Crate BFX100

100w, 1 ch, fx, fx loop DI with level and pre/post control, 8 band eq, limiter, ex speaker out, headphone jack 15" speaker

Use with an SR400. Originally I bought a Behringer BX1200 and took it back and bought this used. It way outpowers and out thumps the Behringer even at 100 watts. Its much cleaner and quieter as well. The 8 band eq is very useful and makes for a variety of sounds.

I would not have a problem using this without a backup. It feels very solid (reminds me of the old Peaveys-heavy and woody..I love it when people complain about a combo amp being too heavy. Try a rack full of Ashly power amps!). As a matter of fact, when I was bringing it home, I had it in the back of my truck and had to slam on the breaks to avoid an accident going about 45mph. It slid forward and slammed against the cab, almost breaking the back window out. Got it inside, hardly a scratch on it and it worked fine!

Been playing for around 18 years. I`m perfectly happy with the amp. Lots of low end. Very smooth sound. The built in fx I would not really miss, but its a little extra thing to play around with so I cant take off any points for that.

For my use I REALLY wish it was more portable. I had left it at my church for a year of so, so it hadn't bothered me any. But now that I don't play there anymore I loathe moving it around.

This is an amendment to my previous review. The tone of this amp is not as good as I made it out to be. After having used various combinations of SWR, Ampeg, Nemesis, Peavey,and other cab/heads/combos, I realized the tone is not all that good. It leaves a lot to be desired. It never gives me the exact tone I'm looking for. I guess you would say it kinda "masks" the tone, kinda like mono as opposed to stereo. Also, the better your bass is, the better the amp sounds.

The amp did shut down on me once b/c I left it on by accident for about 24 hrs. straight. After letting it sit for a day or two to cool down it was just fine again. It's not the kind of amp that could withstand anything so I would be skeptical to go w/o a backup.

I bought this amp new in 2000 and it works very well for my situations. It will do any style I play, including punk, metal, hard rock, church praise & worship, etc. You can see the above posts for features. I don't use some of the DSP effect because there is no footswitch and you can't just stop playing to turn on the effects. Don't get me wrong, they work really well, but I wish the effect cut through the mix a little more. The best feature though is the EQ because I can dial in any tone with it. It is plenty loud enough for me because our soundman keeps telling me to turn it down. I hate that because I wanna feel my bass and this amp can certainly do that. I have used it in gigs a few times and it worked but could have used a little more volume, but then again I always either play in a band with 5 or 6 other instruments/voices or the hardest metal you've ever heard. One mre thing about this amp is that you probably will want to make it stationary (i.e. leave it in one place forever). It is very awkward to carry and pretty heavy too. I put casters on mine but it's still a pain to get in my vehicle. Also, the manual states that the internal speaker will shut off when the speaker output jack is connected and I was ver suprised to find out that that's not true. It powered itself and a Peavey 1x15" cab rated at 350 watts fairly well.

I have used a basic Yamaha 4 string and it worked really well, but now I have an Ibanez Ergodyne 4 string that blows it out of the water with the active pickups. I hac to start using the -15 dB switch. It does get a bit noisy when the effects are turned on but htat's on;y when you're really paying attention to it or you're right next to the thing. Like I said before the EQ really lets you get a variety of sounds. I have had the amp's limiter come on at the high volumes (around 3'oclock or higher) wich sucks because you can tell the speaker can handle all the amp can give it. Still has enough volume though.

This amp will looks and sound like it will work until the day I die, unless of course you treat it like you're ex that you couldn't care less about. Th Tolex on the bottom did crack though when I put on the casters, but hey, it's on the bottom. Who cares? Other than that this thing is, like the other guy said, a tank and it works like one too.

Never had to deal with the company.

I now have a SWR Workingmans 300 amp with a 1x15 Peavey cab and a 4x10 Ampeg that I gig with. If this thign was lost or stolen I would probably buy something smaller for practice like the Workingmans 10, especially since I can afford those now. I also chose this one over others because it had real good tone through the 15" speaker. Much better than the Fender Bassmans. This is a good amp and I couldn't find anything better for the price. I wish I had bought the BX-100 though without the effects because I don't use them enough to be worth the extra money. Besides, that's what they make effects pedals for. Get 'em if you want 'em. Simply put, there are better combo amps out there, but this (in my opinion) was the best bass combo amp under $500.

Bought new in 2000. 100 Watt combo w/ 15" Speaker.
1 input jack w/-15db switch (Active/Passive)
Volume, Gain, Contour
8 Band EQ
9 Onboard Effects: Delay, Echo, Chorus, Flange, "Funk Wah", Octave, & 3 Reverbs.
Effects loop
Headphone and Speaker-out
Balanced XLR & 1/4" outputs

The DSP on-board effects are nice to have, but the only one I really use is the "Funk-wah." I mainly use this amp at home as a practice amp...you'll see why soon enough. I have used it a couple of times for bar gigs and at a festival or two and it works really well. Loud enough to hear it on stage, and with the XLR, you can send what you're hearing out to the PA.

I use a Kubicki Ex-Factor most of the time with this amp. I sometimes use my Upright (w/Fishman BP-100) on it. For what I play (bluegrass-folk-jazz-cheese), this amp is perfect. It's not noisy until you use the DSP. When you use the DSP, you get a lot hiss and some kind of wierd "digital" noise. It's not that bad unless you're standing next to the amp. I haven't recorded with this amp, but I'm really wondering if these weired "digital" noises will bent send through the XLR out!? The amp can give you everything from a bass-drum-like boom to biting-acoustic-guitar tones. Of course, it depends a lot on what kind of bass you use on it. Kubicki basses, known for their higher-register definition, sound great on this amp. Upright's sound like an upright, instead of an electric with flatwounds. I give it a lower rating because of the hiss and "digital" noise.

It's the only bass amp I own and it's a tank. But the (what appears to be) plastic faceplate and the thin vinyl covering are very easy to damage and/or scratch and they really make the amp look "cheap." The plywood is very sturdy and if you were to drop this thing on you foot, you'd regret it. When sitting flat, you couldn't knock it over with a bulldozer. I wouldn't use a backup, unless I gigged every single night. This amp hasn't given me any problems---yet.

Never dealt with Crate. Standard warranty.

Been playing bass for about 9 years. If it were lost or stolen (which is highly unlikely), I'd buy something smaller...this amp weighs a ton. If you're going to buy this amp and you're going to use it a lot on gigs, then invest some money into a hand truck or join a gym. This thing will give you a hernia if you're not careful. I'm thinking of adding some casters before I tear a ligament. It will sit in an amp stand OK, but don't think of putting this thing in a chair. I hate the weight of this amp, but I like it's sound. I compared it to Hartke, Trace Elliot, and GK's combo amps with the same wattage and it just blows them away (This amp is a lot cheaper). The on-board DSP is really a nice touch. I recommend this amp to anyone who's looking for a really super practice amp or as an amp to keep in a stationary place (like church or your studio). You don't want to haul this thing around at all.

1 input jack (for both active and passive electronics)
seperate controls for gain, shape/contour, and volume level
8 band graphic EQ
9 onboard effects including delay, echo, chorus, flange, funk wah, octave doubling, chorus/hall reverb, small room reverb, and large hall reverb.
DSP footswitch for turning off and on the effects.
effects chain insert
headphones and speaker jacks
balanced line out with an XLR interface

The effects are the reason I gave this category an 8. I don't use the effects myself, so its not a big loss. Other than the footswitch, the only controls are turn knobs that control which effect and the level of the effect. There's no real way to change the sound of each effect, just make it more or less pronounced. The foot switch isn't much of a help. It has only one switch that allows you to turn on and off whatever effect you have selected. I think that it would have been nice if the footswitch allowed you to change which effect you were using as well.
Other than that this amp suits my needs very well. Its 100W with a 15" speaker. It gives me more than enough power to be heard in the church that I play in, even with a drummer. The balanced line out allows me to plug into the church's sound system directly and give me the option of sending the signal either pre or post eq to the mixer.

I don't have any effects, so I haven't tried out the effects loop on this amp. Neither have I used the speaker out feature except once in the store before buying it. It seemed to work ok to me.

This thing is a monster! I highly recomend buying a luggage carrier for this amp, especially if you are going to be carting it around alot. It weighs 67lbs and is 24"X20"X15". Its not so much the weight as it a question of dimension making it hard to transport by hand. I think they should have added a handle to the side as well as the top.

I use a Squire P-bass with active EMG pickups in place of the stock pickups. There is a wide range of sound that you can get from this amp due to the graphic EQ. I can easily tell the difference depending on how I tweak the EQ. With the shape contour either on or off I don't see as much difference. I've had no problems getting a loud sound out of this amp even at high volume levels. There are light displays on the amp that tell you when the signal is peaking, helping know where to adjust the gain. The amp has a built in limiter and a minus 15 dB switch for when the gain is causing distortion at even low levels. I haven't had to use this switch yet.


The sound works for me, espeically at the price. You shouldn't be expecting too much from only 100W.

This thing is a tank. Its more likely that whatever runs into this amp will receive more damage than the amp itself. I have to travel with it twice a week. So far its survived repeated banging in the back seat and I haven't had any problems.

Never had to deal with them, but I'd recomend you take it back to the dealer before contacting Crate

I've played acoustic guitar for 6 years, classical for 4, and bass for about half a year so I'm by no means an expert when it comes to bass equipment. The sound, features, and price was right for me, especially with my budget contraints. If it was stolen, I wouldn't be able to afford another amp of this size. I'd buy it again in a hearbeat, but I'm always willing to look at other products along the way.
Again, I'd really recomend you to find some kind of carrying device to use when transporting this amp. Save your arms for actually playing.