All user reviews for the Crate VFX5112

I bought this amp off E-bay for $350. Fairly new, they haven't made this model that long. I already have a Crate Vintage Club 50 watt head but I was in the mood for a combo. The VC has great EL84 tone so I knew the 50 watt combo with EL34s should sound good too.

Great classic looks with the chrome V. The controls are laid out logically. The digital effects are OK but you can't control speed of the pre-sets, just intensity. You can enter an effect into memory for both channels independantly.

It's all about tone and this one's got it. Great projection with none of the thin tone with Fender guitars that many other amps have. It has one 12 inch speaker but the thing can get really loud. Stays pretty clean at high volumes on the clean channel. The lead channel can go from slight blues overload (my favoirite) to full distortion. It's pretty quiet at reasonable volumes. High gain channel will hiss some at higher gain but all amps do to one extent or the other.



I'd trade the digital effects for a good spring reverb because I have more control with my pedals. But I can leave at least one of my effects at home because of the built-ins.

Construction is very good. I get no buzzes. Seems very solid. Tubes are in the amp section which is walled off. Changing tubes could present a challenge but I'm not there yet.

Crate is known for their solid state amps. Few musicians know about their excellent tube amps from the past and present. Their Vintage Club amps 30, 50 or 60 watters give jaw-dropping tone like this one does. If you're thinking of going tube and you want to avoid the boutique prices, think Crate, Peavey (Classic 30, Delta Blues). Good cleans and satisfying overdrives. You won't be disappointed.

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