Amps you hate

[glnflwrs]

I bought a 300w Carvin bass stack back about 1983 or 84 to go with my Carvin LB-50. I'd be playin' along about 75-80% of rated thrust and all of a sudden it would gag a couple of spits and just quit. 10-20 secs. later and it was back on. Play for 10 mins and it would faintout dead away again.

I sent it back to Carvin on RMA, and a week later I got it back with a note, "Tested per our shop routine, found no malfunction."

I plugged it in, we jammed, and again it couldn't hack it. I called Carvin and asked if they had plugged a bass in and played it? No they hadn't. They put an oscillator on it at varying freqs and power for 24 hours on an event recorder.

Ppsshawww, no way to acid test a piece of gear. I sent it back to them saying not to ever send it back to me. I hate Carvin amps. They suck. At least mine did.

But...

ANYBODY who has been around any length of time has to admit that Peavey, although maybe not the top of the line, is dependable and has a more than adequate sound in almost all their line of amps.

I go for straight, unadulterated amplification. No effects, no induced growl or sustain, no peddles. My Peavey TNT115 will take whatever your unplugged bass sounds like and pretty much just make it louder.

And you can hit it with a daisycutter and keep on playin'.

 

[PB+J]

can't stand swr stuff. There's some horrible styrofoam quality ti the nnidrange that just gets under my skin, I had a redhead for years and just could not get a sound I liked. In many ways, though, it was a great amp--extremely high quality construction. Just sounded bad

 

[popinfresh]

I played a H&K amp through two EV cabs... sounded horrible and sterile.

 

[heath_the_great]

Any rig that has the amp head and the speaker cabinet glued together in one giant box.

including these?
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especially this one
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[srxplayer]

I can't say much about some of the high end stuff (Aguilar, Eden etc.) but in my short bass playing career I have developed a dislike for for any aluminum coned Hartke cab, GK amps, and SWR Workingmans line.

 

[o2bass]

I really hate the hartke vx cabs. Ive never tried the aluminum driver cabs so I can't say anything about them.

GK and SWR cabs just have no depth to them no matter what you do. Where's the beef?

I love my SVT 8x10 and I think it sounds great with my GK 700rb head.
Some of the new peavey cabs sounds good too, like the 8x10. Great low-end.

 

[Joe Beets]

including these?

I don't know, is there an amp head in there somewhere?? If so, that 8x10 is the biggest combo amp I've ever seen.

 

[heath_the_great]

including these?

I don't know, is there an amp head in there somewhere?? If so, that 8x10 is the biggest combo amp I've ever seen.

yeah..they combos...personally...im tossing up between the 210 or 410 combo against the yamaha 500bbt and yamaha 410 for my next rig

the 810 is 400w
the 410 is 320w
the 210 is 250w

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the controls are at the top/back of the cab

 

[Joe Beets]

I guess if you are hauling one of these monsters the added weight of the amp is hardly noticeable. I'll bet the F.R. (Fartage Ratio) on these things is somewhere between 40 and 50. Not bad.

 

[metron]

Hate is such a harsh term. I will go with indifference...

Since receiving my vintage ampeg last week and playing through it only a little, I am indifferent to every other amp out there except for other vintage ampegs.

 

[lovepump69]

what about ashdown..... any qualls?

 

[waytoodeep03]

what about ashdown..... any qualls?

What about ashdown, ea and acme?

 

[gazman_res]

what about ashdown..... any qualls?

Ashdown, awesome amazing tone. Crapped out on me instore.
Also theyre pulling out of australia which means nearly zero customer support.

 

[via satellite]

The one that comes to mind first is the Carvin Redeye 600 watt combo thingy I played a while back...No amount of twiddling yielded a tone I liked. And it sure didn't seem like 600 watts worth of loud.

 

[evertalbers]

those 2 are the only ones I remember dissappointing me soundwise. There were a lot of other occasions with bad sound that I remember, but often other factors were more important. E.g. one cannot hold it against Hartke if a cheap 140W amp is not able to be heard in a hall with 600 noisy spectators.

 

[Joe P]

...other occasions with bad sound that I remember, but often other factors were more important. E.g. one cannot hold it against Hartke if a cheap 140W amp is not able to be heard in a hall with 600 noisy spectators.

Ya gotta admit that the tone of those little things is pretty good, though. Sort of harsh and aggressive, like I like it!

I'm thinking of buying their 500W 'Transient Attack' model.

Joe

 

[Akito]

Amps I hate...
100 watt Marshalls because so many guitarists have abused my ears with them over the years.
I had an Ampeg SVT 2 that I thought sounded really bad.
Sorry but can't stand GK amps.

 

[neotim]

For all of you who say that Carvin stinks... is that opinion based on the sound of their cabs or amps? I've never tried their cabs, but I really like my R600. It puts out plenty of power, sounds amazing, and has plenty of versatility.

Besides, isn't most of the bass tone produced by the bass guitar and the cabinet?

 

[Psychdave]

Ampeg SVT 2: I was really excited to use this, until I could not hear myself or the center of the note and the beat, yet it was way too loud, fiddled all night, still didn't sound good.

SWR.. same thing as everybody else.. no real volume. Original Redhead, great tone, no guts.

Need I mention Behringer?

For reference, what sounded great? Marshall Super Bass, ORIGINAL SVT, and my current Mesa 400 (Now that I have had great help from TB forum on how the tone stack works!)

 

[Guiseppe]

Anything with a volume AND a gain!! Ugh!

...but what about those of us that like tubes?