Crate B80XL 115 Combo

Amp was made in mid 90's, probabley. This amp is quite versatile. I was surprised to find that I liked it better than my Sunn Studio Bass 1x15 combo, but I did. I liked it because the feature are marvelous. The Sunn that I have just as a 3 band eq, presense, and volume. This has Hi-z & Lo-z Inputs, Gain, Pre-Shape Contour (basically just a really good tone control), a low boost and high boost in addition to its 7-band graphic eq, limiter, line out and line in, and a BALANCED OUTPUT. It's great. It's 80 Watts, I think, just judging be the B80XL, you know...but it's a great solid state amp.

I'm playing a 5 string through this, and the 5th string doesn't come through all that well. When you turn on the bass boost, and put the eq and the preshape to favor earth-shaking bass, the fifth string just rattles the chassy of the amp. As long as I keep the bass turned down on the guitar itself, it's okay, though. It can be noisy...It picks up some hum from around the house but is only heard at loud volumes, with nothing playing, and when the eq's are pumped for the highs. This amp can make any sound, don't get me wrong.

I bought this broken. The engineering of this amp is poor, the headphone jack lies in the direct signal chain of the speaker, so if the headphone jack goes, the sound does too, which is how it came to me. I replaced the jack, and it worked. It was only 4 years old when the jack went. It still crackles a little, but overall it's okay. I wouldn't play a gig without a backup, though.

Overall, if you can find one in good shape, get it. You won't be disappointed in the sounds you can get. This is an incredible amplifier, but mine has been giving me reliability problems since I bought it from a thrash punk act in the area. The thing's about 100 pounds, and it sounds just as heavy.