views on crate amps??

Re: views on crate amps??

Well, I only have experience with the Blue Voodoo line of Crate amps. I've had my BV for awhile now and it has been GREAT!! I LOVE it!! It's a well rounded tube amp.
 
Re: views on crate amps??

i got myself a Crate V-series 50 watt tube amp (not the club series). its been great for me so far. it came wit 2 EL34s and 4 12AX7s (groove tubes), i cant wait to retube and try out the 6L6s. =o)~
 
Re: views on crate amps??

oh yah and it was worth buying cuz i got on sale at guitar center for bout 400 bucks!
 
Re: views on crate amps??

i currently have a crate gx-30m. 30watt solidstate, 12". It was the first amp i ever bought, and i only got it cause i had rented a guitar from that shop, so that amp set me back 75, instead of 200+. Im trying to sell it now, and i am hoping to get 100-125. It has good reverb (tank reverb), the clean is ok, and the distortion is well, not soo great.

I played most of the v-series (all but the 5-watt) at a GC and really loved them. I am in the process of trying to buy Bluesguys VC (vintage club) 6112 (60 watt, 1X12) but who knows, i need more money. I havent played the Vintage Club alot, but id assume they sound similar to the vintage series? The 1 VC i did play i really liked. Anyone have any experience w/ VC?
 
Re: views on crate amps??

I too have a Gx-30m. Blue Voodoos are a great deal, they go super cheap on ebay, and are of professional caliber. Great cleans on those I noticed. As for the GX series...

Well, they make good practice amps anyway. :rolleyes: Particularly with a decent overdrive, distortion pedal. A 10 or 15 watter would probably do ya well.
 
Re: views on crate amps??

i was playing a glx-120 today and it was pretty good nice tones and cool effects on and it also has a cab extention so im thinking about buying that
 
Re: views on crate amps??

Skullkrusher said:
Well, I only have experience with the Blue Voodoo line of Crate amps. I've had my BV for awhile now and it has been GREAT!! I LOVE it!! It's a well rounded tube amp.

yeah same here.
i've had my 2 BVs and they never failed me. love the tone i get form them as well.
lots of ppl say that crate amps always break down and stuff but so far nothing really bad has happened to mine and i've been using Blue Voodoos for a long time now.
 
Re: views on crate amps??

sweet.....yea i think crates are underated amps they dont get the recognition that they should........and the glx120 that i was looking at has a 5 year warenty and it has a speaker extention so i can put it through a cab so thats pretty sweet
 
Re: views on crate amps??

:cool3:

I use a Blue Voodoo combo with the single 12 to drive a lot of stuff via it's loop in plug.

:nana:

Of course there are those who claim that Crate amps always breakdown and to those folks I offer the following:

:bsflag:

And if anyone thinks differently please:

:feedback:
 
Re: views on crate amps??

I think crates are absolutely wonderful for the price range that you'll find their models. Never played their tube selections, but I can say with honesty, if you're looking for a intermediate solidstate amplifier - look no further than Crate. Thick distortion places it among the to-buy list, while the cleans are nothing fantastic - they serve their purpose. Take a peak.
 
Re: views on crate amps??

My experiance with Crate goes back to their early days, the real Crate box amps they made. A good friend had a wall of those that was cool as hell, probably didn't sound so great but we were young and it was fun. I have owned 4 Crate amps over the years; an early 60wt. SS Combo that I had for 10 years in a beautiful wood chassis that was a wonderful amp. I had a small Crate bass combo that was real good for practice and jam seesions and I have owned 2 VC's the 50wt 2x12 and the 20wt. 1x12 both were really good amps in fact the 20wt was excellent, far better than the reputation they have. Jeffrec has the 50wt. 2x12 as well and his sounds great I know he is very fond of it.
 
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Re: views on crate amps??

I love Crate, my first good amp I ever bought was a 120wtt, 2x12 combo GX-212 Crate, I still have and use it.
 
Re: views on crate amps??

I knew a lot of players in the 80's that really dug the 130 watt head, the one with the built in chorus. I hear they're hard to find now.
 
Re: views on crate amps??

The Blue Voodoo amps are probley the best amps Crate has ever built. I like the BV 60 and 120 watt amps but the new 300watt BV amp is overkill. Who needs 300 watts of tube tone?
 
Re: views on crate amps??

As far as I know,
Crate Tube amps=good
Crate Solid State=bad

BUT, it seems like Crate is cranking out some new solid state stuff that's getting a lot of critical acclaim. I know a lot of forum dudes here use them. I've only played/owned the practice sized solid state ones (15-30watts) and they were horrid (broke down constantly and had bad static/feedback problems, fuzzy distortion, etc. Maybe I just got some lemons?), so I don't know about the better SS Crates.

I haven't found any clips of the Blue Voodoos, but you could listen to Marty Friedman.
 
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Re: views on crate amps??

I have the V-Series VFX-5212 with 50 watts of course (actually too loud for home great for stage), 15 digital effects which are pretty good, clean tones like a Vox and the dirty channel is like a JCM 800 Marshall with bit more more gain. I replaced stock speakers with a Vintage 30 and an Eminence GB12.

I really like the V1512 since it, with a tube swap (JJ EL-84s) and an Eminence GB12 speaker in place of the stock Eminence, is so close to a Marshall 18 Watt to be down right scary. Build quality is very good and PC boards are thick and have plated through construction like a Mesa. The larger V-Series have output tube sockets mounted to the chassis, something Mesa and Fender Hot Rod series lack.
 
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