What is the worst amp you’ve ever played?

Penn · September 2023

Following on from the excellent thread from @equalsql about the best amps.

Which one failed to blow you away in terms of tone, flexibility, build quality etc? Was it the lack of clean tones or overdrive, what tragic thing did the amp have/ had?

For me it was a some awful Park Argos special and a soundsh*tty thing.

They were utter crap, awful speakers, sound and build quality. Sadly they were both reliable. The soundcity was old when we had it and it still worked. Likewise the park kept working for years. It might even still do so. Thankfully it went to a new home about 8/9 years ago.

Supportact · September 2023

A little Sound City solid state combo I had as a teenager. It sounded awful but it was my first amp so I didn't have anything to compare it to. I didn't understand about overdrive at first so I was a bit disappointed it didn't make the noise I'd heard on records. Not that it helped when I managed to get hold of a Rocktek overdrive pedal and pair that with it. That sound I'd created there was possibly some kind of human rights violation towards whoever heard it.

Stuckfast · September 2023

I tried a MkI Boogie many years ago and hated it. It only produced one sound and it seemed to rob the guitar of all nuance and dynamic variation. I'd be curious to see if I still feel that way about it 25 years later.

Marshall JCM2000 (I think) -- sounded quite good with the gain on 0.5 out of 10, turned to complete mush at any other setting.

I've not heard a modern AC15 that I liked either, they just sound really flat and dull to me.

Penn · September 2023

Supportact said:

A little Sound City solid state combo I had as a teenager. It sounded awful but it was my first amp so I didn't have anything to compare it to. I didn't understand about overdrive at first so I was a bit disappointed it didn't make the noise I'd heard on records. Not that it helped when I managed to get hold of a Rocktek overdrive pedal and pair that with it. That sound I'd created there was possibly some kind of human rights violation towards whoever heard it.

Was it something like this:

https://reverb.com/item/21374800-sound-city-sc10-10w-vintage-made-in-gdr-combo?utm_source=rev-ios-app&utm_medium=ios-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=21374800

I think this was the one my brother had

https://lifeguitars.co.uk/products/sound-city-30r-electric-guitar-amplifier

merlin · September 2023

My worst amp was a FAL Merlin. Very, very bad. Piece of total garbage.

sweepy · September 2023

Marshall JCM800, i know some ppl will scream heresy but it was a nasty raspy horrible POS, tried a few others since and they just don't work for me

Supportact · September 2023

Penn said:

Supportact said:

A little Sound City solid state combo I had as a teenager. It sounded awful but it was my first amp so I didn't have anything to compare it to. I didn't understand about overdrive at first so I was a bit disappointed it didn't make the noise I'd heard on records. Not that it helped when I managed to get hold of a Rocktek overdrive pedal and pair that with it. That sound I'd created there was possibly some kind of human rights violation towards whoever heard it.

Was it something like this:

https://reverb.com/item/21374800-sound-city-sc10-10w-vintage-made-in-gdr-combo?utm_source=rev-ios-app&utm_medium=ios-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=21374800

I think this was the one my brother had

https://lifeguitars.co.uk/products/sound-city-30r-electric-guitar-amplifier

Yes EXACTLY the same as the one in that reverb link! Awful thing. I know that one isn't mine though because mine stopped working at some stage and so I took it apart and mercifully was unable to mend it.

Grumpyrocker · September 2023

A little Squire solid state practice amp I had in the late 80s. A Squire 15 I think. Terrible honkijg thing, so boxy, and a terrible volume taper.

Penn · September 2023

sweepy said:

Marshall JCM800, i know some ppl will scream heresy but it was a nasty raspy horrible POS, tried a few others since and they just don't work for me

Don’t worry I had a Vox AC4 I hated. Lots of people like those but it was just too bright.

Fiftyshadesofjay · September 2023

Diezel Herbert. Considering how renowned Diezel amps are and the hefty price tag I was pretty shocked that it sounded like the worlds biggest, most expensive Metalzone and just disappeared from any mix.

slacker · September 2023

A backline 2006 fender HRD. It's best feature was that it was so unreliable. When it broke down you couldn't hear it. They eventually replaced that with a black Star ht60 which was worse because it didn't break down.

In fairness I like matchless type amps and a lot of people don't.

Neilybob · September 2023

Line 6 Spider II though I thought I was the bees knees back in the day with this until I upgraded to a HT-5. Oooh gotta love the tubes.

p90fool · September 2023

Burman.

Nerine · September 2023

I've heard some decent amps sound horrendous in the wrong hands.

Make of that what you will.

Penn · September 2023

Nerine said:

I've heard some decent amps sound horrendous in the wrong hands.

Make of that what you will.

You’ve heard me play then?

Gassage · September 2023

Blackstar HT5.

Absolutely awful.

TTony · September 2023

My first amp was an awful Laney something-or-other starter unit. Combo, maybe 10w sort of range. Abysmal.

It actually put me off Laney for life, which I now realise is a bit unfair on Laney, but it's how my impression of the brand was created back in teenage years.

(Note to manufacturers, your entry-level product is likely to be the first product a customer buys - it's how and when you'll create that first impression. Don't get it wrong).

In retrospect, the Columbus LP copy that I was playing through the amp probably didn't help the quality of sound much!

thecolourbox · September 2023

It's a toss up between the Orange Micro Terror and the EHX Caliber 22 pedal amp for me. I got a Micro Terror as I'd enjoyed playing through a Tiny Terror in a shop, hoping for similar but smaller/quieter, and it was a very tiring sound, like listening to music through bad headphones. The EHX one I know isn't quite a normal amp as it's just a power amp really, but it was noisy as hell, and the power supply was an absolute liability (and indeed bigger than the amp itself).

revsorg · September 2023

sweepy said:

Marshall JCM800, i know some ppl will scream heresy but it was a nasty raspy horrible POS, tried a few others since and they just don't work for me

Did you ever take it over 4 on the master volume scale (with everything else more or less cranked)? I loved the sound of mine, totally heavy metal, but it moved into another dimension when the volume went up.

Penn · September 2023

revsorg said:

sweepy said:

Marshall JCM800, i know some ppl will scream heresy but it was a nasty raspy horrible POS, tried a few others since and they just don't work for me

Did you ever take it over 4 on the master volume scale (with everything else more or less cranked)? I loved the sound of mine, totally heavy metal, but it moved into another dimension when the volume went up.

Ahem, don’t you mean 11?

ICBM · September 2023

Worst sound - Orange Micro Terror. As thecolourbox said, an incredibly grating, fatiguing noise that literally made my ears itch and sounded like it was still there even after I had mercifully turned it off.

Worst design/reliability - probably the Marshall Mode Four. Just an appalling piece of design, destined to fail catastrophically sooner or later.

Worst build quality - not sure, there are a lot of candidates, but possibly the early-70s Italian-made Vox AC30. Like a cheap TV, only expected to survive being gigged…

NickB · September 2023

Carlsbro Wasp, a heap of crap from the 1980s, it sounded like a wasp in a biscuit tin. Awful amp.

bbill335 · September 2023

marshall jubilee mini stack, the 25w one not the reissued real deal 50/100w ones. just midrangey, compressed, nasty.

also one of the factory special hot rod dlxs with a celestion in. that combo doesn't work! sounded bad!

Moe_Zambeek · September 2023

NickB said:

Carlsbro Wasp, a heap of crap from the 1980s, it sounded like a wasp in a biscuit tin. Awful amp.

I had one of those and don’t remember disliking it, probably because it was a massive step up from plugging into the aux-in on the record player. Next up was a Fender M80 which I also strangely don’t have any bad memories of, but I must have disliked it because I was happy to move it on for a ‘proper amp’ in the shape of a Marshall 4010, which was really unreliable (in the days before I knew what an amp tech was…).

Moe_Zambeek · September 2023

I nominate a Laney Tube Fusion for worst I’ve played, it was backline for a gig and was completely knackered and totally shit.

Second place goes to whatever Trace Elliot ss / hybrid combo an old rehearsal place used to have - 1 million knobs and zero good sounds.

Third place - Fender roc-pro 100, teeth-gratingly harsh and trebly with an off->full binary volume control.

Winny_Pooh · September 2023

Fender Champion 800 or silver stripe Peavey rage.

EricTheWeary · September 2023

Part of the excitement of using cheap rehearsal rooms was the mystery of what you would get.
There was a digital Behringer amp in one, ooh bad.
I remember a Mesa Triple Rectifier half stack (that kind of thing, I can't remember the specifics) at Robannas which was basically impossible to dial in within five minutes setting up time, probably fine as an amp but daft for the situation.
Hughes and Kettner had some 'metal' solid state amps that were particularly nasty.
There is a learning curve with Bandits and Valvestates which is what you got most of the time so once you knew how to dial in a reasonable base tone they were fine.
And basically anything made by Blackstar I ever used I hated. Muddy nasty clean sounds. Bring back the Behringer...