# Your worst amp, past or present.



## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Yeah I know, one person's garbage is another's glory, but...I must have suppressed the memory of a late '90s Danelectro solid state guitar amp. Looked cool, sounded like a chorus of puking poodles.

What about yours?

Peace, Mooh.


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## Guest (Nov 27, 2007)

My first amp was a Dean Markley practice amp. Sounded like garbage. My second amp was even worse: Yorkville Stage 100G. God that thing was awful. After that I had solid state Fender that wasn't half bad. And then finally my JTM-60. That was like a breath of fresh air.


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## trevorthegreat (Nov 26, 2007)

this crappy trayner amp that came with my first guitar


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## Hamm Guitars (Jan 12, 2007)

Roland Jazz Chorus 120.

I know some guys like them for clean stuff, but dirty - I puke at the mere site of them.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

You know, going all the way back to my first practice amp in 65', I don't think that there was one amp I've owned that wasn't good for something.

I wish I had them all still.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

Hamm Guitars said:


> Roland Jazz Chorus 120.
> 
> I know some guys like them for clean stuff, but dirty - I puke at the mere site of them.


I had the JC-55 for a long time, little brother to the 120. Absolutely great cleans, great chorus. Agreed on the built-in distortion - horrible. I never liked it with dirt pedals either.

So ugly looking it was almost cute.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

Mine would have to be the first "real" amp I got. For some reason I didn't consider Beltones and Silvertones real amps back then. :frown:

It was 1980 and I had a pocketfull of cash and went to Long & McQualude (on Bloor St?) and bought a Super Twin Reverb. What a horrendous piece of crap that was. For the same price I probably could have bought a half dozen BF Deluxe reverbs (they were only considered used amps back then), but I had to have the newest, biggest and loudest Fender amp known to mankind ... The Nuge played them y'know. 

I sold it a few years ago for $400 and was glad to see it go. Now that I think about it though, the tubes in it were probably worth more than that, even used (6 RCA blackplate 6L6's )

Pete


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

My firt amp was a solid state bass amp and worst than that is was a Caliphone! Maybe you ever saw that in school I had some teachers who use it with the buil in turn table and mic amp. It was the worst piece of crap I've heard. But when I was into Nirvana and Korn thing a bass amp with a Metalzone + Ge-7 was all I need to burn the house and make my parents crazy!

The second one was a little bit better, it was a beckemer or something like that! That was a little quebec compagny who wants to start in the mass production amps. Badly for me, the electronics was so weak, after only one year I was able to use the second channel anymore and the sound was "wavy". I sold it !


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## Davestp1 (Apr 25, 2006)

A solid state yamaha 30 watter w a 12 inch speaker. Total garbage looking back on it...


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## Michelle (Aug 21, 2006)

Ti-Ron said:


> ........... was all I need to burn the house and make my parents crazy!......


Ha! Yeah, I remember doing that! My first amp was a Garnet knockoff, 50W tube bass head and a homemade cab with 2X15". It was good, enough.

Worst was a borrowed Silvertone that sounded horrible with bass, *that* made me crazy. :wave:


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

my marshall MG. my rage held up, the reverb is dead on my YCV80 but it sounds good, and my JSX sounds killer. the MG is the only amp i've owned that died on me.. got it fixed under warranty.

and my little kustom practise amp is fun too hehe


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

A solid state Marshall MG15CD. Crappy little amp, but it served its purpose.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

The aforementioned Danelectro was the worst, but I had a few cheap Yamaha bass amps that required new drivers almost immediately. I generally used them for practice but sometimes gigged with them too. They were floppy sounding junk with no discernable tone when cranked.

Peace, Mooh.


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## violation (Aug 20, 2006)

Toss up between the Marshall MG series and the Line 6 Spider III. MG is way too harsh sounding to play for more than an hour and the Spider III is so over-the-top digital I returned it the next day.


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

Mid-80's Peavey Bandit 75. I think we all had one at one time...the new ones are a lot better.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Aria Pro II Loco Boy Micro Amp.









The speaker is shot.

It was still a lot of fun, and no complaints.

My first amp was a small Garnet amp--the speakers are shot on that one too.

But before that they were both good for what they were supposed to be. they're only included here due to wear & tear on the speakers.


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## Fajah (Jun 28, 2006)

A Vox AD30VT was the first amp I owned after a long time away from playing. Definitely the worst amp I've ever owned.

Lawrie


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## buckaroobanzai (Feb 2, 2006)

Behringer Blue Devil on its own - useless for anything but basement noodling.

However, using just the power amp section, and driving it with my old ART Power Plant is 80's hair-metal nirvana.

( can I use "hair-metal" and "nirvana" in the same sentence?)


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

Paul said:


> Worst. Distortion. Ever.



...you bought a jazz chorus thinking you were going to get decent distortion?

and you're admitting it publicly?

you're a brave man!

:smile:

i plan to buy a jazz chorus one day but, uh, not for the distortion channel...

-dh


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...i bought into the incredible hype surrounding the introduction of the line six flextone digital modelling amp.

these type of amps have come a long way, but that first flextone, for which i paid a lot of money and returned within a week (and paid a $200 penalty), is by far the most useless POS i have ever come across.

i swear, if you own one, you'd have a difficult time giving it away, at least to a serious player.

-dh


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## buckaroobanzai (Feb 2, 2006)

david henman said:


> ...you bought a jazz chorus thinking you were going to get decent distortion?
> 
> and you're admitting it publicly?
> 
> ...


You know, I've been using a JC-60 as my main amp for the last 300 years or so, and I use a DOD Milk Box > Boss OD-3 for dirt. My main guitar is a Tele Plus with Lace Sensors. You'd think that wouldn't work, or be icepick city, but it isn't.... Of course, I don't play lead, I'm the rhythm guy.

I haven't touched the distortion knob on the JC-60 since I got it, except to turn it on once and go " Eww....wrong....."

I've also never had the volume above 4, even outdoors, unmiked. Loud little sucker, I can't imagine how loud a JC-120 can get....


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## Seakayak (Nov 24, 2007)

Roland Bolt 60. Nice cleans, terrible distortion. But I traded it in the early '80s for a '72 Marshall Super bass!!


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

david henman said:


> ...i bought into the incredible hype surrounding the introduction of the line six flextone digital modelling amp.
> 
> these type of amps have come a long way, but that first flextone, for which i paid a lot of money and returned within a week (and paid a $200 penalty), is by far the most useless POS i have ever come across.
> 
> ...



I remember that amp. All the distortion sounds had this awful metallic buzz sound to them.


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

Seakayak said:


> Roland Bolt 60. Nice cleans, terrible distortion. But I traded it in the early '80s for a '72 Marshall Super bass!!


Excellent trade! You know theres some poor bastard posting on some other forum under "Worst trades ever" : - 'I remember thinking what a great trade it would be to get rid of my old Marshall and get a nice, shiny Roland'!!!


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

zdogma said:


> I remember that amp. All the distortion sounds had this awful metallic buzz sound to them.


...and that is just the tip of the iceberg!

-dh


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## a Pack of Wolves (Sep 5, 2007)

worst amp was probably a yorkville solidstate 2 by 12
can't remember it's model (from about 15 year ago)

as for the jc 120,
i've had one for 10 years as my main amp 
and they're cheap,solid,ultra dependable,
luv the volume (if needed) 
and the fact you can use it to get an uncolored tone that lets the actual sound of the guitar ring out
and
the distortion is effin' garbage

but again
use what floats yer boat


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## Dr.StephanHeimer (May 1, 2006)

*RE Worst Amp*

Hands down the Yamaha T-50C, I'm probably gonna get shit on for saying it cause the amp was designed by Mike Soldano but this thing was just garbage. 

The clean sound was average at best but the reverb control introduced a strange background buzzing distortion which got worse the more you turned it up. It got looked at by amp techs and it got sent back to Yamaha on more than one occasion and I was told it was a problem with the actual circuit design. 

The dirty channel was great at first, it could go from sludgy Jerry Cantrell to Jimmy Page to Tony Iommi to Dave Mustaine just by tweaking the controls. Unfortunately while figuring out the problems on the clean channel the tubes and speaker got changed out a few times and when it was all said and done I was left with a pretty flat sounding channel. I'm talking no life whatsoever. By that point I didn't care anymore and the amp went the way of Ebay.

Has anyone else owned or used one of these things before?


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Paul said:


> Worst. Distortion. Ever.
> 
> Even worse than my Peavey Audition 20.


I missed that post--and like buckaroobanzai I use a JC-60 as my main amp--I love it. I also don't use the built in distortion. I use a Boss DS-1 or DF-2 (same distortion on both, but the DF-2 has a feedback/sustain function that's really cool) or my DOD classic tube (although I haven't had that one very long--so I'm still deciding how much I like it.) With the pedals it sounds great distorted. The Chorus is great though.


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## Guest (Nov 29, 2007)

*worst amp?*

an '82 roland bolt-100.

it did have the optional JBL 12 speaker which was nice, the cleans were wonderful , but the gain section was terrible.

not to mention the defective effects loop that required it being sent back to roland twice and problem was never solved.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

david henman said:


> ...i bought into the incredible hype surrounding the introduction of the line six flextone digital modelling amp.
> 
> -dh



Oh geez, I forgot about that one. Glad I sold mine quickly before it really became worthless.


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## LowWatt (Jun 27, 2007)

zdogma said:


> Mid-80's Peavey Bandit 75. I think we all had one at one time...the new ones are a lot better.


Yep. the first amp I bought with my own money. What a piece of crap. Luckily I traded it straight up for a Gibson GA-5T Skylark amp and never looked back.


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## 55 Jr (May 3, 2006)

Dr.StephanHeimer said:


> Hands down the Yamaha T-50C, I'm probably gonna get shit on for saying it cause the amp was designed by Mike Soldano but this thing was just garbage.
> 
> The clean sound was average at best but the reverb control introduced a strange background buzzing distortion which got worse the more you turned it up. It got looked at by amp techs and it got sent back to Yamaha on more than one occasion and I was told it was a problem with the actual circuit design.
> 
> ...



I had one. For the most part I agree with everything you have written. Sadly enough the turd (T50C) is still in my life. I traded it in on something and it now belongs to the other guitar player in my band.

While the T50C has some truly ass-like tones, I still say the mighty Marshall JCM 800 4210 is the grand/bull moose/gold medal winning/sounds like ass amp I have ever had the pleasure of owning.

THAT was a stinker!

Best regards,

Brian


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

LowWatt said:


> Yep. the first amp I bought with my own money. What a piece of crap. Luckily I traded it straight up for a Gibson GA-5T Skylark amp and never looked back.



Excellent trade. I sent mine to the landfill for some extra space in the basement a few years ago. I tried to sell it a couple of times, but there wasn't much interest.


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## ssdeluxe (Mar 29, 2007)

FUN THREAD ! 

hope nobody liked this amp, but it was a solid state traynor ts 120 I think, the big grey coloured beast with 2x12, the absolute loudest, $hitiest sounding amp I have encountered !!!....my dad bought it for me and my brother when we were 16....even then I thought..................... "sounds like $hit!!!...but its loud !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "

don't think it actually reproduced any sound above 1k............  (not that you need alot more k than that for gtr !! lol )


oh, and after that I bought a 4x12 stack seymour duncan 100w convertible, probably the only one in canada !!!...I spent all my hard earned parttime job money....and thought I was the "the MAN !"""" .....WHAT A TURD OF an amp.


live and learn!


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## Metal#J# (Jan 1, 2007)

Here it is.............L&M was nice enough to give me more than what I paid origanaly, on trade for another amp I regret buying








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## Ophidian (May 22, 2006)

Fajah said:


> A Vox AD30VT was the first amp I owned after a long time away from playing. Definitely the worst amp I've ever owned.
> 
> Lawrie


That's a surprise most people love it. I love my AD50VT the only complaint is it took me hours to get a sound I like out of it.


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## Woodster (Dec 7, 2006)

*line6 spider*

I am almost too embarrassed to admit this,but I bought a Line6 75w spider 11 amp.Traded it in 5 months later on a traynor ycv50 blue.Mucho better.That was a shrill sounding POS.Did I say it was a POS.I'm mad at myself now for even mentioning that POS.Did I say POS.


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## GuitaristZ (Jan 26, 2007)

ssdeluxe said:


> FUN THREAD !
> 
> hope nobody liked this amp, but it was a solid state traynor ts 120 I think, the big grey coloured beast with 2x12, the absolute loudest, $hitiest sounding amp I have encountered !!!....my dad bought it for me and my brother when we were 16....even then I thought..................... "sounds like $hit!!!...but its loud !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "
> 
> ...


my school has one of those I play through once in a while...sounds pretty good with a decent overdrive pedal...maybe yours had something wrong with it?


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## ssdeluxe (Mar 29, 2007)

you know ...that is entirely possible.................but boy was I happy to get my 68 deluxe reverb !!!!


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## dwagar (Mar 6, 2006)

ssdeluxe said:


> hope nobody liked this amp, but it was a solid state traynor ts 120 I think


Hey! I just bought a TS50B.
lol, but I use it for my low rotor sim on my Hammond.

As someone mentioned above, I also bought a Dean Markley itty bitty practice amp, what a POS that is.

Worst amp I ever used had to be an old Yamaha Solid State I used to rent whenever I blew up my Bandmaster cab, which happened fairly often in the late 60's. The Yamaha had one speaker, made out of styrofoam (no kidding) that filled the cabinet, maybe 18" wide and 24" high. Indestructible, loud, but sounded like crap. 

I finally convinced the guy at the place I used to rent to start renting me a Vox Super Beatle cab (yes it was in the chrome chassis). That was great. I wish now I would have bought it.


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

I actually played thru a traynor TS-50B combo that had a celestion 12 in it, and it sounded absolutely amazing....we could not get over it. seriously!!

I did own a TS120 + 4x10 for a while, it was pretty ugly sounding & not very loud


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## Universe (Feb 5, 2006)

I had a Heathkit.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

I had a Heathkit tube amp in the late 60s. The llocal electonics guy built it for me. He made a couple of mods. Not bad at all. I wonder what happen to it after I sold it for university funds.



Universe said:


> I had a Heathkit.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

The worst amp I have ever owned was a '67 Blackface Fender Super Reverb. Terrible cleans, useless reverb, heavy as h*ll and too loud.


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## Adicted to Tubes (Mar 5, 2006)

Worst amp i have ever owned was a Traynor stage 100.Cut out only in the middle of gigs,never at home.Sounded so bad I would rather play direct into a PA.
Second worst amp I ever played was a Mesa Heartbreaker.It breaks my heart thinking some poor sucker bought that amp!


www.claramps.com


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

greco said:


> The worst amp I have ever owned was a '67 Blackface Fender Super Reverb. Terrible cleans, useless reverb, heavy as h*ll and too loud.


This was a joke....gotcha....you folks are all sleepin' (or much too serious)

I actually did own the amp (and it was heavy...in weight and in sound)

Dave


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## skydigger (Oct 20, 2007)

I think I paid close to $900 back in the late '80's for this garbage...


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## marcd (Mar 3, 2007)

Do PODs count?


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## Archer (Aug 29, 2006)

I once owned a Peavey Classic 30. Tried changing the speaker and different tubes but I HATED that thing.


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## SG-Rocker (Dec 30, 2007)

I had a first gen Marshall Valvestate combo with a 1X10.

Biggest POS ever. Imagine turning the mids up full and the high and low down to nothing. 

Only Marshalls worth a damn are the real tube deals. I think science will cure cancer before they can emulate the personality of a real tube.

In defence of Line6, I have a POD in my arsenal and I'll be honest in saying that for going direct into a PA it's a damn good compromise.


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## BlameCanada (Apr 28, 2007)

Fender hot-rod deluxe. Did not enjoy it at all. Sold a peavey classic 20 to get it and wish I had the peavey back.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

BlameCanada said:


> Fender hot-rod deluxe. Did not enjoy it at all. Sold a peavey classic 20 to get it and wish I had the peavey back.



...i didn't mind my hot rod deluxe. great clean channel - tad harsh, perhaps. utterly useless drive channel. it was eventually stolen, but i don't miss it.

the fender amp i really hated was the blues jr.

brilliant concept. totally lame execution. one day i'd love to have a blues jr built to my own expectations, including front mounted controls and an effects loop.

-dh


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Mooh said:


> Yeah I know, one person's garbage is another's glory, but...I must have suppressed the memory of a late '90s Danelectro solid state guitar amp. Looked cool, sounded like a chorus of puking poodles.
> 
> What about yours?
> 
> Peace, Mooh.


I would have to say my worst amps ever were just about any Peavey amp I owned. The Classic Chorus, Renown and the Bandit. They had terrible tone and were very unreliable. The last amp I owned was about 1985 so I don't know if the newer Peavey amps are better.


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## Hamm Guitars (Jan 12, 2007)

That's alot of porn someone's got there....




Universe said:


>


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## Guest (Feb 2, 2008)

Anything by Line6. That stuff is garbage period. Everything I've ever owned from Line6 has been unreliable and frankly over rated.


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## noobcake (Mar 8, 2006)

Believe it or not, I've actually never had a "bad" amp. I went from a micro cube to a Cube 30 to a Traynor YCV40WR:smile:


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## GUInessTARS (Dec 28, 2007)

An ampeg g4, I later found out g4 meant g4 nothing.


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## GUInessTARS (Dec 28, 2007)

Oh Yah, I also owned a bedrock amp, it sounded great for 3 hours and then died, along with the company and the warranty.


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## gpower (May 12, 2006)

In the early 70's I had a red Kustom 100 with the 3x12 cab. I don't think I kept it a month. I can't think of an amp I've had that I hated more than it.


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## nitehawk55 (Sep 19, 2007)

I just brought home and tried a Genz Benz Black pearl 1x12 from a local dealer . I bought it with the agreement I could return it if it didn't spin my wheels....it doesn't so back it goes .
Lots of great reviews on these amps and maybe it deserves them , it just doesn't work for me , maybe my expectations were too high comparing it to my Carr slant 6 .

Try before you buy !


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

gpower said:


> In the early 70's I had a red Kustom 100 with the 3x12 cab. I don't think I kept it a month. I can't think of an amp I've had that I hated more than it.


...john fogerty claims to be the only guitarist who can get a decent tone from those old solid state kustom amps.

i remember them well. 

painful.

-dh


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## gpower (May 12, 2006)

A band I was in at the time decided we liked the CCR look and 3 of us bought matching Kustoms. Mine went back for an AIMS 100 watt tube combo with 8x10s(not a typo). My buddy Brian MacLeod had one and I loved the sounds he got out of it. Our bass player picked up the boomer match to it a week later. Our other guitar player kept his Kustom. I've ribbed him for years that he's so tone deaf he couldn't tell the difference anyway. But, why did he find it necessary to torture everyone else.


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## Archer (Aug 29, 2006)

Worst amp I ever owned was a Peavey Classic 30.

Hated it big time.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

Archer said:


> Worst amp I ever owned was a Peavey Classic 30.
> Hated it big time.



...i have to wonder if it was a lemon. these amps are highly regarded. i tried one in a store and was very impressed.

-dh


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

david henman said:


> ...i have to wonder if it was a lemon. these amps are highly regarded. i tried one in a store and was very impressed.
> 
> -dh


I had about 3 Peavey lemons. Never liked the midrange in those amps anyway.


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## Spikezone (Feb 2, 2006)

Universe said:


> I had a Heathkit.


So, did you build that yourself? I remember that Heathkit was all the rage for a while. Everybody I knew thought it was cool to build your own until we discovered how bad they sounded! I think I still have an old Heathkit distortion pedal lying around in the basement somewhere.
As for my worst amp, it would have to be my old Peavey Musician. Too much power and solid state fuzz cranking through a HUGE 6x12 (if I remember correctly) speaker box. Wayyyy too heavy and wayyy too ugly sounding! (But I have a buddy that uses the bass version in his bass rig and it does the trick for him).
-Mikey


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

guitarman2 said:


> I had about 3 Peavey lemons. Never liked the midrange in those amps anyway.



...yeah, peavey amps live or die with that midrange thing.

-dh


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## pattste (Dec 30, 2007)

Archer said:


> Worst amp I ever owned was a Peavey Classic 30.
> 
> Hated it big time.


:sport-smiley-002:

Just kidding.

Seriously, you must have owned some nice gear to consider the Classic 30 as the worst amp you've ever owned. I'll be the first to admit that it has a few annoying design flaws (tube rattle, tubes too exposed, no standby switch) but I've heard amps costing 2 or 3 times as much that don't sound as good as a Classic 30. Absolutely kick-ass value for the money.


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## pattste (Dec 30, 2007)

Twenty years ago I was a teenager living a good distance from any music store. One weekend I finally convinced my non-musical and not very patient father to drive me to the city so that I could buy an amp. We visited exactly one store and he said that's where I would be buying an amp.

I was stupid and didn't know the first thing about gear (something I've since addressed with a vengance). I bought a Peavey Bandit 65. The clean channel was incredibly sterile sounding and the drive channel was your typical solid state BS.

I kept it a few years and hated every moment of it. I did not even consider another Peavey for almost two decades. Then I went shopping, tried a dozen different amps in the store and left with a Peavey. I like it a lot. sdsre


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## dufe32 (Feb 5, 2007)

I'm gonna get flamed for saying this but... The worst amp I played was a JCM900 2x12 combo, it wasn't mine, it belonged to a friend who "kindly" offered me to bring it to a gig to give it a ride... Worst tone ever - and I love Marshall, no joke. Nothing compared to the DSL100 I owned.

Can't bond with 900s since then...


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