The most immediate instant DISAPPOINTMENT with a new amp purchase ?

[rykus]

My biggest disappointment was a Mesa triple rec I bought off my friend because he was going to pawn it... guess I gave him too much because he never paid me back lol so I used it as a bass amp... wasted so much time trying to get good tone out of that amp it was ridiculous!

Next up was a Mesa F30... this is when I just decided I dont like Mesa amps, got it on crazy couldn't not buy clearance sale and it just sounded sterile and the break up of cheap el84 tubes through an excessively clean speaker is my nightmare!

Third real bad one for me was a Vox AC15cc1, always wanted a nice Vox and my local small town music shop had this limited red one with a greenback so I grabbed it for a camp shift out of town... sounded like the Mesa F30 too me sterile down lower on the volume then harsh and unpleasant tube breakup once you get it louder.
I even tried old tubes and an alnico speaker in the Vox... never sold it but never really liked it either. Burned in a house fire and it was not missed like some other stuff

Lastly was a Two Rock 10th anniversary 50w with the dual tube rectifiers... I did get some pretty alright sound out of this amp and I did play it a lot, but it was like the Mesa amps, too much fiddling around to get a good tone. Too many switches and dials imo doesn't equal a good tone for me. Tried a few speakers but I think the cream alnico may have fixed this amp for me... who knows... I wanted the "wood" amp it was on here but I couldn't quite afford it so bought this instead and yeah not for me imo.

Over the years I've learned I'm really picky with 6L6, EL84 and too some extent 6V6 tubes... I like Marshall based EL34 tone... I try to avoid any over processed amps... I want 5 maybe 6 dials max and no switches lol!

 

[sandcastle]

My Marshall DSL40. It went back right away. Didn't work for me. I went Blackstar HT40.

 

[Sheppard93]

Although the amp sounded brilliant by itself and had a great cutting lead tone, I knew I made a Huge mistake buying a Soldano Astroverb when I used it in a band situation.

 

[Twang_Banger]

Orange Rocker 15 ... huge downer for me, could not get away from it fast enough ... luckily I found a guy on CList who traded me a Twin Tone Master even steven!

 

[Atrocity7399]

Hmmm, going back quite a few years now but I've had all positive experiences except for when I purchased my Mesa Triple Rectifier head. I was a big fan of the Dual Rec and had used it for several years for live and studio stuff. So I thought the Triple Rec would be a step forward from there but ugh. Didn't think the differences in headroom and such would make that much of an impact on how it sounded and responded but it sure did. Promptly went right back to the Dual. Maybe I just got a lemon? I know others have told me they love the Triple, so who knows? For the price and the negative experience it wasn't worth delving further into it for me.

 

[Telejester]

My Marshall DSL40. It went back right away. Didn't work for me. I went Blackstar HT40.

Thats interesting, ive always found blackstar to be super sterile sounding, what is it you didnt like about the dsl40 ?

 

[sandcastle]

Thats interesting, ive always found blackstar to be super sterile sounding, what is it you didnt like about the dsl40 ?

I found it to be super sterile sounding. And shrill.

 

[FattRaxx]

Carvin V3
Just couldn't find a heavy brown sound, or a modern scooped crunch... It seemed to always sound "flabby".

Laney vh100r
I was young and foolish, but i just didn't like the tones

Marshall jcm800 1988 2 channel 2x12 100w
I had some rack gear, and the loop on this thing was very unforgiving, iirc it was post-poweramp. Sounded awesome if you could get past using no effects.

Marshall tsl60 head
I just thought it sounded swampy and thick as soup... I've heard them sound good though, but I guess it just doesn't agree with me

Boss katana
I used one of the 1x12 combos at a place I taught at, and I couldn't get on with it. I preferred my pod xt bean jacked into its return, which was sobering.

 

[C-4]

I'm a valve amp person, but I have tried many digital amps, including Kemper.The most instant disappointment came from the Fender Mustang, and Marshall CODE 50.

 

[wrxplayer]

I bought a Komet K19 and matching cab several years ago. I loved the way it looked and liked clips and of course its reputation here. The wattage also would have been (and would still be) perfect for my uses. Unfortunately, I just didn't love the way it sounded. Good to good plus with single coils and just not wonderful with humbuckers. I really thought it would the "be all, end all" for me. I think it stands out in a thread like this because of the expectations I had.

 

[El Rey]

MAZ 38SR. Due to a bad decision on my part.

These are killer amps by most counts. Didn't work for me though. Hot Cat 30, same thing.

Stumbled onto Matchless in 2013. Have been happy with everyone acquired since. For "that sound" anyway.

 

[nozkcb]

For me it was a Budda Superdrive. To my surprise no amount of Knob twisting yielded and interesting sound from the amplifier, everything was surprisingly Bland and lifeless.

I tried one at a Guitar Center before buying the one I had and it was an entirely different sounding amp. Maybe the one I had was just a lemon?

 

[Jay Strange]

Many years ago. I was so excited to get my first Marshall. Funds were tight back then, but I got a Valvestate Combo. Reviews on it were decent. But man, the gain was so lifeless and sterile. I thought perhaps it was me, and I had my best friend (who is a Nashville A list studio/touring musician) come over - and he couldn't get anything out of it either. Perhaps I got a dud, so back it went. From that point on - I learned that I must try the amp in person before buying. Online reviews can often be skewed by people who don't really have discerning ears.

Fast forward to today, I now have a Friedman Runt 20 Combo. This covers the marshall sound I love. And yes, I played one before buying.

I had one of them also.
Similiar issue.
My solution?
I dimed all controls and jammed on it for hours
and it caught on fire!!
I'm serious! Smoke arose from the back
and you could see a flame back there!
Me & my buddy were like "Yeah man!"
But then I had no amp.
And ended up getting a Dean amp.
That!..was worse!!!

 

[PBGas]

Mine was the Diezel Einstein about 10 years back. Man I hated that amp. It just did nothing for me other then the plexi channel which was nice. I am not sure what I was thinking at the time and I really should have made a better choice. With a few more $$$ that I had at the time, I could have gotten the VH-4 which I would have loved after finally trying one a few years ago.

 

[ufguy73]

I bought a Komet K19 and matching cab several years ago. I loved the way it looked and liked clips and of course it's reputation here. The wattage also would have been (and would still be) perfect for my uses. Unfortunately, I just didn't love the way it sounded. Good to good plus with single coils and just not wonderful with humbuckers. I really thought it would the "be all, end all" for me. I think it stands out in a thread like this because of the expectations I had.

i know what you mean, as mine was a Komet Silver Cloud.

i just thought ‘this is gonna be it - complete end of GAS’....and it just didn’t do it for me.

In hindsight, I knew it as soon as i plugged in.

 

[LaXu]

Mine was the Diezel Einstein about 10 years back. Man I hated that amp. It just did nothing for me other then the plexi channel which was nice. I am not sure what I was thinking at the time and I really should have made a better choice. With a few more $$$ that I had at the time, I could have gotten the VH-4 which I would have loved after finally trying one a few years ago.

Interesting because to me the Einstein had a ton of killer tones in it, just in a very stupid channel setup where you had to choose between clean, low to mid gain and high gain tones on ch1 and ch2 was just high gain lead tones, period.

If the amp had put two modes on each channel and made them footswitchable then it would have worked just a lot better as basically a 4 channel amp with two shared EQs.

For me the VH4 ch3 and 4 are the highlights and forget the rest. I would probably buy the VH2 over the VH4 now.

 

[Telejester]

I bought a Komet K19 and matching cab several years ago. I loved the way it looked and liked clips and of course it's reputation here. The wattage also would have been (and would still be) perfect for my uses. Unfortunately, I just didn't love the way it sounded. Good to good plus with single coils and just not wonderful with humbuckers. I really thought it would the "be all, end all" for me. I think it stands out in a thread like this because of the expectations I had.

I can appreciate what you say. I have an all encompassing hatred for humbuckers. For me they are just too much of everything and all that midrange just grates on me. The single coils breathe more and aren't as in your face sounding. Its all preference, you didn't like the komet and you back up reason why with credible opinion.

 

[Bluedano1]

For me in the late '90's it was a Carvin Bel Air - the 'buy direct and save, $399!'
( 50 watts (4) EL-84's, all-tube/2X12"/ Reverb/ Clean and dirty channels- the perfect amp on paper!

I saw it in every issue of Guitar Player magazine for many years ( I had a subscription, 30 years!), and I wanted THAT amp every time I looked at it.

Finally when I had some extra $$, I bought one as a backup to my sometimes 'sick' 1967 Pro Reverb.

What a POS!
The Bel Air had a spiky upper-midrange edgy overtone on the Clean channel I could NOT dial out with the EQ knobs, and the dirty channel was Fizz. Just a major disappointment! I sold it towards another amp about a year later, barely played the Carvin.
In hindsight, it may have been the stock Carvin speakers, but I just did not think of that then.
* OTOH, my Carvin PA stuff was great!

 

[2095]

When the Peavey JSX first came out I was so stoked to get one, I thought Satch had the best tone. I got the JSX and it sounded like garbage, no matter what I did it sounded bad, and it was such a bummer. I sold it to fund deposit on rent for a room In a house with 3 of my lady friends which yielded some pretty nice results.

A MXR 10 band eq works wonders on these amps.

 

[JasonElGato]

One of those early Vox modeling amps.

Line 6 Spider Valve with the Bogner power amp.

I wish I could try them again now, I've gotten a lot better at tone tweaking. Back in the late 2000's I wasn't very good at it....