Worst amp you played through

[Junkyard Stalker]

So far the bass amps I have tried are OK, what I do remember is my first guitar amp: A little Smarvo combo that is recommended as a budget beginner amp by a small music shop in Malaysia... Both me and my brother agree that it is the most horrible amp we have heard. The tone was flat and lifeless except for an annoying twang. I shudder at the memory of that constant twang. Trying to overdrive it yielded... badly distorted twang.

One year later we migrated to Roland and Line6, and the sad Smarvo was practically given away to some poor soul. Due to our experience with the amp and the overpriced/defective second-hand gear we found at that particular shop, we have been referring to it as "the organ shop", where "organ" is to be replaced with reproductive organ of choice (uh, weird joke, but it sounds funnier in Hokkien...).

 

[Mousekillaz]

any thing Behringer

 

[Right_Butterscotch64]

The worst amp I've played was a Behringer BXL3000, it just wasn't a good amp.

Ironically I had a Bugera 1960 at one point that actually kicked some serious butt on bass. Can't speak for the infiniums but I heard they're somehow worse.

 

[BoogieZK]

The most horrible sounding i got was from an ampeg rig.
2x 4x10" stacked with an Ampeg SVT3pro..... What was coming from the was not a sound but much of a "hummm". I was unable to hear my sound even with my ear close to the cab.

 

[orange joe]

The newer Acoustic 200b.i hated it.it sounded like dropping rocks down a well.

 

[jazzyvee]

I have yet to plug into any Ashdown amp i've i liked the sound of. These days if I know the backline is going to be ashdown I tend to bring my own head or if travelling really light I bring my pre-amp and go direct into the power amp. But then I still have their cabs to deal with....

 

[peledog]

Acoustic 200 watts - the new GC version - awful.

 

[Stevorebob]

I'll add another: Fender Bassman 10. Really only a practice amp for bass -- one big, heavy practice amp.

 

[sub-commandante]

I was about 13 or 14 years old. It was a 1-15 combo labeled ARB. Should have been called THURB, cause that's how it sounded. Thurb thurb, thurb thurb thurb thurb...that's "Livin' After Midnight" by Judas Priest...

ROFL.................THURB.......lol

 

[madbass6]

Crate!!

 

[Bobbybdazzler]

Dean Markley K-200B, it couldn't handle a low E even at low volume without farting out.

 

[Korladis]

As far as tone goes?

This will get a lot of flak... but...

Any SWR. Hate those things.


As far as quality and reliability, an old squier 8" or 10" combo I had in my beginner days. What a piece of garbage it was.

 

[MarshallAC50Stack]

It may also be worth noting the style of music you tried to play with said amp. I see there is already some hate brewing for the Rumbles, but if you're trying to blow metal through them, you're definitely not going to get a favorable voicing.

To answer OP, anything Crate. Or Sonic. You get what you pay for. They couldn't handle gigging the rock and roll.

I agree with you about the rumble. A student brought in one of those cheap Peavey combos with the built in tuner for an assessment. I suggested she return it, which she did, and came back the next time with a rumble 25. It was warm and phat, and seems like a no brainer in the price range. In the right setting it would be gig worthy. I also agree with your feeling about the crate. If it was any good, they wouldn't call it a crate.

 

[Yaralag]

Yamaha BBT 500H 500W Digital Bass Amp Head

Nothing good about it. Sound was awful and I couldn't even get it loud enough to compete with drums. (And I was playing it through the recommended Yamaha cabinet) Maybe it was a misprint? Should've said 50W!!!

 

[MarshallAC50Stack]

I have an Ampeg B100 from the 70's. It can't hold much in the way of low end due to its janky, felt-coned Eminence guitar speaker.

I kind of liked mine. I didn't push it though.

 

[Yaralag]

I agree with you about the rumble. A student brought in one of those cheap Peavey combos with the built in tuner for an assessment. I suggested she return it, which she did, and came back the next time with a rumble 25. It was warm and phat, and seems like a no brainer in the price range. In the right setting it would be gig worthy. I also agree with your feeling about the crate. If it was any good, they wouldn't call it a crate.

I agree about Rumble too. I have a Rumble 40 for low volume practice and I like it so much I'm thinking about springing for the 500. But I like those simple old school tones. If I was going for something slick and modern I definitely would not go for a rumble. Probably Markbass or some such thing.

 

[MrCash]

I had that Ampeg head I know it gets a bad rep, but understanding the gain structure and EQ can take your out put levels further. What kind of music were you playing with it? A Behringer BDI-21 is like $30-40 bucks and can change that amp.

I play a variety of music, nothing fancy though and have no problem doing so. I'm fairly experienced when it come to eq and gain on many amps and still feel that even if I was doing it all wrong the amp is very weak and surely only equals about 100w at 8ohms. My last 200w trace Elliot (8 ohms) was way louder than a dimed b2r even with very modest gain,eq and master settings (using the same cab).
Certainly shouldn't have to use a after market pedal to make any amp sound good.

 

[WaynerBass]

Fender Rumbles. I've owned 3. Loud, light and cheap? Yep. Usable tone? Nope. Too much mud and boominess for me. I couldn't do the Rumble Mumble.

Must've been an older model the new v3 models sound like heaven

 

[Wito]

There was a thread about this subject not long ago, but here it is again .. VOX AC60, very bad, very bad indeed.


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The funny thing is that we used this head as a GUITAR amp during the recording of my bands EP. The producer told us that he wouldn't dare to use it on bass, but with some guitar/guitarist/music-style combinations it really works. We used a different cab, though (I think some kind of Peavy 4x12 guitar cab).

I don't want to spam here, but if somebody is curious, you can search for "Jefe Chirpa (2) Animal Soul" on youtube. It's the guitar on the left (and the solo).

 

[dbase]

The funny thing is that we used this head as a GUITAR amp during the recording of my bands EP. The producer told us that he wouldn't dare to use it on bass, but with some guitar/guitarist/music-style combinations it really works. We used a different cab, though (I think some kind of Peavy 4x12 guitar cab).

I don't want to spam here, but if somebody is curious, you can search for "Jefe Chirpa (2) Animal Soul" on youtube. It's the guitar on the left (and the solo).

There was the time in the 60's that if you could get your hands on any amp that said VOX, your band was cool like the Beatles who used all VOX at the time. Big mistake, what they sold to the consumer was not the same that the Beatles used. I liked the combination of 12+15 in speaker cab but the head would go into oscillation and heat up the output transistors. A one point I had to sit a box fan behind the thing to keep it from setting ablaze.