Crate GX80

Others have said it all! Solid-state, 2 channels with the usual controls, a short spring reverb, 12-inch speaker, 80-watt RMS output. No headphone jack? Nice little combo, easy to carry around even if it weights 34 pounds, and it's powerful enough for gigs. I don't need more power than that, it get miced on large gigs anyways, or use the LINE OUT to the P/A system. I accompany various people doing mostly world music and sometimes christian stuff.

You get what you pay for! This is not a high-end combo, it's a small all-rounder combo with an average yet acceptable sound. The clean channel is fine, the reverb is OK, the overdrive channel is difficult to control, the GAIN seems like an ON/OFF control and it's not easy to find a balance between GAIN and LEVEL. Lots of noise when using single coils. I also use it as a keyboard amp and it sounds fine. The 12-inch speaker seems OK after 10 years even if the combo has been stored for about 5 years in a dusty basement.

Still going string after about 10 years. The build quality seems adequate. No scratchy pots, reverb still works, nothing to complain about.

Never had to deal with them, At least they should put downloadable manuals on their website, like everybody else!

I have been playing guitar and other things for many years, I use the combo to practice at home and for gigging once in a while. I bought it from a friend who also bought it used and never really used it, so it was a good deal! I prefer other brands but this one is fine and does the job. I would probably not have bought it new from a shop. This is not a high-end combo and I don't expect a superb sound anyways. So it's fine. I use it with Strat-like guitars, and sometimes a keyboard.

3 years old its a good gig amp i also got apopping sound found out it was power source in building. never happens at home. it dose vary well for sothern rock and grunge .

i play a hiway one and a fat strat no mex or jap crap. the noise is in how you set it. you can make it sound any you want with the right effects. clean chanel is vary good distortion is good.all the way up.

so far so good 3 years

no

been playing 20 plus years.if it were stolen it would suck but i would get over it. i chose it because it sounded good

U all know...

Ok i play an Ibanez RG570 with an EMG81 at the bridge, an EMG SA single coil in the middle, and an EMG85 at the neck position. Also i have an epiphone les paul limited edition with a PRS pickup in the neck position and a dimarzio super distortion at the bridge. both guitars are good guitars and sound great through almost any amp.....EXCEPT THIS ONE!!! i have never heard an amp with shittier distortion, no balls what so ever on this thing. The clean channel is ok with the reverb on but my reverb broke within the first 3 months of having this amp...(bought it used from a friend who had it for about a year) this amp may be good for the new metal people who care nothing about tone or quality and just want a noisy fuzzy distortion but as for me i would definatly not recomend this amp.

as i said above the reverb went out in about a year and also some poping noises tend to happen when at high volume.

never had to deal with them... never gave a rats ass about this amp

ive only been playing 4 years but i know a good amp when i hear one.. this is definatly a cheap amp and if it were stolen i would probably thank the guy for giving me an excuse to buy a new amp

my amp was made in 1993. it's versatile enought. of course, i don't have a benchmark which to compare it to. i suppose that my amp has 2 channels: "clean" and "dirty". i wish that my guitar had chorus, delay, or just anything else...maybe stereo would have been nice, since i used it a lot for amplifying music from CDs/tapes.

i play a gibson es-355, but i've played other guitars through it (i.e. ibanez). it played great. you can tell, in my opinion, that it's solid-state.

i noticed that if you're playing through the clean channel for several minutes, and then switch to the crunch channel, it sounds a little brighter/nicer. weird, eh?

the "bright" switch does so very little. truthfully, i don't think it really does much.

mine has a reverb on it which is ok. the accoustic channel is nice.

all the switches on the crunch side really doesn't do a perfect job to help 'shape' your sound. i typically turn the low and high end all the way down with the "shape" all the way up. also, i thought that by increasing the treble all the way up to 10, that you'd get a hendrixy sound. not really true.

accoustic channel is good.

this is built like an abram tank!!! it's very very durable, and i've owned it for 10 years. it's been with me from dorm to dorm, state to state, and so on. moreover, i used it for a long time to amplify music from a stereo. this amp must have been designed by toyota or honda, since it never breaks!!!

these days, my capacitors are dirty, i heard.

NA.

it's a good amp. it's definitely a litle too loud for me. i don't need anything this loud. it doesn't really sound that warm, but choppy - which is a typical solid state sound.

if you're in the market for a loud amp, with honda like reliability, and basic features, then get this!!! this should be a very good second-hand amp, since the reliability is outstanding.

The amp has a great clean tone like a tube amp but not as warm. Very quiet. The 'bright' feature is interesting and the reverb is awesome. Using my Gibson SG with 490s through a vintage Big Muff sounded okay, but when I turned the reverb up all the way it was heaven. Incredible tone. I think it's best to just turn all the settings up but keep the volume under 5 or it breaks up. I give it a 7 because the distorted channel sucks!

Sounds best when I play metal or grunge. Not warm enough for blues. The clean channel does break up when the volume is up. The 490s in my SG are warm but this tones them down a little to be more cold. The distortion sucks, I'll say it again.

The amp is a tank and seems unbreakable. Seems to be very consistent.

I give it a 10 if it was only set on clean channel, volume 3, lo-med-hi at 10 and reverb at 10. Then it sounds incredible through the big muff and the SG. I bought it because it was almost as warm as the 40 watt vintage fender but more than half the weight and price and twice the wattage. Since it breaks up at high volumes, the 80 watts are only worth about 40. If you have anything wrong with the settings I put above it will probably sound like crap distorted. Clean put the reverb to whatever you want. If it was stolen, I would have to search long and hard now that I know amps are incredibly picky about setting. I wish the f*cking volume would turn up all the way. If you want a warm solid state, get a crate. But do not neglect to turn it all the way up in the store.

I bought the amp 2 years ago - the dual channels lets me go from clear clean sound (with a nice reverb) to multiple levels of overdrive using the gain. For a small amp - I usually have it set to a volume of 3 and it is more than loud enough to make me heard over a 150 watt ampeg bass amp and miked drums.... turning the volume over 6 will get you into a noisy feedback situation but for gigs you will want to mike it anyway. Has tuns of features any "expensive" will offer. But lets be honest - a fender twin reverb costs 3 times as much - it gives you a lot for the money

I have an Epiphone EM-3 rebel - which has a lot of variations to use
via the pu's - sometimes it is very heavy on the low frequencies but I think a lot of the problems are the guitar. Using my drummers strat - it sounds delicious with pure fender highs and no loss of sustain - this little amp raises a lot of eyebrows - and at times some of the jammers have opted for my little Crate over their own Fender amp (solid state of course)

this thing has gone through all you can imagine and she still smiles when you plug her in

do not know - never needed it

been playing on and off since the early eighties - went through a 7 year stretch (university) where I had to sell off my old gear. Am now in a position where I can afford to buy "good" stuff - just purchased a Paul Reed Smith Santana and a washburn BT4 - guess what - didn't need to buy a new amp - I also run the guitars through a Korg AX1500g preprocessor into the amp (just got a week ago) - lets just say my little crates' only limitation now is me - considering the price - I luv her and will give her a 10 in terms of value for the buck

Two channels, clean and overdrive, line out, in, fs, enough for a good beginning.

I started with an epi les paul, and a zoom 3030, it was good, but after you will realise that you need more, now im using a Jakson with evolution pickups and a Zoom gfx 8. . .BUT THIS IS INTERESTING. . .CONNECT YOUR GUITAR DIRECT AND USE IT AS A PREAMP, WITH A GRAPICH EQ. . .SOME WILL BE AMAZED... EVERY SOLID STATE AMP SHOULD HAVE ONE.

Strong like a bull!!!!!!

never neded

everythin can be good if you know how to use it

Single State, 80 watt 1X12 SS 2 channel amp. Pretty basic amp. Basic, but LOUD! I give it an 8 because it has everything an amp should have.

I use it through a Digitech RP300 digital effects processor, and I am able to get pretty good tones through it. It's extremely quiet, even when played loud. I use a Jackson Randy Rhoads V with humbuckers, and the tone I get through it is creamy and thick. The clean channel rather good, but the distortion channel is pure crap. I give it a 9 because it sounds good with the RP300.

It's never broken yet, so I can't complain.

Never had to deal with them, but I bought it second hand so the warrantee is probably useless.

You have to realize that this is a Single-State Crate. It's not a marshall, nor does it profess to be. For what it is, it sounds pretty good.

This is a solid state, 2 channel amp that puts out 80 watts of mostly crappy tones. This was my first real amp, and it is about to be set aside for a new, different amp. Back to the subject: there is built in reverb, that I really don't use, and an effects loop, that I never used. The two channels are for clean tone and distortion tone. There is a high gain input and a -6db input. I give this catagory a 10 simply because, this amp is just like all the other SS 1x12 amps of the time period.

I play a Jag-Stang with stock pickups through various pedals into the amp. It took a lot of mucking around, but I finally have obtained a decent clean tone...bass about 5, middle at 2 and high at 3. However, running any single pedal through the amp really doesn't sound good. I have however, found that running the guitar---> Big Muff (distortion at 1)---->Metal Zone into the amp acutally provides a very solid tone, (at a low volume). Actually, running the Big Muff (distortion at 0 or 1) through the clean channel at all times can do wonders for the tone. The distortion channel on the amp can produce a good overdriven tone, but not a good heavy distotion tone. On a side note, I've found if I turn the clean channel volume to 10, the best overdrive (from a SS amp) I've ever heard in my life is produced.
I'll give this a six because the tones aren't that great, but they can be found.

I don't know how it happened, but one day I was playing and I noticed it started making very loud popping noises. These noises were loud regardless of the volume the amp was set at and I couldn't figure out a reason why the popping noises were made. I once pushed the amp over on its face when it made the popping noise and the high gain input broke. Otherwise, I've never really had any problems. It seems like the amp would take a beating, goodness knows I've dropped it many times. I'm going to give this catagory a 5 because the popping started randomly one day, and hasn't gone away. (I've never actually taken it to someone to get it fixed.)

Never delt with Crate. Ergo, no opinion.

If this amp was stolen I would hunt down the loser who took it and make them listen to me play for a few hours. Then I would report the amp stolen and collect the insurance money and buy me a nice tube amp. I really haven't been playing guitar for long, but I have heard enough amps and guitars that I know a good sound when I hear one. This amp has played several gigs, and numerous practices. I imagine that if I ever start jamming with friends again, I will use it so I can keep the new amp at home. However, if I gig again, I will use a newer/better amp.

Solid features for a small amp.

For extreme beginning trash metal dudes it's great. Otherwise the distorted sound is crap. Useing it in a room to play same licks is o.k., but for this a small PARK amp is much better and cheaper.
The clean sounds are a litle better.

Not very god, it broke once.
You have to solder.