Which amp was the biggest disappointment? Which exceeded expectations?

[craig.p]

Biggest disappointment, and this obviously goes WAY back, was a 50-watt Bassman blackface with matching 2x12 cab. I'd heard so much buzz about Bassmans, expected so much. Someone brought one over in a station wagon for me to try because he'd heard I'd just switched from guitar to bass and was looking for a "real" bass amp.

Well. What junk. I remember fiddling with the knobs for over an hour, thinking, "There's got to be a pony somewhere in this pile of glaring midrange and personal-space heater."

There was no pony.

But Bill F says it got him started, and I've learned a lot from him here, so maybe that's the pony.

Exceeded expectations? MB200, which happened to be my first GK. Stupid little thing is like a heroin addiction.

What started out as a big disappointment but then became a winner once I finally figured out how to run it, and what cabs to pair it up with, was my BDDI.

 

[kcole4001]

Biggest disappointment: all of the amps I've had with just Bass and Treble tone controls. (Fender, Acoustic, Traynor)
Absolutely useless for a Rick bass (which need mids).
Exceeded expectations: SWR Workingman's 2004. Never let me down, and sounds great, and not just to me, everyone comments positively when it's used as house amp at local fundraisers/benefits.

 

[1kinal]

Biggest disappointment: EA iAmp 350 and 800. Lifeless, too much deep low-end, not punchy at all.

Exceeded expectations: Genz-Benz Shuttle 9.0. This is the head I've been dreaming about since I started to play. Good sound, effective EQ, light and loud.

Honorable mention to the Carvin B1500. Once you get passed the fact that it's written Carvin on it, it's one of the best sounding amplifier I've played. Put this in a box that's written Ampeg on it and you'll sell millions of it.

 

[pasta4lnch]

Close second, Markbass LMTube800.... sounded more solid state than my LMII.

I'm convinced the tranny has more to do w/ the "tubiness" of an amp than the tubes . . . at least as far as one or two tubes only in the pre-amp

Exceeded Expectations: Markbass LMII... when they were released 3 or 4 years ago, none of us could believe an amp that size, and at a cost that was roughly half many other amps, could (at least for me) sound more powerful and better than the amps I had costing double or triple.

I still think it's one of the best deals in bass amps . . .

 

[JOME77]

No amps come to mind but in the speaker cabinet world .......

Biggest disappointment - original design Berg HT210 - broke up when barely pushed. I had a new Stewart 2.1 amp and Alembic F1-X pre and expected so much!

Next biggest disappointment - 2nd original Berg HT210 - I thought maybe I just had a bad one. Shame on me the 2nd time!

Exceeded expectations - Berg HT-112 - Still the best sounding single speaker cabinet that I've ever heard!

 

[AHDBassist]

My biggest surprise was my (used but almost new) Hartke LH500 which I picked up for only $200 CDN. I had anticipated getting it for a cheap backup to my GK 700RBII, but it has since become my main amp. So much low end! Last gig I played, I actually rolled the bass knob almost completely off, and it was still pushing tons of bass - the eq section in that amp is just fantastic, can't say enough good things about it. I haven't used my GK for a single gig since.

I have had the opposite experience with my LH500. I find it far to treble-y and have the treble on 1 or 2 and the bass dimed out. Not to mention the active input jack stripped out when the head was 2 weeks old and I can't get ahold of Hartke for warranty service. Decent head, but you get what you pay for.

 

[Laredo]

...................We forgot DR BASS, as the biggest disappointment hands down!!!!

 

[pablomigraine]

Biggest dissapointment: Ampeg tube preamp (don't know the type anymore). I did test it at home for a couple of days but I did not buy it (I bought a 1st gen BBE bass-preamp instead). The ampeg sound was there but it produced enormous amounts of hiss. The BBE had a less impressive sound but it was very silent, no hiss at all.

Exeeded my expectations: Bugera BVP5500.........

That's definitely the SVP-Pro. Actually one of the most delicious preamps in bassdom... serious tube tone and the grind you can coax out of that thing.... WHOA so good. The problem with this unit is, if you have anything but a VERY quiet, high-quality tube in the V5 position... you get massive hiss. Good tube in V5... dead silent. I've owned two of these and I miss them both dearly....

PRW

 

[shoot-r]

Biggest disappointment: Sunn 2000S head.
Exceeded expectations: My 27 year old GK 800 head's reliability.
Biggest surprise: Avatar bass cabinets.

 

[mbrancalion]

I have always been disappointed by any head or cab or combo made by Trace Elliott.

 

[ledyard]

That's definitely the SVP-Pro. Actually one of the most delicious preamps in bassdom... serious tube tone and the grind you can coax out of that thing.... WHOA so good. The problem with this unit is, if you have anything but a VERY quiet, high-quality tube in the V5 position... you get massive hiss. Good tube in V5... dead silent. I've owned two of these and I miss them both dearly....

PRW

thank you sir for that extremely valuable piece of info. I have a SVP II Pro arriving in 2 or 3 days. What did you use in V5? I'm thinking Mullard, JJ, or Tung-sol. I stay away from Electro Harmonix at all costs. Nothing but noise. Not fond of Groove tubes either. They sound like crap in guitar amps.

 

[ledyard]

Biggest dissapointment: Carvin Redline 600 and 4x10 and 1x18. (we're talkin 17 years ago) Owned a carvin 6'r with it all too. The head didnt sound too bad actually. But as we all know Carvin's watts ratings are as straight up as the Tower of Pisa is.

Biggest suprise: Line 6 lowdown 300 combo(15" speaker) I'de love another for home. This thing is super loud and sounds really good for a digital type head. I took it with me on part of a tour. All kinds of hot weather, dirt, dust, rain, humidity. The thing was a tank. I played an outdoor show for 14,000 people with just this as a stage monitor. No volume issues.

 

[prd004]

Biggest dissapointment: Ashdown, played one at an open mic and the sound was so compressed, I hated it.

Biggest surprise: Ampeg B100-R, thought I was getting a small combo for practice and acoustic gigs, ended up being the best sounding, most versatile little amp ever! Love it.

Surprised to hear all the SVT-III PRO hating though, mine has been very, very good to me.

 

[old-fashioned]

Disappointment: SVT 3 Pro (Foggy in the mix, watts are fake)
Exceeded expectations: Hartke LH 500 (Unbelievable character and power for the price)

 

[DougD]

My biggest disappointment was a Carvin RC 210. Man, did that thing suck. It would over heat and shut off before the end of the first song if it was tilted back. Another disappointment was my Markbass F1. Probably the best sounding head I ever played, but was too unreliable to gig with. It would cut out randomly. I had 2 of these heads that did the same thing. I finally gave up and went back to my trusty old GK
The amps that exceed my expectations are my GK 1001RBII and Markbass LMIII

 

[Calaverasgrande]

biggest dissapointment-Ampeg SVT 400th? Not sure of the exact model, it was solidstate, blue and black. Had a defeatable limiter. It never sounded even remotely good. Couldnt get loud at all with the Ampeg 4x10 I bought with it.
Exceeded expectations. Mesa Bass 400. I seriously thought they were dorky tone snob amps for big jerks because they have a graphic EQ!
I ended up playing through one at a show using shared backline and was hooked. Picked one up about a year after that.

 

[ScottTunes]

Biggest disappointment: Eden (WT400 and WT550)... But Edens were the most powerful 13/18 lb amps around, and I needed a considerable size/weight reduction...

Exceeded expectations: '72 Traynor YBA-4 (combo). 50-ish watts RMS, and a sealed 15" driver... By fay the loudest 50 watts, with tone, I've ever experienced!! Like a B-15 on steroids!

 

[Arjank]

Quote:Originally Posted by Arjank
Biggest dissapointment: Ampeg tube preamp (don't know the type anymore). I did test it at home for a couple of days but I did not buy it (I bought a 1st gen BBE bass-preamp instead). The ampeg sound was there but it produced enormous amounts of hiss. The BBE had a less impressive sound but it was very silent, no hiss at all.

Exeeded my expectations: Bugera BVP5500.........

That's definitely the SVP-Pro. Actually one of the most delicious preamps in bassdom... serious tube tone and the grind you can coax out of that thing.... WHOA so good. The problem with this unit is, if you have anything but a VERY quiet, high-quality tube in the V5 position... you get massive hiss. Good tube in V5... dead silent. I've owned two of these and I miss them both dearly....

PRW

Well, it has been more then 15 years ago, back then I didn't know that stuff about the tubes. Like I said, it sounded great......
I still have my BBE Bmax-t though, very nice pre-amp, studio sound.

 

[unclejane]

Biggest disappointment: the reappearance of vacuum tubes in bass amps. I thought we'd learnt our lessons permanently about this garbage back in the Good Ol' Days when we had to fight these things through rehearsals and gigs. Silly me. Even the fantastic advances in SS technology don't seem to bring the bad memories back into our minds with sufficient force. That's the knife in our backs; the twist of the handle is their horrific cost, especially compared to the far superior SS alternatives available. As the old saying goes about fools and their money being parted.... seems to hold true with tubes.

Exceeded expectations: my Roland Micro Cube. I originally bought it because I needed something portable that ran on batteries if necessary. Sounds boxy with the teensy little 4" speakers in it, but when I discovered the true sound of the electronics (using the I/O into my computer or other sound system) I was truly blown away. It's a true hi-fi bass amp/DI/preamp of truly professional sound quality. Stereo to boot; the built-in chorus through the headphones makes your bass sound like Geddy's jazz bass on the studio "YYZ" on Moving Pictures, with no hiss or distortion (unless you want it). The built in amp sims work really well, etc.

Since I'm not gigging anymore, the GK rig can go. I can do everything I need with the Roland...

LS

 

[Tunaman]

Biggest disappointment: the reappearance of vacuum tubes in bass amps. I thought we'd learnt our lessons permanently about this garbage back in the Good Ol' Days when we had to fight these things through rehearsals and gigs. Silly me. Even the fantastic advances in SS technology don't seem to bring the bad memories back into our minds with sufficient force. That's the knife in our backs; the twist of the handle is their horrific cost, especially compared to the far superior SS alternatives available. As the old saying goes about fools and their money being parted.... seems to hold true with tubes.

I'm guessing the Streamliner isn't on your wish list