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The worst amp I've ever owned

#21
I had an SWR Basic Black that was really awful. It could make a nice bass sound like passing gas. It wasn't even ok as a "jamming with the stereo" amp.

At least twice I have tried Hartke equipment, only to find it really lacking. Plus, darn near every used one has a broken slider, knob or other feature. I lost money on each one of these simply getting rid of them.
 
#22
Hey I have a Haynes Bass King.
I kind of like it, in a raw, my amp just caught fire, low power way.
It is fun to play around with.

Hey people pay $$$ for boutique pedals to make their “good” amps sound like that.

Univox is a hit and miss sort of thing, some decent sounding early tube guitar amps and lots of soulless transistor models. They did make a nice sounding 2x12 cabinet.

MM
 
#24
The worst bass amp I ever had was a Gibson amp that was purchased along with my first real bass in 1965. I don't know the model # but it was 40 watts with a 15" speaker. The case had sort of a trapezoidal shape, wider at the bottom than the top, sealed cab. Part of the problem might have been that shortly after I bought it it broke and they had to replace a 4-gang pot on the bass control (who has ever seen one of those before?) and chances are the wiring got screwed up.

I have never seen another amp like it anywhere. I'll have to check the Gibson website to see if there is some historical information.

Rick B.
 
#25
a Hyland 1x15 combo i bought from my then-bass teacher at 14. Before that i had been plugging my bass directly into the "rec in" 1/4" jack on my home stereo! A woofer caught fire once doing that, not exactly sure how, but a girl i know said that is how she remembers me- shirtless (i beat the flames out with my shirt) carrying a smoking speaker into the front yard.
 
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#26
I had a Marshall Major once. Great sounding amp: tone up the wazoo and loud. But it blew fuses all the time and would shock the s**t out of me if I didn't pull the fuse holder out just right. (Guess it was a cap discharging.) I sold it and got an old SVT - that one served me well for years.

BTW:
Bassflute said:
Worst soundwise: Fender Bassman 50

What's wrong with the sound of a Bassman? Yeah, you only got 50 watts, but in the studio they rock.
Click to expand...
 
#27
Hands down. Sunn Coliseum with the twin 18" enclosures. Thankfully, I purchased it used. A friend who was getting out of the business, played a 73 Precision fretless through it. I assumed it was the bass or his settings. I was wrong. The bass and his settings were good, the amp sucked. I was GASin for the real McCoy, as I had built a pair of copy cat DYI's in 1972, with CTS drivers. What a let down. The copycats with a 370 head blew the oem deal away.
(Those from the 60's, like the Jensen "Sound Column"?)
 

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#28
RickBlair said:
The worst bass amp I ever had was a Gibson amp that was purchased along with my first real bass in 1965. I don't know the model # but it was 40 watts with a 15" speaker. The case had sort of a trapezoidal shape, wider at the bottom than the top, sealed cab. Part of the problem might have been that shortly after I bought it it broke and they had to replace a 4-gang pot on the bass control (who has ever seen one of those before?) and chances are the wiring got screwed up.

I have never seen another amp like it anywhere. I'll have to check the Gibson website to see if there is some historical information.

Rick B.
Click to expand...

Might be a Gibson Atlas.Or was it a Titan. My memory fails me.
One caught fire on me during my 9th grade talent show
They made another version with a seperate head & a almost Dual Showman sized cabinet. Still only had One fifteen. If you were lucky the speakers were Altec Lansing
 
#32
JimmyM said:
You apparently don't know about the Eden CS wars of a few years ago.
Click to expand...

I knew about it, but never needed any service for my Wt400.

I have no idea how you got that out of my post. Unless you rate an amp on the manufacturer's CS, which is also valid, I guess. To re-phrase, I'd rather use an expensive amp made by a company with lousy customer service, than one that was unreliable or sounded bad.
And for the record, I own a Fender Bassman (50 watt). Great guitar amp!
I also own an Ampeg SVT II. Great bass amp!
As well as my three Edens (all first-rate).
My worst bass amp was actually a Peavey Mark IV. Next in line of "worst-ness" is my Peavey T-Max. I guess I just don't like Peavey. Of course, JMHO and YMMV.
 
#33
Oh oh oh..

remember when Radio Shack started getting into "pro audio" .. this was about the same time they had a mono synth.. Elton John signature model?

They had a very feeble (and over priced) amp


OR


in the 70s mongomery wards had something made from press board..


In these days the gear REALLY sucked as the easy methods to go direct were not common place.
 

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