What amp brand do you guys hate more?

[eljeffebrown]

I haven't found an amp yet that I "hate". found some that aren't my taste, but I could get a usable tone out of. some of the cheapest amps I have ever owned have yielded some of the best tones. My little Crate GX15, awesome tones out of that thing, my little Marshall MG10CD Mic'd up CRUSHES, I might even record some tracks with it on our next CD. The way I see it is, if you "hate" an amp it because you couldn't get a tone out of it, and that, is your fault. Either that or you have never played through "X brand" and you just believe the hype, again, your fault.

 

[thrawn86]

No Jeff. Line 6 sucks. There is no refuting that.

 

[RiverRatt]

Yeah, there was some dude named Page who always played on those little low-watt Supro amps. Gaaaaah. What a shitty tone!

 

[impetus maximus]

my favorite amp ATM is a valve 1W push-pull that sounds like a cranked Marshall.
did a delivery to the Black Crows down town one day and the room was filled with little amps
small is where it's at for me. </opinion>

now... <back to hatin>

 

[hbach]

No hate here for any amp. Someone is out there and whatever you don't wanna touch makes them happy and gets them playing.
The way I see it though:
A good tube amp is like a beautiful woman. Great but she requires care and attention.
A good SS amp is like a good buddy. Easy going and reliable, but you'll ditch him for the bird without batting an eyelid.
A modeling amp is like a dude dressed up like a hot girl. To the very drunk it might seem like the best of both worlds.

 

[darkhorse]

Not sure there is a bad amp these days.
But yeah, tubes are the deal for guitar.
Most do not realize with tubes it is not all about distortion and uber gain it is how the tubes respond and feel, the touch dynamic they have over solid state or modelers.

Even on a clean channel tubes react and sound so much better with pedals than SS or modeling. Tubes have that ability to absorb input levels and go into natural compression and sponge effect that just sounds amazing. SS just clips at a certain level.

Models are getting better but there is the quality of real glass and hot electrons in that device that is what it is. I am not so crazy with the little watt tube amps that are all the rage and popular buy list these days. Sure they break up easy and clipout early but wattage is about dynamic headroom, and frequency range. Takes wattage to carry a good clean low note without distortion and breakup.

Want a decent tube amp for the bucks try the new Albion amps, pretty amazing design going on there. For me has to be at least a 30 watter, more so a 50 or a 100. Using little amps for recording I understand and get but playing live I prefer my versatile half stack. I want the sound and tone I have worked so hard to develop on my rig and pedalboard, no way I want to just wing it and plug into a little amp. Those Pagey Supra's have their tone but Page never used them on stage or tried to mic them to a PA. Smallest amp I ever saw Jimmy use live was a VOX AC30 on Tea for One.

But tubes baby, tubes. Spending money on good pedals for a solid state amp is putting makeup on a pig.

 

[JAC]

My two cents worth: Line 6 makes fine amps. Crate, from my experience with them in the past, made good medium to large amps. The smaller crate amps I dislike. They appear to be buzzy and noisey in general. I'm talking about tube here not solid state. I enjoy both kinds of circuitries. I only played one small tube Gorilla years ago and, it had an incredible tone. Big amps are great for large halls, arenas, etc. but, for the apartment or home, especially in an urban area, small amps kick ass! They are also great for recording. If you live in a rural area or have a large hall, then you can blast your monster stacks! In my opinion the less watts, the better sounding the amp is! I live in a neighborhood, not Madison Square Gardens or The Forum. I saw the demo for the JTM1 and fell in love with it! If I played big places professionally, I would go with my 45 watt Super Reverb, and probably eventually get a nice DSL 50 half stack. That's how I roll! By the way, I enjoy and appreciate everyones input here, this is a cool thread!

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

They both have awesome amps, its just no one hears about them because EVERYONE always brings up their shitty amps when they're brought up.

Crate has the Vintage Club, Stealth, Palamino, GX130C, Excallibur series, VTX, Shockwave, and Tidal Wave.
Line 6 has the Vetta, Flextone, DuoVerb, DT, POD X3 and HD, and I've heard some decent tones pulled from the Spider Valve.

 

[Quasar-Kid]

Mesa BOOGIE I loath playing through those things!! They sound great when someone else is playing them sound good in the store so I bought several over the years. In a real band situation I hated each and every one till I dumped them.

Exactly..!!!
At least CRATE and LINE 6 are cheap and you know it's kinda junk when you buy it
But MESA I've NEVER heard one live that didn't make me want to run away
or pour water on it

 

[SkinnyJ]

I liked the functionality of my AX-212 combo when I bought it. Coupled with the floorboard, it was a nice setup. However, like most SS amps, when you get the volume up, the sound gets really thin and harsh. After a couple of gigs with it, I realized it wasn't cutting it and went with tube amps.

 

[solarburn]

^^^
This.

 

[Bigbazz]

When I first started playing I tried (and loved) a Line 6 Flextone, think it was one of the originals, and I actually disliked Marshall. Bear in mind it was at the age where I didnt really know anything, other than brand preferences for the sake of that. But then when It came time to buying a new amp, the Marshall AVT series was getting rave reviews, we're talking... 2002 ish. So I ended up trying and falling in love with a Marshall AVT150, and used all my money to buy it for christmas.

Later on I would always see players using these Line 6's with the insane channel and I developed a fairly big hatred for them due to how horrible it sounded, though I didnt mind the POD XT, my dislike for Line 6 grew and grew.

Now I wouldn't say I hate them now, and they certaintly have their uses, but I've not heard anything from a Line 6 amp that has really impressed me. I've always wanted to try out their bogner-line 6 valve amps, but don't hold high hopes.


As for Crate, back in 2004 I considered buying one, along with a bunch of other amps, before I settled on a Peavey 5150. A local band I used to like when I was younger (Funeral for a Friend) used to use (blue voodoo?) back then and they sounded pretty good to me, from what I remember. Don't see many Crate amps about though, so not had much experience with them.

 

[peterichardz]

No hate here!

I LOVE my JMP's but for small places,

well just listen! It's in the tweekin'!

I'm always told "That Marshall you play sounds awwsome"

No mikes! Just a smartphone video!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxhG9f0gEtY]Sneaky Pete at Saucy Squeaks Radar Love and Wild Thing 2.18.12.MOV - YouTube[/ame]

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

^+1. He proved me wrong about the GOOD SS Crate amps only being good for death metal.

 

[chuckelator]

Dime Amplification. Enough Said.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Dime Amplification. Enough Said.

For the love of god, THIS! I can play a Line 6 and Crate, but I wouldn't spend a dime (no pun intended) on this company. Not to mention the massive amount of whoring of Dime's name they're doing

You can find an old Randall RG100ES, which this amp basically is, for $200 if you find one used.

 

[BAinFL]

I'd vote for Blackstar.

Seeing Ozzy with Gus G was a big letdown. Marshalls are as much a part of Ozzy's sound as Randy and Zakk were. Gus' rig sounded like ass IMO...and flat out just didn't look right up on stage.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Nope, Laneys were Ozzy's sound.







Hint hint.

 

[solarburn]

Nope, Laneys were Ozzy's sound.







Hint hint.

 

[BAinFL]

Nope, Laneys were Ozzy's sound.







Hint hint.

Haha...well thats why I said Ozzy and not Sabbath. I never had anything but love for Tony's Laneys. I mean - THAT sound is PERFECT.