Crate G120C

Not sure onthe year, But man i love it! It really caters to classic rock, kinda like a black sabbath style as far as distortion goes. I play punk, classic rock, and psychobilly mainly. Some metal. Two channels. A and B. Headphone jack. An effects loop. Solid state. I love the effects.

I currently play a Squire Strat (ugh.) and a ESP F-50 loaded with mightymite mother buckers. MAn the two in combo with each other are awsom! ACDC MotorHead Black Sabbath Ozzy style you know what i mean? But i usually play casualties, bad religion, rancid, and nofx music. THe built in effects are reallly great. It really sounds good for acoustic songs. It also sounds alot like Dead Kennedys. My only real complaint is the distortion is anything SUPeR. You wont be crankin out any iron maiden solos. unless you add an effects box.

I have used it on gigs before, by itself. Never brokdown on me. ITs built like a tank really. Used to cut out, but that was the guitar not the amp.

Never had to.

Been playin for 11 years now. I'd buy it again. Just add a stomp box tho. Just wish i had a good cabinet for it.

Don't know the year. Who cares? You should kow the features by now, but quickly, solid state of course, 2 channels, verb and "chorus", switchable rev/ch. 4 speaker outputs!(4ohms). "Shape" control in the lead channel. Pretty simple. Large format box, it's wider than my Jackson 4x12. Right now using at home (for the guilty pleasure of it's Dime/Zakk-like SS distortion.) Will probably use it for band rehearsal (share a space with another band) and back up.

Giving it a 9 for "features" because it is what it is. You have the basics. It doesn't bill itself as something it isn't.

Use all kinds of guitars in it. It seems to favor LP or DC humbucker guitars, but, use whatever you want. I use a lot of FX, my old Fender Twin, SS Trace Elliot, and Vox Tonelab SE CAN NOT get this type of ss hi-gain sound. It's fun. Not all that noisy even dimed. (okay, a little bit, but that's expected.)

The cleans are pretty straight forward. Once you get a simple good sound, just leave it. The lead channel has a few more sound options. You can get a Marshally-type sound with gain at 11-12 o'clock, low and high noon, and shape about 11. Crank it up.

Now for the Dime tone. This is why I bought it. No...it's not a Bogner. So what? I'm a tube guy as much as anyone. But, This setting is REALLY fun. Turn the gain all the way over. 10. Give a bitof bass, like 9 o'clock. BAck off the highs...shouldn't need any more than "1" or "2". Mine is "0". Now take the shape and dime it. It's probably a mid-cut. Now go to drop D tuning and make like Zakk.

The reverb is so-so. It's there. The chorus is ALMOST worthless. The only time I use it is in "stereo mode". I plug two cabs in it, set the chours low, and it actually does make a nice, mild stereo-separation sound.

When I bought it (used) from Sam Ash it made a funny hiccup. Thought maybe it was the power supply. I bought it anyway, and found that it was a problem with the amp. It would cut out with a loud pop, and act like it was switching channels. I'd (gently!) tap the back near the footswitch inputs, and after a few times it would quit. I finally got tired of doing this and pulled the chassis. Being careful not to touch anything, I took a rupper handled screwdriver and poked near where I thought the problem. I narrowed it down to some kind of resistor (it has a cement-like material in it). Sure enough, the other side of the board was burnt looking. I resoldered the joints, tapped aagin, and nothing. Cool. Fixed! This is known as a cold-solder joint, and I am sure that's the problem with someone down below. The thing works perfectly now.

n/a

I paid 200 for it at SA. They can be had for 150 on eBay. But you pay for shipping and you just don't know what you get. So I thoguht the deal wasn't too bad, for a superstore. All in all, it's a cheap amp that does it's job. I will use it at practice, and back up. And I sue whenever I'm angry..lol. I would use it at a gig since I use the Tonelab for my sound engine. It's big and cool-looking...I bet if I removed the "crate" logo people would like it more...hah-hah. I give it an over-all "8". Tube snobs will say "8? WTF, dude?". But it performs what it was designed to do, so?...8 it is.

Don't have this amp anymore, but I used it exclusively for bigger shows with a 4x12XLS Crate cabinet (but loaded with Marshall Celestions). Two channels, good transistor sound-v.good chorus, decent distortion (I used mostly on clean w/other distortion effects with better results).

Good clean sound, fine for most music. Reliable never blew up on me-only once was it serviced (I think it blew a diode bridge or soemthing like that). Never used a backup for most gigs was my mainstay until I got a Roland Jazz Chorus 120W and later a twin reverb Fender amp.

Very dependable, good clean and loud (best feature besides the footswitch). Slightly punchy, but not a tube amp sound either.

Never had to deal with.

20+ years. I'll keep it to amps here. Crate was my main for the bigger gigs. Still have: Roland Jazz Chorus JC120 (better chorus and clean sound than the Crate), Fender Twin 2x10 Reverb Combo (a tube screamer), also had an old 100W Ampeg(noisy thing) for awhile. Otherwise ran through the sound board w/typ. Crown amps for e.g.

i love this amp, ive had it for 15 years, so i cant really complain that i now have to hit it on the top to make it work now, and sometimes it switches channels on me, it really pisses me off, and i cant find a diagram anywhere to take it apart and try to fix the problem, but, like i said , ive had it for 15 years and for 14 of them it has been a jewel , i still love it because it had been so faithful for many years of jamming with numerous bands

use a B.C.Rick Warlock with it, it kills, i play death metal and it works great for it

i used to think it was indestructable

cant find any help for it

been playing for 18 years , used to use peavey , switched to crate, use b.c.rich guitars and charvel , and jackson

I have no idea what year this head was made in. But I'm pretty sure that it was made on a tues. wed. or thurs. (heh heh). Reverb works fine, nice clean channel, distortion is way better than I expected for the price I paid. Two channels, effects loop, headphone jack, effects loop, footswitch, all the toys just like the big boys.

I'm a Fender flunky, I play 2001 Telecaster, and a '58 Musicmaster with 65 Mustang P/U's and neck. Love and emulate everything from Supersuckers-Sonic Youth-Minor Threat (am I that old??) to Keb Mo

Never needed a backup, tis thing is a TANK. I read the review of the unfortunate soul with the perpetually broken amp. Mine has never even faked like it was ging to quit, a couple of scratchy pots after 5 years is pretty damn good.

Customer support always sucks, and I suppose that theirs does to,but I've never called them, never had a reason to.

I play through a Sound City 50 plus now, but I can't seem to part with this. I guess that I have come to think of it as a backup, if all else fails I can count on it to be a decent backup. If someone stole it, I would report them to the proper officials immediatly, then go to their house and beat the living crap out of them......DO NOT STEAL FROM ANGRY PEOPLE!

I had this amp a while ago (1992), and I'm going to rely on my memory to give an accurate review. So take this as you will...
I got it new then and don't have it any more. I'm glad I don't and you'll see why. Now that I threw out my disclaimer, please read on...
I got the amp new in 1992, so I guess that's when it was made. Back then, I had been playing for about 4 years, and it was versitile enough for me then. I was in the crappy high school cover band that every 17-year-old guitarist is in. Anyway, the amp had a cool distortion channel, a nice, crisp solid-state clean channel and chorus. The chorus was cool, as was the effects loop.
At the time, it was more than enough power to keep up with drums (a tippity-tappity kind of drummer), bass and another guitarist. We were playing some originals (they sucked) plus covers of Helmet tunes, Nirvana, Soundgarden, etc., pretty much the whole grunge thing that was going on in the early '90s.
Feature-wise, I'll give it an 8.

I was using this with a 1990 Fender strat with a hotrail in the bridge. It suited the grunge-style of the time, but I always wished I had an SG.
Sound-wise, the amp delivers solid-state distortion (pretty good too) and really bright clean sounds. With the chorus, there was a bit of difference in the sounds it could produce. It was very, very, very noisy, but now I can equate that to the Strat. However, there were many, many, many problems with the amp (see reliability for more detail). The distortion was fairly brutal, and the guitarist I was playing with like it better than his Marshall tube combo (ahh, the innocence of youth...)
So, if I had gotten a good one, I'd give it a....6

Now the problems...
I will never in my life own another Crate amp because of this one. All the other reviewers' amps must have been made on a Wednesday, because this thing had to have been made on a Monday or a Friday, when everyone at the factory is still hung over from the weekend or too busy thinking about the weekend to make a reliable amp.
Anyway, first there were problems with the input jack. It was really loose and shorting out, so I took it back to the store. They fixed it.
Then, it would cut in and out, so I'd have to hit it on the top, and it would work again. I took it back to the store (yet again) and they said they fixed it. And it worked, for a week.
THEN, on top of the cutting in and out (still hitting it on the top to temporarily fix it) and the re-loosened input jack, the chorus decided to be tempermental and work only when it wanted to.
THEN (in the same day) the distortion channel would switch to the clean channel without me hitting anything. Gremlins, I tell 'ya.
So I took it back to the store. They had the friggin thing for two weeks, and gave me a Marshall combo to use while they tried to fix it. I moved, kept the Marshall and let them keep that demon of a piece of crap.
Now, many years later and now a drummer (not a guitarist, but I still occasionally dabble with my guitars) I'm jamming with these people, and one of their practice amps is...A Crate G120C.
His was screwing up too, and when he used it at home, it would cut out and he'd have to hit it on the top too. I was wondering if it was the one I had tried to move away from, but that's 3,000 miles away on the other coast. I guess his amp was made on a Monday or a Friday too.
So, now that I got that out, let me say I couldn't depend on it, the backup the store gave me became my main amp (it sucked to, but that review is in another section) and the amp broke down many, many, many times--not due to neglect or lack of reular serviceing, 'cause it was brand-new. It came from the factory as a piece of shit.

Although Crate (at the time) offered a great warranty (3 years electronics, 5 years speakers) even that couldn't have saved this monstrosity. I never dealt with Crate, but the store I got it at was a Authorized Crate Dealer, so they did the repairs. The main reason I went with the amp was because of the warranty and the sound, but this amp was beyond repair. Service-wise, everyone was very good at the store, and I assume Crate is too. The problem was with the amp itself. So it gets a 7

I have been playing the guitar for 13 years and own a Hamer archtop and a 1992 Fender telecaster with a Fender Bronco practice amp, a Laney AOR Pro Tube 50 head and a Marshall 2x12 Combo. But as I stated before, I'm primarily a drummer, the guitars are jsut for shits and giggles.
If this thing was stolen or lost at the time I owned it, I'd hunt the guy down and but him a beer, 'cause he'd have saved me from more headaches.
I don't think there was a thing I loved about it (other than trading it in for a Marshll combo [even though that sucks too]) So I guess you could say I hated everything about it.
To compare it to other products, if a Peavy amp of the same wattage is a 3 (and they usually are), then this is a negative 6.
If you see a used one for sale, slowly back away and don't look directly at it.

i bought this amp about 2 years ago and its been great, i play mainly metallica/pantera sort of music and being a crate is suits that preety well.it has 2 channels clean and overdrive,an effects loop,headphone jack footswitchable overdrivce reverb and chorus.i use it mainly for band practises its plenty loud enough it has a huge sound. the shape dial is great

i am currently using a esp m-100 through this amp it sound absolutely WICKED.it has a great metal sound the clean channel is good at any volume.the chorus is also preety good.the distortion is sick i never really take it off distortion. this amp can also make a good blink 182 sorta sound. a tip when you are cranking it on overdrive STAND WELL BACK otherwise it will squeel like shit

to describe it perfectly this amp is a TANK. i would take it and use it anywhere nothing has every gone wrong with it.you could throw it off the empire state building go down and get it and it would work fine.but the thing ways a absolute sh#t load

never delt with them

overall this amp is really good value and really good performance.
ive been playing about 4 years this is the best amp ive ever had

I bought this amp slightly used about 10 years ago. It's 60 watt x 2 (stereo) with a clean and an overdrive channel & a clean channel. It also features a headphone jack, effect loop, and footswitch jack for channel switching, reverb, and chorus switching.

Since I purchased it, I've played many gigs with several bands.(Country, rock, & blues.) My guitars that I currently use through it are a Gibson Les Paul and an old '76 Gibson Marauder, but I've played a few others thru it (Fender Strat, a Tele, and a Westone Pantera) and this amp compliments them all perfectly. Even when playing some rather large outdoor gigs, I've never wanted for power, and it has a "big" sound that carries very well, and never sounds wimpy like some of the Peaveys & Ampegs that I have used. (Note that I said some, and not all... Peavey & Ampeg have some great amps too.) I especially like the shape control on the overdrive channel that lets me get pretty much any kind of overdriven sound that I would normally use. The clean channel is quite good as well, and remains clean at high volume. There is a little noise that sometimes occurs when playing a venue with fluorescent lights and using the chorus. (A weird "swishy" sound) Perhaps an AC filter would fix that. Other than that, the chorus is also good.

As far as reliability, this thing's a brick. After knocking around in trailers & trucks, and all the other hazards of steady gigging, it has never given me the slightest hint of trouble... (And I've had it for over 10 years.) The only thing I ever had to do to it was take the amp out of the case & clean the pots with spray cleaner when they became a bit crackly... Not bad for a decade of service.

On this amp, I've never had a reason to deal with SLM (the manufacturer of Crate) but, a friend of mine contacted them for service on an older Crate amp, with prompt service... (for what it's worth.)

If it were stolen or lost, I would either buy another G120C, or another Crate amp. Overall, this is the best amp I've ever owned. Not the most expensive, but the best in terms of reliability, ease of use, and sound quality. (The thing weighs a ton, though... Mine is soon to get a set of casters installed on the bottom.)