I've gone tube!! Finally! Review inside.

[beggar_guitar]

I have finally got a tube amp. I was going to go get me a Classic 30 considering it kinda won me over, and I found one for $350.
Then a buddy of mine working in a local shop had a Crate VC50H w/ 410 cab. I posted a thread asking about pricing since he was considering selling.
Well today I was talking to him and told him I liked it but I couldn't do $450 since that is what he was asking.

I ended up bringing it home with me today for $350! I am pretty excited. It isn't the end all of tube amps by any means, but it is seeming to suit me perfectly. It has some very nice defined clean tones, and it distorts well. Running a humbucker equipped Strat really opened up the tones on the overdriven channel.


The cleans are nice and jangly. We will see how much headroom it really has later on. For now I am just doing an initial posting and heading to church. A review and pics are coming later.

It may not be much. but I am so stoked to finally be in a tube amp!

 

[BigAlTheBird]

Re: I've gone tube!! Finally! Review inside.

Features 8.4 (17 responses)
Sound Quality 9.4 (17 responses)
Reliability 9.1 (10 responses)
Customer Support 8.1 (7 responses)
Overall Rating 9.5 (17 responses)

Those are some good numbers dude! Don't discount them. Pretty good price too, with the cab.

You should be real happy. How loud is it so far?

 

[Kac]

Re: I've gone tube!! Finally! Review inside.

Sweet!!

 

[tubeman87]

Re: I've gone tube!! Finally! Review inside.

I had one of those, it was great. Nice amp bro!

 

[beggar_guitar]

Re: I've gone tube!! Finally! Review inside.

Those are some good numbers dude! Don't discount them. Pretty good price too, with the cab.

You should be real happy. How loud is it so far?

Yeah I am stoked. I was actually $50 short and a guitar buddy called me outta the blue. We talked gear. I told him about the purchase and he said "I'll give ya $50 right now. Just pay me when your bank transfer from PayPal clears." Sweet! What a great friend huh?

It's pretty loud. I haven't Really cranked it yet, but it will definitely be more than adequate for anything I do at the moment, and I could definitely do some gigging with it.
My only drawback so far is that I was wanting to get into a combo but this is still way easier to transport than a 4x12 cab.

After church my house will be clear so I can crank it up.

 

[beggar_guitar]

Re: I've gone tube!! Finally! Review inside.

So I have put in some more time with the amp and I am loving it. Maybe it's the honeymoon, but this thing is nice.
I Think the amp has EL84s in the power section.. been looking online but can't confirm that. Does anyone know for certain?
First off... this thing has a nice bit of headroom. Which is very nice for me. I need a nice usable clean tone for Gospel music.
The clean channel stays nice and crisp, but when you push it to distort it starts to do so nicely and evenly, but I don't plan to push that channel that much.
Still very nice and just enough jangle.

Channel 2 is very nice. The gain knob is very usable. I can go from a very subtle grit to an all out crunch and it still sounds nice. It's a very warm sounding drive. It started off a bit brittle, but with some tweaking it really fattened up.

I wish it had some sort of lead boost, but that's not really necessary.

I played it through the 410 cab that came with it and it seems very well suited to the amp. The sound is very tight and defined w/ plenty of low end without being overbearing.
I used my Laney 1x12 cab but the stock speaker was way too bright. Through my Peavey 4x12 it sounded nice. A bit more Open sounded... but in the end the original 410 cab seems to be the best combo I can do.

Right now for my main styles of play to be Gospel, Contemporary Praise & Worship and Blues it really hits the spot, and with a bit of help from pedals can take me into a few other areas.

My main Ax is a MIM Strat w/ SD Pearly Gates in the bridge, and it takes to the amp very well. I can do some very pretty clean tones. The PG in the bridge sounds so good paired with this amp. I hadn't been all that impressed with it until now.
The biggest surprise was putting my Peavey T-15 through it. The Super Ferrites in that thing really bond with this amp. Throw it on the bridge pup, and roll back the volume to darken it up and I have a guitar I never knew I did.

All in all I am well pleased. The amp Can be a bit bright, but nothing too overwhelming though, and the lack of a proper FX loop is aggravating.

Still for $350 I am a very happy camper!

 

[Rich_S]

Re: I've gone tube!! Finally! Review inside.

Nice looking rig, especially for that price. If the "50" it its model number means 50 watts, then it probably has a pair of EL34s in the output. Four EL84s would only be good for about 30 watts. Look and see - today you are a man, my son. You should know what sort of tubes are in you amp.

 

[beggar_guitar]

Re: I've gone tube!! Finally! Review inside.

Nice looking rig, especially for that price. If the "50" it its model number means 50 watts, then it probably has a pair of EL34s in the output. Four EL84s would only be good for about 30 watts. Look and see - today you are a man, my son. You should know what sort of tubes are in you amp.

How can I tell what they are? I suppose it's printed on the tubes? I've been playing all day so I imagine the tubes are piping hot.

 

[Reload in 5]

Re: I've gone tube!! Finally! Review inside.

crate says its 50w but also say it has (4) el84. Link to
manual
whats wrong with the FX loop ?

 

[beggar_guitar]

Re: I've gone tube!! Finally! Review inside.

crate says its 50w but also say it has (4) el84. Link to
manual
whats wrong with the FX loop ?

Thanks!

The way it explains the FX loop helps out. I wasn't sure how it worked before hand.

 

[Gamera]

Re: I've gone tube!! Finally! Review inside.

My only drawback so far is that I was wanting to get into a combo

That may actually be a blessing in disguise. I was recently in the same boat and bought my first tube combo. Only after I bought it did I learn the dirty little secret of all tube combos: they rattle. Due to the speakers and tubes being in such close proximity it's not uncommon to hear a constant glass rattling noise. They say that's why combos are almost never used for recording. With a head you can separate the tubes from the speakers so it's not an issue.

 

[lastwinj]

Re: I've gone tube!! Finally! Review inside.

if its too bright, possible speaker issue. crate labeled speakers are usually terribly bright.

 

[pinto79]

Re: I've gone tube!! Finally! Review inside.

My Classic 50/50 Power amp is basically 2 50 watt amps, each is a quartet of EL84s. If memory serves, an EL84 can be pushed to almost 15 watts.

Nice score bro. Crate make some pretty nice gear for reasonable prices.