Crate

The Crate Power Block can be use in Monophonic mode at 150 watts at 8 ohms or in Stereo at 75 watts at 4 ohms. On the front of the CPB, are the Gain, Treble, Mid and Bass knobs, an Input plug and Headphone input so you don't disturb neighbors or your significant other. The back features an input for RCA Jack's to plug in any outside source like a Tascam CD-GT2 Guitar Phrase Trainer to play along or learn music from . And there is a knob to control the volume . It has a mono switch , monophonic output and two stereo out put, in case you want to play in stereo . The Effects Loop needs a "Y" chord to work properly. I placed a BBE 482 Sonic Maximizer for proper phase alignment and Hush / Rocktron Super C Noise Reduction Unit to act as a Noise Gate in the Effects Loops of my CPB's . I use mine as if it were a Hiwatt amp : a clean pedal platform to translate what various distortions or clean tone are sent in from my Decibel Eleven Loop Expander, Digitech RP-12, RP-1 and rack processors. I gain stack my distortions, Overdrive , Fuzz and clean sounds from my multi effects units and set the gain knob in my CPB's at 2 or 3 O'clock, set my guitars volume knob at 6 or 8 for clean sounds . My Digitech 2112 SGS has 12ax7 tubes and from the left and right balanced out puts they go into two VHT Valvulator 1's before going into my two Crate Power Blocks. I have 100% tube dynamics and sound, I no longer have haul my heavy tube amps around to rehearsals or venues . This came out way before Quilter, Seymore Duncan Power Stage or Orange Tiny Terror. In my opinion, this was Crate's greatest / most versatile amp ever and it was way ahead of its time . Some people use them as a backup, just incase their main amp goes down during a gig, but I managed to get the sounds of my Fender , VHT, Carvin, Peavey, Mesa Boogie and Marshall amps, I keep those aforementioned amps at home safe . Two years ago, the Crate Power Block was usually selling for $ 80.00 to 120.00 US Dollars, but have doubled in price and when you try one, you will see why .

This is an all tube monster...Don't let the name fool ya, this thing is no practice amp or solid state in any way...It has 5 12AX7 preamp tubes and 4 power tubes...It comes with 6L6s but I switched mine to EL34s and love it! There is a series loop, reverb, footswitch, and 1/4 inputs outputs...There is an out for DI use too! There is 100 watts of pure tube mayhem and plenty of gain to make even the heaviest player more than happy... There is a presence knob that is quite useful in getting the high end just right... This amp is as much Ampeg as Crate.... UTILIZATION The cleans on channel one are really good...Very nice clarity and fullness...Sounds like a Fender clean that can handle twangy or jazzy...It doesn't break up much so you can really push it... The gain channel is pretty crazy...It can get a really nice crunch - with the EL34s in mine it has a nice Marshall flavor...It can also get really heavy and gainy...Be careful as it turns to fizz if you use too much... The manual is quite clear and sufficient for basic use... The bias adjustment is on the bottom of the chassis and takes some work to get to...That's one of the few drawbacks... SOUNDS This amp likes humbuckers as it is a mean machine...However, singles sound terrific through the clean channel and even better on the gain channel with the gain way back...Very bluesy and articulate when used in that way... I like both channels very much...The gainy channel has more gain on tap than most amps and can get squealy and fizzy if overused...Some amps sound great with the gain knob wide-open - this isn't one of those... The manual comes with some great settings for all sorts of styles... The EQ onboard is simple yet effective... This amp sounds different with 6L6s than with EL34s...The 34s give a British warmth to the tone while the 6L6GCs I used made it more recto and buzzy in tone... OVERALL OPINION I like the price and value of this amp...Mine has been modified by Voodoo Amps in Ohio...They have a special mod for this thing and it's worth every penny...It makes it tighter and more clear... You won't find an all tube beast like this for much less than what these bad boys sell for used...I'm not sure why they didn't catch on - probably because of the big CRATE on the front...It almost made me turn away but I'm glad I didn't..

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

This is a transistor amp for any on-the-go musician. It delivers 15W of power and is driven by a large 'car battery' which or course can be recharged. A full charge can last up to 8 hours (plenty enough for most applications). You can connect two instruments (one XLR/Jack combination and one just Jack) and have one EQ section (hi/mid/lo) controlling both. There is also an RCA in and a headphone out...that's it. There are not effects or effect loops - this unit was designed to be as simple as possible. UTILIZATION The Taxi is basically plug-and-play. You don't really need a manual. You get a clear and loud sound right away - any sound tweaking should be done with outboard equipment though. The built in EQ ist good for last minute adjustments but really is not of very high quality. The unit is quite heavy - but on the other hand you get up to eight hours of independence. SOUNDS This amp does not really sound good and it is not the intention of this piece of equipment. It sounds decent enough though and most importantly: it is loud! I was quite amazed at the volume that came out of this little box. I know now why this has been a staple for street musicians. When you stand outside it is not important if the highs are breathy or the lows are tight - it mainly matters that you are heard over all the other noises surrounding you. Most players add a bit of delay to make the signal less dry. OVERALL OPINION This amplifier has really been holding its own ground mainly because it can deliver a loud signal for quite a long time without having to plug into a power outlet. If you want more power get the TX30. I think Roland just put out a new version of their cube series - I don't know how well they do compared to the Taxi though. I also don't know if this amp should be any bigger or heavier for it to be still portable. If you are a travelling street musician this might already be too much - maybe someday they will develop lighter batteries. The Taxi 15 really is not very expensive though and is built to last. So if you need a setup that needs to be independet of a power supply and still need to stay within a certain budget this might be an interesting solution.

There is absolutely nothing bad that I can say about this amp. When I was shopping for a new acoustic amp I was pretty much convinced that I wanted a Fender SFX II. So I went to the local shop and started playing around with one. I had the first SFX amp and really liked it. Well for some reason I wasn't that impressed with the SFX II, it was a tonal issue, I couldn't get a sound that I liked from it, everything seemed too twangy, no matter what I did. So I played the other Fender acoustic amps, all were the same. So, I tured to the Crate line. I've never been impressed with Crate. I owned a Crate PA, while inexpensive, it definitely didn't perform the way I thought it sould for the cost. But I was wrong about the acoustic amps. I started with the most expensive the Telluride but wasn't impressed with some of the options and worked my way down. I got to this amp and fell in love. It has 60 watts of amazing power, 2 channels that accept either a 1/4" or XLR cable (The Telluride didn't), an amazing array of output options including and external speaker out which is amazing and a direct line out with ground lift. The external speaker out really impressed me. I thought that at most it would power an additional 12" speaker. I was wrong, I hooked up a Yamaha BR15M and it sounded amazing and had no power issues so I hooked up the other one as well and the same thing. I couldn't believe it. I didn't even have the master volume up that much and I had an incredible sound. This amp also come with a footswitch for the effects and feedback supresion. You can program the effects if you like and use the footswitch to control them, a very nice feature. The effects sound great as well. It also comes with RCA inputs for hooking up an iPod or CD player. I've never used it but I would have no doubts given how this amp performs that it would sound great. This truely is an amazing amp. I often times for coffee shop gigs only use this and leave my PA at home. I has amazing power and an incredible sound. If you are looking for a great acoustic amp buy this one and save yourself some money, it may not look like much but you will definitely be amazed when you plug into it. UTILIZATION This is one of the easiest amps that I've used. Everything is really straight forward, I'm not even sure why they include a manual with it. Again this amp sounds amazing, save yourself some cash and buy this one. SOUNDS I could't have found a better amp for my musical style, the sound from this amp is really clear and vibrant. It reproduces exactly what your guitar or voice sounds like, which is really important to me. I don't often use the effects, I'm a kind of bare-bones player, but when I do they sound really amazing. It also has a contour for the MID in the EQ which is really nice for fine tuning the sound. OVERALL OPINION I've used this amp for about 6 months and I wish I would have been using it alot earlier. It is light, compact, and delivers a massive punch. Like I said I tried several amps before this one and it is by far the best. The price is right. Go out and buy it.

bought one 1990 and i've used it for practicing with a band and playing live (just be sure to hook another cab to it) i had a 4x12 and a 4x10 hooked to this when playing live and it was plenty loud. the chrous depth was set to 10 and the rate to zero and an eq in the efx loop and it sounded fat. very recomend. the only problem was that after 8/9 months (through normal wear and tear) the chrous burnt out and i blew a speaker. even used it for bass and it was just as good (this is 37 yrs ago) but after all this time there have been better amps being borned out there and i would look round a bit more.

Possibly the most fun I’ve had on gigs was with this thing. Not as good as a great tube amp, and technology has come a long way but it did what it claimed perfectly. The models it had were spot on in the sense that they were usable and sometimes subtle as real amps are as opposed to just being caricatures for testing. Touch wah was a weird style of envelope filter that I haven’t really heard done exactly the same since. Loud enough for a club gig if you don’t play rock. Great value for the money and I might pick one up now because they’re dirt cheap on reverb. Left it in a storage room and then didn’t get back in the country for quite some time so it’s gone now. One of only two amps I miss having (other is a boutique tube amp that also got left behind). And the stereo rotary was nice for back then. Lot of bang for the buck.

There seems to be a lot of negative reviews on Crate solid state amps. I've been playing guitar over 40 yrs.. I'm not a beginner. I've owned and played through a LOT of amps. I have modified and upgraded many amps as well. I've done solid state, hybrids, and tube amps from low end to high end. I currently own a Crate GX212 and GFX65. I play mostly classic rock, southern rock, jazz, blues, and country. I don't use the high gain channels on the Crate amps because I'm not in to metal or heavy distortion. I absolutely love the clean channels on my Crate solid state amps. They have plenty of punch(guts) with chime and sparkle. I use pedals for overdrive and light distortion. These amps IMO are some of the best amps for clean tone and clean headroom. They have more than enough volume for gigging. Except for the Jazz Chorus 120, the Crate is my go-to amp for almost everything I play and every place I gig. I set mine up by dimming the bass, mid, and treble. I then back off which ever control that I have too much off. IMHO these are excellent amps....especially for the money!!

I bought this amp from Guitar Center after having tried it out with a Gibson LP Studio guitar. It had the kind of "crunch" tone I was looking for in a gain channel with excellent note definition that allows you to hear the separation of each individual string without any harshness when playing any two notes or six notes together. I was equally impressed with the clean channel. Amazing clarity and bell-like tone for the highs and mids with enough "presence" and "fullness" that are difficult to find in a solid state amp. And the bass is beefy enough yet isn't muddy, but clear that would definitely rival a tube amp. The clean channel takes pedals exceptionally well, too. The fact that it has a third channel for soloing was an added feature that has tremendous range in tone that can take you from Classic Rock tones to Heavy Metal. Punching through the mix of a four-piece group is no problem with this amp. You will hear yourself among the other musicians with no problem at all. This amp never ceases to amaze me. I will say the reverb is not the greatest. I keep it on level three or lower. Any higher and your ears get tired of the effect. Which is no big deal, because I prefer delay more than reverb anyway. Another added plus is the 3-button foot switch that comes with the amp. Overall, it is my amp of choice. And I've tried everything from a Marshall JCM 2000 to an Ibanez Tone Blaster and a Fender Twin. The Crate XT120R is incredibly versatile with the tone and volume that I need for both rehearsal and live gigs at small to medium size venues. Who knew that a little known amp could do so much for such a little price. Now, of course the kind of guitar you have with the kind of pick ups you use will make a difference in your tone and overall sound. For the Les Paul Studio I use it is a match made in heaven. I have not found any other amp or guitar combination that works any better for the style of music I play. And I have played a lot of different styles in my day. Well done Crate!

I am Sir Puffers Rabbinald the Third of Comparative Anatomy, the most barrage drum and bass band on the animal planet. I play lightning treble bass. We have played since birth. This amp was Puffer's first real bass amp. It's a large, cube-shaped, off-black amplifier with a handle at the top, the Crate logo on the mesh, and tons of nobs. Along with the usual volume and gain, you have an incredible equilizer that can really give you a nice range of sound. My mother rabbit gave it to me before I blew up the den with my lightning bass power. It cost her around $350 I believe. <a href="http://www.myspace.com/comparativeanatomy">http://www.myspace.com/comparativeanatomy</a> The great thing about the Crate BX-100 is its versatility. For its size, this thing delivers. It has excellent gain, a contour nob for getting a general sound for a foundation, an awesome 8-band equilizer, master level, balanced line out, and the usual. The equilization on this thing is killer, you can really, really derive some great sound out of it and an incredible range. Very versatile. In addition, aside from the fact that its only 100 Watts, this thing is LOUD. It's surprisingly loud. I've used this in medium-sized venues and was able to fill the room with wonderful lightning bursts at roughly a little over HALF of max volume. Don't let the 100W fool you, the BX-100 has some fine kick to it. Definitely good for a small or medium venue band, this thing can crank. The only thing I really didn't like about the BX-100 is the size. One of the reasons I think it's so loud is the absolutely beast size of the cabinet the speaker is in. I mean, we're talking probably three times the necessary size. This, unfortunately, makes this cube of death incredible awkward to carry. It has NO wheels on the bottom and no handles on the sides for ease of transport, and the pathetic little handle on the top looks like it could snap at any moment, not to mention it's almost impossible to carry it around with it in any sort of way short of ridiculous. If it weren't so heavy, this might not be an issue, but its size and weight really make the BX-100 an awkward, often painful experience on the road. It damaged two car windows in the time I've had it and destroyed countless plastic things in the back seat. Make sure it's secure in the car or where, because if this thing moves, everything dies. Another issue worth noting is NOTHING inside the back to hang and/or hook the cord to. Talk about annoying, try carrying this and have the cord fall between your legs as you're going down a flight of stairs. Still, the BX-100 is a solid, nicely put together piece of equpiment. I had it for years and cranked it up quite a bit and never had a problem with it. It's definitely built to last for a long time. Overall, the Crate BX-100 delivers where it really needs to, the sound. Keep in mind its size may break the back of the strongest of musicians, but if you can look past this (and perhaps install your own side handles, which should be easy to do), it's a great amp and will give you all the power you need. Heck, I'd go so far as to say this is one step below a half-stack. Turn it on and see why! This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Black, 15 watt practice amp. I bought it with my first bass. I think it was $100 at the time, but I'm not sure, probably cheaper, you can definitely get one cheaper now. It is a great little practice amp, and a great amp for beginners who are getting started with there first electric bass. If you are just playing with yourself or with some other either quite acoustic instruments or lower volume electric instruments, you will be fine. It's not very powerful, but then again its not supposed to be. Back when I first started playing I brought this amp to a drummers house to try and jam with some guys, and I could not hear anything over the guitars and especially the acoustic drums. If you want to play with a band you will need a more powerful amp. You will defiantly need something more powerful to play for a crowd of more then a few people. Built to last, its a great little amp and does its job well. You should not have any problems with the speaker blowing out even at its loudest volumes. For the money and for a beginner or for practice, its a great amp! I recommend it. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Stereo twin speaker amp roundabout 85W, features two channels (Clean and driven)with Chorus effect and Reverb built in to the unit. Also features stereo (2 Jacks) direct amp line out (For mixer etc.) and stereo external speaker line out. Optional footswitch for Reverb/Channels and optional footswitch for Chorus. Footswitch easily homemade! Level, Bass, Mid and treble controls on clean channel. Level, Gain and 'Shape' control on driven channel. Some came with twin Celestian Speakers, some with 'Crate' Speakers I believe. I play Rock, Blues and early Metal usually with twin humbuckers with the driven channel and neck single coil on the clean. I got this amp from new as a replacement for a Fender Blues Switcher type amp, the name of which I forget around 21 years ago! Price was circa £220/£250 UK. To cut a long story short the Fender amp broke within a week and the shop replaced it with the Crate. Channel Switching is handy. The amp is virtually indestructable and very heavy. Never been happy with this amp from new. I think you either love it or hate it. Impossible to get a tube like sound or even a slightly bluesy distorted sound. If your after a punchy driven mid sound with muted bass and treble you won't get it. With a lack of tonal controls on the driven channel, its either full on processed cheese or clean. With the gain on full, the shape control trys to roll off the fizz and emulate more of a marshall JCM type sound but fails pretty miserable. Turning up the shape control just saturates the tone with more processed fizz and it'll also start to hum like a jack lead is amiss. To be honest I now use a zoom G1 with the clean channel only and that sounds less processed. Before I used a Graphics EQ. The clean channel distorts and flaps the relatively small speakers above third volume with mid and treble up. Reverb is OK but not as strong as some. Indestructible. If you like a sharp, biting processed ultra hairspray heavy metal sound or value distortion over tone - maybe hide your bum notes this amp is probably for you. Not really usable on clean at mid-high volumes due to horrid small speaker flap and distortion. Not a rock or blues amp at all. You just won't ever find the depth of tone with the smaller speakers and the lack of tonal controls on theb driven channel simply confounds the matter. Nice clean channel but its only really usable at halfway volume. I found the Fender Switcher amp could go more distance with richer, deeper more bodied and relaxed tonal qualities, but hey that broke after a week! The old Crate's still going 21 years later! This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com