Early Crate Amps.

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Early Crate Amps.

I've got a Crate Vintage Club tube combo from the 90's. It's held up pretty well, and sounds great to me. Their stuff is totally hit or miss, more of the latter unfortunately.

That was the first good sounding amp Crate ever made.
When it came out, everyone plugged into it and had to take a double take at the logo, just to make sure they weren't imagining things!

[guitfiddle]

Re: Early Crate Amps.

That was the first good sounding amp Crate ever made.
When it came out, everyone plugged into it and had to take a double take at the logo, just to make sure they weren't imagining things!

I was similarly blown away by the first tube Crate I plugged into. SO different from the "chomp" sound on chords the SS Crates did.

Still, I think of those first tube Crates as modified Ampegs. Crate didn't have any tube products until after 1986 when they got the Ampeg patents and designs.

[Zerberus]

Re: Early Crate Amps.

The new tube amps aren't all that bad sounding, but rest assured, they use the cheapest components possible, and won't last more than 6 or 7 years.

Which is still 8 years longer than a Bugera

[thespricket]

Re: Early Crate Amps.

That was the first good sounding amp Crate ever made.
When it came out, everyone plugged into it and had to take a double take at the logo, just to make sure they weren't imagining things!

funny, you should say that. The first thing i did when I got the amp home was take the little "CRATE" name plate off the front.

[DankStar]

Re: Early Crate Amps.

looks like it was to be competition for a pignose.

I've still got a GFX-15. Too handy to get rid of, yet not enough resale value to be worth anything.

[crusty philtrum]

Re: Early Crate Amps.

Ah, the original Crate...in a crate !!! I remember very well seeing the ads in Guitar Player magazines. I liked the look...i guess they were thinking 'outside the box' ??

Musta been around the same time as the Fender Jerry-can (Oil-can?) amp and the Pignose i guess.

[eggman]

Re: Early Crate Amps.

Howdy,

Thanks for posting, Gearjonser! My first amp was very similar to the pic you posted at the top. Bought it new in the Spring of 1980 in Beaumont. I was still in 10th grade. That Crate was a big step "up" from plugging my Strat into my stereo, LOL.
I used my Crate for C&W gigs during my undergrad days at LSU. I'm not proud to admit all of this, but it suuure takes me back.

Eggman

[LuredMaul]

Re: Early Crate Amps.

My second amp was a Crate G40CXL; I spent soo many hours on that thing until I started going to band practices n realized "heh" not loud enough. I then bought a Crate GT80 DSP<---- tube hybrid n played that until I bought a GX130C Head ( also named AMPEG VH140C ) w/ Crate|Celestion special designed 4X12. I loved Crate amps and never had the issues that I hear so often.

In fact ppl snickered as I rolled my half stack into gigs; until I played it.
It even did several jobs for others when there beloved Marshall's melted into a puddle.

The store I work at was the first Crate dealer in Illinois and we stayed with them until the company was bought out.

the only issues I ever encountered with crate was during the 90's they had a run of bad chorus curcuits and afew fresh from the box sorta whistled, but, only afew I ever saw.

I was PROUD to own a Crate during the late 80`s and 90's.

[75lespaul]

Re: Early Crate Amps.

I had two Crate amps that sounded really good. One was a Blue Voodoo 60 watt although as said, a real cheap build. The second was the Lee Jackson designed Stealth combo. That amp was killer hooked up to a 4X12, although it was fugly. I had a Crate ministack that sounded atrocious, but looked really cool, lol.

[L.W. Badger]

Re: Early Crate Amps.

So let's get out of the eighties and the bad memories.....how god/bad are Crate amps NOW!?

And yeah, I remember the "gas can amps"......had an 8" battery powered one......thank God for gainful employment!

[eschoendorff]

Re: Early Crate Amps.

OMG... I had one of those crappy early 902 30w Crate amps. The gain on that thing was horrible. Sounded like a second grader blowing her nose.

[inthestix]

Re: Early Crate Amps.

So let's get out of the eighties and the bad memories.....how god/bad are Crate amps NOW!?

Hit or miss as always. I've got a V50 combo - had to have it refurbished cuz it wouldn't power up one day - reliability issues were common. But the refurb was done quickly and Loud paid for the shipping, so I have zero complaints about customer service. [unless it breaks down again!]s

I like the V50 cuz it has a great clean channel, lots of headroom for, and is very pedal friendly with, overdrive or dirtboxes. The distortion channel has a murky metal / rock sound. Which might not be a selling point for some folks, but it's great for a saggy doom metal or stoner rock sound. My overdrive pedal sounds amazing out of both channels - from chimey and gritty garage rock to sludgetastic Electric Wizard! Reverb is medium crappy. The quality of the distortion channel would probably change with a better speaker.

The SS Shockwave and Tidalwave amps are great for death metal and grindcore, but they don't make them anymore. I've heard the Palimino amps were a musical step up from the V-series - better speakers and reverb for roots and classic blues and rock. The Blackheart stuff is Crate, and those are great affordable tube amps.

Like most companies - they have their diamonds. But being a budget-oriented brand, they have a lot of amps that litter used gear lists and pawnshops.

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Early Crate Amps.

A friend of mine had one of those Crates- I don't remember what was worse- the Crate or the Kingston I had...

[ferret]

Re: Early Crate Amps.

Actually I just got a CR-IIR at the local flea market for $15.00, a little contact cleaner, and clean-up, and I'm amazed at how loud this little beater is. Ran a DGFX1 into it w/ a couple of my guitars, and it really doesn't sound too bad. Can't find any specs on it though other than it being a 60 watter. any info would be helpful.

[idsnowdog]

Re: Early Crate Amps.

I prefer the plywood and the fuzzy grey indoor/outdoor carpet era.