Crate BX15

Features Five knobs lo, lo mid, mid and high and a gain..or something like that. Not much to it.It's a solid state amp. Yada, yada, yada.

This is where the amp shines. Seriously. As a bass practice amp, it's pretty standard to poor. Perfect for learning. You can get some decent sounds out of it and it's great for the money. It's not very bassy and sounds flat.

However, as a guitar amp, it sounds AWESOME. This must've been geared as a multipurpose amp because I swear, the clean sound out of it is almost the best I've ever heard. I am not kidding. It is perfect for blues and jazz. Sounds very, very close to a Fender. I haven't tried hooking it up to any pedals just yet, but I will shortly.

Perfect. Built like a Honda.

Never dealt with them so I'll give them a ten since I haven't had to deal with them, which means, Crate has guilt a solid amp.

If it was lost I would try to buy another, but this one is special. I bought it used for 60.00 bucks about 5 years ago when I was just learning bass for a crappy punk band (I play guitar first-have been for 18 years). If you can find one, I highly recommend picking it up as a guitar practice amp, and I suppose a starter bass amp; you will love it.

Needed to start playing bass again after playing only guitar for about 30 years. Played bass in college in a garage band, "Heart's Blood". Never really learned anything other than, "18".

So, found a Peavey Dynabass in rough but playable shape. Tried playing it thru my Cube 20 and that wasn't working out, so started to check pawn shops for a little bass amp. Found a BX15 that the guy couldn't get to work so he let me have it for 25US.

Was impressed by the little package. Turns out the headphone jack was badly corroded and when the guy stuck the cord in the jack it opened the contacts (and some gray corrosion crud came out-mud dauber nest?). Told him to try the input jack on the left side instead and no hum noise anything.

Got it home and tried working the plug in the headphone jack to see if it would clear out the crud, and it did ,and i was in business. The front panel has a clean layout and the controls are very small, made of soft, nonbrittle plastic. The case is very attractive and rugged- i stood on it to change a light bulb and it seemed to care less. The grill cloth panel comes out with the usual velcro retainers. Has a plain jane 8 inch speaker-more about that later with a port hole next to it.

Has a volume and 4 band EQ. Headphone jack and an external speaker jack. Usual flush strap handle and a small stow area in the back. Of course it's got a little solid stated amp circuit and the wires connecting the speaker are fitted with nice sturdy connectors. No other connectors on the back.

The Dynabass has an amazing range of tones and nothing could make the amp produce a vaguely basslike sound. Horribly thin and ear gnawing if played at any level above 2! It does get loud if you can tolerate it. Took a look at the speaker- no wonder, it looks like a dollar store radio speaker. The cone has no flex perimeter and very little paper concertina to allow movement.

Went to the pawn shop again and pickup up a used car wedge speaker with a pair of 8" subwoofs for 10 bucks. These had rubber perimeters and the cone could move very freely. Stuck one of these babies in the BX15 and low and behold, the little amp came alive!!! Don't know what Crate was thinking putting such a cheap junk speaker in this sweet little amp.

The original speaker might have had a free air resonance of about 2k. Now this subwoofer resonates at low c. giving a very slight boom on that note. The tonal range is very nice now and there no noise and little muddiness. The volume is fine for any room and louder than expected for 15 watts.

If Crate had opted for a $10 subwoofer instead of a cheezy $2 junk speaker, i might give the amp an 8 or even a 9.

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Been playing guitar for 35 years. Own an old Ovation Anniversary, Washburn 12-string, Peavey T60 and the Dynabass. Play on my church's worship team past 4 years.

If i begin playing bass regularly, will invest in sub 100 watt combo of some sort.

I bought it "new in box" off of Ebay - so it was NEW. Great looking little Amp, dresses up a bed room or small practise room real nice. I am learning guitar and wanted a bass to fiddle with hence I needed an Amp for low $$$ and I got it. I wanted it for low volume learning with headphones when necessary and that's exactly what I got. I also bought a cheap SX Jazz bass so it's no Fender but again ... for what I wanted and wanted to pay ... it's fine. Although I am not looking to wake the neighbours it could be a little LOUDER ... my wife's happy so there's a positive side to it.

Very limited sound or variation. I mostly play R&R and it's fine for what I want. It's not in my opinion noisy. It's clean at all levels but then again ... it doesn't go very loud so there's not much chance for much distorion. I have a V50 Crate and it's no where near that!

Works ... have had no problems with it and it's a very attractive little thing. It has the fuzzy cover (whatever that's called) and it certainly seems durable. Solid state made in China so who knows if it'll be in the landfill in a year or not ... I doubt it as I don't have much time to play and I am not the type to abuse stuff.

No need to however it's VERY hard to find any info on the Web on where there's a Crate dealer in Canada.

I've been playing guitar (trying to) for 20 years and bass off and on. I own a Gibson, Epiphone, Fender MIM, Squire and an SX bass. If this were stolen would I buy another ... not likely - it's not loud enough. I love the look and the price ... fits my needs for now. I don't like that there is not much variety in sounds and it's not loud enough.

If you are looking for a bedroom practise amp ... and it's sub $100.00 ... then buy it.

Crate BX15... I'd say a '99-'00 model or so. 15 watts, probably 8 or so RMS going through an 8 inch speaker. It has controls for gain (volume), Low, Low Mid, High Mid, and High, as well as speaker and headphone output jacks.

I bougt this amp and an Ibanez GSR200 bass from my friend for 100 bucks, so fifty for the bass and fifty for this piece.

I used this amp with my Ibanez GSR200 bass with split P/J-style pickups. Let me tell you, this amp sounds like ass. Regardless of how I equalize the sound, the lows are muddy and almost can't be recognized as musical notes. To its defense, the highs are clear and almost sharp. However, with the volume up to half or more, this thing really strains itself. Everything distorts; highs, mids, lows... everything.

I'll give it a 3 because the highs are nice, too bad bass guitars mostly play low notes.

This amp has held up well. I've dropped it, stood on it, done ridiculous things to it not even expecting it to be the least big fragile. It has held up well throughout these years. The only thing wrong with it right now is all the dust on it.

Never had to deal with customer support.

I've been playing for two years this month. I don't know much (compared to what there is to know), but it doesn't take a trained ear to know this thing can't put out good sound. I actually didn't play very much at all, because this is all I had to play with. Once I upgraded to a better amp, my play time has easily tripled. If this thing were stolen, I would remain unaffected. It could possibly be better with a little more power... but seriously, if a bass amp can't even hit a low E note, there's no point in playing with it.

Solid State bass combo, 10 watt RMS, controls for master volume, low, low mid, high mid, and high. Has headphones jack and external speaker jack. I bought this amp to use it in my bedroom, but it sounds so bad I never use it anymore.

I use Yamaha and Vantage bass. This amp just doesn't sound good at all. It's noisy (very noisy) no matter what settings on the eq you use. It makes any instrument sound "flat". The sound is realy bad.

This amp not only sounds bad, it is also unreliable. It crashed at me the third time I turned it on, I was playing normally and then it just didn't work anymore.

This amp has a 1 year warranty. When it crashed at me I took it to the service center and they said they couldn't fix it so they gave me a new one, free of any charge. They were really helpful.

I think of this as the worst thing I ever bought. If it got lost or stolen I wouldn't buy it again.

1999 imported junk. Gain (volume actually), bass, mid-lo, mid-hi, hi, 1 input, 1 headphone out, 1 ext. cab jack, 1 8" speaker, 15W max which is about 8W RMS...very basic. Nothing more than a practice amp.

Cheap, low power, solid-state garbage. This thing has one function and that is practicing BY YOURSELF ALONE IN A SMALL BEDROOM. I bought this amp as a beginner and looking back I think I could have spent $20 more and got a Fender or Danelectro amp that would have been great for practicing in a small band as well as alone and have about 20W more power.

It's reliable and easy to fix. I broke the input jack but I just opened it up and soldered in a new one...cheaper than bothering with the warranty crap. The only thing I'd use this for at a show is to run a headphone out of it as a monitor.

No clue, shouldn't expect much from them, though.

Don't expect to plug in and sound like Les Claypool or John Paul Jones. It ain't gonna happen! They spend hundreds of thousands of $$$ on their equipment so laying down under $100 for a practice amp ain't gonna cut it! As I stated before, there is only one use for this amp, alone in a small bedroom.

You know the drill, see the others.

I've used this with several different basses (yamaha RG270, Ibanez GSR100, and my baby, a Warwick Thumb) and it sounds like absolute crap. Seriously. Sounds like a cardboard box. I realize it's designed as a practice amp, but if you want to practice, get a SWR Workingman or LA-series. It's more expensive, but it's actually USABLE.

It seems to be very finicky as far as cable quality. I've had buzzing problems with anything but Monster cables.

Never dealt with them.

I suppose this is an OK bass amp for the price, but I still wouldn't pay $120 good dollars for this. Maybe I would pay $50 used or something if I was in a pinch for something to practice with. But seriously, there's better options out there.

This amp made me realize why bass players carry big amps around, but not until I got better at my bass technique.

4 band eq, speaker(?) and headphone jacks, and a gain knob.
That's right, a pre-amp GAIN knob. The power amp is always at max, with a compressor-limiter circuit that... technically gets rid of clips.

The sound is ok for practicing by yourself with the gain turned down. It should do the job if you're playing in a small room with an acoustic guitarist and bongo drummer, but that's all I can assure you of. The sound not-quite-distorts-but-gives-a-really-bad-mega-compressed-sound when the gain knob (remember, that's the only "volume" knob) is turned past 2 or so. The compressor-limiter circuit converts slaps into thuds at any volume.

Very durable. If I used at a gig I would get laughed off the stage. A guitarist can get away with a 12-watt guitar amp, but not a bassist with this 12-watt bass amp.

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Once you start practicing with a band or gigging you'll wish you bought a better, higher-output amp. Back when I got it I thought it was definitely loud enough, but I was starting out in bass so I didn't notice just how cheap it sounded cranked up.

Small and lightweight.. has a headphone jack..

12w RMS into an 8 inch speaker

4 band eq

one gain knob instead of a volume knob and a gain knob

It pretty much fits my needs as a practice amp or as a lightweight amp I can take anywhere. It was my first amp.

It can't get very loud, it has very little bass, it gets very muddy at higher volumes, and it hisses a lot.. but for 50 bucks I can't really complain all that much.

It's great for a beginner or for a more experienced player that needs a small amp to knock around, but don't expect anything more from it.

It would take more than anything I could do to it to break it. If a burglar came into my home..I would use this to defend myself.

Never dealt with Crate or SLM.

After using this for about 6 months I got an Ampeg BA-115. While the Crate stinks compared to the Ampeg (I know they're both made by SLM)..the size difference is immense. I still use the Crate if I want to goto a guitarist friend's house and have a quiet jam.

I wish it had separate knobs for volume and gain but it really doesn't matter that much.

I'll probably always have this amp or something like it just for the sake of having something small. If it were stolen I can't guarantee that I'd buy another BX-15.. but it would be a candidate for a new cheapo small amp.

Nothing special. Just a simple 15 watt Bass amp with level and a 4-band EQ. most amps in this price range have a 3-band EQ, so the EQ's nice. has a headphone jack and a speaker out, but I've never driven a cab with it yet. It's basically your average small practice amp/

OK.. it's a practice, amp, and keep that in mind when you're using it.
It hums a litte when it gets loud, but that might be my bass (Peavey Foundation). The four-band EQ allows me to get a lot of different sounds, especially when I alter my pickup configurations. It has a nice solid sound for a small amp.

Crates are tanks, I've never had a problem with a crate of known anyone who has.

5 year warranty, Never needed to talk to SLM (Crate's parent company, also owns Ampeg and Alvarez)

I'm a guitarist first and a bass player second, and I've play bass for about a year and a half (guitar for five years). I bought this amp mainly because of my experience with Crate guitar amps, and I was very pleased. I liked it better than the Peavey Microbass, even though that amp has more power. The bottom line was I needed a solid practice amp for not much money and this amp delivered and then some.