Crate VC508

the line out thing is a good thing. plugged into my 002 digi rack also sounds wonderful. Who needs a microfone to record your guitars?

growls. It has a solid looking speaker so the growling does not appear to be the speaker falling apart

we'll see. because of how this crap reacts to moisture, particle board anything gets poor marks, IMHO. And it crumbles. So the crappy cab is a flag. but it is chunky feeling . we'll just have to see.

If I ever find somethiong lioke this with spring reverb also it gets the 10. but this gets a solid 9. I got it at used music store for 100$. I didnn't even go n google it first. It just looked staright away to be worth it.

Very basic little 5W tube amp with single input channel into TL072 op amp, 12AX7 tube preamp, EL84 tube power amp , solid state recitifer, , effects loop (line-out), volume, tone, gain, with 8" Celestion speaker.
But this is a hidden little gem!! These 5 watts are actually quite loud and with mods probably pushing towards 8 watts.
Little extra features (which are un-needed anyway at this price imho, but give a 6 rating to be fair...

Am using an Epiphone Alleykat semi-hollow with '57 humbucker on bridge and NY humbucker on neck, mostly classic blues, light rock classics etc. I bought this amp used and modified it similar to the mods at guitarnuts.com, although I've made a couple of additional changes which work well for me. I now have excellent clean headroom blooming into that creamy distortion tone that most blues and classic rock artists crave. With the added 'Master' volume mod added between the second pre-amp stage and the EL85 PA; along with changing the bias resistors in the preamp etc. I find the amp is now fully adjustable for either or both pre-amp or that all-important power amp distortion and by swapping out the slightly harsh 12AX7 preamp tube for a 5751 and swapping out the TL072 for an OPA2604 I feel that this amp is equal to any similar boutique amp selling for upwards of $600... Will be adding a speaker out soon and plan to use this for smaller venue gigs.
10+++

Have had no problems with playing every night at home. As stated above I will try gigging with the amp into a 1X12 cab, as I just love the tone. Will find out if it's hardy enough to take a night out on the town...

VERY basic, tone gain and volume. when the amp comes stock, the gain and tone nob arent very usefull, but pop in a 12at7 to replace the stock preamp and they take on a whole new role!

would give a 10 if only it had reverb and a 3 band eq.

this amp like i said needs a 12at7 to unlock its full potential, but once thats done this amp rocks. the amp take a while to warm up but once it does the tone nob is a really nice feature. 5and down give u a more "marshall" type of distortion and 5and up gives u a more "mesa dual rectifier" sound and the cleans are great for clapton, but it doesnt break up too smoothly with just the volume nob, the preamp need alittle coaxing from the distortion knob.

with patience this amp can be very classic rock, that vintage sound is right ther


bad side, natural and pinch harmonics dont ring out too well

third owner, still goin.

5 year transferable warrenty? its all good

i have owned 5 amps this is my 6th abd favorite. been playin almost 3years and would buy it again.

i give it an eight because of it needing an upgrade to "unleash the beast" (and u have to tke the whole chasis off to do it)


also because of its basicness (would gladly pay 100$more for reverb and an eq.)

all in all a great amp,

a 30watt eq and reverb version would be superb

Bought in 2000, I think. I posted a review a few years ago. I let the amp gather dust for a few years shortly after. We had to make some room in the den this week, so I decided to do some things I had wanted to for a while. I took the chassis out of the cab and mounted it in my cheesy Park amp case. It fit fine, but is a little skinnier, so there are some, uh, airholes. Right away the amp sounded infinitely better. The Park speaker (8") is WAY better, and the cab is tighter. I tossed the Crate cab. Then, last night I followed another poster's idea of switching the pre and post volume pots. You have to take the pc board out to do any soldering, but no problem. I put it back together, and.... It now does exactly as it should!! The pre-amp gain is much lower, while the post is much higher. I can set the post to 10, and use the pre as it was intended. Since I am no electrician, however, I cannot vouch for the safety and security of this mod. It's working great for now, though!

I play crunchy blue soul rawk with a tele. The amp tone is more musical, now. It won't fuzz out now since the pre gain is so low. You can turn the pre gain all the way up and it hardly distorts the front end. But you can dime the master and just use the pre as an actual volume control, like a real amp. Plus, the distortion feels much more output tube-like, and you actually have to turn it up in order to get it. I guess I sacrificed some of the bedroom playability, but it's worth it. The amp's gots tubes. They should be used the way the gods intended them to be.

Even with all my tinkering, the amp still works ok. I have never changed the tubes. I doubt I would ever get seriously giggy with it. I don't play any gigs right now anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter.

I love that I only paid around 70 dollars for it new, and have spent nothing to date on maintenance or modifications. I think these things are perfect for projects, but little else, and that's ok. I haven't had much luck recording it in the past, but I'm sure it's better after the mods. However, it now has to be turned up to sound good, so you might as well get an old Champ, which would sound way better. The rating is Fun Factor, not exactly usability.

Small practice amp, two tubes 12AX7 in the preamp and EL84 on the power section, 5W, speaker designed in conjunction with Celestion, line out that works as a effect loop, volume, special tone control (turn clockwise enchances treble and bass, anticlockwise enchances midrange, and drive, boosting the gain of a built in opamp overdrive.

Loud amp, dont pass above volume level 1. I like to use it with the gain at max, sometimes use with Boss GE7 for solo boost. This amp is very flexible, can play from country to metal, the sound is warm, and when fully distorted becames fuzzy. Ideal for practicing or recording. I bought it because I wanted a tube amp, this was my first tube amp, and I still love it.

I experienced some problems with this amplifier, but I fixed it. Sometimes it starts to hum heavily and the volume control dont affect the sound, I discovered that the problem is in the line out jack making bad electrical contact, so I removed the line out jack, because I dont use it and shunted the preamp section that goes from the volume control to the input of the second half of the 12AX7 tube, and the problem was solved. Aside from that it is built like a tank.

This was my first tube amp, and use it for practicing and plan to record with it using sm57 mic. It is a tube amp with a built in "tube screamer", the difference is that the gain of the built in opamp is higher than the TS9 so you can shred with it. If stolen or lost I would be very sad and try to buy another.

tubes !! 2 of them, 1 preamp tube a 12**7 , 1 el84 power tube. gain, tone and volume, 1X8 inch celestion speaker. one channel. 5 watts. very sparse. no reverb. awesome gain. low volume power tube saturation is killer. very vox-ish.

for classic rock, this small thing is the size of a bread box and has very good overdrive and tube saturation in volumes that are actually tolerable. good clean tone. i use a mic on it and play clubs. a small rp7 pedal and / or a ts9 into the tube tone is all you need if you can mic it. and who wants to carry a 4x12 cab when this will do? gibson night hawk, 3 pickup config. and i can get clean fender with the single coil and gibson bucker with awesome over drive for the 70-80's stuff. tone control has good scoop and accents. i did a little wood work on the cab and replaced the stock 8" speaker with a VOX/celestion 10". the one they use for the 4x10 config. 35$ and what a cheap price for this tone!!!!!!!!

never had a problem, but get two they are cheap , 99$, used on web. box is sawdust board. but it is way sturdier than needed.

n/a

been playing since '67. for the size and weight, and cost , i would buy 5. as a matter of fact i am looking for the next one right now......

Bought used on ebay - fairly new. This is my first amp and I went tubes (mostly, apparently not the rectifier/gain)) and new rather than vintage. I play harp exclusively using a green bullet, and almost always mic to PA. Also switched tubes according to web recommendation for harp players. The interaction of volume, gain and tone is somewhat of a mystery but I find 5+ vol., 5+ gain., and 5- tone gives a good sound for most songs when mic'd. I play harp with church band that does contemporary, originals and will play locally as non-church band. We rock as everything from sweet to crunchy! As I become more comfortable with this amp, I'll push it for overdrive. This is a lightweight (under 20 lb), semi-durable, versatile, no-frills, mostly tube, little amp. Wish it had more power to be played without PA mic, and a reverb would be fun.

I've played on this amp for over 1.5 years. The amp can go from clean to crunchy by adjusting volume, gain and tone. Sounds best at higher gain and volume - for anything but smooth and sweet. Not sure about the gain, it sounds forced at higher end. Inadequate for playing without mic'd PA. Does a good job for an 8" speaker - but makes me yearn for a single or double 10" full tube set up (played through a 2x 10" Working Dog and was blown away by sound - and price).

Bought at least 2nd hand. Replaced tubes just for sound, originals still worked. "On" indicator works only sometimes. It gets dragged around a lot and always works well. It has a steel grill that can take some punishment, however, the cabinet is particle board without any protection of corners - seems like a contradiction. I think crate made a winner with this amp. Makes me want to look at other Crate "vintage club" amps (VC 20, VC 210). I'd rather play on than work on my amp and appreciate the tubes w/o being an old amp.

Bought used and never brought in for service.

I've played harp for at least 30 years and this is my first amp (late bloomer). The crate has been a good performer and I keep finding new versatility by playing with the knobs. This is a great value (apx $120) for a harp player, and I'd buy another if this one was stolen.

Basic

Too much solid state gain.

good

na

The gain in the solid state section is too high for my taste. The gain in the tube section is very low. I've modded mine to bypass the tone and solid state portion completely. On the the way there, I did find a decent sound, (if you like solid state preamps). Switch the gain pot (P3,250k) with the volume pot(P1,10k) on the pc board. This increases the tube section gain and decreases the TL072 solid state gain. Sounds better in my opinion.

class A tube 5 watt
Plus wimpy speaker, questionable preamp, but did I mention class A tube 5 watt..???

I`m not really anal about my lead tone- basic B.Gibbons/E.Johnson/J.Satriani/SRV type tone will do. Plenty of distortion,musicallity, jumping harmonics, sustain,etc. And VC508 delivers- that`s all. Use distortion box. You buying this to play late at nigth right? Well, if you crank this little amp it`ll get lous as hell. And may not sound good. Don`t. Set the volume on 10, preamp on 2 or 3 and use distortion box. I don`t know about clean/blues/jazz/whatever tone... but zz top/ac dc/jimmy page is definitely here. I just connected my recto 2/12 cab (8 ohm)- holy smoke!, I wish I did that 3 years ago...
You could use external preamp by sending signal to Line Out jack.
I use Mesa Formula Pre, works great. I like setting it on 10, and with my Mesa all tube 50 watt its impossible to stand closer than 25 feet from my recto cabs. Painfull? Yes. Sound? O, I get the sound, all right... @ 180 lbs of weight...
So aside from speakers pushing the air, I can get close to that sound in my bedroom by using VC 508 plus separate 2/12" cab. And maybe separate preamp.
I`m sure you can get clean/pure/jazz/whatever sound as well, just need a little tweaking. My amp is 3 years old, has worn out tubes, wires hanging out, and sounds great. Put a little love in it and you get your pure sounds...

no problems

You know the features. 5 watts class A tube through a celestion 8 ohm 15 watt speaker. Gain, tone, and volume controls. Comes with 12AX7 and EL84.

I found this amp on sale, brand new, for only 120 dollars, so I decided to buy it. I figured that because it was all tube, that it would sound better than my solid state amp. After a few months playing it stock, I really wasn't too impressed. Then I went to the crate website and printed out the manual(I didn't get one). I found that the line out jack can double as an effects loop because it is a stereo jack. I thought this was pretty cool because I like to use chorus and such. Then I went to guitarnuts.com, and they have a mod posted. They said the reason that this amp doesn't get amazing sound is because the power tube isn't getting enough volume into it to achieve power tube distortion. After I read this, I realized that I could boost the volume through the effects loop and get the tone I was looking for. I used a little beringer mixer(has a TMB tone stack too), and wow. That tube sound I have always longed for was at my finger tips. It was the best tube sound I have ever played through. Guitarnuts.com also suggested to put a 12AT7 preamp tube instead of a 12AX7 because you would get more head room and a smoother distortion. I put the 12AT7 tube, and I was amazed again. With these two simple mods I get great distortion from both tubes, and an amzing blues guitar sound when I run both tubes on the brink of distortion. This amp also drives my mesa 2X12 cab with vintage 30s loud enough that I got the cops called on me the other day. I love my tone now!

This is a great amp for the value. With the tips I give, this amp has that great tube tone that only power tube saturation can give you. This is inexpensive, and you get great tone. Every guitarist should visit guitarnuts.com. They have great info and tube amps.