Most Disappointing Experience (Amps)

[thetragichero]

first ampeg i ever played was a b2r. only time i was able to coax a good sound from it was by SLAMMING the front with a preamp and the limiter off, until it smelled like burning and i quickly shut it off. still worked

had an original orange terror bass and it was rather underwhelming

 

[Stevorebob]

There's a rehearsal studio in L.A. with Orange Terror/Ampeg 6x10 rigs I just couldn't make that work for me.

I couldn't hear myself in the band mix. I assumed it was either me, that I just didn't know how to set those simple controls (the symbols were confounding), or the rig, that it was a poor fit for my expectations. I don't know. Left me with a bad impression of both the amp and cab.

In retrospect, it could have been the rooms. Maybe they were so dead there was no sound reflecting aback to me and the guitars and drums aimed my way easily dominated.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Back in the 90s, We were playing alot of out of town shows. And alot of them were shared backline, no need to bring your amps sort of affairs.
OK, I've never been an amp snob and 90% of the time I was just fine plugging into whatever they provided.
Except one....
For awhile there Gallien-Krueger bass amps were ALL the rage. But I just couldn't manage to get one to sound good. Didn't matter the model, GKs and my P just didn't get along. Every time I walked in to a venue and saw a GK I would groan.

 

[beaglesandbass]

I bought a brand new Fender Rumble 500C. The tone was great, but all the pots were scratchy as hell. I took it back to GC and he opened 3 more he had in stock. The same issues with all of them. I'll never buy another Fender amp again.

 

[Bullitt5135]

61 posts and only one mild dis on GK. I guess I'll keep my Fusion 550 and MB212 a bit longer, even though I hardly use it since going direct w/ IEM.

I picked up a used Ampeg B4R (Made in China) a few years ago. Something wasn't right, so I took it to a certified Ampeg repair shop. Turns out the entire circuit board was full of cold solder problems and wasn't worth fixing. I cut my losses and scrapped the amp altogether. It completely soured me on Ampeg.

 

[slagbass]

I did an outdoor memorial/tribute show, went to play my part and had the same experience: "Oh good there's an SVT. Ummmm where's the standby switch?" I thought there was something wrong with the amp, and soldiered through. When I got off stage and saw the back of the amp, I realized it was that solid state SVT shaped object Ampeg produced for a while.

From the bass meme thread with credit to @lokikallas.

 

[red_rhino]

I was sort of like driving a bull dozer on a golf course.

That is a great analogy!

I guess I am just too much of a cork sniffer .

Not really. We don't play basses that don't work for us. Why should it be different with amps?

FWIW, I've tried the DB750 a few times over the years and my take has always been the same; it's just not the sound I'm after. I know others who rave about it, but I'm not overly impressed with their tone either.

Around '96 I bought an SWR SM900 along with a Goliath 4x10 and the Big Ben 18'er. This was going to be THE Rig of Doom. It just didn't work out. In fact it farted out on me and my P Bass when I dug in. Fortunately GC had begun the 30 day return policy.

Had those same speakers but with an SM400. Sounded amazing at lower volumes, but it was always buried in a live mix. When the SM900 came out, I thought about upgrading to see if that worked better, but now I'm glad I didn't. Perhaps if I'd understood EQ and live sound back then (early 90's) as well as I do now it might have been different.

 

[Engle]

From the bass meme thread with credit to @lokikallas.
View attachment 4185819

I knew I couldn't be the only one this happened to.

 

[Heavy Blue]

One more thing- I am surprised to hear the story about Aguilar. I honestly want one currently because I can't find a bad review of them anywhere. Even YouTubers who have no technique at all sound good on demos with them. And by all accounts, they are built like tanks. All I can say is you might have used the wrong cab, (wrong cab for YOU is what I mean), because they have a ton of different cabs to choose from that all sound slightly different.

I agree. Many others get great tones for their music from Aguilar gear. I've liked the tones from Aguilar amps and cabs but I didn't play the TH through one. It was a used one and I played it through a Ashdown 4x12" and a home brew sealed 2x15" w/BWs that actually has sounded great with other amps.

As jthisdell states two quotes down, some of us have issues with how the gain and drive controls interact with each other on these amps. Yep, operator error I'll freely admit.

I'll echo Heavy Blue's sentiments. I'm also a Canadian and I very much wanted to love the Traynor YBA-200. I couldn't dial in a tone I loved despite a lot of effort. Sold it and got an Ampeg V4B reissue that, to my taste, was easy to dial in from the get-go.

Marc

I concur! Lots of good tones but nothing that ever made go wow. Good blues amp all the same.

It's funny that you went and got a V4B as now I'm starting to sniff around for the same lol. The prices have sure gone up on those haven't they?

The controls on the TH are unique, the Drive is a combination variable hpf lpf that rolls off the very lows then starts to roll off the very highs then adds a mid bump. If you crank it up without understanding it you will be very confused. The Drive interacts with the Gain to make it weirder. The Gain in itself is different in that you can run it all the way off if you want. Finally the Bass is set very low. I love mine and find it easy to get good toan.

The amp I was most underwhelmed by was a Rumble 100, I believe it has a pretty aggressive hpf built in, I could not get any low end out of it and was shocked at its thinness compared to an older Rumble 150 head and a cheap but efficient 115.

Yes, that's it! The weird interplay between the drive and gain controls. So basically it appears that the drive control is sort of like a reverse contour control with some extra drive thrown in for good measure.

That being said. I only played it in the store a few times so if I had taken the time to get it home in my normal environment maybe I would've adapted to it after a bit.

As for your Rumble experience, I can relate to that. I just ran into an older used Rumble 30 for sale at the local pawn and imo it demolishes the current R25 in every way except weight/portability.

Now if they would sell it for a reasonable price instead of $160. The new R25's are about that or cheaper.

 

[Dincrest]

Like others here, I have not had good experiences with Ampeg amps. I've tried several, both tube and solid state. My tone always lacked clarity with Ampegs, and some I've played were quieter than comparably watted amps from other brands. I guess the Ampeg sound is just not for me.

And though I wouldn't call this a "disappointment" it was a case of trying out a supposedly "superior" piece of gear and preferring what I have at home (Peavey MiniMax and two Bergantino 1x12s).

Last year, before quarantine, a drummer friend and I were jamming in a rehearsal space that had some killer gear in its rooms. The bass rig in the room we were in had an Aguilar ToneHammer 350 through an Ampeg 1x15 cabinet. The tone of that rig was quite good and I had always wanted to try an Aguilar head, but is it blasphemy that I prefer my "cheap" Peavey over the more "boutique" Aguilar?

Yeah, the cabinets play a part too. Maybe I prefer 12s over 15s. Maybe I prefer Bergantino over Ampeg. I could nitpick every single factor even down to the wrap windings on my strings, but this was just an anecdotal "gut feeling" story of me simply preferring the rig I have at home over a "superior" one elsewhere.

 

[ueezb]

Darkglass Microtubes 900 v1. I wanted that amp so bad (because of the VMT mode, I love that pedal), but it just didn't do it for me. I ended up with a GK 700 RBII. Nothing ever came close to that amp, but I still need to try a Mesa WD800, TT800 and a GK Legacy.

 

[drumvsbass]

The 810 cab is the issue in my view. I had a flatback for a while, and it worked for me with an ampeg style amp (V4 or SVT) with a bit of a mid boost but I hated it with other amps. Cabs that I like with other style amps will work with the ampegs just as well with less fiddling of the dials.

I agree, Ampeg only sounds great with Ampeg. I've had luck using a different head on an Ampeg cab but never the other way around. Just my experience.

 

[drumvsbass]

And though I wouldn't call this a "disappointment" it was a case of trying out a supposedly "superior" piece of gear and preferring what I have at home (Peavey MiniMax and two Bergantino 1x12s).

I don't understand why Peavey still gets (or every got any) hate. They have always been hilariously indestructible and sound fantastic at a cheaper price point.
That Ampeg thing is a particular type of sound. It sits squarely in the Fuzzy Wuzzy chumba wumba tone camp. Not for everyone. But, for gutting loud guitars with MESA triple rectifiers, I'm not sure what else would do the job as well if at all.

Everyone will now pipe in about how their 800 watt class D blah blah blah... save it.

 

[MegaSwing]

It wasn't necessarily a disappointment as much as an epiphany, but my experience with a Mesa Basis M2000 showed me that I didn't have to pay big dollars to get a great, high-performing amp. And make no mistake about it, it was definitely one of the greatest bass amps of its time, as well as among the most expensive. The bugaboo is understanding exactly what features in an amp are going to do you some practical good.

 

[TrevorR]

I think you mean Stryper
Autocorrect almost got me too!

 

[Mike Marshall]

I want to start by saying that this thread is NOT intended to poopie on gear!! I'm just curious to see what others experiences are.

My story...I have been playing professionally for about 30 years. In that time I've played a LOT of gear. I have my preferences but I recently had a MAJOR let down. I'd like to hear about yours and/or some disagreements that may make me think twice.

So...I'm all my years of playing I never had the experience of playing an Aguilar DB750. The price tag and lack of availability to try out this amp locally or really anywhere always bugged me...particularly because Chris Chaney (who is a beast IMO) has used one for a while. During Covid my band had the opportunity to do a live stream with full production and touring grade equipment. I pretty much had my pick of gear. When I heard that a DB750 and Aguilar cabs were on the list I seized the opportunity and used the head with (2) 212 cabs. I was stoked! I showed up with my Spector Basses and had high hopes. When I plugged in to soundcheck and setup I had about 60 mins to tweak and play. I was SO disappointed that I just couldn't get this rig to sound good no matter what I tried. In the end I just played the show with the best settings I could get but to this day I am just bewildered that I couldn't dial up anything exciting or even acceptable IMO.

anyone have a similar experience with an amp? Anyone use the DB750 and love it?

I think the test is how it sets in the mix with a band live. I believe that amps where the bass control frequency is set too low normally lack the mids to cut through. The Aguilar and Eden center the bass too low for my taste. If you sound very bassey on stage its much worse 30 feet away.

 

[jeff7bass]

I guess a flip side of the usual disappointment - I've purchased two Dr Bass cabs second hand for next to nothing and they, unfortunately, sounded pretty good.

Look at my profile pic. My Dr. Bass cabs (1260 3-way and 112LF) sounded mint with my Carvin BX1200 SS head run in bi-amp mode. I got mine just before the problems.

 

[jeff7bass]

I think people who like the GK sound (in your face clarity) likely don't like the Aggie tone and visa-versa. I myself love the GK tone but a friend of mine plays the Tonehammer 500 through a Fender 210 cab and his fingerstyle tone sounds great for what they do.

 

[PJ Muzikmansky]

Back in the 90s, We were playing alot of out of town shows. And alot of them were shared backline, no need to bring your amps sort of affairs.
OK, I've never been an amp snob and 90% of the time I was just fine plugging into whatever they provided.
Except one....
For awhile there Gallien-Krueger bass amps were ALL the rage. But I just couldn't manage to get one to sound good. Didn't matter the model, GKs and my P just didn't get along. Every time I walked in to a venue and saw a GK I would groan.

Similar experience. In November '96 I played a blues festival. Big venue, backline supplied - GK 800 RB. Now I don't know whether it was the amp, the venue, the cabinet { 4 x 10 } me, or what, but it sounded terrible. I was using a '78 jazz bass that always sounded pretty big on stage, but do you think I could get a sound out of that
@#$%&! amp that resembled anything other than a well executed fart? No way.

 

[MachMike]

Back in the 90s, We were playing alot of out of town shows. And alot of them were shared backline, no need to bring your amps sort of affairs.
OK, I've never been an amp snob and 90% of the time I was just fine plugging into whatever they provided.
Except one....
For awhile there Gallien-Krueger bass amps were ALL the rage. But I just couldn't manage to get one to sound good. Didn't matter the model, GKs and my P just didn't get along. Every time I walked in to a venue and saw a GK I would groan.

GK and Spector or Warwick work very well.. I agree, GK and P not so much..I'm still searching for a sound I like with my P bass. Its been quite frustrating. I'm starting to consider a Kemper.