Crate GX15R

Ok, Got this baby at local pawn shop in Vegas for $34.99 no tx(yay that was my strong stance in the sale no tx gat a deal.They paid 10$ for it ive pawned an amp or two).Originally it was a replacement for a fender in equal paportions cost wise.the fender was ripped off and all in all a better amp.but for the price in the shape its in and probably a 2000 model.the distortion is absolute crap.Why ?WHY!?!do they do stupid crap like that!?#$%MAN!anyways bottom line is bottom dollar the price was right !!!!

it has a very nice clean channel the distortion ia a joke Nuff said on that.The volume coool for its size and again for clear crisp tunes(picking techniques especially).if you have the pedals or just starting out in music then invest in a distortion or i have an ibenaz super chorus does bitchin with santana tunes.any how the almighty dollar rules this sale no doubt. I like playing classic rock blues little jazz but if i want to go crazy the distortion wont let you.onthe other side for volume and clarity no problem with a couple extensions on it you can do a small gig no problem..

onl y had it 3 months and use it 2-3 hrs a day no problem still goin strong,but what do you want for 35 bucks!? if it lasted 6 months and quit id be at the pawn shop buyin another no problem...

n/a

i have a custum electric classical another custom acustic(i dabble as a lutheryn figure if im gonna play it might as well be able to fix it.and if i can fix it might as well be able to put a new face on or change the body all together..then a strat electric and another cheap classical.only been on my qwest for music about 5 years and learned the basics on the bass about(was a 600.00 4 string Ibanez 9months put into it.had to sell it .Really loved playingit just cant afford one right now....all in all the crate holds its own if used properly.go get one for around the house or to just keep in the trunk(very light)I GUESS THAT'LL DOOO!!!!LATE!

It's a simple 12W practise or studio amp with fender tonestack and spring reverb. It's circuit is based on a simple op-amp design. The 30W in the back means power consumption so don't be mistakened. It's equipped with clean and distortion channels and a small button to select between them. Three jacks: input, headphones and speaker out. Speaker is eight inch and manufactured by SLM electronics as is the amp too.

GX-15R is a perfect amp for studio use if you want to have that "transistor tone" instead of a tube tone and the low price makes it excellent for practise amp - although most of the people want to upgrade soon and might find out that the resell value is probably not very good. One might also find the small size very compact. The output jack for extension speaker is the best feature this amp has besides the built-in reverb.

As said, it's an amplifier suited for practising or studio work. The little speaker isn't that great tonally and this amp sounds a lot better with extension cabinet or another speaker. With that the bass response or volume can be hugely increased.

I use only the clean channel since in my opinion the overdrive channel is either too muddy on high gain or too quiet on lower gain. The distortion is quite wimpy and definitely not brutal. There is only one master volume control so channel volume cannot be set independently. The small button is not good for channel switching. A skilled person could easily change it to DIY footswitch jack but it's noth worth it since the volumes on both channels are usually different and there is no balance andjustation.

Since the amp is only 12 watts the clean channel will distort on higher gain, especially on bass frequencies. It is solid state so distortion will also be notable and harsh. The bass frequencies suffer the most from this and the bass response of the cabinet is not that good either
.
Overall, clean channel tone is very good when it doesn't distort too much. Extension cabinet helps getting more volume and bottom end out of this amp before too much distortion occurs.

The headphone jack is totally worthless. It is positioned after the poweramp so impedance and power for the headphones are matched through a resistor network. Throgh headphone jack the amp distorts very early and sounds shitty and crisp. If you're planning to record amp through this jack forget it. It sounds as bad with headphones too. The amp doesn't have any cabinet simulation circuit.

The Flexwave circuit is a big mystery to me since I didn't see it in the amp's schematic - unless you want to call typical signal shaping (high and low frequency cuts, overall tone) a circuit. To clarify things: The flexwave is not an "actual circuit" and there are no digital circuits inside this amp. None. Everything is simple op-amp design, similar to so many other amps around there.
Some people have noticed that this amp cuts the input on very high amplitudes, and think it happens due to flexwave circuit. It doesn't. It is a simple IC-circuit protection against voltage spikes, made with a "diode clipper" on signal path, that can be found from almost every op-amp amplifier including your stompboxes.

The small spring reverb sounds ok but can start to feedback on higher amplitudes, especially on bass frequencies. Short springs also mean shorter reverberation time and two springs gives tone that is a bit more "twang/surf" than "hall".

In my opinion this amp still has to be coupled with an outboard effect to produce good distortion tones or to take everything out of the clean channel. After that it rocks.

All pickup models seem to work quite well with this amplifier.

The amp is cheaply built with PCB attached potentiometers and jacks. Jacks are plastic and some of them are equipped with DPDT-switches.
Parts are cheap too, especially the speaker. However, the amp seems durable. In studio or practise use it will last a long time if normal maintenance is done now and then.
The spring reverb is prone to feedback and could destroy the amp or the speaker if the feedback gets too severe. All the components, excluding spring reverb and transformer, can be found from any basic electronic shop so servicing shouldn't be problem.

Even though it's Crate, I haven't ran into any problems with bad solder joints.

If reliability is an issue few things can be done to improve it: First one is to put a bigger heatsink for the power opamp chip. This will also increase the gain because the IC chip is equipped with automatic overheating protection that lowers the amplification if overheating occurs. One can easily burn his fingers into too small heatsink after playing few minutes on loud volumes. This means that the chip is operating in too high temperatures and it's life time degrades faster it should.

Second thing is to remove directly to PCB soldered opamps and insert sockets for them. This is not so easy job but can prove to be quite useful.

Third thing is to ensure all the jacks are perfectly secured to chassis. It's easy and should be done now and then. These are the parts that are most prone to breaking and will do so unless they're perfectly secured into their place.

Fourth thing needs a lot of work, it includes building a relay chip to protect the speaker from the the "turn-on snap". These circuits can be found from some electronics magazines and an experienced electrian might help you in building one to your amp.

Fifth thing also needs a lot of work. It consists of unsoldering all the PCB mounted items that are not secured to chassis and substituting them with ones that can be secured to chassis.

As sixth option you could take off the PCB mounted fuse holder and substitute it with a chassis mounted one.

So far the amp has worked properly and ran perfectly over it's warranty time. I don't know much about Crate's customer support except that they do not offer any free schematics on their webpages.

A good, cheap amplifier with a healthy clean tone and a nice spring reverb. Not very suitable for gigging musicians but good for studio use or practising.
Needs an overdrive pedal or any other "pre amp" to kick out the maximum.

I'm not sure of the year of the amp. Bought at a pawn shop for $58 2 days ago. Was in 9+ condition. Features as every one listed but mine says 30 watts on the back but it's probably 12 watts. Just looking for a good little practice amp and this one had everything I needed and nothing I don't.

Using a MIM tele and Ibanez GAX70. Play mostly country and classic rock. I really like the clean channel on this thing. Sounds very full for being a little amp. The overdrive channel isn't that great. Distorts the speaker if it's turned up very much, really muddy. So then I tried some of my pedals on the clean channel, boss compresser, boss overdrive/distortion, arion chorus. The overdrive pedal did the same thing, distorted the speaker at high volume and still muddy. Chorus sounded pretty good. Then I tried my digitech RP50. Don't use it much cause I like to use my other pedals with my main amp, Hot Rod Deluxe. This thing sounded awsome with the RP50. Didn't distort even with the hardest distortion I could throw at it. All I can say is wow about the tones I was getting with this little amp and the RP50. Now I can put the RP50 to some use. Stock I'd give the cleans an 8 and the overdrive a 4. With the RP50 it gets a 10. So I'll rate it somewhere in between. You can get some great tones with the right pedals.

Only had it a couple of days so I don't know. I take care of my stuff some I'm sure it will last. Only plan one using it for practicing at home.

No idea

Been playing for 2 years. If it were stolen I'd buy another. Like I said, good cleans, great distortion but only with the right pedal. But overall I'm very happy with it and would recomend it to anybody.

First off, this isn't my amp that I'm reviewing, it actually belongs to a jam buddy of mine. But he's over enough that I figured "why the hell not", I'll review it.

Cheap ass Crate amp with 2 channels (clean and "shit") and 3 band EQ. 15watts into an 8" speaker. Usual cheap construction expected of Crate. Has reverb and I believe a headphone jack. Made some time in the mid 1980s.

Well, this amp is both one of the best AND one of the worst amps I've ever played in the same box. The clean is actually one of the BEST clean tones I've ever heard, very impressive for solid state, let alone a cheap one, let alone a Crate.

Unfortunately, the distortion is absolutely horrible. I've heard similar horridness from amps like Radio Shack and Gorilla. I would actually bet money pitting a Peavey Rage 158 against this thing on distortion.

To sum it up, if you want a good clean tone from a budget amp, this amp is excellent to consider. If you need distortion, look elsewhere.

I give the clean a 9 (taking into account that it's a cheap solid state) and I give the distortion a 1 (taking into account that I can hear)

The owner let me take it apart so I could do an aluminum tape shielding. He was catching radio signals, the shielding helped significantly. Hands down cheapest construction I've ever seen in a guitar amplifier (again that's comparing to Radio Shack, Gorilla, Peavey, everything). The power switch doesn't even have any spring action and makes a loud pop when it's turned on. Parts just have a generally cheap look and feel to them.

This amp is testament to why I hate Crate. Even when they make an amp that sounds good (well, half of it sounds good) they always use the cheapest parts and construction.

Purely based on reliability, don't ever pay more than 50 dollars for this amp.

I've been playing guitar for over 4 years. My current flagship amp is a Laney VC50 tube combo. I've owned lots of different amps, mostly Laneys but thats just what works for me.

I hate Crate. Until I was introduced to this amp I never found anything I liked about a Crate amp. And even then, I only liked the clean.

If you can get this amp for less than 50 bucks and don't mind that the distortion is worthless and the construction is dirt cheap then you have my blessing.

*dont know the year
*its good cuz of its weight, not as in music style
*headphone jack yes, mic jack, "overdrive" for distortion and reverb. 2 channels i think.
*i wish the distortion feature wasnt soo muddy , and i wish for some chorus and delay
*i use it room to practice , good power if u love muddy music
*goes good w/ low volume and high tones... great for if u want to attempt something heavy..

*distortion only wails w/ headphones on.. hmm

*i use a basic Strat or PRS
*uh, its ok for what im playing now, usually just jammin away grunge style or alternative stuff like Bush.
*its very loud, even on 1, the volume is loud. Distortion sucks dramatically.... its super super muddy even set on the lowest possible settings of distortion, it fades out.
*Good sounds when mixed with the reverb and some distortion. W/ the pedals i have now, this amp cant take it.
*Clean chanel, great. Never distorts at high volumes, only with the high tone up and the overdrive clicked on.
*once again, distortion sucks on this.

*i wouldnt play this for gig, not even for friends, it flakes out all the time. good for something soft like Stairway. nothing too 'heavy'
*just the amp is poorly made for any type of music basically. it ruins the sounds its made for

Late 90's, two channel PRACTICE amp, with reverb, heaphone out, and speaker out (sounds killer thru a 412!). 8" speaker. Out of all the little 15 watt solid state amps (and I've sold em all), this one is the one to get. Perfect for PRACTICE, lessons, maybe a jam with light hittin drummer.

I use strats, teles, Pauls, Hamers, you name it, and it does well. Light crunch to Grind and back. Clean to mild clip. Surprisingly good reverb. Pickups and attack make a difference on it, which is good. Plugged into a 212 or 412 makes it loud enough to gig with.

Wouldn't think twice about gigging sans backup. There's hardly anything there!

The guys at Crate were always easy to deal with, and they've got dealers everywhere. No warranty, since it was used, but they've got one of the better ones.

I've been playing, teaching and gigging since 85, owned tons of gear (most all the recognizable brands), and this is the one I pick for easiest amp to carry around and teach/gig with. I don't usually gig with it (use Matchless and Fender for that!), but in a pinch it would do the job. Sounds better than Squier, Johnson, Behringer, etc. crap amps, and looks nice and plain...light as a feather....could use a better speaker, but the price would be higher, so....

Speaker date is 1997, but it sat on the shelf for at least two years. I wanted a practice amp with a reverb that was just a LITTLE bigger and a little cheaper than most combos. Didn't have a pedal right away, so the dirty channel was cool for a while. It's just a practice amp, but the cops have come at least 5 or 6 times.

I like the the sound of the clean channel, and now that I run a rack of pedals, I still use it. It's a basic distortion sound. I can even make it feed back if I want to - or not. Good enough for practice and good enough for a small rehearsal, if your drummer isn't too gorilla-footed. (See, real musicians balance to EACH OTHER, not everybody play at max and work it out on the mixer board later. Somebody's always gonna have a bigger amp or a bigger base drum.)

Hasn't failed yet, but I'm about to drop in an Eminence Legend 875 just to see what I can milk out of it. I'm also curious about this "External Speaker" jack, so I may build another box around the original SLM speaker.

N/A, but their website seems amiable.

This has been great so far. I play along with the stereo the most, and I'm finding that the stereo can't keep up. It ALMOST got stolen. House broken into, smash&grab, and they walked right by it. Just think if I'd splurged on that Marshall? I really couldn't find a BETTER amp for the same price. I'll never sell it. I'll never get that much money back out of it so why?

My amp was made in 2000. I'd say that this amp is very versatile if your philosophy is not to expect a lot of features from an amp. Don't compare this amp to ones that have different modelling effects such as tremolos, distortions, echos, choruses etc.
It has two channels: clean/distortion, 3-band eq, and reverb, headphone jack and external speaker jack. It's a solid-state but I don't care.
The channel switching could have been done easier and I hardly ever use the headphone jack. I use this amp for practise, recording and on small gigs. I play various music styles from 60's instrumentals to death metal and folk music.
BUT: The stock speaker is total crap! I replaced it with Eminence Legend 75, which can handle the full power of this amp. I never regretted it. I have played it outdoors, to men at work hammering and making a lot of noise and the volume was on three. They heard it ok while working so I guess it goes fine with sound pressure levels when you replace the speaker.
I gave it four. It's one of the best in it's category but requires the speaker to be changed. With better speaker in stock I would have given it eight or nine.

I use both single coil and humbucker pickups, allthough I prefer humbucker sound on lead. As said earlier this amp suits my needs fine. Clean channel is indeed clean and the sounds I need I get by using my Zoom 606 pedal. The overdrive channel is crap on high gain, but on low gain, such as 2-3, it gives nice mellownes and compression to sound. I used to use it with single coil pickup with reverb very high to get nice surf/instrumental sound but the overdrive channel's potentiometer broke. Now I use humbucker and clean channel.
The stock speaker is mild and breaks off after volume 5. Replace it with better one to get good sound. Also I noticed that clean channel needs higher frequencies to be boosted a bit. After that you can crank the amp fully. I never had need for it. Not even outdoors. The clean channel then distorts a bit and sounds nice when the volume is on four or five. Well... it's not the channel it's the speaker, but this is nicer, more melodic distortion than with the stock speaker which sounds more like farting.
The amp is quite hissy. Also the reverb starts to feedback on high amount and THIS CAN BRAKE THE AMP! The volume doesn't control the reverbs volume. It controls only the signals volume that is sent to it. So if it starts to feedback rolling off volume doesn't help shit.
If you need much variety on sounds and good distortion sound buy pedals you prefer.
I gave it five. With stock speaker replaced it deserves eight or nine. Also the sound is a matter of taste. It might not suite you.

Well i can't say it is very reliable since I have broke it. or actually it broke itself. I don't abuse it, so I guess the overdrive potentiometer is just dirty. Anyway it can't be relied upon.
Still I don't or wouldn't use backup. I don't play for money and people pay me none of playing. I don't think this amp blows out or brakes during a concert, and if it would - not a big deal. I have had it three years and so far the overdrive channel is the only problem that has occured. It has been played through eight hours without a pause, volume on half, in direct sunlight on a very hot day. It didn't even warm much. Do that with a tube amp! That done again on the next day, and the next. It has been used as a vocalists amp. (Though it doesn't sound good on that). And it survived a moment of hard rain outdoors and campfire playing.

If it needs servicing I'm not going to deal with the company. Warranty was about a year.

I've been playing almost three years with this amp. One year very extensively. It is my fisrt and only amp. I use Zoom 606 multieffect for effects and sound, except reverb. This is a good amp. It doesn't weigh a ton but still is very loud, AFTER the speaker is changed. I can transport it with my guitar and other equipment kind of easily without a car if there's need, and it is good for practise and recording purposes.
The sound is a matter of taste. I like it. You try it, with extension cabinet to justify this amps quality.
If it were lost or stolen I might buy a new one, but then I had to also buy a new speaker. So I guess I might hunt for something which costs more than the stock version. Something like stock version + new speaker + a bit more. Anyway, not a big amp but maybe bigger to get more streetwise look ;-) . But then it's not so easily to be carried around. And how many people want to steal an amp as small and as crappy looking as this?
It was very cheap and my opinion is that amp really doesn't need any more features than this has. If the amp sounds good - it is really the GUITARIST sounding good!
It is loud, don't let the 12W fool you. I just hope it lasts long...

Small two channel 12 watt amp with 8" speaker. Also features reverb and a headphone jack. Solid state amp with all the features it really needs for what it's made for. Very good beginners or practice amp.

One of my favorite things about this amp is the headphone jack. This has proven to be a very useful feature at times.

I play everything from blues to metal and it does fine for practicing in my bedroom or sitting around with friends in situations where we don't want to get too loud. I play a epiphone les paul std and an
lp-100 and they both sound pretty good through it.

I never really use the drive channel, I have pedals for that. Besides, the drive button is really small and would be a pain to have to switch on the fly. I just keep it dialed in for a good clean sound and let my pedals handle the rest.

If you push this amp too hard or play too loud it dosn't do well, but that's really not what this amp is for. This is a practice amp or an amp for someone getting started to have something to play through. I've heard people complain about this amp at high volumes and I laugh at them. People who by a 12 watt amp and want to play metalica like their in front of 50,000 people should stop and think a little.

I'm going to give it an 8 because I really wish all these manufacturers would come up with a better way to switch channels on their little amps. They really need something easier to get to if they're going to offer it.

This amp seems to be pretty well constructed. I treat my equipment very good, but I have travelled around with it a fair bit and have never had any problems. While extremely high volumes dosen't suit it, it dosen't really seem to hurt it either. I have a cousin I'm teaching and this is the amp I let her use. I sometimes catch her using my effects and trying to make any kind of god awful ear bleeding noise she can. So far it's handled that quite well.

Never dealt with Crate and hopefully never will.

I own this amp and a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I love my Fender, but this amp is great as a practice/light travel amp and I plan on keeping it. I like it because it's light, sounds good at moderate levels and has a headphone jack. I can't really think of anything it needs, it's really just right for what I use it for.

A friend of mine has a fender frontman and I much prefer this Crate. If your just starting out or are in the market for a decent little practice amp and are on a budget, definately give this amp a look.

This is a good home amp. It's small so you can take it everywhere you want. It has a chanel swich and you can link a cabinet to it and then it rox. One of the best mini amps on market.

I play rock and blues, the od\dis chanel is very good. If you turn half of the volume on this chanel it is enough to play, much more will couse the speaker will hum. The normal chanel is not as good as the distortion one, but it does not hum. The sounds generaly are good, the EQ is good, but the reverb is so,so. Good sound for practising at home and with an extra cab it rooox

I had no problems with it, i have goot it for 3 years.

Basic two channel amp with reverb (spring reverb I might add, not the digital stuff), shared EQs between the channel, volume controls for either channel and a gain control on second channel. All the basics and nothing else. No effects loop, but has a headphone jack and a external speaker out jack on the front. If you need any more info just check out the million other reviews, pictures, descriptions, etc scattered all over the web. I give it a good rating because it has what you need and nothing you don't. It could have an independent EQ for each channel, but for under fifty bucks I can't complain at all.

I use a fender strat with a Duncan little '59 at the bridge and a custom wiring job. The clean channel on this amp is pretty good, nice and bright with the strat and the distortion is very good for a classic rock sound. I don't think the metal-heads would like it a whole lot, the gain is not really excessive and its more mid-voiced anyway. If you like the sounds of the '80s and '90s hard rock bands you'll probably like this also. The reverb is pretty good, a little bit more 'springy' than you might like but that's not to noticable once you get going. I've also found that if I crank the reverb all the way I can get some feedback going on in the springs themselves (could be useful but mostly just annoying). This is an older version of this amp, still the FlexWave 5 preamp but before the GFX series. I've owned a GFX-15 and I went back to this one. It seemed to me that the digital-ness of the GFX series just killed the smoothness of the tone. This amp gets admirably close to a tube sound, very smooth and warm, where the GFX-15 had a graininess, a spikey sound, right in that area where the tubes start to break up. By itself I'd only be able to give the amp about a 7 in the sound category but...

HERE IS THE KEY TO GETTING THIS LITTLE MONSTER TO SOUND GREAT!!! ---

Forget the little 8-inch piece of garbage in the box and plug this bad boy into an external cab (2x12 or 4x12). The difference is astounding. I know its only 12 watts but through my 2x12 Madison cab this thing can rattle the windows. The stock speaker just doesn't do the pre- and power amp justice on this thing. The tone controls acutally make a difference with a good speaker setup and the Celestions in the cab smooth out the sound to the point that I actually prefer this sound to the modern Marshall TSL heads (although that may be a heresy to some of you tube snobs out there!). I've played a lot of amps and this little thing driving a quality cab is one of the best I've ever heard. The only problem is that I can hardly stand the sound of the stock speaker now! Crate's FlexWave 5 technology actually does sound good when you couple it with a good quality speaker (at least the earlier versions did).

It's never broken down on me yet and it's built like a tank. I could probably drop it out of a third story window and it still work just fine. Its solid state so I don't see too much that could go wrong with it anytime soon.

I bought it used and its way past the warranty anyway. Besides I've never had a reason to contact Crate. Should be pretty easy to get fixed though since everybody sells them.

I'm getting tired of writing so I'll be brief here. Basically this is a little beginner's amp with a crappy 8-inch speaker and a spring reverb until you plug it into an external cab. After that it can be a firebreathing monster or a smooth crunch machine. Aparently the electronics here are very good and very limited by the speaker and cab. So if you are a beginner and want a good amp to start with you'll do alright with this one. When you get to the point where you need something more, spend you money on a good cab instead of another amp and see a side of this one you haven't before.

2 channels, reverb, headphone and speaker jack. pretty basic, just sucks when you want to switch channels quickly and move the volume knob by accident.

for the size and money, this amp really delivers. gets loud enough to play with others unless there's drums. as you would probably expect, distortion seriously lacks crunch, but setting low and high to 10 and mid to 2 gets a great sound for such a modest practice amp. actually recorded my band's first cd in my bedroom with this thing

never given me problems. even after cranking it up to 10 for 2 years while in a band the sound isn't bad. even played a bass through it in that band for a while. kind of amazing, really.

in the 4 years i've owned this amp, i've never had a problem

couldn't imagine a practice amp much better. reliable, light, cheap, and decent sound. what more could you really expect?

This is an amp I use for practicing. Anything louder would get the parents mad. My brother who has been playing for ten years gave me this along with an Ibanez guitar. I really don't see many features. There is an over-drive and head phone jack on it though. Nothing to fancy

Good for lower volumes. Don't try blasting down the house with this cause it's not gonna happen.

I turn the switch on, it works. Never had any problems what so ever. Would never, ever, ever, ever, ever, use this in a gig.....Maybe for looks. If I were to gig with it i probably wouldn't use a backup.

Never beat it up so bad i needed customer support.

I think this is a pretty descent little amp. It's good for practicing in that little corner in the house. It's a pretty good amp for a beginer on a tight budget. But beginers if you have a little bit bigger budget get a Marshall stack....No a Marshal 30 watt should be good for you. I'm giving it a 7 because it dosn't have the sounds i want and is way to quite.

Ha ha What can i say, i'm posting this just because it was my first amp, classic. it's a nice little amp, i used it for almost 3 years, period on wich i came to play live some times, with a good mic on it....nah, dosen't work. that's why i bought my marshall vs-265r (130 watts rms!!) now, that's power!

i was using a crappy samick, it was just fine for practice alone at home, in fact, i still have it for that purpose, the other amp is at my band's house...
the distortion can sound like distortion at low volumes

i would not use it on a gig ever again.
It's virtually undestructible! i have thrown it down a hill, over a wall, i have kicked it hardly and it has never ever give me a problem

n/a

i will never sell it, (basically because it is very cheap)
dont buy it as an amp, buy it just to hear your guitar when there is no amp:)

I have no clue when this amp was made. I bought it used for about $50 and it is quite possibly the best $50 I have ever spent.

This is a great amp for practicing in your room(it's got a headphone jack, so ur parents can't come in at midnight telling you to turn it down. It's got two channel's, clean and overdrive. There's 3 knobs for eq(low,mid,high), a level knob for the clean channel, and gain and level knobs for the overdrive channel. There's also reverb, though I don't use it because i really don't think it's that good.

I have a Yamaha pacifica with two single coil pickups, and a bridge humbucker. I play mostly punk, ska, and hard rock, but i've also fooled around playing older stuff like lynrd skynrd, and pink floyd. This amp(as i said before) great for practice. It's not real noisy, until u turn it up pretty loud. I don't ever really use the overdrive channel, cause the sound isn't that good. I use a Danelectro Fab tone pedal instead, and overall the setup sounds decent. I'm in a band now, and we're not doing gigs yet, but AT MOST i would use this amp for a house party, and only if it was a house party where it was going to be so loud you wouldn't need to hear anything. Turning it up to about 7-8 when we're practicing, it gets hard to hear the clean channel if i'm not using the humbucker. I can hear it fine with the distortion on, but the sound quality drops immensly when it's that loud. If your on a budget, and all u need is an amp to practice with, and occasionally jam with some friends, the sound you'll get for the price is well worth it.

I bought this amp used, and i have NEVER had any kind of problem with it. No matter what other part of my rig is malfunctioning the amp has never failed. I wouldn't gig with, unless i didn't need a whole lot of sound (i.e. just playing guitar at a quiet get-together, which i'd never do), but if needed to, this amp wouldn't need a back-up. Period.

Never dealt with the company, never hope to.

I've been playing for about 6 years. I still have the same guitar I started with, and this is only the second amp i've owned. My first was one of those Marshall MS-2 micro half stacks, 5 watts or whatever. This is basically a practice amp, but it's pretty good for it's price. I would definitely recommend it to anyone getting started. It'll serve you well for the first year or so. However, if I wasn't so broke, i would have upgraded to a larger amp. If it were lost or stolen (how do u lose an amp?) i probably would upgrade at this point because i need something larger. All in all, Crate gets a big thumbs up for this little guy.

Around 1994, sound great for what i play, blues, rock, some metal..although i need an effect pedal to get really creative. Has 2 channels clean and overdrive. The button for switching between the two is really small. Has a headphone jack. Needs and effect loop. I have used this amp for gigs, but I have to run it through a PA system to get any volume, because if this baby get cranked up to loud you can really tell what you paid for it.

I use an old Stage CS-327 Strat Copy S-S-S pickups, 2 tone, 1 volume 5 way switch I have had this guitar 15 years, also I use an Ibanez RG270 occasionaly. Works great for me, althouh most of my sounds come from my ZOOM 505, and 505II which I link together. As I said before I play mostly blues and rock. The amp is only noisy if you turn it up too loud, but at lower volumes it sound good..I occasionaly record with this amp, turned up to less than 1 just enough to make a low sound and it works great. No variety in the amps sound hence the pedals, but before the pedals this amp worked great... a really good practice amp. the clean channel can be noisy if cranked up to high... the distortion is great a low volumes

no problems in almost 8 years... it have moved from Texas to Cali with no problems, even been in storage for a little while....works great.

I haven't even contacted them...Don't know

I have been playing roughly 13 years, and i still suck. I also own a Carlo Robelli 7 string that sound really great for a guitar that cost less than $200.. Really rich sound.I have a Roque bass amp that sucks, and a 3/4 Carlo Robelli bass I bought for my wife that she never plays...when i need to record a bass track I use my Crate gx15r and just run it a the same low volume and it works great. I would buy this again if I didn't have the money for a Fender or Marshall practice amp...So overall not a bad amp, reliable.

This Amp has great features,all together this is a good amp.This amp has good power great for the music i play,which is heavy meatal.

The sounds of this dude is bad!!!(i mean that in a good way)The distortion is butal enough to fit my needs.

Very Reliable,no trouble here.

Never messed with them.

If this amp was stolen or lost i would most likely buy another,or the same,it depends,but all together this is a good amp,fits the needs of practicing.

2 channels, headphone and speaker jacks, 3 band EQ, reverb, etc. Nothing fantastic, but adequate for its size and price

My main guitars are Ibanez Jems and Universes, as I am into Vai, Satch, Dream Theater, etc. And truth be told, this little amp sounds pretty good. I just bought it as a travel amp, and it works very well for that purpose.

On the overdrive channel, it isn't really noisy, even though I have loud pickups and I leave the gain all the way up and scoop the mids. In fact, at low volumes, it sounds great. As you increase the volume level, it sounds worse and worse. By 10 you've got a mess of inarticulate buzz and grating feedback. The clean channel is perfectly respectable until about 7. Then things get ugly fast. On the other hand, you shouldn't really buy an amp like this with the expectation that it will sound great at high volumes.

Bottom line--it won't replace your Mesa/Boogie MkIIC+, but it will do a solid job as a practice amp.

Never broken, even when I travel with it. I treat all my gear nicely, so it's rare that something breaks. This amp is no exception.

Never dealt with Crate.

Solid, dependable, and good at low volumes. Don't expect too much. It's certainly better than the Peavey and Fender amps of comparable price, so be happy with it.

Features "Clean" and "Overdrive" channels. 12-15 watts pumped through adequate 8" speaker. Relatively lightweight and compact for easy transport. Solid enough to stand on :)

Overdrive channel is fairly useless. Sounds more like a glorified fart box. I used a Boss MetalZone pedal through the clean channel, and it sounded fine. The GX15R can get fairly loud for as small as it is -- good for solo practice or songwriting sessions with one or two other people (and NO drummer).

Decent reverb, but nothing spectacular for a 15-watt practice amp.

While fairly rugged during transport, the GX15R can qualify as a "disposable" practice amp. Mine died quite suddenly, and given the purchase price of $115, it would have been more cost effective to simply replace the amp instead of repairing it.

N/A

Overall, a decent amp for staying indoors. I selected this particular model because I have had decent luck with Crate amps for in-home usage. Compared to its slightly stripped-down twin, the GX15 (no reverb), the extra $20 for reverb seemed a better value.

While the breakdown of my particular amplifier was likely a fluke, the cost for repair is usually not worth the price of the amp if it ever breaks down. In other words, don't grow too attached to the GX15 or 15R! :)

Decent price for a decent piece of equipment.

Mine has a reverb and some equalizers, nothing great, but its ok for practicing, i feel this amp a little dull.

If you want to practice with it, its ok. You can`t get it into high volumes and distortion is bad, people should not buy this amp if they want something serious.

Its been ok since i bought it, i once forgot to get it into the house, it stayed in my garden, and that night, it rained cats and dogs, nothing happened (unfurtunatly), hehe.

Well, i wish i had changed amp. I don't like this amp at all.

this is a year 200 crate gx15r. my very first amp. I used this thing for 8 months when I got hold of my first electric guitar as my main amp for rehersing quietly with a small band (a 3/4 sixe drum kin and a wem pa40, incase you are wondering) it is a 12 watt, solid state practice amp with a little 8 inch speaker. it has two channels (switchable by the tiniest and most inconveniently placed button I have ever seen in my life!) it has low, middle, and high eq knobs, and my favourite feature of this amp, a fantastic little reverb.

I plug a epiphone g310 sg style jobbie into this amp, and it sounds great. I play mostly pixies esque alt rock, and nirvana type grunge stuff. the distortion sounds great, but if you turn this thing up above 5 on the clean channel, it sounds like you are going to pop the speaker at any moment. it sounds best on the dirty channel, with a little gain, and lots of reverb. great if you are a joe santiago fan!

solid as a rock... no worries here..

never delt with them

this is a great little amp. the reverb is the best I have heard in a practice amp (does a great sproing for the start of cecilia ann for all you pixies fans) my fender Blues DeVille is far to loud to play at home, and far too heavy to take on the bus if my car breaks. the only real hassels are getting a clean tone loud enough to bother with, and that miniscule channel selector. a foot switch input would improve this amp beyond measure. I've given it 10 because I think it is by far the best practice amp for the money, and the little niggles are livable with, because at the end of the day, it is not designed to make noise for sell out stadium tours.

Well, its just a little crate amp with a teeny weeny 8 inch speaker...probably about 12 watts or thereabouts. 2 channels, clean and overdrive...pretty standard stuff, actually. Oh, and it has reverb which sounds half way decent.

Although this little amp isn't much bigger than a shoe box, it sounds HUGE when you use a killer tube distortion pedal in the front end of it. The stock distortion found on channel 2 isn't bad, kinda good sounding, but the low end is pretty wishy-washy, and farts like a camel when the volume is too high. But channel one + distortion pedal fairs much better, and can get alot louder without farting. I can't stress how HUGE this amp sounds...its pretty awesome...sounds like "god's pet dragon" says my roomate, anyway.

Yeah, I don't see how you could hurt this thing that much. Well, okay, if you were to submerge it in a swimming pool and then drop it off of a balcony, it probably wouldn't be in great shape, but what would? I've never had any problems with it, aside from the occasional speaker farting, but thats just when I try to push it past its limits.

Never had to deal with Crate....although the other GX15R I bought farts really really bad, no matter what, and apparently was "inspected" by some chap named Joel, so run in fear if you see anything by crate with "Inspected by Joel" on the back sticker.

I've been playing forever, or something, and know quite alot about this stuff. I'm also one of the most fickled guitarists out there in terms of gear, but this little guy sounds awesome if you run a good distortion unit in the front end. Probably good for recording if you could get it miked well. Great practice amp.

has 2 chanels clean and dirty. I love both. I use the amp in my bedroom as a small but versitile amp. It has enough power to wake the neighbors or you can tune out wiht the headphone jack. Also has a external speaker port shich is good when get the chance to hook it up to a nice sound system.

I got a hondo 2 strat copy. I play punk and stuff like that. It is good for what I paid(100). It sounds good for anything. It also soaudns alot better if u keep it away from the wall.

I depend on it as my practice amp. And I would use it as a backup. I havent had any problems with it.

Never needed it.

Ive been playing for 6 months and my old amp was like a 5 watt with a 2inch speaker so I believe it was a well worth upgrade

My Crate was made in 1999, I think. This amp is just awesome if you play things such as Metallica, the only problem is the bzzzz that it produce when distortion. 12 channels. I use it as my mine amp since I don't have any other.

I use an ESP M250 with Duncan designed pickups, it is great for clean sounds and if you want distortion you need a pedal (I have a Boss Mt2 to immitate Metallica). I use it on level 3 of volume because it is just to practice not for gigging. It can make only 2 sounds, overdrive and clean but if want more you need pedals. It is not deistorted at clean sounds such as the Marshall MG15RCD. The distortion it has is mainly for soloing not for rhythms.

I depend on it because it is my only amp, if stolen I wouldn't buy it again since I'm planning to graduate to a Marshall AVT. I'd never use it in a gig because I don't even have a band and it doesn't sound too loud. I haven't had any kinda problems.

No.

I have been playing for 1 year and a half. Before my ESP M-250 I had a guitar somewhat called Xpectra. I wouldn't buy it again. I hate the bzzzzz it has when distorted. It is completely better than the Marshall MG15RCD because it is CLEAN and not distorted when supposed to be clean.

1999 amp. Has distortion channel. Reverb. Practice amp only. Solid state. headphone and additional speaker jacks.

Use a Gibson SG. OK practice map.

Is a loud amp for wattage.

THIS AMP PICKS UP RADIO STATIONS THRU SPEAKER WHEN TURNED ON.

Very reliable.

n/a

I own a bass rig (SVTpro4). This is a good practice amp for guitar.
Portable. No dislikes. It was on sale and 10 dollars than Fender amp.

I think this amp was made in 1994. Its an older model (before the apperance changed).Solid state, 3 band EQ, 2 channels, reverb, line out jack, and headphone jack. It would be cool if it had a footswitch jack. This is a practice amp only. Not really loud enough for any type of gig. For a practice amp though, the features are quite nice. I love the reverb.

I use this amp with a Epiphone G-400. It sounds beautiful! The clean is crystal clear (no distortion on high volumes). The crunch channel is great as well. It can go from Rib cracking metallica, to sweet santana tone. The only problem is that the amp buzzes on the distortion channel, no matter what pickups you have.

I've had this amp for 7 years now, and it hasn't screwed up once. I've banged it against every wall in my house too. Its got a rugged construction. I would never use this amp at a gig though. Its not loud enough.

This is a great practice amp. I use mine almost everyday. It's not loud at all, but thats good for playing while people are sleeping in the next room. I would buy a new one if this amp were stolen. Great amp for the price.

Bought this amp new on the same day I'm writing this. I know the obvious has been said already, but give me a break - kiddy critics, it's a practice amp. Unless your playing for the Partridge Family, it's not a gig machine, (Hanson wouldn't even try it I'm sure). There may be practice amps that are more versitile for the money, but someone would have to work pretty hard to convince me of this.

I have an American Deluxe Strat w/lace pics - and it sounds pretty damn nice on this amp. Tones are clean and warm, and the sustain is quite remarkable. I haven't heard any radio broadcast from it yet, but maybe time will tell. I can only tell you that when I turn this amp on, it is reasonably quiet. I've not cranked it up yet, but there again, I don't need to make my ears bleed to enjoy a good practice.

N/A

N/A

I've been playing off an on for over twenty years. I'm satisfied that this amp delivers as advertise. It may not be the best of breed, but I've listened to two of it's *near* class competitors, (the Fender Bullet and the Marshall MG-15RCD) and the GX-15R simply gets my vote.

Very easy to use, standard interface.
Intuitive.

This is the only 15W amp I know that has a decent tone.
I think there's not much versatility, but considering the price category, some good tones are enough to be a good product.
Two of these are a very good Idea to a stereo setup after a digital (low to mid priced) multi-effect.

Appears good

This is the best value I know in a small amp

This is the older model GX-15R before Crates got revamped. This amp is suitable for me for playing blues. its got a clean and overdrive channel, 3 band EQ , reverb, headphone jack, external speaker jack. a nice solid state amp i use at home. the only thing more i could ask for is a footswitch jack.

I use a Fender Big Apple Strat with 2 Seymour Duncans. (and soon to be buying a Gibson Les Paul Standard) with the overdrive cranked up it will give a bzzzzzz. The overdrive is GREAT for blues. if you want some heavy metal distortion you need a pedal. the clean tone is fantastic. The reverb is OK. Its not like a Fender tank.. but its decent.

I doubt you'll gig with this as the low wattage wont cut through the drums. Its my one and only amp .. i'm just a couch player .. so its reliable i guess. My main gripe with this amp was the line in jack. it seems to lose signal erratically.. probably needs replacing (or just cleaning). the volume goes up and down at will because of this. This happened to me with an older model Crate GX-80 too.

Crate website is friendly and will answer your questions via email.

This amp has has a long history with me 8 (6 years). it was my very first amp. its been here through all my guitars and other amps that came and went. This is the only amp i need. I dont gig.. just play at home for personal enjoyment. i'd like to repeat the clean is amazing and the overdrive is great for blues. Even the 8" speaker is great. I blew the original speaker and replaced it with a celstion vintage 8, then i went to a guitar store for them to order me the original speaker (SLM Electronics) because I love the clean sound out of it. This review is for the older model Crate GX-15R.. I bought the newer model and took it back the same day. Crate has cut corners now. If you want a no frills blues amp that requires your hands, not the effects, to get THAT tone... cant go wrong with this.

I got this amp in late '99. I don't use the reverb very much, I have a reverb/delay pedal anyways. It has more than enough power for bedroom practice. Works good for my rock and hard rock style. I've been palying for a year and I can immitate Metallica on it too. It's a great practice amp for my needs!

I have a Hamer strat with a Duncan Hot Rails pickup in the bridge (crunchy pickup!). I also have a Washburn BT-5, but the pickups aren't very hard rock or metal style. It isn't noisy for me. It's got low, mid, and highs EQ. I set the lows and highs all the way up and the mids all the way down and the gain all the way up. I leave the reverb off. It sounds heavy this way for a practice amp.

I take good care of all my equipment very well! The amp has never cause me any problems.

I've never dealt with Crate whatsoever.

Like I said, I've been playing for a year, without lessons. It's a great amp for a beginner, playing any style. Clean or distorted. If you're just starting out, this is a good beginner/practice amp.

Amp was made probably in 1998. Good features for a practice amp. Simple EQ, Reverb, serviceable distortion, nice clean channel, very light weight and portable. Amp also has a headphone jack. In other words, it fits the bill for a practice amp or for a new players first amplifier.

I play a Jackson soloist and a Fender American Standard Strat through this amp for practice. I play homeade blues and 80's metal of the Scorpions, Ozzy, Van Halen genre, as well as some Bach for Electric guitar I am trying to learn. This amp has a nice clean sound. I don't use the distortion much, as I have it set up in a room with a Danelectro Daddy-O and an old Rockman Distortion Generator running to it along with a Boss chorus. With these accessories, it actually puts out some very nice tones, again for a small amp. It's not a Marshall. It's not a Line6. It's not supposed to be. If I were reviewing a high end digital or tube amp, I might be critical of the generous, but fuzzy distortion. However, I'm not. This is a practice amp. I don't feel compelled to chastise a $100.00 amplifier because it doesn't deliver high gain Marshall distortion or tube amp warmth. This amp sounds great for a small amplifier and more than suits my needs for a small, personal amp for private practice sessions. Note: My rating is sound quality for the categroy of PRACTICE AMPS ONLY.

Next to backing a car over it, I don't see much that can hurt this amp. It does have a couple faults that some of the other reviewers have mentioned. First, it does have that unique radio receiver quality, which can be occasionally annoying. Luckily, this only affects me infrequently. Second, the reverb, when turned past five, sometimes causes a feedback that, left undeterred, will grow progressively louder until it is screaming at full volume. Generally this is fixed by switching the amp off for a second or by rocking it hard enough that the spring reverb cackles (probably not the factory recommended fix). Other than these small annoyances, the amp is very reliable. I don't gig, but if I did, I would probably have to get that feedback problem looked at. Then again, I don't see myself gigging with a 12 watt practice amp, miked or not.

I have never dealt with the company, so I'm not qualified to answer.

Overall, I would give this amp a very good rating in the category of practice amps, with the only detractors being the reverb feedback and it's occasional radio receiver imitation. As I have stated, for a small amp it has plenty of features, tone, and reliability to meet the needs of a player for practice or as a first amplifier. I have been very pleased with mine.

I think this amp was made in 1997. This amp sucks. I haven't been playing that long but, I know it doesn't sound that good. It has two channels, Clean & Dirty. It also has 3 eq knobs and reverb. I play all types of music and this amp isn't good for any. I just couln't figure out why it is called "GX15R" when it is only 12 watts!!!

I have an Alarez guitar with 1 hum. 2 single. It sounds like crap through this guitar. The clean channel sounds fairly, but the distortion sounds like crap. The distortion doesn't even work unless you have the volume completly up. Then it sounds really noisy.

It is actually very reliable. I haven't had a problem yet. I wouldn't gig with it(That's only because it sounds like crap).

Never needed it.

I've been playing about a year, and if I lost this amp I probably wouldn't buy it again. I really hate that the distortion channel doesn't work that well, otherwise it would be good. I wouldn't really suggest buying this amp unless you just started playing or are looking for a cheap practice amp with a good clean channel.

The features are quite good for a practise amp. The disortion works
well in blues and rock, but if you want to go heavy you might
get dissapointed. The clean channel is a bit sterile, but pretty
useful especially with effect devices. Yet a effects loop
would be nice.

With my LP standard it delivers a good Santana style sound. But
to get the sustain high volume level is required. It plays well also
when switching to my jazz guitar, and it even delivers nice jazz
tones without an arctop.

I have even done some gigs with it, altough it needs to be miked.
It has never broke up. And I have it always with me for backup when
playing with my main amp.

Like said, it has never broke up.

I've been playing for 7 years. My main amp is a Tech21's Trademark 60.
If my GRX would be stolen I guess I would by it again.
It's a great practise amp for low price and it beats most of the
other amps in it's category altough it isn't a regular studio amplifier. For practise and beginners the GRX15R is a great amp.

It was made in 1996. It doesn't have any special attributes unless you consider "distortion" a feature. I am a running an Aria Pro II Fullerton>CryBaby>Crate GX15R. It doesn't have an effects loop, but what do you expect out of a practice amp? You can't record with it at all because A) It's a solid state and B) it doesn't have a footswitch.

Genres this amp is bad for: everything except metal. I play jazz, blues, and some blues rock. This amp is horrible. The distortion sounds great except when you turn it on it switches the equalization so you have to re adjust the 3-band equalizer all over again. You can get a pretty good Santana sound though. The clean channel distorts at the half way point, but it depends on your equalization. The distortion only works well on metal or hard rock. On everything else it's pretty bad. Don't even think about SRV, or KWS...you're not even close.

You can't gig with the amp, although you can do small gigs if you're using distortion. I've actually gigged with the thing, and it held up. It's super light too.

The warranty was for one year or so, I've never had to deal with the company.

I've been playing for about three years. I would get a Fender Roc Pro 700 for practicing or even a Frontman 25R (w/footswitch). That way the other band members can hear you!

I dont feel like going into the other room to look....
But it has very nice overdrive (kinda tubelike) and the reverb kicks ass, and it has 3 knobs for high low and mid outputs and it can recieve AM/FM broadcasts... (yup, u heard me right) - but it makes an excellent practice amp

Im using it with a Jackson Performer..... as my practice amp....

the distortion is good, i love it, and the reverb kicks ass, cept for the distortion you have to hit this tiny little button... no footswitch... AND IT PLAYS RADIO SHOWS FROM ANYWHERE.. if you are having trouble picking up a station on the radio, this amp can get it..... sometimes i just turn down the volume on my guitar and listen to the radio.. its that bad...

never broken down, almost impossible to blow the speaker... for reliability i give it a 10

12 watts, and not 15 watts !!!!!!!!
1 channel, headphone jack, speaker output jack, reverb, high, mid, and low EQ, and gain.
The ratings are compared obviously to other small practice amps.

I have a Fender Standard Strat and a Korg AX1000g. My music style is blues and rock. About this amp: the clean sound is really good, the overdrive channel is audible only when you have the knob at 6 and above but with this settings is noisy.

Never broke down in the 2 years I had it.

This is a really good amp for beginner, good sound for the price.

Im to damn lazy to even go in the other room and look, but its got 3band eq volume (for clean) and an overdrive/volume controls for dirty, plus a shared knob for reverb. headphones jack with maybe something else, no foottswitch. also features am/fm receiving capabilities which cannot be turned off. cool for a practise amp, though you cannot change the radio station. is a 1995 model.

In my honest opinion, i think the distortion on this thing is phenomenal. with the gain cranked i think the distortion is very tube like. not near as much defintion between high and low frequencies, and is very noisy. Yeah- this amp is extremely noisy at almost any setting. also, the fact that this thing picks up radio signal from ANYWHERE is annoying as hell. sometimes, when i play, i just turn my guitar down and listen to the radio, its that bad. the distortion, if you can get over this objectionable noise, is very mesa like (but obviously nowhere as loud). I also love the sound with just a little gain, chords get some sweet tone, though not as hot for the lead. trying to get a decent clean tone out of the thing is rather tough, but i dont like to play clean that much, but it satisfies me anyways. the reverb is well... reverb. i dont know a fucking thing about reverb, so i wont really compare it to anything, although, when you have the knob at 3 or above and you shake the amp back and fortrh, you get this cool hollow "boing" noise out of it. another sonic flaw in this thing, but can be turned around and used creatively. overall, ok sound quality (i use an ibanez with humbuckers by the way, no effects), but very very noisy.

well i let my friend borrow it for a while until he got his base amp, and he beat the hell out of the thing, i mean he played his bass on the od channel with both knobs maxed out, and it still works fine, but the singal to noise ratio is embarassing, worse than it was before.

good sound, noisy as hell. its just another practise amp. i like it6, so ill keep it for a while.

Solid State 15watts amp.... it's good for practice..... ALONE... a drummer will obviously vanish the sound of this amp..... But it has all the features you need to start...

Ok.... this is a PRACTICE AMP... nothing more .. nothing less... It does not have the clean fender sound... or the amazing( and expansive) sound of tubes... I has a good overdrive... and the clean sound is ok; BUT IF YOU LIVE NEAR ANY TV ANTHENA .... IT TURNS INTO A RADIO AT THE MOMENT YOU PLUG IT; IT's SO MUCH NOISE that you won't even hear you play.... but only near big anthenas
HIGH VOLUMES..... remember this is a practice amp... its loud enough for your bedroom...

It has broken down one time..... spent 40 bucks to fix it....
I think it has broken down way too early for the use....

N/A

It's just a practice amp.... I would prefer a small fender (better tone)... I sold it and bougth a Fender Deluxe 112 plus.... as i needed a louder one....

I have to admit I was a little shocked at some of the bad reviews for this amp. It has an 8" speaker I'd say about 12 give or take a few watts with a clean channel, and a dirty? channel, a headphone jack and more knobs than you can know what to do with. I mainly play jazz, and blues and am happy with the sound that I get from this PRACTICE AMP which is very portable and I can easily carry it around the house and over to friends houses without scaring the neighbors. I mainly use this amp at home and carry it to friends houses to get together and just play and it is plenty powerful enough for that.

Right now I am using a fender standard strat for the blues and an ibanez artstar model for my jazz playing and it seems to perform well for both guitars. I have not heard very much noise from the amp and after playing with all the knobs I eventually get the sound I want from both guitars. I really cant rate on the dirty channel as I have not used it much yet but on the clean channel so far I love it. I dont use any effects besides my fingers and a pick.

I think it is dependable I would not use this for a gig but there was surprisingly a 5 year warranty attached to this amp but it does seem to be in good condition and durable enough.

The warranty is 5 years I have not dealt with the company but will give them the benefit of the doubt

I have been playing for about 2 years and own a few fender amps and marshall amps but was looking for an amp I could just practice with and not get a hernia moving it around the house, carrying to friends houses etc. something portable with a nice sound which was small. This is a pretty good amp all things considered and is a very nice practice amp

Amp new in box with new (higher) MSRP, so I assume it's of 2000 manufacture (in China, BTW). I wanted an amp that was small, cheap, solid state, and could get me aound-the-house volume levels of clean and distorted sounds. My main musical interests/influences date to the late-'70s to mid-'80s (punk, new wave, SRV, etc.). The important features include 12 Watts into an 8" speaker, two channels, reverb, and headphone/external speaker jacks. The only feature I'd like to add would be a footswitch, but...(read next paragraph).

I have a Gibson SG (in which I installed two coil splitting switches), a Rickenbacker 360/6, and a Carvin bass. I wanted to get a good, jangly clean sound for the Rick, a nice, bluesy, overdriven sound (and total thrash) for the SG, and also something I could play my bass with at low volumes. Compared to similar amps from Fender and Peavey, this Crate has a superior, full-bodied tone (almost too low-mid biased). Fender's Bullet Reverb (new Dyna-Touch model) had an all-treble tone (particularly noticeable in distortion) which pervaded even with the treble completely down, and such noisy and weak reverb that it was unusable. Peavey's Blazer 158 had a mostly mids-to-highs biased tone, non-splashy and hangover-feeling reverb, and poor EQ-ability. The Crate is not perfect, but it has a good bass response, mids punch, and treble-without-sounding-like-razor-blades tonality. That is to say, it is not your typical "Fender clean" sound, and for some of you, that may be a plus. The Crate reverb gives a decent "Pipeline" splashyness. The distortion channel (from the new Flex Wave Evolution 5 preamp) goes from barely noticeable grit around 2 to a nice Pete Townsend-ish drive around 3.5 to a nice lead crunch at 5 to total thrash at 7 and above. Both channels react slightly differently to the EQ: the clean channel has better bass and treble respone than the distortion channel; thus, if this amp had a footswitch, it would be better to have separate EQ for each channel. As it is, I tweak the EQ whenever I reach down to push the channel button. This amp makes my SG sound best in humbucker mode, especially with both pickups selected. The Rick doesn't get enough jangle/treble, but I play it much less than the SG, and would like to sell it anyway. I was able to play my bass guitar up to a volume level of 5 before I started worrying about speaker fatigue. In short, this little amp gets me pretty good sounds for the money. NOTE: I am not qualified to compare this amp's sounds to a tube amp.

Hmm, I just bought it yesterday. However, it's built very solidly, which combined with its solid-state circuitry, should make it very reliable.

Crate's warranty is 5 years for everything except the speaker, which is 2 years. The warranty is also transferrable, unlike Peavey's.

I've been playing guitar 18 years, bass for 17. This is my first "proper" amp since 1985, when I last saw my old Vox solid-state amp (which I used for bass mainly). My original Peavey bass, Fender Bullet guitar, and amp all disappeared after I joined the Air Force 15 years ago, thanks to various conspirators. Since 1987 I have used a Hitachi boom box which has a microphone-in jack and 5-band EQ as an amp. With my old (purchased in 1986) pedals (Boss DD-3, CS-3, and DOD Overdrive Plus), I was able to be satisfied with my sound until the Overdrive pedal started crapping out. By then, I also wanted something more portable, durable, and less-laughable, thus the renewed desire for a "proper" guitar/bass amp. If this amp were stolen or lost (as happened to me long ago) I would probably buy it again, unless the new Peavey TransTube-II amps are a significant improvement over the originals. Since my actual outlay for this Crate was only $8 (the other $120 was covered by my 33rd Birthday money), I am sublimely satisfied. I highly recommend this amp after an exhaustive (for Tucson, anyway) search for the best sounds at the best price.

All of the standard stuff for a practic amp: 2 channels(overdrive & clean, 3-band equalizer, gain, reverb..blah, blah, blah

Sounds can vary, has a good clean channel but the distortion can be pretty weak unless turned up almost to full and this makes it kind of noisy. Overall though it's got very good sound for just a "use it when I get bored" practice amp

Never had any problems

Damn fine practice amp, really pointless buying it for anything else.

It has a Distortion Channel (sucks) Clean (Good) 3 EQ's
ext. speaker jack and head phone jack

Currently i have a mexican strat (Saving up for Gothic V)
It has horrible dist. (And i play metal) great clean, its a good practice amp, but is horrible for band practice (Not very loud) im
overpowered by our drummer,who bangs mercilessly on his set

Like i said its a good practice amp never broke down on me (yet)

N/A

like i said over and over Good for PracticeHorrible for band practice, tottaly suck w/ my zoom 505 .i have this huge peavy tube amp (100 watts) that i have to give back soon (DAMN!!)
this olllllllllllllllld gibson tube (THE THING LIT ON FIRE!!!)thats totally shot (used for vocals)its the tottally worst peice of junk that i've ever played (but i've only been playing for a year and 8 months). I may be somewhat of a beginner but i know what sounds good. so if you already have a small beginneer amp, avoid it like the plauge

this is odd, but my GX15R is a 30w amp. The thing has two channels reverb, EQ, and volume and gain controlls. It is, of course, solid state and has an 8" speaker, and a headphone jack that does not shut off the speaker, so it serves absolutely no purpose.

This thing is a very crappy amp. It is the noisiest thing i have evr heard. when you turn it on, you have to kick the shit out of this thing to get all the gremlins attacking the input jack back into their little corner, and then it is still very noisy, with the noise being almost as loud as the guitar

I would never play this thing outside of my house. the gremlins will spontaneously attack it, and you will have to once again kick the shit out of it

i never even bothered, i just bought an A.R.T.

it is serving it's sentance as the "for-when-i-want-to-play-in-th-other-room-amp" and i rarely use it.
take my advive, kids, don't buy one unless you thouroghly check it out, as i don't know if this is a common problem

standard feature these days , clean channel, dist. channel, reverb, open back cab. ex. speaker and phones jack.

Iv been playing for 25 yrs, i play rock,blues and jazz. I chose this amp over many of the small fender amps. In my opinion I thought the tone was gorgeous from the clean channel. fat and tubelike in sound and feel. EQ'ed very nicely. The reverb is much better and lusher than its fender small amp competitors. I thought the dist. sounded much better than the fenders as well, quite smooth. Also see my fender reviews.

Solid state, should be ok for a while

dont know?

as i said i think this amp sounds smooth and natural, better than any other small amps i tried.

WHat a nice little amp. It has just about the basics. The reverb is about shot though, i have had it for 6 years , every since i started playing. The distortion is also bad, i think all crate distortion are bad though. Presently i have this amp at school and it is perfect. The headphone jack is really handy. I have used this amp in a few gigs and ran it through the pa. I have a Crate gx212 but it was getting fixed so i had to use the little crate. It still sounded good through my zoom 30\30. I mainly play rock and some alternative and a little country , and this suites all my styles.(as long as the songs dont use too much distortion.

I have a fender Acoustic with a fender lace acoutic pickup and it sound good at low volumes. Once you get it around 4 or 5 it starts to sound like a piano. It just pounds out the chords. it is not made for playing lound. It is great for practicing. I also play my old Harmony Strat imitation guitar through it and it sounds really bad, Because of the guitar. i am between buying a new electric so i only have the old harmony to play. I have a zoom 30/30 and a few boss effects and they sound great. only problem is the lack of wattage. If you want some noize go with a 60 or 120 watt amp(but dont buy crate, they stink in terms of reliablility.)

This amp is very reliable as long as you take good care of it. I have had it for 6 years and nothing has gone bad except the reverb.

If i lost this amp or if it were stolen, i would go out and buy a used one. I love it. I dont use it everyday but sometimes it is fun to bust it out and jam on it for a while. I would miss it because i have had it for so long. compared to other small amps like the fender squire practice amp, it is a lot better. it has two channels and is a little more cleaner.

This is a good practice amp for the budgeted beginner... Clean and overdrive channels are switchable by a teensy button [my big toe often slips and hits the overdrive level, resulting in a less-than graceful transition] The low-mid-high equlaizing dials do basically nothing, and the reverb is barely noticeable. I never used the headphone jack for anything except plugging into a mixer/PA system, and this amp was barely audible. Not a whole lot of power, but its suitable for practicing alone while the family eats dinner.

I play everything from ska to grunge to lovely "zelda" music [as my band boys refer to anything I do with a capo on the 12th fret], and this amp has served me well... at least while I was alone. There is certainly NOT enough power to be effective against other players. There is an undeniable humming that accompanies any loud playing [though we can plame single-coil pickups for some of that]. I often am forced to crank up both gain and overdrive level to get enough sound [there is definitely no compromise between power and tone] The clean channel distorts at high volume. However, this amp can be a lot of fun when experimenting with a ZOOM GFX-707 effects processor!!

This amp is incredibly dependable... I've had it for 2 years, bought barely used, and it hasn't crapped out on me yet, even under my usual cranked volume

I've never dealt with warranties or Crate... and I've never had problems!

I've been playing electric guitar for 2 years, starting with this amp and a Yamaha guitar... eventually upgrading to a wonderfully versatile Japanese Fender Foto-Flame Strat [I highly recommend the Strat... but DO NOT get a Squier, they are brassy and horrible!] I also fool around with the usual BOSS stomp boxes... flanger is my favorite... and my brand-new ZOOM GFX-707 processor, which is wonderful and gives sucha range of effects! I am due for a new, powerful amp [100W+] so I can play with my band and not be drowned out on stage. If stolen, I wouldn't but another practice amp of this sort, since I'm moving on to bigger things, but I do recommend this model to the beginning player who is amp-illiterate and wants something cheap and reliable to get him through the first few years.

The GX15R is a no frills practice amp. The clean channel sounds pretty decent but the overdrive channel leaves much to be desired. If you are just starting and need something to play on, this may be just what you want. It's cheap and simple.

I'm using this with an Epiphone Les Paul Special with dual humbuckers. It actually sounds pretty decent for it's price range. The overdrive produces a mushy, washed out sound but is bearable until you can afford something nicer. The clean channel distorts past 6 and the gain, when turned up, produces a hiss. Clean is allright with a distortion pedal or effects box. Once again, simple and it gets the job done.

This thing will last longer than radioactive sludge. 2 years and no complaints.

No problems here, either Never dealt with em.

This should do the trick for a beginner or someone on a tight budget. Buy it and sell it when you can get something better.

this amp has 2 channels but they can only be swithched with the push button. it has reverb but in my opinion it is pretty bad

this is a tiny amp. It has pretty good but noisy distorion. At high volumes the Low, Mid and High nobs don't make much of a difference. I have a Fender Mustang, duo-sonic, and squier. The squier sounds the best and it has the normal pickups that came with it.

this amp hasn't broken down. I've set every volume nob on 10 it it hasn't blown. I would never use it at a gig because it would be embarrassing because of the size and sound.

never dealt with crate

it's a good practice amp but it's nothing special, it's 12watts so it can't be very good

This combo is 12 watts with an 8 inch speaker, 3 band EQ, overdrive "channel", and reverb.

I have a Yamaha Pacifica and usually use a humbucking pick up. The clean channel is squeky, and hurts my ears when it's turned passed. The overdrive is very tinny sounding. Below 5 the overdrive is unnoticable, I usually play with it at 10. I play with the volume at 4 and its loud enough to be heard. With Mid at 0 and using a single coil pickup this amp can sound pretty heavy, with a nice warm bassy sound. I got a 4x12 Marshall speaker cab, and am playing my Crate through it well I get moeny for a head, and it sounds much better, the distortion sounds a little more lively, but not much.

The reverb doesn't work very well, below 10 it doesn't change the sound signifigantly. With the reverb anywhre above 8 a loud hum drowns out the guitar. I've tried standing on the other side of the room, moving my amp etc. but it didn't help.

????

I got this as a gift, and its a good practice amp, but it doesn't sound all that great. I wish it sounded better at lower volumes.

It's probably the best amp i've owned. It's never clapped out and is VERY VERY reliable. Crate came up with a winner this time. It has good EQ for an amp of its size and a fairly good sound.

It sounds great. I used a Zoom 505 for effects and I play a Kramer 300 HST (yes, you heard right... I play a kramer... I've owned over 30 guitars from Fenders to ESPs To Jacksons and everything in between.. and the Kramers I own have been the best) and it sounds great. The disortion on it is awesome... from metal to mellow blues. I've used it at gigs and miked it for extra power. It's got enough guts to power a quad and sound good. If you don't like the amp... it makes a great head to power a quad.

I can defiately depend on it. It's never broken down, not even a blown fuse. Every now and then I blow the dust off it, but besides that... its great!

Never had to call them.

If this got stolen or died, I would definately buy another one. If not a GX-15R, I would look into another Crate. Kramer Guitars, Zoom Effects and a Crate Amp make a heavenly/deadly/awesome combination. It's just a shame that Kramers aren't made anymore. I m seriously thinking of buying another one and dis-assembling it, throwing away the speaker and the box and making a pre-amp/head out of it. It's a great amp.

It's got everything a practice amp should-volume, gain, bass mid and treble, a headphone jack and reverb.

I used this with a Peavey Predator for about 2 years. I eventually got an American Strat and decided it was time for a new amp, but this served me well for those 2 years. The distortion sounds better than most amps in this price range. Decent clean sounds. Pretty good starter amp for a budding rock/blues guitarist. You could probably get a decent metal sound, but I never tried.

After a year of playing it a maximum volume, the speaker began to rattle a bit, what do you expect from a practice amp cranked to ten every day.

Never dealt with them.

If you want a good amp to learn to play guitar with, this is a great buy. I doubt I'll ever sell the thing.

2 channels(clean and overdrive) switchable only on the amp; a single three band EQ for both channels; reverb. It's only twelve watts and I found that when having even small jams with only a drummer that I could barely hear it, but it's real cheap and you get what you pay for. It's got a headphone jack, but the sound from my headphones is nothing like the speaker. I used to use it in my room(I got a better amp that's much better) and it's loud enough for that, I gave it a seven because nothing is excetional, but it's generally solid.

When I used it, I had an Ibanez $400 P.O.S. with hum/single/hum configuration. The distortion is VERY flat. In order to get a Slayer-like (very loose, just choosing a band that is somewhat well known for reference) tone, I had the treble all the way up, the middle all the way down, and the bass at three(on all other amps I've used, the bass would be at at least 7). You can get a Smashing Pumpkins style distortion on here pretty well, but I'm no really into that smooth sound, so I didn't dig it. I would not recommend this amp for people who are into heavy distortion unless they don't need much of a chug when palm-muting. As far as blues style distortion, it's still flat as hell. It won't give you any kind of fuzz because of the kind of distortion that it has, but the EQ cannot make up for this in the least. The clean I found rather disappointing. Forget about having your tone on anything but ten when using a neck humbucker my friends, because what you get is not clean! This is your best bet for a blues sound, but it only sounds at all tolerable when the volume is above 8, and if you're playing that loud, you're probably not just in your bedroom and should get an better amp. When playing ska with the volume above 6 or 7, I found that it overdrove the amp. I didn't really use the clean channel for anything but ska, so that's what I have to say about that. I know that all of the commentary I just gave was negative, but this amp was very cheap and it was a good choice for the price range. The Fenders at this price in my opinion are just horrible because they are usually too warm and fuzzy. If you listen to something like metal and are considering starting to play guitar, this is a good choice for your first amp. Still, it sounds pretty bad and isn't loud enough for anything except playing alone.

I thought that it was actually pretty reliable. One time, my friend plugged a bass into it during a practice and had it pretty loud and the amp remains intact. (come to think of it, the amp seemed louder for the bass than it ever did with my guitar...) The amp never broke or stopped functioning for one and half years of moderate use. Not a very strenuous test, but the amp passed well.

This amp is not a quality piece of equipment by any means. It doesn't sound good. It's niche is in the first amp department, and it fills its role pretty nicely. If you're a serious guitar player already don't get this amp. If you're just starting out, this amp is a good choice.

This is a 12 watt solid state amp. The "R" in the name is for reverb, you can buy this amp without reverb as the GX15 for a good deal less. It has two channels, clean and overdrive, a 3-band EQ (that works for both channels), and a reverb knob. Nothing too fancy. I only use this amp in my bedroom and it is loud enough for that. I guess I'll give it a ten since it has all the features that I need for my purpose (I use a number of pedals for other effects). It would be a very good choice as a gigging amp and would receive a much lower rating for that use.
Infact, I did play with a similar amp (GX20M, I think) for a school dance the other day and it was terrible. It "crapped out" in my own words. This means that it kept going, but it sounded like farts.

My guitar is a '79 Fender Squier Strat. I haven't changed any pickups yet, so they are single coils. I like to play all kinds of music. I don't really on my amp to really shape my tone usually, I use pedals. For the features, there is a decent amound of variety.
You're gonna think I'm really weird, but I like the "Flex-Wave" solid state distortion on this amp. I can get some real nice blues tones in my opinion. It sounds sorta like this Clapton sound on one of his CDs that I have. Again, this is my opinion. However, that is the opinion of someone who has never played a tube amp in decent shape or has never tried one of those expensive, "gourmet" overdrive pedals. But, I kinda like the distortion on this amp.

I am pretty easy on my equipment; I haven't had any problems caused by myself. However, once I took it to a party because my band had to practice a little at low volumes before we played. Then, I went out and played, using a different amp. When I came back, the amp wouldn't make any sound. It turned out some idiot had stuck a guitar's cable in the headphone jack and jammed it around because it wouldn't play and he thought that the cable wasn't in all the way. My dad and I took it apart and fixed it, he broke some connection.
The question, "would you gig without a backup" is irrelavant to this amp as it only has 12 watts of power. However, I suppose if it was a really small gig, this amp would do fine and It wouldn't need a backup. (just don't leave it unattended so that some idiot doesn't stick a cable in the headphone jack)

I never dealt with the company. Crate amps are very common so I would imagine that I could find an authorized service center very easily. I do remember getting a warranty; maybe it was 5 years?

I am going to give it a ten because it works fine for me.

This amp is good at doing one thing at a time. If you want super-clean, pristine tones, it can do it. If you want raging, scooped-mids, fuzz-metal, this amp can do it. Unfortunately, it only does one thing at a time. Unlike a true two-channel amp with reverb, the GX-15R is completely nonfootswitchable, and only has one 3-band EQ. Basically, the "overdrive channel" is a distortion circuit with an on-off switch. The reverb is a three-spring with one knob. I use it as a practice amp. It's got a pretty good headphone jack, but the jack isn't speaker-simulated, so I never use it.

This amp has an incredible clean tone! It's like plugging your headphones straight into your guitar's output jack, only better. Your guitar's tone shines through on any clean setting. When I get another amp (a Crate Blue VooDoo), I'm going to use this one for the acoustic pickup on my Carvin AE185. The distortion is pretty good. I've come up with some badass tones over the time I've owned it. The only problem is, I do a lot of switching between clean and dirty, and if I set it for a really wicked dirty sound, it screws up my clean sound. A pair of distortion pedals with three-band EQ's and different settings will take care of this. Also, if you don't like the reverb, or want to be able to switch it on and off with your foot, get a reverb pedal. Currently, I'm looking at an Ibanez Tube King, a Danelectro Daddy-O, and an Ibanez EchoMachine. However, one of the best parts of this amp is its spring reverb. When I play, I sit on my bed with the amp next to me. Sometimes I play with the reverb cranked, then reach over and smack the amp! this causes a great crashing sound. Also, while jamming at a friend's house, I cranked my reverb, played for a minute, then drop-kicked my amp! This caused a great crashing sound! It's a technique surf guitarists of the '60's sometimes used after Fender started putting spring reverb in their amps.

I'd never use it at a gig, but just because of it's wimpy wattage and the fact that it's not a true two-channel amp. It's very tough, though. I've owned mine for a year and four months now, and never had a problem. It's been all over the East and Gulf Coasts, on airplanes in a box that was way too big, to an arena, conventions, parties, jam sessions, band rehearsals, you name it. It's been drop-kicked, thrown, smacked around, had a Boss flanger thrown at it, and NEVER had a problem. Never.

I've never had to deal with them. I bought this amp new at Guitar Stuff in Rockingham, North Carolina, and my local Crate dealer is Jim Pinkston's music in Gulfport, Mississippi, but I've never had to take it there. The warranty is five years, but I've never had to test it.

I just want TWO CHANNELS that are footswitchable. Is that too much to ask? That's OK. It's a solid product, as with all Crate amps. Although I'm a sucker for Peavey, I think my next amp'll be a Crate Blue VooDoo 120 half-stack.

It's solid state with reverb and distortion. For $120 it's a hell of a practice amp. I've read some of the reviews that try and compare the reverb on this amp to one of Fender's more expensive models. Come on, guys! It's a practice amp! I'm very impressed with it's features. The reverb is fine for the price range and the distortion is typical solid state. I have used the amp to power a 2X12 cabinet and it works great.

Good clean channel, the reverb fattens it up. Nice distortion. Great for practicing in apartments. I'm playing an Ibanez JEM through it doing mostly rock and blues with an occasional try at jazz. Keep in mind, for the money you spend, What do you expect? Sounds great for $120

Not loud enough for a gig, but overall construction is sturdy.

Waranty is five years, limited. So far- no problems

If all Crate products function this well I'll be a customer for life. I bought it after comparing everything else in the price range and it is the best buy out there as far as I'm concerned.

Not really many features, but I guess you wouldn't get that many in a begginer amp anyways. Has reverb and distortion

Awful reverb. I went to my cousin's and tried his Fender Princeton Chorus with reverb then tried mine. No comparision. I could barily hear the distortion on the crate. I just heard it for the first time today I had it on 10, and was sitting right next to the speaker. Okay distortion, clean channel breaks up at around 6 or 7

I've had nothing wrong and I've had it for 2 years

haven't had to deal with them

I wouldn't buy it again because of the poor reverb, and not os good clean, but the main reason is I've moved on. I'm looking into getting a amp with chorus since I got a Les Paul and this amp does not do an justice to my Paul. Okay begginer amp I guess, but you'll grow out of it

the amp has 3 eq knobs a headphone jack.. a clean channel, a distortion channel.. and of course, reverb! it is an awesome practice amp ESPECIALLY if you are a begginer into metal! i cannot emphasize this enough! the clean channel is cool.. and if you hook a pedal up to the clean channel it actually sounds damn good!

low noise in my experience with it.. it can rock out at low volumes which is VERY parent/neighbor friendly! it gets loud.. but when you turn it way up it sounds kinda poo-ey. the distortion is the ULTIMATE metal distortion.. very little high end.. of course that can be solved if you have a pedal and use it on clean... but hey, you wont want to if you are into the slayer kinda metal sounds. i have used many guitars with it but it REALLY shines with a guitar with hot pickups (i.e.- les paul studio or a good epiphone lp). good clean sound also.. its just plain GOOD! =)

i had done everything to it and then some and it never gave out on me. i might also note that i used it as a bass amp AND keyboard amp too and NEVER had problems with speaker or anything. now its making music in the hands of another owner. i had it for about 2 years. i might add that my friend has a GX15 (no "r") and it is very reliable also.

n/a

if i was real metal and a beginner i would definetly buy this amp!! it sounds great and the price was right for me! an excellent first amp!

A pretty basic amp. Two channels. 3-Band EQ. Flexwave distortion. Spring reverb. Ext. Jack and headphone jack. No effects loops, chorus, and the distortion it has built-in pretty much sucks.

For its size and wattage, it has pretty good sound. The built-in distortion is not really that great, but the amp sounds fine with a pedal. The clean starts distorting around 5.

I've had it for three years. One time I accidentally bumped it and it blew a fuse. $50 to repair it. Also, if I turn the reverb up all the way, there is an ever increasing background noise. ALso can get a little ringy if you sit to close and play with distortion for a long time.

I don't really know. I'm just guessing. I didn't repair it under warranty.

It is a good beginner amp. It is also good to bring on vacations. Has a loud sound for the watts it has. I don't regret buying it.

Two channels, three-way EQ, reverb, headphone and ext. speaker output jacks. I can coax a number of decent sounds from this little amp -- the channel switching is via a button on the face of the amp only (no footswitch). 12 Watts RMS, solid state. I wanted a tiny, quiet practice amp for home use, and this amp is perfectly suited to that.

I especially like the variety of warm distortions I get from this amp at very neighbour-friendly volumes... Hell, even a spouse is not going to get upset about these quiet tones. It's a NOISY little bugger at any volume over about half when your playing in the dirty channel, and the reverb is goosy and overwhelming on just about any setting over 4, but we're talking a 12 Watt/$100US practice amp here (the 'verb pan in my Blue Voodoo is probably worth this whole amp!). For the Southern Rock/Blues oriented stuff I tend to play, this amp is capable of generating all the right tones fairly closely, and the distortion is surprisingly warm. Most important for my purposes, it sounds GOOD at nice LOW volumes (like around 2 - 3 on the Volume or Level pots), and that's not so common a thing as one might think.

So far so good, but I've only owned it a few days ... I don't think I'd gig with it -- hell, I wouldn't even jam with it, but at 12 Watts, it was never meant to be a performance amplifier, I'm sure. If I did think of miking it for a stand-alone gig, I'd let the thought go away because of the noise it generates.

Never had a problem with my Crates, but I've heard good reviews of their service from others...

I bought this amp in the interests of maintaining a decent relationship with my neighbours, who've found my Blue Voodoo-powered riffs a little more than they care to listen to. I compared carefully with other amps in this power/price range before settling on the Crate, including a Fender, a DOD, a couple Peaveys, a Yamaha, and the venerable (but totally crap) Pignose. I chose the Crate because it was the best available for my purposes -- that is, to generate a variety of decent practice tones, atleast somewhat similar to the ones I use when I gig, at LOW volumes -- I don't turn this amp up more than half has a rule... It suits my purposes perfectly, and I have never had a problem with Crate hardware (knock on wood!). I would not hesitate to buy another one for the same private use...

15 watts, 1 channel, headphone jack, speaker output jack, reverb, high, mid, and low EQ, and gain. Powerful for the first few months of playing guitar. My first amp.
note - the ratings are compared to other 15 watt practice amps.

This amp has decent sounds on the volume levels below 4 or so. On 5 the clean channel turns to crap. The distortion channel is always noisy. Stop reading now if you want to play loud. The distortion channel has some crappy distortion, doesn't sound like much of anything I used the neck and middle pickups. Never the bridge.

Never broke down in the 5 months I had it.

Never dealt with them.

I wouldn't ever buy it again, but I would reccomend it to any beginning guitarist without an amp.

Decent for a first amp. The reverb is horrible. Clean channel works well, and sounds stay clean unless you really crank it. The overdrive was ok (when it worked right) and was versatile, but not very heavy. The 12W power output is just fine for practicing, and you can get just as much gain at low volumes as at high ones.

As i said, the reverb sucks. The gain, well, doesn't change much; really, the sound doesn't change as you turn the gain up. All you get is a volume increase. The distortion is decent for bluesy playing, but don't bother trying to play anything very heavy (Green Day or AC?DC is about as far as you can go with it). Also, at any volume above about 6.5, it just turns to mush.

Basically I am not happy with the amp because the overdrive channel burned out. I ran a DOD Grunge pedal through the overdrive, to see what kind of sound i would get (if you want messy feedback, that is a great way to get it) and the overdrive pretty much fried. It just sounds like crap now.

Crate does have a very good warranty, but I just didn't feel like back my amp to get an unspectacular overdrive repaired.

I guess it is good for just sitting in your room, but I must say that I'd love to have the $90 back to put into a real amp.

1x8, 15Watts. Solid State. Features Clean and Overdrive channels. This is my first amp, so I have little to compare it to. It makes a great practice amp; it's not loud enough to draw too many complaints from the neighbors ... :) The overdrive channel features Gain and Level control. The clean channel has gain control and a 3 band EQ. This amp differs from the GX-15 standard model in that it also has a Reverb control that functions for both the clean and distorted channels.

Good for playing rock, metal, and blues. The overdrive is more distorty/grungy than it is fuzzy, but combined with the tone and volume controls on my guitar, it is capable of producing a wide range of sounds.
The clean channel is very crisp, and can also produce a wide range of tonal qualities in combination with the guitar's pickup selections and volume/tone knobs. A little distortion tends to creep in if the amp's volume knob is turned *WAY* up ...

No problems yet :)

Haven't had to deal with it ... Warranty is 5 years

This amp has been a good place to start. It sounds good at a lot of different settings, and is adaptable to many styles of music. It is also very affordable, and therefore available to a great many people.

I think it has suitable features for most people, especially beginners. The reverb is very crappy. The distortion is grungy. The clean channel is very bright. The headphone feature is actually quite usefull with parents in the house.

This does definetely not suit my musical style but it was my fault for buying it. I hate solid-states. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

This amp is way too small to be anything but a crappy practice amp and I would never go anywhere with it, because I would be embarrased. It is definetely not reliable because it blew out the first year I had it.

They do have good customer support I just forgot to fill out the warranty form.

I hate almost everything about it so I would definately not buy it again. It's a fun amp to kick around and rip apart. I use the speaker in my mom's car.