The Worst Gear?

I was thinking today…
Gear… basses, pickups, bridges, you name it.
Amps, cabs, etc.

Everyone has their favorites, and it is surely a matter of preference, but, all gear at some point seems to have its lovers…but what if it doesn’t.

Is there, was there a brand, style etc of gear that was/is universally bad, no one liked/likes.
This is not a “a lot of people hate Fender” kind of thing.
More of a 'those pickups are horrible and no one likes them, I mean no one".

Even low end Dean, et al have good stuff in the mix with loyal followers.

One would have to assume if there is (was) it would be gone, but maybe not.

Is/was there universally hated gear?
Generally accepted as garbage?

Discuss…

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i kind of think that gear now is so good, it’s really difficult to make something that is truly bad. i have had some things i didn’t love enough to keep permanently, but i don’t ever think i’ve bought something and thought this is freaking terrible.

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Are there things in the used/vintage world that are generally universally regarded as crap?

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Fender pickups are a bit anemic but I can understand the pros who like them, they have all kinds of boxes and plugins to create the vingagey tone. Plus it also works well with drives. It’s not my thing but I can see the attraction.

As for vintage pickups, people likes them for the vintage values and tone.

I think for everyday use I’d say DR color coated strings. It serves its purpose of displaying color and personality unless you are looking to transition from flats to rounds it’s not the brightest round wound string.

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Hard to say. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

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The tuners on the low end Dean basses are crap. Had one break tuning the G string. Replaced with a good replacement set and the bass is pretty good.

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Fender Rumble 15. Piece of trash, one of the few things I regret buying.

Fender roundwound strings, they are rough on the fingers

Vox Headphones. Cheaply built

Donner pedals. On a whim I got one brand new for $37; not worth the cost. When you hit the button it not only turns off the pedal, it cuts the signal.

Whoever made the bridge on my Harley Benton. Impossible to intonate

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It used to be that Peavey was looked down on as generally undesirable…the number of professionals using their gear outside of the country music artist were nowhere to be found. The amps were unreliable, cosmetically unappealing, and the sound was either super clean or had a very unnatural break up…when they started making instruments it wasn’t any different. Basses being the one exception they started to gain traction in that market…then the Van Halen collaboration happened out comes the 5150 series and Wolfgang guitars and suddenly it wasn’t a bad thing to have Peavey gear as part of your rig. I played a show in Korea (1988) once using pieces of gear that I had borrowed from other GIs on base. A samick guitar, a peavey amp, a peavey hotfoot distortion pedal, armed with that and an OB beer I had this saturated compressed 80s radio rock ballad tone all night. Dancing girls swinging on poles, behind us, packed club of drunk GIs, summertime sweat (kimichi and alcohol), mixed with the smell of beer and cigarettes’…I may not have ever sounded better in my life. Sorry, got off track there…Peavey gear…hated it…LOL

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Warwick strings. Utter garbage. The worst rounds I have ever used.

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Somewhat tempted to say “Epiphones” as every one I have tried has felt cheap and poorly made. But I am sure they must make some decent instruments as people tend to like them. It’s also entirely possible I have been unlucky. But as the Squier of Gibson, it feels like Squier does a much better job for Fender than Epiphone does for Gibson.

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totally agree.

what I hated most was probably Gibson strings. horrible.

also it reminds me a little discussion we had with @Paul recently : the Boss Metal Zone (MT-2) is considered the worst distortion pedal ever. (… until you understand how to make it work, and then it’s awesome :slight_smile: )

also the generic cheap chinese pickups, with the glued huge ceramic magnet bars, are horrible.

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I’m sure there’s bad gear out there. I’ve been really lucky choosing. I guess being a new player i can’t really define bad from good- but if pressed? I’d say anything with a basswood body…i get that it’s a cheap alternative that’s widely available. That coupled with it’s inherent tone characteristics mean it’s everywhere…

But being everywhere doesn’t solve the problem i have-that being neck drop. Learning to play is hard enough. Having to hold the neck up only makes it harder. Playing shouldn’t be a chore, it should be something i love and live for, and it is. Having gear that’s comfortable to play is huge in that.

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I’d agree except for the les Paul models, they are surprisingly well made and has much better quality control than Gibson 4 times the price.

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This is more personal than anything else, THIS(below) totally sucks but looks totally awesome. Lord knows I tried putting them on both my p basses and Jazz basses. Well the thumb rest is a given because Leo had a wrong perception. The ashtray covers are very uncomfortable to play when installed.


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Heh. The Fender 7250 round wounds are some of my favorites, and I have two Donner pedals which work great (one is a tuner, the other is compression). Granted, I don’t use the compression pedal much (if at all), but it works. And those 7250s sound great on my Jazz and B4.

My first bass back in '90 or so was an Epiphone. A white Epiphone Accu-bass. I have fond memories of it (because it was my first), but the neck left a lot to be desired. I could never get the truss rod or action set up properly; it either buzzed all over, or it had too much of bow and too high action. I’d love to pick up another one, but it would probably wind up being wall art and not something I’d actually play.

For me, the worst piece of gear I have is a little clip-on digital tuner. Don’t even know the brand, but it says “SUPER TIGHT” on it. It eats up batteries in a couple of weeks and is ALWAYS off when compared to my other tuners.

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Yeah my ashtrays came off. I feel like they give a ringing (at least the one over the pickups) from more magnetic field bouncing back and didn’t like it.
Bridge one came off cause impossible to adjust bridge with it on.

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If I really had to pick a brand I would say iRig gear :see_no_evil::hear_no_evil::speak_no_evil:

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Yeah their stuff just looks like a lot of cash for a barely adequate solution.

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I tgought @Lanny had an iRig he used for his early videos that he was fairly happy with.

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I will say it again :smiley:

But I bet more people on this forum started out with something from iRig. Especially the cheap iRig gear feels like flimsy made in China gadgets IMO. I wouldn’t really be surprised if it stops working in a year or after some abuse. Can’t say anything about the higher tier stuff tho.

On a more serious note it’s kinda hard to point out bad gear. In the past “bad gear” is usually born from brands trying to innovate. If you are into synths you should check out this guy who has made a whole serie about bad gear. It’s really fun because he can make anything work and proof that it can also sound amazing.

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