Most disappointing amp

  • Thread starter Thread starter Smash
  • Start date Start date
Smash said:
Look. You use a noisegate before amp. And that works good. Avenger loop is trash, so if you play at volume, that is where the real noise comes from. With avenger, you can knock out a lot of noise before amp, but it is a lot to fight unless you are in band context, where the noise isnt that big of a deal. But i remember playing an avenger at 120 dbs.

I misstepped and took off the gate. The guitar volume was rolled off, but the microphonics was 112 dbs alone...that is what happens when a rock guy builds a metal amp.

He said he thought it was weird when people complained about noise because all amps make noise. Sometimes we can be happy with status quo, but when you have amp makers that listen and innovate, and their quiet amp with more gain is next to yours that is puking static....idk
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My avenger didn’t even have a loop . I had an OG. But I think the gate in front tightens and improves any amp . But you already know that . I seriously don’t find any amp noisy now that I do that . Unless a pre amp tube s bad . I only use a loop for time bases and actually effects . But I know what you mean .
 
Techdeth said:
My avenger didn’t even have a loop . I had an OG. But I think the gate in front tightens and improves any amp . But you already know that . I seriously don’t find any amp noisy now that I do that . Unless a pre amp tube s bad . I only use a loop for time bases and actually effects . But I know what you mean .
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I am a bedroom guitarist that plays too loud. So i am picky about noise. But yeah. I dont think the avenger hangs with many of your amps. But i had two, so i liked them
 
I did that one time. I hooked up cables return to send and vice versa.. i was convinced my amp was broken. Tried to get guitar center to warranty and everything. Man...i have done shit like that so many times...that is why i keep my setup pretty simple...dummy proof
 
Smash said:
I did that one time. I hooked up cables return to send and vice versa.. i was convinced my amp was broken. Tried to get guitar center to warranty and everything. Man...i have done shit like that so many times...that is why i keep my setup pretty simple...dummy proof
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I keep mine simple because though I love knobs and toggle switches I start getting confused when there are too many knobs, switches, and numbers controlling stuff. That's how come I couldn't do the role playing game stuff for the guitar build. I lose interest with all them numbers. I only think in rhythms anymore and numbers aren't required for that.
 
I was actually disappointed by most of the modern high gain amps. Just like most of the modified Marshall amps. Not that they sound bad usually. My expectations was higher. The sound I had imagined / created in my head.
 
Smash said:
I am a bedroom guitarist that plays too loud. So i am picky about noise. But yeah. I dont think the avenger hangs with many of your amps. But i had two, so i liked them
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Use that gate in front . It improves the tone of any amp . As long as it’s battery powered . It’s the most important too . You play loud !
 
stephen sawall said:
I was actually disappointed by most of the modern high gain amps. Just like most of the modified Marshall amps. Not that they sound bad usually. My expectations was higher. The sound I had imagined / created in my head.
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Come to an amp fest down here. I dont know which ones you have played, but the last five years have been impressive
 
Smash said:
Come to an amp fest down here. I dont know which ones you have played, but the last five years have been impressive
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I drove through San Antonio about a month ago. It was 5AM. I was on my way from Orlando to Arizona. I drove the entire length of I10 over to LA. Then up I5 to Seattle.
I was only off by a few weeks.

I think I have tried most of the amps there before. Same brand different model with some.
 
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This has been a great read. In the spirit of the original post though - some of you guys need to use less generalizations.
Like the "all diezels" or "all engls" or "all H&K" people. Name the ones you played, and if you say you played them all:
i-dont-believe-you-lies.gif


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As for me, I'll give a little story on each one because it's not that these are BAD amps, it's that I had high expectations for them and was let down. There are other amps I think are worse than these, but these are the ones I got hyped/excited about only to find out they were mediocre.

1. Diezel VH2 - I still want to try a VH4, but I got this thing locally for an insane deal. Idk, it sucks.

2. ENGL Retro 50 - Someone told me I would like this if I liked Splawns. I should find that person and punch them in the face.

3. Laney AOR50 - picked this up way back when I couldn't afford a JCM800. $350. Even for that price, it was a waste of space and I sold it off. I actually wish I had it back now but more because it was unique and my expectations are curbed. At the time I thought it was going to be a budget JCM800 because that's how it was described so often online... clearly by people who have never owned one.

4. Fender Supersonic 100 - I loved the SS60. Played a SS22 in a store and wanted to take it home, then saw this online and figured hey, more is better! Nope. Especially compared to the ProSonic, what a let down.

5. Mesa Roadster - I already had a Rev G and a 3ch Triple at this point so when I got this it was another case of expecting the same kind of sound but "more." It had less gain, was somehow even looser, the extra crunch-ish channel didn't sound good to me. Huge flop... hilarious footswitch though.

6. Orange Dual Dark - I was on the Orange hype train, starting with a Thunderverb, then Rockerverb, then I kept reading about how this thing was a Mesa Mark killer and would do high gain metal like a boss. Again, not a bad amp, but especially for the price I was really disappointed.

7. Egnater Renegade - I played this amp several times in stores when I was kinda new to guitar playing. I loved the tube mix idea and thought it would be the perfect 80s rock amp, couldn't afford it, then forgot about it for a decade. Bought one years later and thought it was incredibly weak, too smooth, boring sounding overdrive. Good cleans though but that's not what I remembered wanting it for.

8. PWE EH3 - I got a PWE EH (original) on ebay and thought it was just the tits. It covered a lot of ground so I was excited to see what was next in the PWE world and picked up the EH3. He really went backwards on this one IMO, it has fewer tubes, less gain, less definition, less punch. I know some of these were custom orders so maybe whoever ordered mine picked some weird stuff?

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Honorable mentions
Mesa TC50, Marshall VM, and Rivera KR7. I didn't have super high expectations for these so they don't really belong in the disappointments category, but I don't really like them.

IMO, amps like the Peavey Valveking don't belong in this thread. Did you really have high expectations for it? Not much of a disappointment unless you are totally unrealistic.

Also I'm surprised to see the Henning Cherry Bomb around here a bunch, I've heard mostly good things elsewhere and would love to have one. Someone who has one they hate, PM me in like 3 months.
 
The only amp that I could not stand, in any way was a Randall RD100 Diavlo. I'd played the 50w version and liked it; so I figured the 100 would kick ass. Instead it sounded like ass. That's the only amp that an EQ in the loop was REQUIRED to get any decent tone out of it. Returned it very fast.
Another disappointment was a Splawn modded 1987x. It sounded 'distant', like the gain ch was in the background. Hard to describe. I had another Splawn Marshall later that was much better.

Mesa Mark IIIs are also disappointing to me...lots love them but the 2 I had, loaded with Mesa 415s and Simul, were just harsh city. Could not dial that out....that experience made me hesitate on the 2Cs but thankfully they are TONS better to my ears.
 
Racerxrated said:
Splawn modded 1987x.
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I have one of these, and I definitely wouldn't recommend it for everyone. It's very unique, for sure, crazy amount of mids, honky. It's very cool to hear it alongside a couple of other Splawns I have and see his "journey" so to speak as a tone designer. Clearly the tone he liked best in 2003 is a lot different from 2005 or 2008 or 2012.

I do wonder how custom tailored the mods are on them. It's not exactly an easy amp to find another to do a side by side comparison. I guess I could ask him, maybe it's one of those situations where he had kind of a "standard" mod and then did a few others for specific customers. I don't know for sure, but it sounds plausible in my head.
 
TotallyRadGuitars said:
I have one of these, and I definitely wouldn't recommend it for everyone. It's very unique, for sure, crazy amount of mids, honky. It's very cool to hear it alongside a couple of other Splawns I have and see his "journey" so to speak as a tone designer. Clearly the tone he liked best in 2003 is a lot different from 2005 or 2008 or 2012.

I do wonder how custom tailored the mods are on them. It's not exactly an easy amp to find another to do a side by side comparison. I guess I could ask him, maybe it's one of those situations where he had kind of a "standard" mod and then did a few others for specific customers. I don't know for sure, but it sounds plausible in my head.
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Where you been ?
 
I LOVE the Rockerverb and Thunderverb 200. IMO the Dual Dark suffers from lack of EQ controls, which gives it this inherently distortion pedal like quality. "Fixing" amps with an EQ pedal isn't a very appealing method but it gave a better idea of how it could have been a more formidable amp had they done more with the design. That said, mine is listed for sale 😂
 
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