Crate BV120H Blue Voodoo

You know about the features, 2 channels, one clean, one dirty, plenty about that in other reviews.

This is actually a follow-up review and a rebuttal to all the schmucks who posted saying the BV sucks and we should all buy Marshalls or Boogies. I can afford any damn amp I want and I'm perfectly happy with my BV. I bought it five years ago because at the time it WAS all I could afford but it has served me well for all that time. I don't know, maybe Ahkmed and all the other morons who hate the BV so much just got defective units, or perhaps they are all a bunch of pole-smokers. Ahkmed is obnoxious but at least he had the balls to include his name, unlike the idiot who goes on and on telling us how tubes work and complaining about how "young kids" today don't know what an amp should sound like. I have a number of effects in my rig but I can also get a very large warm sound just going straight in. I play an Ibanez Jem with Dimarzio PAF Pro's and use a Marshall 1960 cab with vintage Celestion 30's. It's loud as Hell and, to my ears, sounds as good if not better than the Marshalls and Boogies alot of my peers play through. Don't get me wrong, those are both great amps but everyone and their sister plays one and the Boogies all sound the same to me. Some of us would prefer not to be clones! I should tell you, it's not just me. I get compliments about my sound all the time, often from the sound guys at the clubs we play at. In fact, the guy who is widely regarded as the best sound engineer in my city says my tone is the one of the best that he deals with in his job. And no, I'm not from Hicksville, I live in the 5th largest City in the US. To be honest, this same guy has also told me that he doesn't like the sound of most of the BV's he deals with but he loves mine. Maybe it's the PAF Pro's? I don't know, the BV isn't for everyone and if you don't like it then don't buy it. Just don't tell me that my amp sounds like shit just because it didn't sound good for YOU.

5 years, 50+ gigs, hundreds of rehearsals and no major problems. Replace the tubes as needed and you'll be in good shape for a long time. The only complaint I have is that two of the "feet" came off of mine and now I have to put a couple of 9-volts underneath to make it level sitting on the cab. Anyone know where I could replace these?

I'm giving it an 8 just because I know not everyone seems to get as good of a sound as I get. Also the clean channel isn't that great but I never use it anyway. Use a guitar with PAF's and a good cab and you should be happy, especially considering the price. I recently added an MXR ZW-44 overdrive to the front of my already-distorted amp and with that I get all the low end of a Boogie but without the lack of mids and sameness of sound.

Pretty simple amp on the front and the back. Heres the two things that are nice, seperate reverb for each channel and the effects loop can be turned on and off by the footswitch. I wish you could turn the reverb on and off by a footswitch as well, that would make me happy, might get that done when modding it.

I'm using a Epi Les Paul Standard that I have modded to some extent. I also run a Fender Standard Strat through it as well. It powers a Madison 4x12 cab. At first I didn't like the way it sounded, the clean sounded pathetic and the distortion had no low end. But then I remembered I had been away from tubes amps for awhile, a tube amp only shines after a couple things have happened, one the amp has to be properlly warmed up, and two, you don't start getting great tube sounds until you get the power section working. So after about 15 minutes of play on it it had warmed up pretty good and the sucker started to sound great! The clean breaks up just as you would want it to. The distortion is very full, very rich, and has that Crate tradmark dark tone to it. When I crank it up to full blast it will blow your head off, but it will sound so good while doing it. Starts to remind me of a marshall when it's cranked it has that dark tone to it. I usually keep the overdrive channel around 5-6 to get a nice even mix of power and pre, this gives me my best tone, a nice crunch that sounds clean but can still bite off your head. I have found the tone I love, and I'm glad I'm back to tube. I think some people on here also forgot, let your amp warm up, then beat the great tones out of her, she begs for it!

I'm not sure how reliable it is yet, havn't had the chance to test it on the road. A lot of pros use it on the road, so I'm going to assume it holds up. But it is tube and you have to be a little carful with them. I own some other crates and have never had any problems though.

Never delt with crate, and I own a few, so I guess thats a good thing!

This amp is awsome, some many great tones that you can get out of it. I started off on tube amps and played them for many years. Then played solid state for many years, and after never being happy with my tone I went back to tube, and I'm glad I did. I love it that you can get these things for so cheap since everyone else is after the 300watt version of this, why 300 watts of tube, that's crazy, way to much for any human being! If your thinking of buying one of these, buy it, just remember, tubes, they sound best when hott, so warm them amps up. Oh and change the tubes, try out some combos and see what works best, I'm currentlly using Mesa 6L6 and Electro Harmoniz 12A7X.

New, closeout of the blue vinyl. I've had it about three months, came with the Groove tubes. It is heavy, 58 or so lb. I need to get a case for it because it is not something you want to drop. It has Reverb and even tho I could do without it most of the time, I need it on the clean channel. Came with all metal footswitch.

I AB'd it with a Crate GX1200H just to see if there was any similarity
to the Flex-Wav circuit. NONE. NONE at all. The Voodoo is an entirely different sounding amp at all levels. Voodoo easily sounds better than the Flex-Wav and sounds nothing like it. It is difficult to remove the static sound from the Flex-Wav but it just isn't there on the Voodoo.
It's a 100 watt 6L6 tube amp and if you don't know how to make it work
get the hell out of the way, cuz I know how! I live right in the middle of snob country (Texas ranchers) and they just can't stand me.
So you know I get real tired of amp snobs. You don't have to like the Voodoo to be a good guy in my eyes, but don't spread lies about it.
I mean how can anyone get in such a lather over an amp. I question the motivation of someone who doesn't own an amp and yet has a vehement hatred for it. It ain't natural.

I don't know.

I don't know

It's been said before, best buy in an all tube head, [for what I paid anyway].

NEW-tube amp-2 channel--came with the footswitch.this amp gets the job done and then some.all features are useable.reverb is very nice[seperate for each channel.looks great and sounds better.pound for pound the best value in a tube amp going today.i wanted this amp for a long time and finally got one.i was not disappointed........

i play humbucker equip. guitars.single coil p/ups are to noisy.i beleive this would suit any style of music.the clean channel is very nice sounding and the dist.channel a fantastic.i have nothing bad to say about this amp--- i'm going to buy another one in the near future.

i've only had it a short time.from what i understand''these amps are made to be beaten''--just change the tubes when needed....

i've owned crate amps and speaker cabinets for many years.they are a very good company to deal with.i had a speaker go on me[out of warranty]--they sent me a new one anyway....hows that for a good co.

i've been playing for many years.i own a laney amp--marshall amp--another crate head--peavey cabinet 4/12----esp guitar--guild guitar.lets see.what do i like about this crate head--i like everything and dislike nothing.i do hate that i waited so long to buy it.for the money,you will not find a better amp...........

Made in 1996. 2 seperated channels, silent footswitching on them as well as the effects loop, which has a 12dB boost button. All tube - comes with Groove Tube 6l6s and 12AX7s but it is of course able to take other types, with the appropriate adjustments. I don't recommend doing this. With this amp, any old Sovteks or whatever will be fine. This amp has seperate reverb for each channel, and the footswitch jack is stereo 1/4" phone type, which is nice if you're replacing the factory one or building one yourself. All in all it has the usual amount of features, maybe a lil' above average. Oh and it has cool orange lights behind the tubes that light up when they're activated, making it glow from inside which is nice aesthetically, and also good if your amp is on the brink of death and you need to know if one of your tubes is about to die. This is an issue with mine, which is currently barely being kept alive by this little hamster that runs in a wheel mounted to the chassis.

Jackson, Charvel, Epiphone guitars. Jackson, Epiphone, and passive EMG pickups. Thrash, progressive metal, progressive rock, classical, folk. Influences are many.

This amp has a really good sound - don't trust them when they tell you it isn't a great amp or worth the money. It is worth the money, take it from one who knows --- but only if you are the sort that is dedicated to tube amps, and the kind that likes to turn yours up around 10. This amp really brings out the tones produced by the tubes, you can hear it clearly throughout all the volume and gain settings. It doesn't have a chokehold on the gain like Marshalls, and it doesn't have monster gain like a 5150. It has a nice, even keeled distribution of gain levels. If you want to sound brutal, you can turn the gain up to 10 and stand back. If you want fuzz, turn the the gain to 1 or 2. It isn't one of those amps that you have hit an extra switch to change to low gain or high gain, or set the gain on 3 to get blasted, or set the gain on 7 just to crunch. It covers the spectrum.

The clean channel is nice - voiced brightly like the other channel but easily cleaned up by turning the treble knob down. When you give the clean channel a little volume, it really warms up to you and feels full and clear. The lead channel is the same, but warms up at higher volumes than the clean channel.

This amp brings out your fingerwork nicely. You may have noticed that a lot of amps that have killer tones for specific things, like chugs or split harmonics, don't let more subtle things through. This amp does. Also, it quickly presents resonances in high squeals. This brings out tone and expression in your high-end noodley work.

This is amp is reliable. There isn't another way to say that; this amp is just plain reliable. Assuming it isn't struck by lightning, hit by a missile, or in mine's case assuming the hamster doesn't stop running in the little wheel, this amp will not break down. Most amps are fussy about things like electricity quality, input signal current, or being tossed about the stage by drunk techs. This one isn't. However, do not defeat the ground on this amp. It needs it. If you need to be told this however, you may also need to know that it's also a bad idea to defeat either of the other two prongs on the pluggy-thing. Just put it down, junior.

N/A. Find someone who knows Crates if you must find anyone at all. I haven't had the best of luck with techs.

I've been playing for 12 years, and I'm usually the better player in any group I sit in with. I spend about 10-15 hours a week practicing, used to be 20-30, and I'm a quick study with musical instruments. I've got a good ear - done some soundtech work and recording, always praised. Other gear - I use a Fender 15watt Frontman for quiet practicing, it's very tight sounding and helps me work out tiny errors in distorted guitarwork. My main rig is now a 5150II, modded tighter and with added control. The Crate served faithfully on and off stage for 4 years, I never needed another amp for any setting. My Blue Voodoo is shot to hell though, specifically from numerous accidents and meddling amateur amp-modder-wannabes. Thus it is now my back-up rig, and I don't dare sell it for the petty cash I would get for its old, worn out carcass. It's much more valuable as a back-up rig. If it were stolen, I would find the person who stole it and try to fit the chassis in his rectum. Then I'd turn it up to ten and watch 'em fry while I play "The Simpsons" show opening theme. But if I never found 'em, I'd go to a guitarshop and smash a new Blue Voodoo against the wall a few times, so I could buy it at a discount. Then it's off to the pet store for a new hamster.

My overall rating is: If you want to spend less than $1500 on a tube half stack, get this tube half stack. It doesn't matter if you play metal, rock, blues, country, jazz, or martian monster mash music. For that money, it is an excellent choice, and definitely my choice for that price range. Exceptions: death metal, black metal, classical, folk.

Just turn it the hell up and be amazed. Do not judge this amp on what it does at volumes below 5, on either channel, as you would have to when playing in your bedroom or at the guitar shop. Have them put you in the sound room, and crank it. It's like the tubes take control of the amp in some kind of hostile take over and start raping the peasant women in the villages.

Nothing anyone has not mentioned before. The lack of a Line in to use the amps power section is a strike against the amp.

The amp sounded good in the store but later after we got it home, it just didn't sound like a tube amp. Personally I don't care for the 16-8 ohm config, as most american amps use the 8-4 ohm, which meant we could only use it with one cab. For being 120 watts, it is pretty quiet, even being blowen away by my Line 6 Spyder 2 x 12 combo. The distortion channel has no real defined edge, instead being muddy and buzzy. The clean channel seemed a little better. It just doesn't have the testis you would expect from an all tube amp. It didn't sound very good running a Line 6 POD 2 through the clean channel as well. I don't think its the big "metal" monster that everyone thinks it is. The sound is too messy, buzzy, and undefined to be able to double pick.

It never broke down so I've never had to deal with it.

Again, bever had to deal with it.

Its a Crate, so what do we expect? My band made a pact to not buy any Crate amps ever again, but we made an exception in this case because it sounded good in the store, and was all tube. It just does not have the defined sound needed to play tight articulated speed metal riffs. Maybe it would fair better having some other gear hooked up with it, but in this day and age, you should be able to just plug into an amp and get the sound you're looking for...not with this amp..or most amps these days (unless you spend thousands). I think the Line 6 amps blow most amps away. I know most purists hate these digital modeling amps, but I was impressed with their sound and versitility.

I think this is about a 1996-7 model. The features are well known, so I'll skip it.

Classic rock, blues/rock. This head is well known for it's chainsaw like drive channel, for most, I think, it is excessive. There is a way to compensate this back out to a great extent. It is thought of as a metal amp because of the above, but I think it can be used for more if tube are changed and bias is proper with a new set of good tubes.

I haven't had it long enough to say, but it had all original tubes in it yet and worked OK, so it must be somewhat rugged.

I have dealt with Crate (SLM) on another amp and they were great.

Been playing off and on over 30 years, have 2 other tube and 2 other SS amps. I like this amp for the power and distortion and it seems to be built like a brick outhouse. Mine was biased way too high, I thought. 41 mA is too much. I took it down to 31 mA (maybe still too high). The 12AX7s pump up the drive, especially the drive channel preamp. Put some nice vintage USA 12AT7s in this baby, and you will think you got a completely different amp. I would like to try to Svetlana 6L6's in it too. Currently running a matched quad of Groove Tube 6L6s hardness 6 at 31 mA bias. Get a bias tool and check the bias, I think this problem may be more common than just my amp. BTW, as you probably know, but if you don't, too high a bias will wear out your 6L6s in a hurry and is hard on transformers, so check it out.

basic features, nothing speacial, but enough for me. very versatile, i play mainly metal, also rock, classical, and blues.

I use mostly seymore duncans with this amp(invarder, SD, 57's)definatly fits my style of music. very brutal distorion.

I use this amp with out back up and it has never failed me.

iv been playing for 7 years and iv found this amp has the perfict tone for me. when i bought this amp it was bettween this amp and the crate bv150hb i would have spent the extra cash on the 150 if it wernt for the fact it was lacking reverb. if this amp was stolen i would definatly buy another, though if the bv150 or bv300 start coming with reverb i would probably buy one instead.

pretty typical amp layout, nothing super fancy, just the basic things that you need. standard EQ knobs, FX loop, 2 channals that are switchable, as well as the loop.comes with 6L6 power tubes and 12ax7 preamps tubes. reverb.

first off, the amp stock is pretty much garbage. right now i'm using a carvin DC127 guitar (which is a great instrument) and an esp with emg pickups. the distortion is super harsh and fuzzy, and the gain channel just makes immense amounts of noise. the only time i have found that the distortion channel sounds decent is when you add your own external OD/dist and then add some compression to it. then its useable, but only that. its also not very well defined and clear sounding, pretty muddy, even though the bass controls on the amp are weak. the clean channel isnt too bad, but lacks headroom big time....you cant turn most guitar volumes past 2 before the channel distorts and gets ugly. in order to make the clean sound decent on this amp, you really need to have low output pickups. not to mention this amp is really quiet too, it doesnt even seem like its 120 watts, seems its more like 50. the FX loop is also a little noisy, but the noise doesnt become noticable at higher volumes. the only postive thing i can say about it is that its an affordable and reliable amp and that these amps have the potential to be a killer with some basic mods. other then that, dont bother buying one.

crates in my opinion are very reliable. i have never had a problem with it and have owned it for 2 years. i have also used other crate amps without problems as well. i dont think i would need a back up.

never dealt with the customer service, but if you try and email them, they just tell you to call about anything and everything. i never got a warranty with the amp, but i dont think i would need or use one anyway.

i've been playing for 6 years now, and i'm a total tone freak. although its not really a matter of how long you've been playing, its more of an issue on having an ear for sound. i can tell that this amp stock is crap, but since i'm having mine modded by voodoo amps, i'll post a review of it in the voodoo mods section here and give a review of it then. if you are still persistent on getting one, you should shoot for an older used one (which should be relatively cheap) and then have it modded without worries of having the warranty become voided. the newer redesigned voodoos are much better, but still not worthy of an incredible amp.

Not many complicated features, overall very easy to use. Master volume...distortion..etc etc the usual. Has some nice reverb. The only thing i dont like about it is that it only has two channels. Three would be a bit better, but hey, its great. In my experience, the effects loop is kind of crap, i could never get good sounds out of it, but then again, i really dont ever use the effects loop.

I play shred/metal. Stuff like Children of bodom, Sonata Arctica, then some dimmu borgir, yngwie, etc etc. I use a jackson DK-1. At first, i used the stock emg's- 81 and 85. But then i came to my senses and realized EMG'S SUCK! Yea, i used to be like you :-) I thought emg's were the best p-ups on god's green earth, then, after comparing them to some much better pickups, i realized the tone potential from both my guitar and my amp. So i replaced them with a dimarzio super distortion in the bridge, and a PAF pro in the neck. WOW! The sound is amazing. Gets quite heavy to my liking. I dont need to turn the distortion up and create all that extra noise, because the right pickups take care of the boost allready. The distortion, like I said, gets downright heavy. I orignally had this on some shitty crate cabs, but before you buy this head, remember that its best to put it on something with some good celestions, i use marshall 1960 leads. Nice warm distortion that cuts through nicely. The clean is out of this world. Its channel is definitely louder than the distortion, but thats not saying that the distortion is quiet :-D If you dont tweak it right, it tends to break up, but when tweaked right, its so full and wonderous, I love it. Extremely clear, and when the reverb is on...haunting. But enough of my yap in this area...

Never blown a tube, never had any problems ever with it.

Like I said above, never had any problems whatsoever.

Overall, great amp, great sound. Perfect for my purpose. Dont be put off by those dicks out there with their expensive marshalls and shit. This does the job cheap, reliably, and well. Did I mention it sounds like god? :-D Any specific questions, just shoot me an email, id be happy to help you out.