worst amp you have owned or had the luck to use

[dave74200]

Is that all factual or just what you assume? I myself can't imagine millionaire rock stars using crap gear because they don't have to endure the sound of it.

[No lust in Jazz]

[quote name='dave74200' timestamp='1395308532' post='2400857']
Is that all factual or just what you assume? I myself can't imagine millionaire rock stars using crap gear because they don't have to endure the sound of it.
[/quote]

Just because they wear Jeans, have tattoos, play benefit gigs and attend Neslson Mandela's funeral dosen't automatically mean that they're not business wise or have integity.

A musician with a mahoosive unnessary branded backline is essentially advertising to the many many thousands of people who attend their concerts buy the DVD's and watch on mobile phone content on Youtube; touring is expensive and someone has to fund it.

BTW The above isn't intended as a pop at anyone - just a reality.

[EmmettC]

I have a friend, who is not famous, but has a deal with Ashdown. They have told me they prefer Gallien Kreuger, but the Ashdown deal is worth a lot to a working musician.

[JohnFitzgerald]

Anything Ashdown.

Dull lifeless and uninspiring.

Any time I have to use one, I need to do far too much with the EQ to end up with any degree of clarity.
Mud aplenty, but clarity no.

Markbass on the other hand. Turn it on, touch nothing and there it is. Instant clarity, depth, mid.

I've attempted to make Ashdown work so many times, but I just can't.

[Tom Brookes Music]

I used a Trace Commando combo at I gig last Sunday. Worst amp I've ever used!

[Sean]

Ashdown ABM500 Evo head with ABM 4x10. The band leader of the act I was in at the time complained bitterly about it from the first song he heard, the drummer hated the sound with any bass I used through it and I just could not get a decent useable tone out of it. Just couldn't fathom it out at all and then went and bought a fabulous GK 2x10 combo which was a very good amp and I can't remember why I sold it.

[ubit]

Worst amp I ever had was a Hartke VX 2x 10. I hated the thin sound it produced! Played it only once live before selling it

Still have an Ashdown 2 x 10 combo and I thought it was an amazing little thing. I loved the sound it gave me and it was my main workhorse throughout the 90's playing many a pub gig. Cannot understand why so many folk hate them. I still use mine for my electronic drum kit. Great piece of kit

[Guest]

-

Edited May 12, 2022 by Spaced

[Sean]

[quote name='spacey' timestamp='1366550572' post='2053827']
Marshall 400w valve head, sounded like Thunder, lovely and sweet, but so unreliable, spent years at marshal under warranty.; A bloke broke in the van and ran off with it and I shouted him, mate, take the *&*&****** thing ! Good luck...
[/quote]

Seriously, I wouldn't mess with anyone who could run with a VBA400! He must've been some kind of preternatural creature of the shadows!

[JTUK]

Funnily enough I don't like Ashdown as it just doesn't have a core sound I rate..and if you are struggling with the core sound,
everything else is going to be way too much hassle...to even try and get off 1st base, sound-wise, but I did have an extended
loan/hire of an Ashdown 15" combo which I used as it was light, one handled carry and fitted in the boot so easily.
I could be in and out of gigs in 5 mins if I had to. Most of the gigs I did with that were Soul/RB gigs and it filled out the bottom
fine... and the horn helped it cut thru a bit, even with a blowing 3 part horn section. Not 100% ideal but it was enough for that gig
and I didn't feel the need to swap/trade-up.

Sometimes, you need to factor in inherrent limitations and decide if you can or will live with them.
On that gig, I could. On others, there is no way...

[Kevin Dean]

[quote name='Ed_S' timestamp='1395035302' post='2397865']
And just for added confusion on the Ashdown front, I believe I've already said in this thread or another like it that the ABM500 is one of the worst amps I've owned, but having recently given them another chance the ABM1000 is, without hesitation, one of the best.
[/quote] I have the 400 watt version when used with my barefaces super 12T compared to my Markbass Little Rocker & Mo mark heads it has a much fuller sound .

[mazdah]

Kustom Groove 115C combo. 600W, very heavy, single "15. Sounded great until I tried my first Ampeg

[Prime_BASS]

Eden WTX 550.
Horrible sound, no oomph, one of those class D heads that give others a bad name.

SVT3 pro. Lacking in power, can move the EQ but doesn't make much difference.

Orange Terror bass. Fantastic volume, core sound is like listening to thunder through foam ear plugs.

I'm sure I can think of a few more but those are stand out for me.

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited February 28, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[taunton-hobbit]

In defence of the LC - it was never intended to be a bass amp - as a general purpose slogger I recall one doing quite a reasonable job of 'powering up' the downstairs disco room at the Kingston Cellar Club, back in the day..........

[outsider70]

[quote name='Biaeothanata-Bassist' timestamp='1395061441' post='2398119']
Worst one I've owned was a Gallien Kreuger 700RBII head. Horrible piece of crap! Tried everything I could to get a nice tone out of it but ended up selling it a month later. Wish I had never of parted with my Trace Elliot AH350SMX for it. To be fair, the Hartke LH500 head i'm now using is the best thing ever.

Worst one I've played through that wasn't mine was a Fender Rumble or Marshall MB. They were on par with the GK I owned for crappiness.
[/quote]

The GK 700RB I had years ago turned out to be the best rig I ever owned. But I admit it took months of gigging to get to grips with it. Wish I still had it, as I now use an Ashdown ABM500, and have never been able to get a sound I'm happy with!

[ubit]

Harke VX250, just the worst sound ever. Thin and broke up at volume. Interestingly, I had an Ashdown Mag 200 combo and I loved it, so maybe all their stuff ain't pants

[goingdownslow]

At a Melody Maker BOTB type thingy in the 70s, they had Miles Platting amplifiers for the backline, had to link two stacks together with everything up to 11 to get any volume out of them.

[FuNkShUi]

Worst I've played through is a 10w line6 combo.
Still got it though.
It does the job for learning new tunes.
But make no mistake, it's awful.

[FuNkShUi]

Ashdown has really taken a hammering on this thread hasn't it?!
I've never played through one, so can't comment from a players perspective, but a mate plays through an all ashdown rig, and I have to say, I quite like his sound. Really full, warm, bassy tones, and not woolly at all.

Edited January 1, 2015 by FuNkShUi

[chriswareham]

Just read this thread in its entirety. I find the Ashdown stuff frustrating to use - it seems to be ubiquitous in London rehearsal studios, but impossible to get a decent sound out of. I've tried a variety of active and passive basses through them, but they always sound too muffled. I have to defend the Carlsbro Stingray 90 combo from the late 1980's though. I had one as my first amp that I bought from a friend when he upgraded to a Peavey stack, and while it was a bit bland with my passive bass it sounded great with his active one.

On the "should be good but wasn't" front, I positively loathe Trace Elliot stuff from the early 1990s. Seemed to only be popular with slap players, had no bottom end, and weighed a ton. Hartke amps of that era seemed to be the same just more expensive, although I played my ancient Simm-Watts through a Hartke speaker stack once and the cabinets themselves were fine.

Edited January 1, 2015 by chriswareham

[Chienmortbb]

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1359668876' post='1958658']
Carldro and HH are a given but add to that PV and it is no excuse that they are bombproof, IMO.... they still sound sh*te..

Worse experience in recent times was a GK RB combo.... followed by plugging my cabs into an Ashdown MAG thing...and getting nothing usable...at all.
[/quote]maybe your cab (runs and hides)?

Edited January 2, 2015 by Chienmortbb

[Chienmortbb]

[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1420132314' post='2645964']
Harke VX250, just the worst sound ever. Thin and broke up at volume. Interestingly, I had an Ashdown Mag 200 combo and I loved it, so maybe all their stuff ain't pants
[/quote]i had. Later nag 300 with a 15". Should have kept it but the MAG200 was One of the Early UK made Ashfowns.

[Beer of the Bass]

I also had one of the early MAG200 combos, mine was the tilt-back 1x12" version. I liked the sound at lower volumes and it was dependable, but the sound didn't hold together very well when it was turned up. It had an Eminence Alpha 12 in a small sealed box. Years later, I simulated the cab in a speaker design program out of curiosity and found out that not only did it have a huge midbass hump of around 4dB, it was excursion limited to less than 30 watts at 100Hz. It does seem like rather an odd design decision! I paid £499 new in the late 90s, so it wasn't a cheap bit of kit either.

Edited January 2, 2015 by Beer of the Bass

[Merton]

I currently own 3 Ashdown amps:



I have to say I think it's their speakers which let them down, these all sound incredible through my Barefaced cabs - full bodied but punchy and articulate as well. I once had the misfortune of gigging a Hartke HA3500 through an Ashdown MAG 8x10 cab - should have been plenty but the cab ruined the Hartke's sizzle completely.

Worst rig I ever used, dare I say it was an Ampeg SVT stack, again the cab just sucked the life out of the tone so it was inaudible unless stood directly in front of it... Have never managed to successfully (IMO) gig an Ampeg rig actually....