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The worst amp I've ever owned

#201
Curmei said:
I don't generally jump into threads like this - I have used all sorts of gear over the years, and have been able to make most anything work for me. However, I got a Gibson Thor as part of a trade, about ten years ago, and it was - and still is - the worst amp I have ever played through. It is still sitting in the corner of my studio, as it has no resale value, and even if it did, I would feel bad inflicting it on another player. I thought that it might have had some technical issues, but when I brought it to my tech, he was surprised at what good shape it was in. He mentioned that those amps just sounded that way.

I did read of people modding them, to cut down the noise and get a cleaner sound, but I kind-of enjoy owning one of the worst amps in history, at this point.
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I agree with your assessment. When I was checking out the one and only Thunderbird I've owned, the shop owner thought it would be cool to plug it into an amp of similar vintage. Crapola! My worst amp was my first. I believe it was a "Kingston". Maybe five watts @ 50% THD. Open back cab with a couple of el-cheapo 10" no-name speakers. It barely qualified as an amp.
 
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#202
My worst amp was a Laney Hardcore Max 65. It stank, even for a practice amp combo. It's busted now at home in my shed. I should flog it to some muppet on the electronic bay for $40 or something.
 
#203
I just read through this entire thread to see if anybody mentioned the Gibson Lab Series and, sure enough, somebody else had suffered as I did! Over priced, under powered, and no tone to be found anywhere.

In my early playing days I ran a Vox Supreme head (100 tube watts I believe) with 2 Vox Foundation cabs (1x18). It sounded pretty good though a pain to move. One night at a gig a guy approached me and basically said name your price for your amp and cabs. I added on half as much again as I originally paid and he pulled out his wallet and counted off the cash. This went towards the Lab Series and many times later I wished I still had the Vox.
 
#205
I had a Kustom Bass I. It was only OK. No more than that, and it weighted too much for what it could to. It was a poor guitar amp and didn't sound very good with bass. I sold it to a guy who knew exactly what it was and wanted it. Go figure.
 
#208
Worst amp I ever owned was a brand new mid-late 90’s Ampeg SVT 3 Pro, it had more downtime than playtime. The service technician never figured out what was wrong with and after each repair it broke down shortly after. I can’t remember if I sold it or paid someone to help me getting rid of it. That’s amp could not even be recycled, I hope it has left the surface of this planet!
 
#210
I had a Haynes Bass King II. It might have sucked harder than the original. OTOH I had a BXR200 for quite awhile, and it did the job, nothing special, but no headaches. I was playing with a big band then. I sold it to a local player a couple of years ago and he's still got it for his backup, and happy with it. Must have been a good one...
 
#211
Ok, this thread was worth reading, got a few chuckles.

My worst was my first bass amp. It was a head that only said "Stage", 3 knobs (bass treble volume), a line out and a speaker out, guessing 1980's. Had a matching 1x15 cab. Seat of the pants says well under 50 watts, you average 1x8 pratice amp would blow it away.

As an enterprising 8th grader (somewhere north of 2 decades ago), I did figure out that running the line out from the head into a giant '70s 200Wx2 Pioneer stereo receiver with a pair of Cerwin-Vega 15s created a rig that could keep up with any drummer...

-z.
 
#215
TNT-130. I suppose at the time it was actually sorta OK. Mine sounded decent enough but could never keep up with the band. Still, it was my first gigging amp. Fond memories, except for the parts where I had to actually move it. Still don't understand how it could possibly have weighed so much.
 
#216
b_carville said:
Ah,yes! The Gretsch Pro Bass. Two twelve's if I recall(I could be mistaken).

Gretsch amps were made by Valco who also owned/made the National & Supro amps.The Gretsch amps were made a little better than the Supro's. A lot of them had the same cool Gretsch chrome knobs as the guitars. The Pro bass was actually FAR from the worst 60's bass amp though it was a better guitar amp....

Oh, the memories! Once again a Beheringer head/cabinet was far superior to an easy nine out of ten 60's bass amps. And those amps back then cost a lot more. I think that Gretsch Pro Bass was about $325-350 new in 1966!
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I had a Pro Bass given to me back in the 80's when I needed an amp for a tiny little gig. Broken off power switch, rattly cab, crappy sound. Stayed with me for the next 25 years or so, taking up space with each move, guess because I figured I'd give it back to the guy who gave it to me. Then a couple of years ago, saw an ad on evilbay for one of these suckers; figured mine was in better shape. Took it to the repair shop, dropped a couple of tubes and a switch in it; still sounded like crap with a bass. Slapped it on CL, sold in 12 hours for $400 to a guitar player who fancied himself a delta blues player. It did sound much better with a guitar going through it than a bass, I'll admit. It also financed a new Hartke rig; going from 25 watts to 500 watts was a nice deal.
 
#218
My first amp was the worst I have ever had, it was a "Linear Phase 30" IIRC, 30W all tube from the mid 60s. 4 x EL84 output that sounded like crap but gave out more heat than a good coal fire. The only thing in it's favour was that you could warm your hands on it in a cold rehearsal room as it was just a chassis with an expanded metal cover to protect the the tubes.

I foolishly traded it in for a "Linear Phase 50" 2 x EL34 output. It also sounded like crap but gave out a bit more heat. This amp tied for first place with the one above.

I soon as I got working I saved up and bought a Carlsbro CS100TC - 100 watt kickass tube head that I used for many years. Bought it in about 1968, used it until 1998 and occasionally power it up for old times sake.
 
#219
My first bass amp was a Crate; 10" speaker and I believe it was 25 watts. I bought it brand new and had problems with it almost from the get-go.. The sound was ok (not great), but it was not reliable! After a couple of trips to the repair shop, I traded it back in and upgraded to an Ampeg B-3. Never looked back and no regrets - it's still going strong after 18+ years. My other crap amp was a "hand me down" Harmony practice amp. Best feature it had was tremelo, but the sound was generally lousy. Really not good for much of anything more than basic amplification.
 

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