The worst amp I've ever owned

[jquinn86]

SWR SM-900. Tried every modification I found online to stop it from overheating and melting. Nothing worked and would have to have a friend re-solder capacitors and resistors back in after every 3rd gig. Giant $2,000.00 piece of useless crap. After months of classifieds, finally managed to trade it in for way less than half of what I paid. Not surprised SWR is about to go belly up.

[UrsaMinor]

Worst amp that I ever owned was definitely the Ampeg B2R. It was an alright(first head), but then I was introduced to the almighty Mesa 400+ as my first tube head. After that, I fell in love with the rich, subtle nuances that tubes amps gave me.

On top of that, the tone I got from that amp was pretty great. I am in the market to get a newer tube amp, though. Preferably high end, and versatile. On the other hand, the worst sounding amp was first ever practice amp. A Johnson combo amp/15 watts. Sounded like poop, but it was my first, so it was my baby ha.

[The Owl]

Roland BN60 combo, ARRRRRRRGH!

[The Owl]

Originally Posted by murphy

Another Peavey Combo 300 hater here.1992 model.....UGH!!!

Had one myself for a bit too, durable yes, but tonally FORGET IT!!!

[synaesthesia]

My mortal bass amp enemy of usable sound: Markbass

[4stringsonly]

What , no love for the Peavey combo 300 here? I bought one brand new about 1985 ( My first serious bass amp). This combo rattled so bad I took the head out and built a seperate box for the head to use with other speaker cabs. over the years I lost the original speaker box but some how hung on to the amp head in its home made box.

For ***** and grins I fired it up the other day and thought it sounded OK considering its 30 years old and still works.

I doubt some of this foreign made stuff will still be working in 30 years.
back in the day , Peavey was the low cost (American made) Alternative for budget minded muscians

[nealpolitan]

Originally Posted by iriegnome

I have had 2 that rank up there with the biggest pile of junk ever... SWR Workingman's 115 Combo and a Eden CXC410 combo!! Both lasted about 3 or 4 weeks until the cabinets shook apart and I blew the power sections. Simply AWFUL amps. Tone for crap too...

When I was first starting out on bass (played guitar for a long time prior to that), I was shopping for basses at the local Music-Go-Round. I found a Peavey USA Foundation that I wanted to try so I plugged it into a SWR WM115 they had. It sounded awful, I fiddled with the EQ and knobs on the guitar but could not get a nice sound out of it, even at low volume. Eventually one of the employees came over and suggested I plug into a GK 400RB rig they had set up. He said, "That SWR makes anything you plug into it sound awful." He was right. That little switch got me into GK amps and Peavey USA basses and to this day, that's all I play...

[Musicman20]

I'm lucky to have not owned a terrible amp. My first amp was a practice amp....some sort of solid state Rhino combo. Sounded alright.

I think virtually all amps can sound good with a good bass. If its badly made, that's another issue!

[zazz]

my first bass amp was this .... seriously i dont know how people made music in the 60s if this rig was anything to go by ....it sounded like a gnat fart.

[Arthur Strand]

I must have been lucky to bypass garbage brands but a bit selective as well!
Some of those old American brands listed above - I never heard of in the 60s.
Anyway, a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year, 2013.

[Lowactnsatsfctn]

Originally Posted by zachoff

Crate BX-100. No life... Just sterile, nondescript tone no matter which way you turn the knobs (except the vol to 0, of course).

Haha, I have a BX-200. By its self, it sucks, but with a decent pre going into the Effects return it sucks. Its about 4 times heavier and around 900 watts less than a Drivecore 1000 bridged. I do still keep it as a backup/loaner amp. I wouldn't be devastated if anything happened to it

Had a Crate BT100.... And it sucked. Heavy, sounded like poop and had a few issues.



But the all time Crappiest amp award goes to SWR, for the LA series 15..... The tweeter didn't actually play any sound, just HISS, and bad. Every knob on it made noise, a very quiet 100 watts, the particle board was crumbling, and the plastic handles were cracked. But the real reason I hated it was because no matter what you did, it always sounded like an utter hooked up to a milking machine. A crap speaker in a crap rear ported box with crap electronics.

[Li'l D]

Balder thunder. Over heated broke down many times

[PipeRain]

My first amp was an Acoustic head of some sort that I can't actually remember, but may have been a 200; this was about 20 years ago. Utterly nondescript tone and would cut out about every 5 minutes. If you picked it up and dropped it from about 4 or 5 inches you would magically get sound out of it. I figured out it was a cold solder somewhere and a friend of mine dug into it and found several cold solders that he repaired. I picked the thing up for about $100 along with an matching cabinet with no speakers for $50. I dropped a couple Eminence 15's in it and it just never sounded good, nor developed any reasonable amount of volume.

I suppose it was probably some sort of highly sought after, highly collectible head and cab, but it just did not do it for me. I replaced it with a Crate B160XL and an 1810 cab that sounded far better, was louder, was dependable and lighter. I dunno if that speaks more to my bad taste in tone, or bad luck overall....

[maxschrek]

Worst ever for me was a GK 400rb. Total POS....unreliable and sounded bad when it worked. Next runner up was a Peavey MK4.....bad, bad, bad but at least it operated consistantly.

[jmlee]

Originally Posted by maxschrek

Worst ever for me was a GK 400rb. Total POS....unreliable and sounded bad when it worked.

Crazy! A lot of folks here would say that's one seriously reliable and great-sounding head.

[maxschrek]

I know, right?! I guess I got a really crappy one.....that thing was a nightmare!

[Pedulla-Player]

Originally Posted by jmlee

Crazy! A lot of folks here would say that's one seriously reliable and great-sounding head.

Never owned one , but from the comments that I received in a thread that I recently started about 'The best GK head' it got a ton of positive comments on tone and reliablilty. So yes , that post kinda surprised me to.

[Discharge]

Worst is subjective, worst sound was probably my first beginner amp which was some terrible no-name brand Chinese thing.

However the amp that I was most disappointed with... was the Marshall VBA400, gooey mess with no character is how I would describe its tone, coupled with it's silly weight and it wasn't really that loud for something that should've knocked down walls at 100 feet.

Another one which I really couldnt get on with was that little genz benz amp, totally forgotten the name but I really couldn't find a tone I liked with any of the basses/cabs, I had everything from J to P to Warwicks at the time.

[BassmanPaul]

My worst amp without a doubt was a Blonde Fender Bassman with its twin 12 cabinet. This was around '67/'68. Had the thing for a weekend, one gig, and returned it. They had sold my trade in already but I still gave it back. Looked awesome but was a terrible bass amp.

[hudpucker]

Trace Elliot Boxer 15.


That thing would never keep up with the band...