Crate BV120H Blue Voodoo

The amp was made around 2002 and has a lot of features, perhaps it need a gain pot in the clean channel to obtain the crunch, a better reverb tank and a switch in the lead channel to make the distortion versatile...

First of all, stock tubes makes the amp sound very horrible!!!
I replace v1 and phase inverter with jj 12ax7, v2 & 3 with Ecc83EH and EH 6L6's.
Then, stock crate cabs (with unnamed speakers) are awful and I had a chance to play it with a very good legacy cab with celestion v30s.
Now the amp sounds better, but not that tone monster.
The problem is that this amp has not a compromise, Hi-Fi iper-sparkle clean or too overdrived and fizzy distortion.
The crunch is absent, if you put the clean channel at a volume that can pull down the walls.
Lead channel do not produce any kind of crunch also at gain 1 and guitar pot rolled off, when the minimum distortion seems the clean channel with a behringer overdive.
This amp lack of that "fat", rhythm is confused in a tons of gain and there is not too "balls" in the malm muting.
This thing is perfect to play leads, every note goes out and take a breath, good attack but not "wooff-y", also is very OK for who put a pod in the clean channel, cause it stays always clean.
Eq section is also not that special, presence breaks the ears, too much icy highs, middles are not warm and never scooped-able and bass buzz at high volumes.

During the leads, if stopped, a shot of feedback breaks every glass; to compare, I had tried a mesa dual recto and it perfectly mutes down also with full gain/volume and the guitar in front at the cab (also produces a wonderful crunch with third-lead channel with gain at 4)!!!

I don't like this amp at all, some says that thing changes very well modding the amp with el34's, darking up the sound and making it fatter... I do not tried yet... I say it need a expert can make a good work also in the preamp.

Very reliable amp, never broken in thousand gigs, but tubes has short life by high plate voltages than wonderful old vintage amps...
Very good transformers and pcb also.

Never used

This amp is overpriced, there is a lot of alternatives as koch, laney, earforce, or fabulous amps/cabs as Brunetti, Masotti and some other very high quality italian amps!!!

Ever since I heard Marty Friedman fire up one of these amps, I have wanted one. Recently, I had an opportunity to by one for a killer price so I took the deal. All gain stages are one hundred percent tube driven. It has two channels, a distortion and clean channel with independent tone and level controls. Included is a simple yet effective effects loop with the ability to reduce incoming effects levels by -12dB, which I found quite nice. As far as power goes, it has more than I can use. With a 4x12 cabinet I can overpower anyone else in my band and still have crystal clarity. One thing I that should be noted is that the GT tubes that come with the amplifier are only rated at 50 watts. This indicates that the amp is actually a 100 watt amplifier, not a 120 watt amplifier. Thankfully, it would appear that almost all of the power of this amp can be utilized without excess noise or clipping.

I use several different guitars and effects with this amp. Primarily I play my Ibanez RG-300A with my Pod XT Live. To be completely honest, I didn't get that killer tone I thought I get when I first plugged this amp in. The gain on the distortion channel was out of control and had a very rigid hissing treble sound which is not my style. The clean channel sounded very cold and lacked the punch found in many other tube amps. Come to find out, this has nothing to do with the amp! I would like to make a recommendation, buy this amp and IMMEDIATELY swap the tubes. The difference is INCREDIBLE! I ended up replacing V1 with a JJ 12AX7, V2 & V3 & V4 with EH 12AX7's and all power tubes with JJ 6L6's. Wow! What a difference! This thing sounds phenomenal now! The clean is incredibly warm/harmonic and the distortion is much tamer than before. My only complaint is that the distortion channel still has an insane amount of gain. I might recommend trying a 12AT7 in place of the 12AX7 in V2 to reduce some of the gain and fatten the sound up a bit. Overall though, I am extremely pleased. Just FYI, biasing the tubes in this amp is a breeze.

I use this amp all the time and have not had any problems with it. It may simply be that I preform regular maintenance. However, I can tell you that it appears to be built very well. I am a hardware engineer by trade so I see electronics and electronics components day in and day out. Though I didn't perform a detailed analysis of the amps quality, I did notice that all components seem to be more than sufficient rated and the printed circuit board looks to have thick clad and proper layout.

The warranty expired on this amp before I even purchased it. Therefore, I have not had the opportunity to, nor will I ever have the opportunity to deal with warranty work. I have, however, had the opportunity to deal with the manufacturer via email contact. I asked them for schematics to assist with tube replacement and bias adjustment which they promptly sent with no questions asked. They were very helpful.

I love this amp. I will always own one of these. For the price, it's quality and capabilities are unbeatable. I honestly believe that with the proper tubes, settings, and effects that you could tailor this amp to meet any style and any sound. Overall it just kicks some serious butt!

I'm not sure what year it is, but the Blue Voodoo's came out in 96' or 97' I believe. I'd say the BV120 is a 6 on versatility. It has two channles, clean and overdrive and comes with a footswitch pedal. Also included are Effects Loop, Headphone Jack and Ext. Speaker Jack. You can also plug this amp directly into a digital recorder and the BV120 will "emulate" a mic'd amp for your recording. I use this feature with my BOSS BR-900CD. For a head amp it's pretty much got everything you need except a butt load of effects like the AVT150.

I'm using a Samick Avion with an SH-1 Classic at the neck and an SH-13 Dimebucker at the bridge. This amp is very suited to my music as it is a friggin' GAIN MONSTER!!! I almost want to say that it has too MUCH gain. Most amps you turn the gain all the way to 10 for the "ultimate" crunch your amp can push. On the BV120, I have all the gain I need and then some at 5! I can talk all day about how great the crunch and gain is, but as for the clean I think Crate could have done a little better. I just can't seem to get a good feel and tone on the clean channel. It just sounds flat. The reverb sounds nice, but I'd suggest buying a Chorus or Reverb pedal to beef up your clean channel. Finally, in regards to sound quality, as with any head amp, you should really have a quality cabinet. If you're gonna stick with Crate, then make sure you've got the Vintage Celestion-30's.

This amp is pretty dependable. Definately road worthy and durable. I would definately use it without a back up because i KNOW it wont fall apart on me. I haven't even really pushed this thing yet. At 4, the paint on the wall starts to chip, at 6 your ears bleed and at 10 your face melts off. (In other words, this amp is pretty frickin loud) Has never broken down but it's a tube which means regular maintenance. If you want an amp where you just plug in and play and never have to worry about anything else, the BV120 and ANY tube amp for that matter is not for you.

Never had to deal with them but i've heard nothing but nice things about them. The warrenty is no longer valid since i bought this used ($310).

Been playing for over 12 years. Amp-wise, I own a Marshall VS100 half stack and a Marshall VS265. If my Crate BV120 were stolen, I'd definately be pissed. Overall its a great amp with a lot of power and i LOVE the way it shreds! I'd definately buy another one if i had to. Bottom line is this: The gain on this amp is a frickin BEAST and will not dissappoint anyone in that area. Second, where else are you going to find a 100 watt head with these features for under $400 (used)??? Crate can make pieces of crap just like any company, but they also make great amps as well. The BV120 is one of those great amps. A lot of musicians are starting to realize that they can get a very good quality head amp for so cheap. Since the demand for these is starting to rise, the cost has slowly been going up. Better hop to it and get one soon!

All you need for basics of great, simple tone...

I use many guitars thru this baby and love it! You gotta switch it over to EL34Ls and Tung-Sol 12Ax7s and have it rebiased...But I like the tone better than the JCM800...With 6L6s (and I tried several) it was just too buzzy sounding and not in the cool Mesa Boogie way, but in that awful Crate standard tone from that practice amp we all had...This thing can be great, it just needs a little workover...

No problems yet...

Awesome...They sent me a few schematics that helped me mod it...

Awesome...I know people shake their heads, but this amp can turn many heads...I dolled mine up with a white fusion paint job (head and cab) and replaced the Crate logos with tractor parts face plates...Now everyone wants to know more about it...Oh yeah, and you gotta play it through Celestion Vintage 30s...

Get over the Crate name and pick this bad boy up....

see the other reviews for features. 2 channels, reverb, excellent tone control

Excellent tone. Very smooth distortion and lots of it. And this amp RECORDS VERY WELL. I tried it during our last studio sessions because Marty Friedman turned me on to these. And I ended up tracking every song with the BV120H.
The clean channel sounds much better than my rectifier.
The reverb is very smooth. Not old fender-ish but very usable.

No problems whatsoever. Everything is top notch

nice folks. very helpful. even the non-artist relations people.

THIS AMP IS THE BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK PERIOD!!! Are there better amps? For some things yes, but for the money, there is nothing that can touch this BV120H beast.

I've been playing Marshall amps for years. I came upon the Blue Voodoo in a Musicgoround in Cary,NC while looking for a used Marshall JCM 800. This is the last amp you'll ever need!!

I played it for over an hour and couldn'r believe how clean it was at any volume level. The overdrive gives crisp driving distortion that rivals any pedal on the market!

I've only had it a week or so......

Sound is awesome! Looks great! EZ to use, and has all control options you need! Wish I'd found it a long tiem ago and not wasted coin on other amps!!!

This amp is pretty straight forward, 2 channels (footswitchable), emaculate clean channel no matter what I run through it (Les Paul or JS-100 most of the time), and the lead channel is to die for. I'm suprised how much gain you can get out of an amp with only 4 gain stages. The footswitchable effects loop is also pretty nifty. The reverb is well voiced for both channels on the amp. I take this amp gigging all the time and I never have a problem being heard although my other guitarist uses a Peavey 6505+ and I have to set my volume double his in order to be heard. Don't try to convince yourself that this amp is anything besides a metal machine. I've seen people run od's in front of the clean channel and get a bluesy sound but oing straight this amp is built for metal.

The amp is a pretty straight forward metal machine but if you run some od's in front of the clean you can really open up the amp to aot more sounds. The clean channel stays clean and the lead stays heavy as balls. I'm in a Southern Metal band (myspace.com/nightafterdark) and this amp gets the job done for me. I run a Les Paul mostly but I've played everything through it and as long as the axe has humbuckers in it it'll sound good 'n heavy. A strat'll get a nice bluesy overdrive on the lead channel. It has a wee bit of hum to it but so does my other guitarist's 6505+ and that amp cost about 3 times hat I paid for this one. Watch the gain, treble, and presence levels when you're playing live because it will squeal if you don't eq the amp at the volume you plan on playing a show.

This amp has never failed me and I beat the living crap out of it. I've never had anything go wrong with it and it's the most reliable tube amp you can get for like $300(USED)

Never delt with them, I've been beating the amp up for a year and haven't had to do ANY service to it at all!

I've been playing since I was a freshman in highschool and this is my main amp, I would go and buy another one if anything happened to mine. The one problem I see with the amp is just the difference in volume between it and other amps my friends have. My volume has to be twice what their's is, and I've played it agianst a Peavey 6505 & 6505+, Mesa Dual Rectifier, Marshall JCM TSL 60 watt & 100 watt. Luckily I haven't ever had to turn up past 8, if I need to turn up past that the venue usually mikes the amps.

Mine is about 3-4 years old. Has line out, effects send/return, etc., etc.

Put a ECC81/12AT7 in the middle socket of the preamp trio. Until I replaced that one preamp tube, the amp was out of control as far as gain. Looking into the amp there are three preamp tubes together. Replace the middle of this trio with a ECC81/12AT7. This lessens/spreads the gain so you can have more control over it. There is plenty of gain left, beyond 7 it is all the way up anyway. You don't have to change any other tubes.
I set the bias at -35 just to make the output tubes last longer. Now I can turn the gain knob and it slowly responds as opposed to jumping quickly to too much gain. I don't know why Crate didn't do this, it wouldn't cost anything. The amp has tons of gain left and can be made so much better with one ECC81/12AT7 tube. Without a tube change the BV120H amp has too much gain, with it, it can be used for nearly any kind of music. You have to do this to your BV120H.

Haven't had any problems

I have a Marshall DSL and I can't get but one tone from it, thin and raspy, like a rubbing voice coil sound. The Crate has much more tone available and tone variation with the ECC81 tube change. Don't pay some
guru to screw you with mods, just change the tube dude. Would I buy another BV120? The price is starting to go up for used ones because more people are finding out it has the same and better sound than the Marshall
hi-gain amps. I don't know if I would buy another, but I won't sell this one.

I've got the blue/gold one. Versatile for rock; what it's made for. Two channel, 12 knob. I have used this amp unmiked in the Granada theatre in Lawrence, KS and the Beaumont in Kansas City those are not small venues, it's loud. It's the sound I've wanted forever so I must not be very good according to some of you idiots. I instructed the sound guys NOT to mike me. The BV sounds like an amp is supposed to sound on 6 and a half. Not a tube amp, not a solid state amp, a friggin' guitar amp. Oh, gear snobs or spoiled brats, the Vintage 30 cab is not that much better than the Crate American Vintage cabs. I've had multiple experienced sound engineers as well as myself and my band verify this.

I grew up with a tone in my head and could never get it with a dual rec, JCM800, 900, 2000, JCM900SLX the list goes on. The closest I could get to the tone I wanted was with a Les Paul and a JCM800. The full bodied crunch was there, just not enough gain. I plugged my Gibson into this BV and heard my sound. It's natural but according to some of you it's not a real tube amp. Talk to guys who do amp mods, they may disagree with ya. The tone, with a good guitar, is raw and tubey, it's crunchy, raunchy and Marshallesque. Rather ideal for those who like to play, rather than whine. Unless you've drunk the puppet koolaid and can't hear past people you think are better than you's reviews, it might sound okay. The BV is real american distortion and I think those things with the letters GT on them that glow in the back of it are tubes, thus making it a tube amp. I could be wrong. I lined this up with a Mesa and TSL at Chapman studios in KC with the same guitar. The crate won. No joke, no exaggeration, certain people were speechless. And yes we knew how to work the almighty dual rectifier and its mystery settings. To those of you who can't live with spending less than 2 grand on a pre-amp might be a little pre-occupied with something other than guitar playing. Maybe its your chops, success with females or males, or cup size, but do yourself a favor and leave that out of your amp reviews. You might scare away kids who have real talent, and think they can't play unless they spend what you claim to have spent.

No problems yet-2 years solid.

N/A

Played for 12 years, taught for 2, opened for Suicidal Tendencies, Jackyl, few other national acts. Love Dime, Sabbath, Zack, Randy, Pepper Keenan and Mr. Cantrell as well as some fusion. I studied jazz with Fred Hamilton and Tim Miller at the University of North Texas and classical with Luis Millan and Randy Klingbeil at Washburn University. The amp is worth trying out if you like good tone.

I have a millenium model with the bronze Crate emblem and actually blue tolex. It features two independent channels with 3-band eqs and controls for gain, reverb and presence. It also has a FX Loop boost, which is pretty cool. Contrary to what the model number implies, the Blue Voodoo amps are rated at 100 watts (read the specs on the back).

The eq controls a decent-enough range, and there's more than enough gain to distort your sound to the moon. The one spot the BV seems to be limited is volume in the distorted channel, which makes it a problem for someone playing in a loud, metal-type band. For some reason, the clean channel has enough power to match any 100W amp out there. However, when you kick on the distortion, you really have to crank it to compete. For example, typically I play with my distorted volume at 7 to 7.5 while my other guitarist's JCM-2000 is at 3 to 3.5. Needless to say, they laugh at me a bit. But for the price I paid, I believe this was the best amp I could get.

The sound quality isn't a problem. The clean channel can sparkle, but you have to watch the high end. I like it a lot, but it's a bit limited on the low end. Not to big of a deal, though, because most guitars have a neck pick up for that reason. I've already expressed the volume issue with the distorted channel, but what's totally awesome about this amp is the amount of gain saturation you can get before everything becomes white noise. Even with stock tubes, the pre amp in the BV has a big range.

It's 7 years old, been through 3 owners, and lately, I've been really pushing it. It's reliable. But ANY amp can break down at ANY time. I bring my Peavy solid state with me to every show just in case.

Heard good things, but haven't had to call them.

For the price range, I really don't think you'll find anything better. Everything else is solid state or highly overrated, in my opinion. If you want a truly sick amp, get a Mesa Boogie or a handmade Diezel from Germany. Then again, you probably don't have 4300 bucks to blow on just the amp. If you're looking for something that will rock and give you plenty of room for your sound to breathe, the Blue Voodoo should be a prospect.