrible sound, in my opinion but maybe they were just me.

General guitar amps - I don't really like Roland cube amps... you've got Jazz and Shred and nothing in between. They're not that bad for certain tones but they bug me.

 

[erogenousjones17]

Lemmie give you some categories...

Acoustic amps - My Laney LA30. It's not that bad of an amp but for a while I didn't have a "real" amp and drove it's speaker to distortion. I'm sure it's torn and gets this "amazing" fuzz tone.

Bass amps - Samick 20 watt bass amp at school... worst sounding thing I've ever heard. No good sounds, too quiet, ugly...

Tube amps - Hated the Mesa 22, hated the Valveking (sorry) HATED the Marshall Haze. Terrible sound, in my opinion but maybe they were just me.

General guitar amps - I don't really like Roland cube amps... you've got Jazz and Shred and nothing in between. They're not that bad for certain tones but they bug me.

If that "sorry" was directed at me, don't worry about it. I like my Valveking, but I also know what I've got: a cheap, run-of-the-mill amplifier. I'm not going to act like one of those kids with a Squier Bullet and a Line 6 Spider who think they have the best tone in town. Like I said, it works for me; I get what I think is a good tone out of it, but it took a while and a fair bit of knob-turning (ouch). If that wasn't directed at me, well ignore everything I just said.  :laughing7:

I'm with you about Samick though. There was a huge (75W I believe) Samick guitar amp in this place where some friends and I used to jam when I was in college. It was plenty loud, but that's about it. It just sounded ugly and stale, like an imitation of an electric guitar.

 

[dbw]

I like my Peavey 158 (sounds fine clean), but that Pacer I played sounded like CRAP.

 

[Return of Guitlouie]

When I was young, and I tired of the shoe-box sized no name fizz, crackle and pop thing thatcame with my first guitar, I saved a bunch of money (what I thought was a bunch of money) and went out amp shopping.  Having a whopping 300 bucks, I walkied into a store and promptly let the sales guy talk me into one of these:



It sucked for days and years.  I dealt with it, and I learned on it, but I secretly hated it, and the guy whos sold it to me.  When my folks booted me out of their house, I think they gave it away.  Good riddance.  It always sounded like it was under a rug.

PS, it was a Yamaha G111 212 or some such horrible name.  Oh, and the reverb was ok.  Everything else blew.

 

[OzziePete]

I think the worst amp I ever played through was an old Peavey SS. Small combo, can't recall it's model name though.  :icon_scratch:

Very flat, lifeless. Thankfully it was someone else's.

Funny thing I found about Peavey was that way back when they started up, they prided themselves on only using solid state technology, no valves (tubes). Then when the 70s wore on and people realised that SS technology still had a long way to go before it could replicate the warmth of the tube amps, they backed away from being quite vocal in denouncing tube technology and in the end, sat down with EVH on an endorsement deal and voila! they had a line of valve (tube) amps.

It's no small coincidence that so many SS amps absolutely sucked in tone big time, and gave the motivation for people seeking successor technology for the old tube techology to look at digital emulation when it became an option, I feel.

Mind you, there were some notable exceptions to the 'SS amps suck' mantra, the one that springs to mind for me is the Roland JC 120. That is positively one of the most cleanest sounding amps I have heard, yet the tone is glorious if tweaked properly and you don't overdo the Chorus effect.

I owned an old H & H SS 100w amp for years that I played through an old Vox 2 x 12 box loaded with Altecs. It was OK for most sounds but I think I had to rely a fair bit on a treble button or bass boost button to give it some oomph, not sure,  it was that long ago.

 

[Watershed]

Some of these are great stories.
I'm going to throw out my Gorilla practice amp as my worst sounding amp.

I don't remember the model or any of the specs.
All I remember is that it sucked big time.
Ugh, bad memories.

 

[OzziePete]

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.

Yeah I did bag a Peavey ss amp in my post, But when you look at their philosophy in their early days, they were asking for it!

They did attempt to corner the beginner's/small amp market and did try that, by using ss technology that really didn't seem like it had quality components in it. As I said earlier, I got the impression - or maybe even read somewhere - that Peavey were attempting to break down the valve/tube amp market by trying to prove that ss technology was as good for guitarists (which many a guitarists would argue vehemently against), and didn't have any valve/tube amps in their lineup for quite some time.

Then when they realised they were on the nose they firstly attempted ss valve/tube emulation techology and circuitry, and then finally came out with some valve/tube amps.

BUT....... a friend of mine had a little Peavey Bandit (?) that was OK for practice and he fed it through a Marshall 4x 12 box one time at a band rehearsal and got a huge sound out of it! Not very loud mind you, but the tone was good.

Also, the Peavey bass amps (the bigger ones) were quite a favourite here in Australia during the pub-rock era (late 70s early 80s) for bass players who couldn't afford the Ampeg or the Jands J700 (which was really a PA amp, but a fav amongst pub rockers for a bass amp).

 

[DangerousR6]

Man, why all ya'll biooooooooootcheZ baggin' on Crates??? :icon_scratch:

I have 3 of them, a Blue VooDoo 6212 (tube), and 2 GFX212's (SS) and love all of them...I would have a BV stack but I have no need for one....

 

[Dan025]

sorry but the gfx 212 is just awefull. cant speak for the blue voodoo but i dont care for the gfx amps.

 

[DangerousR6]

sorry but the gfx 212 is just awefull. cant speak for the blue voodoo but i dont care for the gfx amps.

Mine is bad ass, I can dial in a plethora of tones. I'd put it up against any other SS 212 amp...

 

[Dan025]

sure you can get a plethora of tones and the digital effects could be worse, i didn't vote it as the worst amp just stated that i hate it. i just feel like the the distortion is bland, i wasn't blown away by the clean tones either. 

for the worst amp i'd have to vote for an older line6 but i dont remember the model. it belonged to my friends father. my friend had a 5150 and an evh wolfgang guitar, his dad decided to pickup guitar afterwards and got another wolfgang but a flat top i think and that line 6 amp. we played both wolgangs through it, my cheap cort flying v, friends jackson 7 string and my strat and they all sounded about the same.

 

[Maltozombie]

That really tiny marshall practice amp, the smallest one in the MG series....my first amp....

Awful....and i knew it too...but you know, if you can still be inspired to play through all that... you're doing something right  :doh:
i wan't lucky enough to have a stellar amp at the beginning, but i think that makes you a lot more commited to try to make your playing sound good.

....but that amp will always suck. haha  :icon_thumright:

 

[TexxasJam]

I own a Fender 15w practice amp that I've never gotten to sound right. :dontknow:

 

[AutoBat]

i've got a Yamaha practice amp that came with my first electric guitar (both came in a set, for 100 bucks new) in 1994. it sounds aweful, and I still have it. It hasn't been powered on in a year or so, but it's there just in case. I have a danelectro distortion that has it's own 1" speaker, and it sounds better.

 

[tfarny]

I had a string of felt-covered crates and peaveys in the 80s, they all sucked but not enough for me to remember the names. Roommate got a silverface something at a pawn shop to play bass through and in an instant I realized the error of my ways....

 

[ledzepplin6914]

Lemmie give you some categories...

Acoustic amps - My Laney LA30. It's not that bad of an amp but for a while I didn't have a "real" amp and drove it's speaker to distortion. I'm sure it's torn and gets this "amazing" fuzz tone.

Bass amps - Samick 20 watt bass amp at school... worst sounding thing I've ever heard. No good sounds, too quiet, ugly...

Tube amps - Hated the Mesa 22, hated the Valveking (sorry) HATED the Marshall Haze. Terrible sound, in my opinion but maybe they were just me.

General guitar amps - I don't really like Roland cube amps... you've got Jazz and Shred and nothing in between. They're not that bad for certain tones but they bug me.

a roland cube was my first amp, never again....

 

[-CB-]

I can dial in a plethora of tones

I thought the plethora has been extinct for millions of years?