The most disappointing amp you've ever played?

[i love sharin foo]

For fuzz pedals, you're better off with a Princeton type amp. You'll most likely have the same result with the AC10.

I wish that I would have been smart enough to buy a brown Princeton in the early ‘00s, when they were still around $400. That would have been the perfect amp for me. FWIW, other fuzzes (Super Fuzz, Tone Bender, Big Muff) are fine, it’s really just FF variants that become total mud.

I can say from personal experience that a 6G2 Princeton is a FABULOUS amp for fuzz. Since acquiring mine several years ago, it has become my number one. I use it a TON. I use Fuzz Faces every day. Also various boosters. Big Muffs. Now an Analogman MKIV. It handles every single one amazingly well. I had to make some sacrifices when I bought mine because I too missed out when they were cheap. But I have ZERO regrets! I should add that it did sound like garbage when I first received it. It had a really shitty recap job, a few parts out of spec, needed fresh tubes and a proper bias. I went through the entire thing and put it back 100% to the original schematic and grabbed some good, old output tubes and rebiased.

[ziess]

I don’t doubt the 6G2 is awesome with fuzz, good enough for Jeff Tweedy anyway!

I would say however that I’ve always been a bit disappointed by the Princeton Reverb. I have a vintage-accurate clone with mostly original parts, even through a broken in Blue it sounds a bit flat. I’ve done all the usual mods DC-bias PI, switchable NFB etc) which helped a bit but it’s still not as exciting as a good Deluxe (of any description).

Tommy.

[ShortyMedlock]

Every Gibson amp I ever tried back in the 60's.

We had an occasional Saturday AM radio gig around 1964. The house band had all Gibson stuff...great band but I used my white tolex Bassman after the first show.

Just remembered...

I had a small Gibson amp with zero headroom. After I bought my Bassman I discovered that if I tuned my DuoSonic down one octave I could plug into that little Gibson and play bass thru it.

It made this fuzzy kind of noise we soon called " fuzz"...

[B.T.]

Fender Excelsior Pro. Had it boxed back up ready to return within like 15 minutes of plugging it in.

[Redstar30]

I guess my most disappointing amp purchase was a 50 watt 80’s JCM800 ( horizontal input) head. Never had a Marshall that sounded so lifeless and uninspiring before. I used it for about a year then sold it.

[tequila_in_teacups]

People talk about the Vox Pathfinder 15 like it's some kind of holy grail secret weapon that eats booteek amps for breakfast, but I had one and I thought it was fucking awful. Maybe not hte most disappointing amp ever, but monumentally overrated.

[mynameisjonas]

Orange AD30TC Combo. I don't know what I was expecting, but it just wouldn't get along with the other instruments/amps in the band. It was impossible to dial in the EQ to sit in the mix, it either disappeared completely, or it jumped out in a very unpleasant, nasal way.

I was also very disappointed with a JCM800 combo that a friend kept at our rehearsal space for a while. I'm not 100% sure which model it was, but I'm guessing it was a 4210. I was expecting the classic JCM800 sound, but it was totally lifeless and wimpy, even when plugged into a 4x12. My bandmate's 3210 MOSFET Lead 100 sounded a thousand times better.

For the record, I think both these amps really needed servicing, because I've heard examples of both that sound fine.

[ryland]

Unpopular opinion, but Marshall...anything. I just cannot get along with that sound or feel. I even built a 5F6a with a bunch of JTM45 switchable features thinking it would be cool. It's not.

[cestlamort]

People talk about the Vox Pathfinder 15 like it's some kind of holy grail secret weapon that eats booteek amps for breakfast, but I had one and I thought it was fucking awful. Maybe not hte most disappointing amp ever, but monumentally overrated.

Good call. I had one and it sounded flat, 2D, and lifeless. It was fine for the price and “class”, I guess, but was a joke compared to the other small amp I had (pro jr). That said, I have never clicked with Vox amps so maybe I was doing it wrong.

[Jonesie]

People talk about the Vox Pathfinder 15 like it's some kind of holy grail secret weapon that eats booteek amps for breakfast, but I had one and I thought it was fucking awful. Maybe not hte most disappointing amp ever, but monumentally overrated.

Good call. I had one and it sounded flat, 2D, and lifeless. It was fine for the price and “class”, I guess, but was a joke compared to the other small amp I had (pro jr). That said, I have never clicked with Vox amps so maybe I was doing it wrong.

I'm with you on this, I got one for $75 during the pandemic and after playing with it for a while I was pretty sure I over paid for it. I think I sold it for $150 though.

[panoramic]

the vox ac15cc whatever. those things just sound horrible and fizzy.

[B.T.]

The Pathfinder 15 stock was fairly horrible. There was a mod I came up with that was super simple that opened up that amp and made it sound pretty nice. I called it the "mue caliente" mod but others just ended up just calling it the LED mod.

Idk if they changed speakers with later models but the early ones had a very full range that sounded much bigger than your typical 8" guitar amp speaker. That mod combined with that speaker made for a really light amp that was pretty loud with headroom. Great for practices and small gigs.

I would hunt for those speakers on eBay to throw into other champ type amps. A lot of people immediately pulled those and put anemic Jensen 8"'s and sold the stock speaker for whatever reason. I would see those pop up every few weeks. I haven't seen one up for sale in a long time.

[46346]

believe it or not, a 1961 Fender Tremolux!

the 6G9 head/cab with 6BQ5/EL84's...

i was seeking a classic Fender surf tone. this popped up in L.A.'s venerable Recycler want-ad paper.
$700. wow, gotta be cool, gotta go check it out!

this was when i was starting out in the '90s, i was obsessed with getting a cool vintage Fender amp.
it looked really cool, but i was disappointed with the wimpy 1x10, even though the cab was a good size.
i started to wonder if it had been hacked and modded by some dunce.

i was also perplexed by the 2xEL84 power section.
this just wasn't Fender at all!

except it was. i was genuinely disappointed by the tone, so it didn't hurt too bad to walk away.
but a much bigger disappointment came years later when i would learn it was 100% stock, and one of the rarest Fender amps ever. a real oddball, from the factory. they easily fetch $3000-5000 in recent years. oops! bummer.

soon after, i dropped my $700 on a 1961 Vibraverb, which really brought the surf, especially when i found a matching reverb unit for $300.

but yeah, i feel disappointment for the one that got away. and i might actually use that oddball vintage 6BQ5 Fender 1x10 sound these days...



example:
https://reverb.com/item/71584493-rare-6 ... l-1x12-cab

[JamesSGBrown]

People talk about the Vox Pathfinder 15 like it's some kind of holy grail secret weapon that eats booteek amps for breakfast, but I had one and I thought it was fucking awful. Maybe not hte most disappointing amp ever, but monumentally overrated.

Oh man, different strokes I guess. I got my Pathfinder 15r for a song and I fucking love it for home use, and I've gigged with it and it did the job. It's Britt Daniel from Spoon's go-to amp in the studio for overdrive, which is mad given it was cheaper than any of my OD pedals ha. I think it does it's thing very well, but it's not gonna hang with a Princeton or a Vibrochamp. But for a spikey, kinda DI'ish transistor tone, it's got something going on.

[budda12ax7]

Marshall 100 Watt JCM 2000......complete piece of shite.......returned in 4 days after I bought it....