80's brands that tried to kill your bass playing.

[TimR]

I still have my Marlin Sidewinder.

I think the neck was designed by Robin Hood.

[TheRev]

My first bass was a Jedson. My second was a Marlin Slammer. Both were significantly better than the 'Axe' brand stuff that was advertised in the back of Kerrang! magazine.

The Marlin was ok really, not as good as Harley Benton or J&D today, but not awful.
Peavey on the other hand were great in the 70s and 80s - I'd happily play a Peavey Foundation today.

[gjones]

My Carlsboro Stingray, 150 watt, 1x15 combo, farted like a hippopotamus if you didn't keep the bass way down. It was a pile of sh*t. I can't remember if I sold it or just gave it away?

[interpol52]

Another Peavey fan here. I've never played a bad one, or a light one.

My mate had a JHS guitar combo, that was awful.

[Rich]

Carlsbro amps were the backbone of many a young band. Both the keys players in my band (yes, lots of synths... it was the 80s after all) had Carlsbro rigs, and I probably would have done too if my wonderful parents hadn't bought me my Laney combo.

[Roger2611]

A Marlin Sidewinder was my first brand new guitar, I didn't keep it long as someone offered me a swap for a black Jedson Les Paul, which I really liked, The Marlin was fine in the short period I owned it.

Amp wise I think I had a combo branded as Highton or something similar, it had a gain channel that did absolutely nothing 9/10 of the dial but when turned up over 9 it squealed like a b'stard, I sold it to a mate who left it switched on whilst he went downstairs for some dinner, he came back half and hour later to find it on fire in his bedroom!!

[Cat Burrito]

Did anyone ever buy an Axe from the Kerrang adverts?

I think a lot of it came down to poor setups and lack of experience because all the rubbish gear I played then that I have since played as an adult seems MUCH better. Unless it was just the good ones that survived?

[RhysP]

[quote name='Burrito' timestamp='1488550701' post='3249934']
Did anyone ever buy an Axe from the Kerrang adverts?

I think a lot of it came down to poor setups and lack of experience because all the rubbish gear I played then that I have since played as an adult seems MUCH better. Unless it was just the good ones that survived?
[/quote]

It's probably got a lot to do with just being a better player too.

[Beer of the Bass]

Does anyone in Scotland remember guitars and basses labelled Hurricane that were sold by Varsity Music in Edinburgh up until some time in the 90s? I've no idea where they came from, I think the shop must have bought a load of them, stuck their own brand stickers on and sold them off over a period of years. My brother had a strat copy that was terrible, and I've seen a few in Edinburgh secondhand shops which have been equally bad - quite the lowest grade of copy that was around at the time. Because the shop still seems to hold onto stock for years, I suspect my brother's strat copy could easily have been a decade or so old when he bought it in the early 90s.

[Cat Burrito]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1488550794' post='3249935']
It's probably got a lot to do with just being a better player too.
[/quote]

A mix of being a better player and actually having the instruments serviced or set up properly

[Naetharu]

[quote name='Burrito' timestamp='1488550701' post='3249934']
Did anyone ever buy an Axe from the Kerrang adverts?

I think a lot of it came down to poor setups and lack of experience because all the rubbish gear I played then that I have since played as an adult seems MUCH better. Unless it was just the good ones that survived?
[/quote]

My foster brother had one of the strat guitars that they made. I don't think it was called AXE but it was one of the cheap brands from the late 80's that he ordered via a magazine.

From what I recall the body and neck were not too bad really but the machine heads and bridge were terrible. It just refused to stay in tune, which is a pretty critical feature of an instrument. Even more for one that is aimed at metal players who're going to be digging into the strings and chugging away on the power chords!

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='Burrito' timestamp='1488550701' post='3249934'] Did anyone ever buy an Axe from the Kerrang adverts? I think a lot of it came down to poor setups and lack of experience because all the rubbish gear I played then that I have since played as an adult seems MUCH better. Unless it was just the good ones that survived? [/quote]

My mate Rob bought one, I was very jealous as my Dad was still making me use his old nylon string acoustic from the 60s.
It was, in retrospect, a piece of sh*t.

[bassbiscuits]

Satellite

My first bass in 1986 was a short scale white Satellite bass. Plywood body, awful sound.

[JapanAxe]

I wasn't playing bass in the 80s but my Carlsboro Hornet 45 Lead combo consistently made my guitar sound crap!

[julesb]

[quote name='bassbiscuits' timestamp='1488566025' post='3250147']
Satellite

My first bass in 1986 was a short scale white Satellite bass. Plywood body, awful sound.
[/quote]

That's what I'm talking about. So bad that my brain had erased the memory until now.

Edited March 3, 2017 by julesb

[Donnyboy]

After a few no-name(well not that I remember ) basses that were unplayable but probably collectable I got a Squier 57 Precision from1983. I still have it. I got it as it was that or a Tokia.

I had a Orange head that was cheap then probably now super vintage as was the Sound City 4x10.As I remember it was powerful and incredibly loud. So what did I trade them in for... a brand new state of the art Carslbro Cobra 90 combo. It used it for years and years. When I actually tried others I realised how really sh*t it was. Wish I kept the Orange and Sound City.

[arthurhenry]

What about Arion effects? Cheap and cheerful, but the Stage Tuner was a classic and was owned by just about everyone.

[goingdownslow]

I remember doing a gig with a backline of Miles Platting rigs that were a wall of sh*te, they looked like they were covered in wood grain sticky backed vinyl.

Edit - Ha ha, I wasn't on drugs... http://www.tonegeek.com/musicgear/amps/miles-platting-amp.php

Edited March 3, 2017 by goingdownslow

[TrevorR]

[quote name='arthurhenry' timestamp='1488574337' post='3250266']
What about Arion effects? Cheap and cheerful, but the Stage Tuner was a classic and was owned by just about everyone.
[/quote]

Yup, I had one of those until I upgraded to a TU-2. Considering how (comparitively) cheap it was it was an OK bit of kit.

The instruments that I always remember as being cringeworthy were the Kay guitars and basses sold in the likes of Littlewoods and through the Grattan Catalogue. Especially the Les Paul copies with lots of cheesy onboard effects. And then there was the gun shaped guitar that they had in the catalogues too.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/turquoisemoleeater/guitars/KayLPFX.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/turquoisemoleeater/guitars/k45.jpg[/IMG]

[Delberthot]

My first bass was a Marlin Slammer and the chrome on the bridge peeled off it. Never ever have I ever heard or experienced this on any musical instrument other than that one.

My first proper amp was a Peavey TNT160 which lasted to the end of my first pub gig in1992/3 before being replaced the following weekend with a Trace 7210 Combo. The Peavey just couldn't keep up with the rest of the band and that was a small pub and it was on beer crates. Both combos weighed the same as a small bungalow

[Geek99]

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1488486023' post='3249446']
Well, the marlin sidewinder wasn't so bad!
[/quote]
It was

[Beer of the Bass]

I had one of those Kay guitars above with the built-in effects for a while. I found it very cheaply secondhand, played it until the novelty wore off then listed it on eBay where it fetched about £100 more than I'd paid. The effects are hilarious - most settings are variations of a crap muddy modulated wah/tremolo sound, plus a very crude fuzz. If you balanced the bypass switch between on and off it would set up a feedback loop around the effects circuit and give you theremin-esque oscillation that you could adjust the pitch and tone of with the knobs and switches. Kind of fun in a way!

[bassbiscuits]

[quote name='arthurhenry' timestamp='1488574337' post='3250266']
What about Arion effects? Cheap and cheerful, but the Stage Tuner was a classic and was owned by just about everyone.
[/quote]

I still have an Arion tuner and it still works perfectly well after 30 years!

i also had a book by a bloke called Jim Gregory that had a floppy 7" record in it for tuning and backing tracks.

[darkandrew]

My main bass amp of the day was a Carlsboro combo and my keyboard amp was a Peavey - and I was very happy with them too. On the other hand, my brother gave me his Encore guitar when he got fed up with it and that was unplayable.

[casapete]

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1488492779' post='3249520']
One of my best amps was a Peavey Mk4 twin channel with graphic EQ and 400W.
Had an old Columbas bass that i thought was poor quality but having more experience now it wasn't as bad as some i've tried since. My mate still has that bass and his daughter learned on it.

Had a Carlsbro Stingray amp and it seemed ok at the time but i guess in comparison to modern amps it was a bit poor for the money but that's just progress.

After that early start with Columbas and Carlsbro i was fortunate to progress on to good quality gear with Peavey Mk4 and custom cabs and either Shergold twin neck, Aria, Fender, WAL.

Dave

Dave
[/quote]

I had one of the Peavey bass amp heads, Mk IV I think. Wonderful thing, twin channel, graphic, switchable compressor etc.
These gave out a very loud 210 watts @ 4 ohms, 300w @ 2 ohms. Ran it into a 2x15 EV cab and it owned the stage anywhere!
Eventually sold it to a good friend with a PA company. It is still being hired out to this day, never missed a beat.