What's the amp you owned that you thought would be GREAT, but it was actually PONY?

rockmonster

ICBM said:

There are objectively bad amps as well too though - ones which just aren't well-designed or well-made, and which either sound bad or aren't reliable, or both. Even then, there are probably some people who like them…

It's really great when (if!) you find "your" amp though. The trick is to recognise it when you do, and not talk yourself out of it because it's not what other people use to make the same sort of sounds, or think you want what they use instead.

Absolutely agree with that too. So many people couldn't believe I went through so many booteek amps and ended up choosing a mass produced made in Mexico number over the hand wired quality expensive stuff! But at least I've given the others a go!

Grumpyrocker

Lev said:

koneguitarist;128813" said:

Blackstar HT40. Every amp I have ever had, I have had no problem getting a sound I could gig with, even musos who knew me well, were saying don`t sound like you !Completely characterless, but I so wanted to like it !

I had the exact same experience with this amp.

I had a similar issue with the HT20. It never sounded quite right to me. Like it had a pedal in front of it all the time that I couldn't alter the settings on.

monquixote

Grumpyrocker said:

Lev said:

koneguitarist;128813" said:

Blackstar HT40. Every amp I have ever had, I have had no problem getting a sound I could gig with, even musos who knew me well, were saying don`t sound like you !Completely characterless, but I so wanted to like it !

I had the exact same experience with this amp.

I had a similar issue with the HT20. It never sounded quite right to me. Like it had a pedal in front of it all the time that I couldn't alter the settings on.

That's because essentially it does

I still quite like them though.

Monstronaut

I've been able to get a decent sound out everything I've had except:

Blackstar Series one 100. Completely lifeless and uninspiring.

Orange rockerverb 50. I played the 100 and loved it and bought the 50 only to discover it's a completely different amp. The 50 sounded like shit no matter what I did.

bigfuzz

gearaddict said:

Rocker 30 - just sounded generic and lifeless to me, no fx loop, too expensive. TH30 is a million times better IMHO.

Hotrod deluxe - both guitarists in our band have had these and I just hate them. They drown out everything with their thunderously loud boring clanky cleanness. Probably not helped by the fact that they insist on exclusively using the bridge pickup on a strat.

Couldn't agree more about the hotrod deluxe haha, still not sure why they're so widely used. Fair enough if you're running pedals through.. 

The Rocker, interesting. I'm actually in the market for one of those having done some research. I have tried the TH30 and thought it was a bit too modern/gainy for me?

bertie

gearaddict said:

 Save money - but Marshall mini-amp for 30 quid.

I think this confirms there really is something wrong with you or your ears

oddball

Blackstar HT5 mini stack - thanks to guitarist's review bidding it as the best amp in the world I bought one blind. Crap at everything, lifeless, trebly, under-gained .... Just shit. Sold on eBay to some prick who didn't pay so after 3 weeks I opened a resolution for the turd fondler to leave me negative feedback for being unreasonable. Wished I'd never seen the wretched thing and definitely not heard it

Bucket

Weird that people are saying they don't like Blackstar HT models... I've an HT 40 and it's great.

I've never owned an amp I was disappointed by, I've played a couple in shops though... the Marshall JCM 800 Kerry King signature springs to mind. Only did one sound, and what an utterly, utterly shit sound it was.

monquixote

Bucket said:

Weird that people are saying they don't like Blackstar HT models... I've an HT 40 and it's great.

It's just shows that one man's meat is another man's poison.

The HT amps are without a doubt not bad amps they just aren't everyone's cup of tea. I know loads of people that love them.

gearaddict

bigfuzz said:

gearaddict said:

Rocker 30 - just sounded generic and lifeless to me, no fx loop, too expensive. TH30 is a million times better IMHO.

Hotrod deluxe - both guitarists in our band have had these and I just hate them. They drown out everything with their thunderously loud boring clanky cleanness. Probably not helped by the fact that they insist on exclusively using the bridge pickup on a strat.

Couldn't agree more about the hotrod deluxe haha, still not sure why they're so widely used. Fair enough if you're running pedals through.. 

The Rocker, interesting. I'm actually in the market for one of those having done some research. I have tried the TH30 and thought it was a bit too modern/gainy for me?

To be fair, I've never actually owned the Rocker - just tried it in a shop and it just didn't do anything for me. The TH-30 does have a huge amount of gain and won't be everyone's cup of tea.

gearaddict

monquixote said:

Bucket said:

Weird that people are saying they don't like Blackstar HT models... I've an HT 40 and it's great.

It's just shows that one man's meat is another man's poison.

The HT amps are without a doubt not bad amps they just aren't everyone's cup of tea. I know loads of people that love them.

Yeah - I loved the HT-5. I was a bit underwhelmed by the more powerful versions when they came out in combo form but I really liked the HT-100 head.

ICBM

gearaddict said:

bigfuzz said:

gearaddict said:

Rocker 30 - just sounded generic and lifeless to me, no fx loop, too expensive. TH30 is a million times better IMHO.

Hotrod deluxe - both guitarists in our band have had these and I just hate them. They drown out everything with their thunderously loud boring clanky cleanness. Probably not helped by the fact that they insist on exclusively using the bridge pickup on a strat.

Couldn't agree more about the hotrod deluxe haha, still not sure why they're so widely used. Fair enough if you're running pedals through.. 

The Rocker, interesting. I'm actually in the market for one of those having done some research. I have tried the TH30 and thought it was a bit too modern/gainy for me?

To be fair, I've never actually owned the Rocker - just tried it in a shop and it just didn't do anything for me. The TH-30 does have a huge amount of gain and won't be everyone's cup of tea.

I can understand why the Rocker might not sound that great at shop volume - but it really comes alive with a band. I don't like any of the other modern Oranges really - they're all either too gainy, too compressed or too muddy (or all of the above) and don't sound like a 'proper Orange', to me. The Rocker is the closest to the character of the old ones even though the circuit is quite different - but it does only have two sounds, clean and crunch. If you want more gain you need a pedal - which it does take extremely well, overdrives and boosts on the dirty channel and distortion and fuzz on the 'natural' channel.

I'm also one of the apparently few people who like the HRD - even the overdrive sounds... they're far from useless as most seem to say. I don't have any trouble dialing in *three* good sounds on them, including the 'More Drive' - and I don't have a problem with the volume control, you just need to set it very carefully - it's not ideal, and nor is the rather shouty speaker, but it's still a good amp. The trick is to set it up on the More Drive channel and let the other two take care of themselves.

oddball said:

Blackstar HT5 mini stack - thanks to guitarist's review bidding it as the best amp in the world I bought one blind. Crap at everything, lifeless, trebly, under-gained .... Just shit.

The speakers in the little cabs are beyond crap.

I had an HT-1 combo in the shop last week, and the difference between the internal speaker and running it through a real cab (not even anything good, just a bodged-together 2x12" made from a combo, with old HH speakers, that I use for testing heads) was astounding - through the 2x12" it really sounded very good… through the HT combo speaker it sounded like a stuck wah through a cheap radio speaker. Awful.

57Deluxe

Fender 59 Bassman LTD

So freekin loud - it shattered glasses on my dresser!

Ice pick shrill (yuk!)

No lovely honey'd tone to be had nowhere...

But looked nice, smelled nice...

TIP: Get a Super Reverb if you want 4x10 swirl and niceness all round... oh an a Tweed Deluxe for honey'd Tweed tone... (or 57 Bandmaster if that is ALL you want...)

guitargeek76

JCM2000 TSL100 - Crap! Mesa Subway rocket - Crap! Red Knob Twin - Crap!

Had two Boogie Nomads (45 2x12 / 55 4x10) both of which have been awesome amps so very much opinion and personal style.

thecolourbox

I remember getting a small Vox, that when I got it sounded a little horse, does that count?

A little horse?

Pony?

Oh dear

jellybelly

Owned a few that didn't do it for me (hot rod deluxe in particular - devilles are nicer but not by much) but the one that gets great press yet really turned me off was the lowly little Vox Pathfinder. I thought a decent clean, trem and verb in a little grab and go package for 'acoustic' gigs. Just very, very bland and dull, rubbish effects, plenty of better SS practice amps out there.

IvisonGuitars

Matchless DC30. Sounded like dogturd. Which was most interesting as I also had a HC30 which is exactly the same amp just in head form which was stellar.

fretmeister

Peavey 5150. Crap cleans and it was so unbelievably loud before the gain channel got cooking properly that it was effectively useless. The one I had hissed like a punctured snake.

Mesa Mini-Rectifier. I was so hoping that it would sound like a proper one. It doesn't. Not in the slightest. A real recto has huge heft and clarity, even at sensible volumes. The Mini sounded thin. A Fender Blues Deluxe with an AMT R2 pedal sounds far more like a proper recto than the Mini.

@ICBM is right. When you get the right amp for you - keep the frakking thing. It's taken me 18 years to get back to a proper Dual Rec! I hate to think how much money I spent in the meantime. 

capo4th

Marshall JVM 210C loved to pretend it was a gale force wind and enjoyed spending time on holiday with friends in Milton Keynes. After its 4th holiday in 3 months I refused to pay for its fight home and got a refund.

richardhomer

Never really owned something that I hated - but have tried a variety of Marshalls over the years and couldn't get them to work for me.

To me they are rather like Les Pauls - a classic which sounds fantastic in the right hands. Unfortunately in my hands, neither works well....