Most fartbag amp or cab you've ever played through?

[Ferdugan]

My first combo/rig I ever bought, an Ampeg 115hp. SO underpowered. I could never keep up with even the smallest guitar rig.

[jad]

Originally Posted by BASSnSAX

SWR Workingman 2004 and 4x10T. It lacked the fart, but it was a clack machine. Probably because I was young-n-dumb, and didn't know how to EQ for crap.

I wasn't going to post until I saw this. My experience with this exact same rig was just awful! Could not coax a useable tone out of it and eventually accepted the fact that the most it has to offer was "loud enough to know I'm playing the songs right". You owe me a beer just for dredging up the memory of it!

[bolophonic]

I put a Peavey Black Widow 15" driver into a blown Hartke cab before I knew any better. It was like the sound of the universe sharting itself.

[stuhammfan]

Worst (high end)amp I've played thru is a swr redhead combo. I messed w eq forever and couldn't get that nasal midrange honk out of it. Same for the swr mo' bass. Could not get a decent sound. And I play high end basses- status, modulus, smith. Just something inherently muddy bout those amps to me.

[stuhammfan]

Same swr redhead combo- saw a guy playing an old rickenbacker bass with a pick thru it. Instant jack Bruce fart tone. Line six could model "fart tone" after that sound. Every note was a "brown" note, not due to the hertz !

[Waynebass]

Ampeg classic 410,pure garbage

[Jim Carr]

Originally Posted by stuhammfan

...swr redhead combo...Instant Jack Bruce fart tone...

You want mid-range farts ala Jack Bruce? Try a '68 Marshall Major 200 tube head into two 412 cabs with green back drivers.

[skidmarkbass]

A Fender Bassman 1200 that fried all my speakers years ago!

[zfunkman]

Anything made by Crate.

[Arjank]

Originally Posted by zfunkman

Anything made by Crate.

+100

When you read through this thread, Crate is the winner when it comes to fartbag amps/cabs

[cjp3044]

I'm amazed at some of the amps being mentioned here, and some of the others are what I expected to see. In my experience with some of the fartbag amps that have been dissed here I've actually had great success with. Granted, everyone has a different idea of what a good tone is, but farting is farting, nothing good about that, so I'll start with:

Someone mentioned the Ampeg B2R -- I had one for years as my main gigging head -- when I first bought it, I bought a B series Ampeg 4x10 as well. That sound was only moderately OK, then I upgraded the 410HLF - The B2R with 410HLF was a monster! I used to get so many compliments on my tone with that rig, in fact I had many sound guys want to mic me rather than use the DI. Then I thought I would "upgrade" to the SVT 3-Pro - it didn't fart, it just sounded like ass. I was back to the B2R within a week. Then on to an SVT 6-Pro and an Ampeg 810 - that rig will flat punch you in the gut and put you on your ass.

Someone else mentioned "anything by Ashdown". Really? Then you haven't played the ABM stuff. OK, so Ashdown may not be the sound you like, but fart? I have an ABM EVO III 2x10 combo, which is OK by itself, even with an active 5 string. Never farted on me once. I also have 2x10, 4x10 and 1x15 US made Ashdown NEO cabs - add any of those cabs really brings it to life - never a fart.

Peavey TKO 65 - I had one of these (bought new in 1987) until about 2004. Never let me down, could keep up with a drummer and a couple of guitars in most situations (not all) and I always got decent, not great, tone and again, never a fart. I wish I still had that amp for home practice.

Fender - here I have to agree somewhat - the Rumble series are complete junk and yes, they fart bad. Although some of the other Fender combos have been quite nice sounding. I still have a Bassman Pro 400 2x10 combo that sounds pretty decent for the country band I play in, however it will fart at higher volumes and as far as quality goes, well, lets say it's up on my bench right now. Again. (and again, and again)

What fartbag amps/speakers have I played through? Well, I have never been able to make an aluminum coned Hartke cab sound better than a transistor radio through any amp, give 'em any volume an you may as well be in the same room with someone that had Brats and Beer for dinner the night before.

Crate - enough said. (do people actually pay money for those amps or are they used as giveaways for opening a new bank account somewhere?)

GK Backline - OMG I swear I can SMELL those farts!

Oh, another note on the Ashdown stuff - the 4x10 cab sounds damn good with just about any amp I have tried with it. Not so much the 1x15 and the 2x10, although they sound great with the Ashdown amp. I tried my Aguilar Tone Hammer 500 through the 2x10 and I can't get a decent tone at all - it doesn't fart, just no balls. That's the only cab I've tried with that amp where it hasn't sound deep and full. The 1x15 just sounds too boomy on anything other than the Ashdown amp that I've tried.

I love the stories from the guys that were around playing in the 60s (I started in the late 70s) -- yeah, there wasn't really anything back then that was really engineered for bass frequencies, most of it was just re-worked guitar amps, and what amps were labeled as bass amps back then seem to be highly sought after guitar amps these days. I can only imagine having to lug around several hundreds of pounds of gear and then only have a mediocre sound at best - makes for fond memories and great experience though. It sure is a great time to be a bass player with all the great gear we DO have these days!

[mogpipe]

Originally Posted by manwiththedogs

Hartke 3500 thru a VX(?) 4/10 cab.
Fart in a can.

J have the Hartke VX3500 combo and I love it.
Sounds great!

[wshines1892]

First amp for church was borrowed from a buddy, it was a little 50 watt yorkvill. At 14 though that sounded like a lot of watts. Decent tone for practice but would fart when I turned it up to play. Eventually blew a fuse from pushing it too hard.

First band I was in had a little 60 watt 15 inch Fender combo. Two guitar and a heavy fisted drummer lead to tone a la fart. Blew the crap out of that speaker and got my first real amp next.

Picked up an acoustic B200 15 inch half stack on Craigslist. Sounded decent and got pretty loud. Occasionally farted on low D if pushed too hard but nothing terrible, decent rig. Ran a sans amp which made it sound pretty nice. Sold it on Craigslist to a cop to finance my first rack rig, which I could never get to sound the way I wanted. Not farty, just a bad cab to pre match of a Fender rumble 410 and a Behringer vamp with an old crown power amp. Never seemed to give enough low end but stayed mushy, always just sounded wimpy for how powerful it was and how damn heavy the crown was.

The latest was an SVT 215 cab. Never sounded quite how I wanted without farting. I found some compromises but I was just never in love with it for how it sounded versus how heavy it was. Eventually sold it to some kid in a local pop punk band and bought new cabs for portability sake, I couldn't even get the thing in my car myself. I helped him lay it across the back seat of his Focus, shook his hand, and watched him ride off into the sunset. He seemed happy with it though so I don't feel bad about it.

Lately I've used a GK Backline 15 combo at church rehearsals because I don't feel like hauling my rig upstairs, we rehearse at a different location than the church. It serves its purpose, but like most church amps it sound blown and farty. Crackly knobs too. I'd just not use it if I weren't so lazy.

[LBassPlayer]

Crates

[C.Linton]

Rogue 50 watt combo. Looked like the overall body of the amp was made from a converted guitar amp, the back panel looked like it was added by screwing it into the back with like 6 screws thru the sides of the back edge. there was a gap at the top between the panel and the metal back panel of the amp portion.Playing it at any volume over 2, the back panel would vibrate against the amp section, making a loud farting noise. I had to jam in some foam rubber in the gap to reduce the vibes, but I could never get rid of it totally.
For that and other reasons, that amp was a total POS.

[Spaldo]

GB610XL and GBE750

...no tone at all

[JoeWPgh]

The nastiest amp I ever had was an early Sunn SS that I bought from John Harrison, who played for Roy Buchannon. It was big, it was loud. It had bass galore, and gobs of treble. But nothing in between.
He's now a tv/film director. I ran into him a few years back and introduced myself as having bought that amp from him. He laughed and admitted the amp sucked.

[petrus61]

Amped 410HLF. A flatulent exercise in bowel inducing Hershey squirts.

[Spaldo]

Originally Posted by JoeWPgh

The nastiest amp I ever had was an early Sunn SS that I bought from John Harrison....I ran into him a few years back and introduced myself as having bought that amp from him. He laughed and admitted the amp sucked.

LOL!!!

[alexofc69]

Ashdown MAG300. First one sounded just like a fartbag. Got replaced by retailer. 2nd one sounded like a fart bag then the bag went pop with smoke! and smelly too.