Crate GX15R

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.