What was your worst amp decision?

[aynirar27]

"Buy this Rivera. Its got fender cleans AND marshall dirt!"

 

[zorak]

"Buy this Rivera. Its got fender cleans AND marshall dirt!"

Hahaha. Did Paul or Paul Jr. say it? LOL!

 

[axpro]

Worst Purchase? A peavey stereo chorus 2x12 from a buddy when i was in College... traded it for a classic 30.

Worst Butcher Job? Teaching myself about amp modding by reading Steve Ahola's website and butchering said classic 30 trying to make it sound like a marshall stack... I didn't realize that you couldn't mod a Gremlin to be a Corvette....

Worst Selloff? Getting rid of my Badcat Hotcat 30R... I sold it and got my money back out of it, but for me it was the holy grail amp... it sounded the BEST for my playing style... But i needed the cash and it was gathering dust in my apartment.... sadly a month later i started jamming at a friends and ended up buying a Crate BV60 head out of necessity.... THAT hurt....

 

[dangeroso]

"Buy this Rivera. Its got fender cleans AND marshall dirt!"

Which one? I like my Fandango better than any Fender or Marshall I've ever owned.

 

[dangeroso]

My worst buying decision was my Crate G130C. In 1989, I thought it sounded great.

 

[keepingitweird]

buying a jcm 900 hi gain dual reverb head new...Was early 90's and I was in my late teens...Thought the old boogie 1x12 I had wasn't RAWK enough...stupid kid...

 

[LOGANTEXASBLUES]

I had the one with the High and Low inputs. The 2203 reissue I believe. Low input was just clean and loud. You'd love it for pedals. The High input was just...perfect.

man I feel like I would be so inlove with this amp

 

[Melj]

I disliked my Swart AST Pro immensely. I don't think I've ever been as disappointed with an amp...

Bogner Goldfinger, which was a great amp in a dodgy cabinet.

VHT super 30, was either spiky harsh or woofy and wooly...and too loud or too quiet.

Oh, and the Mesa Dc 5. Found it a bit stiff.

Hmm, also the Pinnacle Twin 30, allegedly a straight clone of anac30.... In reality a bland and pale imitation.

I can't say I regret selling any of the amps I used to own.

 

[fabulusfab777]

Oh.. i just remember one.

Back when i didn't know much about gear, in the early 90's, i decided to finance my first big gear purchase. I went for a 100 watt solid state Beckemer amp (2x12 combo), mind you not THAT bad of an amp. Plus a Digitech multi-effect (RP-6 if i remember) plus a Guitar/Syth pedal, a Roland GR-30 with a midi pickup installed on my Les Paul. I had a shitload of different sounds availbable but none that sounded nice or real....

I could have bought a really nice tube amp for the same $$

We call it learning!

 

[Gearopenia]

First amp when I started playing: Fender Ultimate Chorus. The store manager (TR-100 here.... hi Tommy!) tried to steer me to something with tubes plus a pedal, but nooooo, I had to get solid-state with built-in chorus.

Was back a few months later looking to trade it in. My first step on the gear journey.

=K

did the same thing. man that amp sucked. I was a tone deaf 15 year old kid and I couldnt get it returned fast enough. they almost didnt take it back. guess it sucked that bad.
since I got my dads money back it wasnt that big of a deal.

believe it or not the bigest regret in the last 5 amps( 10 years) was a divided by 13 EDT 13/29.
sounded good but for the $$ theres better. so I traded it for Matchless.

Biggest selling regret was selling my SC30 10 years ago.
biggest not buying mistake was when Matchless went out of business and a local music store was blowing out their inventory. they had a clubman, chieftain and the SC30 I bought. I could have probably gotten a good deal had I offered to buy them all!!!

 

[tele118]

the worst was a Fender Silverface Bassman 100 4X12 stack for a Fender Roc Pro 1000 combo, trading that in for a Vox Valvetronix AD15VT, trading that in for an Ibanez TS9DX. So yeah, basically when the dust settled, a monster silverface power stack for a tube screamer. oh well.

Reading this hurt ME! Now that says something

 

[Hairpin Turns]

A Roland Jazz Chorus I owned briefly in the late 80's. Not a bad amp by any means, in fact it sounded gorgeous, but the wrong decision for me as it was too limiting.

 

[Lespaulsignature 74]

Trading my 71 Marshall Super Tremolo away, I did get a very good amp in return (Komet 60) but that Super Trem had that special magic....it was one of the great ones!

 

[luv2playm]

I actually got my name on the list for an Express and a Liverpool, but I still was too late to the party. Sigh.

Mistakes...we've all made a few. Mine is as clear as yesterday and every once in a while I get a horrific feeling as I recall that fateful amp decision of 1987.

Friend: "Hey Steve, you should put in an order for one of these Trainwreck Express heads. I played one not too long ago and you'd love it. Like a Marshall but its got its own thing happening. It feels like it's gonna explode!".

Me: "How much is it?"

Friend: "$1200. I know, I know, it's a lot of money and there's a 6-9 month wait, but TRUST ME, it's worth it!"

Me: "Are you kidding? Thing looks like a freaking vintage radio...and what's with the girly naming?"

Friend: "You need to listen to this thing"

Me: "Yeah right. I can get a Randall RG-80 and a Digitech DSP-128 with tons of money to spare. RIGHT NOW. What a bunch of crap. 6-9 month wait. How's gonna pay that kind of cash for that?"

Friend: "You'll be sorry"

Yep.

What was your worst amp decision?

 

[Zerksies]

I had a JCM600 what a great amp and i got rid of the thing, i have been missing ti since

 

[GrungeMan]

You too, huh?

I'll lend you this



I'm not using it right now.

 

[saltydogg]

Trading my 71 Marshall Super Tremolo away, I did get a very good amp in return (Komet 60) but that Super Trem had that special magic....it was one of the great ones!

I traded a smokin' Komet K60 for a killer '71 Marshall Super Tremolo.

Then, I sold the killer '71 Marshall Super Tremolo.

Look who's cryin' now!!!! Lol.

I wield a paddle on the Ship of Fools...

 

[cratz2]

I honestly don't think I've ever made a truly bad amp decision.

Probably the worst purchase I made was for a DSL401. Got a great deal on it and slightly profited from it and it wasn't horrible but to be honest, it kind of made me shy away from Marshalls in general. I'd had a couple others before but now, I'd strongly be tempted to go boutique over a real Marshall.

 

[Marc Roy]

Buying a Boogie Triaxis/VHT power amp rig instead of a Bogner Ecstacy head that I really wanted at the time. I was playing in a cover band and needed to cop a lot of tones so of course I figured a programmable preamp and effects gear was the way to go. I spent more time trying to dial it in than actually playing! I finally got rid of it for way less than I had paid and swore off rack gear for good.

 

[IM4Tone]

the worst was a Fender Silverface Bassman 100 4X12 stack for a Fender Roc Pro 1000 combo, trading that in for a Vox Valvetronix AD15VT, trading that in for an Ibanez TS9DX. So yeah, basically when the dust settled, a monster silverface power stack for a tube screamer. oh well.

OUCH :Spank
You win! Nobody will top that!