Crate BX160

This is a review for a Crate BX-160 made Im sure many years ago. I got it on eBay for 250.00, and wanted either it or a PV TNT, as this was the power class and type of amp for the money I had to spend.

I have owned this amp for almost two years, and played LOTS of hours on it - so this is not a Crhistmas day or day after I got it review. Also, I have played bass and guitar since 1983, so Im not a new player who does not know the difference.

Anyway, I am glad I got the Crate over the Peavey (believe it or not even though the PV is a better deal for the same money)...

Features - Ill list them by what I thought was important:
1) 160 watts into 4 Ohms, or 200 watts into 2 Ohms
2) Graphic EQ.
3) Pre-shape ultrabass shape control (brings out the SUBsonic sounds)
4) Power amp Line in/out, BALANCED XLR line out, FX loop, low and high inputs (0 and -15db).
5) Built in chorus (nice)
6) Clipping controls
7) powers two cabinets.
8) Combo: one HUGE CONE (a peizo tweeter would have been a nice addition).
9) Built like a TANK. I used it for a work table building amps and doing repairs when I was not using it. The GTR player of the band used it for a laundry table when I left it at the practice house.

And now for those who want to know whats inside:
1) just two PCB boards (one power, one preamp).
2) heavy boards, thick tracings, good layout of parts (definitly repairable)
3) SIMPLE internals
4) Boards actually afixed to chassis (and not suspended by the pots and jacks like a cheapass JCM900).
5) Heatsink for power resistors look SOLID and not likely to crap out on you (like the MIM SWRs without fans are known to do when you are really using them).
6) Part quality (pots, knobs, jacks) is good (as opposed to excellent, but well above poor,fair, and adaquate). I have certainly seen MUCH cheaper in my tenure as an amp builder/repair guy. This is an issue because Crate will take a good idea like the Vintage 50 and use CHEEEEEAP parts to make them affordable. THE BX160 IS AN EXAMPLE OF AN OVERBUILDER MENTALITY, AS THIS AMP SEEMS TO BE DESIGNED TO LAST - INDEFINITELY!

Remember gang, this amp is not going to compete with an SVT Pro, or a high end Eden. It is the class of bass combo you can get for under $400.00 that is rated at 200 watts.
This amp has the basic features you expect in a WORKING MUSICIAN amplifier, and some bells and whistles I gladly traded off for some of the tank-like construction.

What can you get for under 400.00? You are stuck with low-end choices of the good names (G&K, SWR, Peavey) which are geared toward Joe First-amp new player. Or, you can get a good shitty amp like a Behringer, Hartke, or (snicker) a Johnson (and pretend you have a real bass amp).

The used bass amp market is a crap shoot: anything half-way descent is going to be 500.00 and above, and God knows why the owner is getting rid of it. I think for the money I wanted to spend (300.00 or less), my choices were a used Peavey TNT or its competition (like the BX160).

It turns out that there were no affordable TNTs they day I looked on eBay, and this Crate was rated pretty high by previous owners, and I now see why.

Feature rating? Because of what I was expecting, Im rating this one high.

This is the make-or-break section: the sound.

I did have a high-end shitty amp (a Johnson 200 watt), and it had power, but its tone was like playing strait into a P.A.: dull and lifeless. I only owned it for 72 hours before I sold it.

The BX160 has a GREAT sound. I also has a SWR workingmans 2004 head that I used as another amp and used the BX160 as my practice amp, and while I did like the sound of the SWR (not its 499.00 price tag!), it did not have the versitility of the Crate.

The BX160 can LOWWWW end rumble a house and all those in its zone, and play subtle and poppy like 70s bass with a twist of a knob and flip the EQ. The range of tones were so good, it made me hate the SWR 2004 for its limited range (and lack of Chorus).

I play a brand-new Fender Jazz Marcus Miller IV and also a Squier standard Jazz outfitted with a set of Original Jazz pickups (same as whats in the MM and 62' re-issue jazz bass).

These days, I also use a Behringer Bass Vamp Pro as a preamp and conditioner for the BX160 (the Vamp is a must have: the poor mans bass POD).

Bottom line, the BX160 can get all of the bass tones I need from Motown to violent death metal.

The BX160 is as reliable as they can get. BUT, when I got mine (used), it had a buzzzz that would intermittantly happen that the shisters that sold it to me neglected to tell me (bastards, they had to know). Fortunately, I repair amps, and thae sound was intermittant and the amp was good enough for practice.

I did successfully repair it: the XLR jack three solder points all broke, and certain vibrations would cause a persistant static crackle to happen. It sounded like a bad ground on a cord. All I did was heat each connection with a 40 watt iron, apply a little bead of new 60-40 solder, and fixed it (possibly the only thing that could go wrong).

NOTE THAT THIS PROBLEM WAS MINOR, AND HAPPENS TO ALL EQUIPMENT THAT SOLDERS JACKS, POTS, AND CONTROLS TO THE BOARD. I have seen 600.00 FX units be affected with the same problem and is easily fixed.

I only know of two review including mine that describe a problem with a BX160, and the 99 others I read talk about abject user abuse for years on the road by careless musicians and the BX160 still keeps working (note that this is the sign of a successfull product!).

I would put this lowly BX160 up against any non-high end pro amp series for sound, durability, and quality.

Crate of St. Louis is the BEST amp company (next to Peavey) to deal with. They sent me schematics for FREE of the amp, and sold me replacement knobs cheaply with lots of help.
Its no wonder why crate is a successfull amp company (I just wish they would have made amps like the Vintage 50 a little better quality).

This is the amp to buy if you only have 350.00 bucks or less, and plany to use this amp in a band situation.
Unlike the SWR 2004, the BX160 had a kick ass EQ, and Chorus. The BX160 does not have silly things like a headphone jack on it because this thing is not made to sit in a bedroom: its a working amplifier.

This amp is transistor, yet has life to it some of the classic wantabee amps wish they had (like Johnson amps). While it is not a SWR Redhead, or WorldTraveler Eden, it is not a 160 watt Drive amp.

This is the lowest cost amp (next to a TNT) that you could possibly use in a real band setting and use it with no backup. If the military ever runs out of depleted Uranium to line tanks with, they could buy up BX160s to attach to tanks to make them more resistant to enemy fire.

For under 350.00, this is the choice.

Average tonal versatility: lots of options as far as the 7-band EQ (100 Hz has to be cut all the way to keep tone from booming/distorting something horrible), pre-shape, low and high frequency boosts (both useless), and chorus effect (equally useless) go; not so great, though, if you want clarity in your sound (i.e. anything below low E gets real muddy, anything above the open G string won't be crisp), but that can be construed as a preference thing. Their are two effects loops, but no headphones jack.

I use this combo amp with the Crate BX-410e extension cab as an "everything" setup--practice, rockin' out, you name it. It has enough power (160 solid state watts by itself; 220 with an extension cab) for me, but I'm just a hobbyist at this point, so I've never had to compete with a loud drummer/guitarist. Still, I'm confident it would do fine in a smaller venue. This thing weighs in around 75lbs! Not for whimps!

I play a Peavey Cirrus 6 through the system now. For years I played a Pbass and an Epiphone Viola bass through it, too, so it's seen use with both active and passive basses. I like to play mostly punk, heavy rock, and blues. In the 7 years I've owned this thing, I never got a half-way decent sound out of it until this past week. The trick appears to be cutting the 100 Hz all the way and boosting the 50 Hz all the way to compensate; then, crank both the gain and the master volume either all the way or somewhere near there (I believe this might be pulling in more watts, which in turn, might be enriching the tone), and then, lastly, have some sort of volume pedal to bottleneck the signal from there so you don't blow out your eardrums! I tried just turning down the volume on the bass, but some highly noticeble background distortion would come through. Using a volume pedal worked perfectly, though, and the result was an increadibly sweet growly tone everywhere on my Cirrus 6--awesome! Still, I can't rank the sound very high because my Boss ME50B is doing most of the work methinks (volume pedal...amongst other things).

This thing is very heavy and built like a tank on the outside, but I don't trust the electronics at all. A few years ago the rate knob stopped working on the chorus effect, which is fine because I don't use it anyway. The overall electronics, though, are pretty noisey and I'm just waiting for something to POP. I take care of my stuff, so that's probably the only reason it's lasted 7 years w/o hardly a hitch worth mentioning.

Never talked to them ... thank god.

I've been playing bass for 8 years now. This was my first and only bass amp as to date. It's been a rollercoaster relationship with my BX-160: first indifference (inexperience), then total hatred (lack of tone), then tranquility (endurance and finally tweaked decent tone out of it ... 7 years later!). Between not knowing squat about bass amplification at the time, and living in the boonies, the Crate WAS my best option at the time. Nowadays, I'd never buy another Crate. Once I discovered sites like Harmony-Central and TalkBass, I learned so much about different equipment that I don't think I could ever make such a horrible choice again. Isn't the internet great?!

made in USA, dont know when, bought used. Amp is very versatile...I play mostly rock and some funk-rock. Passive and active inputs, gain, master volume, shape control, 7 band EQ, low boost, high boost, built in chorus effect that sounds pretty cool altough I rarely use it unless playing prog-rock or something. 160 watts, plenty of power for practice, rehersals, smaller gigs.

I am currenty using a yamaha BB200 (p-bass). The amp suits my style of music quite well. Despite the limited versatility of my bass, (one passive pickup, one tone knob) I can change up my tone quite a bit with the amp's 7 band EQ. Turn up the lows and get that big boomy P-bass tone, crank the mids and highs and you can get a jazz-bassy tone. Plenty of power...Ive only had it halfway cranked at practice and it was loud as hell.

Built like a rock. Thing weighs like 80 pounds, I could probably beat the shit out of it and it would keep rockin on. Made in good old USA. Havent gigged it yet but would do it in a heartbeat and I plan to soon. It holds up great during extended jams and practices.

no experiance

Been playing guitar 4 years, then bass for the last 2. I own a Yamaha BB200, a yamaha F-335 acoustic six string, and a Fender standard strat from my guitar days. If it was stolen I would hunt down the theif and kick him in the nuts, because I got such a good deal on this cool amp and Id be real pissed. I compared a bunch of amps on ebay and this was the most power for the best price I could find. Ive heard some people say Crate bass amps suck, but they must be on crack. The BX-160 at least is a monster.

I got this amp used from Daddy's. I have played indie, hip hop, and ska through it. Never used the chorus. Use a zoom pedal going straight through from bass to input. Maybe one day I will care enough to test out the effects loop. The DI was pretty sweet seeing as how it doesn't put out nearly enough. Stupid gain light gives me worry.

Was using a cheap rouge. Did Well. Now on a jay turser 5 string and it does pretty well. I use very little mid range. It sounds good. Being a crate it should though. I think of it as beautiful prude girl. Sounds damn good but doesn't put out.

Hasn't broke. Little white plastic piece came off one of the equalizer things but uh... yea?

n/a

I have had it for about 4 years. If it was stolen I would be kinda mad but then again I think my body and band would be happy cause it's so freaking heavey and awkward. Am really looking for a cabinet but have no idea what kind of cabinet can handle it. I put casters on it but when I roll it it sounds like it's going to rattle apart. Overall it's a pretty good amp.

Bought new in 1994. I really like the XLR out with separate volume control. You can mess with your setting without the sound man freaking out. Chorus has a frequency cut off point dial ("spectrum"). So if you don't want the lows to have the chorus effect you can dial the frequency out. I always had it on full spectrum though. Hated the lack of footswitch for chorus, wired one in myself. Never seen an amp that rates itself down to 2 ohms!!! All other features have been mentioned. no tweeter, the 15 is voiced pretty good though.

I have played 4, 5 and 6 string basses through it. As well as guitar and acoustics. I found with the 6 string bass I could of used a tweeter. But man it's pretty good for the $$$. I have played blues, rock, punk, metal, contemporary, church music (very diverse in itself) solos, chords, EVERYTHING. The limit light is cool. When jamming I usually played so that the thing was flashing which is border line okay. It handled it fine. Sounded very good. You can overdrive it but it's not so good that way. Although it sounded better than many stomp boxes. I found the chorus to be great. Really full and deep. It handled B notes fine. Decent clarity for the $$$. Have to remeber to stand a few feet (5-10) back for those low notes to develop to your ear. With the Alnico humbuckers that my Yamaha TRB 5 (with the Pattitucci/East electronics), this thing had killer growl JJ bass tone!!! Even with my Ibanez SR406 6 string, it can really growl if you want it to. But also smooth. And snappy. I love playing slappy funk as well. Oh ya!! A big dose of funk into all the genres I mentioned. To get the clarity I liked I wrestled with some fret shift sounds. Again, a tweeter with separate volume MAY have helped. But for the $$$........And casters, I went to a hardware store and got some cheapies that I put on the side of the amp. Thus when you set it down up right it couples with the floor and it rocks the stage!!!

It never broke and I played it hard. VERY hard. It does have a fuse but you have to pull the amp out to get at it. Never had to change the fuse, just found it when doing other things to the amp. Always used it without a backup. Continually cut through a loud drummer Guitarist with 130 watts and a screaming vocalist (band I was in for a few years) without fault.

Never needed it.

Been playing for....13 years or so. Also have a very nice sounding Daion acoustic, an old Garnet all tube (hand wired) head with a couple of 15 cabinets. Have had a dozen or so other guitars throuhg the years. I really don't play much bass any more, use it more for my acoustic. Gets a nice hollow body tone that way. I choose this amp because the $$$ at the time was good for what I got. The footswitch mod is easy. I bought a cheap switch and a cheap jack. Drilled a hole in the amp face plate by the power switch (looks like it was meant to be there) and soldered the wires to the terminals on the on/off switch already built in. I had sold it once and the guy played it with the preamp clipped (light lit) all the time. I swamped him for some gear later and the light was dead. 6 months later it was working again and has been for 4 years now. Good amp and the new ones come with many digital effects.

1997 I think... I used a friend's BX160 for a year before I bought my own last week.
Many basic features with some extras:
solid state, 160 watts, 15" speaker (with extra speaker outs)
Two inputs (0 dB and -15dB), gain knob, shape control (adjusts the contour of the mids), 7-band eq ... awesome..., Low and High frequency boosts, Master volume, Chorus (depth, rate, spectrum)
Line out level & FX loop complete the package

This amp is loud, quite powerful, and heavy too. I just wish the casters were removable so it would make good solid contact with the floor, especially during gigs in larger rooms. This amp performs great in small-mid sized venues. I could drown out all instruments during practice if I wanted to.

Tone has enough versatility, but if you want more you'll need your own effects. The contour/shape knob is something to play with, the EQ doesn't do anything drastic, the boosts do what they say they do.
I like my bass sound to be tight and low-ended, lots of sliding, some jungle / drum n bass style playing, hence I need something punchy.
The best part about the sound of the crate is the subtle flavors you get from the contour knob, especially on the slower more atmospheric songs...play the low E and let it ring while sliding up to an E on the D string.... this amp is ideal for long 'fill the room with bass' basslines.
Like i said, if you want more versatility, get your own effects. I never heard the clean channel distort (it is solid state so I wouldn't want it to distort). The chorus is kind of cheesy, but at low levels it does an OK job.
This amp that i bought was used for 5 years by a working bassist, but there's still no sign of rattle or hum.

Like i said, I used a friend's bx160 for a year, before buying this one (which is 5 years old, used). No rattle or hum, built like a tank, no loose screws or unnecessary vibrations, the knobs don't look too durable to me but thats really nothing to do with the amp. Its solid state, so these things won't die on you if you take care of them.
I've had my own for a week now but the other one I played is still very much alive, so I can rate it fairly.

Never had to, don't think I'll need to.

great amp, loud, so far so good. I've used tighter amps, but they weren't as loud. This one has bass reflex ports at the back which make a huge difference. This is a workhorse and I chose it over rogue and behringer (only ones that fit my price range) because I've used it before and I like it a lot.

I beleive this is a 1991 model. It has been versatile for my bass playing, JOy Division/Neworder/Cure/Bauhas-style and Chilli Pepers style funk. It is one channel. No headphone jack. i wish that it had more distortion. But it is plenty loud. It has a built in chorus which I have used. I also play my guitar through it, and it sounds great. Lots of low end. The multiband graphic eq really helps to get a good sound. I have played live with it. They miked it but I think I could play it live in a club without miking. I played with a really loud drummer in practices. The reason I bought this amp was to be able to hear myself over him during rehearsals, and it worked really well. I use all of the features. How much versatility do you really need in a bass amp? Bass all sounds the same to me.

I play a hohner precision bass copy, and Gibson Sg-I through this amp. With the chorus and the eq I can get nice sitar type sounds on my guitar and it sounds really clean and deep. I had a Marshall JTM 30 for my guitar but I got rid of it because after playing through a bass amp, the guitar amp sounded tinny. I need that big bottom. I can get a Eddie van Halen sound if I turn the gain all the way up and slide all the eq settings all the way up. It is a horrible saturated sound which I like. If you turn the gain down, it is more of an AC/DC sound. I don't know if the clean channel distorts because I have never cranked it up for bass.

I have had it 9 yearss, the input jack broke and I had to get it fixed. Other than that its solid state, they don't really break.

Warranty was expired, I took it to a music store for servicing.

I have been playing 17 years. I have a Gison SG. This is my only amp, it works well as a dual purpose guitar/bass amp, but I am looking to buy a tube combo for my guitar. If it were lost or stolen I wouldn't get it again because it is too big and clumsy to carry. It is shaped like a cube. I need someone to help me carry it. I would get a head and a separate cabinet. 160 watts has been fine for me.

1998, would be useless if it didn't have that "Contour" knob. Not quite loud enough to hear over the drummer,a marshall stack, and a dual rectifier. Might be a little better if the pre gain wasn't so touchy.

I play a late 70's Kawai F2b; this bass has the highest output of any passive bass I have ever played. I can't even use the passive input on this amp, and on the padded input, I have to keep the gain at about a 3, or it overdrives terribly. This amp sounds like crap. Way too everything, with no middle ground.

I only use it at rehearsal, but I'm waiting for it to fall apart. It rattles, everything sounds loose. I carry a screwdriver with me just in case I have to put it back together. Hasn't happened yet, but soon, and for the rest of it's life.

Haven't delt with the Co., but am afraid of what might happen if I try. Crate amps are like Bic lighters. Disposable.

I've been playing almost 12 years, I own this and an Ampeg SVT 400th, with an SWR Henry the 8x8 cab. If it was stolen, I'd go to the hospital, and find the guy with a broken back, and ask him to return it. This amp is damn heavy. Cheap handles make it hard to carry, no wheels(I don't like it enough to invest in casters). I bought it from a freind who was moving, and couldn't take it with him. $50 bucks, almost makes it a good deal. With any luck, it will be the last piece of Crate gear I will ever own.

My amp was a 1998 model. It had quite a few features (chorus, contour controls, 7 band eq, balanced di out). It was rated a 160 watts, using the combo's 15'' speaker alone, 200 with extension speaker.

I found the amp had a large range of usable tones. The contour controls helped to shape the eq (but reduced the volume). I used it with a Fender P-bass in both a hard rock and traditional blues setting.

The amp broke down often with regular use. The input jack is mounted to a circuit board, if you're not careful this gets screwed up, and I smoked the speaker when the input died the first time. The thing was in the shop for almost 3 months (during last summer), because parts were on back order, I bought another amp (not a Crate) to get me through my gigs. I tried to use it a week ago and it was making scary noises when plugging in an instrument, so I yanked the electronics out of the stupid thing and am using it as a speaker cab.

As i mentioned earlier, I waited 3 months to get it fixed. Shop owner blamed the factory (but I suspect he was to blame as well.) I eventually threatened legal action, the shop owner (a Crate dealer) took the parts out of another amp he had for sale. I tried to call Crate directly at one point, got a runaround, and disconnected.

When it worked, I liked the way it sounded. Based on it's reliability, I would never own another. I have a SWR workingman 4004 now, so you know I don't miss the crate. If you're going to spend the money, get something decent.

I believe my BX160 was purchased in 1992 or 1993 new. I have had only 1 problem so far, and that was with the DI output jack. This problem occured when stage help tripped on the cable attached to the DI jack and it broke. I brought it to the local repair shop and they had it in and out in a day. I also had them put a coating on the Crate speaker which helped strengthen and weather resist the cone. I have used this amp for both practice and live situations and have had no problems as of yet. I do wish this model would have had a headphone jack and a footswitch for the chorus (a pain in the ass playing live and having to walk over and switch the chorus on/off). Also it would be nice if St. Louis Music would have put some of it's Ampeg tube power as a second or even a hybrid mix channel. As far as power and tone, they are both adequate for club situations or dumping into the board from the DI.

The sounds of my BX160 are fine. I have many choices with the EQ (7 band), the high and low shelving, and the high and low boost switches. As I do a lot of harmonic tapping the chorus comes in handy, and I found it had more tonal range than the TNT by Peavey.

No problems since bought new in 1992 or 1993

As previously mentioned, the repair shop took care of a broken DI from an accident with a stagehand and did it under warranty. In and out in a day.

I wish this amp were a little lighter and had removable casters of soft rubber. I compared the Crate with the Peavey TNT 115 at the time and found the price very similar, but the Crate had a better warranty, larger cabinet, better sounding chorus and 10 more watts.