Crate BV60 Blue Voodoo

Two channels with reverb

Good clean and distortion sound, reverb is ok

I've had only problems. Everything possible broke. Transformer, board, speaker, valves, electronic components. The amp was more in the shop for repair than anything else.

Everytime they fixed it, something else broke.

When it worked I liked the amp. Traded it for something else because of all the trouble I had.

i dont know what year this combo was made in, but i know they arent made anymore. 60 watt all tube 1x12 combo with 4 12ax7's and 1 12au7 in the preamp, and 2 6l6 power tubes. it has two channels, with seperate tone and volumes, master presence and master reverb. there's also a bright switch on the clean channel and a boost switch on the gain channel. once you get to know the amp, you can coax any sound you want out of it. the only thing that might improve it would be dual reverb controls and a master volume.

i play mainly speed metal, thrash, 80s metal, classic rock, hard rock, and blues, so i need a killer heavy distortion, smooth overdrive, and great clean. and this thing delivers. roll back the mids, crank the high and low, gain to the max, boost switch on, and crank it and it nails the hetfield sound. some tweaking and you've got megadeth or pantera. turn the gain down, take off the boost and tweak the eq and you've nailed ac/dc, led zep. Great warm blues sound, and the clean is beautiful. you can nail that elusive master of puppets clean sound. and all this with my crappy $250 washburn. simply amazing for the price, tone, and versatility. i highly recommend it, or the head version. great products. however, im not gonna give it a 10 because i know its not the absolute best, but for my purposes it is great. im sure it will sound even better with new tubes and a good guitar, and maybe a 4x12

mine has been very reliable, the only problem i have had was one button of the footswitch broke.

for the price and tone, unbeatable

This amp is a very good, versatile amp. It has two channels, 60 pretty loud watts, and 1 twelve inch speaker. The clean channel is definently the superior channel between the two; it gets fairly loud before it starts to break up about at 5. It has good bass response, a real crutial mid-range bandwidth and the highs are as crisp and clear as just about any other amp I've ever played through. Running a good distortion or fuzz pedal through the front end of this amp is amazing, unlike the actual distortion channel in the amp. This channel is good, but at times seems lifeless and sterile. It is not as loud as channel 1, but, with a Les Paul, can produce some rather harsh punk tones.

Running a single coil guitar in the neck position through the clean channel at about 5 or 6 is a very Stevie Ray/Pearl Jam-esque sound. It is great for clean, jangly rhythm sound, or step on a tube-screamer (in my case an Ibanez Super Tube) for extreme Stevie Ray Vaughan onslaught! A big muff fits perfectly with this channel for volume and sustain, but extreme high gain (metat pedals) give it a hard time. The reverb in this unit is a bit undesirable; it is long tailed, and not very springy. This amp will suit the blues nicely, as well as an excellent alternative sound, and does a pretty good job producing korn big muff mud-grind tones at high volumes! Overall, the sounds were very good, it just was the reliability factor that I had the most problems with.

I am extremely lucky that I bought this amp from an old man in my small home town that ran his store as a hobby, because I don't think that a larger store would have done so many repairs to the amp with out charge. The amp just never worked right for me. Whether it was a bad input jack, an opened resistor in the circuit, or problems with the channel swithching, this amp served as a decoration for the better half of the time that | owned it. I have heard of people who have bought the amp directly off the shelf and played it with no problems ever, but I must have been unlucky to be blessed with such a pile of an amp.

The Crate company was real cool with the problems I was having, and I think that they payed Mr. Smith to repair my amp, and all I ever had to pay for were tubes. There is a five year warranty on the amp, and I'm sure that they would fix all of the problems I encountered, but there were just too many of them!

I absolutely love the tone that this amp produces, but I wish that it would be reliable. If I could find one that worked right all of the time, I would probably never buy another combo amp again.

- Clean, Overdrive & Overdrive w/boost. Footswitcheable. - XLR line out - Auto tube biasing - Effects loop

- I play all styles. This amp gives me what I want in all situations. I installed a set of Groove Tubes with E34L's (not EL34's)and my tone became much tighter and more focused.I highly recommend switching to these when the 1st tube replacement becomes necessary. - Love the XLR line out. It is not noisy and sounds very good. I use it instead of micing. - I am not in love with the reverb. I generally do not like spring reverbs. This is better than some that I've heard. I use digital effects thru the effects loop instead.

Had mine over 2 years. Hasn't needed service. Been lugged around.

The best customer support is that which is not needed.

- If I had $2,000 to spend on an amp I'd buy 2 of these and invest the rest.

The cool features of this amp: 1. A 1k boost on the lead channel. 2 . An XLR out that is speaker simulated. 3. Auto biasing, which enables you to switch from EL34s to 6L6s. 4. Long tailed reverb. 5. Blue colour makes it a standout.(why be a lemming?) 6. Fairly compact and luggable; will fit in a Ford Taurus trunk with lots of room to spare.

I'm using Godin Artisan Signatures, G&L ASAT Classic, Carvin DC 127, Ovation Viper, and anything else I can get my hands on. I met the guy who helped in the design of the Blue Voodoo and found him to be a wealth of information. The clean channel is designed like a Blackface Fender and the dirty is like a Marshall Plexi head. The boost is 1K and really kicks. The effects loop and all the tone controls are tube driven, and the power supply is huge. Apperantly, this amp was originally designed by the Ampeg engineers. I play anything from '70's rock to Country and this amp can do it all. As with all tube amps, their weakest link are the tubes. This amp will suffer with crappy tubes, so choose wisely. The distortion can get from Heavy Scooped Metal Tone to Santana, so it is quite versatile. My favorite setting for overdrive is: Gain 6, Bass 7, Mid 8, High 4-5, Level 6. You can darken or brighten up the amp with the presence control, depending on your guitar.

Amp is labour intensive to fix, but so is anything else I find. I broke a knob but that was my fault. After two years of use, so far so good. a lot better than some of the other boat anchors I've used. I routinely gig without a backup, due to space restrictions.

St. Louis Music are fairly good service, but if you take names, it will make things smoother in case of any problems. Warranty is 5 yrs components, 2yrs driver, and 90 days on tubes.

20 years playing, used everything from Carvin to Boogie to Marshall and Fender and I havn't managed to kill this little bugger off yet.My track record is bad; could be me but also could be the decline of the manufacturing process. This amp will do just about anything, anywhere as long as you are not outrageous like trying to play full out thrash with no miking-Please!

All tube combo with 4 x 12AX7, 1 x 12AU7 and 2 x 6L6GT tubes. Two channels w/ bright and boost switches for the clean and dirty channel respectively. Channel switching and bright/boost from stereo foot switch. Spring pan reverb is also footswitch activated. Effects loop, multiple speaker outs (4, clearly marked depending on impedance), effective Presence control and a balanced 3-pin output I have never used (for running to PA/direct recording?). Very good looking amp, too. At 60 watts it gets damned loud -- add a 1X12 cab and you can frighten small children several blocks away. Can't really think of anything else this amp needs. Weighs 50 lbs or so.

I'm playing a Tokai Les Paul Custom replica through it most of the time. We play a wide variety of music from Blues and Blues Rock to much more aggressive classic and contemporary hard rock, and this amp is versatile enough to give me most of the tones I want without resorting to effects processors -- I tend only to use a Wah and CE-3 chorus with it (esp. for U2 stuff). It's quiet, powerful, and capable of a beautiful sparkling clean sound with lots of headroom, to an impressive blues tone, a creamy 70s rock sound, and down to a modern metal crunch, depending on how you play with the dials and use the bright and boost switch. It's extremely versatile; I can't say this enough. I also own a Marshall JCM 900 2501 tube combo, and it is basically a one tone amplifier compared to the Crate. This amp can do just about anything.

I rely on mine. The reason I'm posting this is in answer to the previous poster who had an unfortunate experience with his BV60. I've had mine for over a year and have used it extensively -- it's been hauled all over the place in the trunk of my little Colt and I've never had a single problem with it. I use both the Crate and Marshall when I play, so I always have a backup, though I've never needed it.

I called Crate when I first bought this amp and said "Hey there, I just bought one of your amps used but it doesn't have a manual, can you send me one?", and they did. (The same thing happened for me with Marshall, btw.) They were very nice on the phone, eager to help. The warranty on their new equipment is tough to beat -- 5 years on the amp, with 1 year on tubes and speakers. I appreciated their level of service enough to buy a VC508 for a practice amp.

I love this amp. It does so many things so well! It deserves a far more respect than it's generally given (of course, it says "Crate" on the grillcloth, not "Fender"). If it were stolen or lost I'd replace it in a heartbeat, either with the same thing or with one of the new Vintage Club combos. Just a terrific piece of equipment for the price.

This is the reason why I made this submission. The first Blue Voodoo I bought died after 1 Week and it had to be replaced. The second one lasted exactly 45 minutes after which it started to make such a horrible noise that the band thougt it would explode. It had to be replaced one more time since they couldn't fix it. This third amp, after a month and during a gig, suddenly had a huge volume drop that couldn't be cured with new tubes etc. I had to give it back again and, since I've had enough, buyed a Fender which hasn't given me any trouble at all since more than 1 year.
I rate this amp -10.

Never need it again since this was my first and last Crate amp.

The most unreliable amp I ever had and possibly ever will have had.

2 channel - clean and distortion - with additional boost on the distortion. Each channel has separate volume and 3-band EQ; master reverb and presence controls, bright switch. Speaker outs for 4, 8, and 16 ohm; effects loop in/out; 3-button foot switch control. 60 watt with one 12" speaker. Can easily drive second 12" or half stack. 4 x 12AX7 tubes in preamp, 2 EL34's in power amp.

Bought this amp for my son but used it a bit before he took off with it! My comments are both our use of the amp for practice and gigging. Using this amp with Fender Tele Deluxe with 2 vintage strat pickups and 1 vintage tele; Charvel with single coil and humbucker; and Ovation Balladeer. Clean channel is very clean; as good as any Fender I've heard; only slight distortion at high volumes, which I consider good because there's 2 distortion channels when needed. Distortion is thick and crunchy with more than enough for any 60's rock or blues; very vintage tube sound; blows away the tubed pre-amp Marshalls, Peaveys, and Fenders in same price range (compared it with Transtube Peavey, Fender RocPro, and Marshall Valvestate VS100). These other amps seem like cheap way to add tube distortion but have noisy, tinny sound compared to the Crate. Was really impressed with the clean channel and acoustic/electric; especially nice with a chorus peddle before the amp. Also, more than enough sound: with just one 12" speaker this amp competes easily with lead guitarists Fender Hot Rod Deville 4x10. Add a second 12 or half stack and blow away the competition. In fact my son's biggest hassle is practicing at college and not being able to use volume past about 2. Too bad the guy that stole his BV60 didn't get one with all the pieces!!!

Don't know yet, but has been lugged a few hundred miles in back of a Corolla and a couple vans with no problem at the gigs when used.

Not needed any yet, but did talk to Crate before buying. Gave me moocho info on models, dealers, etc. Local dealer has been very helpful.

For the money, this tube amp has sound and power to blow away anything else in this price range. The so called hybrids of similar price just don't have the heavy, powerful rock and blues sounds of this amp, nor the vintage distortion it can produce. Only amps I listened to that can compete were the Fender Hot Rod models in similar price range.

The amount of features we have on the blue voodoo are pretty good, except for the fact that the reverb is for both channels, you can't have a different setting for each channel like I can on my Marshall. The reverb however TOTALLY SUCKS, my Marshall could eat this thing alive. But the main thing that really annoys me about this amp is that it is not powerful enough. Everyone tells me the amp is very loud but it isn't. When I was jamming I cranked the thing to max and started getting all kinds of crappy squels and sounds. IT SUCKED. I was scared I would seriously destroy my amp by overloading it. The thing has NO BACKBONE. And the clean sucks loud. But I really enjoyed the leather handle. What's with that leather bag thing on the inside though? I guess I do like the fact that you have two seperate sets of tone controls for the two channels.

The sounds were rather disappointing except it makes a good low-volume amp. The problem is that I don't play at low volumes. My drummer is a madman. The amp does manage to remain very quiet except when I put the crunch channel past 2/3rds that's when I thought it would die (those weird noises had me very concerned). But that quietness doesn't matter because my excellent Sekova (Les Paul copy) is such a noisy bastard that gets feedback out of every amp at the lowest volumes imaginable (with my marshall I get feedback with the volume not even at two). The distortion is pretty cool except when the master volume is past 2/3rds. The clean channel is just crap when loud, it is pathetic as is the reverb.

I would not trust this amp too much. At a live concert I could never cut through my maniac bassist and drummer because I can't get the volume past 2/3rds before it goes ape on me. Tubes... I don't know how much you can count on them (I just had to get new tubes for my marshall) especially on the blue voodoo. The first time I cranked it I thought I would destroy those two poor 6l6s. My marshall has FOUR EL34s and when I compare it to the blue voodoo I think of Haley's comet to Halebop.

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I really don't like this amp. I prefer my marshall. I play metal/industrial/gothic/punk/ska/classical/thrash/blues/death/and scary music. and I find that my 100 watt marshall takes the beating much better then the blue voodoo. Overloading is the key to all of music, but the amp has to be able to take it. It does defenitly deserve a ten though considering I got it for free.

This amplifier is definately a kept secret. It is a 60 watt tube combo. It has a beautiful clean channel. Channel two is an overdrive/distortion channel. Depending on the pickups you use and the way you set the three band EQ you can go from very sweet bluesy overdriive to a hard rock crunch. There is a extra gain button that will push it over the top for lead playing. You probably aren't going to need a distortion pedal for this thing. It does have an effects loop but I don't use it much. I like the way this amp sounds all by itself. It has 2 6l6 power tubes. The power tubes are switchable to EL34s. The best part of that is that you don't EVER have to BIAS this amp. It is all self biasing. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I've changed tubes from 6l6 to 6l6 and from 6l6 to EL34. The preamp stage has about 4 12ax7s and I believe one 12au7. I don't have the manual in front of me but I believe that is correct. This particular model has one 60watt 12 inch speaker. It's very loud, VERY loud. I hooked it up to a 4X12 cabinet in the store and it will drive it no problem. In fact when hooked up to a 4X12 cab it is deafening loud. I think this amp does rock, hard rock, and metal best. But it's definately not a blues slouch.

I covered this subject above. But I did notice that there is backround noise with this combo. The clean channel dosn't really distort but I don't really play it in that channel at very high volumes. The distortion in channel two with the extra boost switch is very high.

I've never had a problem with this amp. I have had it for about 9 months and I play on the average an hour a day. It hasn't broken down on me. I would gig without backup.

I blew a tube on the 89th day I had it. The power tubes were covered for 90 days. They replaced both power tubes no questions. I called there tech guys and they have been very helpful even when it comes down to questions about it's inner workings. The warranty is 5 years. The authorized service center was very close for me.

I love it's tube tones. I compared it to a Carvin Vintage 33 combo, which I really loved but it was just to blues oriented. The Crate is more versatile even though it didn't reproduce a blues tone as well as the Carvin. I also played the new small Marshall Tube Combo. I thought the Crate sounded as good and was much less expensive. You should try this amp out or possibly one of the other models in this line. You may be very surprised.