Crate GFX212

2001 model - features listed in most every review above so ill save the space - has what im lookin for in an amp, good product for the money. did wish there was a headphone jack tho, it is pretty loud and i dont like facing the consequences of waking up the rents.

I play a standard american strat with the stock 3 single coil pick ups. I play mainly heavier rock with a mix of classic rock, blues, and punk. There is a slight hiss on the clean channel but that may have more to do with the pick ups than the amp itself. I like the built in effects and the distortion screams. Ive never had it past 4 - never needed it that loud. Never gigged cuz i dont have a band yet. Nothin is perfect tho.......

Never had a problem

never dealt with Crate before, knock on wood wont have to

Ive been playing for a bit over a year but when most people hear me play they think ive been playing around 2 or 3. if it were stolen or lost and i would definetely buy another one. this amp is a tank. people have left some negative feedback but dont let peoples reviews steer you away. go to a guitar shop and try one. i liked it and for the price it was hard to beat. youre best bet is to not listen to peoples reviews and get out there and see what works for you.

I think this amp is great. I got it because I used to go to our drummer house and play but he moved so we practice in a studio. It's in my room and it provides all the power I need. Maybe its just me but the low end starts to die when you get past 4 ont eh 2nd dist channel. It has great clean and distorted tone, but the effects either dont work or I dont know how to use them. It's a great step up from my Fender Squier Champ15.

This amp has never broken down and Ive had it for about a year now. Im only 14 so ihavent gigged yet but If I did, I dont think that i would use it on its own because the speakers start to wig out when the distortion gets really loud. It always has great tone though.

It has a 5 year transferable warranty, but thats all I know

Ive been playing it the GFX 21 for about a year now. Its been able to do everything I need it to, but if it was stolenn I think Id opt for a crate cab because my band is getting pretty good and I think we'll start gigging soon. I play bands like Blink 18, Sum 41 and Metallica and for most stuff its sounds good but with the metallica solos, it doesnt have enough highs to it. It has the best distortion that Ive heard anywhere

120 watts, 3 channels and gfx effects.

This thing is loud as hell. Some reviews have been critical of the tone but I can get some good sounds out of this amp. I normally use a POD but I'm going straight into the amp more and more now. The Gain channels give a decent distortion, and the clean channel I think is increadable. I don't know what these other guys are complaining about. The effects are very lame however. Get some pedals. I have a Les Paul Custom and a 79 Strat and they sound good through this amp.

No problems, no backup.

2001 Play a lot of classic rock and metal, distortion is heavy so i like it for that. The effects arnt anyhting to party about, infast they suck majorly, but for the money its cool.

I currentyl use a Schecter Custom Shop, with a Semour Duncan Invader in the bridge and a Duncan Alnico in the neck. The disto is great, very bassy thick and heavy, but the clean just takes it in the butt. At low volumes its fine, but when you actually turn it up... i dotn even want to talk about it

Reliabilty?? is that a joke? When i got it 3 of my effects didnt work. Crate gave me a new on on the spot. But my effects button on the "3 Button Footswitch!!" broke......twice!

Yeh they just want your money so they kiss your butt

If you into loud disto. But it for how cheap it is. If you love a nice smooth clean....buy a Fender...Peace

I just wanna say that I wrote a previous review for this amp saying how wonderful it was, and now I've come to my senses. Realizing that this amp sucks, hard core. They give you three channels but it is'nt versatile, however many channels they give you it doesn't matter they would all suck. The clean sounds like the mold in the back of the fridge looks, ya know all fuzzy and stuff. The distortion is just too much, period. I don't know what they were going for with the distortion, I can only hope they didn't find it. The footswitch cable is so short it doesn't reach my microphone stand, so I have to turn around to switch channels. I have only used two of the effects, on the ESP channel.

3.5 Like I said, the clean is FUZZY and the distortion WAYYYYYYYY too much, it doesn't even sound like distortion, it sounds like crap, just pure crap, theres no other way to describe it, its just crap. Just so you know I'm using an Epiphone Les Paul Special II, and a Fender Twelve-string. Basically to sum this up, the sound, is crap.

This amp however is extremely dependable, it always sounds like crap, no matter what could go wrong, I have no fear, this amp will be here, and it, will be sounding, like crap. The Black "Tolex" (pressed particle board) shell seems to be sturdy enough, but the carrying handle is becoming loose, and screwing up the "Tolex"

Well I'm going to give a ten here because I just don't have the heart to call and explain my problems to these poor people, so I've never had to deal with them, YET.

Been playing two years, I said earlier basically everything I own, this terrible amp, Les Paul Special II, Fender Twelve-String, Fender Acoustic, some harmonicas, and part of a PA system with my band. I wish I had a new amp, cause this thing just sounds like crap, if someone stole it, I would let them have it, so I could watch it drive them insane with its crappiness.

I bought this amp about two or three years ago from Guitar Center. What clinched the deal for me was when the salesman cranked it all the way up and the tone didn't crap out like solid-state amp normally do. The built-in effects are okay at best, but nothing to write home about. The distortion .. well, it sorta sucks. Like another reviewer here I found that you are much better off setting the amp for a big, clean sound, disabling the built-in effects, then using a GT-3 for distortion and any other effects.

I usually play a Strat or my Yamaha thinline electric thru the amp. Or, at least I did until my son went off to college and decided to take the Crate with him. I suppose that says a lot for Crate, since he chose it over my Ampeg ReverbRocket and my Berhinger Blue Devil. I like a warm, jazzy, full sound. Which this amp didn't quite cut until I bought a Crate 4x12 speaker cabinet. OH, MAN! This amp is just okay by itself, but plug it into a 4x12 cabinet and use a GT-3 for effects and you end up with such a great sound. When money permits, I am thinking about getting another 4x12 cabinet and amp so I can go stereo.

So far, everything still works just like when it was new. It is one heavy amp to carry, however ...

I called Crate right after I bought the amp to get more information about what type of cabling I needed for the effects loop. There was a bit of confusion due to this being right after Crate and St. Louis Music became one company. Don't know if things have gotten better or worse since then.

Actually, I like Line 6's Vetta more than the Crate amp. But, the Vetta is something like 4 times the price of the GFX-212. So, if my Crate was stolen, I would probably end up buying another Crate.

made sometime in 99. onboard dsp effects or what have you. two channels clean/distortion. ext speaker jack. headphones jack. the effects are insanely digital and cruddy. i use this amp in a practice/rehearsal space. 100 watts of solid state.

i've tried this amp with everything. mosrite hollowbody with p90's. les paul. strat. ibanez rg-570. turned past 4 this amp does get loud. but also sounds like grinding a shovel head across cement. and i'm talking about the clean channel. the distortion channel takes away some of the harshness and flips you right into a strange concoction of mud and other filth. crates have a lot of bass. a little too much. i was flexing the cones right out of cabinet. i only played this as a backup after i blew my marshall valvestate.

i dont think i could depend on it. it feels like its been made out of particle board. the speakers sound like they might blow to bits at higher volume settings.

i've been playing around four years. i own a [blown] marshall valvestate 65r. ampeg v4 with v4 cabinet. various electro harmonix pedals, various danelectro pedals, boss dd-5 digital delay, proco vintage rat, 63 reissue fender reverb unit, mosrite celebrity hollowbody, fender texmex strat, ibanez rg-570.

a friend gave this crate to me to use as a backup until i got my ampeg v4. i'm very glad to give him his crate back. i do enjoy warmer older sounds, and all this new gear isnt really for me. but even using the ibanez in the crate, it sounded bad.

cheap, lots of power, if you're slamming power chords fully distorted, this amp might be for you although you should at least go for a cheap crate halfstack. the effects on here are barely useable.

I had too replace the speaker grill becuse It didn't let air go through it witch made it have a fart sound when I cranked it up.
And I had too put better speakers in it, the one's that come with it are junk.It sounds ok at low vol. very solid state sounding,and is very LOUD.Would be a good amp for a young kid too piss his parents of with.

The switch pedal dont work any more. cant turn effects on of off any more, I had the dam thing for a few months....I bought it new.

Didnt call yet

I have been playing for 15 years and this is the worst sounding amp I ever had.

In this price range, this is a pretty feature laden amp. It has three channels. One channel is clean; one is overdriven; and one is distorted. One severe problem in this operation is the tone control on channel three consists of a single knob that, at zero, boosts mids and compresses the sound and cuts lows and highs or, at 10, does the exact opposite (while still compressing the sound). Effects are useful, but not independently assignable as on the newer GFX212+'s. The footswitch is really useful.

The clean sound is not bad. It is without depth and texture, but if you put the mids at ten, the lows at 3, and the highs at 5-7, it is useful nonetheless. Channel two is nice and open sounding, and really this amp's best asset. It can go from a bluesy overdrive to a hard rock crunch quite well. Channel three gets compressed much too easily, and thus sounds small if you set the gain above 7 or 8. This is compounded by a single volume knob for channels 2 and 3, and the volume differiential is quite noticable if 3 is compressed. Overall, a nice amp for this price range. If I were to compare it to other solid states in that range, it would get an 8, but for $200 more you can get a carvin tube amp or a line 6. Smaller tube amps are also in this price range. Overall, though, for its size and price, you'll be hard pressed to beat it.

I've had mine for two years; although, I've recently stepped to a line 6 flextone II XL plus and a VHT Pitbull 50/st. I plan to keep this amp as a back up for these amps. It is extremely sturdy, and being solid state, almost carefree. I remember an over 20 year old Peavy Mace I had with a solid state preamp and a tube power amp section. The preamp never broke, but the power tubes (6l6's I believe) always gave me problems. What solid state doesn't have in sound quality, it has in duribility.

I never dealt with them, but the warrenty seems extensive.

This, or the GFX65, is a great amp to cut your teeth on. You can get it new for about $350 now, or used for $250; you can be heard in a band setting; and you can sound good thanks too the two 12's. I wish crate offered the 65 watt version in a 2x12 version for beginners as it is more than enough power and probably a little more reasonable.

Having 2 separate distortions is a good idea. You can go from a mellow, bluesy sound to a screaming, ear-bleeding distortion. The pedal is great- you can switch between the two distortions, or between clean and distortion, and you can turn the effects on/off. It even has holes on the bottom where you can put some castors.

I use a frankenstein guitar- it has an older Fender body with an Ibanez neck, and lots of aftermarket parts. This amp sounds great for the purposes I use it for. I don't play any shows, just jamming with my friends. But I have 2 problems. First, I get some background hiss, which gets louder as you turn the volume up. That might be my guitar, though. I'm really not sure where it's coming from. When I use a noise gate, some of the hiss is gone, but a big chunk of it is still there. Second, when you use the built-in effects, you can hear some pretty massive background hiss. If you set the level of the effect on 3 or less, the hiss isn't very noticable, but if you turn it up above 3, it gets bad. I really don't use the effects that much, I just use the reverb occasionally for a slow, moody solo. So, for how often I use the built-in effects, I can live with it, but if you want to use them a lot, you'd better try it out in a store first to see if you can deal with that much noise. Most of the time, I use one or two of my pedals instead of the on-board effects. I didn't buy this amp for the effects. I bought it because it has enough balls to hold its own in a jam session.

It hasn't broken yet. I've only had it for about 5 or 6 months, so it's hard to say if it's reliable or not.

Never had to deal with them.

I've been playing for 2 or 3 years, so I haven't really tried out that many amps yet. It works for my purposes, and I'm pretty happy with it. It has more than enough volume for me. I'm not sure if it would have enough to do shows, though. My only gripe is the noise from the on-board effects. But if you play loud, you don't hear it:)