Product: Crate B20XL
Price Paid: USD 20 USED
Submitted
12/05/2008
at
12:48am
by
California Kid
Features
:
10
This amp was made by SLM Electronics, St. Louis Missouri USA in June of 1990.
This is a 20 watt solid-state practice bass amp with the following features:
Two inputs (passive or active)
Gain control
"Pre-shape" EQ - a notch frequency type EQ
Tone stack - Low, low-mid, high-mid, high
Limiter
Master volume
Line out
Headphone jack
10" speaker with a rear bass port
I use this amp as a bedroom practice amp... just something to hear a bass through.
Sound Quality
:
7
I use this amp with a hot-rodded Fullerton bass or a Squire P-bass, both with split-coil P-bass type of pick-ups. It sounds reasonably good for what it is. Lots of EQ options for an amp this size. At some point in its 18 years, it was either partially submerged in water or spent alot of time in such damp environs that the tolex covering separated from the cabinet. It also had a strong moldy smell to it. Waddaya want for twenty bucks, right? When turning the gain up and the pre-shape EQ down to its bassiest, the limiter makes a noisy pop when it activates. I originally thought that the stock speaker couldn't handle the amp output, so I put in a Jensen C10Q 35 watt speaker. Still makes the pop noise. I spent twice as much money on the replacement speaker as I spent on the amp and it didn't matter. Oh well. Its still a good practice amp, just can't turn it up full volume.
Reliability
:
10
Considering it still worked after its bout with the flooded basement or whatever, it seems
pretty reliable. When replacing the speaker, the screws holding the speaker mounting board in were so tight that two of them split off. The board had absorbed so much moisture that
it swelled around the screws, locking them in. The screws were like 3 1/2" long. Now that the amp resides above sea level, I don't think it'll fail unless I push it too hard, and thats not gonna happen.
Customer Support
:
10
I e-mailed Loud Technologies (Crates current owner) to find out the manufacture
date and I got an answer the next day. I'm not even really a customer.
Overall Rating
:
10
What I love about this amp is that it cost 20 bucks, spent some of its life as a swimmer
and still works pretty good... just not real good.
Product: Crate B20XL
Price Paid: US $60 used
Submitted
10/04/2003
at
01:51pm
by
godmachine
Email: godmachine_57<at>yahoo dot com
Features
:
8
One Channel
headphone jack
dual input
one 10 inch speaker
20 watts
master volume
shape knob
4 tone controls
gain knob
solid state
Sound Quality
:
8
Doesn't sound bad. Doesn't sound great either. Can be overdriven for SoundGarden or Deep Purple stuff. Can't get a real great bass spanking tone however like I Know Somethin (bout you) from Alice In Chains....lacks the "transient attack" sound that you might get from a Hartke cabinet.
Doesn't get very loud. Good for recording or living room use only. You're not gonna hurt your ears with the 20 watts of power.
Otherwise, the amp is great for practice, recording or just jamming with your friends in the living room. headphone jacks make practicing without driving others crazy possible.
No noticable floor noise.
Reliability
:
9
Blew out the speaker by playing it too loud. I guess this is to be expected......
Amp is 15 years old and still works like new.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
10
I've been playing since 1969. Seriously since 1979. I play guitar mostly however. I bought this amp from a friend for recording purposes and for jams.
It's good for recording as the floor noise is excellent. It has a cool distortion in it if I want it.
All in all, for the money and for the purposes other than plying at any kind of ear damaging volumes it's a great amp for the price.
