What is the worst amp you’ve ever played?

NickB

Carlsbro Wasp, a heap of crap from the 1980s, it sounded like a wasp in a biscuit tin. Awful amp. 

bbill335

marshall jubilee mini stack, the 25w one not the reissued real deal 50/100w ones. just midrangey, compressed, nasty. 

also one of the factory special hot rod dlxs with a celestion in. that combo doesn't work! sounded bad! 

Moe_Zambeek

NickB said:

Carlsbro Wasp, a heap of crap from the 1980s, it sounded like a wasp in a biscuit tin. Awful amp. 

I had one of those and don’t remember disliking it, probably because it was a massive step up from plugging into the aux-in on the record player. Next up was a Fender M80 which I also strangely don’t have any bad memories of, but I must have disliked it because I was happy to move it on for a ‘proper amp’ in the shape of a Marshall 4010, which was really unreliable (in the days before I knew what an amp tech was…). 

Moe_Zambeek

I nominate a Laney Tube Fusion for worst I’ve played, it was backline for a gig and was completely knackered and totally shit.

Second place goes to whatever Trace Elliot ss / hybrid combo an old rehearsal place used to have - 1 million knobs and zero good sounds. 

Third place - Fender roc-pro 100, teeth-gratingly harsh and trebly with an off->full binary volume control.

Winny_Pooh

Fender Champion 800 or silver stripe Peavey rage. 

EricTheWeary

Part of the excitement of using cheap rehearsal rooms was the mystery of what you would get.
There was a digital Behringer amp in one, ooh bad.
 I remember a Mesa Triple Rectifier half stack (that kind of thing, I can't remember the specifics) at Robannas which was basically impossible to dial in within five minutes setting up time, probably fine as an amp but daft for the situation.
Hughes and Kettner had some 'metal' solid state amps that were particularly nasty. 
There is a learning curve with Bandits and Valvestates which is what you got most of the time so once you knew how to dial in a reasonable base tone they were fine. 
And basically anything made by Blackstar I ever used I hated. Muddy nasty clean sounds. Bring back the Behringer...

bbill335

boss katanas also rank among the worst amps i've played for sound. 

Sporky

Either the Smokey, or my brother's Peavey Classic 50. I had a Studio Pro 112 at the time, and the Classic fair put me off valves. 

blobb

Lestratcaster

Those Fender practice amps you get with the beginner packs, 10g or something. Distortion channel is so fuzzy, farty and lacks and character.

Penn

blobb said:

I can believe that is bad if this is anything to go by 

Yorkie

Blackstar ID:Core 100. Bought it for the stereo, sold it for everything else. 

SquireJapan

For me it was the smallest Guerrilla amp they made - that's what I had with my first Yamaha RGX112 guitar (that was ace).

I'm amazed that I kept playing after having to live with that thing. Was very jealous of my friend's Park G10 - that did (and still does) kick arse.



It wasn't just quiet, it robbed the entire guitar of any life. Even from a noddy player like me.

Penn

SquireJapan said:

For me it was the smallest Guerrilla amp they made - that's what I had with my first Yamaha RGX112 guitar (that was ace).

I'm amazed that I kept playing after having to live with that thing. Was very jealous of my friend's Park G10 - that did (and still does) kick arse.



It wasn't just quiet, it robbed the entire guitar of any life. Even from a noddy player like me.

I had a park G10. Rather than thinking it kicked arse …  thought it was arse. 

ScreamingDave

My first ever amp way a Kay monstrosity that was in a plastic cab. It was just nasty. It went back to the shop next day and I got a JHS C15T, 15w of pure transistor mayhem, which was probably shite as well, to be fair, but just wasn’t AS shite as the Kay. 

The only reason I call the Kay out is that it was supposed to be a serious amp, but to be frank it was probably quieter than my nylon strung acoustic was , and didn’t sound as good. 

But the worst amps are those little battery things, like the Marshall Micro Stack and a mini Fender Twin I had, that was blessed with two 2” speakers.  They’re truly bad, but to be fair, they’re toys.  Just silly gimicks, so you can’t judge them too harshly, especially as they’re still better than the Kay abomination that I started off with 

Yorkie

Yorkie said:

Blackstar ID:Core 100. Bought it for the stereo, sold it for everything else. 

I’ve just checked the review I wrote here. It reads like an overlong epitaph. And I wrote it right at the start of the honeymoon period  

NickB

Moe_Zambeek said:

NickB said:

Carlsbro Wasp, a heap of crap from the 1980s, it sounded like a wasp in a biscuit tin. Awful amp. 

I had one of those and don’t remember disliking it, probably because it was a massive step up from plugging into the aux-in on the record player. Next up was a Fender M80 which I also strangely don’t have any bad memories of, but I must have disliked it because I was happy to move it on for a ‘proper amp’ in the shape of a Marshall 4010, which was really unreliable (in the days before I knew what an amp tech was…). 

Yes I will admit that it was a step up from my Mum and Dads aux in on the their tape deck.... I blew a tweeter on their Hi-Fi.

my next amp was a Fender Super 60. I still have that and used to gig it until 2010. Loud little Mofo!

Keefy

NickB said:

Carlsbro Wasp, a heap of crap from the 1980s, it sounded like a wasp in a biscuit tin. Awful amp. 

I’ll see your Wasp and raise you a Hornet. It added a mids control and reverb. I discovered how shite it was when I took it on an actual gig.

inewham

A 'Super Minstrel', horrible ting.

On the Gorilla theme I still have a Gorilla TC-110 in the box room, some times i wonder if it would sound better with a decent speaker, but the I sober up.

Sassafras

Peavey Bravo.
Hugely compressed and lifeless.
Micro Terror - awful, similar over compressed one trick pony.