Stuff on amps no one wants

fretmeister

Cooling fans that can be heard.

Seriously annoying in a home and studio environment. At least make the damn things controllable so that at TV levels it's not on at all, or just ticking so it can't be heard.

If the amp gets too hot even at TV levels then redesign it, you wankers.

ICBM

fretmeister said:

Cooling fans that can be heard.

Seriously annoying in a home and studio environment. At least make the damn things controllable so that at TV levels it's not on at all, or just ticking so it can't be heard.

If the amp gets too hot even at TV levels then redesign it, you wankers.

There's really no reason for a properly-designed valve amp to need fan cooling, other than rack-mounted ones which admittedly can be tricky. My Mesa Blue Angel has one which was annoyingly loud, I slowed it down by adding a series resistor - I did think about making it switchable, but it's quiet enough now.

impmann said:

A lack of corner protectors... they were fitted for a reason previously.

Actually, one thing that irrationally annoys me is the cheap type of metal protectors fitted on many amps - the ones that don't have a 'hook' that goes around the inside edge of the cabinet. This means that if they get caught at a particular angle they tend to bend back and come loose, or even damage the cabinet where the edge digs in.

Wrong...



Right.

Daiganzen

NickL said:

Volume pots with the wrong taper that go straight from off to deafening between 1 and 2. Yes Fender, you again.

Yeah I hate this with a passion. But I hate it more because it makes people think that the amp is louder than it is. “If it’s this loud at 2, how loud is it at 10” also when rehearsing or giging you are always to loud and have no control 

HAL9000

Gassage said:

A really good example of this is the Blues Junior v the Pro Junior. One tries to cover all the ground possible, one is a raw and focused one trick pony. However, the proof that the makers will cite is the BJ sells about 10 times more than the PJ, despite the love that serious players have for the pro and the hatred they have of the BJ

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the nub of it. Companies primarily exist to make money; if you can sell more BJs, ID Cores, Katanas, etc then that’s what the board and shareholders will insist you manufacture.

welshboyo

Its quite funny that nearly all of the posts in this thread refer to Mesa...

My MKV is a wonderful bit of kit, but it does frustrate the hell out of me with footswitchable this and that which I never use and then the whole knobs/switches on the back thing - OK, most of them IMO are set and forget but still...what a pain in the arse.

And then the other one - Ninja Boost on Rivera's - again, loved my Rivera's - great amps but that Ninja thing was a waste of time UNTIL you had the amp almost flat out - it then made sense...however, there was a way around with a simple mod with involved a pot on the back panel (aarrrggghhhhhh!!) to make the boost variable - it then made more sense at normal gig volumes (rather than stadium.. - the Rivera's are loud old things in any guise)

Another thing that pisses me off is signature amps - what's the point - JP2C is case in point - JP wanted to emulate his IIC+ and duplicate it - this means you have a modern amp with very idiosyncratic and somewhat archaic feature set which is only actually relevant for JP himself who can have as many of them as he needs and as many of the outboard fx instances he could ever need to get the sound he's after - those of us who can only afford 1 are left with effectively a single channel amp that isn't that easy to incorporate into a modern day pedalboard/4CM rig - not sure if anyone is aware but the gain controls on the IIC+ actually double up as FX send...madness pure madness.. 

Oh, and Finally Bogner.....why oh why do you build stuff where the fx loops differ on each model with where they sit, how they interact and what they expect to see....why can't all manufacturers all just use the same config to make it easier for everyone...throw the parallel mix and boutique placement bollocks in the bin and just put it the same in every amp.

They're all having it this morning...I need a Snickers

Slash'N'burn

Might be on my own here but I’ve never really disliked a feature on an amp. Never use emulated output/DI but then it doesn’t cause me any problems being there.

fretmeister

ICBM said:

fretmeister said:

Cooling fans that can be heard.

Seriously annoying in a home and studio environment. At least make the damn things controllable so that at TV levels it's not on at all, or just ticking so it can't be heard.

If the amp gets too hot even at TV levels then redesign it, you wankers.

There's really no reason for a properly-designed valve amp to need fan cooling, other than rack-mounted ones which admittedly can be tricky. My Mesa Blue Angel has one which was annoyingly loud, I slowed it down by adding a series resistor - I did think about making it switchable, but it's quiet enough now.

I was more talking about bass amps.
99% of them have fans now.

Only a few don't - PJB , Demeter, and some of the Handbox ones.

So annoying.

HAL9000

Daiganzen said:

NickL said:

Volume pots with the wrong taper that go straight from off to deafening between 1 and 2. Yes Fender, you again.

Yeah I hate this with a passion. But I hate it more because it makes people think that the amp is louder than it is. “If it’s this loud at 2, how loud is it at 10” also when rehearsing or giging you are always to loud and have no control 

Again, it helps to sell amps - ‘I only had it at 1 in the shop so it should easily cope in a gig situation’.

JayGee

welshboyo said:

Its quite funny that nearly all of the posts in this thread refer to Mesa...

My MKV is a wonderful bit of kit, but it does frustrate the hell out of me with footswitchable this and that which I never use and then the whole knobs/switches on the back thing - OK, most of them IMO are set and forget but still...what a pain in the arse.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but personally the more nearly right something is the more the little things which are just a little bit wrong irritate me, and my 5:25 is close enough to right that the semi-captive footswitch cable coming adrift now and again looms far larger than it would otherwise... :-)

ICBM

fretmeister said:

I was more talking about bass amps.

99% of them have fans now.

True. It's difficult to design a high-powered solid-state bass amp, especially a small one, without forced cooling. The only other solution is a truly huge heatsink, which immediately increases the size and weight (and cost) substantially.

My Promethean's fan is quite annoying - luckily I rarely use it at home. I sometimes wonder why I even own it (actually two of them, I've got a head as well!) since every gig I've played in the last few years, I've used the house amp...

ryanverbena

EVERY feature found on the infamous Fender Cyber Twin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz9vbi57xOg

monquixote

Slash'N'burn said:

Might be on my own here but I’ve never really disliked a feature on an amp. Never use emulated output/DI but then it doesn’t cause me any problems being there.

I think if they add a feature that you don't use at all then that's absolutely fine unless it's making the amp less reliable or more expensive.

In the case of the emulated outs they are generally just a very simple low pass filter to crudely emulate a speaker which is great if you want to get out of a spot at a gig, but if you want to use them for silent recording you almost certainly want to add IRs from your DAW which you can't do if all the top end has been chopped.

What's especially annoying is that it just requires a button to disable the feature. The Fender Tone Master does this perfectly by having a switch for line out emulation on or off.

jpfamps

Hard-wired reverb and speaker leads.

Moe_Zambeek

Wazmeister said:

Knobs on the rear of the amp...

Or worse - knobs on the back of the amp, half way down the back panel. Accompanied by switches that stick out *past* the back panel so you can’t lay the amp on its back while transporting it without breaking it. 

Swart, what were you thinking?

Moe_Zambeek

Also - single top handles on amps that weigh four tonnes.

Bidley

Push-pull pots annoy me. I'd rather have switches any day of the week.

WiresDreamDisasters

You know what??? You're all barking up the wrong tree.



Stuff no-one wants on amps???


Fucking cups of tea placed there by the bassist!

p90fool

The Drive and Master knobs on the HRD. I've actually removed them on both of mine, which turns it into a single channel amp which is far more intuitive to use because of the nice gap either side of the EQ knobs.

TheMarlin

Silver control plate that’s impossible to read under most lighting conditions. 

Input jack’s hardwired to PCBs.  Idiotic. 

KevS

TheMarlin said:

Silver control plate that’s impossible to read under most lighting conditions. 

Input jack’s hardwired to PCBs.  Idiotic. 

Yes this..Like Fender Amps I have owned..