The most disappointing amp you've ever played?

[Fiddy]

For me I'm going to say the ZT lunchbox.

It was just a bassy, undefined mess. Not sure how anyone can like that about an amp, but I know lots of people rave about them.. or at least back a few years ago, people did.

My first amp, a Peavey Rage was bad too but at least it was a cheap amp, so sort of expected. It did sound better than the lunchbox, it just had a massive hum problem.

[Biloxide]

Like you, first amp peavey backstage plus may be 25-30 watts, i didn't remember, noisy and ground problem, need to ground a wire to the central warmer iron radiator for minimize the crickling...
And also a disappointing brand new marshall jcm 900 2x12 combo with 5881 tubes from 90's nothing in the stomach, soft as possible and no shit...
Sorry for my language!!!

[marqueemoon]

Probably a JCM900.

My bandmate in my first-ever band saved his pennies and bought one. It was his dream amp. He was very proud of it and encouraged me to try it one day.

I wouldn’t call how I felt disappointed. It was just so clearly not for me that it helped me think more about what I *do* like in an an amp.

I think it biased me against Marshall amps for a really long time though. Now I realize there are many different flavors of the Marshall sound, some of which I bet I’d like.

[Bad Monkey]

Not counting super low budget junk amps like the old Gorilla/Crate/off brand junk not intended to really be played other than in the first couple hours after unboxing them?

Gotta be the Blues Junior. I've got one, and don't plan on moving it anytime soon. It's been sitting around the place for 8-9 years or so and while I've taken it to practices and stuff where it really doesn't matter all that much and I don't feel like carrying anything heavy it's really not all that useful. It's a one trick pony on it's best day, and only does that trick with single coils (which isn't that big of a deal since everything I have is single coil. Thanks, Leo). Personally I think a BJr sounds like dog poo with humbuckers. But that's just me. It's 'break up' isn't pleasing to me, and overall it sounds boxy; the cab is just too small and you can tell if the volume is set anywhere other than at bedroom levels. Maybe it'd be better with a 10" speaker. I've heard a BJr rehoused in a bigger cab and it was better. Not great, but a whoooooooole lot better. I'd be curious as to what the amp would sound like as a head/cab with 2x10s like the old tremolux's. Maybe I'll break the BJr out of the closet tomorrow and plug it into my 64' tremolux cab and see what it sounds like. The tranny in the BJr can take the 4 ohms for a little while at least.
Anyways, the Blues Junior for all the hype folks pile on it just ain't all that. You can forget about a bag of chips too. Not even the tiny little pack of salt and vinegar things that's been hanging on the clip behind the bar for the past seven years.

[OffYourFace]

Selmer Zodiac with the crocodile tolex. It probably needed service but I was very underwhelmed. I later played a Treble N Bass 50w and I thought it was great, especially as a studio bass amp.

Mesa Boogies usually sound boxy and flat to me but I do recall liking the 90s Tremoverb model.

[zhivago]

I must apologise in advance to anyone that ones one YMMV and all that, but to me it was a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe 1x12 that I played at a jam well over 15 years ago, and it still is the first amp that comes to mind when someone asks this question. It was just lifeless and flat.

[HarktheUmpire]

I also never liked Blues Jrs and Hot Rods; boxy, glassy, anemic tone. They’re very loud, that’s about all there is to them. You’d be much better off with any Roland JC.

At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist; there’s an obvious reason Blues Jrs and Hot Rods and DeVilles don’t sound that great. Why would Fender want to compete with its own, far more expensive, reissue range of amps?

When you delve into the schematics of those amps, you’ll find an amp seemingly designed to sound just kinda okay. They’re also clearly not built to last. For example, Blues Jrs are biased way too hot for their output tubes. That’s intentional. The only time I ever hear Hot Rods mentioned by musician friends is when they’re asking if anyone knows someone who fixes amps.

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

Probably a JCM900.
[…]
I think it biased me against Marshall amps for a really long time though. Now I realize there are many different flavors of the Marshall sound, some of which I bet I’d like.

I can‘t remember which one it was…could have been the 900 or some Dual channel model with way too many knobs - everyone of my guitar swinging friends was into Marshall at that time and I just couldn‘t get along with it.

I‘m also still biased against Marshall Cabs… they might be the music industry‘s backline standard - but imo they don‘t sound all that good… especially the 1x12 but also the 4x12.
But there are also great Marshall tones (thinking JTM45)

Second candidate: Orange Tiny Terror

A friend is a Orange/Les Paul Junior enthusiast as I‘m with Fender/Jaguar these days… but back in my Les Paul days must have been sometime between 2010 and 2012 he borrowed me his Tiny Terror and it was just not for me at all.
All my precious Fuzz boxes sounded like shit through it…most likely because it was too overdriven on its own.

It might seem as you just CAN‘T win me over with amp-gain (channels).

[Gav Haus]

Any of the fender Tonemaster range (current, not the incredible early 2000s custom shop amp of the same name). People seem to rave about them, but they’re sterile, anaemic things whose only redeeming feature appears to be that they’re light. Garbo.

[MechaBulletBill]

a mate had a 1x12 hotrod dx with a celestion in that sounded dreadful. i actually like them normally.

everyone was raving about the boss katanas for a while. i hate them. typical rehearsal space rubbish - flat yet also harsh

[Scout]

5e3, I picked up a really well made clone figuring it would be a good one to play out with but it really lacks
headroom and took some time to get a sound that I liked. I plan on doing some small mods to it to
give it some more versatility, we’ll see.

[hulakatt]

5e3, I picked up a really well made clone figuring it would be a good one to play out with but it really lacks
headroom and took some time to get a sound that I liked. I plan on doing some small mods to it to
give it some more versatility, we’ll see.

The best thing about the 5e3 is the complete lack of headroom, there's plenty of other amps that do headroom and do it well. The 5e3 is quite famous and well regarded for not having headroom and being an OD monster.

Worst amp I've played was easily a Blues Jr. I can not wrap my head around the love for that pile of crap, esp when the Pro Jr was 10x the amp the BJ was.

Runner up was a SF Princeton Reverb. Just so much lavish praise heaped upon them so I was pretty excited to get one and it was just a worse 5e3 with small reverb and weak tremolo. It didn't do a single thing better than another amp and was amazingly anti-climactic. In my head now, the Fender lineage jumps straight from Champ to Deluxe, across every generation.

[MechaBulletBill]

there was also the wem westminster mk9 which sounded pretty nice, in a champ-but-bigger sort of way, but just so shittily built and my tech had a nightmare with it.

[jthomas]

Back in the early to late 70's I bought a Mike Matthews Freedom Amp mail-order from EHX. Solid state with the option to power with batteries (It took some crazy silly number of D cells) or direct from the wall. Worst piece of caca ever sold as am amp. Hummed loudly regardless of the power source and just sounded awful. If you do a search online, somewhere you will find pics of the insides and see what a cobbled-together evil thing that it was. For the life of me, I can't remember how I unloaded it.

EDIT: Looked up a pic online. 24 D cells.

[marqueemoon]

I‘m also still biased against Marshall Cabs… they might be the music industry‘s backline standard - but imo they don‘t sound all that good… especially the 1x12 but also the 4x12.
But there are also great Marshall tones (thinking JTM45)

Closed back cabs in general are usually a no for me.