What amps were huge failures?

Back in the middle 70s I went through three new Ampeg amps and I finally gave up and bought a Fender Super Reverb.

 

marshall jcm900's were a failure, maybe not in the commercial sense, but in the sonic sense. marshall completed their 'fall from grace' started by the later jcm800 models. the 900's were so bad that the 2000's sound like a bogner or framus in comparison.

also, despite their marketing and promises, krank turned out to be pretty much crap. to tie in with my first paragraph, i though the krank i played sounded like a jcm900 in a different box (thin, trebly, piercing, buzzy gain).

 

Nothing takes the cake in my mind like the CBS buyout at Fender. They just about ruined Fender's amp reputation. The first series Fender solid state amps, OMG! And the "improvements" they made to the tube amps to make them them cleaner and more hi-fi. Of course they eventually recovered but they lost a lot of market share because of their "engineers".

Marshall had dropped the ball in the 90's but they seem to be recovering with the reissues and handwired amps. They really need to take a cue from Orange or THD and make a nice PCP amp that is durable and versatile.

 

Seymour Duncan series - I owned a 100W Convertible for several years, but the rectifier tube kept going bad...It was a great sounding amp though - very fat thick gain channel and the pre-amp modules were cool...Don't know why they never really caught on. They have been discontinued for numerous years now.

 

I used mine for many years of gigs, and never had 1 problem with it! And it had many owners before me.. BUT then 1 day I killed it.. Then I bought about 20 more amps ! ERIC

 

Harmonic Generator

 

Lab Series. I think they were owned by Gibson.

Seems that only String N Things in Memphis was able to push these.

Now the only person that owns a Lab Series is BB King. I think he bought every one he could find.

 

Ty Tabor of Kings X used LAB series amp for a while too. His old sinature tones were LAB's

 

Those 4 channel - multi-mode - all seperate eq - everything but the kitchen sink, Cruise Amplifiers, ICK!!!

-TJK

 

i remember reading about the crate blue voodoo before i knew anything about crate. a local music store had one so i grabbed a LP off the wall , within 2 mins id come to the conclusion it was one of the worst overdriven tones id ever heard in my life, not sure what was worse, jcm900 , fender hotrod deville or blue voodoo , truly a close call.

shop ended up literally giving that pile of junk away.

 

I hate to rain on a big parade, but the original Marshall 18 watter
was a failure for Marshall. That is why they abandoned the design after less than 2 years. They were trying to copy
the Wem-Watkins Dominator which was the amp heard on
just about every major British Invasion group's albums. Marshall
was late in the game on this one and the core Marshall buyer in the USA was looking for more of a higher powered lead type amp
as opposed to a squishier more compressed rhythm playing
oriented amp.

Although not a bad sounding amp, it was too little, too late.
The US players were looking to emulate the sounds of Hendrix
and Clapton etc, at that time and were not focused on the
great rock writing and rhythm sounds of Ron Woods and Keith Richards etc.....The British players already had their 17watt
Watkins which was incredibly affordable to them and had no
need for the Marshall copy.

PS: For all you 18watt Marshall "fans", if you perform a search on your computer you will find that Watkins is alive and well
and still making his famous Copicat tape echo, a new 36 watt
version of the Dominator and also his line of accordions. I have
already been making inquiries as to whether he would consider
making the original 17watter available again and will keep you
all posted.

 

Pearce amps sounded great. Even more so when the above mentioned players were using them. As I recall they were pretty affordable too.

 

What about Legend Amps? I seem to remember a few things about them:

- they had a few "endrosees"...some "rock band" IIRC... Molly Hatchet or someone like that? Nugent?? Can't remember..
- they had some QC issues
- they were around for 7 or 8 years?

Don't know what became of them...but don't see them anymore.

Kustom? Plush?

They both went down didn't they? I always remember dreading having to play through one at jams, sitting in w/house-band situations.

Acoustic guitar amps? I think they worked pretty well for bass...but the guitar sound/feel was pretty bad as I recall.

 

Ty's Lab Series preamps (those L5 preamps removed and put into a rack case) are on e-Bay right now.

 

Sunn - powerful and expensive. They gave one to Jimi who ended up using it as part of his PA system.

Caveate - Leslie West made them sound good.

 

Bedrock. They made some great amps, and some not so great amps. Unfortunately, they made a major strategic blunder that put them out of business.

 

I believe Elliott Easton used one quite a bit, too.

We used to go downtown Fayetteville and watch a band called Island back around '80 or so, the guitarist in that band used a Lab V onstage, sounded great. Mine was a lemon, I traded it in after a couple of years.

 

Another vote for the CBS Solid State Fenders. The were total sonic lemons and butt ugly to boot.

The fender dealer in my home town kept the SS fenders far far away from the blackfaces on the sales floor, and in the back of the store.

Gary

 

PRS Amps

Fatboy Amps...I played one that kicked serious ass...dunno how or why they didn't catch on

Tone King Galaxy...MONSTER amp...but so loud that I think I am responsible for a change in the Atlantic tides after owning mine for 6 months. I believe it's still sitting at Guitar Exchange in Catonsville. Wonderful amp...but louder than anything I have ever played since. I think it was 60 watts class A.

I am glad that Mark Bartell survived the early days though. He makes a great amp.