Crate Guitar amplification

Purchased at a Pawn Shop for $550.00 I acquired this amp after hearing a Phoenix Arizona based deathmetal band called Vehemence with both guitarists using Voodoo stacks. This amplifier does it all for me. Both channels offer a wide range of sound that blows just about every other amplifier away. The stage presence is just unreal. Honestly, you don't need effects with this amp. It is easy to tune in a killer crunch sound that blows away Marshalls. When I first saw this amp I immediately went home and grabbed my Schecter XXX and returned to the pawnshop it was at. I went directly in to the amp without any effects and I immediately fell in love with it. I currently use a Digitech RP7 and a Metal Zone pedal and I get some intense sound out of this setup. The power of this amplifier is unreal. Nothing can drown this 120 watt tube amp. This is a used unit and it suffers a broken effects switch on the front face plate. It doesn't effect me at all and would be a quick fix, if neccessary. I'm not much of a tube fan either but this amplifier justifies the hassle. Honestly, I can't find anything about this amp to really complain about. It rocks! Other than the broken effects switch, the amplifier is built like a tank. This thing weighs a ton! It's taken me 20 years to find a guitar amplifier that I'm totally satisfied with. Great job Crate! This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought the GLX 1200H head with the matching crate 4x12 120 watt cab. I paid 900 dollars for the package deal Let me start by saying that I am an absolute perfectionist when it comes to researching my big purchases. After 3 solid months of studying on and playing different guitar amps I settled on the crate. I play in a 4 piece rock band and I needed an amp versitle enough to cover all the different types of rock that we play... I also needed an amp that sounded good enough to sell records at our shows. If this amp was stolen I would turn around and by the exact same amp to replace. I am absolutely happy with my amp which I have now owned, practiced and gigged with for 6 months. This unit is LOUD, it sounds great, it is perfect for my fender electric, and my ovation acoustic/electric. I love the distortion, I love the warmth of the clean channel. It is the best half stack you can by for under 1000 bucks. The onboard efx and channal tracking footswitch are cool, the lights look cool, and the mute button with on board tuner is a function that should be on every guitar amp because after using it on stage, I now couldn't live without it. This baby is my prized posession. I like everything, but I guess I'd have to say that the onboard effects could probably be improved. About half of them are awesome, and then there are about 8 effects which are kinda cheesy.... like they don't sound natural enough. I love using the effects on my ovation acoustic though... I get the sweetest acoustic sounds you've ever heard using a little chorus and a little reverb and a little delay... all right there included with the amp Very sturdy; I've had no problems whatsover, and I have to haul this thing around every weekend. Well built. I love this amp. It is the best there is for under 1000. It is perfect. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Veronda music K3 IL., I got the amp for $400+ And I've had it a couple months. I bought it because i wanted a tight combo to go with my dean 79v ml so i could get ready for my marshall mode four i'm getting and it has not failed me. I also wanted The digital effects combos which were convienient for experimenting and developing a unique 'sound of my own'. Well right off the red lights in the knobs are to die for! Definately a feature to be competitive with any amp whether it be a combo, head, valvestate or solid. I will miss the heck out of those bad boys on my $2000.00 marshall mf for sure! The tuner is really nice it has the power to go a half step up or down on the fly no problem. And The mute is awesome it lets a good amount of volume come thru which i love in home practice it gives a quiet yet crunchy rich sound i miss on open volume. The effects are not top of the line but they are effective in giving combos and ideas that otherwise i may never have been able to try and that is really nice. 120 watts make it obviously worthy of being called loud and probably gig ready though i would never gig with a combo. Also the footswitch with channel track is nice. Well it's a low end combo and it's solidstate which isn't pro-quality. Not to say it's low-end as much as mediocre i guess. but whatever... It's built pretty rugged looking i don't abuse it much though. It breaks up sound quality sometimes. the lights are nice and bright and the construction on them looks pretty nice. The 'solo' or lead channel is a little mysterious I don't really find any explanations as to exactly what it is. or what it does so; I guess amp kinda leaves itself a lil hard to use in a harmonic situation it's what you might call unique; which is not what you want in a band gear you want universal, you want standard so you can relate what you are doing to what others are doing in a cover situation similar effects, settings and technology to other bands gear which nine out of ten times won't be crate. so... sketchy in that way. This amp for anyone who can afford the luxury would be optimum for warm ups, home practice in say an apartment or something cuz of the volume mute which is not actually mute but quiet at full volume with a great crunchy sound. And really nice to have around on stage with a proper stage amp like a half stack. Also it's really great as a temporary amp to experiment with the different fx and try new things or to move up to 100+ watt sound and gain some experience in that realm before investing in a large system of some type. I give it a 4 because it's great at what it does but, it is not a 5 out of 5 in guitar amps by far. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought this at Musicians Friend (Enemy) for @ $349.00 Sounded pretty good at low to moderate volumes. Effects were nice to have. (While they worked!) At higher volumes this P.O.S. farted and crackled like a mofo. Effects were limited at best. The effects quit working after about 4 months of use. Tried to send it back to Musician's Friend but they would'nt take it because it was still under the manufacturers warranty. I called Crate (Crap) and they told me to send it back and they'd fix it, but I had to cover shipping both ways and insurance. It would have cost me $80.00 to do this. So I said fuq it and sold it to a pawn shop. Cheap a$$ light weight fiber board and flimsy plastic. Made in pieceocrapistan. Save your money. Buy a quality amp from a local dealer. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Bought it from eBay for $279.00. I had a older Crate G40XL and like the sound. This amp kicks @ss!! The effects are great. The solo channel is kind of finicky. Too much Gain and she squeals like a pig. The onboard tuner is super handy. Lets you know if you're flat - on - sharp. The knobs light up in red. VERY handy for those dark stages. Nothing so far Run of the mill combo amp construction. Handle is comfortable. For a solid state amp, this is a nice one. I don't know if I'd pay $400 but I'd go $350 easily. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I was lent this amp for several weeks while the store fixed the mess they made getting my amp. Uhhmmm...I got rid of it... that's what I liked. I guess at low level volume, it's channels sounded pretty good. It's huge. It's ugly. I had to practive with it at MAX volume, and it didn't sound "pretty good" then. It's good quality. I am a big Crate fan, and I believe most of their products are solid and well designed. The problem with this amp is that in the showroom it sounds good because you can't crank it well. A far better buy would be to dish out forty dollars more and get a glx1200h head. Then you have 30% more power and newer updated sounds. Or spend half as much and get a used gfx1200h. With both of these alternatative options you get effects that aren't on the gx900h. Bottom line, definatly not worth 400 dollars. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I purchased it from a local guitar shop used for around $450. I like the volume it pushes and the tone that it pushes. It is a very good amp for distorted tones and on board effects. It is a little difficult to get a clean tone but it has a great clean preset. It is extremely versatile. It is an extremely heavy amp weighing in at around 70 lbs. Thats a lot for a little guy like me. I don't like the difficulty to get a clean tone and acoustic tone. I haven't found a use for turning it up past 5 it is just too damn loud. It is a 212 combo with celestion speakers. It is a 100 watt combo amp and pushes every bit of it. It has 16 amp models to choose from that give you a varience in sounds you can get and use. The effects are very cool for getting spacy sounds out of your guitar. The quality is top notch for a solid state amp. It is a good starting amp for a gigging musician. It is relatively inexspensive compared to its digital counterparts. It has served its purpose of being very very loud on several occasions and I love playing through this amp every day I've owned it. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I got the GLX-30 from Musician's Friend Online because I had just bought an electric guitar and needed to stop borrowing my friend's amp (he had a Crate too). I paid about $280 for it, and it was delivered within the estimated shipping time frame of 2-5 business days. This amp is pretty nice. I like a lot of the small features on this amp: The GLX-30 has a built in tuner on the top that is quite useful. It has a nice build and is very sturdy, and not too heavy. The controls are well placed and easy to work with. It has a clean channel and a solo channel and the necessary sound controls on each. On the clean channel there is "low", "mid", and "high". On the solo channel, there is "gain" and "shape". These controls are solid and have good a effect on the sound. Probably the best part is the effect pannel, with 16 effects. These effects are pretty awesome. The GLX-30 can't handle being turned up real loud. So, you won't get too much volume out of this amp. The solo drive is pretty basic and the overdrive is not very smooth. The clean drive is also pretty basic, but it works out alright. The worst part about this amp is the price. The price is really high for the volume you get out of this amp. Like I said, the quality is pretty good. It is solid and holds up well. The controls are laid out well, too. The only issue is the amount of volume you get out of this amp. The GLX-30 is a good beginners amp, but is very pricey. If you want a louder one, look elsewhere. The effects are pretty sweet, but don't make up for this amp's inability to crank up the volume before loosing sound quality. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bourght this Amp as my first in Hayward Guitars, Winchester as my 1st amp for £70 I like the size of the amp, the weight and the comforting click of the on/off button. It is great as a 1st amp, is 70d.b, plenty to jam with mates andlooks good. The distortion is too heavy, it has a lack of options, and everything that isn't in the likes section Heavily built, cood construction and good quality A good starter amp for the 1st 10-12 months of playing. Upgrade after that. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought this piece of crap at Guitar Center. I paid around 100 bucks for it. I bought it cuz i had just bought an electric guitar, so i needed a friggin amp. I only like the effects cuz they are good. The rest of the amplifier can suck my white ass. everything except the effects. The gain sucks monster monkey balls and the speaker is the worst thing in the world. I swear to god, when you turn this thing up loud, it farts...jesus christ...im gonna save for the new kick ass Marshall MF350H. And i will just use my old amd as a night stand. Sucky. Pure suckiness. The wires in the back always get tangled or come loose when i take it somewhere. It is gonna blow up in a couple of months. god damn... DONT BUY THIS AMP. EVEN IF YOU WANT A BEGINNER PRACTICE AMP, DONT BUY THIS AMP. IT IS HORRIBLE. if you purchase this amplifier i will slowly rip off your feet and cook them. Crate = SHIT This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Musician's Friend - $499.99 - Seems to be the standard price online for this unit through various vendors. This is a big, tough, loud amplifier. 120 watts RMS pumping 2 12" Crate Speakers. Buy some ear protection. For a solid-state amp, this unit has very nice gain with a tube-like tone. It has 16 digital effects, which all sound quite nice (24 bit effects) and are actually useful compared to what you'd normally expect in an all-in-one package. It has a crystal-clear clean channel, a crunch channel and a solo channel with EQ for each. 3-button footswitch is included and allows you to switch between channels and turn effects on and off. The Crate channel-tracking feature is excellent. Once you set an effect and effect level to a channel, the amp remembers the setting for each channel (even after turned off). Works out quite nicely. I dig the SRV sound, so I use the "rotating speaker" effect on the clean channel, and it's very convincing. A little chorus/reverb on the crunch channel, and flange/delay on the solo channel, and everything is set for gigging/jamming. Oh, did I mention switchable lighted control panel? Very good for low-light situations. It also has a lighted, built-in tuner on the top of the unit that is always on, and has an integrated mute switch for quick tuning. Nothing to note. As always, Crate builds a great product (Made in the USA). Sturdy construction with no flaws to note. It weighs in at 56 lbs, so it's not something you want to lug around a lot, though the recessed carrying handle is extremely rugged should you need to do so. Great product, great value. Once I'm able, I'll get a 4x12 cabinet to set this unit on (it has external speaker cabinet outputs). Plenty of guts for a good sized venue. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I got this unit for Guitar Center but I do not remember what I paid for it. I got it because the amp I was using was really old and started to shock me while I was playing it. I didn't want an overly expensive amp so this one was just fine. I like the fact that it has Digital FXs. Cheap. Pretty good for a 15 watt amp. It is designed for begginers and once you get better it really sucks. Also you don't have individual controls for the FXs. Another thing is that you may have to move around for awhile so that it doesn't pick up the radio. The qaulity is okay. I think there should be a back on it and that it should be less sensitive to radio frequencys. A very good starter/practice amp for the price. A good buy for a begginer. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com