The most disappointing amp you've ever played?

[Fiddy]

Another vote against JC-120. They sound like shit. Too undefined when loud, and too loud too soon.

[OffYourFace]

I like the JC-120. I've played a few in the past 5 years that probably needed to be recapped. They can be shitty when the filtering is out of spec.

[Brock the Mod]

Fender Hotrod

[Arthon]

Orange AD30HTC. I just couldn’t get it to sound how I wanted. It was always fizzy. Like a high-mid presence that I just couldn’t dial out. And it didn’t do much clean and the dirt just wasn’t working for me. I couldn’t get the lowend I wanted. This was almost 20 years ago. I bought my old Orange Overdrive 120 to try to address the shortcomings. 18 years on, I still have and use that one

Second candidate: Orange Tiny Terror
A friend is a Orange/Les Paul Junior enthusiast as I‘m with Fender/Jaguar these days… but back in my Les Paul days must have been sometime between 2010 and 2012 he borrowed me his Tiny Terror and it was just not for me at all.
All my precious Fuzz boxes sounded like shit through it…most likely because it was too overdriven on its own.
It might seem as you just CAN‘T win me over with amp-gain (channels).

Hey! My two main amps. I use my AD30HTC 95% of the time with my band and my TT for when I need less volume on miced gigs (or small room gigs). The thing that works for me is not putting alot of gain (around 9/10 o'clock) and playing with the volume I need. To each is own

If I dont take in consideration beginner cheap amps and HotRod amps, I would say Vox Ac10. To much trebly and spiky. Didnt work for me. I am not a big fan of ac15c1 either, but I liked the ac12c2 and the ac30. Something with the 2 speaker configuration works better on Vox amp for me. Anyway, after owning 4 Voxes, I leave them to others who do great sounds with them and play my Oranges and Fenders.

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

Fender Hotrod

Interesting that this one shows up quite often (along with the Blues Junior). I always thought they (both) were decent amps. Never really played one myself (as the aesthetics never attracted my interest) but my former bandmate had/has one. Clean Channel was alright but yeah, the Gain Channel was indeed horrible. The Reverb also made a lot of noise.
What was it for you that you disliked most?

[Brock the Mod]

Sounded really boomy and dark to me. Also everything else you stated. Love my Pro junior tho

[Arthon]

Sounded really boomy and dark to me. Also everything else you stated. Love my Pro junior tho

The Pro Jr is the best of the HotRod line. A very undervalued amp. In the Hot Rod line, the bigger you get, the more crap you get IMHO.

[Brock the Mod]

Sounded really boomy and dark to me. Also everything else you stated. Love my Pro junior tho

The Pro Jr is the best of the HotRod line. A very undervalued amp. In the Hot Rod line, the bigger you get, the more crap you get IMHO.

Exactly.

[MechaBulletBill]

i've heard blues jrs sound good on stage, never owned one. but when i had a pro jr, it was just noisy and a bit boxy. fine for times you want a but more than a champ but not as great as i'd heard.

[Brock the Mod]

i've heard blues jrs sound good on stage, never owned one. but when i had a pro jr, it was just noisy and a bit boxy. fine for times you want a but more than a champ but not as great as i'd heard.

I took mine to a tech and its pretty noise free now. Better caps, fixed bias, tube sockets resoldered.

I dont think it will ever lose the boxyness unless I changed its small cabinet, but I do like that its smaller then the princeton.

[hulakatt]

I changed my short lived Blues jr to a larger, solid pine cab thinking it would help alleviate the boxiness. It didn't at all.

[HarktheUmpire]

i've heard blues jrs sound good on stage, never owned one. but when i had a pro jr, it was just noisy and a bit boxy. fine for times you want a but more than a champ but not as great as i'd heard.

I’ve heard a Blues Jr sound terrible on stage. At a Wave Pictures show. Doesn’t help that the guitarist loves to noodle. I had to leave early because it felt like my ear drums were being showered with tiny shards of glass.

In their defense, I suppose they can be okay at low volume? So maybe they’re not too bad for solo musicians.

[hulakatt]

In their defense, I suppose they can be okay at low volume?

Not really. My experience was with them at low volumes and they were terrible. I was kinda hoping that some redeeming sounds might be had at higher volumes.

[redchapterjubilee]

British amps in general. Just not my thing but the one that really stunned me was the ‘90 JCM800 half stack I had for a hot minute. I expected instant Fugazi or Ratt and it was mostly just clanky and harsh. I’ve since learned how to deal with them if I have to in a backline situation but I’m just not a Marshall guy at all.

[OffYourFace]

British amps in general. Just not my thing but the one that really stunned me was the ‘90 JCM800 half stack I had for a hot minute. I expected instant Fugazi or Ratt and it was mostly just clanky and harsh. I’ve since learned how to deal with them if I have to in a backline situation but I’m just not a Marshall guy at all.

FYI, a 1990 JCM800 vs a 1983 JCM800 are very different sounding amps.