Top 10 WORST Solid State Amps EVER!

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Gear Used In This Video:

[felixayala]

30 years ago everybody had Crate amps. They helped a lot of musicians make a living in my homeland. 🇵🇷

[befingered]

Tubes rule!
However, Peavey—back before they went Chinese—made some small solid state combos that sound just freakishly good.

[ricksanchezito]

"Mg series suck!"
*looks at my Mg15 mini stack
"He doesn't know what he's talking about baby" 😂

[MarcRead]

My only criticism is that I think Modeling amps should be separate category from solid state amps. There are so many bad amps out there I’m sure you could make a “10 worst Modeling amps”. I love your insight.

[Metalbass]

Robert, it's perfectly acceptable to include Marshall amps on this list, Marshall has released its share of turds for a company that so many people put on a really, really high pedestal.

If you take the Marshall pre-bias that many people have, I was born in the 70's, was listening to rock in 76 at age 4, and started playing music in 1986, and almost everybody wanted a Marshall because that's what everybody had on stage for about a five-year period.

When I started playing in bands, and started hearing what everyone was using, there were a lot of Marshall amps that I thought just did not compare to the reputation, or to the amp on the other side of the stage. That being said, there were plenty of Marshall amps that absolutely lived up to the hype.

I also started with a Crate solid state 2 x 12" combo, and I had a lot of guys coming up to me asking how I got that tone, "how come your guitar sounds like that?"

Good pickups, knowing how to set the amp up, and playing that guitar for as many hours a day as I could, and listening to how it sounded, figuring out that my right hand better get damn good if I wanted to sound like the people on those albums I was listening to.

[ThePowerman]

I worked in a music store back in the early 2000’s through high school. I got yelled at by my manager and was told “You don’t know anything about metal” when I tried to steer a customer towards a different amp other than the Ibanez Tone Blaster. I absolutely hated the tone of that amp and the gain channel sounded like synthetic static. I’m glad this amp made the list.

[MarcosMendozaJr]

You did KUSTOM AMPS a great ? service. My 1967 Kustom amp still works, plays loud and clean or killer distortion with '83 ProCo Rat. It came with two cabs with 4 D-130 JBL's. Covers and all plus lifetime warranty, although never needed it. Just saying. Loud and proud on stage.

[Serge_]

"I've done extensive research to make sure everything is accurate."

First Amp: "It doesn't sound good" 😂

[rockindavebyron]

Glad that Crate was Not on the list Robert, my 1st decent amp was a Crate 1R, bought it new in 1979 when Crate amps were shaped like a crate box! The reverb didn't work, but I didn't care because I actually didn't even know what it was supposed to do back then, boy was I young & stupid, LOL!!! But I do have a Crate half stack, & it actually does sound pretty ass kicking!!! Great video my friend, stay safe, Rock On & God Bless!!!

[howardcunniffe]

All these amps are now on sale at your local pawn shop. The gorella amp is on display.

[Axxman]

I had an Ampeg with a 1/10 that I hated. Someone stole it and I'm still laughing about it.

[danc]

The OLD Marshall MG heads are not bad at all. The Marshall CODE is the worst SS amp I have ever played.

[NLRider-im]

Respectfully disagree on the Kustoms. I have a K150-8 and I love it. It's loud as hell and you can't beat the clean tones. Plus they look amazing. And a hot collectors item

[theirritatedirishman]

I sold tons and tons of Gorilla Amps when they came out. I personally knew the owners and those amps became big amongst jazz players for their clean fat sounds. Most guitar teachers way back would have students practice through the Gorilla amps because of the clean sound. The Johnson amps should’ve been called “The Johnson” cause they did SUCK BAD! Marlboro also made some of the worst sounding solid state amps.

[mattbrillhart]

Kinda ironic...drove past the old Kustom plant in Chanute, KS today. My wife is from there. Actually, I liked the tuck n roll the amps...

[gregaltenhofel]

The Kustom Tuck & Roll did FOR A VERY SHORT TIME had 1 redeeming quality. Just one and only just for a short time. They used Altec Langsing speakers. The one I had that was given to me by a guy that barely knew me. A 20 something guy I’d just gotten into Jr high and for a minute I thought I wanted to play Bass & guitar. He gave me some Bass head he wasn’t able to trade in for a decent amp. It came unbeknownst to him till later. A 2X15” cab. They were awesome bass drivers and over the years went into several P.A. speakers & monitors I’d built. Wish I still had them.

[grilledspaghetti]

I still believe someone should recreate the Gorilla G25 preamp section as a drive pedal for noise rock folks. I'd buy it. Add a "Tube Stack" switch.

[marcosomercrest]

I've only ever seen gorilla amps in pawnshops. I'm pretty sure they were manufactured in used condition.

[tommyroseguitar]

Lost count how many times you said the words “on a budget”. For a kid or parents low on dough most of these will get someone by. Someone’s gotta give them some

[Andy-mb]

I laughed my ass off and felt proud that one of amps I have made it. The Behringer. No hard feelings at all. It's got some weird sounds to it, but it wouldn't cut through live while playing with others. I had a Behringer ACX 1000 acoustic amp as well. Like the Johnson Millineum, it decided to crap out when it was off. Sounded like an amplified mosquito. Stripped it down and gave the cabinet away. I was happy to see the cabinet being put to good use propping open a shed door. Bought a Fishman Loudbox to replace that.