Why can't my crappy little practice amp take distortion?

[Dave Locher]

Years ago I bought a Squier SP-10 at a garage sale for $6. Thing is, it actually sounds really good clean: full and sparkly. Great for jazz (which I do not play) and for rockabilly if you throw a delay in front of it.
BUT...as soon as I put any distortion or overdrive pedal into this thing it sounds horrible: boxy and small and mushy. Doesn't matter if the pedal is set way below unity, at unity, or pushing the amp. The 6" speaker that sounds so big clean suddenly sounds tiny and feeble. This is with several different pedals. It just falls apart.
This is not a major life problem or anything, I am just curious about how an amp can sound good clean (for a $6 practice amp) and just utterly fail with any decent gain pedal?

[DavidRavenMoon]

Try using less distortion. Turn the gain on the pedal all the way down. Now inch it up. Most guitarist use too much distortion. That can sound very small.


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[ehdwuld]

My solid state amps do not behave the same as the tube amps

Hitting the front of a tube amp with higher gain drives the tubes to distort

No tubes in solid state so you get a lot of compression

What David said dial it back or hit it with a fuzz

[Dave Locher]

Trust me, I've played with the gain knobs on the pedals, and I am not a "too much gain" kind of guy! And I'm not running out of headroom. Trying to drive the input just produces a weird static-like distortion.
I realize it's a cheap little pos, and I don't expect it to sound like a half stack, but it's just weird how it sounds so big & clear clean but suddenly sounds like we cardboard as soon as any dirt is introduced.
I've never taken it apart to look at the speaker, LPB, but you may be on to something there. That would explain why the clean sound is so sparkly and deep for a 6" speaker. It is certainly strident in the high end.
it just seems like it should be pretty good with some dirt and it isn't. At all. Not even a little.
Maybe I'll saw it down to a lunchbox head and use it with my 2x12 cab...

[Mincer]

I think those are generally the limitations of cheap little practice amps. I have a tiny Danelectro amp that sounds decent clean, but if you add distortion, it sounds like bees in an AM radio.

[Benjy_26]

Crappy little practice amps have crappy little practice speakers.

[devastone]

6" speaker, and a cheap one at that.

[GuitarStv]

What kind of pedals are you running through it? Tiny, and feeble could come from hitting a slightly mid scooped speaker/amp combo with a mid scooped distortion (something like boss DS-1 or a big muff).

The guitar is a mid range instrument. It's also possible that the speaker just isn't very effective at reproducing the frequencies that we like to hear guitar at. Some people really like a mid-scooped clean sound, but hit that with gain and all of a sudden you really hear and focus on the cutting highs and woofy lows - without the creamy meat of the mid-range.

[Adieu]

It's the speaker.

There are a few videos of people hooking up the small SS Fender/Squier amps to 4x12's and the onboard distortion suddenly sounds pretty awesome

[ErikH]

Most definitely the speaker. I used to have a Marshall Lead 12 combo that I took and hooked up to a 4x12. It sounded massive and plenty loud to use at band rehearsal. It was a temporary situation.

[Dave Locher]

Well, sounds like everyone but me is smart enough to figure out it's the terrible little speaker. Bees is an AM radio is a pretty accurate description.
Time to rip into this thing (it's a sealed box) and try it with real speakers just out of curiosity.

[ehdwuld]

Well, sounds like everyone but me is smart enough to figure out it's the terrible little speaker. Bees is an AM radio is a pretty accurate description.
Time to rip into this thing (it's a sealed box) and try it with real speakers just out of curiosity.

Let us know what you find
may just need to re-house it in either a head or bigger box

[JB_From_Hell]

My solid state amps do not behave the same as the tube amps

Hitting the front of a tube amp with higher gain drives the tubes to distort

No tubes in solid state so you get a lot of compression

What David said dial it back or hit it with a fuzz

My JC120 with a Peavey Rockmaster in front sounded absolutely brutal.

[Securb]

I have a little Peavey Micro Bass that takes to distortion great and fuzz even better. 20w solid state 1x8

[Securb]

it sounds like bees in an AM radio.

...and what is wrong with that.