Crate BV60 Blue Voodoo

My blue voodoo is Blue, not black and was purchased in 96-97. I have played it for all these years with no problem. It has separate reverb for channel one or two, MASSIVE overdrive (I leave overdrive at 3/4) and nice tone. I would say that with out looping and increasing volume throught the loop it just makes it at most gigs as long as you are miked, there is plenty of volume for me but it wont fill a 300 seat venue very well. I loop it through a Boss GT-6 and it has as much volume as my friends 100watt marshal. The negative is that the head is very heavy and oversized a bit.

I can turn the gain down or my guitar volume down and sound like SRV or I can crank the gain and sound just as full as metalica or Disturbed. If anything it could use a litte more bass or low end because I have to crank the bass to full. It sounds great with my Les Paul and equally as good with my fender on clean channel. The noise is there but as long as you kick off the distortion channel between songs it works fine.

I haven't even replaced the tubes and I still have great sustain and sound.

I havn't had to contact the company.

A third channel on this would be great. I recomend a tube screamer for use on leads, then you could lower the gain and stomp the tube screamer durring leads.

Mid to Late 90's 112 60 Watt combo. Two channel, reverb, fx loop, cab sim xlr line out. Very nice punchy clean channel with low, mid hugh, & bright switch, overdrive channel with low, mid high, boost switch. Master controls are reverb and prescence. It has all it needs, which is good adjustable sound that cuts through, and looks good doing it.

I use strats, teles, pauls, and shred-o-casters. This amp was marketed toward the hard rock/metal clent, but it does the cleans and in betweens really well. It's somewhat noisy for recording, but tube amps generally are. The reverb is insane. I tend to stick to the in between, medium gain sounds, and the clean channel gets this at high volumes. The overdrive side gets it at any volume. It will get high gain shred sounds or death grind, and keep a nice tight low end all the way up.

Seeing as how its already ten years old, and still works like the day it was new, I'd say it's pretty reliable. Not abusable, but reliable. The thing about Crate amps is the input jacks and switches. They are cheap. That's one of the reasons why the amps are inexpensive. Contacts on switches and jacks tend to be the main source of trouble on all Crate amps I've repaired.

They've always been one of the better ones to deal with, both from a dealer standpoint and/or customer basis.

I've been playing tube amps for 20 years, most of the vintage Fenders, Marshalls, Carvin, Matchless, Boogies, Bedrock, Soldano, on and on...I'd try to find another one at this price. I like the way it looks and sounds, and wish it was lighter (use real wood, not MDF). It's a sweet amp for a couple of bills!

2 Channels, Reverb combo amp. No headphone jack, which to anyone who is beyond an infantile beginner, is a sign odf an amp I wouldn't want in the first place. Pretty much a straight forward 2 channel tube amp with all of the features it should have.

Here's where the amp falls short. I want to like these amps, since you can find them so cheap and they don't weigh a ton, but my ears keep telling me that they suck. Now, in fairness, I do know some musicians that have the 120 watt head/cabinet version and it sounds quite good. This combo doesn't seem to capture anything near that, however. To me, it sounds very much like a late 70s early 80s Peavey -- not good!

Fortunately, I did not buy the amp after trying to convince myself that it was such a good deal for more than an hour. You see, right next to it was a Hughes & Kettner Tube 50 which totally kicked the Crate's ass. Plugging in to the Tube 50, I could not find a bad sound on the amp -- any way I turned the knobs, it sounded great. In contrast, the Crate could not sound anywhere near as good no matter how it was adjusted. The Tube 50 was a bit pricier, but well worth it. I'm glad I passed on the Crate.

I've been playing for many, many years and have owned or regularly used alot of high quality amps. Even though I did not take this amp home, I am very skilled at diagnosing good/bad equipment quickly. This one had a nice low price for an all-tube amp, so I spent an exceptionally long time examining it.

I'm hoping that the one I tested was a fluke and that I will come across another that sounds like so many here say theirs does.

Overall, this one was a very ordinary sounding amp of which many solid-states, including the ones made by Crate, sound better.

TURN IT ON, JAM YOUR ASS OFF, THAT'S HOW EASY IT IS TO START ROCKIN' WITH THIS AMP!

I USE A GIBSON LES PAUL CUSTOM WITH THIS AMP AT REHEARSAL. THE SOUND BLOWS THE DOORS OFF OF MY BANDMATES' MARSHALL HALF-STACKS!!! (VALVESTATE & TSL100) I LOVE THE TONE OF THIS AMP, EVEN WITH STOCK TUBES IN IT.

THIS AMP IS 110% DEPENDABLE! I HAVE GIGED WITH IT BEFORE AND USED NO BACK-UP! YOU DON'T NEED A BACK-UP! SERIOUSLY!

AS A MATTER OF FACT I JUST RECENTLY (11/7/02) CONTACTED CRATE ABOUT A FOOTSWITCH FOR THIS AMP. I'M CURRENTLY WAITING FOR A RESPONSE. I'M SURE I'LL GET ONE REAL SOON THOUGH!

I PLAY ROCK AND ROLL FROM THE LATE 60s TO CURRENT ROCK. THIS AMP WILL FILL ALL THE TONAL NEEDS OF MOST OF THAT MUSIC. I'VE BEEN PLAYING FOR 19 YEARS AND THIS IS MY FIRST CRATE AMP (PRETTY MUCH FOR REHEARSAL ONLY...WITH FEW EXCEPTIONS) AND IT'S GREAT. I WOULD BUY ANOTHER ONE IF THE OPPORTUNITY AROSE! FOR A SMALL AMP, THE THING HAS A PRETTY HEAVY MAGNET ON THE SPEAKER, WHICH MAKES IT HEAVY, BUT THAT IS A SMALL PRICE TO PAY FOR THE GREAT TONE THAT YOU'LL ALWAYS GET FROM IT WETHER YOU'RE ON THE CLEAN OR DIRTY CHANNEL. MY FRIEND (THE BAND'S "ROADIE") KEEPS REASSURING ME TO NEVER GET RID OF THIS AMP. I CAN HAVE THE VOLUME AT 2 O'CLOCK AND KEEP UP (MAYBE SURPASS) THE HALF-STACK BOYS!!!!!!

I believe this amp was mad 1998 or 99. It still has the good tolex covering. If you have noticed all the new amps have very flimzy covering. It tears every time you bump something. That bugs the crap out of me. Like someone else said this little booger rocks.

I use a American Tele with stock pickups and a strat occasionely. The amp is very quiet and can handle all the gigs I need it for. I play strictly classic country and old rock. No problems, handles everything just fine.

Never had a problem with this little booger. Dont need a backup, it has never given me a problem. I dont really know why Crate quit making these amps. I use the clean channel only. Have no need for the other one so I cant really say anything good or bad about it.

I have never delt with Crate excet to find an amp tech for a bass amp thats giving me a problem.

I've been playing since 1957 and would definately buy another if this one got swiped. For some reason there are not too many around. The thing I like about this amp is its very compact and built very sturdy no cheap tolex covering like the new amps. Plus it sounds as good as my old Peaveys and Fender twin for less doe. The thing I dont like is...its freegin heavey for a compact combo. Around 60 pounds. But they have to do that to make for the solid sound. I'm going to rate this thing a 10. It has never given a problem one. You cant ask for more than that.

Excellent combo. All tube, two channel, bright switch on clean side and gain boost on gain side, however, there is no independent reverb. That is the only thing I wish it had.
I play mostly metal with some 60's psychedelic groove influences, and this amp does it very well. It has alot of gain, but a tone that could beat all.

I'm playing a '99 Dean Cadillac X with stock pickups (Dean's version of the Duncan Distortions, I believe). The Voodoo with this guitar fits my style perfectly. It has a little noise on the clean channel, but it's only noticeable at low volumes and when you're really looking for it. I chalk it up to buying it used.
This amp can handle anything from twangy Fenders to bassy Les Pauls, and everything in between. The clean channel is amongst the best I've ever heard, and the gain channel is THE best I've ever heard. The distortion is EXTREMELY brutal, but it's not always needed. You can get a heavy sound without cranking the gain all the way.

This amp is very reliable. As of late, I've had no problems with it. I would not take it to a gig without a backup, but not because of the amp...because I am anal like that.

I have only dealt with them once or twice via email to ask them some spec questions and they have been very quick and helpful in their responses.

I've only been playing for 2.5 maybe 3 years, but I know enough to know when an amp is good...and this one is amazing.
When I wanted a new amp, I went to every store playing everything to find the amp I wanted. Price was not option (within reason). I planned to find my amp, and then look for another as inexpensively as I could. I played Marshalls (AVT's, TSL's, DSL's, VS's, etc.), Line6's (Spiders, Flextones), Ampegs, Mesa's (all), and the rest of the Crates, but none of them heald a candle to the Blue Voodoo.
If it were stolen or lost I'd probably take the opportunity to upgrade to the 120 head.

The amp is only a few years old(the Blue Voodoo combos were discontinued a few years back and the series continued as a stack) but purchased new. Versatile amp. I play everything from ska/reggae to jazz/fusion to blues to hard rock to country/rockabilly and it seems to get every sound. What can I say, its a 60 watt tube amp. The clean and dirty tone are what you would expect. Channel 1-Volume, Bass, Mid, Bright switch, Treble, Channel 2-Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble, Master Volume, Tube Reverb, Presence, effects loop, channel switching, foot switch optional, no headphone jack. I would prefer spring reverb to tube(I'm a vintage Fender junky)but the overall sound is good(more on that later.)

I play a '96 Epiphone Les Paul, stock humbuckers, goes great with the amp. Get everything from Albert King to KISS to James Burton(not quite, but that is more of a pickup issue than an amp problem). Tube distortion is spectacular, but I'm comming from a solid state amp. No undue noise, stays clean cranked, responds fabulously distorted and it can DISTORT.

Keep in mind that all of these comments are based on trying it out for an hour in the store and 2 hours at home, after which it promptly broke down. Tubes are fine, amp still has power, speaker is fine(tried the nifty little 9-volt battery test)and I suspect the input is bad. Unfortunately, this isn't the first complaint I've heard on these amps. When they work, they have a really great sound, but when they don't, THEY DON'T. Obviously, this is a first experience and I'm slightly perturbed right now, but make sure that if you get one, you don't buy it second hand. The warranty is worth its weight in gold.

five year warranty on electronics(thank *insert deity of your choice*) two year warranty on speakers. We'll see what comes of the service department.

Doesn't matter if you plug in and suddenly play like SRV if the thing doesn't work, so good luck if you risk it. Oh well!

Full tube 2 5881's, 4 12AX7's, 1 12AU7 for reverb. I got it with a full set of Sovtek's. XLR balanced out. 2 channels one with boost. 60 watts...

I play hard rock, alternative, and progressive metal in my band: Epiphany. Kind of a Metallitoolinchainsgardenofstonetemple-ness. My playing style is somewhat like Satch, im nowhere near as good tho. I have an ESP M-300 into Boss DS-1->Digitech GNX1->Danelectro EQ->Amp. It has a very full sound, very loud. It compliments the DS-1 very well, nice harmonics with it. I use the DS-1 for the solid state distortion whenever i need it, there are times when, yes, tube distortion isnt the best for the job. the sound is very sharp in a large venue though, im probably going to buy the matching 4-12 cab to change that. clean has a nice sparkle, ok reverb. the distortion can do metal easily, and jazz. the blues tone can be done, you just need to do some tweaking. the clean channel distorts a little when at high volumes, what amp doesnt though? I replaced the tubes with Groove tubes, there wasnt much difference in the sound, there was a difference, not very audiably different though, i really had to listen for it. I want to try el34's next time.

Very dependable. killed a volume pot, not the amps fault, the other guitarist in my band was loading it into my car ans he slammed the pot on the side of my door, i had him pay for repairs :)(it was a good 70 bucks because they had to remove the board and blah, blah, blah.

I emailed them for a manual, they sent one to me in a week.

Ive been playing for 3 years, you can hear the sounds this amp makes at my bands website: epiphany.itgo.com. I love the amp, if it was stolen, id probably buy another. although i am looking into buying a carvin MTS3200 half stack.

the vodoo really reaks as an amp for live work.and it dosen't even sound that great.as far as i know, it uses 6l6's.I play lead in an alternitive/metal band.this amp has NO bottem end.not long after it's warrenty ran up,the hi-end EQ was affecting the master volume on both channels! Gain AND clean. it kept playing in & out of phase sixty watts is not enough for me. (I was not using the head,I used the combo)no headphone jack.Crate has come a long way, but has a long way to go.

I have used tele's equipt with taxas specials,as well as strats.
with texas specials.i've used e.m.g. 81's and an epiphone LP retro-fittad with classic 57's and a 57' classic plus.amp has no bottem end
with any pick-up combo i've used.

this amp cant stand on it's own casters.it has no reliability.
i was playing a gig for my school (national anthem)the amp started blacking out. I was never in my life more humiliated

two words, it sucks!

Made in 1997 in the U.S.A. Comes stock with 4 12AX7WA, 1 12AU7 and 2 5881WXT tubes manufactured by Sovtek. 2 Channel operation. The clean channel is very clean in the neck position and a little on the dirty side with the bridge. The Dirty channel is very nice, excellent distorion with little breakup. I only wish it had a true third channel for lead and not the gimpy boost. I use this amp live and it is a definite workhorse.

I am using two different guitars, a Custom Kramer pacer ( it has a metallist neck ) with Seymour Duncan JB and vintage staggered; and a USA Jackson AT-1 with Kent Armstrong PAF style pickups.
The Reverb is really great, not too springy.......

When I first bought this amp used, it sounded like crap, old tubes. I just re-tubed it today with Sovtek 12AX7LPS (used by Mesa/Boogie) and 5881WXT (which are the stock replacement) I doubt I will have any problems with it for a couple of years......

E-mailed St. Louis Music for a Booklet, got one from them no problem

Over-all I would have to give it two thumbs up (after the re-tubing) and would recommend this to anyone looking for American made quality craftsmanship. I have owned Peaveys, Soldanos, Marshalls, and tested everything else, this is top notch......

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.