Worst Amps Hall of Fame?

[clearfish]

Plush!That's too funny! As I said, I've stuck by my JC-120 for decades, but my first real club amp was a Plush with two twelves! I was fairly tonally ignorant at the time--I did figure out the thing was pretty clean--and I used a Pignose practice amp to get some crunch. I traded for an Ampeg V-2--even cleaner--then I got the Roland, which was juuuussst right. I think the Plush was a pretty good amp. It was quiet--little hiss or buzz--and the reverb was sweet. I really didn't know how to dial in tones, so I wish I stiil had that Plush.

[Tremo]

Originally Posted by clearfish

Now my list:
(1) Sound City--Marshal copy--We called 'em "Sounds Sh***y" back in the day.
(2) Galien-Krueger--never heard one with any character--same for Mesa-Boogie.(At least a few good players endorse Mesas, however)

Yo Clear, sorry my man, but a Sound City is NOT a Marshall copy. Yeah, they're a Brit stack, loud, and look similar in that generic sense, but internally they're completely different. And we used to call them the same thing you did. A friend of mine used to have a Sound City 120 full stack. Six Mullard EL34s. Incredibly loud, and very clean. But, no character, and when it did eventually start to give it up, it was not pleasing.

I agree with your #2 as well.

[clearfish]

That's all I meant--that they were supposed to have a Marshal look. If they had copied them down to the circuits they might have been something. I'm not savvy to electronics--so I listen instead of talk when ohms and cap values come up--but I always suspected my old Plush was a Twin under the vinyl! Thanks to David B. for the bird's eye lowdown on that caper.

[studio1087]

Originally Posted by CharlieO

It's interesting how a lot of people who have no real experience with the Blues Cube amps try to criticize them. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

Guys, I owned a JC 120, I also owned a Bluescube and I worked at a large Guitar shop that was a Roland distributor for three years. My humble opinion from my experiance is that Roland is not a guitar amp company.

It's not an ignorant opinion, it's just my opinion. Please lighten up.

John

[ye olde fretmonkey]

WOODSON???

[popthree]

Originally Posted by studio1087

Guys, I owned a JC 120, I also owned a Bluescube and I worked at a large Guitar shop that was a Roland distributor for three years. My humble opinion from my experiance is that Roland is not a guitar amp company.

It's not an ignorant opinion, it's just my opinion. Please lighten up.

John

my reply was just my opinion too ! 8) so...lighten up right back atcha!

[jhundt]

I see lots of Acoustics mentioned, thought I 'd add mine:

270 head with 2 4x12 cabs; I really wanted something like a Marshall. It was 1973, Guitar Center just opened in SF, they already had the sales-pitch going. I was 19 and let myself get talked into the biggest, most powerful stack you could ever imagine. 200+ watts! RMS! Only it sounded real bad. Like a fool I shipped it to Spain, drove it to France and England, and shipped it back to California before I figured out that a small tube amp would sound better...

[PamweChete]

Randall RG-80 I think it was....absolutely dreadful sound. Also, Dean Markley had a line of "amps" in the early 80's. I can't remember the model numbers but they were a hybrid tube/transistor type of arrangement. Ugh!

[Oster]

Just goes to show you how we all have different ears; which is a very good thing!

I love Roland amps but am not surprised to see them here and I have to say there used to be a solid state, black & white snakeskin tolex'd Randall Stack in an old rehearsal space I used that my best friend wished he owned!

He owns one of those tweed Blues Deluxes (what a great amp those are too) and he was seriously trying to trade for this tacky hair metal transistor stack, he liked it that much. And this guy is the complete opposite of hair metal, both in playing style and in demeanor.

Our worst is always going to be someone's best!

[ye olde fretmonkey]

Today I ran across a Holmes "Mississippi Blues Man" s/s head. No idea what it sounds like, I'm guessing not too good.

Whassup, Holmes??

[ravelle]

the MG little marshall stack that uses a 9volt battery.

[David Barnett]

Originally Posted by ye olde fretmonkey

Today I ran across a Holmes "Mississippi Blues Man" s/s head. No idea what it sounds like, I'm guessing not too good.

Whassup, Holmes??

Shawn Lane used to play through those. He collected them whenever he found one for sale. He also hoarded Westbury W-20 "The Tube" overdrive pedals.

[Pigsfootpeete]

Any amp, or cab, that says GBX on it. Awful.
Also, Legend amps, though they are way better than GBX, they're still a sad amp. :?

[Tremo]

LOL! I know a guy with a tweed Blues Deluxe and he's trying to get rid of it because it's a total POS.

[Oster]

Originally Posted by Tremo

LOL! I know a guy with a tweed Blues Deluxe and he's trying to get rid of it because it's a total POS.

Wait a minute! Is he looking to get a snakeskin-finished solid-state Randall Stack??? That would be really weird! :D

[jpkusa]

I've heard terrible tones out of a lot of amps, but I've heard great players make bad amps sound incredible.

There's an old soul player here in town who plays a vintage Casino through one of the old blue-and-silver-knob Peaveys, and his tone is absolutely perfect for that style of music - real clean and slinky, like Cornell Dupree.

I've been told that one of Mike Campbell's main stage rigs is an AC30 with a Kustom.

[TG]

I agree with the post above. Alot depends on the style of the player.

I've been gigging a Blues Junior the past few years and it suits me really well. Fits right in and the guys in the band love the sound. I sometimes get people telling me how nice the guitar sounds.

But the other evening at a gig I let someone from the audience play my guitar to back himself up while he sang a song (I usually don't let anyone touch my guitar but this was a BIG gig and this guy arranged it...and he was in a wheelchair. I couldn't say no).
The sound that came out of that amp was absolutely awful. Dreadful. He was strumming away like it was an acoustic, which might have had something to do with it. He didn't adjust his playing to suit the sound. But it still shows how one player's dream setup may be another's nightmare.

[geddins]

Originally Posted by petebradt

5150. ANY Peavey, for that matter.

Any Mesa Boogie. "But d00d, they have ALL THOSE TONES!"

Yeah, all BAD tones.

Actually, I'd expand that to ANY master-volume amps. Preamp-fizz is NOT tone.

I had the good fortune to see Redd V playing through his Session 500, by Peavey.....NO BAD TONES at all!

[refin]

Ultimate Nasty Rig-----

Standel amp with JBLs,a Big Muff with a half dead battery,and an Electra Phoenix guitar with Floyd Rose copy.


(actually,tonewise the Electras weren't that bad).

[UncleJarmo]

This is one of those threads that is just automatically cause disagreements.

If you just think of the stereotype Mesa BOOGIE, I can see why a lot of twangers wouldn't like them. On the other hand, at almost every gig that I play with my Mesa Maverick, a guitar player or sound man comes up and wants to know what amp that is because it has such great tone. It's a lot less gain than a Boogie or a triple rectifier etc...

Then again, that happens with my Top Hat Club Deluxe, too.

[refin]

Alot of the replies in this thread come from personal experience and therefore are subjective...then there are some amps that make us all groan.

For example,it's hard to diss Mesa Boogie when you listen to players like Larry Carlton in his early solo years---take any modern high gain amp,dime it and scoop the mids,and it turns into a cesspool of grunge.Yet,it works for that style.
For all of us who love subtleties of dynamics and touch,we think different,and therefore set our controls differently.I've heard almost every popular brand of amp that alot of us like sound like poodle diarrhea in the wrong hands---think of all the really bad sounds and tones you've heard from plexi Marshalls ,when we all know they are great.
It ain't the car,it's the driver.

[Colo Springs E]

....to me, it's not just a bad amp because you detest the tone that comes from it. If the amp delivers the TYPE of tone intended, then I think that amp is a good amp, FOR IT'S PURPOSES.

For instance, many here hate the mids-scooped fizzy Mesa Rectifiers; I love them, and I dig a lot of the riffs that have been created and/or played on them. Same with my PV 5150; I can certainly understand why a guy who plays the blues or other forms of non-high-gain music wouldn't like the 5150--high gain is what it's all about. On the other hand, I've played some amps (a Marshall ValveState comes to mind) that were INTENDED for high gain, and they didn't hit the mark. It sounded terrible (to me). Therefore, those amps (in my opinion) aren't very good--they do well what they were intended to do. (Can't recall the exact model ValveState I played... I think it was a 120watts, "hybrid" with tube preamp) By the way, to any ValveState owners, please don't take my post as a diss toward your amp; if you're happy with it, that's all that matters.

I use a lot of gain in my playing and I don't apologize for it; a lot of the music I play calls for it, and the sweetest, most toneful vintage Fender tweed amp would be a "bad" amp in my musical setting.

Your mileage may vary...

[genelovesjez]

Originally Posted by Colo Springs E

I use a lot of gain in my playing and I don't apologize for it

That sounds like it could be a line in a song.

"We'll get some overhead lifters and four belt quads
oh yeah,
I use a lot of gain in my playing and I don't apologize for it, oh yeah"
:D

[Colo Springs E]

Originally Posted by genelovesjez

That sounds like it could be a line in a song.

.....mayhaps I should craft a little ditty with that line in it!

When I was in high school, me and my best friend were attempting to write a song (still unfinished, 25 years later) and there were a couple of lines in it that I was real proud of. But alas, the song went nowhere...

"I don't care about you baby
You can kiss my ***
You can sell yourself on the street"

...but later in the song:

"Dancer, prancer
Sweet romancer
Your body is a book.

I ain't read a single page
Won't you let me have a look?"

Wonder if I could squeeze in something about not apologizing for distortion in there??

:)