Crate DX212

USA made. 1998. Tons of actually usable amp models. Crate made the initial wave in the modeling amp craze. The DX212 is superior to any of the Line 6 combos. The phase is the only outstanding cheesy effect. It's just plain thin. The floorboard makes programming and switching a silent joy. Nano-quick reaction between styles. I use mine for open stages and home recording. I own a Line 6 Spider 212, I like some things about it but the delay in amp models and effects is just plain terrible. The Crate is awesome in that department.

DUMP THE STOCK SPEAKERS! They're terrible. I guess Crate put cheap speakers in to meet a price point. I loaded mine up with two Patriot speakers and boy did it change the sound from good to excellent. If you're stuck with the stock speakers, they're not terrible but you'll notice the amp has limits. Adding better speakers pushes this rating up to a 10... and pushed the amp volume up too.

Absolutely gig proof and friend proof. Mine is the community jam amp at every Friday nite jam. Even the 20somethings like the metal crunch.

Crate has always been helpful.

It's a solid/affordable amp for the price. Classic physical style and a variety of sounds. Most you'll never use but they're there if you need them. Soon to be a collectible for sure. Not many of these around.

Lots of models to play with and effects. The delay has only 1 controll and its hard to loose the repeats and just make it sound bigger. If you like repeats its fun. Same for the other effects, only one knob to adjust them. The reverb has 2 knobs and it is a great sounding reverb. Besides the master vol. it has gain and channel volumes. Some of the features are not to usable.

Here is were this amp shines and sucks. Forget all the modeling or any distrotion this amp has.! Fun for a minute then its all junk. But wait, clean this amp is great!! It has a wonderful crunchy sound that you can add some of the effects to get a beautiful sound. I'm using a strat and it likes this sound. I'm using slight delay and moderate reverb and my strat sounds like it should. Now for the fix. I use a compression pedal/distortion/and an EQ in front of the amp. Boss pedals seem to love solid state amps. I get a pretty gritty sound for leads for not to much $$. Great in the practice room and you can add another amp/delay pedal and go huge, when needed.
If your a purist and have to have tube break up, perfect tone, this will be a dissapointment. For many though, this is a great setup.

I got this used, really used, but not thrashed. Everything works everytime. Gig with it no worries. Only a 9 because I've only had it a year.

N/A

I have many amps, including a Fender Blues Deville w/4 10's. I have modded many of my pedals and have gone through a couple of multi-fx's.
I think you can spend a lot of money on sound and if you need to play many styles you should. I'm in a rock band and distortion, chorus and clean sounds work for me. I'm still looking for that sweet dirty sound we all are. This is my first Crate and I would check some of the other models before buying this one again, but, This is a good amp and would be missed if lost. I'm never selling it! Its a keeper.

This thing is loaded with features. Amp modeling, effects, 2 12" speakers, high and low gain inputs, effects loop and stereo out just name the most important.

Ok here is why everybody comes to Harmony-central. There are some very usable sounds coming out of this amp. I would even gig with it if I had to. The clean sounds aren't bad but obviously fails compared to a Twin Reverb. The best driven tube sounds come from the Fender amp models and the Crate models. The acoustic model is just a low powered clean channel no presence or anything. The high gain and fuzz channels are best for the bed room but too noisy for anything else. The effects are fine although they lack controls other than an effects level knob. The reverb is really good right on par with a Fender amp which is to say I like it better than a Marshall's. The Marshall tones are usable but sound nothing like a Marshall. I have had Marshalls and Fender Twin Reverbs, believe me these cannot be replicated electronically. You can get close enough to get by with though. I am using a Les Paul and a Strat with this amp. This now my new rehearsal amp. Of course thats with it set at high power and cranked with a tone labs le in front of it. To me if you have to use effects pedals to get good enough tones to use on stage I take 2 points off here. Also because it lacks an awesome overdriven tube sound I have to take a point off for that.

This amp is old and still working with no scratchy pots or hums. I'd say its earned its mark here.

Never dealt with them, thank god.

If it where lost or stolen I would buy another one if I came across it at the right price. I doubt I would go looking for one though. Its not a tube amp which is both good and bad. I am a tube amp lover from way back and generally don't like solid state for anything other than a practice amp. However being solid state makes it very reliable and works great with any multi effects pedal. Since it has a very sterile dry tone when you take away the amp modeling, effects and reverb. Compared to a Fender amp it lacks character and compared to a Marshall it lacks the 'growl' and compared to a Vox it lacks warmth. It is what it is and that is fairly decent amp modeling amp at a low cost that is loud enough to gig with clean. One more thing that has to be said, this thing is really ugly looking.

16 amp models, 16 effects configurations plus independent reverb. Master volume, channel level, gain and three band EQ. 120 programmable presets but only ten of them are accessable from the front pannel. You need a MIDI foot controller to access the rest. The Crate foot controller gets it's power through the MIDI cable but it is conmpatible with generic MIDI conreollers with a seperate power source. The selection is switchable on the back pannel. headphone jack, stereo send and return MIDI in and thru. No output for an external cabinet

I have a small arsenal of guitars including a Fender Strat and a Tele, Charvelle Surfcaster, BC Rich Platinum ST III with EMG 81 and 82 pickups, and a BC Rich NJ Assassin with Semore Duncan Quarter Pounders and an SH4. I play a variety of styles from jazz to electric blues to classic and modern rock to straight up metal.

The cleaner sounds it does spectacularly but add the distirtion sounds and there is a lot of niose there that shouldn't be. Even with a noise gate and a slow release time, there is a noticeable hiss. There is a wide veriety of sounds available but they are all lacking something. There just isn't a backbone to the tones. This may be due to the lack of a prescence control, but at 30W per side, this amp is not really loud enough to do full duty service as a rehearsal/performance amp. By itself it can sound great at times but easily gets lost in a full band setting. The noise on the distortions and lack of prescence really relegate this amp to practice status only like most other Crate products.

What can I say? I bought the thing in inoperable condition but took it to the shop and had all the caps replaces and have had no trouble with it since. The construction is sturdy and the unit is HEAVY weighing in at over 65 lb. shipping weight.

Bottom line: it DID break down but the causes are unknown to me.

I never dealt with Crate CS.

I have been playing for over 30 years. In that time I have owned many different amps ranging from Marshalls to Fenders to Ampegs to other crates. This is far and away the MOST versatile amp I have ever played. Sadly, it is also one of the noisiest and terribly underpowered I ahve ever dealt with. It will not hold its's own in a rehearsal or performance setting unless you plan to go direct but even then it is so noisy that it isn't worth it.

If it ever got stolen I would get something else noty only becaue they are disconhtinued, but becaue there is jsut so much more out there that is better for the same money.

*The price paid is with the footswitch.* The only thing I would have liked to see would be a usb connection for easier use with a pc.Other than that I don't know what else your ask for.Without the footswitch I would give this catagory a 6. its that important it give you 128 prograble presets and lets you add a pasive volume peddel to control gain,level,effect adjust,reverb level,and depth. It's really cool.

Properly adjusted It will produce just about any tone for clasical to country to metal.I mainly play quiet as if there were other people living here,but when the wife and kids are gone the neighbors will just have to shut their windows.I sounds great loud and down low.

The amp is perfect no issues in four years. The only problem occured with the foot switch I broke the midi connector loose from the circuit board totaly my fault, I'm handy with a soldering pen so it was fixed in 20 minuets.

This amp does not appear to be very well suported online anymore but that is to be expected on a model this old. But I've never tried to call crate.

Fantastic value for me $450 with the footswitch new.I don't know why it was so cheap.It suits my needs perfectly I've heard line6 makes a better modaling amp but I haven't compared them.I've been playing for 30 somthing years and I think my grandkids (not born yet) will jam with this amp.

Made in '99...Yes, very versitle amp... The Jack of all trades is the master of none, but worthwhile nevertheless... Play a mixture of rock, jazz, classical, etc...Two channels with channel switching..Yes the pedal is too expensive (although it would add a great deal of expansion to the setup...Not too much of a problem for me being that I use an external distortion box anyway when playing live and I setup my sound thoughtfully when recording... Very powerful and great sound...

Use a '86 Les Paul studio guitar with it... Suits my musical style well as I partly fashioned my style around my gear... Kinda noisy at high volumes and the noise gate is too noticable at high volumes... Variety of sounds including clean, vintage, and heavy... Very usable through the headphone out jack as a recording amp... Just listen through your interface, adjust, and record....The clean channel has a nice overdrive at high volumes depeding on how you set up the channel volume, gain, and master volume combination... (This is a very important concept with this amp, very intuitive though once you get your hands on it.)

Been a very reliable amp for me and I would be quite sad if something happened to it... Would possibly replace it if lost or stolen... Blah blah blah... Can't wait to get it back from storage at my dads after he moves... Also can't wait to do the chip upgrade that comes free from crate when they find out that you don't already have it upgraded... Handle did fall off, so mine's never had the handle...So I'll give it a nine...

Crate didn't make me wait long on the phone, and they didn't mess around in getting me the upgrade chip... Not too much of an opinion here, so I'll give them a 7!

Been playing it for about 3 years now and I still love it... Miss it nearly everyday as I have nothing to play through except a crappy boss recorder... I think I'm done with this review...

I have 2 of the DX 212 amps. One for practice room, 1 at home and until recently I took both of them for gigs. This is a great studio amp! However, live applications are more difficult. The answer is to have a closed backed cabinet!! I disconnected one of the carte 12" speakes and jumped the wire to a recently used Marshall 412 avt slant. This really helped especially on the clean channel settings. Having the 1 Crate 12" pumping a little louder as it is cleaner and crisper than the Marshall and the 4 12 splitting 50 Watts rms has more bottom.

When using the amp live by itself it lost the claen channels and the overdrives were out of balance and lost their tone characteristics. We have everal live videos and the mix is great when using 2 DX 212 amps or 1 and a 412 closed back.

I use primarily Dean guitars but I do have a Schecter with DD P100's and a flying V with a Duncan JB bridge and a Jazz neck. The trick is to not turn the volume control on the guitars over 6, especially on import guitars, to keep the tonal charcteristics accurate umless we are doing some Metallica or Alice in Chains where I need to pile it on. This amp does lack a strong dark overdrive tone but it is a vintage model amp. Use a celan channel with a good boss distorion pedal and it does great. I could sell this amp every night we play because I have spent time dialing it in to fit my guitars and other players have approached on break to ask questions. This is a real gem that is underated.

Both of my amps and 1 of the pedals (DXJFC) have needed to be resoldered. This is typical for Crates and many other brands so I do bring along a GFX 65 crate if we are playing out of town. I have never had the amps fail at a gig and I bought them both used and they are on 8 - 12 hours per week so I am not going to complain.

Crate has great customer service!!

I chose this one of the line 6 amps because the crate is inexpensive as a used amp and the LIne 6 controller pedals were poorly constructed. I am always looking for another DX 212 or a DX 100 as these amps deliver what I want and my sound has never been better. They are not real powerful but the tone is amazing!!

easy to program bought 2 years ago

some nice rhythm sounds 2or 3 notes together ok. solo notes sound not as good but i fugured out how to fix that so better read on if you own this amp. First off thanks to previous reviewer who said tht he owns an art ecc i use it as midi footswitch cause my amp did not come with one it was optional.
HERES THE FIX IM NOT GONNA GO IN DETAIL. ANYWAY I TRIED LOTS OF OVERDRIVE BOXES AND DIST. BOXES THEY SOUNDED WORSE AND COULD HERE MY PICKING THAT SUCKED. INSTEAD I STUCK APILLOW IN THE BACK OF THE AMP YEAH A AN OLD CHEAP PILLOW.I WASNT GONNA STICK MY SWEDISH PILLOW IN IT.ANYWAY SOUNDS WAY FRIGGIN BETTER AND YOU CAN SOLO AND NOT FEEL LIKE SOMETHINGS HOLDING YOU BACK. ITS A 5 WITHOUT PILLOW WITH PILLOW A 7.BUT I OWN REAL MARSHALLS AND FENDERS . I LIKE YOU CAN PLAY AT REAL LOW VOLUME LIKE A TV AND IT SOUNDS MASSIVE AND AT AT DECENT VOLUMES ITS EASY ON THE EARS .IM OLDER NOW AND IVE LOST MY MAD VOLUME DAYS HAVE FAMILY AND PREFER SMALL AMPS. MY NEXT AMP WIL BE TINY TUBE MY FENDER CHAMP IS BROKEN AND WIL FIX AND OR REPLACE.
SOME OF THE RHYTHM SOUNDS SOUND MUCH BETTER THAN MY POD 1.0 BUT WITHOUT PILLOW THE PODS SOLO GUITAR SOUND WAS BETTER. NOW WITH PILLOW THE CRATE SOUNDS BETTER. I THINK DIGITAL WILL GET BETTER BUT IM STILL A TUBE SNOB. SO IM RATING THIS A 7 AS COMPARED TO DIGITAL .

SEEMS A OK

dont know need upgrade probaly

TRIED FLEXTONE 3 AND IT SEEMED NICE REVIEWS SAID IT WASNT RELIABLE LOST THAT SALE

They're all below. This is an update to my previous review.

I've since sold the amp and I can say a few more-intelligent things about this. I've found heaven with the PodXT - it adds the stuff I had to "rig" with the Crate, including individual stompbox-style on/off for effects within the same patch using the footcontroller.

I was pleased at the resale value that this thing held. I had it for almost four years and sold it back to Guitar Center for like $300. Not too bad, very few things hold their value that well for that long, so I guess people are buying them.

Another update. After overcoming my initial disappointment with this thing, I found that it really couldn't hold up in loud/live situations. I'm used to amps with a "Presence" control (which I always set to 10) and this thing just always sounded muddy to me, it never really had enough high-end punch and bite. That's really just a matter of personal preference...but I got to the point where I was running screaming into the arms of a Marshall MG100 head.

It was reliable other than the footswitch issues I mentioned below.

I've reversed myself on this one. If you are interested in modeling technology, shop the Line 6 gear. If you're after the modern high-gain sounds you'll have to lay down and get the Vetta (because it has more of those models) or maybe the HD 147 (? I don't know what it has). But the Flextone and POD lines are some pretty good stuff for the money especially, and even the Spyder if you're looking to cheap.

Bottom line - I think Crate made an early foray into the modeling arena with this amp but they've been getting smoked ever since.

This is basically another digital modeling amp that models other amplifiers in software. There are plenty of other reviews here with the details. The amp is very usable, but editing presets using the knobs can be a pain because you have to find the "virtual" position of the knob for the current program before you can change anything. This doesn't let you do a quick touch to just add a little more high or mid. You end up twisting the knob around and finding your sound again. Other than that, it's very usable.

I use a Peavey Generation servies with active pickups that supply a lot of high end. The sounds are decent and reasonable clones of the amps that are modeled, but they're missing that special "something" that makes them dead on replicas. Pretty good overall, but not as close as say a Line 6.

I use the amp at church (it actually belongs to the minister). It always turns on and despite being stored in less than ideal conditions (hot/cold buildings etc) it has always performed well.

Never had to.

If you can get a good price this is a fine amp, but the street price is a little high for what you get.