Crate GT-80 DSP

This is a great amp! I dont know what year it was made- i bought it recently as a used amp. Overall, it sounds great and has a ton of settings and a headphone jack.

The clean is very clean, the distortion is very hardcore. However the distortion is a little to crunchy for me, needs to be a little more crisp.
also, the nobs are super sensative, so if its late at night and you don't want to wake anyone up, you best not play it.

This amp is very dependable, but a little heavy for its size, so be careful if taking it to a gig

well when i got it, it just came with an instruction pamplet with all the settings and warranty.

ive been playing it for about 2 months now, and it still sounds great. For the price, i totally recomend it.

even for teens that are just starting up a band, you can probably find one for pretty cheap, and it totally rocks.

This amp was made between 1992 and 1994. It is a hybrid with two 12au7's and one 12ax7. you can switch solid state or tube, in the distortion channel or the clean channel.

i use a epi les paul, cuz i like that kick ass gain that humbuckers bring. I play death metal and heavy stuff like pantera and martyr ad, and this amp gets the job done distortion wise if you use solid state mode. this amp is only noisy while playing, meaning that it does not give off crappy spounds, but its LOUD AS CRAP! this amp is tight! i like the reverse and infinite delay settings. the distortion on is good on ss, and on tube if u turn it up past about 5. otherwise this amp rox.

i just got it last week, but my dad has the same amp, and we compared tubes. his gt-80 has the origionals, and so does mine, so the tubes are about 13 years old. my dad bought his new in 1992, so i guess it will last, cuz hes never had any trouble.

never dealt with them, except to order the footswitch.

ive played about 3 years, and im pretty good. the guys at guitar center drool when i did artificial harmonics, considering im 12. If this were stolen, i would look for a new one, but these amps are so frikin hard to find.

Nice features, thats why i picked over another crate model 2x6 ss. Dunno the year. The deathmetal tone came off ok considering it is a little amp, but its still 80w, and heavy. very very heavy.

The deathmetal tone came off ok considering it is tiny compared to a cab. it is heavy, though, and 80w. clean didnt come off very well but i bought it used and the tubes cut out a half year later. ive only played it with shitty strato-remakes and bought after i blew a dean markley 1x6 15w. 200bucks was great. warm fuzzy tones, slightly bluesy crunchy distortion, you can play power chords like aged whiskey; yellow, mellow but spicy, with bite.

it broke, sadly. the sound went to shit and took like 5 minutes to warm, then it cut out entirely. replaced 2 of the 3 tubes. the guitar shop guy said it was strange that it had 2 preamp 12au7s. still didnt work. im asking for explaination. it was used, i neglected it, its gotta be fixed.

you know, i cant find a manual for the dsp selections. 31 options and i dont know what they are so i fiddle and get a good sound half of the time. if you have some info about this, pass it on to ChaosFinite57@hotmail.com thanx

good starter amp for *serious* guitar players and serious parents (cause they will hear it). especially good if bought used. crate is usually reliable though i would go with a vintage marshall because they are so sweet. it pleasures me

The reverb settings arent bad...there was no intructions so i dont really know what all of them are....but some are ok.. The distortion is well....buy a distortion pedal. I like to play hard rock...nu metal type stuff but i also like playing other styles as well this amp isnt bad for most styles. It does get pretty loud. the neat thing is it can switch from tube to solid state...i thought that was pretty cool when i played it.

I use an Ibanez Custom RG570 with 2 EMG 81 pickups...it sounds very niec...the tone is exilent...again..buy a distortion pedal tho if you want good distortion...the clean is pretty good at high volumes..and it doesnt take much to get this game to sound pretty loud..i have the settings pretty much perfect for the sound i want. You should just mess with the settings till you find the sound you are looking for its pretty straight forward.

Well i have to say...the tubes did die but it was after about at least 7 years of having the amp..so i would say its not bad..the input jack is kinda messed up but other than that it works fine

Never dealt with them

Not a bad amp especially for what you could get it for. The tube/solid state thing is pretty cool...its very loud but looks pretty small.

I think this was a middle to late 80's amp. I just got it recently and for free, pretty much. I don't have the footswitch for it and don't know if I'll get it. If you read the other reviews, it has all that they mentioned, as in in the effects loops (plenty to choose from). Some of the effects are pretty cool under the DSP but some are just annoying and you'll never use them.
The kind of music I play is mixed blues and my own style stuff. Kind of sad/relaxing playing with a wah-wah mixed in. I like the whole R & B/funk mixed kind of style...I do that in clean on this amp. The clean is okay for me. Again, the other reviews describle what it has.

Right now I am using a Yamaha Pacifica with it. It' a beginners guitar, pretty much, but some may gig, etc. with it because of it's sound. The amp suits my style much better than my previous (Crate CR-160) because there isn't as fuzzy and loud of a sound as the other. I can't hear my mistakes as often. I feel like I am a better player with it. Only thing is, though, that something is wrong with it when it comes to the speaker or something. In the middle of my playing, or right when I turn it on, it just blanks out and then crackles its way back eventually. In this state, you could not gig with it. I think it's because it's so old and never had a speaker or tube change or anything. It was missing one tube when I got it so I replaced it, but still stinks. (Anyone know why it does this when I play?).

Well, right now I would not depend on it because it blanks out. You don't want to be playing and then just have this little silent sound come out that you can hardly hear. But if that was fixed I would recommend you use it for a gig...but keep something equal or better to it, like a Marshall, etc., just in case.

NA

I've been playing for a little over a year. I have plenty more to learn but am not bad for just a year. As said, I also have the Crate CR-160 and I have a wah.

If it was stolen I would probably by something similar...but I got it for free...it's worth about 250 used, I think. I just wish it wouldn't blank out. But what do you expect? It's at least a decade old and it probably needs simple replacements. I got an unbelieveable deal and I really like it compared to my previous. You may want to get something like this if you want to update from your starter, etc. amp. Just make sure everything is working. I like Crate amps. I plan on buying more in the future. The CR-160, though, even though it's more than a starter...I don't recommend. Didn't do that great with my first guitar...but it's decent. I think everything will sound much better when I get my Strat.

The drive was great. The hybrid tube sound really stood up. When I bought it I had to buy a better guitar to get the more of its sound (Fender strat with DiMarzio HB) It only failed once, at a gig, apparently I overloaded it. I thought it had broke but the next day it was OK. Its digital effects were an interesting plus. Great for heavy metal and blues

I played it with a Strat and a Peavey Wolfgang. Occasionally with an Strat-Style Epi with a Gold Lace Sensor SC

Distortion is warm even at medium volumes. The rythm channel is that: warm not so clean. The great thing is you have separate gains for Tube/SS for both Rythm/Lead

It only let me down once (see above) other than that it was a beauty. Never blew up a fuse (while others in the gig did) All pots very Hi Quality. We played in a rather dusty place and still my cleaning was only to keep it shiny

It was stolen from the joint where we rehearse a couple of weeks ago. This is in part a memory. My first amp was a 25 watt Park and the difference really hit me. However, even before the Park I used to borrow a Peavey combo. I am looking for an all tube, either Crate or Peavey

This is a decent little 1-12 open back combo. It's a hybrid (tube and SS preamp. solid power amp. It's a 1996 model and came with footswitch and cover. The 3 botton footswitch controls 1. preamp, tube or tranny. @. Channel switching, lead or rythumn. 3. DSP on or off. You end up with 8 footswitchable channels (with the DSP). THe DSP has 31 selections and a effect volumn control. IT has a simple effectsd loop (send and return with no level control) and line in and out jacks on the back. Each channel has its own volumn control and 3 band eq. It also has 4 gain controls (ss and tube, lead or rythumn).

I have 9 guitars but mainely use a Fender Japstrat with 3 humbuckers (no its not stock) or a 1983 Gibson explorer with this amp. Its actualy fairly quiot unless the gain is PEGGED (more often then not). It suits my style OK (with a 2-12 closed back cab). I play for lack of a better term, atmospheric doom death metal. Hows that? I can get a huge variety of sounds out of it (maybe not quite huge, but many different tones). I can get some very sweet clean sounds out of it and some fairly brutal distortion along with many things inbetween. The cool thing is for each channel you select, the amp remembers the settings. In other words if you are playing in your room at 3 in the morning remember you had the lead channel on 10 because it will. I've did that, oops. Jst playing along and switched channels. Neibours were not impressed. The loop is good for some things (reverbs, delays tremolo) but not for others (distorion, flangers). So you ghave to experiment a bit to find out what works and what does not. It doesn't have a Fenders clean or a Mesas gain, nor do I expect it to. For what I do, and that a lot of 80s speed metal and such it works just fine. With a closed back cabinet this thing will amaze you (it did me at least). I can get a early 70s Heep sound out of it along with Sabbath and some other old hard rock. It also does a nice bluesy grind (ala Masters Of Reality).

I've gigged with it with no problems and its been as dependable as a Timex so far, wish I could say the same about every other piece of gear I have owned. The speaker (Crate one) finally died last year as I play it LOUD and often. I installed a Carvin BR12 and am very very happy with it. Think of it as a poor mans Celest. Much improved tone over the stock speaker and the stock speaker didn't sound all that bad really.

I think the warranty was 5 for the amp and 3 for the speaker (but I may be wrong, that sounds Fendery). Every place in the free world seems to have a Crate servicecenter so I don't worry about that much. I've never dealt with Crate and judging by their new products, never will.

I've been playing for 17 years, though you couldn't tell by listening to me play. If it were stolen (the only things I loose are guitar picks and women)and I found out who it was, nothing good would come of it for them. I don't love it, but nor do I hate it. It does most everything I require of it and has gave me zero problems, except for the speaker. I had much to do with the speakers demise. I compared it it like amps when I aquired it, Marshall Valvestates, ect. and it soulded better then all of them, with more features (at the time). I wish it had a lot of things but the bottom line is its not all valve, its not a Roland JC and I review accourdingly. Comparing this to a Marshall, Soldano, Boogie VHT (take your pick) is more then a little unfair, it sounds very good for what it is. And it is a compact 1-12 80 watt hybird, nothing more nothing less. I would not buy another, I would get its big brother, the GT200DSP which is a 200 watt 2-12 stereo verion of it with chorus. If you see an old Crate GTwhatever for sale, try it you just might like it a lot. Good value for the money and good enough sound.

This is a few years old ,mid nineties at a guess.4 channel,digital effex,1x12 - 2 preamp tubes and 1 power amp driver tube into a msofet power amp.ext speaker outs and its grey and black.Hum.A bit too subdued in colour for rock n roll! This has enough power for small gigs and rules for practice and jamming.
I have a six unit rocktron rack system with a piranh preamp and i wanted a mini version of that with similair sounds.This does the job.I also tried peavey bravo,bandit,fender roc-pro,valvestate,H+kettners and new crates.

This is great for blues/rock or metal.Dont play much clean stuff so cant really comment on that.The distortions are great for the size of this thing,although it lacks a little low end thud,but hey,what do you expect from a small open back cab?.It does have ext.speaker out though,and sounds great thru a 4x12.The reverbs and delays are good and quiet(unlike peavey trans-hissses!).The 4 amp channels(tube dirty,tube clean,trans dirty,trans clean) all remember the dsp settings so you can go from dry distortio to clean delay with one switch!.
This babe is a rack in a box !
I have also owned peavey bravos -great but only 2 channel and valvestate combos and compared this to fender rocpros and hughes and kettner stuff.It is on a par with the excellant bravo for distortion sounds and has the bonus of digital effx and 4 channels.Dont buy new crates they sound crap compared to this.Come to think of it the only other good crates are the stealths.
The mid control on this is awesome-scooped metal to gary moore.I guess its active.Passive eq`s suck on distortion channels.

Looks better made than modern crate stuff.Thinking about it all the earlier amps (e.g. peavey blue jobbies and older marshalls) seem better built than there modern counterparts.No power valves to go wrong-yes! .Havent had it long,but i havent heard anyone complaining about crate stuff(unlike my digitech 2101 -piece of shit)

Its out of date and im in england so i guess no support.Still as long as the dsp stuff doesny=t go wrong i guess il be okay

I wish it had a closed back cab and a proper 4 way switch for iunstant channel access instead of a tube/ss and channel switch.Apart from that i want another one in case this goes wronG!
$300 used is a bargain valve preamps,digital efx! my rack cost more like $2000 and this does a simplied job of all of that.Much better but than a transfex hissmaster.

This amp has a lot to offer for its price. It has four channels- clean/dirty tube and clean/dirty solid state. It has an effects loop, jack for an external speaker cab, and footswitch capability. It puts out 80W through one twelve inch speaker-sounds very good. The effects processor has thirty sounds, mostly reverbs and delays. Some are useful, but it is really overdone. This amp is really designed for loud music. PERIOD. If you are looking for jazzy sounds or the likes-- look elsewhere. It is very loud--I only have to crank it to 6 to over- power my drummer.

The solid state distortion is great for metal and the tube dirty is good for bluesy stomp or classic rock. My only complaint is that I seem to lose some definition with the gain cranked. It becomes a little muddy. The clean channels are good. Solid state clean is sparkling clean and the tube clean is very warm-easily driven to a raunchy blues tone. Not necessarily the best clean sound though- Fender's are much better if you want clean sound. I play this amp with a ESP M-II with humbuckers--killer distortion and sound!

It is reliable. It has never broken or stopped working. It is a workhorse. I have had one recurring anomaly though--it buzzes sometimes when I turn it on. I have never figured it out--not a big deal.

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A great amp for an intermediate musician or player. Plenty of power and plenty of features. For the price I would buy it again. For better distortion in its price range I would go for a Randall solid state combo. For better clean tones I'd go for a Fender combo.