Most Disappointing Experience (Amps)

[crabfunk]

Ampeg B2R, couldn't get a workable sound out of it. Lifeless and muddy. Changed shortly thereafter to G-K MB heads (200 and 500) with Neo cabs and couldn't be happier.

 

[Mark Hughes]

Aguilar TH500 and Barefaced Big Baby 2 cabs were my worst combination. I had bad experiences with the TH500 on other cabs too, Ampeg 610, Barefaced One10, but a great experience running through an Aguilar DB410, it was just wonderful.

I couldn’t get the Barefaced BB2 cabs to work for me with Aguilar, MarkBass and Hartke heads. They were loud, but I could never hear myself on stage. Overwhelmed buy huge low end that would mask any definition. Moved them on in only a few months.

Currently I use a Mesa D800+ with a 212 cab, and a Fender Rumble 500c. Turn them on, set flat, both sound great.

 

[DJ Dru]

Peavey Minimax. Why in the world did they stick an ugly, flimsy, cheap, thin paper label with VERY ROBUST adhesive on top of a pretty good little amp ????

View attachment 4186550

That's why they make gaffers tape brah

 

[monti2889]

Ok..so if you need my story....I've played bass for a bit and have played a wearhouse full of gear and then some....(I'm a gear junky...lol). I would say my biggest disappointment(s) were a harkey kilo and ampeg pf800 (or whatever it was). The kilo was a beast and weighed a solid kilo. At first I was so happy to finally get the opportunity to have one...but after awhile I grew less and less happy with it...there was just no character to it...then it finally blew the cooling fans and I could not get the circuits working again. The other, the pf...well that sounded like a model of the ampeg sound and could not do anything else. I'm sure there's a lot of people that love that, but it just got me no where close to the sound in my head. I've since settled on the GK rb series and haven't looked back since.

 

[BassmonkeyJ]

These are the key memories I have of being surprised over the past 30 years of playing bass:

Surprisingly bad:

TC Electronic - how can a company with such a rich heritage in pro audio make such boring amps?

Mark Bass - they seem to have copied TC's sound quality, oops! When Sterling Ball started raving about how they were the best amps ever my suspicions were confirmed.

Hartke - the aluminum cone 4x10 cabs were all over the place in the 90's and when I finally played through one I wondered how anyone could put up with the ear-bleeding honk-y sound. Their amps were also surprisingly banal when I tried them a few years later.


Surprisingly mediocre:

I agree with the SWR opinion, very early on I played an SM-400 into a Goliath Jr. and was blown away. Bought one 20 years later and was completely underwhelmed, it didn't age well.

The Marshall bass series in the 90's had a lot of us excited, but it didn't have the roar or the punch that they promised.


Surprisingly excellent:

My first amp was a Peavey TNT 150. Although I couldn't wait to upgrade to something better, it was always reliable (unlike my guitarist's Traynor) and had a solid tone with my 70's Precision. In hindsight it performed way above expectations.

The Trace Elliot SMX preamp has been with me since the 90's. Still sounds amazing as the front end for other amps or direct into the board.

As a small practice amp, the Ampeg PF-350 and PF-112HLF is an amazing combination for a remarkably low cost.

I have played through a Trace Elliot AH350 SMX since I brought it in the late '90s. Love it, never had any problems. Works great with both active and passive basses. I often get compliments on both the amp's appearance (black light), and tone.
I think if I had to replace it with a modern amp, I might struggle to find something better.
Apparently these amps are quite sought after now?

 

[bottomzone]

I've had two bad experiences with Gallien Krueger amps. I had a 1001 RB II that fried after a year and a half and a 701 RBII that had no sound the first day I used it. Granted both were used and thank God I purchased Guitar Center's warranty(and the 30-day return for the 701), but I've had a number of used bass amps that were trouble-free for many years. My SWR Workingman's 10, which I bought new, is still working flawlessly! I'm done with GK.

 

[Frank Miller]

For me, it was the Ampeg PF50T. I tried and I tried, but I could not get a good tone out of it, no matter what the settings were. I plugged into my 1964 Ampeg B15 afterwards and it was glorious - with both Bass and Treble knobs at 12 o'clock!

 

[nonohmic]

I really don't like the TC BAM200 at anything over 12 oclock on Gain and Master. Sounds super clippy and tinny. Looking forward to upgrading when I have a need for volume past 12 oclock.

 

[arbiterusa]

I worked for a Mesa dealer in the late 80s and early 90s. Their guitar amps were incredible. I figured the bass amps would be as well. When we got in our first D-180 I couldn't wait until closing time to give this thing a real spin.

Hard nope.

A bit later we got in our first 400. Figured that had to be better.

Nope.

The guitar amps from that era (Mark IIC, Mark III, Mark IV) are the best that anyone has ever made. Shame their bass gear just doesn't have the same mojo.

 

[Nev375]

I had one of these Ampeg PB-800s. It's not a bad sounding amp per se, but for an Ampeg I expected a little more.

 

[grouse789]

I worked for a Mesa dealer in the late 80s and early 90s. Their guitar amps were incredible. I figured the bass amps would be as well. When we got in our first D-180 I couldn't wait until closing time to give this thing a real spin.

Hard nope.

A bit later we got in our first 400. Figured that had to be better.

Nope.

The guitar amps from that era (Mark IIC, Mark III, Mark IV) are the best that anyone has ever made. Shame their bass gear just doesn't have the same mojo.

Heads up, your gonna get flames for “sacrilege “

 

[Chad Michael]

My beloved Eden WT600 with the SWR GIII - sounded fantastic, everywhere, all the time.

Had to send the head across state for a repair, in the meantime (gigging) I set up my GK 200MB as a preamp, to a borrowed Mackie M1400 power amp, to the Goliath. The sound was disappointing. Shortly, bought an old Crown Power Base 1 with a blown channel... and this GK / Crown / SWR rig sounded really good. How could a power amp make that much difference? I don't know, but it did. My ears haven't fooled me yet.

 

[BruceG63]

Come on everybody that doesn't like this topic.Nobody has come right out and said don't buy this amps/cabs because they are junk.What people are mostly saying is that they couldn't get a sound that worked for them or gave them the sound that they wanted.Not that it wasn't fit to own or use.Reminds me of an article I read years ago in the early 70s where a guitar player in a band was warming up playing before for Queen when they 1st came to the states.He met Queens guitar player that showed him his homeade guitar and Vox amps.May let him try his rig and that warmup band guitar player said he sounded awfull playing it.When Brian May started playing it he sounded he great.It goes to show you not all rigs work 4 all people.Just like a bass player in a death metal band doesn't like a 112 200 watt class D combo because it cant move enough air or somebody in a lounge/coffee house band could warm up to an SVT 2 810 rig because it was overboard.Different rigs work for different people.

 

[Doug P]

I find the Ampeg comments interesting.
I used to have an SVT II Pro (one of the initial limited supposedly hand-made series) and an 8x10 fridge and got nothing but compliments on the sound from members of various bands and sound men.
I found it very easy to dial in a tone that sat well in the mix in various musical styles.
If I wasn't an old man I'd still have that rig.
To each their own.

Hey. I’m a bit “old” too. But I’m not giving up the sound and overall feel of my youth and “big gear”
I don’t get too many chances to use my two 8 x 10’s but If ya never had the fun to stand in front of a pair at volume, put it on your bucket list.
But , now I’d just like to play a show. Rehearsals are a release but......

 

[Doug P]

I've taken chances on raved-about amps that didn't work out for me. I just chalk that up to 'different strokes': sell the amp, and move on to something that works better with my ears -- or my other gear: the entire signal path matters.


Ironically, a large disappointment was with my favorite amp: my early 70's SVT. Don't get me wrong, it sounded good at any volume, but the real magic happened when I was cranking it up on a big stage or outdoors and the power tubes got cooking. Bummed me out that I couldn't get that glorious overdrive at any volume level. I tried overdriving all-tube preamps, even top quality ones like Alembic, but preamp tubes are not power tubes.

So, my solution became solid state amps with overdrive units (first rack, now pedals): I get the quality dirt I need at any volume. I won't try to claim that these rigs equal warm power tubes, but tube emulation keeps getting better and better: they sound plenty good enough for me, and a nice bonus is that they're smaller, and lighter weight.

That’s why I like the CL. I crank the power tubes ( like the older SVT’s ) and use the gain as my volume. Of course you can do just the opposite. Rock On

 

[dbase]

Vox T60... 60 watts with a 12 and a 15. Thought it was what McCartney used. Boy was I mistaken, it would always overheat... traded it in for an Ampeg B18.

 

[JimmyM]

I once got a GK 400RB/Hartke XL410 that was really old and must have been broken, because usually I can get a good sound out of them. This time, it was weak and spineless. So I ended up turning the bass knob up all the way, and finally I could get something usable. It still wasn't great, but it got me through the show.

 

[ghunter]

I have played through a Trace Elliot AH350 SMX since I brought it in the late '90s. Love it, never had any problems. Works great with both active and passive basses. I often get compliments on both the amp's appearance (black light), and tone.
I think if I had to replace it with a modern amp, I might struggle to find something better.
Apparently these amps are quite sought after now?

You hit the nail on the head here though - prices may be going up, but if you sell it what will you replace it with? I've never heard an amp that has the same punch and clarity as the Trace SMX. GK Fusion 550 came close, and I do have a JJ Burnel Ashdown that also makes me happy, but still not in the same class as the SMX to my ears.

 

[Beejay772]

TC Electronic RH450. Supposedly a 450watt amp.
Failed to get it to equal my 250 watt Trace Elliott.

 

[Sascha Erni]

Only two noteworthy for me.

Gallien Kruger 400 RB: It must have been the specific unit, because I played with other 400s and 800s before and after. But the provided amp sounded weak, and for the love of the gods I couldn’t dial in a tone I enjoyed. The bass player after me, who sourced the amp for the show, sounded great though. The experience made me reconsider my approach to “tone”, mind, i.e. “okay, it’s apparently never in just a single piece of gear”, so that’s a plus, retrospectively.

Trace Elliot Commando 12: My second bass combo after a Peavy. Sounded great at home, so-so in the rehearsal space, and farted out quicksmart when used in a live setting (PA supported, naturally; it was supposed to work as my stage monitor). This made me avoid combos for ages; only a couple of years ago I gave combos another shot and am still very happy with the Ampeg B-100R. Also, the Rocketbass never farted out on me and I feel it could probably carry smaller rooms on its own. Even though many think it works better with a 12" replacement speaker, it was / is heads and shoulders above what I experienced with the 12", 100W Trace combo.