Crate BX100

This amp has just enough features to work with a processor it is just perfect!!

I have a simple Stagg Bass Guitar and a Digitech BP-50 Processor. yes it humms at high volume but hay no amp is perfect and for the price who cares it is very loud for the money.

Personally i beat the living crap out of this amp and other than a few scratches it works perfect!! i believe that this amp will last a long time.

Never dealt with them, never had to.

i have gone through many other amps and a few pedals but this one is lasting a long time over all, this amp is simply amazing.

I think this amp is very versatile, because you can change the overall tone throgh the eq, but the high eq give hizz, horrible hizz.
The headphone give me some hizzz at loud volumes
I had used to play at home, to practice with the band and in same small places.
It don`t have the enough power to play in a night club, i always use it at the maximun level.

I love the eq, so i have no problems.
Remember that Ampeg used to made Crate amps.
The problems came when you use it at the max power, it loses all the tone you worked with the eq.

Never give me problems, and i used to treat it very bad in small gigs

i don`t know, never used it.

I buy it used and i sold it, but it is still the same ugly square that give me lot of small gigs
I recommended it.

Love the Contour control and EQ....allows total control of tone. Nice upper and lower. Very clean sounding amp.

I am using this amp for a clean, true acoustic-electric ovation guitar. I couldn't be more pleased with the amps handling. Good for practice and small venue gigs.

Built like a tank. No problems. Bought used, looks showroom floor new....I don't think you could kill it if you tried.

no experience...doubt i'll need it either.

As I said, I don't think I could have done any better at $100. It is like new, and sounds EXCELLENT.

I have two bass rigs that I take out.

One is just an old beat up Crate BX100 hundred watt single
fifteen combo amp. I traded a Boss DD5 pedal for it. The other
is an Eden WT500 head with a Bag End 2x10 with horn on one
channel and a ported Ampeg 18 box with a PAS eighteen on the
other channel.

So we are going to have this gig (was Saturday night) and I
set them up in the same corner and switched between them for a
few rehearsals. I thought the Eden stack went a little lower
but I just really love the Crate sound. Band mates did not
notice anything different.

I took the Crate to our bar gig because it is smaller/lighter
and I like it better. Playing a Cort Curbow through it. I love
it. It really has a lot of sustain with the Curbow and cuts
through the guitars.

So there were a couple of bass players in the audience. One I
even know and have seen him gig. He is really good. These two
bass players were all over me about my sound. They love the
sustain I get and said the bass really cut through. It was
also in the PA via a mic.

So what I am planning next is to take out the 15" driver and
measure it's TS-specs with Liberty Audio Suite and if it is
not as sensitive as the
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&PartNumber=290-514
Eminence Basslite C2515 Neo 15 I am gonna get one and put it
in this little beast to make it a little louder and perhaps
ten pounds lighter. Another 3dB and the Crate will be as loud
as if it were two hundred watts.

I like it up on a stand with the port firing right into my
trousers. I love the flapping while I play. I keep the gain up
pretty high so my playing light touch lights up the preamp
clip light occasionally and the master limit light is on a
good bit. I control all the tone and volume from the Curbow. I
love it. Not that the Eden/Bag/Ampeg is a slouch but getting
the sound the BX100 gets is really turning me on.

For what it is, an hundred watt single 15 it gets a ten. Compared to every other bass amp, no holds barred only an eight. I never heard a ten.

I was looking for something that could cope with small venues and my style of music as well as provide a true tone - no unwanted distortion, etc. I bought the BX100 used and like the features. The gain indicator is very useful in avoiding any overdrive of the 1st stage from the preamp. The contour switch is what we used to call a "tone" knob in the old days. Regardless, it's useful if you need a broad stroke approach to the input and your p-bass bass/treble control pot won't get you there. I don't use the EQ much but am impressed by the breadth and depth of the 8 bandpass filters. Others have commented on the hooks for external fx boxes which I don't use.

I am new to the electric bass. My backgound is in (mostly) acoustic instruments like six/twelve string guitar, 5 string banjo, melodian (cajun accordian). Obviously my choice of music is rather soft but must be meticulously performed. My arsenal includes Gibson, Martin, Taylor, Rich and Taylor... I say all this so that this review will be bracketed for what its worth - a perspective from an acoustic player.

I play a Fender MIM P-bass (found one with a good neck). The instrument is set up to the Fender standard for neck position, action, pickup height, etc. I did replace the original pickups with DiMarzio Split-P humbucking passives and really like the improvement.

The BX-100 is noiseless at all settings and the sound is excellent at lower settings. I would rate this a really good 50 watt amp. I'm sure having the extra top end helps the sound at the volumes I play. I don't think the amp sounds very good cranked. Keep it below 5-7 on the final gain, don't overdrive the 1st stage and it sounds very clean.

At these settings, and with the split-p's, I can adjust for any sound I want.

I bought the amp used and it shows very little signs of serious wear so I must assume it saw limited action in its previous life. I have had no issues with it whatever and everything works as new. No pot/slider noise, etc.

Built like a tank but that small handle on the top just looks silly. I put some heavy duty casters on it and it's made all the difference in its mobility.

Haven't used them. Don't expect to.

I've been a serious guitar player for > 30 years. I've owned other amps in the past, the best being a 1960s vintage Ampeg tube with a 12" ElectroVoice speaker. Now I own a Roland Cube 30 that I use to amplify my Taylor 810 which I've fitted with a Baggs active iBeam pickup. I also use the Roland for my Gibson ES-175 and ES-330TD. I tried the bass through it but it was too shallow with just the 10". The BX-100 does much better with the 15" speaker and higher wattage.

I played some other lower priced (<$500) amps (the usual suspects at Guitar Center) and didn't think enough of the difference to warrant coughing up the bucks for something new.

Bought it in 2000, I was playing for about 2 years at the time, but used a lot of my friends gear, I wanted at least 100 watts and picked this up, new. Plenty of knobs and EQ faders for modeling tone, but it lacked the power. It couldn't handle low rumble as good as I would have wanted to. I used the amp 3 times a week for years and loaned it to a friends band for their keyboardist. It's been through a lot.

I've put the amp through a lot of different basses, Peavey T-40, Rickenbacker 4001, Fender P-Bass, Cort Curbrow, and even a B.C. Rich Warlock. Not to mention a Korg keyboard. The tone can be changed to fit any bass, but it can't handle highs very well, not to mention the "Good" lows, this is a problem if you're a bassist. It's only good for practice, you'd be better off using a D.I. live than playing through it.
As for the limiter on this thing...It's crap!

It worked for a good 5 years but recently craped out on me, The input is incredibly loose, I've opened it up and re-soldered it a couple times. It cuts out a lot now, don't know if it's heat or just something internal. I am looking to get rid of it, I've never gotten the sound that I've wanted out of it.

Never called the company, I take my stuff to local shop, they're much easier to deal with.

I've been playing for about 9 years and have moved on to a better and yet more affordable set-up. I am currently playing through a Gallien-Krueger 400RB powering a GK 4x10 gold series cab. Sounds much better. The crate was great when I had it but I never was satisfied with the tone and bottom end, It probably wasn't the amp for me.

I've bought this amp around 2001 or 2002. So at that time, the canadian currency was pretty low, guess I payed it around $300 us brand new. The features are somewhat limited but they still do the job. The 8 Eq bands can give you a vast range of sound if you take the time to settle them. The contour thing also makes a difference depending on how you settle it. My mom also loves the headphone jack (lol).

I've played in a couple of band but the one i have now is a alternative jazzy ska band. So I like a low sound. I'm not getting any distorted sounds when i tune it well and i always play it around 6 peak and 8 level. I think my sound isen't so loud because I'm using an Ibanez Gsr200 with it which is an intermediate bass. I've heard people playing with good bass and the amp responded very well. The other bad thing is that it's hard to do big punches with it as the amp will mostly 'burp' or 'fart'.

This thing is I-N-D-E-S-T-R-U-C-T-I-B-L-E. I've been playing with ir for about 4 years now, at least 4 hour a week, always pushing it to it's limit (peak 6 level 8) and nothing never broke down. But yeah, the handle on the top is pretty useless considering the weight of the amp. Get somebody to help you carry it around, or be prepared for some gym.

Never had to, wish i never will.

Good amp for practice, small gigs and practice although i sometime have trouble earing myself due to guitarist playing with 100 watt fender with lamps. If you settle it corectly, you will find a way to get heard.

bought brand new in 2004.

I use it at home.

The amp has no power whatsoever. 100 watts ??? where are they hidden??

It sounds very good at low volumes only. When you want a big powerful bass sound all you get is distortion, especially on the lower end.

I like a double bass type of sound, jazzy. The amp pulls it off at low volumes but when trying to apply more volume the sound is unacceptable ... fuzzy, murky .. not bass at all.

The distortion is very brutal, kinda like when you play a bass through a guitar amp or a hi fi stereo ..just before you blow the speaker.

nice sound at the lower end of the volume range 0-4 or 5

Never broken down or given any problems ...but hasn't been used much or left my house either.

havent spoken to them.

I have been playing bass and guitars for a long time but not seriously. I have a cort curbow, fernandes revival, les paul std and cort s2800.

If it were stolen I'd catch up to the guy and give him 20 bucks for petrol for his car just in case he broke down and the amp was found and returned to me.

don't buy this amp unless you enjoy very soft sounds.

Mine is an old style BX-100, made around 1997, with factory speaker.

The best feature on this amp is the contour pot, with this and the 8 band EQ you can really have the sound you want, juste have to play a little with it.

Headphone, balanced XLR, effect loop, and a jack output for another speaker.
No gadget, if you only want to amplify you'll never need anything else.

As I said with the EQ and contour you can have all you want, low end is nice, high tones are really effective. I've never heard any distortion with a correct bass, those who say it distort must have a problem with their bass or effect!

This combo IS very solid. The wood is thick, the electronics are very simple, the only probleme is the EQ pot that can break quit easily.

Never had to ask for anything, so I dont know!

I'm a drumer originally, but my band needed a good reliable combo to amplify "anything as needed" on it.

I bought it for this and I'm really surprised it's still alive!
It has been used since 1997 as a Synthe, Bass, Drum, Vocals, CD and Subwoofer Amplifier. Almost always at high volume (Gain & Master >8)

Never had any problem.

Still today my bassist cover my (loud) bassdrum when playing with it... And without any kind of distortion! Factory speaker rules baby!

But reliability have a price: The weight. Thats the only difficult thing with this amp.

Sure I'll buy it again if it were stoled!!!

THIS IS NOT A BASS AMP, THIS IS A MULTIPURPOSE AMP!

It is correct in everything it does, certainly not the best "bass" amp in the world, but certainly one of the best amp in the world.

I mainly play metal, classic rock, prog and jazz. Oh yeah and i ring out the FUNK too!!!!!!!! The amount of features are fairly decent. But the features are somewhat crappy.
FEATURES
-Effects Loop: TERRIBLE! when you play it plays a clean signal first then is followed by a rush of noise which is just something that sounds like the effect mixed w/ annoying feedback

-Contour Switch: Best effect on the amp. it really helped me with my tone shaping. VERY USEFUL!!!!!!

-Gain: standard effect, though i will admit that crate does have a tighter gain on their amps than other companies

-7-band eq or something like that: either 7,8, or 9, i forget but anyway does really help besides that the bars can and will go down easily!!!

-XLR output- always good and can really help if you need to get louder

so the effects are helpful but some crappy so modding the amp like i did will b=make it alot better

I'm using only okay instruments. An amazingly crappy Gio Ibanez 4-string and a very nice looking and sounding Traben Torrent 5-string.

The amp has a buzz at lower volumes. At higher volumes, it sounds fine. The distorion actually goes away at higher volumes!?!?! Yeah, really freakin' confusing. the reason i'm giving it a nine is because it represents low and high sounds very well while still making my crappy ibanez sound like a fenderish type of instrument. i love the way my Traben sounds in this thing. the low B sounds smooth and silky while slapping and popping on my higher strings sounds great too. i would recommend buying it if you happy a less than good instrument like my ibanez and you what it to sound decent.

WOW!!! Trust me, i could shoot this thing with a shotgun and it would probably withstand it. Though i would recommend putting casters on it because it is heavy!!! Your choice: casters or back problems

Never talked to them and probably will never have to. Like i said before, it iis VERY reliable.

When i got htis i compared it to a Fender Rumble 100 and a Vox 60- watt amp. the fender was $300 and the vox was $280. the crate was far superior in watts, value, and tone shaping compared to the vox so i ruled that out early. the fender and the crate were that much different besides that the rumble was slightly better at variation and sound quality but i had no choice when you considered the AMAZING VALUE of the crate.

FINAL WORDS: this amp rocks and it overall it is a good amp from a good company.