Highfox Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 (edited) Not sure you can call it a bass rig, but I (gigged it twice) an Invader Pa amp (tube) and a 15" pa speaker. Back in the mid seventies. Money was tight and I used whatever I could get hold of. Sounded ok still I think I even found a photo of it online. Edited March 3, 2022 by Highfox picture added 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 (edited) I must be very lucky, I've never had an amp that was actually terrible. In fact the only truly awful piece of kit I've ever had was the Ashdown Freebass wireless that I owned for about a week. Now that thing really was a waste of components. The most disappointing amp I've had was I suppose probably the Delta rig I had for some time. 300w head (I couldn't afford the 600) with a 1x15 cab and a 2x8 on top. Excellent preamp with a nice sound but never seemed particularly loud, and oh my word that 15 was a huge and heavy old beast... almost as deep as it was tall. In the end the weight got too much, especially considering the lack of power it seemed to deliver. I suppose you could say its heft-to-kilo ratio was pretty dismal. Looked like this. Edited March 7, 2022 by Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thodrik Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 Worst amp I have ever used was one of those 1980s Peavey Mark amps and a 4x10 that had been left in a studio for 20 years unserviced and in a damp room. Just rubbish but might have been more the circumstances the amp was kept rather than the design of the amp. Moving the EQ controls seemingly made no difference to the tone whatsoever. 'Worst' amp I have ever owned would probably be a Trace Elliot GP7 SM 300 combo. It was actually a great amp and I owned it for nearly fifteen years. However I replaced it with some great amps (Mesa Big Block, EBS Fafner, Trace GP12 300SMX, Mesa Walkabout, Trace V6) so the Trace Elliot GP7 is worst by default. In terms of shortest timescale from purchasing to selling an amp, I only owned a Mesa M6 for about 18 months before selling it. It was very loud, clinical, aggressively voiced and very easy to dial in. However, the gain and master volume taper were very temperamental (and to my ears did not have enough of a useable taper), so I found it difficult to dial in enough preamp gain to give a bit of pre-amp drive at non-ear splitting volumes. I moved it on and bought a Big Block 750 which is much more to my tastes even though I would think that most other folk would consider the M6 to be a superior, more versatile amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilly Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 On 30/01/2013 at 22:44, Hobbayne said: I had a Carlsboro Cobra 100w combo, utter sh*te! Another Carlsbro 90 bass amp owner here, I blew the driver on it. it had no balls at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyt Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 Another Carlsbro. It was my first bass amp, sounded like stinky poo and was unreliable. After about the 3rd fault Carlsbro took it back and found a product fault. Whilst they were looking at it, the shop lent me an Orange to keep gigging and it was fantastic. Carlsbro eventually compensated me by giving me the next Carlsbro model up for free 🤦♂️ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 I had a carlsbro stingray and it was awesome. Reverb, overdrive and a Suzz control, what more did you need?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Downunderwonder Posted March 8, 2022 Share Posted March 8, 2022 Never had any complaints with rigs. One time I was told the extensive monitor system meant I didn't need to drag my rig on stage. 'Sweet' thinks me. Bzzz wrong, too late, worst sound on stage ever. One good monitor would have been better than the forest of junk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingBollock Posted March 8, 2022 Share Posted March 8, 2022 14 hours ago, Woodinblack said: I had a carlsbro stingray and it was awesome. Reverb, overdrive and a Suzz control, what more did you need?? I don’t remember mine having any of that stuff.. Not mine, I got the pic online. I’d have burnt any photos of mine if I had any… 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikNik Posted March 8, 2022 Share Posted March 8, 2022 23 minutes ago, KingBollock said: I don’t remember mine having any of that stuff.. Not mine, I got the pic online. I’d have burnt any photos of mine if I had any… That was a guitar amp. Probably similar to the 'Sustain' on the contemporary HH IC100 range Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikNik Posted March 8, 2022 Share Posted March 8, 2022 The infamous Carlsbro 'Washing Machine'! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilly Posted March 8, 2022 Share Posted March 8, 2022 Not a "terrible" amp but the Ampeg Protaflex PF350 was a wimp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted March 8, 2022 Share Posted March 8, 2022 1 hour ago, KingBollock said: I don’t remember mine having any of that stuff.. Mine was the guitar head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingBollock Posted March 8, 2022 Share Posted March 8, 2022 8 hours ago, Woodinblack said: Mine was the guitar head. Ah, that would explain it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DGBass Posted March 9, 2022 Share Posted March 9, 2022 Probably the worst amp I've owned and had to use was a Torque T100B 1x15 100 watt combo. Can't recall how it came into my possession but it was extricated ASAP as soon as I realised how rubbish it was. The speaker thump(bang) on power up was horrendous. Same when powering off. It wasn't hugely bad once it was switched on but just a very undesirable amplifier. Close second was an HH Bassamp 100. Heavy as hell, painfully loud in all the wrong ways, andI just couldn't get a useable tone from it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonno1981 Posted March 9, 2022 Share Posted March 9, 2022 I was about to post the worst amp I ever played through was some sort of torque combo when I was at school, and it appears!! I could remember the colourful knobs (did nothing), big red power button and a rope that replaced the handle that had snapped off. I could never make it sound anything other than a fuzzy fart. Absolutely awful. In fairness it probably needed replacing about 5 years before I got my mits on it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbottomend Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 Every markbass i've tried.. never again 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 On 03/03/2022 at 06:45, Rich said: I must be very lucky, I've never had an amp that was actually terrible. In fact the only truly awful piece of kit I've ever had was the Ashdown Freebass wireless that I owned for about a week. Now that thing really was a waste of components. The most disappointing amp I've had was I suppose probably the Delta rig I had for some time. 300w head (I couldn't afford the 600) with a 1x15 cab and a 2x8 on top. Excellent preamp with a nice sound but never seemed particularly loud, and oh my word that 15 was a huge and heavy old beast... almost as deep as it was tall. In the end the weight got too much, especially considering the lack of power it seemed to deliver. I suppose you could say its heft-to-kilo ratio was pretty dismal. Looked like this. The 15" sub was a powered cab, wasn't it? I think it added another 300W. I remember playing through the 600w stack back in the day at the Bass Centre a few times and being quite impressed (especially when I found out it was made by Carlsbro!), but they obviously never really took off. Chris May from Overwater (who was also involved in its development) reckoned that Carlsbro had no idea how to market it, plus apparently Carlsbro's founder died a short time after they were released, sending the company into administration, and, when they returned to market, they dropped the range. A rehearsal room I used to occasionally visit had some of the more recent Carlsbro bass gear in it, and it wasn't bad. Incredibly "vanilla" though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 49 minutes ago, Russ said: The [Delta] 15" sub was a powered cab, wasn't it? I think it added another 300W. My 15" cab wasn't powered. Just huge. God knows how much an active one would have weighed..! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilly Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 On 09/03/2022 at 02:47, dangoose said: Probably the worst amp I've owned and had to use was a Torque T100B 1x15 100 watt combo. Can't recall how it came into my possession but it was extricated ASAP as soon as I realised how rubbish it was. The speaker thump(bang) on power up was horrendous. Same when powering off. It wasn't hugely bad once it was switched on but just a very undesirable amplifier. Close second was an HH Bassamp 100. Heavy as hell, painfully loud in all the wrong ways, andI just couldn't get a useable tone from it. My first bass amp was a torque 50W combo, I think it was terrible as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyt Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 Not my actual amp, but found a photo to remind me of the nightmare. Complete fosters of stinky poo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chienmortbb Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 On 09/03/2022 at 02:47, dangoose said: Probably the worst amp I've owned and had to use was a Torque T100B 1x15 100 watt combo. Can't recall how it came into my possession but it was extricated ASAP as soon as I realised how rubbish it was. The speaker thump(bang) on power up was horrendous. Same when powering off. It wasn't hugely bad once it was switched on but just a very undesirable amplifier. Close second was an HH Bassamp 100. Heavy as hell, painfully loud in all the wrong ways, andI just couldn't get a useable tone from it. That’s off as I have the Bassamp 100 head and it has great tone. I suspect it was the cabinet as in those days it cabinet design was hit and miss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chienmortbb Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 1 hour ago, garyt said: Not my actual amp, but found a photo to remind me of the nightmare. Complete fosters of stinky poo. I had one of those too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyt Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 (edited) 6 hours ago, Chienmortbb said: I had one of those too. When mine pulled up a manufacturing fault , they upgraded with a free replacement… the Carlsbro Cobra 90 Edited March 12, 2022 by garyt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chienmortbb Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 Was that any better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Dean Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 TC 250 just a toy definitely not 250 watts & it caught fire . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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