Crate amps

[mojka]

Anybody own a Crate GFX series amp and if so are you satisfied?

 

[guhlenn]

never heard 'm but most here will tell ya they're crap...

guhlenn

 

[Track Rat]

Two very good friends of mine (one has a Crate, one works for them designing them) would flip me off for saying this but I don't like them. I just don't like the sound and I've recorded quite a few different ones. The built in effects are so-so. Just my humble opinion.

 

[detuned6]

Crate makes good amps for metal tone. I have a black voodoo and mesa rectifier,and the crate allways makes it way on stage. I allso had gx-130c soild state head back in the day. Ive been playing crate amps for about 7 years. If i had the money i would buy the ultimate metal amp -VHT pitbull. I actually bought the mesa first , emenslly disapointed(by this disgusting low mid sound when turned up), tryed the $1100 marshall head -sucks- than bought the crate. Theres a couple of draw backs i must say that i DONT like about crate: all there amps are under watted, they say its a hundred watts but preforms like a 70 amp. The clean channel on my voodoo is louder than the dist channel(that could be onlt my amp thou?). i heard their built in effects are not that great, their basic 4x12 cabs only handle 100 watts. and the footswitches should be made more road ready. Other than that i like the tone of my voodoo cranked thru 8 12" cel.

 

[frederic]

Anybody own a Crate GFX series amp and if so are you satisfied?

I don't have that particular model, but I do have two smaller practice amps. A 30W amp from the early 90's for guitar, and a 50W amp also from the early 90's for bass. I use them both just for doodling whereas I don't want to fire up something with more power and less portability (Ampeg 270 for guitar, Peavey TNT130 for bass).

I freely admit I don't really like the sound of either of them but then again I don't record with them. They simply are "on the go" amps I can take anywhere without breaking my back. The TNT130 weighs a good 130lbs and the Ampeg 270 with a 4x12 cabinet is yet another beast.

I actually have a Peavey fetish, for guitar and bass. I used to own a Bandit 65 and eventually I will get another one. I noticed they are still making it, or a derivitive of it.

 

[guhlenn]

saying a 100 watt tube amp is "underwatted " is simply stupid detuned6.... i don't know who you are but you cannot hear the difference between 70 watts and 100 watts... both are TOO LOUD...

Maybe you play stadiums but the guy asking isn't ... and to be honest i don't think you are either... turning up a 100watt stack isn't going to be likely for him, even a 30 watt tube stack would blow him away... you WANT powertube distortion right?

sorry dude but you're WAY off.
Guhlenn

 

[64Firebird]

saying a 100 watt tube amp is "underwatted " is simply stupid detuned6.... i don't know who you are but you cannot hear the difference between 70 watts and 100 watts... both are TOO LOUD...

Maybe you play stadiums but the guy asking isn't ... and to be honest i don't think you are either... turning up a 100watt stack isn't going to be likely for him, even a 30 watt tube stack would blow him away... you WANT powertube distortion right?

sorry dude but you're WAY off.
Guhlenn

Your right guhlenn! If a guitar player ever needs more than 50w it's the soundman's problem.

 

[detuned6]

my boogie is 50 watts and the crate is a 100. the boogie is way louder by far. Your telling me that i cant tell the differance?? In my post i wasent saying dont get a crate because this, no. crate says that their amp is x amount of watts and i dont beleave them-period. I didnt say a hundred watts is underwatted, what i did say is, it does not sound like 100 watts!!!!, you see??? No, i dont play stadiums,( i did play on a Huge stage on the 2000 milwakee metal fest, and the sound man kept telling me to turn up- i was on 7.5!!!!!) he didnt request anything about the amount of watts needed. so what are you talking about? Do you own a crate? im on my 4th one. and ive had 3 differant crate4 x12's. i never said anything about "you need to turn it up". So y are you ripping into me?

When i played in my last band(death metal) i had my amp on 7, my drummer is fuckin loud, ya so i like loud amps. when dbl bass does not stop, and you got a vokillist gurgling in a mic, and tune to b, its pretty easy to get drowned out. he never specified if he needs a amp for recording or playing out.

Firebird- when you dont get a sound check and the sound man puts to much vokills in the monitors,and never enough guitars, its nice to have a loud amp so you turn it up to compensate.

 

[Pirateking]

So if 70 watt and 100 watt amps are "too loud," then why do they make them?
Oh wait, you mean they're too loud FOR YOU. Funny, the way you stated it, your personal opinion sounded kind of like a broad generalization.
I have a Crate GFX, don't remember the exact model. It was fine in terms of sound, though I'm not as much of a tone geek as a lot of people on this board. Most of the effects are stupid in my opinion, on mine you couldn't really control any of them (can't change delay or chorus time or depth, only 2 reverb settings). From my experience with this amp I figured out that I don't really like amps that have built-in effects, though, so if this is your thing, then obviously ignore that comment. Personally, I would save up for an amp that sounds good clean, then buy effects seperately when you have the money.

 

[musicsdarkangel]

Yes, GFX212

and it sucks. I just baught a Line 6 AX2 goin outta sales so hurry if you want one, for 700 WITH floorboard, it models amps, and any distortion on it sounds better then the crate. In general, crates are good for the price though.


BUT invest an extra few and get a better amp if you can, and the ax2 is EXTREMELY worth it.

If not, definitely check out the Fender Ultrachorus. This babe sounds like a tube amp, with beautiful blues, normal clean, and distorted awsome....very versatil.

Also check out Peavey's (at Sam Ash), and definitely the Marshall JCM800....the most beautiful amp i've heard distorted. I dunno if it's your style though....you should specify.

 

[musicsdarkangel]

my boogie is 50 watts and the crate is a 100. the boogie is way louder by far. Your telling me that i cant tell the differance?? In my post i wasent saying dont get a crate because this, no. crate says that their amp is x amount of watts and i dont beleave them-period. I didnt say a hundred watts is underwatted, what i did say is, it does not sound like 100 watts!!!!, you see??? No, i dont play stadiums,( i did play on a Huge stage on the 2000 milwakee metal fest, and the sound man kept telling me to turn up- i was on 7.5!!!!!) he didnt request anything about the amount of watts needed. so what are you talking about? Do you own a crate? im on my 4th one. and ive had 3 differant crate4 x12's. i never said anything about "you need to turn it up". So y are you ripping into me?

When i played in my last band(death metal) i had my amp on 7, my drummer is fuckin loud, ya so i like loud amps. when dbl bass does not stop, and you got a vokillist gurgling in a mic, and tune to b, its pretty easy to get drowned out. he never specified if he needs a amp for recording or playing out.

Firebird- when you dont get a sound check and the sound man puts to much vokills in the monitors,and never enough guitars, its nice to have a loud amp so you turn it up to compensate.

very correct, my crate doesn't seem like as many watts as it says it is, the line 6 is also 100 (the crate is 120 supposedly), and way way louder.

BTW, if your gigging, i'd settle for at least 100 watts solid state, and at least 30 tube.

my friend has an 80 watt marshall, barely loud enough, but does the job.

 

[bongolation]

Judging volume by advertised watts is just naive.

Volume is mainly a function of speaker efficiency anyway, but there are still people who think that a 100W amp is twice as loud as a 50W amp.

This link has probably been posted fifty times here, but until everone reads it and lets it soak in I don't suppose another repetition is wasted:

Amp Myths

 

[vox]

Theres a couple of draw backs i must say that i DONT like about crate: all there amps are under watted, they say its a hundred watts but preforms like a 70 amp.

detuned6 is right, one of the bands that I work with has two guitarists, one has a 65 watt Peavey bandit combo and the other had a 90 watt Crate excalibur half stack, the crate was always cranked right up to 10 in order to match volumes with the Peavey which was typically set on 4 or 5. The guitarist bitched about it endlessly and eventually bought a Mesa MkIII combo which will match volumes at about 3 or 4.

 

[guhlenn]

Theres a couple of draw backs i must say that i DONT like about crate: all there amps are under watted, they say its a hundred watts but preforms like a 70 amp. The clean channel on my voodoo is louder than the dist channel(that could be onlt my amp thou

i thought you were talking about the black voodoo... i specifically siad TUBE amps... solid state 100watt heads aren't overkill...

I'm sorry to have offended you but i think you're dead wrong i play metal, my drummer hits it hard yeah and he isn't sparse with the db. so i have the reference i think. you say the crate sounded not like 100 but like 70 watts... aside from the fact that that would be only a minor decrease in volume...

i assumed you were comparing the voodoo to the mesa... if the mesa was pumping 70 watts you would sure as hell be deaf very soon! solid states are a different story, but i don't think your reply was about ss. in tube world even 50 watts seem overkill when your lookin for great distortion. i have a 100 watt marshall... iut never gets past three... if you like that much headroom .. fine. but i like powertube distortion ...

and pirate king; i did mean it the way you read it. buy a 100watt marshall ()or blue voodoo) and turn it up... you'll see what i mean, we're talking high gain amps here, there's no need for so much head-room. And saying that if they make it, then they must be usefull is , well, a bit childish... they make the baby jesus butt-plug , available on the internet... do you have a use for it?


guhlenn

 

[guhlenn]

pirate king.

one more comment; do you play stadiums? then you're right and i'm wrong... now have you owned (or do you own) a tube amp?

Guhlenn

ps , detuned 6 , i tune to a , no kidding. And btw i wasn't trying to bash you, i was trying to save the guy some money... even on the bigger stages a 50 watt tube amp will hold up fine... and i for one would love to put the amp to 7.5 and higher... so you were talking about the voodoo or not?

 

[detuned6]

guhleen

the blue & black voodoo(gust the outside covering material is the differance) are the same amp ,and it is a tube amp.

you tune to a? shit, that must be loose, i knew this band that tuned to g, i couldent really understand what they was playing.

 

[Track Rat]

BUT invest an extra few and get a better amp if you can, and the ax2 is EXTREMELY worth it.

I agree. I have a shit load of amps around here all the time. I own a Peavey Bandit and it's a decent amp and records well. I have two Acoustic 450's that suck on guitar but kick ass on bass. There's a Crate 2 12 combo and an Ampeg in the studio right now and my AX2 IMHO sounds better than all of them.

 

[musicsdarkangel]

yea Track Rat, anything in your head, you can put in that amp. I love it, it actually models the amps, and cabs, rather then having a billion effects and a few amp models.

I'm a tube head, and the AX2 cuts the job for me studio and live.


About to use it tomorrow =) wish me luck.

 

[Pirateking]

I'm not going to go into a detailed discussion of supply and demand, but if 100-watt amps were "too loud," then no one would buy them, and the manufacturers would stop making them. The fact that they exist mean that they are not "too loud" to at least some people.
Personally, 100 watts would probably be too loud for my purposes, but I just can't stand broad general answers to a question that was asking for opinions.

 

[Cyrokk]

I bought my Crate DSP back in the early nineties. I think I paid about $500 for it. It was their first model with digital sound processing. It's solid state but has a simulated tube channel. I use the tube for my Epiphone and the ss for my fake Strat. The distortion is quite good, but sucks when it comes to any direct recording (like most amps I guess). Very clean tones that work well with pedals and amp simulators..

I noticed that the clean tone was louder than distorted too.. But isn't that the case with all amps?

Cy