Amps you wish you'd never bought ....

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Ronnie Robinson
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Amps you wish you'd never bought ....

Post by Ronnie Robinson » Sun Nov 04, 2012 8:33 am

I'm sure it cant only be me who's done this. Trying something in a shop is so different to gigging with your usual stuff

So here's mine...a Blackstar Ht60 which I bought new last year. Build quality was decent (but not close to Orange build quality) and the power tubes failed within 2 months and I just could nt get an overdrive sound I was happy with despite changing all the tubes and the speakers. I sold it after 4 months

This was bought on the back of a ht5 which Ive owned for about 4 years. The Ht5 sounds great (still on original tubes) but the 60 was a major dissapointment.
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OU818
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Re: Amps you wish you'd never bought ....

Post by OU818 » Sun Nov 04, 2012 9:33 am

Early 90s Marshall JCM800 50w.

I am sure it is a great amp, I just couldn't get any sound that appealed to me out of it.
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handyandy
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Re: Amps you wish you'd never bought ....

Post by handyandy » Sun Nov 04, 2012 12:41 pm

Got a Vox AC15-C1 last week, gave it some serious stick for 2 days to try and beat the speaker into shape but it just sounded awfull, muddy, harsh and spikey all in one box!
I sent it back in exchange for a Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister 18 combo. Hopefully it will do better!

Wendigo
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Re: Amps you wish you'd never bought ....

Post by Wendigo » Sun Nov 04, 2012 12:48 pm

Well, I never bought an amp that I wasn't happy with sound-wise, but:

I once bought a Trace Elliot Speed Twin 50C that broke after about 9 days and was away for repairs for the following 4 months. The shop I bought it from couldn't find it after that, so I got my money back. One of the best sounding amps I ever played though....a shame really.

Bensen
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Re: Amps you wish you'd never bought ....

Post by Bensen » Sun Nov 04, 2012 1:04 pm

handyandy wrote:Got a Vox AC15-C1 last week, gave it some serious stick for 2 days to try and beat the speaker into shape but it just sounded awfull, muddy, harsh and spikey all in one box!
I sent it back in exchange for a Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister 18 combo. Hopefully it will do better!
Had the AC15-C1 from a freind here for a few weaks and thought it sounded considerably better through my 2x12 birch cab.

My amp-iwinb was the black heart little giant. I was looking forward to some low wattage crunch but when it arrived it really unusable for me at any volume. AD30 sounded better in any situation, even really quiet.

Zemyr
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Re: Amps you wish you'd never bought ....

Post by Zemyr » Sun Nov 04, 2012 4:25 pm

Hiwatt Hi-Gain 50.

Too many options, almost like Mesa Boogie stuff... a 4-switch foot controller with loop, channel, reverb and extra gain. Too much modern and hard to handle. But the sound was ok. The clean channel was very nice, but the dirty channel was cool, but not impressive.

And, for a 50W amp, i think that doesn't have too much volume.

(OBS: I'm saying this because now I do the comparison with my big ass RV50 :P , but at the time, I thought that It was quite the thing that I really needed. Except for the footswith, I hated it since the first time)

The main problem was that since I bought it, I used just once, and it was ok. The second time I went to used it, the reverb failed, dirty channel failed... well, everyting was f... up.

Then, I wento to the store (by bus, travelled 2:30h, carried with my own arms that 20kg stuff...), got some courage (some bears really helped 8) ) paid a HUUUUUUUUUGE difference, and brought myself the RV50 and carried it back home the same way... the difference was that the RV50 weigh 25kg! :oops: But, at least, I was finally happy.

BTW, here in Brazil, Orange amps are SO F----NG EXPENSIVE! Lucky mine I used the difference from the Hiwatt and some extra cash of my old amp that I sold (in a week between the Hiwatt and the Orange!)
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Boy_Narf
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Re: Amps you wish you'd never bought ....

Post by Boy_Narf » Sun Nov 04, 2012 6:02 pm

Orange RV100. Should have just picked up the Rocker 30 in the first place!

Jondog
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Re: Amps you wish you'd never bought ....

Post by Jondog » Sun Nov 04, 2012 10:36 pm

Egnater Rebel 20. These weren't available in Canada at the time so it was a bit of a price to get. Had a Tiny Terror but wanted more versatility such as an effects loop and liked the availability of tube mix and a direct out. Sold the TT and when I got the rebel it didn't take me long to move it on as I really missed the dynamic response and feel the Orange gave and the Rebel lacked, sounded like junk in comparison, no life. Been with Orange ever since as I've never played another amp with that feel and sound yet. I later confirmed this when the Rebel 30 came out and I bought one thinking it might be better, again at a price. Nope. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!
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everdrone
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Re: Amps you wish you'd never bought ....

Post by everdrone » Sun Nov 04, 2012 10:37 pm

jcm900
epiphone valve junior combo

just disappointments, never got any enjoyment out of these two at all! they are for sale...
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bclaire
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Re: Amps you wish you'd never bought ....

Post by bclaire » Sun Nov 04, 2012 11:57 pm

Ampeg VT-22. The sound of Foghat. Horrible amp - so powerful it would blow the speakers every time we did an outdoor gig and turned up past 2.

and now Vox AC4. OK practice amp I suppose but really sounds like nothing...

Iambetacloud
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Re: Amps you wish you'd never bought ....

Post by Iambetacloud » Sun Nov 04, 2012 11:58 pm

i pissed away an 80'S marshall jcm 800 in the early 90's, the thing sounded like hot buttered sex! (it was modded by jose' arredondo and originally owned by Kenny Hawkins from Rick James' band... I'M RICK JAMES BITCH!).

when the jcm 900's came out i bought a head. it sounded good in the store but when i got it live... terrible. it cursed me. i sold it for like half of what i payed for it. :oops:

i guess hindsight is 20-20. :(
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DiabloS
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Amps you wish you'd never bought ....

Post by DiabloS » Mon Nov 05, 2012 1:37 am

Marshall DSL50... It sounded ok for edge of breakup crunch, but anything higher gain got too fizzy for me. It didn't have the dynamic feel of Orange amps either. I wouldn't say it's a horrible amp in all applications, but it just didn't cut it for me.
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fiveightandten
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Re: Amps you wish you'd never bought ....

Post by fiveightandten » Mon Nov 05, 2012 2:18 am

I've owned a LOT of amps, and i'm happy to have owned every single one of them. I like having the experience.

Many, many times, i've bought an amp just because I found it at a decent price and knew I wouldn't loose money on it if I bought it just to have it for a few weeks or months to see what it was all about. I've lost count of how many amps i've bought and unloaded after a few weeks or a month of test driving it.

If I buy one I don't dig that much, it only makes me appreciate my go-to amps even more. If I come across a gem that causes me to re-think things...that's cool too.

-Nick
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funky_wrench
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Re: Amps you wish you'd never bought ....

Post by funky_wrench » Mon Nov 05, 2012 7:10 am

I used to own a Hughes & Kettner Studio 84 that always sounded really dull and lifeless to me. It had a wattage control and at the time I was looking for a low wattage amp so I thought that would be the best of both worlds....it was not.

I also wasn't particularly fond of the Egnater Tweaker combo I had. They get great reviews but I always found mine to be quite muddy on the dirty channel. The clean channel was nice enough and sounded nice being pushed into overdrive too but the honeymoon wore off pretty quick on that one.

Luckily I sold the Tweaker to fund my Rocker 30 which I'm a hell of a lot happier with! :twisted:

a.hun
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Re: Amps you wish you'd never bought ....

Post by a.hun » Mon Nov 05, 2012 10:32 am

My first two amps - when I was starting on bass.

First was a classic 15W guitar combo, a WEM Dominator Mk.III. Great guitar amp, but just gave a useless low burble for bass. Fail!

Next was a solid state HH Studio 60 bass combo. Still no guts, didn't really sound any good either. Fail!

Third time lucky though - that was my OR120! :D


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