The horrible 80s/90s gear thread

[paisleywookiee]

Honestly I'm trying to remember if I ever had a good amp...

Kramer KA22R practice amp
Gorilla GG-25 practice amp
Peavey Special 150
Marshall VS100R 100w head with matching 4x12 (actually not that bad)
Crate Vintage Club 30 (also not bad)
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (bleh)

Then I sold my stuff and quit for a few years, and picked right back up with crappy amps...

Vox Valvetronix 15VT
Fender Champion 600
Fender Mustang I
Yamaha THR10 (not bad for a practice amp)

I tried a few tube amps again...

Fender Bassbreaker 15 (sounded awesome but had a bad effects loop and was too loud)
Fender Bassbreaker 07 (nowhere near as good)
Marshall DSL40 (way too loud, sounded horrible, and had bad tubes so I dumped it ASAP)

Now I've got:

Yamaha THR10X which isn't bad for a battery amp
Line 6 Catalyst 60

So probably pretty obvious why I've been mostly modeler for most of my life.

You know what you need? A Badlander.

 

[paisleywookiee]

FAQ off!

FAQ: Yes; Clowns and Turds are good.

Use responsibly :clint

thegearforum.com

So the turd……..was a compliment?

 

[itchyfingers]

What the hell is that logo? Is there a pole stuck in that cat butt? Or something spraying out?

I believe the entire line of pedals took their icons from the Nazca Lines in Peru. This one is supposed to be a dog, I think.

 

[Lopp]

I had one of those M-80 turdbuckets, in a 1x12 combo. I got a ton of use out of it, quite honestly. But it was only because the clean channel was serviceable, for use with pedals.

I was 16-18 at the time, and thought "well, no one uses the gain channel for that anyway. Everyone uses pedals". I literally had no concept that people DID use the lead channels on amps that didn't suck

I hear ya. The other guitarist in my band had a DigiTech Twin Tube system that all over the M-80.
I tried the M-80 gain channel: .
I tried the ME-5 pedal: .

Fortunately, I eventually got the 5150, which finally let me on his system.

 

[Devin]

Metal Master

My cousin had a Metal Master and I actually kinda dug it; was able to get some convincing Pantera/90's death metal sounds pretty easily

Not having a gain control was super weird though; I'll give ya that

 

[Baba]

I had my share of bad amps, early on, BUT, I also borrowed decent gear from friends, so, I had "decent" stuff to play.

I started with this:

and, ironically, a ROSS distortion box, which nowadays fetches some good coin.

Then this:

Those were only at the beginning though, my friend that I was in a band with, switched to bass, and let me use his "boss pedals into a Peavey Bandit" rig for a while.

Then, I borrowed this for a while:

Then I went to college for 1 year, and my rig was a Scholz Rockman headphone amp into a boom box.

Then, when I was 19 or 20, I started building my ADA MP-1 based rack, and had 2 Marshall cabs to go with it, so the "bad gear" run didn't last too long for me.

 

[Riffraff]

The Art X-15 Ultrafoot midi board I bought used to use with a Digitech Valve FX processor. It was absurdly big.

 

[Piing]

The Art X-15 Ultrafoot midi board I bought used to use with a Digitech Valve FX processor. It was absurdly big.

But it was built as a tank. I used one for many gigs. With the .... SGX2000, of course

Anyway, the Behringer FCB1010 was more versatile, and also an indestructible tank.

 

[Lopp]

SGX2000

We used to call the one I had the SUX2000... an homage to the 6000 SUX.

 

[andergtr]

i had a digitech DSP256 or something. 256 presets of utter mediocrity.

 

[laxu]

The Zoom 505-II is always a reminder for me to listen to my gut. I kept reading people say it sounds good. I tried it in a store and thought it sounded kinda crap but I was a newbie guitarist so what did I know. Well, turns out I wasn't wrong. It's an annoying to adjust thing that didn't sound that great.

The Boss GT-6 is a similar story. I had heard some get good results out of it. But compared to the Yamaha DG80 1x12 combo I had at the time, the GT-6 sounded like complete crap for both fx and amp modeling.

 

[TSJMajesty]

Oh, has anyone mentioned the BBE Sonic Maximizer yet?

The irony, for me anyway, was that I thought it made my tone come alive. The other guitarist in one of my early bands was like, "You gotta try this thing. It's like taking a blanket off your speakers."

Ye-ah. And covering you up in the mix with it. Which during my use of it, I didn't realize was part of my trouble with cutting through.

 

[andergtr]

Oh, has anyone mentioned the BBE Sonic Maximizer yet?

The irony, for me anyway, was that I thought it made my tone come alive. The other guitarist in one of my early bands was like, "You gotta try this thing. It's like taking a blanket off your speakers."

Ye-ah. And covering you up in the mix with it. Which during my use of it, I didn't realize was part of my trouble with cutting through.

i likened it to big huge boobs, but a really bad boob job. it makes your sound bigger, but it's synthetic and ultimately it just sounds fake.

yeah, i had one.

 

[Jarick]

i likened it to big huge boobs, but a really bad boob job. it makes your sound bigger, but it's synthetic and ultimately it just sounds fake.

yeah, i had one.

Guitarist I played with used one for no reason. He had a 100 watt Marshall with a 4x12 loaded with T75's. There's no need for more bass and treble.

Speaking of 90's gear, I always really wanted one of the Korg AX1500G processors. I loved the idea of just picking whatever you wanted with the rotary dial.

Anyone ever use one of these?

Actually looks like @2112 demo'd one a year ago!

 

[JT]

Guitarist I played with used one for no reason. He had a 100 watt Marshall with a 4x12 loaded with T75's. There's no need for more bass and treble.

Speaking of 90's gear, I always really wanted one of the Korg AX1500G processors. I loved the idea of just picking whatever you wanted with the rotary dial.

Anyone ever use one of these?

Actually looks like @2112 demo'd one a year ago!

It's probably the GT100 fresh in my brain but this thing looks cool af

 

[Eagle]

Oh, has anyone mentioned the BBE Sonic Maximizer yet?

The irony, for me anyway, was that I thought it made my tone come alive. The other guitarist in one of my early bands was like, "You gotta try this thing. It's like taking a blanket off your speakers."

Ye-ah. And covering you up in the mix with it. Which during my use of it, I didn't realize was part of my trouble with cutting through.

It’s on a few albums with great tone as well though ;

 

[andergtr]

It’s on a few albums with great tone as well though ;

well, remember that this is a mixed version...not the raw thing.

so much shit changes when you mix it.

 

[Baba]

well, remember that this is a mixed version...not the raw thing.

so much s**t changes when you mix it.

1,000,000%

 

[Eagle]

well, remember that this is a mixed version...not the raw thing.

so much s**t changes when you mix it.

It was in Nuno’s rig at the time and a LOT of racks. It helped counter the effect of the shitty loopers available then particularly if you used any front end. The Rocktron Bradshaw was total crap unless used to switch pre amps and line level gear only. Put it in front and instant reverse BBE.

 

[DrewJD82]

I had my share of bad amps, early on, BUT, I also borrowed decent gear from friends, so, I had "decent" stuff to play.

I started with this:

and, ironically, a ROSS distortion box, which nowadays fetches some good coin.

Then this:

Those were only at the beginning though, my friend that I was in a band with, switched to bass, and let me use his "boss pedals into a Peavey Bandit" rig for a while.

Then, I borrowed this for a while:

Then I went to college for 1 year, and my rig was a Scholz Rockman headphone amp into a boom box.

Then, when I was 19 or 20, I started building my ADA MP-1 based rack, and had 2 Marshall cabs to go with it, so the "bad gear" run didn't last too long for me.

Hahahaha is that the Crate Pete Cornish sig?