Crate BFX100

Back in the 70's I played in a high powered rock garage band and a job change caused the band to break up. 6 months ago almost 30 years later, The band got back together just for kicks. The next thing you know I needed to buy an amp. and guitar. I purchasd the Crate BFX100 bass amp.for $390 at a local music store. Why the crate? SIZE: compared to the 100 watt amps of the 70's this amp has the same performance for one third the size. And for the type and style of music that we play today it has more than enough power. The digital effects are OK.

Likes? Everything, remember I'm comparing this amp to the amps of yesterday. A three 15" speaker bottom 100 watt Kustom setup took up a lot of room. You had to have a truck of some kind to take it anyplace. And the price is fair

I don't care for the weight. For its size this amp is heavy. The speaker grill is not secured down very well. It has fallen off a couple of times while I was playing through it. The line out feature so you can plug into a PA system is in a poor location. Unless you stumble across it or read about it in the owners manual you most likely will never know you have the feature.

As mentioned before this unit is heavy. To me the means built to last. For the style of music I play with moderate volumes the sound quality is excellent. The EQ is far better than the old tone control knobs.

I've owned over the past 30 years Kustom, Fender, Musicman and others.This is the first Crate for me. If I purchase again it will most likely be Crate. Thank you for allowing me to rate what I beleve is a good product.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I acquired this amp a year and a half ago at a local Guitar Center. I paid about $366.

I like the fact that it amplifies my bass. The effects are all right sometimes. Even though it's heavy it is mobile. The graphic equilizer is a good tool. It allows you mold what sound you want. But this freedom cost you some serious volume points. The limiter light allows you to know when you are damaging your speaker which is constantly flashing.

Only after two years I want to throw this out of a moving car then burn it. For an amp with a 100 watts its sure does not pack that much punch. It takes me a very long amount of time to set it up so it does not hurt the speaker. There is no switch to turn off the equilizer so you cannot just pump up the volume, again, without hurting your speaker.

The contstruction is sturdy, the frame of the amp is strong. It is heavy but that is just nothing. It gives good sound, and it goes along with effect pedals well. It does seem like it has been made by a blind guy. It has a cheap looking cover and is not loud enough to play in a band with. I cannot even hear myself with my friends on this box.

Overall I believe it is a bad amplifier. It's sound is good when you are alone by yourself, but when with a band all you can hear are the glass things rattling around you. It has some good qualities for an earlier player but when you learn there are bigger better things you could have gotten for $360.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

saw it on the internet and decided to order it

everything the tone the effects the 8 band EQ it just the great bass sound that every bass player would won't

the only thing that i dislike about the amp is that it is right heavy!! but it gives me a work out when i carry this beast

i feel that this was the only amp that got the bass sound that i wanted. the effects are just great too. easy to use and just the way they made this amp is great

if you wanna find a good bass tone this the amp for you it's fun to play with and it is the best amp i have used for 100watts i've tryed alot of bass amps and i like the bfx the best. i have been playing for 15 years and this is the best 100w amp that i used.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Crate BFX100 is a 100 watt bass combo amplifier with a 15 inch speaker and built in, on board effects. There is an 8 band equalizer, a speaker out, a headphone out, and selectable effects which can not be combined. However, since fewer effects are generally used on bass, as a pose to how they are used on a guitar, there is little need to combine the effects. It would be nice if there were a direct out of the amplifier that wasn't a speaker output.

UTILIZATION

This amplifier can provide a nice bottom end, yet at the same time can cut through both guitars and drums. It is powerful enough to hold its own against a couple of half-stacks, and if it were miked it'll certainly hold up against more. It doesn't have the same quality as a higher end amp, and it is a bit heavy since both the cabinet and amplifier are combined, but it is a good amp if somebody is dead set on a combo amp.

SOUNDS

The tone out of this amp is pretty good, but with the wrong EQ settings it will get muddy fast. Depending on the volume, the EQ will need to be adjusted. This is more apparent on a bass amp over a guitar amp due to the difference in producing the lower frequencies of sound. The effects are both useful and fun.

OVERALL OPINION

This amp replaced a Fender Bassman 25, which just wasn't loud enough for me to play with a rock 'n' roll band, even if the tone was better than this amp's tone. For the money, and if the player can live without onboard effects, I'd pick up an SWR head amplifier and use a separate cabinet. That way, the player can use different or multiple cabinets depending on his or her needs, out of a better sounding amp with better output features (minus the effects). The effects are nice on this amp, but a pain to implement because it would require dialing them up each and every time, and not easily switchable across songs as a lot of modern effects equipment is. Still, if this amp could be picked up used for each and still sounds good, I'd snatch it up if I were in need of something like this.