Blue Voodoo 60 Watt Head

[deathbytinnitus]

finding with the amp is that it relies too heavily on its feedback loop to sound right and at low volumes it was just very anemic and thin sounding. Even when turned up it wasn't a very heavy or thick sounding amp. omegle online

Its definitely not for everybody. It's not really comparable to a modern high gain amp without some sort of a boost. It's fun squeezing out heavy tones out of cheap/hated gear though.

[InfiniteRPG]

finding with the amp is that it relies too heavily on its feedback loop to sound right and at low volumes it was just very anemic and thin sounding. Even when turned up it wasn't a very heavy or thick sounding amp. omegle online

[allbutromeo]

don't forget there was also the BV100HR, Sammy Hagar Red Voodoo

[deathbytinnitus]

Yes there was a 300 watt Crate head.

the Blue Voodoo 1st gen is the one I have, then they had a makeover where they ditched the blue tolex and gold logo for a more rectangular Crate logo and black tolex, but the circuit stayed the same.

Then they revised the circuit and changed the logo to the final Crate logo found on their last models, that one is the generation that had the 300 watter, I believe there was a 150 watter as well. I never played the later blue voodoo.

I believe they were the first amps to have a backlight, now it seems light up amps are common place (Revv, KSR ,Diamond)

[Metalman_666]

I've never had the chance to play one but was always intrigued as to why they were so cheap.

In all seriousness, except for the high-profile endorsers maybe 20-25 years ago, with the knowledge I have now of gear, it seems more like the joke amp that was ripped on a lot and made in versions all the way up to 300 watts with like 12 tubes. Does anyone else remember that or am I misremembering that?

Sounds great in those clips OP, very "Swedish" in that metal vibe

Sent from my SM-N975W using Tapatalk

[dave74]

Makes some great tone right above. Great music too!

[deathbytinnitus]

Here's another clip of it.....

This time in the mix. (no post eq or processing, this is the raw guitar track in studio one)

[Toejam]

I had a BV60 head awhile ago with KT66 tubes. That thing sounded amazing. I can't remember why I sold it, but I wish I had it back.

[deathbytinnitus]

I've never played a Crate, let alone a Blue Voodoo. If you like yours, awesome.
I'd say time has moved on and there's plenty of newer choices with improved reliability and functionality.
I bet you could score a used Blackstar head of sorts for similar cash and get great tones out of it easily.

Yes I like Blackstar!

The Crate however has this good tone, It has alot of good utility hey I like it along with all my other heads of course I cant compare to my big boys because the price but as a tool it works well and has its own character which i feel like that Is important to me it helps creativity you know what I mean?

[Diego]

Re: Blue Voodoo 60 Watt Head



That’s a cool story but have you actually played one? I have both of the heads right next to each other lol

I've never played a Crate, let alone a Blue Voodoo. If you like yours, awesome.
I'd say time has moved on and there's plenty of newer choices with improved reliability and functionality.
I bet you could score a used Blackstar head of sorts for similar cash and get great tones out of it easily.

[Ewizard]

I got a second gen version in 2001-2002 and it was not bad for the price, but mine ended up with issues. The clean channels volume pot took a dump and they use PCB mounted pots with a very small shaft, hard to find a replacement..... I was able to sort of fix it. My finding with the amp is that it relies too heavily on its feedback loop to sound right and at low volumes it was just very anemic and thin sounding. Even when turned up it wasn't a very heavy or thick sounding amp. It did have plenty of distortion, and was the can of bee's sort of thing, but it worked and was great for punk rock music ( which is what I played when I had it ). I modded it later on to have a typical Marshall circuit and it was a little better that way, but ultimately sold it. When I see them I do get nostalgic as it was my first half stack rig ( matching cab even ), but I don't really miss it. I have played a couple other BV120 heads over the years and I was always reminded of why I always wished I had just saved a little more money to get a Mesa Dual Rec, while they were still somewhat affordable. At the time I think you could get a Dual Rec for less than $2k. Congrats though, and yes they are pretty cheap these days. I sold mine about 10 years ago for about what you got yours for.

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Blue Voodoo 60 Watt Head

I don't mind them at all ...almost bought one off ebay a few (maybe 7-8 lol) years ago...but things fell through. They were cheap used (apparently still are) & sound/play pretty decent. They do have a distinctive tonal flavor of their own & that's a big plus for me..

[deathbytinnitus]

Re: Blue Voodoo 60 Watt Head

I saw Marty Friedman playing one of those live. It sounded alright, then some guy joined him with a Marshall JCM2000 (can't remember which specific model) and it sounded way better.
Not impressed here.

That’s a cool story but have you actually played one? I have both of the heads right next to each other lol

[Diego]

Re: Blue Voodoo 60 Watt Head

I saw Marty Friedman playing one of those live. It sounded alright, then some guy joined him with a Marshall JCM2000 (can't remember which specific model) and it sounded way better.
Not impressed here.

[ErikH]

Re: Blue Voodoo 60 Watt Head

Thats really concerning. I already had to deal with that fiasco with the Marshall JCM 2000 in the background. That amp had a defective PCB and the bias would not stabilize or bias in range. It’s fixed now but if the Crate is gonna get the same issue I’m going to sell it. Last few times I checked the bias it seemed ok though and seems to run somewhat cool.

Can you go more into detail with what happened and what failed?

Basically lost half the power because two of the tubes stopped working, and the tubes checked fine in the other sockets. The PCB had fried traces and resisters in that area. I'm not an amp tech but that was 25 years ago when it happened. While it sounded good in crunch mode, it could not comes close to keeping up with a Marshall JCM800 50 watt head. The Marshall ate it for lunch and dinner.