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Worst amp ever ... (apologies if this thread already exists)

Discussion in 'Amp Central Station' started by Dirty Dave, Jan 12, 2021 at 10:56 AM.

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  1. Jan 12, 2021 at 10:08 PM #81
    Daddydex

    Daddydex Friend of Leo's

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    Is that the one with ten 8 inch speakers?

    Dan
     
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  2. Jan 12, 2021 at 10:26 PM #82
    bcorig

    bcorig Friend of Leo's Silver Supporter

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    Lots of pejorative adjectives here. I’m really curious why it is so bad. Can you be specific about the “everything else” that was undesirable?
     
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  3. Jan 12, 2021 at 10:51 PM #83
    jman72

    jman72 Tele-Afflicted

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    Yeah, but he used Fender twins, Marshalls,, and Hiwatts for the vast majority of his career. Those GK amps were just in that weird late 80s Rush phase.

    His tone on La Via Strangiato is pure ES-335 and Marshall greatness.
     
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  4. Jan 12, 2021 at 11:11 PM #84
    strat a various

    strat a various Friend of Leo's

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    I had two Dean Markley amps: a 60 watt tube amp, that sounded pretty good, very loud through 1x12, and a 1x12 100 watt SS amp that sounded very tubey and warm, but was about as loud as a Princeton. The SS amp was a great Jazz amp. Sold the tube amp, SS amp eventually failed ... not worth fixing.
     
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  5. Jan 12, 2021 at 11:28 PM #85
    Peegoo

    Peegoo Poster Extraordinaire

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    Remember the Marshall Valvestate series?

    I was given a Marshall VS40 1x10 combo in trade for guitar tech work; that amp was pretty craptacular, but not as bad as the Heathkit was.
     
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  6. Jan 12, 2021 at 11:32 PM #86
    Glen W

    Glen W Tele-Afflicted Silver Supporter

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    Eight tens. CTS alnicos IIRC...50 years ago!
     
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  7. Jan 12, 2021 at 11:55 PM #87
    Chipss36

    Chipss36 Tele-Meister

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    Crate blue voodoo....
    Hurts to even admit I purchased one...
     
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  8. Jan 13, 2021 at 12:03 AM #88
    Cali Dude

    Cali Dude Tele-Holic

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    Line 6 spider. Total crap!
     
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  9. Jan 13, 2021 at 2:50 AM #89
    El Marin

    El Marin Tele-Afflicted

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    No, I have not. I played one of those Bandits many times, first amp I ever tried and I cannot forget

    Sheffield, UK, yes, I have been there. A friend of mine lived there when I lived in London. I remember many pubs, many beers, some jamming in a bar, more beer... and nothing more
     
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  10. Jan 13, 2021 at 3:11 AM #90
    somebodyelseuk

    somebodyelseuk Tele-Meister

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    Marshall Valvestates. Unreliable.
    Marshall JMP1 Rack pre-amp. 99 preset locations. 1 sound. Worst clean sound I've ever heard.
    Asian made Voxes. Sound... Meh. Build quality is garbage.
     
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  11. Jan 13, 2021 at 3:52 AM #91
    Dirty Dave

    Dirty Dave Tele-Meister

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    If you travel another 15 miles, you hit Barnsley.
    It's like Sheffield, without the pubs, jamming or beer.
     
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  12. Jan 13, 2021 at 4:05 AM #92
    Dirty Dave

    Dirty Dave Tele-Meister

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    The transformer hummed loudly.
    As soon as you put a signal through it, it sounded like an aeroplane was taking off, even completely clean.
    The volume control was one of those which went from inaudible to stratospheric, with nothing in between.
    Anything after that felt too loud in the mids, and it didn't really have much in the way of bass.
    The effects didn't sound too bad for what it was, but overall it sounded like sonic cardboard.

    I was using an LP through it, so maybe if I put something with single coils through it - it might have offered some better results.
     
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  13. Jan 13, 2021 at 5:23 AM #93
    burntfrijoles

    burntfrijoles Poster Extraordinaire

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    So many to choose from it’s hard to decide. The Mesa Boogie DC5 is a total pile of feces as is the Vox AC4.
    I also had a boutique crapfest: it was the Victoria Champ clone, don’t remember the model number but Crap5 would serve it well.
     
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  14. Jan 13, 2021 at 5:40 AM #94
    Jimi Some Moore

    Jimi Some Moore TDPRI Member

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    My first guitar amp was bought from Tesco. It had an amp head (transistor) featuring reverb and separate speaker cabinet.
    I used to 'drop' the head to get interesting reverberations !
    I actually loved the amp I could actually plug in my electric guitar and make noise !
    I suspect though that this was the worst amp I ever owned. My next amp was an old Carlsbro valve combo amp with 2 x 12 Celestion Greenbacks. I then part traded this for a Mesa Boogie MK1V in 1990.
     
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  15. Jan 13, 2021 at 5:51 AM #95
    ImGoodThanks

    ImGoodThanks TDPRI Member

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    A Roland Cube, it was a long long time ago however, 80's
     
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  16. Jan 13, 2021 at 6:35 AM #96
    beejay493

    beejay493 Tele-Meister

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    I had a Selmer early 70s then an Intermusic Imp.Both were dreadful.
     
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  17. Jan 13, 2021 at 6:46 AM #97
    Jbnaxx

    Jbnaxx Tele-Meister

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    Epiphone Valve Jr...... I just never got any sound out of it that was pleasant to me.
     
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  18. Jan 13, 2021 at 7:13 AM #98
    El Marin

    El Marin Tele-Afflicted

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    No pubs? so what am I doing there? :lol:
     
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  19. Jan 13, 2021 at 7:13 AM #99
    braveheart

    braveheart Tele-Afflicted

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    The Blues Jr (I have a III) is a great amp and it has that little "voxy" touch in the upper mids/hi-s. So if you are a Marshall guy and you hate AC30s jingle jangle ...you'll probably have mixed emotions about the BJr.

    You have to be careful with the poweramp and find the right sweetspot of saturation...and you can play with low gain preamp tubes like 12AU7s or weaker EL84/BIAS etc for more clean headroom

    Besides that perhaps your amp had a problem...
     
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  20. Jan 13, 2021 at 7:27 AM #100
    braveheart

    braveheart Tele-Afflicted

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    [​IMG]
    the Vox Nighttrain is the most crappy sounding amp, I've ever bought.
    Very muddy and harsh,ugly overdrive,almost no clean headroom....after 15 minutes it went :[​IMG]
    "return to sender"

    another no-go area for me are ss amps...
     
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