Crate GT1200 with Speaker

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DM60

DM60

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My brother gifted me an amp. A Crate. I had heard a lot of negatives about Crate, so I wasn't super excited about getting it. I play guitar, but I am not a guitar player. I usually DI and use amp sims, but have always thought the sounds was s**t and really didn't put the sound of the electric guitar too prominent in the mix, either acoustic or something else but not EG.

I get this Crate amp and I have a solid body LTD that I purchased about 6+ years ago. Man the LTD sounded terrible. My cheap hollow body would get used more as it could have a decent sound, but the LTD, well, lets just say, I wasn't a fan. But when I buy something, it will get used somehow (waste not, want not). I am determined to get this guitar to work. The amp looks great, has three "characters" Clean, Rhythm, and Solo. Long story short, I tweaked both the LTD and the amp (having looked at several YouTube's, reading here and just general sound learning over the years. Yesterday, I focused on getting that guitar/amp to sound usable in my next album. I am focusing on sound.

After about two hours, I started dialing it in. Then I found my sweet spot. WOW! I am not sure that an amp simulator could ever "really produce this tone. I mic'ed it up with two condensers, one close the other far (not being crazy about positioning, just cognizant of the sound). Put R'verb on the back end inside the box. I was so exited about the sound I got. Just couldn't believe it after all of these years playing, I have a sound that I don't just like it, but I really love it.

Once I found said sound, I wanted to record some down and dirty. I am just a rhythm guy, but not just up and down, I extend the drums. I ended up with a jam session, came back with my new analog synth, as some other sounds, It was just a pure joy to record. I built something like 8 hours that, while not finished, sounded pretty good, had good energy and felt "played" and not just arranged. Fun.

Anyway, Crate isn't a bad amp, LTD isn't a bad guitar. But it does take more effort than I realized to dial in the sound of a guitar. Just thought I would share.
 
Anyway, Crate isn't a bad amp, LTD isn't a bad guitar. But it does take more effort than I realized to dial in the sound of a guitar. Just thought I would share.
Thanks for sharing. That just shows that with a little patience, you don't need top end gear to get a sound that you love.
 
My brother gifted me an amp. A Crate. I had heard a lot of negatives about Crate, so I wasn't super excited about getting it. I play guitar, but I am not a guitar player. I usually DI and use amp sims, but have always thought the sounds was s**t and really didn't put the sound of the electric guitar too prominent in the mix, either acoustic or something else but not EG.

I get this Crate amp and I have a solid body LTD that I purchased about 6+ years ago. Man the LTD sounded terrible. My cheap hollow body would get used more as it could have a decent sound, but the LTD, well, lets just say, I wasn't a fan. But when I buy something, it will get used somehow (waste not, want not). I am determined to get this guitar to work. The amp looks great, has three "characters" Clean, Rhythm, and Solo. Long story short, I tweaked both the LTD and the amp (having looked at several YouTube's, reading here and just general sound learning over the years. Yesterday, I focused on getting that guitar/amp to sound usable in my next album. I am focusing on sound.

After about two hours, I started dialing it in. Then I found my sweet spot. WOW! I am not sure that an amp simulator could ever "really produce this tone. I mic'ed it up with two condensers, one close the other far (not being crazy about positioning, just cognizant of the sound). Put R'verb on the back end inside the box. I was so exited about the sound I got. Just couldn't believe it after all of these years playing, I have a sound that I don't just like it, but I really love it.

Once I found said sound, I wanted to record some down and dirty. I am just a rhythm guy, but not just up and down, I extend the drums. I ended up with a jam session, came back with my new analog synth, as some other sounds, It was just a pure joy to record. I built something like 8 hours that, while not finished, sounded pretty good, had good energy and felt "played" and not just arranged. Fun.

Anyway, Crate isn't a bad amp, LTD isn't a bad guitar. But it does take more effort than I realized to dial in the sound of a guitar. Just thought I would share.
A snippet would be nice.
 
A snippet would be nice.
Working on it. I have something that I was going to post pretty soon. Just need to get a bit better. Jamming takes a bit of practice ;) I don't to want to totally embarrass myself.
 
I just wanna hear some tone. I don't care if you play anything. 8-)
 
Well, for me it is hard without context. But here is a quick down and dirty.

Crate GT1200 with 4 X12 sealed back
st audio about 1 foot in center of cabinet
Some Russian style mic about three foot back. (tends to be dark)
Bass line is UBX a
Drums SD with grooves
707 drum VSTi
Various other synths played live (I didn't want to quantize and I wasn't going to go and fix as this point) some timing issues
Nothing in the master track, Just a bit of EQ on guitar for low end rumble (below 100) and a bit of 250-350 scoop
First minute is clean, after the break, rhythm selection

 
DAMN! That was great. My wife loved it. Most excellent.
I'm stuck in the house with COVID, and this just might prompt me to go do some work!
 
My brother gifted me an amp. A Crate. Anyway, Crate isn't a bad amp, LTD isn't a bad guitar. But it does take more effort than I realized to dial in the sound of a guitar. Just thought I would share.
Yes all amps are basically serviceable - I see you’ve posted a clip - something artificial in the recording - I have to listen it a few more times to discern what it is I’m hearing.
 
Yes all amps are basically serviceable - I see you’ve posted a clip - something artificial in the recording - I have to listen it a few more times to discern what it is I’m hearing.
Probably the delay and reverb I am routing the dry signal through. There are plenty of "artificial" items in the mix, since I am mainly concerned how the instrument sounds in the mix. I am not a guitar centric arranger. But I do lean on the guitar to provide the groove more than I lean on the drum. The grooves I use out of SD are rather basic. I try to play in between to fill it out.
 
Most of the negativity about crate amps revolved around their distortion tones. The cleans were always good.
 
I have an old Crate bass amp which is low volume but serviceable and IDK two or three LTDs laying around here which I found are equally serviceable. The best thing about your discoveries (IMO) is the concept making an effort to get the best use of what we have.

With an eq pedal and a decent overdrive pedal you can pretty much get useful tracks from just about anything if put in the proper context.

I have a $50 amp with 8" speaker and $90 amp with 10" speaker that can sound terrible in the room but use the right mic in the right environment and I can get huge sounding guitars on the recording.

Conversely, I can use one of my tube combos or head/cab setups and get something tight and focused and everything in between. Not because I'm smart, just by being willing to spend the time to figure out how to get the result I wish.

Applause for your efforts and thanks for sharing with us.
 
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