Crate Guitar Amp Heads

I ordered this unit through guitar center after reading so many great reviews. I had been trying to find a new guitar head for my stack and had gone through several brand trying to find a good one in the $400-500 Range. It came out to $439 with free shipping and took five business days to arrive. I'll start off by saying that this amp just superb. It's got lots of power and doesn't distort at high volume. The amp has beautiful sound. Especially the distortion settings. I might as well sell my Metalzone because this thing does it all. The blending on the effects to all the channels is very well done. The controls are easy to use and the mute switch is great. The built-in tuner is AWESOME!! It makes life so much easier. The illumination display is great. You can completely control this amp in the dark. There isn't really anything I don't dislike about this unit. The only thing things I think that would improve it would be that it had 2 speaker outs insead of one. But that can be worked around with dasiy chaining. Also, I think it would be good if this amp had an xlr out for DI. It's be good for people who want to use their amp to record but don't want to mic their stack. But like I said, these would only improve it the amp, not fix it. Solid. The knobs have a nice rubber grip with illuminations on each knob. The amp doesn't even got warm, even after hours of high volume pounding. It's very efficient. It feels light and has a very solid handle to it, better than any I've ever seen. The carrying area in the back of the amp is great. I carry 4 sets of strings, a bag of picks, 2 speaker cords and two 18 foot cors in the back and there's still lots of room to go, as well they are held in there nicely. This is the best pruchase I think I have every made on musical equipment. The great construction, beautiful sound, heavy power, compact design, built in muteswitch/tuner/lights are just phenomenal. And for the price, this amp is second to none. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

i bought it for $400 at a guitar center, i didnt want to spend too much for a head because i was still buying a cab i like clean channel and the metal distortion really, i kind of regret buying this amo because #1 the distortion doesnt get too crunchy and #2 all 3 channels sound like crap when played at high levels. this amp would be alright if you have a PA and mic the amp when it's on a lower volume the construction and quality is pretty good really, this amp is an ok practice amp or a small backyard show, but i wouldn't recomend this to anyone that plays gigs or bigger shows. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

$700 at Guitar Center, New. Paid cash. It can put out some really great sounds. IT has 2 channels, plus a boost from the effects loop. More gain than anyone could ever need. The clean is clean and bouyant, the lead channel sounds great...one should note that the factory installed tubes do no justice for the amp....in fact they compromise it's sound quite a bit. The reverb is nice and not over bearing. The excessive low end takes the edge off of the wound strings. It fairly well constructed. I've taken it apart, and it's not flimsy junk. It weighs at least 50 pounds. It's cab is about an inch or so larger all around than a typical Marshall head. For the money, I really like this amp. It could be used professionally, and it is. The tone is really good once you put the right tubes in the preamp...and put some EL-34s in the power section and it's incredible sounding when you crank it up. Rhyhthms just exude complexities and literally shake your eyeballs. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Paid $350 from Guitar Center. I bought this unit at least a year or two ago, I basically was looking for an affordable halfstack but with enough crunch and gain to fullfill my sound needed for my metal band. Just about everything on this head is great. 120 watts is loud enough for most people, though i am soon upgrading to GFX2200H, seeing my band is becoming bigger, doing more shows and needing more loundess. The shape on this head is great, adjusting it to lower setting gives less distortion but great for playing iron maiden, add more gain and you can get as heavy as metallica to jsut about anyone. Everyone may say tubes are the best, and they are great, but if you dont got the money then this is the head for you. The only think I dont like about this head is at lower volumes I find certain settings great but when turned up i find i dont like them, fidget with the setting sto get the perfect sound. Good construction, I drag this thing around everywhere its holds up great. Looks to small to most musicians, but then when kicked on most people drop their mouths. This head looks small and a bit stupid but throwing out 120 watts makes this a little instrument of destruction. If you are lookiong for a digital, non expensive head this is it. Great distortion with awesome reliability. Never given me a problem. This best head for the $. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Solid State 3 channels - Clean, Overdrive, High Gain (with EQ) 120 watts Evolution 5 preamp DSP with separate controls for effects, including delay, reverb CD/MP3 input Effects loop Built-in tuner UTILIZATION It is easy to get a "good" sound from this amp. Plug the amp in, plug a guitar into the amp, plug in footswitch (optional), and start playing. The amp was well built and pretty tough. It's easy to operate all of the effects and controls if you are familiar with guitar amps/basic effects. SOUNDS I've used a Les Paul, Strat, SG, and Telecaster through the amp. This amp gets loud. Louder than I've ever needed it. Even at gigs it was nowhere near full volume. That being said, the sound quality is rather poor. The cleans sound really thin and tinny. The distortion sounds thin and grainy. It was nice to have the headroom to go from fully clean to fully distorted live but the tones weren't good. I've since upgraded to tube amps. The difference in tone is night and day. I used a few pedals in front of this amp and they all worked pretty well. The built in effects sounded pretty good for built in effects but since the initial tone wasn't great to begin with so it's hard to judge. This amp is capable of playing very high gain music (Hard rock, Metal) and sounded better distorted than clean. OVERALL OPINION I like that this amp was relatively cheap and loud but it sounds like crap. I bought it when I was an inexperienced guitarist so it was fine for the time but when I wanted to fine tune my tone I moved on. Since most clubs mic your amp anyway I think that smaller tube amps are the way to go. Knowing what I know now, I would have gone back and invested in a 5-15 watt class A tube amp instead of this amp. If you really need the extra volume, its worth the investment to buy a more expensive amp.