Crate GFX212

These reviews make me cry. I cannot BELEIVE sooo many people would bash this amp. I am going on 10 years with this amp, and let me tell you my honest opinion on everything.

This amp has 3 channels: 1 clean, 1 mild distortion, 1 heavy distortion. It is 120 watts. It comes with slap-back echo, normal echo (VERY good echo), chorus, flange, and reverb. It is very easy to use, with a footswitch too.

I play modern rock, alternative rock, metal, death metal, technical metal, progressive metal/rock, pop/mainstream rock, and blues.

***This amp has the best distortion I have ever heard.***
***This amp can do it all.***

Distortion 2, the one that everyone is bashing, is by far the best distortion I will ever find, and I have looked long and hard. Of course everything is subjective and this totally depends on what kind of music you like. Let me explain.

I mainly listen to and play modern rock and metal. I don't listen to or play much classic rock. But, even if I did, Distortion 1 would suit perfectly. Its a crisper, lighter distortion that I use all the time as well, and sounds perfect for classic rock or blues. But for modern rock and metal, for example: 311, Incubus, Deftones, Staind, Paramore, Lamb of God, you know, Im talking 90s and above. Then this amp is perfect for you. And the Distortion 2, although it is thick, you can have whatever setting you want. If you want it to be super thick and get the BEST pinch harmonics for metal or have a good clean shred, distortion 2 is perfect, and clean. It is NOT muddy, or dirty. I play guitar every day for at least 1-2 hours a day, and I have NEVER gotten sick of how it sounds, nor am I interested in any other kind of distortion. Its 100% perfect in my honest opinion.

The clean is great, there are no complaints. The effects are great, mainly the chorus, and the delay. The delay is actually spectacular sounding, even with distortion, I use it for solos all the time. Reverb is great too.

Okay this is where its a little iffy. Ive had it repaired 3 times, and each time it gets more expensive. Ive had electronic problems and speaker problems. But you know what, its totally worth the hassle for the distortion I get out of it (Distortion 2.)

Meh. Theyre not the greatest. 2 Year warrenty isnt much.

BEST AMP EVER, BEST DISTORTION EVER (for modern rock players) IF YOU LIKE METAL, YOU MUST HAVE THIS AMP!!!!!

The digital effects circuit is passable, but lack of a footswitch control for it means you'll probably never use the onboard effects at a gig. Otherwise this amp has the features you'd expect with no glaring omissions but nothing that impresses you either. It makes for a decent practice amp, but tends to cut out abruptly when the volume drops below about 1.5, which is about the level of a somewhat loud conversation.

The clean channel is pretty respectable (doesn't amost every amp review say that?), but as others have noted since the amp is solid state it would break up to give you a nice, subtle grind as volume increases. On the bright side I found the clean channel takes some pedals well, in particular an MXR Distortion+ with an Ibanez destroyer loaded with Seymour Duncan PAFs. The first gain channel is passable, but I almost never used it since I got 99% of what I needed from the clean channel with pedals. Forget the second gain channel, it's just mush.

Never had a lick of trouble, but I never abused it either.

Never had to deal with Crate.

This is a farewell review, since I just replace the amp with a Marshall combo the other day. If you can find one of these for about $150 USD or less, it could make a decent practice amp, but in the few sessions I used it I had trouble competing with the other guitarist in terms of lead tone. OK, ok, and talent too. For a while I thought about replacing the speakers with Celestions, but didn't like the idea of spending $200 on speakers for an amp that probably would sell for less than that on craigslist. My overall rating would be higher if the amp had at least one good gain channel.

I bought this amp new around 1998. 3 channels plus fx with 120 watts seems like a real good deal to a budding guitarist. However, for a mature player it falls a little short of great.

No switch for the onboard effects limits their usefulness. You can't overdrive the clean channel as well as a tube amp, so no "edge of breakup" sounds are available. Dirty channels have somewhat limited EQ and gain range. Super-clean and super-dirty are easily done, but it's really hard to get a good "clean-ish" tone with this amp, and the second distortion channel is mushy and useless in a live band setting.

No controls of any sort on the effects insert means that you can NOT use it with certain effects, particularly those with hot outputs. Unbearable hum may result. I had to return 2 effects because they wouldn't work with the amp.

Speakers/cab sounds pretty good, and the open back disperses sound well in small to medium rooms. Decent bass and clarity, but somewhat lacking in midrange response, and as with most open-back cabs, it sounds much smaller outdoors or in large spaces.

I give it a 6 here because while it may impress new guitarists, it's only real virtue for experienced players is as a clean power amp.

Good variety of sounds but the sounds are only okay, not good. I use it with a Gibson Blueshawk with P-90s and a Washburn Idol series with 2 coil-tapped humbuckers. Both have mahogany necks, mahogany bodies, and maple tops. The clean channel is fine, the first overdrive is usable, but the second overdrive is very brutal-but not in a good way. Kills dynamics and masks the tone of your particular guitar. Mid cut "scoop" knob makes it unintelligible past halfway.

Effects sound okay, but with only an effects level knob, you're limited to their presets.

Some noise, not unbearable, except in 2nd overdrive channel.

This is why I wrote a review. I had the exact same problems as another reviewer. No problems for about a year or so, then intermittent channel switching/cutting out and finally no power. First culprit was the jack on the footswitch. I took it apart and the jack they used is a cheapo switched stereo jack (Marshall-style). Second problem was the 2nd footswitch (for selecting which overdrive) which broke internally, leaving it always on.

I had the same thing happen where the amp would switch channels without my help, and be fixed by whacking it a couple times. My guess is that the switching jack on the amp side is to blame.

I actually had it start crapping out during a performance, so I bought a Crate Powerblock as a replacement. I unbolted the amp from the cab and let it sit for a couple years, and have used the cab with the Powerblock in the meantime. Strangely, like the other reviewer, when I fired it up again recently it seems to work fine. The footswitch is still crap, but the amp is not behaving weirdly anymore.

Never called them.

The amp is currently in 2 pieces. I like the cab, so I used some scrap wood to convert it to semi-closed back, cover the hole in the front from when I removed the amp, and fabricated a speaker jack plate from scrap metal. Finally, I rewired the speakers (in series) for 16 ohm operation so it's safe for the Powerblock.

I have some background in electronics so my plans for the amp itself are to wire up an effects on/off switch, install a speaker out jack and build a frame for it for use as a head unit. If I'm really cool I'll even take pics and put the whole process online for the DIY community. (Search for Earth Tones Audio... maybe I'll get around to it)

If you take it apart (ONLY if you know what you're doing and won't electrocute yourself), you can adjust a trimpot that affects the sound of the first overdrive channel somewhat. It's very subtle, but you can change it to your liking (just mark where it was set by the factory in case you want to revert to stock).

I will add shielding, since there is no shielding other than the chassis on the bottom.

Overall I give it a 6 because I ended up with a very useful speaker cab and an amp for experimenting with. Some assembly required.

Solid State. The amp gets great tone with both gain channels up and the shape on 10. It has good power, I usually practice with it on about 2, but it seems that past 5 the volume doesn't jump as much between numbers like it did 1-5. It has an insert jack for effects and a jack for an external cabinet. The only problem i have with the effects is that with the effects on 10 it still doesn't seem to come through as much as I would want it too. The effects, are good, though. I use the flange and chorus often.

Right now I'm using 2 guitars on it, one is an Ibanez RG-370dx, my main guiatr, and a B.C. Rich Bronze Warlock, which i only use for Drop D. Both have humbucking pickups, and suprisingly even the warlock sounds good. I get great pinch harmonics. The distortion is great too.

Yes its pretty reliable, but it seems to lose power, as in volume, as it ages. Never broken down.

N/A

if it was stolen I probably wouldn't get it again just considering it's old design so really you can only get them used now. I would definitely ghet another crate though, I've palyed 3 crates and 1 fender now and the Crates' dominated. Onw thing i wish it had was a Wah setting in the on boards effects.

120 SolidState watts, 2x12" custom design crate speakers.

3 channels, 2 dirt, the first one is a simple dirt channel. the second one of them actually has a shape control, and is actually the useful one. The third channel is a clean channel.

This has onboard digital effects. 'verb, delay, chorus and flange. Not really tweakable. Insert effects loop, footswitch capability.

I bought this because I moved, needed a temporary amp to play, and it was powerful and inexpensive. I got this because some people said it can do a GREAT 1978 brown sound. It's kinda there, but really lacks the punch and complex upper harmonics that a real valve amp possesses. This is more like a cheap fuzz box is stuck in the front end. The contour does suck out the mids, but also your tone with it.
I tried playing with it both loud and low, and it just sounds fake and fizzy, even with the dirt 2 channel engaged with its gain around 2, and the shape knob a little more than half. I've waggled all the knobs all over the place one at a time trying to find if this thing has a sweet spot. Nada.
The onboard effects are useless. The reverb is passable, but once you turn up the effects mix past halfway, the thing starts hissing at you like crazy.

What I did is use this as a slave for my podxt bean. I take a patchcord from the one of the pod's outs to the insert jack on the crate, bypassing its preamp and using my podxt as the preamp. Ahhhhh. Much much better tone. The amp is now being used as a poweramp and speakercab only and does that job exceptionally well. Oh yeah, I set the bean to use the "studio direct" mode.

Now the drummer I've been playing with has got a tweaked kit and plays REALLY forcefully, so he's LOUD. I've got the pod's output volume a wee past halfway and it's nice tight LOUD tone with oodles of bass response. It really sounds like I've got a tight tubestack there. But then with a push of the button on my shortboard, I've got a shimmering vox ac30 or a firebreathing treadplate. It's a pretty linear response cabinet, with a little bit of hyped bottom end, and it doesn't bottom out at all. It's nice that it's an open back combo as well, so the sound disperses in front and in back of the amp. The benefit that it's no where near as directional as a sealed back cabinet, but really doesn't lose much of the lowerend. I have noticed that I've had to add a bit of high end to my patches to compensate for the lack of a tweater or highend driver in the cab. No matter, the end result is smooth and powerful.

I'm giving a rating of 1 for the stock crate sound. It's a pretty damned sad sound. The stock effects are USELESS, and put to shame by the onboard reverbs and delays on the podxt.
Now if you're smart own a good amp modeler, and want something with the flexibility of a VettaII without the pricetag, then this will help you along. It's by no means a true substitute for a 100 watt plexi, soak, and tapeecho, but it's plenty more flexible and portable and less expensive. For this, the Crate is a STEAL. I'll give this a 7.5

It's many years old, looks like it lived a hardlife by the time I got it, and hasn't crapped out on me yet. No tubes to get rattled or broken either! A great gigging machine on the cheap.

dunno

I've heard better, but then that stuff costs thousands more instead of under five hundred for a pod and crate cfx212.
When augmented with the bean, this a poorman's vetta. Never gonna whoop a 50W 2xEL34 tube amp for tone,volume and dynamics, but it's still great for gigging, heck, even recording.

Do NOT be duped into thinking that this does a good EVH brownsound on its own. It's a fizzy,hissy garbage can without some modern improvements.

Made around 2001 I believe. I loved playing on this amp back in the days of visiting Mars Music on a daily basis, and years later finally bought it. What made me buy this amp was how well it could do early Van Halen stuff, and its a 2x12 solid state! This amp has 3 channels: Clean, OD1, and OD2(a little heavier than OD1). Channel switching through all 3, has CD insert and cab out jacks. 120W of solid state power. With the volume on TWO it is very loud. As far as being versatile, it's fair at best. It does SRV and VH wonderfully for solid state; for any other style you may need to rack up some effects, noise gates, EQ's, and choruses to get this where you want. As said earlier, for VH or SRV type stuff, just plug in with no EQ or boost and you're there.

I'm critiquing this amp only for a VH "Brown Sound" style. The guitar I use is an OLP MM1FR (Floyd Rose) with stock pickups for now. This amp covers the style I want exactly. For the money, you really can't beat it. Not really noisy at all, which is good because my Behringer Vampire is nothing but noise and hiss. Distortion is brutal when dimed. But that's just it; it's distortion. Not clean and crisp like overdrive is. At lower gains it is a nice and somewhat warm overdrive. The Flexwave 5 preamp sounds killer. For the tone and style I'm after, I give it a 10.

Solid as a rock as far as I can judge. Well constructed 2x12 combo. No crappy spring reverb tank to bang around since all the effects are digital, so all you have to worry about is frying some circuits if you submerge the amp in liquids.

N/A

Been playing for about 9 years now. I own several guitars and 2 other amps (all solid state). Would definately buy another if it were lost or stolen, no question. Compared to my Behringer 120W 1x12 combo; its kind of like apples to oranges. The Behringer is built to do any and every style via digital modeling. Digital circuitry (for now) lacks warmth and clarity that analog circuitry provides. For a Van Halen modeling standpoint, the Crate wins hands down

What this amp lacks, however, is multi effects mixing. Phaser effect would be usefull, and it would be nice to combine the delay and reverb. Also, a tap function for delay, but then again, the newer model Crates have all these features. Again, best bang for the buck for early Van Halen stuff IMO.

No idea what year was made it in, but the "versatility" was one of the more appealing aspects about it. Sadly, Crate lies. They may call them other things, but here are the channels you get: awful sounding distortion, louder, more hideously awful sounding distortion and a clean channel. I play heavy metal, mostly, though there is plenty of punk and blues in there also and I knew going in that the onboard distortion was unsuitable for anything beyond getting pissed at the amp and tossing it down several flights of stairs. I will get into why I bought it later, but the amp I have does not have the attached footswitch, most likely because it is broken because they break rather easily (think shredded wheat breakfast squares). The clean channel with the onboard effects sounds decent, though the XT is actually a bit better. The effects and EQ take a great deal of time to tweak to get them to work together in a good-sounding manner. That clean channel is the only one I use and the entire reason I bought the amp. It is not lush enough to my taste, but if I get more time, I can probably dick with it enough to get there. The flanger may as well not be there at all, along with the two distortion channels. I can't believe anyone seriously thought those sounded good. At all. The Chorus is no competition for the battery-munching DOD Ice Box that I normally use, so that is also not very suitable. Chorus+Reverb does put a nice dimension on it, though it is hard to find a good balance using both at once. Reverb is very decent. The amp is loud enough for what I desire, however, which was part of my consideration when buying it. I will get to that later.

I use a stock Ibanez RG470XL through this, which I reviewed once but which I don't see any longer. No matter, as far as stock sounds go, this sounds decent on the clean channel with the aforementioned chorus+reverb setting. It makes zero noise. It is unbelievably clean when not playing, actually. I think you probably could play around with this and get more sounds if you had more patience than I, but I rapidly lost interest in trying. The clean channel was about as loud as I needed it at 5. I didn't check to see it distort, but Crates are usually decent on clean up at the higher levels. The distortion is a joke. In fact, this is almost two completely different amplifiers, a boomy, good-sounding one on the clean setting and a cheap, hackish pile of horsehit on the distortion side.

This is the main reason I bought it. Crates are, along with the Peavey solid state amps, workhorses beyond compare. I grow weary of electronics techs that do shoddy work on my Fender Roc Pro 1000 and while that is and will continue to be my main amp, I needed a reliable backup and you can't get any more reliable than these things. I basically bought 120 watts of power for $200, but I also bought the knowledge it would never fail, even if the Roc Pro did (and sometimes does if it gets too hot. Apparently, once I had a problem with it, now I can expect recurring ones, at least given the techs involved). As a working musician, I cannot tolerate failure of my equipment, ever. This one will be my crutch when I need it and I know it won't fail me.

I have never had to deal with Crate, but again, their warranties are the best in the business. I don't anticipate any difficulties here.

It was relatively painless to get an acceptable clean sound dialed in on this machine, about 30 minutes, which, considering how fussy I am, is somewhat of an achievement. The "dirty" sound I am still working on, however, partly due to refusal to do things the right way, it has taken me 3X as long and counting. This amp is both bigger and heavier than the Roc Pro and does a very good job of kicking out low tones you can feel, which will no doubt drive my bassist to drink. I have been playing on and off for 15+ years. My main amp, as noted above, is the Fender Roc Pro 1000 and will always be that amp, mainly because I have yet to ever hear anything sound better. If it was stolen, I would probably look for another one, but actually, probably any loud, dependable, solid-state amp would suit my purposes. As I said, this is to be my crutch if ever I need one, along with the Boss Metal Zone pedal I bought for the distortion simply because it won't fail me. As for comparison, I didn't bother. I saw this one at Guitar Center and bought it, partially because of onboard effects, which would enable me to keep the simple setup I insist upon, partially because of price, but mainly because I know I can count on it to do what it does, inherent limitations and all. It is what it is.

I don't know what year this amp was made. I can play any style of music with this amp. This amp has 2 channel, your choice between to overdrives and one clean channel. It has delay,flange, chorus, chorus and reverb and reverb. I use this amp for practicing alone but I'm sure it would sound great in a band situation. This amp has plenty of power.

I use two Gibson Les Paul customs and one Gibson Les Paul standard. I mainly play classic rock and heavey metal. The amp sounds really good if you tweak it just right. The amp has all the distortion you will ever need. The distortion is really good for a solid state amp. This amp is really great for what it is a solid state 2x12 open back combo.

I feel the amp is very reliableand would gig without a back up.

I have been playing for 17 years. I just own my 3 Gibson Les pauls, a fender 4x12 cab with celestion vintage 30's and this Crate GFX-212. I sold all of my other gear since I do not play out anymore

I got this amp bout 5 years ago new, its versitle for a practice amp its 120 watts rms what also translates to bout 95-100 watts i would not play a show with it, the first 3 years had no problems but then the crappy channel swith pedal broke that it came with but anyway.

im using a fender mexican strat with custom shop fat 50's single coil pickups and a shecter s1 Ok first off this amp is good for practice by yourself or for band practice and mybe a small gig like at a small party at one of your friends house or somthing, like many people before have said this amp sounds good until you get past 4 or 5 but after that forget the tone its just loud, the clean is alright i guess the distortion gets staticy and the feed back around 7 is damn near unbareable even when standing away from it, the effects r ok for a practice amp. I did put some celestion modern lead 70's in it and definitly improved sound by at least 50% the speakers it comes with r pure shit they fart really bad especially if u like to palm mute alot i play taking back sunday, saves the day, that type of music its good for, but of coarse only on lower volumes oh and the front grill is definitly to tight thats prolly alot of the farting problem right there but im gonna purchase a bv 120 or marshall dsl or mybe a bv 150 idk still undecided gotta see how my paychecks r coming in

the footswitch pedal HELL NO thats a piece the amp itself its reliable for bout 4-5 years ive had some problems recently with it cutting completely off then switching over to the clean channel without me touching anything idk some wierd shit

never had to deal with crate

ive been playing for bout 7 years and this amp was good for bout the first 4 years until i started actually playing bout anything u could throw at me solo's, rythem i play both from the free bird solo to weezer. like i said this amp is good if your just getting started or have been wanting to get a bigger amp than that 30 watt practice amp youve been playin the first year or two of your playing career but go ahead and save up your money and get a bv 120 or a used marshall if u want a amp to gig with

You should know the features

I use an Ibanez RG going though a Tech 21 Tri Amp AC and it sounds beautiful! I play heavey metal with a very loud drummer and have no problem being heard. I liked the gain on the amp when I bought it but I have matured since then and think it's good for practice, Thats it. With the Tech 21 I can get any sound I want.

Hasn't broke yet and I've had it for 4 years but the footswitch stoped working last month but I never used it.

Have a 5 year warrenty just incase.

With a good distortion pedal this amp kicks it. The only way you can't get a good sound out of it is if you don't know what the fuck your doing. I don't know why people complain about feedback. It's going to happen! Even Zakk Wylde has to turn down his guitar between beats so he doesn't feedback.

Ok... This is a GFX 212 (the first version... without the "T")
Solid State with built in effects: delay, flanger, chorus, reverb, and chorus+reverb. The delay is good (the one I use the most), flanger, like everyone else said, sucks... but then most flangers do.
The chorus and reverb and chorus+reverb are all decent. I can't say that I use much other than the delay but they are all pretty good (with the exception of the flanger, but then I dont like flanger at all)
The selection knob for all these effects is a bit of a pain... it doesn't "click into place", you just have to set it to the right spot. For example... the delay I use is the long delay, and the other delays are really short, to get the long delay you have to get right at the end of the "Delay effect" and slightly before the "Flanger", so it gets a little annoying but not horrible.
It comes with a footswitch that everybody says is super cheap, but I think the people saying that are just abusive to their equiptment. I'm not the most gentle person in the world, especially when it comes to stomping on foot switches or effects pedals, and I've been stomping on this one footswitch for about 4 years now and it doesn't have a crack on it. Yeah it's plastic, but it's not wimpy plastic. It's a footswitch... you don't throw it against walls or anything. You step on the button, Which takes nothing more than the wieght of you foot, and the effect comes on. I think it works great. It's actually the part of the amp that hasn't given me any trouble.
Somebody said it had an effects loop, which I think is misleading. It has an "Insert" jack. If you want to use that as an effects loop ("loop" being the key word) you have to go buy a 1/4" Y-adaptor. Personally I don't use the insert jack. I just plug my stomp boxes in line with the guitar and input jack.
I really wish this amp had a Line Out jack, because in order to get it to go through a PA system you have to mic it.

I own a Fender Strat with 2 single's and a humbucker pickup in it. I play mostly classic rock (Hendrix, Zeppelin, The Doors, Pink Floyd, etc.) and the distortion is awesome for that style of music. I can see why people complain about the distortion when trying to play Heavy Metal. Too much distortion ALWAYS sounds crappy. I think it's safe to say you can get too much distortion from this amp (which is good because it gives lots of ranges to choose from). It's got Gain 1, which is good overdrive, and Gain 2, which is good decently heavy distortion. It's also got that Shape knob that everybody seems to dislike. I typically don't turn the shape knob up too far past half way; I never turn it up all the way. It's an amp you have to play with a lot to find what you want, but once you figure out what you like and how to get that sound, which you most likely can get out of this amp, it works great. I have no problem with the feedback; An amp with lots of distortion at high volumes is going to feedback. MOVE AWAY FROM THE AMP. Try learning how to control the feedback. It's really cool, once you get control of it. This amp doesn't feedback worse than any other amp I've ever played through.
I can't say that I've had any problems with the clean channel distorting at high volumes or anything like that. It's not the best clean channel, but then it is a solid state amp. I prefer tube amps, but they cost twice as much and I am poor.
I usually play pretty loud, and this amp is LOUD! When I first played on the amp I was turning it up to about 7 or 8 while jamming in a little tiny garage. It wasn't mine then, one of the guys in the band I was in owned it, but then the band broke up and he sold it to me. I don't think I needed it that loud, but it still sounded good at that volume. I typically don't turn it up past 6 anymore. Trust me, its a loud amp. And it sounds good loud, if you now what you're doing.
So all around the sound of this amp is pretty vesitile and pretty good.

Ok... Now comes my problem with the amp. I have taken this amp across the country at least 3 or 4 times and taken it about everywhere I've gone in the last 4 years. It did fine for the first couple of years and strangely enough is seemingly doing fine now. It started cutting out on me for no apparent reason. When it first started doing it to me, I was living in an apartment complex, so I guess I just assumed the power was just kind of crappy or something. Obviously I was wrong. It started getting worse. I would be playing and it would switch to the Distorted channel and not do anything. I could hit it on the top and it would "snap out of it" so to speak. For a long time it would only cut out once, I would hit it, and it would work fine. But, then I moved across country and it got progressivly worse. I bought the amp used from my old band member so I had no warranty or anything on it, that and I am poor, like I said, so I just basically was going to use it until I could use it anymore. Well, it got that bad. It would cut out every other minute and hitting it on top didn't always bring it back anymore. So I stopped using it. I moved again, Temporarily, and left it at my old place in storage. Then I moved back and just recently took it apart to have a look inside. (Yeah, I know, leave it to the pro's, well, I'm cheap!) Anyway, nothing seemed visibly wrong, and the cutting out was definately not a problem with the speakers. So I just kind of looked at it, and checked for loose conections and what not, but didn't find anything wrong. So I figured I plug it in and try it out, just to see if it would miraculously start working. And it did! It just kind of clicked on and started working. So I put it all back together and started jamming to see if it would do the whole cutting out thing again. I haven't had a problem with it since. Now, that wasn't too long ago (month or two), so we'll just have to see if it starts doing it again.
So, in general, the amp was ok for the first two years, then it progressively got crappy, now it works again. I can't explain it, but given my situation, I would buy a new amp in a heartbeat if I wasn't poor. Imagine playing a gig and the amp cuts out and your in the middle of a song. That's not what I would call a reliable amp. I'm good to my equiptment too. It's not like I just toss the thing around. It did give me a good 2 years of problem free playing though, so I guess you'd be paying for at least two years, but after that who knows?

No idea.

Been playing for something like 8 or 9 years... starting to lose track it's been so long. I own a bunch of random stuff, an Ibanez GIO guitar, My Strat, A bunch of effect pedals, a few rack mount effects, a couple of acoustic guitars, a keyboard, a bass guitar, PA system... No other amps. I used to own a Fender M-80 half stack, which was an amazing amp. I wish I still had that beast. Better solid state amp than the GFX-212. Maybe a little less versitile but more reliable. If this amp got stolen... I don't think I'd really freak out or anything. I'd try to get it back, but I would not buy Another one. Especially for the price some of these people paid. If I had money I buy a Fender Twin all-tube amp. Those amps rule!
I don't like the fact that I'm not sure whether or not I should trust the amp, especially when playing a gig. I think it has awesome "Classic rock" sounding distortion. Hendrix and Zeppelin sounding distortion. That's if you don't crank the distortion levels up too much. It sounds fine at very high volumes. It's loud enough to play gigs in bars or someplace other than an arena. The tone really isn't that bad for a solid state amp. I was suprized. The effects are o.k. I wouldn't say the rule, and I wouldn't say they suck. I basically just got lucky and had this amp offered to me for whatever I would pay for it, by an ex-band member who needed money. So, considering the hell I put it through before I owned it, and adding the hell I put it through after I bought it, I think I got a really good deal. I can't say that I would pay $400.00 for it. But, brand new, that would be a horrible deal. With $400.00 you're almost half way to a really nice tube amp. Crate's got really good bass amps out there, but I think I'd prefer something else for a guitar amp. Overall, not a bad amp.

Like the on board effects,can hook up at home without a board full of pedals and get good effects.

Use A 79 Les Paul Kalamazoo Standard and a 78 The Paul and both sound great through it. Has good distortion for rock or metal or can get pretty good clean tones too. have good control on distortion with 2 gain controls

never failed yet. I use it at home I have not Giged it but im sure it would keep up fine in small club or hall. has been great so far

never had to use it

have had for 3-4 years and is still going like the first day i bought it at music 123 sounds great, as i said i use it at home but is plenty loud 2x12 120 watts sounds great with a gibson and also with my strat, my opinion is good buy

The only complaint I might have, is it would be nice to have a bit more control on the individual effects, but for the most part, they have been good enough not to have to lug a ton of pedals around to gigs.

I play a Fender "Super Strat" and some "Frankenstein" back-up guitar made from different parts of God knows what (with Seymore Duncans). I play in a blues band, so I have never really cranked up the distortion channels to "mind melter", but it does a good enough job to toss a "Stevie Ray" tune in there once in a while. I pretty much use the reverb and delay only,and they work nicely. If you are into a lot of the other effects, I might recommend a good pedal....the on-board flange and such are a tad cheesey.This amp has plenty of power,( I would reccommend an amp stand for gigs) and for the money, it sounds pretty damn good.

More like 10-plus. I have gigged with this amp for two years, (through rain and snow, and all that "Postal" crap) and it fires up every time.

I have never dealt with them personally, but have heard good things from friend who have.

This amp may not be everyone's cup of tea, and I bought it mostly because I needed an amp in a hurry on the cheap, but it has been a very pleasant surprise indded.

Rugged U.S. made solid state Crate combo 2x12, 115 watt amp. Bought new in 2000.
Has overdrive and clean with separate level controls, and DSP features (slapback, delay, flange, chorus, reverb). Comes with a 3-button footswitch.
The main thing I hate is the fact that you need a special "Y" cord to patch external effects into the amp, or you can use a regular cable, but will be in mono.

This is a very loud amp. I usually keep it at 3. I play rock, classic rock music with it.
You need to stay at least 3-4 feet away from the amp or feedback will occur.
It is not forgiving when you play. Won't hide any sounds. So make sure you practice what you play.
The built-in effects are not bad. An effects box is best, though.
Adding too is the sensitivity of the amp to external effects.
You need to work with the amp make sure it compliments the effects. I had difficulty when I used a Boss ME-30 with it.
I plugged in my A/E Takamine EG-334RC in it, but it doesn't do the acoustic guitar justice. I need an acoustic amp for this. This is strictly an electric guitar amp.

A very rugged and reliable amp.
No problems in this area.
Covered with a durable Tolex material.

I called Tech Support to ask about pricing me some casters.
I had bought some after-market casters. However, they didn't do the job. The caster wheels were too small and the amp would tilt very easily.
Willing to assist me in my request.

I've been playing for 8 yrs. I have an Epiphone Les Paul, Jackson Stealth, Fender Strat, Takamine acoustic, and a Jasmine spanish guitar.
I have a Boss ME-30, Rockman X-100, and a Roland GR-1, which is connected to the Strat (I didn't want to do it at first, either).
Would I buy another one? Maybe, if it was a tube amp, however, they run over $800. I did try out other amps (Line 6, Fender, Peavy), but I could only spend about $400. If money was no issue I would test as many tube amp combos and see which one has the best sound and features.

This amp has a lot of features - dsp switching, chorus, reverb, delay, etc. Delay is a bit unreliable- I've had this happen to me before- you have to adjust it because sometimes it just sounds "metallic" and doesnt work. Otherwise the pedal that comes with the thing sucks- it breaks easy - and here is my WARNING - DO NOT USE PEDALS IN THE INPUT SECTION. This fried my amp at least two of those times. I think there is a seperate fx input- I shouldve used that- too little too late - I shouldve read up on it more- but it still shouldve done ok. My Marshall Avt20 can take THREE pedals and still not short out like this POS Crate garbage did.

At low volumes- this amp is OK. In fact, as a practice amp- its pretty good. However, the speakers are so damn cheap - they rattle and clip horribly when past 4 or 5 on volume. I used it with various Jackson models including a King V (used) and another dxsomething rather model (the better of the two) - and made the mistake of practicing with my former band using this amp. The main problem - was that using the shape knob- it gets too thin - at low volumes it sounds good- but then past 4 it breaks up and distorts- and feedbacks to all hell. This band in question had me turn up the mids- and the shape down- to fit their already shitty pa - lets just say it sounded like if you took a dump on a guitar and tried to play it- pure mud- pure shit- bad tone. But then again part of it was my guitar as well..the King V needs some work to say the least. But the damn Crate amp has a very sharp cutting edge that hurts ones ears instead of pleases them. Part of it was my band's PA- part of it the amp's fault.

WHAT RELIABILITY? I had to get this fucker fixed FOUR times before I traded it up for a Peavey Butcher 120 watt. I hope this is an ok Tube amp- to at least start with.

I have no idea. I didn't want to bother with the company out of sheer frustration this amp had given me.

I'm glad I'm trying to get into tube amps now. It took years for me to get off my ass and do something about my amp. I was egotistical about my situation and didn't want to listen to the constant complaining. I was in denial because I will never trust the Crate (at least solid state) series EVER again. I think overall, its an ok amp to have at home- maybe even to record, but somehow- my Marshall that has about 100 less watts and is Valvestate sounds WAY better on tape that this sucker. Don't make the mistake I did.

you know the features. I think the three channels are great - the second distortion channel gives you the ability to change the tone you are getting while maintaining a solid distortion without having to go and adjust it on the amp. The effects are pretty good - except the Flange (it's a bad flange) but I don't use em much unless I'm just messing around

I use a Epiphone Les Paul with and Invader. I play old school punk rock - and this amp has worked out great. It is a little noisy - gets feedback pretty damn easy. But this amp has balls if you learn how to use it right (turning the shape up scoops your mids - and when that happens your tone sounds like pure mud). But when used correctly both distortion channels are excellent - I wish they had different volume controls, the light distortion channel is real midrangy which makes it a little louder. The clean channel is alright - not great, but it work for what I use it for. It sounds like the clean you would expect from a solid state amp. If you mess around with the eq on the clean it helps a lot. The amp has plenty of power, I have been consistantly playing gigs with it for 3 years - I now run it through a 4X12 extension cab and even without the cab it is good and loud. Overall I think that it a real solid good sounding amp, and if you sit down and figure it all out, it can be made to sound like what you want it to.

I have dropped it down my stairs, it has fallen off of things multiple times - I have kicked it when I was mad.... I have jumped off it - I have cranked it many times.... and I have been traveling with it and playing gigs with it for 3+ years. The only problem I ever had was some loose wires - took about 20 minutes to fix. Oh yeah but the pedal that crate gives you with it is shit - I think they all break. I had heard crates fall apart - but i think thats bull - because I have abused this amp and it work beautifully still.

don't know

Only thing that isn't perfect about this amp is that it isn't tube. So if you aren't ready for/don't want/can't afford a tube amp. This amp is most likely the best choice I think you can ever make. It is a good loud combo that does not need an extension cab necessarily - but if you stick one on it it is even better.

I have owned this amp for a little over 2 years now. The one nice thing about this amp is how versatile of a sound you could get. 3 channels, gain 1, gain 2 and clean. The little shape knob that takes out the mids in gain 2 is very fun to play with and gives you some extra options.

I've played many guitars through this amp from my cheap craptastic Ibanez GRX20 to my band mates les paul. The amp always sounds awesome...until you turn the volume up past 1. Once you try and use any of the 150 watts that this amp has your clean channel starts rumbling and sounding distorted, your gain 1 starts to sound crackly and your gain 2 will loose that nice heavy I want to kill your mom sound. Once the volume is up at all this amp just plain old sucks. I have heard very few amps that are worse...

I bought this amp back in January 2001. In March of that year a speaker in it broke and I had to get it replaced. Later on down the line after a few shows the foot pedal broke and I had to get that replaced. A few months after that some wire came loose in it and we had to go in with the soddering gun. Then after about 7 months with the amp working fine on friday I turned it on and it started smoking and didn't work. Totally sucked. The amp has been to a lot of dark roudy basements but that still doesn't make up for it breaking 4 times in 2 years. This is not a reliable amp, not at all, so always bring an extra one to the show or use another bands.

I dealt with them on one occasion. They were relativly helpful which was unexpected.

There are very few other amps that you can buy for $300 and get 150 watts of power out of them so they get loud for the price but these amps sound like shit if you turn them up so it really isn't worth it in the end, plus they break all the time. Save your money and don't buy this amp unless you need something loud that will only last for a little while.

>>Plugging bands site>>www.swiftkick.tk

Amp was made in 2000. The amp offers built in digital effects, 3 channels, a foot switch controler, 120W output, pure SS. A lot for the money.

I like this amp! I think that the sounds are great. My favorite is the moderate gain channel. I like the reverb of all of the effects. The others are usable. The combination of the reverb with the clean channel and the higher gain channels is very rich in tonality. I never cease to discover new settings with new tones. I own several amps, including modeling amps from good companies, but this amp remains my favorite overall. The other amps may have more features and better effects, but this amp has the tone and expression, and that is what is most important to me.

No problem with the amp. The foot switch is sometimes unreliable. With the foot switch, I can change channels and turn the effects off and on, so it is convenient. Is made of plastic, seems to be reasonably sturdy, but sometimes does not work. I unplug it, and do manual switching. I have had no problem with the amp. One anoyance, and I do not know if this is an issue with the amp or my location is interference by the amp picking up a local radio program. This is a problem with the higher gain channels only, but is disturbing. Perhaps this could be avoided by better shielding. Perhaps I could shield the amp myself from the outside.

I have not had reason to contact them.

For the price, I think that this is a wonderful amp. It is solid, has great tones, endless variational possibilities, and built in effects. I have read other reviewers with negative remarks about Crate. All I can say is that my amp functions great, no reliability issues, and I love the sound! I think that this is a great beginner amp for an aspiring young musician and a great touring amp for an experienced musician. In my opinion, Crate has designed and built a winner at a killer price!

Hmm....solid state, 3 channels, Some effects, channels switchable.
Had it for probably 2 years almost. Worked somewhat good for heavy metal. Its not tube, so its not going to have a good heavy metal sound to it. I used it for Slayer, Metallica, Pantera like stuff. Had a nice clean channel, really nice with chorus + reverb. Gain 1 sucked, only good for slight overdrive, Gain 2 was the main distortion. Gain 2 didnt have very many options. To get a good metal tone out of it, you had to cut the mids, but in a solo, you would be lost in the mix.

I used an Epiphone Les Paul with it, and a couple pedals. It was loud enough, but the channels would "crack" at like 5. On the gain 2, when loud, was very noisy. Although, it could have been the shitty pickups in the guitar. It will give you a good metal tone.

Ah fuck, its crate. Crate is cheap. And usually, cheap = shit. It never broke on me, but i only used it in about 10 gigs.

Never had too

Not bad, for a starter. If you already have a nice set up, dont downgrade to this amp. I loved the amp, i still have it, but i am in the process of selling it to a friend in Idaho. Right now, its just used as a power amp and a cab to my Ada mp-1 pre-amp. If your on a tight-budget, and want a good overall amp, get this.

It has 3 channels, horrid, and then there's gain 2, and clean. It also has some effects, flange delay, chorus and reverb... and a chorus+reverb i think. They suck for the most part.

OK... first of all, for all you retards that are complaining about not getting a decent sound out of this amp remember what you paid for it! jeeze...you expect this to sound like a line6 or a marshall and it is a fraction of the price. Face it. You got a good deal with this amp. I'll have to admit that this is basically a really powerful practice amp. Which I think is a good thing. Think about all the crappy little practice amps that were soooo nasty and inversitile. Then remember that at their respective volumes they actually have a character of their own. This amp is the same way. The clean channel ONLY sounds good when cranked... with the guitar turned way down. Like try to get it at the same volume with the guitar cranked at three only with the level on 7 or 8. The first gain is alright but not versatile enough to use seriously. Gain 2 is much better with it's "shape" nob. I get a nice tool sound with this. As far as the effects go... the flange has made me never want to buy a flange pedal ever... the delay isn't too bad. There just isn't much you can do with it. The chorus doesn't suit me but the reverb can help the amp produce some nice rounded tones. I use the amp with a homemade 412 cab and I have always had the loudest setup in my band... thats up next to an ac30 and a peavey half stack and a gallien kruegger 410.

I think Crate's suck... this one however has lasted me about 3 years now and it has been through mud infested gigs, beer infested gigs, and the place were we practiced went up in flames and my amp is still in one peice and functioning! Still smells like shit with all the soot and all, though. The footpedal has to be the worse product anyone makes... everyone I know that has one has to buy another footpedal for it which can get expensive after about five footpedals. Otherwise the amp is tough as dirt.

doesn't apply to me... actually a while back i went to the website looking on info on how to get a new footswitch. didn't help at all. 'bout a month later they showed up in AMS and Musician's Friend... so I took my to a repair shop:)

I have been playing for about 5 years now and I am no Kirk Hammit but this amp works for me. I know what sounds good and what doesn't and I am looking to upgrade to a Marshall JCM 2000 DSL... but if it doesn't suit me I may look at a few Fender tube amps. This amp is awesome for the price. I don't think there is a better deal than this out there. That is for a musician who is looking to grow and learn on something. I'll have to admit the amp is very professional but the tone could be warmer so I am looking into some tube amps to upgrade to in the near future.

This amp was made in 2001. Mine was one of the first in the line. I have used it for a ton of different types of music and has performed well. It has 3 channels. One channel clean, one classic rock gain channel, and one rectified channel with lots of compression. I have used it in an oldies cover band, a classic rock bar band, a ska punk band, a country/rockabilly band, a Celtic Rock band, and my Alternative Metal band. It has fit the bill fairly well in all of those and is essentially an all around good amplifier. The effects would be better if their perameters were more adjustable but I really have no complaints about them. It has always had sufficient power for my needs.... the thing gets really damn loud for solid state, and I havn't noticed any tone fallouts..... but I'd never had to turn it up past 7 either.....
All in all, probably one of the coolest solid state amps you can get for the money. Lots of power and lots of versatility if you know how to use it.

I play a BC Rich Acrylic Warlock, Fender 50's Stratocaster, Dean Chaffin Boca, DeArmond S-65, Danelectro Hodad, and a multitude of other guitars through this amp and havn't had an issue with tone.... IT IS DIGITAL PEOPLE...... NO TUBES..... If you expect tube tone GO BUY A FRIGGIN' TUBE AMP!! The tones are not as transparent as tube amps.... one guitar is likely to sound very similar to another through this amplifier. One of the downfalls of solid state digital modeling. I also own a MESA/BOOGIE Studio Preamp and Strategy 500 Stadium concert rig that powers 8 4x12 cabs. ALL TUBE. ahem.... the Crate doesn't sound a thing like it. Why? Because it is a Crate!! Not a MESA/BOOGIE!! But I like the Crate for its reliability and portability. My only issue with it is they needed to design the cab with a closed back. That's where all the crappy rumbling and odd harmonics are coming from. I stick a pillow in the back of the cab and it improves the sound 100%. Plus adds a little bit more volume out the front.

Never broken on me. Never gig without some kind of back up. Idiots do that.

Never dealt with them.

I have been playing professionally for 6 years and this is a phenominal amp for the price. If you need power and fairly good tone (the audience usually can't tell the difference between a MESA/BOOGIE or Soldano, or a Peavey or a Crate) then this is the amp for you. I own tons of gear. Too much to list here, but I am glad to have this amp in my arsenal.

Theres alot of stuff on this amp and i use it to play with my band. I have never had a volume problem. I've played for 165 people and havent had trouble with being louder then the hard hitting drummer. But I'll make this simple...buy a tube amp. If your considering buying this amp, you would probaly like a carvin mts or a marshall, but I wouldn't buy this amp unless this is all you can afford.

I play hard rock like guns n roses, metallica, and medadeth and i dont use too much gain, so i figured out how to set it up without it getting to muddy. I use a epiphone les paul on the rhythm pickup. The clean is ok but nothing to brag about.

no problems after one year!

they are great when you email them. I've never called but when i emalied them, they answered quickly and gave in depth answers.

Buy a tube amp, Im getting the carvin mts. I would check that amp out!

Has the usual GFX-212 feature, 3 channels, 2 dirty and 1 clean. It has a few effects but they all pretty much suck except reverb and chorus, the delay and flange are not worth using. The footswitch is cheap and has broke already, but I had my bass player resolder the connection. It has an insert but I have yet to use it. It also has a Ext. Speaker jack which I have connected to a Crate 4x12 cab. It's 120Watt, but it lacks in volume, even with the cab. My band practices in a small room, and the amp plus cab has trouble competing with our loud drummer, unless the volume is cranked to like 5.

I use the GFX-212 with my PRS Custom 22 and Dragon II pickups. The distortion is great and fits my hard rock, metal style fine. It's not the greatest sounding distortion, but I would argue that there's not too many solid state amps with a better sound. However, lack of volume is a problem. When the amp is past like 4, tone drops dramatically, so basically it has to be mic'ed for gigs. Clean tone sounds great but also suffers at high volumes. The amp is very noisy on the heavy distortion channel, but I have a Boss NS-2 to cut out the noise, therefore it isn't a problem.

Amp is pretty reliable and is built very sturdy. The footpedal is pretty weak though, already had it fixed once.

Never talked to them.

The GFX-212 is a good amp for the price. I've been playing in bands for about 2 years, and it has served me well. Compared with amps of similar prices, I couldn't find something that suited me as well. I really enjoy to sound of the distortion and the look of the amp, but the weak volume and speakers disappoint me. I would definately replace it with a more expensive tube amp when I have the money. I think my PRS helps make up for the GFX-212's lack of sound; I've been pretty content with my setup up to the present.

It has the traditional crate features but with effects and gain 2. Power-wise it's beefy. Insert jack is good. The wattage is there but thats about it. Good for beginners.

My other guitarist uses this amp. I know it well enough to make an honest review. Hope it helps someone decide. Okay here we go...the grill cloth is way too tight. It always made a bassy farting noise. So we removed it and put the metal diagnal stuff with lots of air to escape. The gain is good ol' crate gain which to me is tinny as hell. The major complaint is the noise! You stop playing but the thing keeps on buzzing. If you mute your strings it should be silent. The power is the only good thing. We have a Line6 POD going right to the insert jack every knob turned off - put it on clean channel. Guess what with pod as the pre-amp takeover its beautiful. No more noise and the rectified patch is sweet sounding even with crate speakers. Got an xtra $250 for the pod and turn this into a monster.

Crates are reliable. Had many in the past never a problem.

Never dealt with them.

I play Line6 so I made him try the pod. Needless to say he got his own he loved it with it in font of this amp. 375 + 250 (pod) = look for a better amp kids!

basic 3 channel amp. Not very versatile. It comes with a footswitch and has a couple of shity effects

I use a Jackson DXMG with EMG 81's. I play metal and only metal. With a good distortion peddle this amp is useless for metal. The amps distortion is very muddy and sucks really bad. I use a metal zone witch sounds good on low volume but once you turn it up it gets extreamly bassy and is almost not useable. The clean channel is not very good but is good enough for me with the reverb it sounds decent.

nothin wrong yet

not a great amp but its good to start with for the money

I think everyone has covered this....

I have two guitars, Ibanez RG-470, all stock, and a RG-7421 (7string), bridge hum has been replaced with DiMarzio Blaze hummers.
Three channels, Clean is clean, sounds good with the built in effects. Gain 1 is good for blues sounds, and when cranked, can get a Marshall like sound (not quite there but close enough)
Gain2 is good for Marshallish tones to Mesa sounds - the combination of the shape knob, eq, and gain gives an extreme range.
With either guitar, it doesn't fart, until I replaced the speakers with Celestion G12T-75's - now it farts a bit when the volume is over 6...

Never, NEVER had any problems. I replaced the speakers becuase I have heard everyone raving about Celestion, and I actually ended up buying an empty ext. cab from www.avatarspeakers.com and putting the crate speakers in that.
I would not hesitate to gig without a backup with this amp. Matter of fact, it will be my backup once I get my Marshall JCM 2000 TSL setup completed.

I have emailed them before with questions on how things are wired for the ext. cab and other questions related to thier higher end amps, and they have been very helpful, and have usually responded within 12-24 hours.

This is an excellent amp for the musician that is jamming and starting to do minor shows. It is loud enough to keep up with a moderate to heavy playing drummer. I am getting a Marshall only becuase I want a tube amp...
Small word of advice, reload it with Vintage 30's - it will get louder...
The only bad part about this, is that my other guitarist has a Crate TurboValve 6212, a 60watt tube 2x12 combo, and that amp is way louder than what this amp can handle, even though it is 120w.
This the difference between tube and solid state...

This amp has alright features considering the built in fx, even though they aren't that great.

I don't know what I was thinking when I bought this amp. I hadn't compared it to many other amps, and it was inexpensive, so I bought it. After playing it a while I realised that it sounds like a little practice amp, but loud. I now have a Line 6 spider 212 which is more expensive, but better in every aspect than the crate.

It's solid state and has a 5 year warranty, so I wouldn't be worried about reliability.

Never dealt with them.

If you are really strapped for cash and can't possibly scrounge up more than 600 bucks, then maybe you would have an excuse to purchase this amp. Otherwise, I would recomend saving up for a line 6, they are the most versatile and best sounding amps in their price range.

All stated before, 3 channels, dig. effects, effects loop jack, ext. speaker jack, 120 watts rms. A lot of nice features.

I gotta admit, for the price, its a pretty good amp. It can get pretty loud. But the clean channel sounds a little weak, and the distortions are okay but there is a very bad difference in volumes when switching between them. The built in effects are not too great. For the money, its an alright deal. You get what you pay for.

This amp is built like a tank. I've dropped it and banged it soooo many times. I've broken things and made holes WITH it and the amp stays tightly together unaffected by it.

never had to call crate support.

You get what you pay for. Back when I bought it, it was the best deal out there, and I've played it at gigs and it has treated me nicely. The built in effects could have been at least decent but they lack feeling. I like the effects loop option and the sturdy footswitch. If you have 400 bucks and you want something loud, but this. If you have more, go and get yourself a Vox. They're worth it.

Three channels, Effects loop, Extension speaker jack, Effects ect. Read everyone elses reviews. I wish it had a head phone jack though.

This amp sucks so bad. The sound on the clean channel is really thin and does not sound good at all. The Gain 2 isnt that bad but it isnt to good. I had to buy a distortion pedal because the cheap plastic foot switch broke. I didnt buy another one because it would probably brake again. Dont try plugging in a regular distortion pedal because at the 4 volume it starts to lose tone and only gets worst from there. Also the spealers are really trash. They sound like they are gonna blow at any time. One more thing, the cabinet shakes like crazy when ever you play. It is really annoying

I would definitly try to get a back up amp because it sounds like the speakers are gonna blow. I have to mic the amp whenever I play with my band!

Haent complained or asked for help yet.

I dont think this is a good amp at all. You should defintly sve your money and buy a better amp.

I believe this amp was made in 2000. It is versatile enough for the styles of music I play which is thrash, power metal, death metal, black metal, and goth metal. It has 3 channels, clean, overdrive 1, and overdrive 2. It came with a 3 button footswitch or you can switch channels manually. It has built in effects (chorus, flange, delay, reverb) but they are nothing to brag about. I wish the effects were adjustable but they are preset to factory settings. I use this combo for gigs at small clubs. For medium to larger clubs I connect it to a 4x12 cab and it suffices. It is supposed to emulate tube distortion but I personally don't feel it sounds as great as a Mesa Triple X or a Peavey XXX but it wasn't made to compete with those amps. It's a great bang for the buck (under 400 bucks). But I'm not too crazy about the distortion no matter how I set it up, but hey for under 400 what do you expect?...

I use an Epiphone Les Paul Standard, Ibanez RG-220, Jackson PS-4, and a Squier Tele with this amp. For power metal and thrash it sounds OK but not great. The distortion is very "tinny" even when the treble and mid are turned down. I recommend using a separate distortion pedal such as the Metal Zone with it to get the distortion to your particular tastes, but hey if you like the tinny type of distortion then you're all set. The amp gets very noisy. The feedback is tremendous when gain is set on 10 and volume on 4, but I like tons of gain. You can compensate by lowering gain to around 6 and can have a higher volume of about 6 before the amp will have a stroke. The clean is OK but rather thin. Better to turn on chorus on the clean channel but clean goes bad when past volume 4. But for my purposes I don't need the volume past 4. At shows I put the volume at 4 and let the sound guy mic up the amp.

This amp is pretty reliable. I've had it for about a year now. But the knobs are loose now. I've banged this amp plenty of times and it is still ticking. The speakers got loose from its bracing and I just tightened it myself. Just the normal type of wear and tear that happens when you play a show almost every weekend. I think this amp will last me another good year before it needs a triple bypass. Let's be realistic, if you get 2 good years out of an amp in this price range, you've gotten your money's worth.

I haven't had a need to deal with customer support yet. I can fix most things myself especially the obvious visible problems, but when it comes to the electronic wiring on the circuit board, I will send it to a pro. I haven't had the need to go there yet. The warranty is for 5 years I believe.

I've been playing guitar for about 12 years. I own an Ibanez RG-220, Jackson PS-4, Epiphone Les Paul Standard, and Squier Tele copy and an Ampeg cab. If this amp were lost or stolen I would really be pissed because it has mostly the things I need in an amp for practice and gigging without the big bulk of a full stack. I would buy it again but it is now discontinued. I would buy another one used if it was in mint condition. For the price, I don't think you can find a better combo. 120 watts, 2x12, effects, speaker out so you can connect to a cab, foot switch. The only things I don't like about this amp is that the effects are not adjustable. They are factory preset and you're stuck with them. Also, the footswitch is very weak, made of cheap plastic. I had to buy a replacement for 30 bucks. The footswitch shorts out easily if you step on it too hard. Be gentle with it. I'm not too crazy about the distortion but it is good enough and I use the metal zone with it. Overall, I recommend this amp if you are on a tight budget. Considering its features and portability and its price it is a great value. But like all things you generally get what you pay for so be reasonable and look at the amp in that perspective.

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:)

It looks like it was made 1999. I play Hard Rock and Metal, and this amp kick ass. It suppostly comes with 3 channels Distortion, Overdrive, and Clean. the channel switcher lets you go from Overdrive to Heavy Distortion and from clean to Overdrive with just one switch. the DSP onboard board effect are pretty cool. The Delay kicks ass. I never use the overdrive of the clean channel. I use for Gigs and rehersals and I can overpower the rest of the band with this amp.

I use a ESP LTD M-100 with EMG's 81 and 85, a Fender Fat Stratocaster, and an Epiphone Les Paul Classic. This amp is perfect for my style Hard Rock, Metal, Satch style ( whatever his style is). It usually get a radio station on my amp where I practice, I believed that it was bad grounding but then the drummer told me that there is a Electrical Power plant next to the house. I can get any sound I want from that amp. the distortion is good but I use a BOSS GT-3 with the amp so I don't really use the distortion.

I can depend on that amp any time any day. I had it for a year and never had a promblem with it. The Funny thing is that one time a played at MARS Music in Atlanta,GA and they have a stage set up there and they have a Marshall Full Stack. That was the worst gig I ever had that damn amp sounded like shit. I was really disapointed with thee people at MARS MUSIC.

Never delt with them. 5 year warranty

I've been playing for 7 years now and this amp is one of the best amps I have had. the BOSS GT-3 and this amp were made for each other. If it were stolen or lost I would get another one right away.

This amp features effects (which all are prety kick ass, two distortions which are prety heavy with a bad ass sound and has a alot of power of 120 watts through 2 12" speakers.

I use a peice of shit Aria Pro II which seems to work good with it..it sounds awesome on the amp but the guitar just sucks...the clean channel seems to never distort and distortion is very bad ass..the only good maker of a amp that gives u factory metal distortion...Effects are very good (especially the flanger)...Very loud amp though..at practice i can turn it up to 3 or 4 to play with the band....i used to use my line 6 spider 112 at practice and had to turn it 9 even 10 sometimes and it still didnt play over drums and then i played at a gig with the line6 and it was a nitemare...at gigs i doubt this amp will be a problem..ill be giging soon and i know it will be fine without a pa..

i can depend on it...i have had nothing wrong yet and it seems to be working great.

good warranty 5 year with both things..90 day with replacing pedal and batteries or whatver so looks good..

This amp kicks ass and i love mostly evreything on it...but it does seem to have a feedback problem when u sit there with out playing anything..my guitar does this with every amp i play on cuz its a cheap strat and who gives a shit anyway cuz feedback is awesome...This is a good amp for nice sounds and very loud volumes and a good amp to gig with without a pa...I compared this to my line 6 112 spider and everyhting on it kicked the spiders ass(especially volume) and even the price kicked its as majorly...what would u rather get a line 6 112 spider($400)- a amp that blows for gigs and sounds horrible all the time with horrible disotortions and didgital cleans that sounds horirbly annoying and has horrible effects that u cant even here....or a Crate gfx 212 ($350)- a amp that will handle gigs without pa and has great heavy disotortions with good cleans that dont distort and effects that u can actually hear..Go for the Crate! (that was prety lame to put a !)

This amp was made in 2000 in the USA.
120 watts, 2 Channels. The distortion channel has 2 gain types so I guess you could call it 3 Channel. 2 Crate Custome speakers kick ass. Nice deep growl to em. The on board effects sound a little dry, but considering that they were on board to begin with, I cant complain.

I use a Jackson KV-3 and a Gothic Explorer. Lemme tell you, these guitars with this amp RIP UP any other amp out there (Ok except for Mesa, Marshall and Bogner =) ) But really, it is an excellent amp for the money. I use a Boss MT-2 for my distortion and a Boss CE-5 for my chorus and I have LOVED it! Rich deep and clear tone. The flexwave technology really sounds like it works cause I have played other solid state amps and mine DOES NOT sound like its sterile at all.

Never had a problem at all

Never dealt with em.

I have owned 2 other amps in my life, a Fender practice amp, and a Crate GXT-210. This amp sounds better, and projects better than then both combined.
My friend had an older model of this one (a GX-212) and I though it was the best amp ever the first time I heard it. I know there are better amps out there. I know that for a fact, but this amp is GREAT for at home jamming and is the best bang for the buck if your on a budget.

This amp compared to every thing out there bits the big one. compared to amps in its price range its average(that dosen't mean much). Clean: It sucks, no depth no feel, no tone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gain1&2: 1 is weak. I guess its a crappy classic rock voicing. No tone!!! 2 a chain saw with changable pitch. single notes are lost in a wash of noise.no definition,no punch,just noise. with the guitar turned down you here the buzz of the shittly vocied lets ripe off little kids parents pre amp. please don't buy this amp. save your pennies and get a real amp. No bull shit. If you still must buy this amp rip out those crate speakers and get EV's or celestions(vintage 30's from carvin 90 bucks), and make a air tight cab to put them in (not to hard did it for my friend). but just save your money and get a decent amp. I don't own this amp my friend does. but going from the crate to a marshall DSL full stack that I play at his house(and I have tweaked all the knobs) its very easy for my spoiled ass to say all of this.in all save your money and buy a good amp. buy a good amp. on top of that if you still must buy it and play metal keep the gain at 5 to avoid the pre amp buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.thats all the amp sounds like zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

MADE IN 2001.
GREAT FOR PLAYING THE STYLES OF MUSIC THAT MY BAND AND I PLAY.
3 CHANNELS. HAS EFFECTS LOOP,
I DONT USE HARDLEY ANY OF THE FEATURES SO I CANT SAY I WISH IT HAD MORE. I USE REVERB AND THATS ABOUT IT.
I USE MY AMP IN OUT SIDE GIGS AND INDOOR GIGS, IT HAS A GREAT DEAL OF POWER.
I WOULD GIVE IT BETWEEN AND 8 1/2 TO A 9 1/2.

I USE MY LES PAUL WITH MY AMP, AND IT SOUNDS GREAT. NO STATIC IN LESS WE ARE IN A CLOSE TOGETHER SPACE.
WE PLAY CLASIC ROCK TO SOME NEW MUSIC.
I HAVE NO NEED FOR GOING PAST 5 ON MY AMP AND 5 ON MY GUITAR. IN SIDE I PLAY WITH MY AMP ON 3 1/2, AND MY GUITAR ON 4.
THE CLEAN CHANNEL SEEMS TO BE VERY CLEAN AT 5, I HAVEN'T HAD TO HAVE IT UP PAST 5 BUT WHEN I FIRST GOT IT AND TESTED IT OUT THE CLEAN CHANNEL GOT A FUSSIE AT 9 1/2 WHILE MY GUITAR WAS ON 8.
THE DISTORTION ISN'T AS GOOD AS MARSHALL AMPS LIKE WHAT MY LEAD GUITAR USES BUT I ONLY NEED THE DISTORTION FOR A COUPLE OF SONGS SO IT WORKS OUT GOOD.
I WILL GIVE A 9 1/2 TO A 10 ON THIS ONE.

I CAN DEPEND ON MY AMP. I DONT HAVE A BACK UP AMP NOW SO YES I WOULD USE IT WITH OUT A BACK UP.
NO MY AMP HASNT BROKEN DOWN. AND I HAVNT BLOWN A FUSE YET EITHER!!
AND I TAKE CARE OF ALL MY GEAR.

I HAVENT DELT WITH CUSTOMER SUPPORT YET SO I HAVE NO OPINION.

3 YEARS
I OWN A LES PAUL GUITAR, A FENDER ACUSTIC, A FEW HARMONICA'S, A FENDER PRACTICE AMP. A THIRD OF A P.A. SYSTEM.

IF IT WERE STOLEN OR LOST I WOULD MOST LIKELY BUY THE SAME AMP AGAIN. UNLESS A BETTER ONE WAS OUT, WHEN IT HAPPENED.
WELL IT'S GOT A GREAT SOUND, COOL EFFECTS EVEN THOUGH I DONT HARDLEY USE THEM.
YES I COMPARED IT TO OTHER PRODUCTS, THEY WERE MARSHALL, AND FEDER.
I CHOOSE THIS ONE BECAUSE IT HAD MORE POWER THEN THE MARSHALL THAT I WANTED. AND THE FEDER WAS NOT ENOUGH POWER AND I DIDNT' HAVE ENOUGH FOR THE CYBER TWIN!!
I THINK THAT THE CRATE GFX 212 AMP IS A GREAT PEICE OF GEAR AND I RECOMEND TAKING A DEEP LOOK AT IT.
A 10 ALL THE WAY

First off I want to say that I don't give high ratings. I don't believe there's any amp out there that deserves a 10 on every category. I waited to gig with this amp before I submitted my review here, and I must say that using an amp in a gigging situation can radically alter your view of it. <br>
Anyway, the amp is a fairly basic 2x12 combo with a few extras. It has two channels, and the overdrive channel lets you select between two distortion sounds. I wish each distortion type had it's own independent volume control so it could be essentially a three channel amp. It comes with a three button footswitch that uses two 1/4" stereo cables, which is something I've never seen before. The DSP effects are nice to have, and I think that feature will start being included on a lot more combo amps from now on. <br>
The reason I bought this amp is because I needed something loud enough for gigging with the world's loudest drummer and a PA that only handles vocals. My Fender Princeton Chorus couldn't handle it at 25x25 watts, but this 120 watt Crate offers plenty of volume.

My biggest criticism for the amp is that it sounds rather sterile and can be rather tinny sounding. I really don't like how the eq is voiced; I prefer the sound of my Princeton Chorus which is much warmer. Still, with some tweaking you can get decent sounds out of this amp. The two distortion types were designed very well with one being a crunchy 70's tone and the other leaning towards saturated heavy metal.<br>
The digital effects are decent. I don't think any one of them is poor, although the delay is very short (the slapback effect is nice though). None of the effects go to the extreme and at first I though some were weak, but after gigging with it I've reconsidered. I usually keep the effects level knob pegged.<br>
As far as guitars go I've had a few, but my current lineup consists of budget models. I have a DeArmond M75, and Epiphone Sheraton II, and one of those neckthru kramers from musicyo. All of them sound decent through this amp, with the Sheraton sounding the best. The DeArmond is a bright sounding guitar, so using the clean channel with the bridge pickup fully on can get tinny-sounding enough to hurt the ears. <p>
I will admit that this sounds like what it is- a solid state amp. I don't buy into the blanket statement that "tubes are always better" because it simply isn't true. There are some solid state amps that sound every bit as good as tube amps that are twice as expensive. Granted some cheap solid state stuff is nasty sounding, but I've heard tube amps (with good tubes) that sounded pretty bad as well.

This amp is tough, although the first one I got was literally broken in half by UPS. When I picked it up by the handle on the top, the amplifier section came with me but the speakers and the majority of the cabinets stayed on the floor. Not quite as beefy and sturdy as an old Peavey or (for comparison) my friend's Hughes & Kettner 212 combo.

Never had to deal with Crate, although it seems as if they've got a good reputation.

I've been a bass player for a long time and have recently switched back over to guitar for my current band. I own a very small practice PA and of course some basses and bass amps. I've played through a number of amps and this Crate is okay. Not good, not bad, but decent. This amp would suit any young punk rocker or metalhead who wants to play in a really loud band. It's cheap and seems like a good value compared to other amps with similar features and power. I've heard some older crate guitar amps (all solid state, probably late 80's or early 90's) and to me they just sound awful. I'm glad Crate has done something to remedy that problem.

The Crate GFX212 was very versitile and light. I played 70's funk & 70's & 80's rock & reggae. A lot of blues Guitars used were a 12 string Dan Electro with lip stick pickups, a Gretch Country Classic II with humbukers, and a Vaqarro Generator X with single coil pickups. The major problem I had was lack of power at outdoor gigs. It ran out of muscle quick.

Excellent reliability. I moved it around a lot. No problems.

I've since replaced it with a Fender Twin, however a 50 watt Crate GFX is my next purchase for a practice amp. Dollar for dollar I've compared transistor Marshalls, Hi Watts, Roland, Fender, Ampeg & Vox and I'd settle for a Crate as a best valve for the money in the low power category.

This amp is a Solid State, with 120 watts to 2 12 inch crate custom speakers. It has 3 channels (2 overdrive and 1 clean ). It has chorus, flanger, delay, and reverb as well as a few combinations of them. All of them sound great. I especially like the different kinds of chorus you can get. And a slight delay makes solos sound so full. The only thing i don't like about it is that there is just one effects button on the footswitch. and you hafta change the effects knob on the amp to switch effects. But other than that this amp rocks and has mucho versatility. The 120 watts crank and deliver great ammounts of sound with not much deterioration at high volumes. I haven't gotten it above 3 and aa half and it rattles the ears. My band plays Weezer, Greenday, Blink, Metallica, Godsmack, Korn, Creed, Linkin Park and much more.. and the distortions on the amp are GREAT. period. The clean sounds are spectacular too. Great with chorus!

I play on an ESP LTD M-350, with EMG HZ's and a EMG HZ single coil. Like i said before, it has great sound. i was considering getting a marshall half stack ( and AVT 150 head and slant cab) but when i heard the sound of this amp, it made me much happier spendin $420 on it than $1100 on the marshall... cuz personally, i like this sound better. It is a bit noisy sometimes when you have the gains cranked and the volumes cranked but it's well worth it for the sound. Very very very very nice sound. The clean channel is pretty well.... clean. At extremely high volumes it bottoms out once in a long while. The DISTORTION IS BRUTAL

I haven't had it for too long so i don't really know. I got a gig in 4 days so we'll see.... i'm not one bit worried.

don't think i'll hafta deal with them.....

BUY IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!BUY IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SOUNDS KICK ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! just go and buy it cuz it rocks for only 420.

everyone already knows what the features are, but i gave it a 9 cuz hte only thing i wish this amp had was a mid knob for the dist. channel, but oh well it still sounds great!

This amp has both great distortion and clean channels. overdrive 1 is good for as many people said AC/DC and i use it for punk and it does more then good. overdrive 2 is loaded with distortion..good for metal. the clean channel is nice and..uhhhh...clean, and it doesnt distort at high volume (or atleast as high as i put it at practice).

well since i've only had it for about 2 weeks i really can't say, but so far so good. looks durable.

i guess they are, but never had to deal with em yet.

this amp is definately great for the price. i would chosse this amp over a mashall valvestate any day.

I'm submitting this review as a supplement to my other reviews. I'm older and wiser now.

Alright. I've spent about $5000 on amp heads in the past 4 months testing and returning a brand new Marshall and a brand new Peavey before ending up with a Crate (yes, I said CRATE) Blue Voodoo. Honestly, that amp is still disappointing. It's clean channel doesn't handle a metal zone pedal at all. Just today I left it at the repair shop to change out the tubes and whatever else will help it deal with my style a little better. Anyway, I bought the GFX-212 3 years ago, and it's still my most dependable and best sounding amp. When I got home today, I hooked it up to my Peavey 5150 4X12 cabinet...low and behold...it sounded better than any one of the three heads I'd been screwing around with. This amp is the best buy on the market today. Even for 3 times the money, there is nothing that even touches it. I still don't understand how anybody can get a useable sound out of a Peavey 5150. That has to be the worst amp head I've ever heard. The distortion on this amp is far better than anything on the Marshall, Peavey, or Blue Voodoo. However, I overdrive the clean channel with a Boss MT-2. It provides a punchy, lively distortion on the Crate's clean channel that is absolutely unmatched. If you play metal, buy this amp and a Boss MT-2. There is no metal sound that you can't get out of it...and the clean channel isn't perfect but it IS great.

I've had problems with it. I had to send it away for about a month at one point. There was some microscopic little thing wrong with it, which made it unuseable, that the Crate guy picked out. He fixed it after he got the part in, and it's sounded good as new since.

Crate has the best Customer Service support that you could ever ask for.

One clean and two OD channels.. The clean is good.. It could use some work.. but who plays clean much anyway? The first od channel is some bad ass shit! Very rock without the feeling of impending doom. The second od channel is all about killing people and ripping out their testicles and feeding them to innocent children.. I play in a happy little punk band and i sit this mother on top of a Marsha(ll) 4x12 cab with greenbacks in it. It also has dsp, but they aren't too good, i only use the reverb (my friend has just the GX and its cool cause you dont get the fluffy little fx, just reverb).

The sound of the crate by itself is kind of sharp and tinny (crate isnt known for speakers though, and it is open back) but the 4x12 running with it gives me the tone and sound pressure i need for gigging. The clean channel is great, but you should run your amp through something to make it a little fuller.. the fx loop is god! .. not. I enjoy it cause i can run my wireless straight to my amp and not run the risk of some dick pulling my effects pedal out of the fuckin amp and stompin on my wireless. I love it, but if someone left a speaker cab alone in a room with me, i would switch the crate speakers out with the ones in the cab.. preferably some celestions of some sort..

This things a damn tank. I have dropped its punk ass numerous times and the covering is peeling in a few places where its scraped against stuff, but the box is solid and so is the amp. I love this bastard. (ps.. is comes with the things to put casters on it.. i did not know this, but damn i wish i did earlier cause i wouldnt have toted its heavy ass around as much as i have.)

never had to deal with crate. my local guy does all that crap, but i never had a problem with it.

This is jesus on a stick! It rocks and it plays well IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. The amount of power you get for the price is great.

all the features have been covered before so ill be brief on that...2 12" crate speakers 120watts with effects delay,flanger,chorus and reverb...only one setting on the delay has any real use...chorus is weak but has some use...flange is to noisy...reverb is decent...not great effects but still usefull...120 watts very loud seems to hold its tone at all volumes...good for a solid state amp but nothing tube sounding about it...it is noisy sounds like a hurricane...3 button footswitch

ive used 3 guitars with it esp gl serpent,esp ltd mh200 and fernandes mt95dc...sounds good for a solid state amp with any of my guitars...no real feedback problems with any of them...it has 2 gain levels overdrive 1 is more of a blues sound but not a very good one...overdrive 2 is good for heavy stuff and has plenty of gain with my lynch esp...about all you could expect out of a solid state amp much better and cheaper than any of marshal new avt series...this is more of a practice amp...it has plenty of power for a band but just not the right sound for that...it also does not work well with other effect makes the amp unberaby noisy...i ran a boss metal zone through it and the speakers sounded like they were ready to blow....good sound for a solid stae practice amp or garage band not for the pros

i had 2 others before this unit and had to replace the footswitch twice but the current model i have is problem free going on a year and a half...and ive had it cranked all the way at times

5 year warranty but its deceptive doesnt cover everything...

ive been playing for more than 16 years...this is about all you can expect out of a solid state amp...its great for the price you wont find a better amp in this price range...line 6 and marshall are all much more the new avt series doesnt even sound this good and thats 900.00 for a 2/12 combo...its not a stage amp so dont expect anymore out of it.....it will do just fine for me until i have the cash for an all tube legacy

This is a 2001 model crate amp. I own a blue voodoo
head and have been waiting for crate to make a decent
solidstate amp. This amp has many cool effects on it
but other than that it dosent have a good distortion
the clean channel sounds good but the distortion is
very lacking and weak sounding. Dont get me wrong
I love crates blue voodoo tube series,, but the gfx
doesent even compare to the new peavey transtube
or line 6 stuff it still sounds solid state and
cheesy sounding!!

This amp is very cool that it offers nice effects but,,
any one that knows how a tube amp sounds or can afford a different amp
line 6,peavey transtube2001special212,cratebluevoodoo or any real tube amp or better brands Huh???
would say very beginer even crate themselves since my brother works there HA!HA!HA!HA!eat it up crate protesters. All I am offering you
is real inside crate worker information.

yes you can depend on it,,it has a five year warranty
wich is very nice!

never have tried or will ever, its crate
Im poor but not that poor.

This is a decent amp for beginers in school or so
but,,not any one who has been playing over 1year.
Thanks crate-stlouismusic-a cheap company!! check the facts
KID its the truth sorry for the truth just check out
your stlouis music some more and you will know the truth!!!!

I beleive that this amp was made in 1998-2000. Good for metal and rock. This amp has three channels with a DSP channel included( witch you can use in any channel.) The channels are as follows, Clean Overdrive 1 , Overdrive 2. I wish this had a Noise Gate so when you have a cheap guitar it wouldn't give out any feedback. This amp definitly has enough power 2 speakers 115 watts. Its great!The DSP has reverb, chorus, delay, flanger, and chorus and delay.

I am using a Hamer Slammer Vector VK1 flying V with its original humbuckers when bought new. Overdrive 1 is lighter good for rock and older music such as ACDC or Guns and Roses. Overdrive 2 is great for Slayer, ok for metallica and Megadeth. The distortion is great for bassy sounds that are heavy. I would not suggest even trying this amp for punk. The distortion is very versitile, with a Gain knob, Level and Shape to get the perfect sound. The clean has never been distorted even at full, with my crappy guitar! The distortion will blow you away. It will cut right through others distortions cause of the bass and mid levels in it. I think that the only problem is the feedback that I get when I turn my amp up max. on everything except volume (Gain,Shape,High,Low) but when I turn my volume past 5 it squeals!

Yes I totally would use this amp without a backup. This amp is a solid - state so it is very reliable.

The only thing I know is that the warranty is for 5 years.

I have been playing 3 years, starting with a crapy vintage or vantage amp with a DOD corosion pedal. I sold that and purchased a Crate 212. If It got stolen I would have bought another after freaking out for a while. I love the distortion on it it rocks! I compared this to a peavey 212 but chose this because of its sound.

This is almost the loudest combo amp that there is. It's louder than some of the stacks that i've played on. The distortion is really amazing on this thing, it has 2 distortion channels, channel 1 sounds really bluesy and channel 2 is over the top overdrive that sounds almost as good as a Mesa Boogie's!! It features a wopping 120 watts of pure power (even though it seems like the speakers may not be able to handle it at times) 2x12" speakers (mono) and it's my favorite tool for gigging. It's a solid state amp that emulates a tube amp, it does an OK job at that. GREAT AMP FOR THE PRICE!!!

I have an ax-320t with a custom paint job!! it has 2 humbuckers and is perfect for me. On this amp, it sounds great!!! It's a pretty versitile amp, although not for jazz. but it is good for most rock. When you crank the clean channel past 7, you get a bluessy distortion, i don't really mind this though. The distortion is really great!!

I would depend on this thing if my life depended on it, it's amazing!! I've beaten it up pretty bad and the only problem is the covering is cracking in some places, no biggie.

never dealt with it, 5 year warentee!!

I love this amp so much, if it got stolen, i would prolly get a fender stage 160, but i don't really like the distortion on fender amps. I compared it side by side to a pevey, i HATE peaveys!!! This one is a great buy.

its all been said before. its got ok features, the only thing i would've liked was a mid control in addtion to the low, high, and shape controls.

i use it with just about any guitar thats in reach. at jam sessions i'll often just borrow someone elses to see how it works through it. i can make even an Epi strat sound 1/2 way decent. i play metal, classic rock, blues, jazz, and psychidelia. the clean channel is all i've ever wabted in an amp. OD 1 is worthless most of the time cuz it uses the same low and high controls as OD 2. and theres no mid, which makes it sound awkward depending on how OD 2 is set up. i have my bass on 9 and treble on 3, this gives it a sort of light fuzz. OD 2 is excellent for a solid state. most of the stuff i write is like a slowed-down death/thrash metal. OD 2 is perfect for it. only thing is its a feedback monster, so keep the gain to volume ratio at a sensible level. i take the volume to 8 and the gain to 4 when i practice or play gigs with a drummer. once again though, both OD channels would benefit more than words can say if they had mid controls on them. the effects are good too. its a pain to switch em though so stick with the delay most of the time

i've had it sonce december and never had one problem with it, my freind has one that breaks down every week though so i guess its all nothin with these things

never had to deal with em

i've been playin two years, had a crate gx 60 a dano dirty thirty, a bellwood super swinger, an epi fat strat, and in a few weeks a new esp m series. out of all the amps i've played i like this one the most, its loud, its powerful, the clean channel is immaculate and doesnt distort even at 10, OD 2 is great, OD one suffers greatly from shared tone though. if you get one of these i suggest an EQ pedal for the overdrive channels, either one pedal to use tween the two and get a similar sound with diff levels of gain or two pedal set up differently for each channel.

Solid State, built in DSP effects, but mine dont exactly work that well. 2 12" Crate Custom speakers in there, nice looking amp. Came with the 3 channel footswitch.

The distortion on this amp is the most awesome distortion I have ever played. It is damn brutal. It kinda has a hissing sound at a high level, but once you start playing, you will just learn the hiss is well worth it. This amp gets LOUD. I cant even be in the same room with it. If you have a feedback problem, what I suggest is buying a very long guitar cord and getting the hell away from the amp with your guitar.

Well the effects are busted, but I dont care. If you want effects get a pedal.

If I lost it, id kill someone. If it were stolen, I would kill someone. If you have a bad feedback problem, what I suggest is run the clean channel, and buy some ibanez tone lok pedals so you can control the feedback, but if you wanna run the overdrive which is awesome, just stay about 15' away from it, just buy a long guitar cord. It will do wonders. Well worth the money for this amp and more.

Made in 2000. Covers Blues, rock and country well. Good clean sound and good versatile distortion. The dual distortion channels really make the amp- they're excellent for changing a rhythm distortion to a heavy lead with single foot switching. Digital effects are reasonable but don't play well with digital effects in line prior to the amp. Wah or tremulo work fine prior t the amp. Effects are good enough to perform with but would like a delay.

I use a tele with standard pick ups for nearly every thing. I use an ESP with heavy strings and high action for slide. Both mix really well with this amp.

Overall this amp handles clean pop or country, heavy distorted and sustained rock leads, cruchy slide guitar and quiet slow blues very well. Plenty of power- I put it through the PA just to get it in the monitors. It won't do U2 or Police like heavily chorused/delayed stuff but otherwise it's range is impressive. I use it as a replacemnt for a Fender and find it much more flexible.
I don't agree with the other reviews that descibed trouble with high volume. The dual distortion with shaping can be tricky and what works in the basement will not work in a large room. I think they need to be careful with the ratio of drive and level -turn down the drive at high levels. It still sings and sustains at loud volume for me.

no problem

no experience

great for the price. Just don't combin digital foot pedals with the on board digital effcts.

it was made in 1999, this thing sounds great for blues and rock, and heavy metal,it has 3 channels that can be controled via the footwitch, 2 overdrives and a clean, the 2 overdrives are great, built in effects are alright, it has so much power, it's louder than most stacks!!! I use this amp at most gig's with less than 600 people. It's a solid state that emulates a tube, it does a good job!!! UNBEATABLE price, it's worth every penny. 120 watts of pure power

it sounds great for any type of rock

nothing's been going wrong with it, except for the vinal, it's peeling off a little, nothing big

5 year warranty, haven't had to use it yet!!!

it's all i need right now, i've been playing for 4 years and it sounds great, a little bit bassy, but i like that, it's a joy to play, amazing for the price!!!

been there, done that.

I've already submitted 2 reviews for this amp. I've now had it for about 2 and a half years. The feedback problem is very common. I sent mine back for repairs. They fixed it. It's still fine. But like someone else said, you CANNOT use a distortion pedal with this amp. It doesn't handle it. It has good distortion by itself, but it as you increase the volume, the sound starts to hold a lot of presence and really sounds like shit after half volume.

These amps are very problematic.

It took me 6 weeks to get my amp back.

This is a PRACTICE AMP. Plain and simple. Good for your house. Don't expect anymore out of it. This amp is not for a professional in any way, shape, or form.

Everybody already knows what this amps got and if they dont just read someone else`s submit...

This amp is a great for people that are on a budget and looking for a loud great sounding amp...when i got the amp i noticed it liked to squeal alot when i cranked it up but everything else it had to offer was well worth my $$$... i used the overdrive channels for a while until i heard one of my friends distortions and i knew mine was kinda week...
i went out trying to find a sound that was right for me and came up with the ibanez tone lok smash box.. this pedal made my amp come alive and plus the pedal has a built in gate so no more feedback problem....

ive had this amp for about a year now and i just started to notice recently that if i use the on board reverb and have a distortion pedal on at the same time its starts to crackle like the reverb is messed up...but theres been days when that hasent happend..
this amp seems to have its days to sometimes i can plug in and thrash and other times i gotta play with the damn knobs....

never had to get a hold of them

this was my first real amp and i still use it everyday cause its light enough to carry to the jam and it still sounds great ever since ive owned it...

Clean Channel, distortion channel with overdrive(actually a third channel), effects loop, speaker out, 3-button footswitch, basic effects, etc. Excellent for the price range. Note for some of the reviews below, ignore posts that said the GFX 212 doesn't have an effects loop, etc. they are either stupid or have never looked at the amp.

Use a Fender Telecaster and a Hagstrom 2, can't imagine a better sounding solid-state amp. Plenty loud and still sounds good at living room practive levels. Can easily get a nice, warm clean, but watch the distortion, you can get ugly sounds if you are not careful. With a little effort though, the picky distortion channels can get about any sound you want.

Have had no problems with it, comes with a transferable 5-year warranty.

Haven't dealt with.

Excellent sounding amp at a great price. I got a blem from a mail order company but even at the going price of $419 it is an awesome deal.

The sound on this amp is so wierd! At low volumes the clean sounds pretty good. The distortion is extremely noisy past 4. It sounds worse then snow on a television set, but at low volumes it sounds very good! I used this thing for band practice without my effect processor, and it sounded so horrible! It was so noisy that you couldnt even hear what you were playing! And forget using a distortion pedal! I used my boss metal zone and it even sounds worse when its cranked past 4! There was an other guitarist at band practice, and he was using a peavey practice amp, and that sounded much better, and it was much louder!!!! The gfx 212 so weak that i have to plug into the P.A. at practice! Im gonna sell this amp as soon as i can find a good deal on another amp!

poop and pee

This is a decent amp, it's not as shitty as people make it out to be. The effects aren't bad, if you don't plan on buying the effect pedals and what not. It's not confusing, and it's loud enough, my only bitch is that it squeals when you turn up the distortion, but all you have to do about that is turn your guitar down just enough so it wont do that. It's a good amp if you're poor (like me) and you need something that is reliable, and has some balls.

I play punk music, and this works really well. The effects add a little, i wish you could combine them, but that's not really a problem. They are easy to access with the pedal, which is something that makes this amp a little easier.

This is a solid amp. It doesn't show any signs of shitting the bed.

I never had to call them yet. (can't say the same for my RockTron Banshee Talkbox, but that's a different company and story) I believe the warrenty is 3 years.

If this were stolen I'd be pissed. Then i'd find the dick who took it, then i'd beat the crap outta him, then i'd get my amp back, and if it was messed up, I'd buy a new one. It's not as shitty as people say. Yes i'm sure if you're not into punk, you'll hate this amp, but i know people who play southern rock thru it, and they love it. It's just a matter of opinion, and in my opinion, this is a bitchin amp.

This amp is great. Plenty of power for practicing and small gigs, and it sounds great too. The effects are all very usable. I play in a band that plays melodic hardcore, kind of like the deftones, and this amp has my tone covered.

Set the second gain to 4, the shape to 8, lows and highs all the way up, and slow chorus on about 4, and you've got my sound. This amp does get feedback, but its very controllable, and works well for producing harmonics. The amp sounds very tubeish, and with the first distortion you can get a more vintage sound. The second has pretty much every modern rock sound though. The effects include slapback delay, regenerative delay, slow flange, fast flange, slow chorus, fast chorus, light reverb, heavy reverb, and then light reverb with chorus and heavy reverb with chorus.

Lots of parts are made of plastic, but this amp looks pretty tough. I blew out the LEDs in my footswitch with a power surge, but it was soon fixed.

Calld Crate to get new LEDs, couldn't find the correct voltage at the store. The sent them to me within 3 days, and I was rockin again.

Bottom line is that this is the best amp you can buy for the money. Its got a great modern tone and with all the effects and sounds you can get out of it, will make almost everyone pretty much happy.

My crate was bought new, made in 2000. The two gain/overdrive channels are essentially useless if you already own a nice distortion pedal (which alot of people do). The on board effects are weak with the exception of the chorus effects. I am glad the effects can be turned up-down with the "level" control...that way, you can control how much effect you want. Honestly. i would go for just buying yourself some effects pedals instead of using the on board stuff, because essentially, its crappy.

I am using a Fender Jazzmaster through a GFX-707 (which works well by itself with this amp), through a 95Q crybaby, through a MXR Blue Box, through a PolyChorus, to the amp. I never use the overdrive, so i only use the clean channel. Cranked all the way up on the clean channel, the amp actually sounds quite weak. NEVER CRANK THIS AMP UP PAST 5 WITH THE OVERDRIVE!!! The amp then only produces noise and whining feedback that almost made me cry. The clean channel actually does not sound terrible, but is a little fuzzy sometimes. It takes a lot of tweaking to get everything right with your pedals and the amp, but once you do, it sounds alright. Also, this amp has NO LINE OUT OR HEADPHONE JACK. This really pissed me off when i began to record.

This amp is extremely reliable. It has never broken down, and i dont have the money for a back up. I have dropped it a few times, and the surface has not risen or cracked at all. It still sounds the same after i have dropped it.

I have never had to deal with Crate.

This amp is really not that great, unless you like to make horrendous noise or give dogs heart attacks. The clean channel (the only channel i suggest using) sounds pretty good, but the on board effects are useless, as is the overdrive. As soon as I have finished paying for my Akai Headrush, i am going to start saving for a new amp, because this is really not that great. It is also built to be used solely for rock (i mean Korn, Slipknot, lame-o mainstream metal music), and it really isnt geared towards clean music. If you know any amps that have really nice clean channels, please contact me, because i have outgrown this amp since i bought it in January. If you like metal, this is the amp for you (it sounds good when distortion is on and you play palm mutes)but if you like almost anything else, i wouldn't really recommend this amp.

this cheaply made solid state junkpile was made in 99..purchased from american musical supply...3 channels first has no volume control so its always louder than the 2nd the high gain channel...footswich broken right out of the box...cheap plastic...bunch of effects none of wich are that good

when i first got this amp..after returning 3 others i thought it sounded great...very loud good heavy distortion decent clean sound with delay but you cant mix chorus and delay wich sucks...ive had almost a year and aside from the footswicth not working its been fine...until recently now there is excessive noise cant turn it up past for speakers and cbinet sound like there ready to fall apart and picks up mexican radio stations...im currently using a custom made fernandes with active pickups...and a boss metal zone...once you hear the metal zone the distortion in the amp sounds like crap...problem is when you turn it up with the metal zone the speakers sound like they will blow at any time and the cabinet makes all kinds of rattling sounds...it gets real bad when i hit the morley bad horsie wah...real shit speakers!! im also using a vintage ibanez sc 10 chorus and the delay in the amp..i thought i finally found a good sound combination but the amp cant handle it

well ive had 3 of them...first was deal out of the box should have stopped then...2nd footswitch didnt work and the amp hummed...this lat one has lasted almost a year but now it making all kinds of noise and picking up local radio stations...this footswich has also been broke since the begining...lights dont work cant switch off the effects...depend on it haha are you kidding i just want to get rid of it...crate is definetly not the company it used to be...i had a g60 gt for 5 years with no trouble so i bought this one...what a surprise to see a company go down so far

customer support? dont think they have any...no replies to email or letters...they put you on hold forever and then dont give straight answers...american musical supply was very helpful though they have tried

like i said i found a great sound combination with the effects ive purchased boss,morley,ibanez...but the amp cant handle it very cheap speakers...ive been playing for 16 years and i know this amp will impress metal fans in the store but dont be fooled the quality is not there it will not handle playing in a live situation..and crate does not care...i hope someone does steal and leave a fender amp behind or a marshal valvestate..i plan on uloading this junkpile very soon

I got this amp used so it's not the new "purty" version that crate is putting out, but its got the same innards. It has two overdrive channels, one mellow, one criminally insane. As mentioned this amp comes with some built in effects, the standard flanger, chorus, reverb, and delay with variations on each. The delay is a bit funky (your choice between slapback or long time delay with regen). Some people complain about the times but since I dont have a delay pedal, any delay is good for me (i can get a pink floydish wall sound on a good day). I need to get a 3 button footswith though, because its a pain to walk over and adjust all the levels and such when you're done with the effect. It would've been nice if you could mix effects, but hey it's practically free (kinda like the toy in a happy meal. I play mostly heavy/progressive metal, so I look for the chugga chugga sound which this amp provides quite nicely and if I ever wanna cover a Hendrix tune I'll just switch over to the mellow overdrive. I'm not playing stadiums quite yet so 120 watts and 2 12 inch speakers are more than enough for me. I move my amp alot so I appreciate it's solid state physical qualities. Only thing really missing from this package is a headphone jack, but this amp was meant to be loud anyways.

I run a fender cheapo strat through an xp-100 into the amp (i have yet to master the pseudo effects loop or "insert" jack) This amp was made for metalheads on a budget. I love the second overdrive. It is a HUGE step up from my old amp (a crate gx-15, you can laugh)so maybe my judging of the overdrive is a bit biased. It's like going from ricecakes to a double whopper. The clean channel is also excellent and doesnt distort easily. It's very versatile and covers any sounds I want, so on the "sound" side, this amp is where its at for this price. Now the downfall: I dont know if maybe my amp has been worn in or burnt out but I get some serious unwanted noise. Now I'm not gonna mention feedback because cheapo strats were meant to squeal, I'm talking about Hurricane Crate that seems to be perpetually storming inside my amp whenever I have the second overdrive on and my guitar volume all the way down. I think it might be my footswith though. Also whenever I have the xp-100 hooked up (which is noisy anyways) I get fuzz and hum even in bypass, but like I said I haven't tried the effects loop. Wanted sounds are a 10, it's the unwanted fuzz and hum that bring it down a couple points.

It looks pretty sturdy and it's a solid state so I dont have to nurse and burp it. My old gx-15 lasted a while and never conked out on me (and I turned it up to 11 on many occasions). I'm an eighteen year old college student, I dont have money for backups (if you have some extra cash please email me) so this is it.

Never had to deal with crate.

I've been playing 4 years now on a 15 watt crap..er..crate amp. This time in practice amp prison did make me rely on developing my own skill and not rely on any machines to make me sound good. Now that I have the gfx-212 I feel freed, like a hamster breaking out of that infernal running wheel. This amp is of excellent quality for the price. In my opinion it should cost more (of course I wouldnt that opinion to become fact). If it were or stolen I'd probably cry, curled up in a ball in the corner of my room. Then I'd find the bastard who jacked it and set fire to his house (after eating his children). Of course this would destroy my amp also in which case I'd get the head version, gfx-1200h, and a 4x12 cab. I was originally going to bite the bullet and finance a marshall with a store card, but I saw this sucker at ebay and went for it. I'm glad I did.

its gone, hehe, finally gone, hurray...the stupid store took it back, haha to them.

this is 1 more update from me, but i will not rate anything because i don't wanna lower the amps rating for people looking to buy it, i just wanna give them another opinion to look at so:

but everyone should know sound is a very subjective thing so try everything out loud so youknow what the fuck ots gonna sound like at practise.

well i guess the gain 2 is very nice and the clean is nice, but overall i thought it sounds like shit. i wanted alittle more distortion/bass so i used a boss metal zone and it sounded nice...up until 4 at which point it degraded the sound so much i though it was also my guitar out of tune, but nope just the shitty speakers and even shittier cab. if you are gonna buy it at a store turn it up loud...like 6-7 especially if you are going to use a metal zone thru it. i play punk anything from good riddance, to no use for a name to belvedere (canadian punk and fast as shit) so a good clear amp is important so i can retian clarity at super fast higher volumes...and this amp couldn't handle shit

did'nt fuck up on me but the build quality was horrible (maybe just my amp) but i was so disappionted when it arrived from st. louis only to have a few fuck ups in the cover and shit.

so so, i have e-mailed them about this amp but to no avail as i only got 1 out of 4 e-mails returned. if you want customer service call mesa/boogie those guys define customer service

absolutely a piece of shit as far as i'm concerned (with the metal zone plugged into it) thats why its gone. i had it for sale cheap and nobody even called about it, but the store i financed it from took it back and only charged me $100CDN for using for 2 months.

i got my money back and then walk into another store and put a downpayment on the mesa recto 4x12" cabinet (OH YEAH BABY) and i'm gonna be using a 225w bass head for now until i can afford a better guitar head. MESA RULES FUCK EVERYTHING ELSE

the amp was made in 98.
there is no versatile at all just fuzz and feedback.
3 channesl.no headphone jack.....no effects loop.come on get real...
clean dis channel its just a lotta shit ass fuzz.
a lot of power but the speakers blow they cant handle anything.

i use a bad ass custum jackson ultra fat strat.all duncan humbuckers..
i play metal and blues to fuzz even for metal...
not much variety at all....its just makes a loud sound with speakers that cant handle the sound and again its just fuzz.
the clean is more distirted then any othere amp i have ever seen rethere then a 5150......

i can depend on it ware and tare wise but anything eles it blows.
i have had three of them i only paid 4 1 thow the factory tok two of them back.....

very very very helpful......\yes did not work nobody likes to deal with crate.......

i have been playing for 3 years i am noon all over the oklahoma area i have one $1000's of dollars at guitar contests. and i would have to say if i had a contest even with a bad ass pa....i would rether use a GFX212 its @$@#@$*(#&$*@& bought brand new to.....antway
i would rether play on a 1925 model amp for better hightech sounds..........

I bought this amp because of the wattage and because of some of the features. I like the sound of the chorus and flange, they sound quite a bit different than the flange and chorus with my RP3. I like it and stuff, most of these features have been discussed.

I'm using stock humbuckers on a jackson d-10 guitar, it suits my playing style which is like really heavy metal... like machine head, pantera and metallica to clean stuff, like from some metallica songs, or planet-caravan-ish (pantera version) sound using my RP.. when i use the delay and everything on my RP-3 it sounds quite nice... only complaint i have that keeps it from being a 10 is that when i use a BOSS HM-2 Haevy Metal pedal for my heavy crunch sound and when i do palm muting, there's a noticable gap in the sound coverage, it makes the cab vibrate too much and it degrades the sound a lot. but other than that little problem, it's worthy of a 9

Let's see, i've had this thing for a couple weeks, i've gigged it, it worked nicely..

N/A

I've been playing for over a year and a half, i use a Digitech RP-3, HM-2, Dunlop Crybaby, Metal Zone and that's about it.. my primary electric axe right now is a Jackson D-10, equipped with 2 humbuckers, and im going to be getting an ESP Viper... i love the amp, it sounds nice, it's really heavy (haha) and it's good for my style of music

This is an update to my review when I had just got the amp. I have played alittle more now and I think that overall the sound is still fucking amazing with a boss metal zone. This review is somewhat longer because now I have spent quiet a bit of time playing and fine tuning the amp

Ok, here's the problem. First after I had looked at the amp some more I notice some of the black cover very loose and rising in three spots. Secondly when I turn the clean channel to 4 or 5 and my Metal Zone on half it makes this shitty sound as if the speakers can't handle it. It's very anoying when a 120 watt amp sounds amaizng on 3 or just under 4...but anything over 4 (Which yes is very loud) looses its lower volume sound. I have'nt tried using my pedal in the effects loop yet so maybe this will fix it. Overall I can play with a very cymbol happy hard hitting punk drummer with no problem hearing guitar. the distortion 1 is shit, distortion 2 is nice but is not even half as good as clean with distortion pedal. For whoever gives a shit when I do use distortion 2 I crank the shape and put gain on 6-7 with full low and high.

Has been perfect so far

Customer service seemed ok they said send my amp back due to the rising cover but because it takes 4 weeks to get to St. Louis from Toronto plus another 4 weeks back (mostly the fuckers in customs) so i'm gonna tolerate it (its got about 200 stickers on it anyway so fuck it).

Overall i'm pretty happy with it but build quality is no where near Marshall (i had a VS65R...piece of shit). I wish i could turn the clean up more than 4 with a metal zone thou before it sounds like shit. I'm gonna try a 4x12 or 2x12 cabinet to see if that helps.
If it were lost (i'd kick my own ass) or if it were stolen then I likely would go buy a Trace Elliot Supertramp 2x12 or i'd just try more stuff out. But this price/sound would be kinda hard to beat

This amp rocks. Most of my only gripes are in the features section though. Gain one dosent have access to the shape knob, but its meant to be a happy distortion anyway. And I wish there was a separate 3 EQ for each Gain. This amp has 10 different types and combos of 4 effects, delay, flange, chorus, and reverb. The Chorus and Flange are a bit digital, and the delay times are a bit odd. The reverb sounds nice though. Overall, the effects are good, and hey, I didn't buy the amp for them. Mine came with a 3 button footswitch that works pretty well.

I play everything from industrial and thrash to jazz and funk. This amp just rocks. Gain 1 is exactly like an AC/DC distortion. It sounds EXACTLY like Lenny Kravitz's sound too. The second gain is AMAZING!!! I leave the gain knob at about 4 to get a good Metallica sound. Crank it up more, and it gets insane, but tons off sustain, although a bit muddy. Good for modern stuff like Korn. But back it off a bit, and you have a perfect heavy metal sound. The bass is BRUTAL!! I've read reviews about the amp being noisy, and I've found solutuions to them. When the second gain is cranked all the way, with all that power, of course its gonna hum. Just crank it back a bit, you wont lose any sound, and the noise is gone. Also, the effects aren't true bypass(who would figure), so when chorus or flange is on, at low volumes there is a swooshing in the background. You can't hear it at higher volumes though. And if at lower volumes it bothers you, turn down the mix knob. This amp sounds wonderful.

Looks pretty sturdy. The reason this amp is so cheap I think is because it uses plastic for alot of its parts. But its looks durable enough, I would gig with it.

The guy I bought it from said he had dealt with Crate before, and they were very nice and efficient.

I've been playing for almost 3 years. I use this with my Dean ML, a Dunlops Crybaby Volume/Wah, a Boss Flanger, and a Boss Super Phaser. This amp just sounds great, you hafta try one out. Its true what other people said, Marshall buddies will love it, mine have. If it were stolen, I probably would buy a new one. Like I said before, there are a few things, like every amp, that could've been improved, but its a great value for an awesome amp. Perfect for anyone looking for that first amp with power step. Email me if you need any more info.

Everything's been said, it's almost perfect, but I wish it had a standard FX loop instead of the stereo insert jack.

WARNING: THIS AMP IS VERY LOUD!!! With my band, I have the volumes up around 6. Any more and I'd drown everyone else out. I play a modded Gibson SG and Epiphone SG (2 humbuckers each) through this. The clean and OD2 channels work great for my style, a cross between thrash metal and Creedish hard rock. The clean channel is great, and I can get almost any tone that I want out of it. OD1 gives a decent AC/DC or Kill 'Em All-era Metallica rasp, but I rarely use it. OD2 has a great modern distortion, very saturated. The Shape knob scoops the mids when it's cranked, and I keep it at 8-it works better with my wah that way. At higher volumes, the guitar feeds back immediately unless the strings are muted, but backing the gain off to 7 or so helps. As for the effects, I only use the chorus and occasionally reverb. If the DSP wasn't footswitchable, I wouldn't use them at all. The sound is very bassy, but my extension cab takes care of that.

I've had this amp for 7 months, and I haven't had any problems with the amp itself-it's like a rock. The footswitch LED for clean/OD is busted, but it's nothing major, I don't need the LED to tell me that I'm clean or distorted. There's a 5-year warranty anyway.

Never dealt with them, probably never will.

I've been playing seriously for about 2 years. I play my SGs through a Dunlop Crybaby, and I run a cheap knockoff extension cab with a 15" speaker and a horn-with the cab, it can sound just like a studio recording. If it were stolen, I would hunt the guy down, proceed to rip his....from his body and shove it all down his throat, hang him by the ears and proceed to bash his brains in with my SGs until he told me where it is, then I would hammer him with the amp. I would buy this amp again in a heartbeat if I didn't have the money for a Dual Rectifier. I compared this to Marshall MG and Valvestate, an ART, an old Randall halfstack and others, and this blew 'em all away. Great amp for the money-hell, I owuld've paid an extra $100 for this.

120 Watts, 2x12, 3 channels, onboard delay, flanger, chorus, chorus+reverb, reverb, external jack, 3-button footswitch, etc. I love the features on this amp! But...my only complaints as far as the features go is that there is no headphone jack (for late-night jamming) and there is only low and high adjustment for the eq for the overdrive channels. Also, another thing I don't like is that you can't use more than one effect at a time. But, you can't really ask more more as far as onboard fx. I just wish it had a better eq so I could scoop out the mids. But all in all, you can't get a better deal for this many features.

I'm using a P.O.S. strat-copy with single-coil pickups. I play all kinds of rock. The clean channel sounds really good. The first OD channel reminds me of the song "Above" by Mad Season. Some previous posts said it sounded like AC/DC, and I think I agree. The 2nd OD is nice and brutal. You can get some nice heavy sounds out of it.

Well, I've only had it for about a week, so I can't really comment, but I bought it used and it's held up very nicely thus far. Even when I bought it, there weren't any major scratches or anything.

I called Crate and asked if they could send me a user's manual and the guy directed me to a link where I could download it in .pdf format (Adobe Acrobat). I'd rather have a hard copy, but it's cool mang :)

I've been playing for 5 years. This amp was a replacement for my P.O.S. Peavey Rage 158. I've been extremely satisfied with it. I would buy it again in a heartbeat. I just wish it had a better eq for the OD channel so I can scoop out the mids, but whatever.

other people have already gone over them. its 120watt, 2x12, 5 year warranty, built in effects, blah, blah, blah...could use a 15lb weight reduction at 50lbs its not light

i use the clean channel with a boss metal zone and ohhhhh man the sounds is kickass. the other guy who said you can get a no use for a name sound on this with the pedal is exactly right. if...no amazing low endyou play octaves this is soooo nice, it also has very nice low end and right amount of treble...effects are cool but i never use them. for what it matters i'm using a washburn nuno bettencourt signature guitar and i love fast punk....more specifically fast heavy chug, chug, chug palm muting and this amp is great for it. i just bought the amp last week and have'nt had time to fool around with the gain channels yet, i'll update that later. bottom line if you play punk such as bigwig, nufan, osker, gob etc then alteast check this amp out but a metal zone is what give me these amazing sounds so that should be noted

looks solid, heavy, bulit to last, 5 year warranty so what do i care if it fucks up, but since i have only had it a week i won't rate this...but yes i do gig without a back-up...who the hell can afford two amps when 1 never gets played

never dealt with them

amazing sound, loud, 3 channels, effects...works for me so all i hope is that it can hang in for the long run. only other amp close in price range was peavey bandit 112. if you play punk buy a metal zone then check this amp out. if you want any more info or you wanna talk bout punk or whatever e-mail me

The features on this amp are GREAT! It sounds wonderful and is very Easy to use. The effects are very easy to use. All of the three channels (Clean, Gain 1, and Gain 2), are switchable with the footswitch. You can also switch the effects on and off with the footswitch. All of the channels have thier own tone controlls. It has an external speaker jack, as well as an insert jack for adding effects. The only thing I wish it had was a headphone Jack.

I am using this amp with a fender Strat with standard single-coils. I play mostly Blink 182, and other music that requires serious distortion. THE DISTORTION ON THIS AMP IS ABSOLUTELY THE MOST BRUTAL,SERIOUS,DISTORTION I HAVE EVER HEARD ON A SOLID STATE. I get great sounds from Gain 2. You can actually get a "clean" gain if you leave the nob at 5. You can get a great distortion that sounds like an over-driven tube amp if you turn the nob all the way up. The Gain 1 is weak. The clean channel is the best I have heard. Lot of bounce and bass. This amp sounds much better than other amps costing much more. The effects: Slapback delay, echo delay, slow flange, fast flange, slow chorus, fast chorus, Small room reverb w/chorus, large room reverb w/chorus, small room reverb, large room reverb. All the effects are great considering that they would cost $80 each if they wern't built-in. The reverbs are nice, as well as the delays. Chorus and flange could be a little better, but they are free!.
This amp has 120 solid-state watts. It has plenty of power for anyone. The clean channel gets better as the volume is turned up. The distortion suffers just a little with volume, but much less that other amps. I get sounds that are to loud for a medium-sized room at level 3. This is very well-toned amp. I give it a 10.

Never had any problems. It is as solid as a rock. I would use it in a gig without backup anytime. I once dropped it while carrying it. Not a problem. Hey, its a CRATE!

Never dealt with Crate. I don't think I will ever have to. I am sure they are nice.

Great amp. I compared it to fender Princetons, and marshall valvestates. It blew them all away. I love it. If it where stolen, I would catch the guy and hang him from a tree by his @#$% with an e string. This amp is the way to go.

i play classical and metal mainly. has Fx but i only use the reverb and chorus. delay is not even delay...it's just well, you need a delay pedal. i don't care, i only use the amp for practicing. has more than enough power for me...only for practicing at home and recording.

i play jackson with dimarzio evolution and ibanez RG470 guitars with stock pickups...love those damned guitars! well, i wanted to show my girlfriend this one guitar at the local music store. i plugged into the first crate i came across...i love crate. it was the gfx212 and i hadn't heard of it before. as soon as i hit the first chord...OH MY GOD!!! IT WAS INSANE. THE DISTORTION IN THIS THING!!! now, it has 3 channels...clean, which is great and really warm and full, distortion channel 1, which i hate...it's like bad ac/dc. i hate ac/dc anyway. it's a really weak no bottom end distortion. BUT DISTORTION 2 = INSANITY. as soon as we left the store i was on the phone with a rep to hold one aside for me. the distortion is so tight it's insane. i used it to record some rhythm tracks at home for a metal tune and i couldn't believe what i heard. anyway, i will use this and not my killer rig, to record the next cd.

i would depend on it. not sure if i would use it for a gig....i have my main rig for that. never broke and dont' think it will.

crate is a great help. 5 year warranty and the price is damn good for what you get. i am a tone finatic and i love this tone! it's so tight and bottom-endy. add chorus to it and forget about it!

if it was stolen i would buy it again. there is a head version of this which i bought for my rig and i didn't like it. the magic just didn't seem to be there so i returned it the next day. i have been through a lot of gear. right now i'm using rocktron preamps and mesa boogie all tube of course power amps. i love this crate amp...it's kickass! as always, let your ears be the judge and it is great though that we have message boards like this to get info from fellow musicians!

Just read the other reviews to find the features. It has a lot more than other amps in its price range, but the Flexwave preamp falls abit short in reproducing the warm sound of a tube amp. Would be nice if you coulds us more than one digital effect at once.

I use humbucker equipped guitars, and sometime a Strat in the neck position.

CLEAN- It can have a very nice clean sound if you fool around with the knobs a bit. It doesn't have the same warmth of a vintage tube amp. Turned up loud (to play with drummer), I find that the clean has too much spank and can sound very displeasing, not because of the volume, but because of the tone created. You can fix this by fooling with the knobs a bit more when cranked.

DISTORTION- The 1st channel has nice overdrive to it. A lot more clarity than the second channel, but definitely not as distorted. At lower gain settings, you can get a bluesy sound. With the gain set high, you'll get a more AC/DCish sound. I wish it had a bit more low-end to it, though. The 2nd channel would be best suited for metal, but is too muddy for punk. It sounds real good at low volumes. A nice, tight distortion good for anything, but when you crank it the tone is replaced with mud and a lot of feedback. Invest some money in a good distortion pedal if you are going to be playing at loud volumes.

EFFECTS- This amp has a nice selection of digital effects, all which I found to sound fairly good. The delays take away from your tone a bit, though.

There are two nut on the back that fell off because of vibration. The amp head to be taken slightly apart to fix it, but I haven't had any problems with it since. Just tighten the nuts every now and then and you should be fine.

Can't comment here.

I have had this for over a year and it has held up well. It is a real nice amp for the price. I'd just recommend getting a distortion pedal rather than using the 2nd gain channel.

If there's one thing that sticks out abou this amp is that it will blow the roof off your house. Its 120 watts with 2 '12 speakers. It has 10 digital effects, and the clean volume is just as good as a tube,very warm sounding and it doesnt distort at high volumes. More more than enough power.

I use a Epi Les Paul with Screaming Demon PU's. I play mostly punk and alternative, this amp is great for it. You can crank the clean all the way up and it doesnt distort. The only problem I have with this amp is the distortion its realy dull and weak, so I use a Danelectro Fab Tone and it sounds great.

This solid state is built like a tank. I've already accidently knocked it off a stage and there wasnt a thing wrong with.

Havent dealt with them.

This is a great amp for the price. Ive only been playing 2 years but this suits me fine. And on a couple of occasions have almost blown out my f'n eardrums!

This is a '99 model purchased new. It has 115 watts RMS (from the spec sheet) or 120 watts RMS(printed on the box). It has 3 channels, one clean and 2 dirty with full channel switching (3 button switch included). It has digital effects, including echo, flange, chorus, reverb, and chorus+reverb, also switchable from the 3-button switch. It has a line-out and external speaker jack. God knows why you would need more speakers. You could knock all the nails out of the walls with this, just like it is! This amp has more power than I'll ever need. I play it at home at its lowest setting. Crate says that the built-in pre-amp emulates tube amps. It could let you mix multiples of the DSP stuff, but doesn't. This doesn't matter to me, though, because I also play through a Korg A-5 effects pedal board. Note that the price paid (listed below) is NOT what you should expect. I got a very special price due to a mixup on an eBay auction, and got a new one for a used price. Since the poor man who sold it to me lost his butt on the deal, I'll mention his shop here. Don's Music Land! I know the guy is honest! This amp's MSRP is $590 and they usually sell for around $425. I've seen them for a little less. Don't pay more! Go somewhere else!

I currently use a Squier Strat guitar with single-coil pickups. The amp can be make to sound any way I desire, especially when I use my Korg A-5 effects unit. My ears can't take the volume necessary to find out if the clean channel distorts at high volumes. The dirty channels distort fine, but with tremendous amounts of feedback. So, I basically use the clean channel and my Korg A-5.

Hasn't broken, yet! And, solid-state amps either break quickly or not at all! No out-of-bias bad sounds for this amp! No gigger in his/her right mind would gig without some sort of a backup!

This unit has a 5 year, transferrable warranty (2 on the speakers). I've never dealt with the company.

I've been playing since 1961 (with a 30 year break after 1970). This amp sounds better than ANY amp I used back then, including Fender Showman, Bandmaster, Bassman, Gibson Mercury II, and others. They all sucked compared to this amp. I don't understand all the hoo-haa over tube amps. The damn things get screwed up all the time and rarely ever sound right. And I could never find a techie who could re-bias the damn things after a new tube job (very frequent). Don't waste your money on a tube amp, especially the "vintage" (old, worn-out pieces of crap) amps that cost 3 to 10 times what this amp cost! For the money, you can't beat this amp! I wouldn't trade this amp for all the "vintage" amps I listed above, together. Well, hell, I would, but I would sell all of them and buy another one of these! Oh,yeah! I forgot to say that this amp sounds as good or better than a Marshall VS100 half-stack that a friend has and costs a LOT LESS MONEY, even if you pay the normal price!

I play many different styles of music like heavy metal, punk, alternative, neo classical, rock, ang contemperary. This amp suits my needs perfectly. I really like this amp. It is solid state, its a twin with two 12" speakers, 120 Watts, 3 channels, comes with a footswitch which is great. I use this amp everywhere I try to take it wherever my guitar goes but it is 50lbs so I have to leave it sometimes. It has much more power than i need. I wish it had a three band eq on the gain channel but that really doesn't matter to me. It is incredibly versitile, I have gotten many compliments on it.

I have an Ibanez Rx 20 with humbuckers. I always use the bridge pickup because I like the sound of it the most. I don't really like humbuckers all that much. I'm getting a strat style G&L S500 so I'm excited I like single coils much better. The S500 sounds amazing though this amp. That is another great thing about the amp. It can make the worst guitar sound great. My Ibanez doesn't sound that great whwn I run it through my 15 watt Peavey but it sounds great when its hooked up to my big old crate. I love the gain. Gain 1 sounds great, you can get any distortion sounds that you are looking for out of this amp. Gain 2 is nice and compressed when you turn the shape wheel up. You can get nice crunch out of it. People are going on about how much they hat the wierd buzzing thing. It is just feedback, it happens when you use heavy distortion. It does it on other amps to I've tried. There isn't anything wrong with this one. Well that 's enough talk about gain. The clean channel is amazing, it souds so good. Especially with reverb and chorus on. The DSP are great, they aren't the best you can get but what do you expect. If you want great effects you should get a pedal. If you don't like the DSP just turn it off. DSp is a nice added extra that sounds good. The channel switch lets you select clean(no DSP), clean(with DSP), Gain 1(with DSP), Gain 1 (no DSP), Gain 2(no DSP), Gain 2(with DSP). Do you see all of the combinations. I am not opinionated like a lot of people that submit reviews, I just really like Crate products and this amp.

I can completely depend on this amp. I is a rock. It you smack this thing against something don't worry about it, it's a big boy it can take care of it self. Never has broken but I've only had it for four months. I carry it around all over the place it can handle anything. The handle is vey strong too. Over all this is a extremely well made amp.

Never had to deal with them.

If it were stolen I would definately buy it again. It is a great amp.

This is just a follow up to my last review. Check that one out.

Good as new again. 10 all the way baby!!!!

I probably woundn't use it on a gig anyway, but if I did I would take a back up just because it doesn't seem very solid at this point.

It took almost a month to get a defect taken care of. It had a defective filter capacitor (whatever that is). But it's good as new now. I've read some of the other reviews on here and it sounds like they had the same problem with excessive distortion and humming. To those people: get it fixed!!! It's not just your imagination...and you have a 5 year warrantee.

This has been well documented in the previous reviews. You really couldn't ask for much more from a combo this inexpensive...but wait...

Here's where start to see a problem. When I originally bought this amp I thought I got the best deal of my life. It sounded great. I couldn't MAKE this amp sound bad when it was new. As I became more familiar with it and experimented with tons of effects pedals and such, I apparently pushed this amp past it's limits (without maxing out on the power). Maybe it's just a random problem but and some people may never have it. But my GFX 212 really started to sound like crap after about a year. I've noticed in other reviews that people complained about feedback and vibrating. Mine does both. The feedback just recently became unbarable. It's a problem I've never encountered with any other amp. It won't tolerate any kind of effects pedal at any level and is noisy without one when on it's own OD channel at only 2/5 gain and 1/2 level. The pickups I use aren't a problem because I use several different brands in several different geetars. The local dealer I bought it from took it back on warrantee and currently the amp sits with some repairman in some far off land. He's probably just as confused about what's wrong with it as I am. As far as the vibrating goes, I have the same problem somebody else mentioned. Something about the box itself i guess. It vibrates when you turn the bass end up to where most people like it.

Like I said before, this thing was great when it was new. But right now, even when it comes back from the shop, I wouldn't use it without a backup.

I'll let you know when I get it back.

I've been playing for about 10 years and have never had a problem like this with an amp.
I use ibanez, epi, yamaha, and fender guitars with all original pickups. Multiple effects and a mixed half stack (Crate/Carvin, which I have to use even for practice at this particular moment because of the problem with the 212).
This amp is like an old alcoholic. It's tolerance goes away eventually. I have NO EARTHLY IDEA how this is possible. But that's what's happened with mine. Like I said before, when I first bought it, the amp could rip at all levels. I can't imagine everybody will have this problem, but I wouldn't recommend taking your chances. Get something else.

The amp can do it all, matel to funk to blues........everything
its the closest to tube you can get to with a solid state.

i have a PRS custom 24 it's a duel humbuker, and the amp fits it vary good, i also have a ibanez RG, with a singel in the middel. and it sounds good!.....1 of the overdrives gets a lot of noise, but if you tern the gain down it help, and if you us a peadel it is grate crate!!!

this amp is a solid state, thats all i need to say

never had a prob. bob!!!!

i have a brand new PRS custom 24, and i could not have picked a better amp. Its as loud as a half-stack, clear as a boogie, and vary chep. Single to humbukers its a good amp. CRATE is a lot better then people think. i almost want with a marshall MG, but after i lisened to both,...well lets just say i got the right amp.

This amp is so killer I can't get over it. It has 3 footswitchable channels(clean, distortion, super distortion) and DSP effects- reverb, delay, delay with regeneration, flanger, and chorus. They all sound great, but the flanger is only OK. The clean is great, and the EQ really makes a difference in the sound. The distortion channel is awesome for classic distortion and blues overdrive. The superdistortion channel is so cool! I use it for leads and Smashing Pumpkins style distortion. The distortion channels share an EQ. The Superdistortion also has a shape knob to dial in even cooler sound. To top it off, the 2 crate 12" speakers rule. The only negative part is that it has no headphone jack. Oh well, this amp is meant for band playing anyway.

Great! The clean channel gets better and better as you turn it up. Everything (mostly the other stuff in the room you're in) shakes after about 6 or 7. You will NEVER need that much volume anyway. The distortions also crank, and sound awesome.

I have only had it for a bit, but it seems really solid and has a 5 year warranty. I doubt i will have any problems.

BUY THIS, especially if you are in a band. I can't express how much I love it. I would recommend it in a heartbeat. It is well worth the money. I would pay $200 more for it!
Just a side note, it is not in it's prime as a practice amp, its just so loud!

I love the features on this thing!! They have allready been listed but they make this amp vey versitile. This amp has plenty of power. Even though I only use the clean channel because I use a multi-effects processor. But when im playing, and i feal like throwing in some chorus or delay in unisen with the effect im using its right ther one the footpedal.

I have many guitars. I am presently using a brand new '99 Ibanez RG270DX. (love the guitar) it has dual humbuckers and a single coil in the middle. it sounds the balls through it! i have also a Gibson Les Paul Standard, A Fender Stratocastor original '59 with three sinle coils. That sounds great!! I can get alot of reall good bluesy sounds coming out of it using the gain 1 about at half-way and a reverb. i have also played jacksons, PRS, washburn, and even bass guitars!! Its not very noisy. It all depends on where you are, what kind of lghts are in te room etc. but for me its pretty quiet. Even though Both you and I know, nothing beats the sound of tube, this is damn near the next best thing!!

Very reliable. I havnt really blasted it yet but its solid state. cant bust em'.

i guess a 5yr warranty never dealt w/customer service.

Good amp for the price and features. Best solid state I have played. I would advise for u to buy one

This amp has pretty awesome features. 3 channels, effects loop, built in DSP, dual distortion, etc... I don't wish it had any more features- this amp is stacked in that catagory Its incredibly loud, too- I haven't cranked it past "6" yet

I play an Epiphone SG with non-stock humbuckers (don't know the brand)
The guitar kicks serious butt... sounds just awesome

This amp is perfect for my musical style, which ranges from blues to rock to cranium crunching metal. I've been playing for a year, so I haven't had much to compare it to, but I have a very critical "tone ear."

The clean channel is fabulous- crystal clear and the EQ is killer, can dial up anything from Fender twang to dark,Creedish type clean. The DSP is pretty good- The flange sucks big time, it sounds like a blanket being thrown over your playing, but the chorus is great and the reverb is good, I don't use the delay much. I didn't buy the amp for the effects, though.

The overdrive channel, contrary to many previous entries, is a total tone-monster. I get a nice light bluesy overdrive that can jump to a good crunch in OD1, great for playing classic rock. With OD2, ican get a huge variety of heavy type distortion, with the highs at 0 and contour at 10, and the tone knob on my neck pickup backed up all the way I can nail the distortion on "Blue Monday." I've had even better success with lead playing using 0D2, though. Everything cranked with my bridge pickup, contour at "O", I get this incredible MEAN sounding kick-ass tone that is great for super-fast legato runs and harmonics or stuff with really heavy pitch vibrato, which is basically the hard rock stuff that I play.

hasen't given me any problems

I've been playing for a year, and I have a Boss noise reduction and am soon to have a Snarling Dogs Wah- extremely killer pedal! I have a unique tone, which is a mixture of classic rock, blues, and metal- this is a very versitale combination.


If this amp was lost or stolen, I'd first stomp around my house yelling and making a general ass of myself, and then I'd hire a private detective to find the guy who stole it. I'd then proceed to duct-tape him to my roof and torture him until he told me where it was. After I had recovered my amp, I'd smash his head to a pulp with it and leave his carcass for the birds. If I lost it, I'd probably curl up into a ball and cry, then buy a new one.

I compared this amp to a no-name halfstack and a Fender combo. I chose this because of its combination of tone, versatility, reliability, volume, and portablility at a good price.

I don't wish it had anything else- this amp is sweet!

This amp steered me away from a Marshall Valvestate. The distortion led me to sell my DOD Grunge pedal. The tone is versital enough for any style. I play Dokken, Metallica, Creed, Limp Biskit, Korn, Hendrix, Motley Crue, Slayer, Sepultura and even The Cure! This amp can handle it all. The only reason I can't rate it a ten is due to the fact that it does not have a foot controler pedal for the effects. I would have paid an extra hundred bucks if it had one. I mainly use this amp at home. I don't crank it much. I have yet to play with a drummer and or bassist. I'm sure it has enough volume to stand out. I crank all the distortion settings and the high and low and use 0% of the mids. Like I said before, it can handle anything.

I use a 1993 Jackson Dinky Reverse Pro with the stock, hot, Jackson pickups, ( humbuckers ). This guitar rips through this amp! The harmonics are wild, I play alot of George Lynch solos and they sound pretty darn close to the CD I'm playing along with. I have played a Telecaster, Strat, Dean Z, Dean V, Hamer Californian, PRS, Ibanez 7 string and an ESP LTD M-100 through this amp at the shop before I decided to buy it. It sounds good with single coils, humbuckers and any combonation of the two. The seven string was so heavy, it was excellent. I couldn't find anything wrong with the sounds this amp has to offer at all. The feed back isn't a problem with mine at any volume. The only guitar that produced any feed back at all was an Epiphone Les Paul standard and it had cheap pick ups to begin with.

I have had and probably never will have any problem with this amp. It is the only amp I own and will probably ever own until they make some sort of improvement I couldn't live without, ie: floor pedal for DSP effects.

Never needed it. Probably won't ever need it.

If I lost this amp somehow I would buy another one. After hearing this amp, I dropped Marshall. I still wish it had a floor pedal for the effects ( DSP ). After playing seriously for the last 15 years and after all the different amps I have owned, This was the one that ended my search for the ultimate in affordable amps.

Well, this badass has like 10 effects, 2 types of gain, and a very nice clean channel, 2 custom 12 inch speakers, and a footswitch great for live sessions.

I use a Jackson, i think its a dinky reverse with 2 humbuckers, i am not sure, i think it is great because I play Metallica, Megadeth, and Iron Maiden most of the time, and its very good, especially number two, because thats heavy shit, i mean it, you palm mute it and it souns chuga-chuga-chuga, like Metallica in th old days, i love the shape knob, it haves a lot of presence, and gain 1 sounds very alike to the kill em all sandpaper style, as well as a little iron too.

The feedback is not a problem if you stay away from the amp, or if you reduce the volume on your guitar a little, trust me, it sounds great. I normally use it with all the gain, all the shape, and all the low and high knobs to 10, because of the guitar volume thing.
The clean channel is great, especially with the chorus effect, and the distortion kicks ass.

its absolutely dependable, because it will never break or something, i have used it alot of times outdoors and it would never give me any pain in the ass.

if i lost it, i would buy it again, i love its sound and the only thing i would appreciate is the lack of individual speaker control, my fellow guitar player band partner has a peavey renown 400 amp, he uses boss metal zone and he can control both speakers sound and then mix it with the footswitch, i would like more volume on gain 2, great amp.

All covered in previous reviews.

OK, this is why I decidied to write this review. Alot of people complain about feedback with this amp... this is true of ANY high-gain amp. I find if you cut the distortion back to about 2 o'clock, you loose none of the heavy sounds at higher volume and loose a great deal of the unwanted feedback. Everything I play tends to be on the heavier side of the tonal spectrum from VH to Satriani to Pantera to Metallica and I cant believe someone in a previous review said that this amp only produces overdrive, not distotion! Were they on crack or what? Thats the reason for my buying this amp, awesome highly compressed saturated distortion. When you palm mute you get a killer chug-chug-chug tone (BTW - my usual gain settings are Gain2- 2 o'clock, low- 1 o'clock, high- 3 o'clock, mode- normal delay (not slapback), level- staight up 12 o'clock).
Another tip besides lowering the gain to reduce feedback is that the louder you turn it up, the less low you need in the mix, Example- at home pratice levels I run it at 2 o'clock, with drums its at 11 o'clock and you still get all the chug you need.
Last tip to reduce feedback is to watch out how much reverb you add in on the gain channel, anything past 1 o'clock and you are begging for squealin'.
With these settings and using my Ibanez RG550 Reissue, I am constantly being told I sound like Zakk Wylde (...I do take that as a compliment... some may not... lol)

I had just traded in my GFX-120 for the GFX-212 to fill out my sound a little. Played out both through a PA and just using the amp at gigs, never once had a problem. Very durable from car rides in sub-freezing weather to sitting in the sun at 90+ while jamming outside on a summer days. Only problem I ever had was on my old GFX-120, therer was a loud popping sound that went off whenever I would turn it on with the FX level at anything past 0. The new amp doesnt do that at all.

For high gain or total clean situations you cant get more bang for the buck... period. Great amp for bar gigs, practice, recording and jam sessions. Easy to lugg around hells half acre at only 50 lbs, plus it has slots in the bottom for casters which the guys at the store didnt know about and my salesman threw in the casters for free.
I dont like or use gain 1 so I wont give an evaluation on it.

i got this amp on clearance. it has all the features i need. read other reviews for the features, i'm too tired to write down all of them.

i use a ibanez rg470, all stock. i'm 'bout to put a duncan distortion in the bridge, though. this amp kicks it supa phat! i play metalcore like zao, spitfire, living sacrifice and eso-charis. this amp suits me quite well. i mainly use the first distortion cause it is more sandpapery. the clean is the best i've heard on a solidstate. some tube amp purist friends of mine heard it and thought it was really tube! they couldn't belive it was solidstate. shows them how good solidstate can be.

solidstate, can't bust 'em.

never dealt wit' 'em. hey, it's solidstate, don't need too, though.

great amp fo' de price. get one today and give your schoolteachers a hug.

This amp is very unlike other Crates I have played ..and that is no small amount. I guess it's the digital junk..As you probably already know it has Flange, Delay, Reverb, and Chorus.. with a Reverb/Chorus mix. The only options you have here, other than what effect you want, are the level of the efect and one of the two settings in each (big/small room reverb, slap-back delay or long w/ regeneration, slow or fast chorus, light/heavy flange)
The clean channel is really good as stated..I love the overdrive. It suits me wonderfully..I play industrial/goth/punk style music. The first overdrive channel puts out a really good Black Flagish style distortion while the other channel can be anything from a Type O Negative type distortion to a more mid heavy distortion. My only problem is that with both channels volume switches all the way up the first is always louder than the second which is more versitile. I think it has something to do with that shape knob that controls the overall sound of the 2nd channel.
I also wish you had more control over the effects, but for the price it is appropriate.

I'm using a Daion (i think thats how you spell it) guitar with two humbuckers (one in the bridge, one in the neck position). I get lots of feedback when i use the effects heavily. I think thats my guitar though.
Other than what I've already mentioned.. I really like the footswitch... and I hate the rattle in the cab at high volumes..but who cares really? Very versitile.

It's still pretty tough.. I'm a notorious amp killer.

5 year warranty... need i say more? Plus i know the crate people are great.

This was a pretty good amp. I'm useing a pretty beat up Epiphone Les Paul Special II. I like to play Blues, Rock, Pop, really a lot of things, and this amp was Ok. It is pretty versitile, in the clean channel anyway, you can get really nice sounds out of it, like surf, or crisp blues, or anything clean really, but the distortion channels were horrible, it was really bland and mad noisy. I got the Boss DS-1 and it works great through the clean channel, but the over drive sucks big time. It has really good features, Delay, Reverb, Chorus, Flange, it was pretty nice. It also came with a 3-button footswitch to swith channels, witch was pretty good. I give it a 10 cause the features are really good for this kind of amp.

Like I said before the distortion sucks big time, oh and the case rattles if you have the bass past like 4 witch is stupid. That's in both channels. But the clean channel is really nice, one of the best one's I've seen. I give it a six cause of the crappy overdrive. Sorry if I say distortion, it's overdrive, there is a difference.

The duribilty sucks, i don't know if it was just my amp, but mine broke about 3 weeks after I had it. So i don't know, but I have to give it a 1 cause I don't care who you are, a 500$ amp should last longer then 3 weeks. And I barly used it, I never turn the volume past 1, didn't push bull past it's limits.

Never dealt with them, but has a 5 year warranty, witch is one of the best one's in the buisness, witch is good cause if you buy this amp you'll need it.

I would not recommend buying this amp if you are serious guitar play and are always concerned about tone and quality. If you are a beginner, or you want a nice practice amp this would be perfect. Oh, also if you turn the effects up too high it makes like a almost auidible buzz sound. Not to much of a problem, it didn't bother me or anyone else, but I could do with out it.

This amp really is versatile. Not only can you get a wide range of sounds with this amp, from big bassy distortion to tinny surf music, the buit in effects add that extra measure of versatility when you need a little more. I don't like the one stereo jackeffects loop (but I don't use an effects loop anyway), and I wish it had a setup like the marshal combos where the are two line outs in the back, one for the internal speaker and one for a cab so you can choose whether the internal speaker is activated or not when you hook into an ext cab. That can probably fixed though. But it's not a marshall, and much cheaper. With all the stuff it's got on it, i give it a 10.

I'm using this amp with a Fender standard mexi-strat, spectraflex cables, a boss OS-2, and a DOD Ice box. It suits my music style perfectly (alternative stuff and punk and grunge and ska, i.e. green day, nirvana, bad religion, blink 182, offspring, Mighty mighty bosstones, 311, bush, foo fighters, you get the idea. I also like to mess with some vintage hendrix.) This amp is very quiet even with my stock single coils. The amp's distortion is omewhat noisy (single couls i'm sure), but i use my OS02 more. This amp has a great clean, i've never had it distort. Then again i've never had to have it loud enough to distort. A 120 watt 2X12 combo is pretty loud. The distortion on the amp is perfect for older offspring, nirvana, or a punkish or grungish. I really like the gain 2, is use it for lead. it has more gain then you will ever need, for leads I keep it around 5!!

I haven't had it long enough, but this amp seems built really well with a thick walled cab. I don't see it breaking and have had no problems.

nope

This amp is a fantastic value!! Name me one other 2x12 combo, especially with 120 watts, with the great sound and all the features of this one for that price brand new. I hate nothing about this amp, and am so glad I chose it. Go buy it.

Very good features! It has a clean channel, an overdrive channel, and it is all footswitchable (Is that a word?) It also has digital effects on it. The effects are all footswitchable, but you can't change effects with the switch. The features are great, but not for the style of nusic I play which is punk. I hardly use effects.

The distortion channel on this amp really SUCKS! If you like a Marshall sound, this amp is not the way to go. I use a distortion pedal (Boss MT-2) and it sounds AWESOME! I can get a No Use for a Name sound right on the head, and this is with a Squire Strat (I plan on getting a Les Paul as soon as I get the money) The clean channel is one of the best I have ever heard. It stays pretty clean at just about any volume. The digital effects aren't that bad. The reverb is a bit sterile sounding, but like I said, I hardly use effects. The only time I use reverb is if I play some surf song. Other effects are delay, flange, chorus, and chorus mixed with reverb. The effects are fun to mess around with, but I never use them live. I keep the amp's volume at about a 5 1/2 so I don't cover up the drummer. This thing is worth every penny of the $400 I paid for it after many months of saving. I give it an 8 because of the shitty distortion.

I can depend on it. The amp I used before this is a Crate GX15, and I had it for 2 years and it never had one problem. I use it without a backup all the time, because this is the only amp I have.

I have never dealt with Crate.

I give it an overall rating of an 8. I give it an 8 because of the shitty distortion channel. If it had a distortion channel that sounding half as good as it's clean channel I would give it a ten. I highly recommend it if you have a good distortion pedal.

I picked up the GFX-212 when it started shipping with the 3 channel foot pedal. the channels are overdrive 1, overdrive 2 and DSP. having no lights on the footpedal means its on clean channel. through the digitial effects channel there are 10 different effects. the 120 watts rms has plenty of power for me. only problem is the plastic parts, although I never had any problems with them metal would have been nice =)

I use this through a Strat with stock PU's and and a Fender Jag-Stang with stock PU'S. amp can play a lot of different tones with those guitars. this thing has crazy overdrive! trust me, I usually play with gain all the way up and shape all the way up(I think this is contour..?) I play punk music and its perfect. this thing is crazy loud! only problem is it has lots of feedback but if you put the low to half and high all the way up on distortion EQ it gives nice distortion. not as much with a humbucker though

AWESOME with this solid state you dont need to worry about blowing it out. believe me

Never had to deal with them yet, and probably never will.

I've been playing for a year and I love this amp. Plus I can't afford the other amps I would like =) I'd probably get it again if it were stolen because at this price its hard to beat. I highly recommend this amp.

This amp has a lot of features. I really dont feel like telling them. Just look below. Anyways, i used this amp in a band that i had. It was definitly loud enough. I play NIRVANA alot. I love to play grunge. This amp WAS (the key word here) perfect for me, since it gives you alot of feedback. The sound started to deterierate though. Check the sound section. It has 3 channels (1 clean, 2 drives). Its not a tube though. It has a effects loop, ext. speaker also. It also comes with a footpedal. Its got 2x12 speakers so its stereo sound.

I use a Fender Toronado with dual humbuckers. I love my guitar. Like i said before, I play grunge music. The amp is very noisy (feedback). Thats good for grunge music. This amp can mkae a vareity of soounds like chorus, delay, flange, echo etc. The distortion can get very heavy. After awhile, this vibrating noise started to happen. It pissed me off so much I took the amp back. The noise drove me crazy.

This amp was pretty durable. I never had any breaking problems.

I have never dealt with the company. There is a five year warrenty though. I didn't want to get the amp fixed because the problem would have occured again.

I have been playing for 3 yrs. I own a Samick LS-11, a little 10 watt Karara amp, DOD super overdrive pedal, a Dunlop Crybaby wah. Im getting my new FENDER amp tonight. Woo-hoo! I would not buy it again because of that vibrating noise, if it got stolen.

This amp is great! It is very easy to get the sound you want and it can really make some noise. It has 3 channels and 2 gains as well as 10 effects that actually sound pretty good. A wide variety of sound, form rich tone filled clean to hard and heavy distortion. My only peeve about it is that you have to get up and turn the knobs to turn on the effects, which isn't a big deal anyway.

I use a Crate Electra with stock pickups, and sounds really good despite my bad guitar. I like playing real heavy distortion and it suits me real well. The clean also sounds nice, and it gets great feedback on distortion, some people don't like that, but I love it.

Never had any problems.

Good warranty, but never dealt with them.

Everything I hoped for and more, I would definitely recommend this amp.

I love this amp! You can pretty much look at the people that posted stuff before to find out about the features. Havent had any problems with it though it does have some feedback when you puton some heavy distortion but that may just be the guitar. You can play almost all types of music on this amp.

I play a IbanezRg 470 with stock Ibanez pickups (INF1 and Inf2). It suits my musical style very well. I mostly play Metallica and stuff of that nature but it is a nice bright clean sound. The amp comes with different effects. 10 (I think) and two channels with gain 1 and 2 so you can get alot of different sounds out of it. This thing can crank if you want it to.

Never had any problems with it.

Never dealt with them

I have been playing for a year. This amp has beat every other amp that I played. I love the effects and the great distortion. Its alot better than the epiphone 15 watt amp I owned before this. It has everything I need for my music needs and if it were stolen I would cry and than go find the person that did it and kick their... well you get the idea.