Worst Solid state Amp?

[ItsaBass]

There are too many to even attempt to narrow it down to one.

[Kramer Guy]

I used to think that the Raven line of amps that Guitar Center sells were bad, but the new line of Acoustic , are really, really, horrible. I tried a couple of them out and they're just unbearable.

[dr. ad]

there was a "falcon" practice amp a friend had once, when we were kids
i try and find the good in any piece of gear, but by christ that thing made it difficult

[Emile Dalkey]

Ever plug into a first run fender solid state amp? No? You're lucky.

My uncle, who by the way was completely insane on all other levels as well, had a first run solid state twin reverb he swore by. He used to play a "Kopy Kat" tele through it, and I think that may have been the most singularly awful sound I ever heard. I can't quite put into words the distinct kid of awful, but it was just horrible. If I had to reverse engineer my way into that tone for unknown reasons I would try plugging into only a wah wah pedal, putting it just shy of full treble, and running through a really cheap PA system.

[guitfiddle]

My uncle, who by the way was completely insane on all other levels as well, had a first run solid state twin reverb he swore by. He used to play a "Kopy Kat" tele through it, and I think that may have been the most singularly awful sound I ever heard. I can't quite put into words the distinct kid of awful, but it was just horrible. If I had to reverse engineer my way into that tone for unknown reasons I would try plugging into only a wah wah pedal, putting it just shy of full treble, and running through a really cheap PA system.

It was a true travesty that Fender decided to name their first SS amps with names from their tube amp line.

[Bfeeney]

Of course if you get a $30 amp with a 5" speaker it will sound like sh!t. I had a Crate GFX-212 and the cleans were quite good. My Peavey Vypyr 30 is a different story, well, if that digital background noise wasn't there....

[lareplus]

Found one! Crate GX25M. . .25w solid state amp with a small 4 ohm speaker. Has distortion channels and a chorus button! Sounds wild and metallic with the distortion off and the chorus on. . .just what I had hoped for. .

[Jessie's ghost]

When my brother and I first started playing, he had a Quantum. In purely tonal terms, it was less an amplifier than a punishment. I get that entry-level budget amps have to make compromises, but this was one of the type that seemingly make no effort to sound good, or pleasant, or musical, in any form at all.

[lareplus]

sounds great! i'm going to look for a youtube video!

[lareplus]

i found one. . .the playing was abysmal. . .and the tone, not that great.

[Vengeance]

Yup. Gorilla all the way. Playing it makes you depressed that everyone else in the world has a better amp except you. A tin can sounds better. It reminds you how broke you are and there's no hope in the world. Thats Gorilla

My first guitar amp.

Crap

Crap

Crap

[ImmortalSix]

My first amp was a solid state Peavey bass amp or keyboard amp or something

I gigged it for YEARS as a "subwoofer" in my rig, after I got an actual guitar amp. (slaved off the effects send)

Not great on its own

[ImmortalSix]

Imagine a kazoo playing itself inside a cereal box

And the cereal box weighs 900 pounds and shocks you if you touch it

[Butch Snyder]

My first amp was a solid state Peavey bass amp or keyboard amp or something

I gigged it for YEARS as a "subwoofer" in my rig, after I got an actual guitar amp. (slaved off the effects send)

Not great on its own

It's a bass amp. It's a decent practice amp for bass but not good on it's own for guitar. I used one when I was starting. I had an Ibanez stereo chorus and used the TKO in one output and a Fender Vibro Champ in the other. Very decent tone there.

[Hellion]

Eh, sorry guys. Any pro can make ANYTHING sound useable if not to all applications, at least to some. As Jeff Baxter said, "It's a poor workman that blames his tools."

[lareplus]

He SKUNKED them!

I agree. . .we are talking about tones. There are different uses for different tones, some people are looking for that golden tone and once they find it they don't want to hear anything else. Some people want a varied assortment of tones for different purposes.

One of the many great things about Star Wars was the exception attention to audio, think about all the wonderful sounds that went into making the film seem like a real world. .

[lareplus]

okay, here it is a Crate GX25m. . .quinessential solid state sound. . .dull, flat and sounds like galvanized metal for the speaker instead of paper. . .perfect, I love it. .

[DankStar]

Eh, sorry guys. Any pro can make ANYTHING sound useable if not to all applications, at least to some. As Jeff Baxter said, "It's a poor workman that blames his tools."

Good point, Zappa used pig noses. Dweezil used one on a documentary I watched for some low volume riffing, and it sounded really good. Most would scoff at using one for anything.

I used to think Johnson modeling stuff sucked. Then I saw Adrian smith using a j station in a documentary, and he had it sounding great. it's the player.

[post toastie]

Randall stacks. my buddy has two of em. a 300 watt and a 200 watt. i thought there was a fluke with the 300 when i couldn't get it to sound like anything - it has the effects built in. then he bought a 200 to go with it. it sounds exactly the same.

[NevermindUs]

Eh, sorry guys. Any pro can make ANYTHING sound useable if not to all applications, at least to some. As Jeff Baxter said, "It's a poor workman that blames his tools."

my old guitar teacher had a little gorilla amp that he took the actual amp out of and pretty much just wrapped in styrofoam to keep from being damaged. he plugged that into two 12 in speakers that were actually installed in the sound hole of two acoustic guitars, one in each guitar on each side of the stage. and i dont care if anyone ever believes me, but the tone he got was fanfreakingtastic. it made no sense but it was so awesome.

also im pretty sure josh homme plays a couple gorillas, i know he definitely did on the them crooked vultures album. he also plugged his guitar straight into the sound reader for old 1930's movies and played solos through that, so yeah, the mans crazy but i dont think too many people will dispute his tone