The worst sounding amp you’ve played through?

Triple Rectifier head through an ENGL cab at conversation volume. Using a first-gen Line 6 Variax. It sounded horrible and really accentuated the piezo ‘plink’ sound that was layered over the tones on those guitar models.
 
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I had one of Crate's first digital model amps back in the early 2000's. The thing was SO bad! I think the model # was the DXJ112.
 
crispsandwich said:
I have seen live players with Spider amps and they sound great! Definitely operator error 😉.
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Either that or our ideas of sounding great are wildly divergent.

At the time I was used to playing through my 1965 Super Reverb or my Fryette Sig:X. If you think the Spider amps sound great in comparison we definitely have different tastes in tone and feel.
 
Stratzrus said:
Either that or our ideas of sounding great are wildly divergent.

At the time I was used to playing through my 1965 Super Reverb or my Fryette Sig:X. If you think the Spider amps sound great in comparison we definitely have different tastes in tone and feel.
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i played with a friend who had a spider, and even with the treble dimed and bass off that damn amo was still dark AF.
:LOL: i think they figured inaudible was better than terrible sounding.
 
metropolis_4 said:
That was my first big amp!

I thought it sounded amazing because the only thing I’d ever played before to compare it to was my little Crate GX-15 practice amp :LOL:
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It sounded ok in the shop and I convinced myself that modelling was the future. I used it for one rehearsal with my band and immediately realised it wasn't loud enough. It sat in my spare room for years until I gave it to one of my friends who had some bad luck and had to sell all of his gear. In his scenario it was better than nothing.
 
SillyOctpuss said:
It sounded ok in the shop and I convinced myself that modelling was the future. I used it for one rehearsal with my band and immediately realised it wasn't loud enough. It sat in my spare room for years until I gave it to one of my friends who had some bad luck and had to sell all of his gear. In his scenario it was better than nothing.
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I had similar thoughts when I bought mine.

“This amp is like getting 30 amps in 1!!!”

That seemed like a way better deal to my young self than just getting one amp, haha.

I love that one of the “amp” models in it is a Fuzz Face :LOL:
 
Half the amps I've ever played through were the worst sounding amps I've ever played :rofl

Tops has to be my 2nd amp, a Crate CR-110, but, we are probably talking about "real" amps, not Gorillas, right?

I've played a lot of bad amps, but I must say, the Valveking was the one that pissed me off the most. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't THAT, lol. I can still remember the look on my own face when I played it, and that was a LONG time ago :rofl
 
FrankyFire said:
The Ironheart 60 has a very specific sound to it in my opinion. Cold but not with a lot of bite. I think it suits heavy music especially for rhythm guitar and low tuned stuff. But the clean channel is boring and it could use a more aggressive gain sometimes. It's probably possible to get that using the right pedals, but haven't yet figured the one yet.
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You described it pretty well. It's neither Marshall-bite, nor 5150 agression. I never played a real Recto, but from the sims I played it feels close to that: Rather fat and cold and not usable for metal without a low-cutting boost.
 
BahamaDada said:
I guess that's the reason they haven't sold all that good.
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The Laney Ironheart is actually pretty common in Europe. Probably due to its affordability.
BahamaDada said:
You described it pretty well. It's neither Marshall-bite, nor 5150 agression. I never played a real Recto, but from the sims I played it feels close to that: Rather fat and cold and not usable for metal without a low-cutting boost.
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Yep, the builtin boost is clean sadly. A TubeScreamer is not the solution. If anyone wants to try, these are my captures so far. I'm accepting suggestions for other profile setups:
www.tone3000.com

Laney Ironheart IRT60 NAM Profiles by @frankyfire · TONE3000

Check out frankyfire's neural amp head capture for guitar, bass and recording: These are some captures of my Laney Ironheart IRT60H Amp with different settings that sounded good to me. It contains Captures including and excluding the Power Amp. This was made by using a DI Box (Palmer PAN 01 | No...
www.tone3000.com
www.tone3000.com

Laney Ironheart IRT60 Teariscope Edition NAM Profiles by @frankyfire · TONE3000

Check out frankyfire's neural amp head capture for guitar, bass and recording: This is the capture of my Laney Ironheart IRT60H as I play it in the rehearsal room with my band Teariscope. It contains Captures including and excluding the Power Amp. This was made by using a DI Box in the FX Loop...
www.tone3000.com

The EQ section is one of its strong points, but I'm unable to give it the necessary bite. My EQ Pedal hasn't helped either, so it's not due to the Q factor or anything.

Back to the original topic:
The worst amps I've played were a cheaper Hughes & Kettner Solid State Amp, an entry level Orange Combo (I also hate how they predefine EQ voicings and only give you a single dial) and my first Amp: The infamous Marshall Valvestate. I had the 50W Combo version. It was a weird amp. Worst was that it had to be played at a certain level (too loud for playing at home) and was not strong enough to play in a band with a drum set.
 
Fender frontman 10 or Peavey vypyr something combo... Early 2000s modeling technology is awful enough but cheap combos were something beyond. Didnt hear anyhing worse than those

Bogner Shiva (worst sounding expensive one)
Didnt like the crunch, not meant for high gain and would prefer some other amp for clean tones. Maybe we didnt crank the volume enough until it rips our ears, maybe the greenbacks loaded cab wasnt a good fit or maybe the tubes were old... in the end i just couldnt get any good sound out of it. Luckily it wasnt mine.

Edit: not sure if it was bandit or vypyr but it doesnt really matter lol
 
MatrixClaw said:
I couldn't remember the amp that I've truly hated, but someone in SSO reminded me: the Mesa Stiletto Deuce Stage II. I don't know why anyone likes that amp. It was insanely bright to the point where I could literally find zero usable tones in it.
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It cuts in a band mix like you wouldn't believe and is great for hair metal/thrash/etc or the lead voice in heavy rock . It's an absolutely terrible basement/personal amp.
 
László said:
Me too. One of my favorite recorded tones ever was The Cure's "A Forest" (in fact the whole record), and it was all Jazz Chorus.
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the JC is a very weird amp to *play* if you are used to tube amps. I don't know how else to put it. It's too responsive and not enough all at the same time. It is no fun whatsoever to play solo, it's the least rewarding experience ever. "Yep. That's my guitar." It's incredibly useful, though, and has some really nice tones in it as well as being a unique pedal platform.
 
Tenebris said:
the JC is a very weird amp to *play* if you are used to tube amps. I don't know how else to put it. It's too responsive and not enough all at the same time. It is no fun whatsoever to play solo, it's the least rewarding experience ever. "Yep. That's my guitar." It's incredibly useful, though, and has some really nice tones in it as well as being a unique pedal platform.
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its funny you say that- i love overpowered solid state amps (and hiwatts) for just that reason- throttling exactness. instantaneous unrelenting dynamics- not too much give, not too little. its such a fantastically evil attribute for rhythm playing and hearing motion inside chording. ymmv.
 
Tenebris said:
the JC is a very weird amp to *play* if you are used to tube amps. I don't know how else to put it. It's too responsive and not enough all at the same time. It is no fun whatsoever to play solo, it's the least rewarding experience ever. "Yep. That's my guitar." It's incredibly useful, though, and has some really nice tones in it as well as being a unique pedal platform.
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I have been playing JCs since the 90s for metal and hardcore, and one thing I stumbled on is that they sound better with a closed cab. My combo sat on an Ampeg 4x12 in the 90s. When a JC120H became available around 10 years ago, I snagged it. By design, the JC has zero warmth; it is a guitar amp but also a keyboard amp. I found using it with my Chandler Tube Driver gives me a warmer, very cutting and precise Marshall tone. The amp is a killer pedal platform; it is all about pairing it with the right gain pedal. It is an interesting amp to dial in, you really need to spend a bit of time with it.

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Back in the late 70s or early 80s (not sure which year exactly) we were trying out a new drummer for our band. He lived in northern Connecticut, the rest of us were in west/central Connecticut. He told me he had an amp, and that I did not need to bring mine. When we got there, I found he had a Roland of some sort. Don't remember the model. But it had wheels!

I tried to dial in a tone I liked, but after a few minutes realized I was not getting anywhere. I was not sure how the controls interacted. The tone was very muddy, and I was not able to dial it out quickly. We just went with me having a muddy tone.

Don't know if it was me (which is likely the case) or if the guy had a Roland that had some issues. Either way, it made me shy away from Roland amps.
 
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