Crate BV300H Head

I think in 03

Yes I play from death metal to a off set noise jazz..Perfect for the range of sounds. Plus It has the ability to switch it up with the different distortion sounds.

3 channels. Yes. Yes plus the extra gain boost if u loop it. No head phone jack.

I am still finding uses for the options this thing has.

I use it in my studio and my bands. Does it have enough power.. If there was a way to tap into Chernobyl when it had the meltdown this would be the mutant offspring.

It does have 16 tubes so I know when I have to retube it I might need a loan. The 6550s are great tunes of low end. Don't listen to the other reviews stating no low end. I made the wood in my window panes rattle. Right guitar for the trade.

I use 3 guitars . My fav 1993 Ibanez S540 LTD with d sonic in the bridge, ESP M3 with JB in the bridge and hot rails for the singles, old Hammer slammer with a jb and duncan demon in the neck. For a 100$ probably the best neck I have ever played on neck to the Ibanez.

I play mostly heay stuff. In the veins of Corpse, Crowbar, Morbid angel. So it has the lowend crunch that I look for also when I want a really dark, cold clean sound it is there.

I have owned a BV120 not even in the same category, Peavy XXX this is just amazing how quiet it is at high volumes.

You can dial into any sound u can imagine. What sold me was I owned a BV150 for a week read my previous review to see that story.(thanks UPS) I love the ability to have a 3 channel for the extra distortion for the leads. so when I bought this I was just blown away.

No I have had the clean cranked but again use the right tool for the right sound. If you are gonna use a high output pickup then yes it distorts, I run about 3/4 on my neck and ram the tone 1/2 and I go about 5 to about 6 and the sound is amazing.

How brutal is the distortion?? Picture you are sitting in a car watching Jeffery Dahmner walk up to the door and ask to take out your younger brother to a nice quiet walk on a beech .. That would be the emotion I say to describe the distortion. Shames boogie, VHT and Diezel. Crate made a bad move not keeping the tradition with the 150 and 300.

I have not had it that long, but it is used so I know it has been beat up. I got used from this chinese punk band and from the guy told me it was toured with and the tolex is all chewed up. And it switches channels flawlessly and sounds amazing... I would use this for the primary head.

Nope And hopping not. I do not want to sell me siblings to a nike sneaker plant to pay off that bill.

I have to say the good people at crate(loud music) have been nothing but helpful. (Peavy should take some pointers on how to answer a phone) Got me the foot switch and spent a awhile trying to get me replacement casement. Great job.

Nope has been great so far

I have been playing bass for about 12 years drums for about 25 and guitar about 6 but very offset 6. For my cab I have a older Crate 4x12 that has the lowest end punch I have heard. A BBe, fender tuner, NS2 and furnman in the rack. Looking to get a good Octave pedal and echo or delay effects Pro then get a good foot switching system.. oh yeah forgot about that .... 6 speaker outputs, 4 port foot switching inputs (badass). For the money you are up into the boutique heads with these options.

I love the sound, build great tube warmth... But I must add to the rest of wimps 90+ lbs

When I sold my XXX I was looking for another high gain 3 channel head. and for 400 bucks there is nothing that could compare. Even at full price I still think I would have a hard time not wanting this head.

I do wish it came with a linebacker to carry it around.

Yes dont listen to people when they say crate are crap. Every Brand has a high end and low end. People seem to miss on the higher ends products that crate has put out. Give the head a try you will not be disappointed. Hope this helps

Made in 2005, played for sponsored event in December of this year. 3 channels, but only used 1 for playing on a metal show. This amp was part of the backline. Tube powered, but has queer lights in it to simulate actual glow of tube heaters. Whatever...

I hooked my effects rig to it, using the same settings I've used for years with my 100W Marshall JCM800s. I could not get the thing to stop feeding back. Only when I backed off the master gain to about 3, would it behave. On distorted programs, it sounded reasonable...but when I switched to a clean program on my rig and used the same channel, the sound remained distorted and would not clean up no matter how I dropped the input signal. This means that the tubes in this amp are a GIMMICK. This thing is a MODELING amp. Even a true high-gain channel would clean up noticeably if the input signal were dimished...this thing kept the same distortion regardless of level. That is MODELING. Save that crap for DI recording. If you want real tube distortion, response, sustain and attack, get a Marshall, Mesa, ENGL, anything but this BLUE DOODOO...

It didn't crap out during our 25-minute set, but would I ever own one...no f'ing way...

I'll give it a 2 since it sounded so-so at playing volume, once I got it to stop feeding back. But I've been playing through full-size rigs for over ten years, and there is a LOT better stuff out there for the money. This is a modeling amp. It tries to: "copy" true tube sounds, but it just don't cut it. For the money, I'll stick to my Marshalls with the real bottles back there, and no crappy ICs and software algorithms trying to tell the tubes what they should sound like. I'm glad this was backline gear because I didn't need to take it home!

The head was made in 2003 and is probably the most versatile and best sounding guitar head I've ever heard. I compared the sounds to my MESA 3 channel Tripple Rectifier and Diezel VH4 heads and was sad to say that it kicked their asses. Kinda sucks because I selled out 4 grand for my Diezel VH4 but in it's defense the VH4 has some cool effects that the BV300H does not.

The BV300H has 3 channels a clean, vintage & modern and they are all awesome. The clean is amazing due to it's 300 watts of tube headroom. Possibly the most amazing clean sound ever despite the annoying fans that cool down the tubes but you'll never hear them while you're plugged in anyways.

The distortion is the crowning achievement on this head, it offers every kind of tone you could possibly imagine and plus 300 watts to back it up.

The only thing I would add to this amp is reverb but that can easily be solved via the built in effects loop in the back.

I can literaly hook up a wall of sound to this head with the 4-300 watt rms 1/4 outputs and the 2 nuetrik speakon outputs for subs.

I use this amp in the studio and at live venues. I used to use both my Mesa and Diezel at the same time to equal the volume and power live but now all I use is the BV300H head and I'm good to go, even at large venues this head still kicks more ass than my Mesa & Diezel combined!

I play everything from experimental metal and sludge rock type of music to classic rock, blues & jazz.

I play on a Gibson Les Paul Standard and a Gibson Les Paul Custom with Seymour Duncan JB's in the bridge positions.

The head fits all genres but will sound best for hard rock, metal & blues. Switch to the clean channel, pull back the tone on your neck pickup, turn the bass up and you'll get the most amazing jazz cleans you've ever heard!

There is so much headroom the clean can get as loud as you want without distorting but turn up the gain and you can be jaming with some awesome overdrive tones.

The distortion options are the most versatile I have seen yet! You can get all amp distortions you have ever dreamed of with the eq's available on the BV300H plus add extra tweaking with the eek and ugh knobs. Switch to the third channel and turn the gain all the way up and you'll get the most bone crushing tube distortion you have ever experienced period!

I have never had any issues with the head, the footswitch had a bad midi jack so I called Crate and they sent me a new protoype midi footswitch that works perfectly! I love the switching options and the switchable effects loop on the 4 button midi footswitch.

I just recently changed the tubes and upgraded to Groovetube 6550R's instead of the 6550A's and the amp actually sounds better than it did when I first got it. This is a really awesome mod for all you BV300H owners. I couldn't be more happy with my tone.

Crate was very prompt with shipping me the new footswitch and I have never had any problems with their customer service department.

I've been playing for about 9 years and I'd say this is probably the best sounding amp I've ever owned, if it were stolen I would definately hunt that person down and stick their ear to my 2x15 sub cab and make them pay for it! but seriously I would definately go out and buy another if it were stolen. Can't beat the value on this head either! I'm trying to sell my VH4 now cause it disapoints me that Crate of all companies could put this head to shame.

If you are in the market for a new amp I seriously reccomend checking one out at your local music store.

Amp has 3 channels, effects loop, and quite a few speaker outputs. As far as internal features, amp is very lacking. No reverb or anything... just LOTS of knobs.

Good crunch section on channel 3. Clean section is very nice on channel 1. Not too sure why there is a channel 2, this is something that could have been split between channels 1 and 3. I think Crate just used this along with all of their knobs as a marketing gimmick.

BiGGEST PILE OF CRAP crate as ever produced in my opinion. Ive had this thing AWOL since May 2005. I wish there were lemon laws for this kind of stuff, Ive now had the amp less then what ive owned it. Warranty work since then? This is a joke. Ive heard the inside info from my dealer and his sales rep, and i know why this has taken so long. Its cause crate was all about marketing for this giant pos. They were never out to make it the baddest and loudest head. If there were a rating of 0 for this category, its what I would give.

So I called these morons with all of the info they needed to see wtf was going on with my amp, and low and behold they were unable to tell me anything. They were helpless as far as im concerned.

O00000000000000000000000000. I will never buy a crate tube amp again. If ive been told correctly, there were only @ 60 of these things even made and sold to begin with. Its junk. Its all about marketing anymore, never the consumer. Wanna know why everyone uses Marshall and Mesa these days? Its because THEY ARE THE BEST. I should have went old school with Vox. Definitely cant go wrong with them.

The crate BV300H has three channels. Caused by the very unique EQ-section (bass,mid,high and a special tone knob which influences a different frequency-spectrum on each channel) you are able to play a huge number of different sounds. This amp has got no common master volume so that you have to turn every single channel up if you want to change the whole setup. There is no builtinreverb but a tube FX-loop which you can switch with the original footswich. The BV300H has enough power to destroy a weak 4x12 cab or your ears (300W Tubepower!!).

Hell yeah!! Lets start with the 3rd channel of the amp because thats the one the amp's built for. Endless distortion very chunky or smooth (depends on your EQ setting). Everyone who plays metal or other hard stuff will start to smile listening to this amp. In fact I've also a marshall JCM 900 TSL (both amps on 1960AX cabs) and I won't miss it. I can't say that the BV300H is better; just different. Both together sound realy great. I think that the sound of the crate is a mixture of marshalls smooth gainsaw and mesas brutal dominance.
The 2nd channel is also very useable if you turn up the gain. Than it sounds like a pulled up JCM 900. In low gain area it should sound like a vintage amp. I didn't get that sound. (maby the wrong guitar)
The 1st channel has a very brillant cleansound that can get grundgy if you turn up the preamp. I've never heard so clean tones in that loudness.

I think this amp is a very stabile built. It has to be because it weights about 40kg (thats almost like two marshalls!), so nothing for girlies without a strong friend! There are just two things I want to critisize:
1.) the knobs on the footswitch are to near to each other so that you might push two at one time.
2.) if you push the footswitchbuttons the channel changes a bit to slow.
Last but not least remeber: If you want to change the tubes imagine the crate has sixteen!! that means it will be quite expensive. Maybe so that someone else could buy a solid stateamp with this money!

Had no problems so no contact to company!

I've been playing guitar for 12 years. I tried Marshalls, Engls, Mesas and now the crate. In fact none of this amps is better or worse. It depends on what you like. If you want to play classic metal ala Megadeath or metallica (also Panthera!!) than take marshall. If you like Newmetal ala P.O.D. or Nickelback take Mesa boogie. If you like both and other hard stuff and you need a very versatile amp take the crate.

Everythig you need is on board! 3 channels from brutal Gain over smmoth grundge to brillant clean. effective EQ section with witch youre chances to get your individual sound raise. One tube-effectloop (seriell/paralell) with variable gain for out- and input. output for 6 cabinets!!! and a bias section for the Powertubes. There is no inbuilt reveb like in view other amps but I don't mind.

I need a versatile amp with Monstergain for powerriffs, smooth grungy gain for slower parts and a brilliant clean sound. My individual answer: Crate BV300H. The caracteristic of this amp is between Mesa and Marshall. The channel 3 is very evil. It has got more punch than the marshall lead channel but it is not that smooth. Engl Powerballs lead has also got a lot of gain but I didn'like the EQ-section that much. The 2nd channel has got a very harmonic overdrive sound that can turn to a realy hard Gainsound if you turn up the preamp. So if you just need two channels you can use this (or the 3rd) channel as Solobooster. The clean channel (1st) I just say one thing: If the soul of an amp is the ampeg svt it must have a good clean sound. With 300 Watts You can play clean as loud as you never played before!
The BV 300 H is definitly a beast. I can't emagine that any other amp has got more gain (maybe different but not more!)
So for classic Heavy metal ala early Metallica or Megadeath (also for Dimebags Panthera-sound)take the Marshall TSL. For Newmetal ala P.O.D. Linkin park or Nickelback take Mesa or Engl. For progressive Rock with metal influence and hard altenative and if the clean channel is important I'd prefer the crate. After all I'd give all those named amps 9 points soundrating.

It seems to be a high quality built amp. All components look strong and undestroyable. The most imposant parts except the tubeforest are the two gigantous transformators. Big transforators = constant sound wether you turn it up or down and long living. But be careful! This amp is nothing for weak persons. If you play in a girly- band you got to have a strong friend. The weight of the top is about 40kg. That's as heavy as two Marshall TSL2000!!
The only thing to critisise is the footswich. It is a bit to small so that you might fail the knob in a hectic moment (nothing for big feet). But that's the same with cars. If you buy a racingcar (the BV300H is definitly a formula one racingcar!) and the engine is wonderful You won't care bout the comfort!

Not yet a problem, ergo: no customer contact!

My brother plays a Marshall JCM2000 TSL, I own a JCM 900 using Marshall 1960 AX cabs. I wanted to have a 3 channel amp and so I chose the BV300. Before buying the crate I compared several amps like Mesa boogie Dual Rectifier, Krank Krankenstein (2 ch), Engl Powerball... with the Marshalls. I think you've to know which sound you want. None of this amps is bad, they're just different.
My guitars with wich I compared the amps were: Washburn Dime333, Ibanez RG, Ibanez Musican (vintage), Fender Telecaster U.S.A. I realised that the bigest influence on the outcoming sound has the guitar you use. F.e. the Dime333 on my JCM900 turns the amp to a heavy monster with much low frequency reserves. When I used the Ibanez I had to turn up the bass-EQ to the end and it sounded not as bassy as the Dime in midposition.
First test guitars, then buy an amp. If you do it right you will love the crate BV300H!

A very versatile amp which excels mostly in the heavy distortion and clean department.

Each channel has a notch filter and there is an effects loop.

If the amp had a reverb then it would get a 10.

I mostly use Channel 3 (Lead/Metal channel). I have the mid down and the bass and treble way up + have the notch filter on 10K. When you play while palm muting the strings you will not get a heavier sound from a guitar amp! and the clarity/sustain is brilliant.

I do not use Channel 2 much because the other 2 channels seem to out shine it but you can get the Marshall sound from it.

I also have problem with picking up radio stations on it. It is not the amps fault because I only get RF signals when a jack is plugged in - but it is susceptible to the problem. I got around this buy buying a couple ferrite rings and putting them on the jack cable and now I do not have a problem.

The amp is very quiet but the fans are quite noisy.

The channel changer could be a bit better, on my one there is a small delay in-between changing channels + it is a little flimsy - otherwise it is built like a tank (but I have seen one after it was dropped and is cannot be fixed with a big crack in it!)

Not contacted

I am a sound-engineer as well as a musician and I get to see a lot of amps in action. This amp uses the same valves as Messa's but it is built to be mean with lots of options! It is a pro amp with brilliant sustain, tone and depth - i am very happy with my purchase.

Plenty of controls, but none of them seem to do anything useful whatsoever.

Played a few gigs with one with a gibson sg with a seymour duncan jb.

This amp is one of the biggest piles of crate i have ever had the displeasure of hearing.

Channel 1 is a completly solid state sounding clincal pile of badge, that doesnt offer any warmth or break up what so ever.

Channels 2 and 3 are both as awful as each other,shrill, harsh and have no bottom end at all, they have some silly knob that fucks with the mids, and for some reason even a medium ammount of gain induces howling feedback (no its not my guitar)

the light turned on when i flicked the switch, which is a good start. the foot switch is a piece of shit and broke mid set

dont plan on dealing with them

i own several amps, a mesa dual rec, diezal vh4, and bognerschall, all through matching orange cabs. i had to play this pile of shit for a competition. There is NO way of making this amp sound good, it is fucking diabolical

I picked this amp up used, it was basically in "new condition." I play mostly very aggressive metal and thought this amp would be perfect. The BV300 has 3 channels; Clean, Crunch, and Lead. Switchable series/parallel effects loop, midi footswitch, slave out, and a few other neat items. It would be nice if the amp had a boost switch, but you can run a cable in the effects loop, when you engage the loop via the footswitch, it acts as a boost. I used this amp in my home studio. The amp has an incredible amount of power 300 watts! Tons of headroom.

I use Dean, BC Rich, and Gibson LP's with humbucking pickups. This amp does well for extreme metal sounds. It actually has that "in your face" sound of a solid state amp, but with a ton of tube power.
I had a big problem with noise. The amp sounded great in the store, but when I brought it home...this thing was picking up radio signals from everywhere when the high gain was engaged. It definitly can be traced to the wiring in my building, but my other two amps are dead quiet, so go figure? The clean channel is a standout, actually the only channel that operated with no interference, tons of headroom and crystal clear. The crunch channel does the job, but no better then a decent Marshall, the high gain channel is great for extreme sounds, but don't expect organic harmonic complex distortion. this is very hard sounding, very metal, a bit sterile, but all in all very very aggressive sounding, more so then other amps I have played.

I took this amp home and the radio interference was so bad I returned it to the store 3 days later. Since my other amps did not have this problem, I don't know why this amp did this, it sounded fine in the store, but the store was wired up for sound equipment. I have heard great things about the reliability of the amp, but I had a different experience.

I called Crate and asked a bunch of questions and they were pretty helpful. Since I bought the amp used and did not have an original receipt the 5 year warranty was not honored. You need the original receipt for the warranty to be transferred.

I have been playing for over 20 years. I currently own a modified Marshall and Soldano Avenger. I decided to return this amp because of a bad noise problem. I did think the extreme sounds were excellent and so was the clean, I just could not deal with the radio static I was getting and the high gain sounded a little brittle & sterile to my ears compared to my current amps. This is a cool amp, but it is 90 pounds!!! and pretty darn expensive new. For this kind of money I think there are some better choices available IMHO. Hopefully, my experience was unique, but I would make sure you have a return policy, as this amp seemed pretty sensitive with grounding.

amp made in 2004. my style of music is a lot of black/death/power metal. i need a huge non-muddy crunch. this thing delivers in a big way. 16 tubes give it the punch of solid state without giving it a "tin can" sound. far from it in fact, it's the exact perfect sound i had in my head. three channels, super loud, super heavy, no doubt about that. loses points because of the weight.

i use a bottom of the line yamaha, and i put emg's in it. kinda weird, i know. the amp has very little buzz, even at high volumes. awesome metal amp, clean channel can probably be really clean, but i sort of like a little gain to it so i haven't worked with the super clean too much. distortion is awesome, perfect. maybe not what everyone is looking for, but i'm really picky and this suits me perfectly.

i can't afford a backup because i bought this thing. like i said before, seems to be built super strong and heavy. i haven't had it long enough for the tubes to go south. i don't see any problems with this thing breaking down at all. good warranty.

i would definately buy it again, but it's pricey. not overpriced, but expensive in any event. i had to tweak it for some time to find my exact dream sound, but in doing so i went through hundreds of other possible setting that i think other people might really like. i played some randalls and peavey before i bought it, so not a whole lot else. but i fell in love with this thing right away and i had to have it. best 4 metal!

VERY versatile, VERY TONEFUL! amplifier with GOBS of POWER and AGGRESSION!
3 channels from PRISTINE CLEAN to METAL MAYHEM (and beyond!!)

Great for CLEAN
Great for CRUNCH
Great for LEAD
Goes WELL BEYOND any VHT, Diezel, Soldano amp that I have owned. Yes, not to brag, but I have been very fortunate to have owned them all.
The BV300H is BY FAR the MOST AGGRESSIVE, LOUD, GREAT SOUNDING amp of them all!

Have not had it very long BUT- it is built like a TANK- no joke!
HUGE TRANSFORMERS, METAL protective hardware, SOLID WOOD head box,
very high quality components throughout. I took it out of the chassis and the BV300 is high quality EVERYWHERE!

NOT USED, NOT NEEDED

UNBELIEVABLE VALUE for the buck!

New amp. Seems pretty versitile, but not quite my cup of tea. 3 pretty nice channels. I liked the notch filters. I didn't try the loop. 300 really loud watts from 6!!! 6550's

Let me first say that I have to use this amp for a corporate sponsored event. I'm really a VHT, Marshall, Vox user and never really concidered using a Crate amp. Some of the sounds you can get out of the amp are pretty cool. The thing I don't like about it is that it takes a lot of tweaking to make the amp sound the way I want it to. I'm more of a plug in and play type of guy, but for someone willing to take the time, it can sound killer.

The clean channel was ok, but had a weird harmonic happening. Not very pleasant.

The crunch channel was by far my favorite. By using the Ugh and Eek controls, you can go from close to a Marhsall to solid state mud. Pretty unique feature.

The gain channel has everything from Rectifier to modded "Moshall". Would be great for you heavy, down tuned players.

I used a humbucker loaded ESP Horizon for the test.

I'll let you know how it does at stage volumes in another post. So far it's seems like a decent workhorse amp.

This is the new BIG BV300H 300 watt all tube, Blue Voodoo head from Crate. 3 chanels, 1 clean 2 distorted, clean chanel has a mid frequency select, 2nd chanel has mid boost, and channel 3 has high frequency select(5 settings each for amazing tonal variation), switchable effects loop with in and out volume controls(nice for picky effects or just to run a cable out and in for extra volume for solos and what not), 4 button footswitch, "EEK" and "UGG" knobs for high and low presence(very cool). I play a variety of rock and some blues. This amp is all could ever hope for, sparkling clean and every kind of distortion sound there is. 300watts is more than enough for anyone, and it sounds great at any volume. the only thing that would make this amp better would be reverb, but it makes up for it everywhere else.

I play on an Ibanez RG guitar that I made out of and Ibanez RG 170 and an RG 270, I primarily use the bridge humbucker. Chanel one can be super sparkling clean, and then can be over driven to some nice vintage style distortion. Channel 2 is picks up where chanel one leaves off and is very Marshall-like. Channel 3 pushes deep into heavy metal territory, very distorted. Each channel has a very wide variety of sound possibilitys, and all are consistant at low and high volumes. I thought it hummed a bit when i first turned it on, but that was just the two cooling fans(the sound was not coming from the speakers). This amp is great for anything. If I saw someone using a distortion pedal with this amp I would smack them with my guitar. I've never heard so many different good sounds come from the same amp, and the only effect on board is distortion. I am very impressed. This amp will chew up and spit out any Marshall, Mesa, Fender, or for that matter, any amp in its way period.

I've only had it for a short while, so I can't say much about it, but I have owned quite a few Crate amps in the past, and they've all taken a pretty harsh beating, and rarely cause any trouble. Tube amps are a bit more fragile than solid state of course, and they need to be well maintained, but this thing is pretty beefy, and I think it could take a pretty good beating before it broke, although I'm not going to be the one to try it.

Crate is Awesome, enough said.

This is the greatest amp ever period. I've played lots of crappy solid state amps, and of those I preffered Crate, and I played one of the 120 watt Blue Voodoo heads for a while, and I liked it better than any Marshall or Mesa. This one take them all though, it can sound any way you want it too. I wouldn't have bought it yet if I didn't get such a great deal on it (almost half off>>>factory refurb) but it was too good to pass up, and since I playing it, I would gladly pay the normal full price to replace it if this one got ripped off. The only problem with this amp is it's weight, 80 pounds is a lot for one amp, I can handle it though, and if I get worn out, my good friend and drummer Matt can bench a good 315 so I'll let him carry it for me :) other than that, it would be cool if this had reverb, but when I'm playing it, I seem forget about that because I'm so amazed at the great sounds that I am getting.

This amp was made a year ago, 2002. It has 3 channels and trendous tonal options. The amp can do anything. I play whatever style they are paying me to play. It has channel switching and a switchable effects loop.
it has 10 preamp tubes and 6 powertubes. It's the heaviest amp ever at 80lbs. It has side handles which are great and allow two people to load it on stage for me.

This amp is the best sounding amp I've ever used. It killed the VHT UL and the Diezel VH4 I had, plus all the Mesas and Marshalls and HiWatts, and Soldanos, etc.,etc. I have ever used on stage or in the studio.
The distortion is incredibly beautiful and msuical and the clean channel is superb. This is probably the best amp ever made commercially.

It's a real tank. It's heavy as heck and you can hurt yourself if you don't ait for yuor roadies to carrying it for you and try to move it yourself. It's hasn't broken in the 46 shows I've used it on.

Crate is one of the most helpful companies in the entire music business.

I've been playing profesionally for 30 years. I've had all the best gear. I've obtained most of it through endorsements and from my various producers who are always trying to get me the latest and greatest stuff to use on tour and in the studio. This is the one amp I would actually pay for with my own pocket money. It has only one drawback. It's very heavy. I would not suggest any non-professional get this amp. It's not made for the layman. There is a huge market of boutique amps that are suited to that crowd of pseudo-musicians and they would probably not be into an amp made for professional music because it won't help them sound like their favorite records when they are doing their covers and imitations. For those types, I recommend a plain old Marshall, or if you need to spend the money to boost your ego, a Bogner, Roccaforte or Diezel or some other high priced hobby amp. This one is for the pros, leave it alone kids.