worst amp you have owned or had the luck to use

[indiegrungesound]

The Ashdown Little Giant 350 was the most disappointing head I've owned. It was too loud at one gig, too quiet at another, then it died twice in two different rehearsals. (This isn't a slag off Ashdown post though. I owned a MAG 300 C115 combo which was brilliant. I only sold that due to necessity.)

I also used to own a Trace Ellliot Commando combo which died on me at a rehearsal, though I had owned it for 3 years & had bought it for less than £90 so I was less annoyed with it in that regard. There was also my old Ampeg PortaBass 250 2 x 10" combo, which was hampered by the lack of a D.I. output or a meaningful extension output, as it's cabs were full range @ 4ohms. Both of those were much better than the Little Giant.

No such complaints with my Ampeg PF-350.

[Ed_S]

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1359718926' post='1959241']
Tried an Ashdown again yesterday just in case my view was clouded by those Nasty rehearsal room heads.

But no, it was still horrible, lots of flashing lights, VU meters, eq options etc etc. However, it failed to do the basic job of reproducing an even half decent bass tone

Mind you, some people love 'em so what do I know!
[/quote]

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1359816966' post='1960706']
I'm a bit undecided on the 'Ashdown' sound. I had a MAG head for a while, and that sounded great through a Trace Elliott 1153 cab. I've also been lumped with them as backline on last minute gigs and have had nothing but woolly thumps out of them. Still better than the Carlsbro Stingray though.
[/quote]

When I saw this thread appear, the first thing I thought of was making uncharitable remarks about my old ABM-500(evo3) head which is, even if maybe not the worst, certainly the most disappointing head I've ever owned. It was bought with matching 410 and 115 at some serious expense (to me, anyway) and proudly taken straight to rehearsal.. where it completely failed to cut through tonally and could barely be heard even with the taps fully open. The true disappointment was in the fact that I liked the basic tone of the amp in the shop (well.. I did buy it!) and played solo it seemed to be plenty loud enough. It wasn't. I owned it for a couple of months, rehearsed it, gigged it, poured over the instruction manual and twiddled with every control and fader it had, and still it completely failed to work for me.

The real kicker for me with Ashdown gear is that I've heard plenty of EB/MAG/ABM setups sounding just fine when in punter-mode, but have likewise borrowed plenty (sometimes even the same rig I've just heard sounding fine) that seem to turn to utter dross in my hands. So, still being conflicted when it comes to Ashdowns and with this thread in mind, when I saw a MiBass 550 in pristine second-hand nick at my local music shop yesterday I decided on the spur of the moment to give them one last chance... and having jumped in at the deep end and taken it straight from shop to rehearsal again, am oddly glad I did. Ok, it's far too quiet to be called a 550W amp, but with all the Deeps and Shapes and EQs turned off, the basic tone of the amp with the master fully open and the gain set to never hit 'red' is actually quite pleasingly smooth and translates that character well into the room, just slightly 'sitting back' in the mix but not getting lost. In terms of raw grunt, it *just* managed to hold its own at rehearsal with my 5 piece metal band so on that basis there's no way I'd risk it at a gig with that band, but I think it'll do much better in 4 piece rock covers territory and likewise I have quite high hopes for it in acoustic-duo land.

So yeah, I've finally found an Ashdown that can stay... just as they discontinue the bloody thing!

[BassPimp66]

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1359636806' post='1957962']
There was a Torque Bass amp at my old uni... that thing made everything sound crap
[/quote]

Hmmm, good old Torque 100 W, 15"? Yup, this was made everything sound like s***

[VTypeV4]

[quote name='BassPimp66' timestamp='1359884543' post='1961442']
Hmmm, good old Torque 100 W, 15"? Yup, this was made everything sound like s***
[/quote]

My friend Mick had the 200w version of the 1x15" combo when he upgraded from a Laney BC120. He had a really soft / warm sound as he played in a blues band and just used the soft bit of his thumb to play the strings. It had a Celestion speaker and he was very pleased with it at the time and from what I remember, it was quite good at this particular task. It was a massive improvement over the BC120 which really wasn't great. Not sure the Torque would suit my sound tho..

[DarkHeart]

I had a Torque 100 back in the early `90`s tremendous bit of kit , worst amp ive owned though was a Fender Bassman 100 great in the bedroom but nowhere near loud enough for even rehearsals

[51m0n]

Once found either a Behringer or PV (cant remember which for sure - the amp on top was the other one of those two - if you get my drift) 810 in a rehearsal room.

I bought my rack and plugged it in to this thing and it was just shockingly poo, no definition, no bottom, no punch and pants all volume for a cab the size of an African dictatorship - not much fun!

[ahpook]

a marlin 50W combo - it was awful and i've no idea why i ended up with it.

it blew up on stage - magic smoke and sparks...quite dramatic and just the end it deserved.

Edited February 6, 2013 by ahpook

[Bassman]

Worst : Trace Elliot Gp7Sm - 2x10 - Sounds very bad for me

best : Epifani Ul502 + T212 - a beautiful wisthle for every note. (need money - have to sell it)

[JTUK]

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1360144430' post='1965406']
Once found either a Behringer or PV (cant remember which for sure - the amp on top was the other one of those two - if you get my drift) 810 in a rehearsal room.

I bought my rack and plugged it in to this thing and it was just shockingly poo, no definition, no bottom, no punch and pants all volume for a cab the size of an African dictatorship - not much fun!
[/quote]

Have heard there is not a lot of differnces at all in some components used in both of these amps... and a few other s.

This came from an amp tech who has had to work on them.

[matski]

I had a Carlsbro Cobra combo when I was about 15. It was crap.

The second worst amp I've had was some Acoustic thing: small rack-mountable head and a 2x15 cab with power amp built-in. It didn't sound very good and the power amp in the cab spontaneously combusted during rehearsal! Still, beats having to buy pyrotechics or a smoke machine I suppose....

[thinman]

A Marshall 60W combo (can't remember the model) I bought in 1983 - my first non-home-made combo. And the most toneless.

Mind you, it never broke down like most of the better sounding amps I've had since.

[LazyLizard]

Anything by Trashdown.
and I mean ANYTHING !!!!
Effin' rubbish.

I've repaired quite a few of them gimmicky little shitbags, To the point now, where I don't even bother wasting time.
Shockingly bad.

[Waldo]

Lots of people mentioning Assclown which doesn't suprise me.

I had one of their guitar amps which was actually decent.....until it broke after one week of use.

[BILL POSTERS]

Only ever tried Asdowns in rehearsal rooms, and thought they were just not to my taste, and knackered anyway. No wonder Entwhistle used so much FX. Only way to get a decent sound ?

Same goes for modern Laney stuff. Woulnt buy one. But somebody must like em.

[shizznit]

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1360144430' post='1965406']
Once found either a Behringer or PV (cant remember which for sure - the amp on top was the other one of those two - if you get my drift) 810 in a rehearsal room.

I bought my rack and plugged it in to this thing and it was just shockingly poo, no definition, no bottom, no punch and pants all volume for a cab the size of an African dictatorship - not much fun!
[/quote]

I too have played through this amp (I think it's called Ultrabass 1200) and 810 cab at a rehearsal room in Pontypridd whilst at an audition about 4yrs ago. Absolute garbage. They even had the nerve to charge me for using it.

[lojo]

Ashdown mag

[larrybassman]

Fender rumble 350 is a great amp head, I love it and I've tried them all.

[gafbass02]

I'm going to have to add another carlsbro stingray head here too. A green liveried one if I recall, just useless junk.

[JTUK]

In recent times? GK RB combo...

[pikeman]

Another vote for the Carlsbro Stingray head. Total junk.
If I remember rightly, it sounded OKish with the compressor on full but then had no volume to speak of. Turn the comp off and it just sounded like crap. I sold it to a keyboard player who loved it. Go figure.

[Low End Bee]

I've been very lucky I think. Even my first WEM 15 watter was good enough for me.
I've only had two issues.
IA rehearsal roon we used to go to swapped from Trace heads to Behringer ones for a couple of monhs. I could never get any sort of decent sound out of them.I gigged a little Ashdown Electric Blue combo for a couple of years that was fine ( well with a sansamp in the effect send it was ) until it caught fire unexpectedly. 2 years for £180 was value though I guess.

Edited March 28, 2013 by Low End Bee

[Big_Stu]

Definitely worst was a 15w Squier practise amp I was given as part of a package. Worse that one of those tiny Marshall/Vox/Fender battery powered jobs. So bad I gave it to the local school's music class the next day.

By popular repute, my worst "proper" amp should be a mid-70s Marshall Lead n Bass tranny 100w head. They don't seem to get much love, but I really liked mine, they couldn't take full tilt for long but they had some good tones. gave it to the bassist in my son's band of the time & he used it for years as a back-up amp & occasional keyboards.

[JTUK]

To my mind, I'll probably put up with a lot in a rehearsal room as it is my decision if I can't be arse to carry in my rig.
But for local gigs, I will not accept the backline 'supplied' in most of the cases unless I am totally satisfied by the technical rider
should they have one...and invaribly they don't, so I carry my own.

If you have flown into the gig, then you hope the whole deal is on a sufficient level that they will be on the ball
and they will have asked you to 'choose' from a list...but then the monitoring and fills will also be upto the job as well.

[Lynottfan]

Ashdown superfly, appalling.

[Rainbass]

[quote name='Lynottfan' timestamp='1364471808' post='2026884']
Ashdown superfly, appalling.
[/quote]

How true - so much technology for so little sound. Really must get round to selling mine, but who would buy it?
And my first ever amp was a Carlsbro Stingray, so I can sure pick 'em