Crate PowerBlock Head

The usual Fender-type options on the front panel plus a fair amount of hook-up options on the rear. See the other reviews or the net for deatiils; I prefer to write about its tone.

I've written for guitar magazines for years and am a working pro blues musician.

Simply remarkable if you're not a heavy-metalhead. If you are, you'll have to experiment to see if it fits the bill. For pop, blues, country, jazz, etc. it's quite good. For dedicated blues it superb. Put the gain on 11 or 12 o-clock for some fairly clean crunch and fatness.
KNow this: With a good cab, it's the greaest value ever--not to emtion the fact that it's a big as a small loaf of bread and weighs under 5-lbs. It abisoltely murders the DrZ Mini-Z and the Orange Tiny Terror. I sold my JCM900 the day after I bought this.

With Humbuckers, go up to 12 o'clock on the gain. With single-coils, try 1:00. It's quite loud.

Perfect so far and I now gig with it leaving a basement full of other amps at home. It sounds great and weighs nothing so it's wonderful for working pros.

Note that if you use two 4-ohm cabs, she might cycle on and off due to the variability of impedance in the real word; some 4-ohm cabs will drop to 2-ohms at certain frequencies. This is the protection circuit at work warning you to change the load. Do not bridge (for the 150 watt max) into anything less than 8 ohms.

I've tried to contact Crate repeatedly. Even when I told them in writing who I was and the magazines I write for, they chose to ignore me so I'm giving them a very poor rating for service. I even tried US mail! I only wanted clarification of a few things in the manual and could reach no one by phone (nasty receptionist) and they never answered my emails. I shudder to think what would happen if I were about to gig and needed advice. You are on your own with Crate.

It's a little miracle so as long as it works, I'm in love!

Features are few. Just a basic head with equilization, pre and post volume. I do like the options on the rear of the amp, like stereo speaker outputs and the bridge to double the power in mono. It's got an MXR out. Wish it had two MXR outs for stereo to go right to a PA mixer. Love it's compactness. Been having the Crate for about 2 years but never used it, until my Bandmaster broke. I normally play with a 1967 silverface Fender Bandmaster head going into an old Peavy Blackwidow 15" speaker and just took the Powerblock along in case the Bandmaster would go belly up at a job.

After divorce, I don't need the headphone jack anymore. I can crank it up. Yeah! But it was nice to have when I was still married.

Way more than enough power. Can be extremely loud.

By itself as a straight amp I would give it about an 8. It is not quite as clean as my Fender. Reasently the Fender developed some rumbling sounds (it's 42 years old). I play through a Digitech GNX4. After learning to tweak GNX4, it turned out to be the best multieffects unit I tried. I have used the output of the GNX4 into a number of amps; Line6, Peavey, other Crate amps and various Fender amps. I loved it plugged into the BandMaster. I started using the Crate PowerBlock while the Bandmaster is getting repaired..WOW. I was blown away by the full and open sound I was getting. I can't believe I am getting that kind of sound of of the GNX4/PowerBlock combination. I am going to compare it with the Bandmaster side by side when I get it back. I may have found my new sound. As of right now I am very happy with it for Blues and R&B.

By itself, I would give the PowerBlock about an 8 for sound. It does everything a simple amp should. It is clean, but not Fender clean. It is very full and warm with the right speaker attached, and it is plenty loud and full enough for up to 200 or 300 people event without being mic'd. Dare I say tube like?

With all that said, I am not using it by itself and never do. In combination with the GNX4, I give it about a 9.5. A lot of the credit goes to the PowerBlock. I have tried the GNX4 in front of quite a few amps. I was a little disgusted with it until I plugged into the Bandmaster and now the Powerblock. It is rich sounding. I am a tone freak. I am always looking for good tone but I keep coming back to this setup. Most other guitarist look at it in disbelief and can't believe the sound that is coming out of this unlikely looking setup.

Feels like a brick. I've dropped it a few times. No problems with it so far. Runs cool to the touch no matter how much I crank it up. I don't think I can hurt it the way I gig with it.

Never had a problem or needed to call on any Crate equipment that I ever owned.

I have been playing semi-professional for about 50 years (gasp!) I like Powerblck / GNXa setup so much I don't want to risk being without the combination of gear. I only paid $78 bucks for this thing. At that price, they are probably throw aways (if it ever broke). I am going to buy a couple more off ebay or where ever I can find them. I am so impressed with the sound in live gigging situaltions that I may just keeping using it even after my Bandmaster comes back from the shop. But I also have to give some credit to the GNX4 I am using it with. I may buy a backup for that as well. I don't give a damn how much or how little something costs. If it sounds good, I want it.

Very nice amp, but all it has is a gain nob, middle, bass and treble, with the necessary level.

People just don't know how to tweak the settings on this thing. I have the crappiest distortion pedal, yet this amp, with some tweaking, turned it into a very thick and brutal distortion.

Without even changing the settings from the distortion settings, If I turn off distortion, the clean sounds nice and rich. Using the bridge pickup, I can get a nice country, twangy kind of sound. If I switch to neck, I get a really thick and rich clean sound that is absolutely magnificent!

Only problem I have ever had is that the level know has a short in it. Other than that this amp is RUGGED!

I have owned this amp for 2 years now, and I have never had a problem with it. I love it to pieces. It's rugged, sounds great, and is amazing for recording, since it has an extra XLR jack for a line out to a mixer, with a seperate level for it. So you can be hooked up to your mixer and be hooked up to the power block cabinet. Wonderful!

Most of the other reviews have captured the few features of this amp. I am a casual player that does not want to invest a ton in a rig, but wants to crank it up with buddies from time to time. This amp is LOUD!

I use this amp with an Ibanez SA-i60 with S-S-H pickups. By itself the amp adds nothing much to sound, but is perfect with my POD 2.0. The POD creates all my tones, and the Power Block cranks out the sounds through my Fender 1x12" cabinet. You need some effects box or pedals to make this Block reach its full potential.

Works fine everytime. I use it mostly in my home setup, and occaisionally drag it over a buddies house. The size/weight make it a pleasure to carry around, unlike most equipment.

Never needed support. The small instruction manual was all I needed.

This amp is perfect for a guitarist with a POD, or similar, effects box, or some pedals. Save some major money and find a used one. Don't know why Crate discontinued thi sline.

This amp was made in 2006 and purchased new by our rhythm guitarist. Our band plays nu-rock as in Chevelle, Seether, Godsmack, etc. This is a one channel amp, which was fine as he uses a Digitech metal pedal for distortion. This amp was used for practice and a couple gigs. The I/O on this little thing is quite extensive and practical. Plenty of power amp output for any situation. The combo stereo line ins/effects loop send/return jacks are nice, don't understand the comments about being speaker emulated because that is not where that is used, it's used on line outputs for DI. I give it an 8 in this category for practicality, fun, and the extensive I/O.

I have owned a Crate GX15 with effects, and a GX120 with effects, and marveled at the gain structure of both, awesome practice amps and the 120 sounded great through a JCM900 cab. THIS AMP SOUNDS ABSOLUTELY AWFUL!! If you are looking for the Flexwave distortion of the GX's, you have no hope here. A light blues drive is all you get, which personally I don't understand. This amp would've been a killer with the gain from the GX series. As far as people commenting about it being close to a tube amp, I completely disagree and here's why. We fiddled and fiddled for an hour trying to get the honk out of this thing(Jackson w/EMG 81,85, Digitech metal pedal, 5150 cab) to no avail. I was sure it was the pedal until, as a last resort, we substituted one of my old VTM120's running as clean as possible for the power amp, going in through the low input. PROBLEM SOLVED!!! 1000% more detail, fullness, and no more honk. COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SOUND. Stop comparing this toy to a tube amp which is not a toy!! This thing is unusable for any kind of heavy rock without pedals, and it's a lottery there 'cause the digitech sounds AWESOME thru the VTM, and CRAP through the powerblock. Sorry, 2 for sound quality.

We've never had any problems with this amp. Tore into it to try to jack up the gain, the construction is average, very thin boards in there but a fairly rugged casing. If I dropped it, I wouldn't be scared of it quitting.

Never had to deal with SLM, the GX120 went down but got stolen by some idiot right afterwards so I've never had to contact them.

I've been playing guitar 36 of my 40 years, and don't play country or jazz, why bother. Jackson dinky reverse no trem w/81,85 wired 18v, Washburn Nuno N4 Padauk, '62 Tele with little '59, Ovation Balladeer, ART SGX2000, 3 Peavey VTM 120's, Peavey Duel, 5150 cabinets, have owned Crate GX15 and 120, Mesa Dual Rectifier, Marshall micro stack and JCM900 standard/vintage cabs, original Danelectro stomps, Digi milk box compressor. Indianapolis is about the deadest town you could imagine for music.
If this amp were stolen, I'd have to replace it because it's not mine. T is a block mason, so I could probably just send him after whoever stole it lol. I'd not own one of these amps, it's tubes or nothing for me. Only one short life, too short to spend using inferior equipment. Like the I/O, would be an ok practice amp if you play blues or standards, possibly alright for some experimental/clean recorded tracks, unless you can find the dist pedal that this amp likes to work with. Great utility piece as others noted, just super crappy sound on its own, though YES I have heard worse. I just don't dig solid state amps, except the Marshall AVT which sounds great but I still wouldn't own that either. I'm going to try as soon as I find my compressor pedal to see what happens when you hit the front end hard. This amp is a good product and a good value, but like I said before, to get pro sound you got to have pro gear. I can't even practice with this thing. Sorry to the guy who dropped $1800 on the Mesa, should've bought a peavey classic 50 and been done with it.
Fun and features=8/gain/sound quality=2= 4 overall

The features have been well covered by earlier submissions. It's simple and straight forward and lets my sound come from my pedals. That's mainly what I bought it for.

Also, I sometimes play in a band or as solo act. This is real easy to schlep around. That's what I'm talking about!

I play an Ibanez 8 string. I like progressive rock, pop and some jam band stuff. That's right, I'm an 8 string player who doesn't really dig metal. I'm running this through two matching Crate 1x12 cabs. For effects I got wah-dist-chorus-delay-reverb.

This amp sounds really cool and surprisingly clean. Tons of volume with no noticeable breakup. I think its one of the best solid states I've owned / played. I like having the two 1x12 cabs. I can take just one cab with me if I'm doing a solo gig or both cabs when jamming with the guys.

I've had it for about 5 months now. No problems at all. Its built very well as many before me have documented.

I had a new Fender Supersonic head and cab before buying the Crate. After replacing a couple expensive tubes in a very short time, I cut my losses and got rid of it. Glad I did and never looked back. Considering the marginal difference in tone, I'll stick with solid state from here on out.

never dealt with them.

I would buy another one if something happened to it down the road. For the price, you can't beat it.

This is your nice, basic amp head. It has more features that one would think first looking at it. Most folks have gone over the basics, 3-band EQ, Effects loop/amp insert, cd in's, line out and headphone jack. It's not channel switching, but that can be gotten around. The size is what's so cool. I assume this is a class D design but don't hold me too that. Look for a lot of class D stuff in future. Especially bass amps.

This area is so different for so many people. I have come to my personal conclusion. If you look at the block diagram in the manual, it seems that everything runs through the speaker simulator all the way to the speaker jacks. No plugged into a cabinet, that sounds a little lifeless. That's a little curious, but there is a solution. The cd inputs go straight into the power amp. With a TRS y-adaptor, you can hook a cable from the ring side of the adaptor, and insert the other (RCA) side into the left cd input. With the speaker simulator bypassed, you have a very useable stand-alone amp. The sound is lively and great and the distortion is around AC/DC territory. With nothing but a simple booster like a LPB or treble booster, you can get some solid metal sounds out of it. I use a MXR Zakk Wyld overdrive and it can really scream. Pod folks could also benifit from using the cd inputs if you can control the master volume from the pod. If I hadn't got this worked out I would have been a little harder on the sound quality score. I use humbuckers and a Les Paul Classic with the 500 ceramics (is that right?) and an SG with Duncans. I'm mainly out for a good crunch and a heavy lead tone. Even with a pretty fair amount of distortion, it's still pretty quiet too.

I would say this thing is pretty bullet proof as long as you observe the speaker impedances. Modern solid state stuff seems very intolerant of this. If you have one cab, use the bridge mode. I'm not quite sure how it would be possible to hurt it otherwise.

Never dealt with Crate/SLM whomever they are now.

Overall this is a neat little amp in a small package. I would most surely troll Ebay for another if it was stolen. I've been though a lot of amps, and this little guy can hang with some pretty nice tube amps I have.

Just as some background I'm 27, been playing for 15 years and teaching for 7, have played on a multitude of amps ranging from cheeeeepo combo's to high-end tube amps.

First off, I bought this for $150 and like it better than any head I've ever played. Do the math... :)

This amp is wonderfully simple, gain, 3 band EQ and level, THAT'S IT. Very simple tone controls, don't really let you mess up the sound. The BEST feature of this amp is just the way it sounds, best emulation I've ever used honestly. I can't seem to get a bad sound out of this thing, I've tried, it always sounds good no matter what I do to the controls.

Also has some very useful back panel and under the hood features. Such as: XLR out and headphone jack both with speaker simulator, a mono 8ohm speaker out and also stereo 4ohm speaker outs, it functions as a 150w power amp (great if you're using a line 6 pod or similar preamp) and has stereo RCA inputs for a mixer or CD player etc. And of course an FX loop (useful for this amp as it comes with no FX) personally tho I like to use it dry. One of my favorite features of this amp is the fact that it's SMALL and LIGHT. Fits nicely in it's little shoulder strap bag, easy to lug around.

I use this with several guitars, but mostly with my Washburn HB35. I play Punk, Blues and hard Rock N' Roll.

The sound is phenomenal in my opinion. Warm, smooth and full tube emulation without the worry of tube maintenance and the weight and size of more expensive heads. The only other amps for me that have compared in sound are heads costing over $1000. I've never played an amp I like BETTER however, for my taste this matches up to anything else I've tried, including the JCM 800 or Crate's more expensive tube heads.

This is not for most metal players to use on it's own, people who expect a really high gain would have to use a distortion pedal. It does get quite heavy tho when you crank the gain, in my opinion it's brutal enough for metal, but I know most would want more. Also the more gain you give it from your guitar or preamp the more it distorts.

The clean sound is nice, if I max the Level and use the gain to reach my peak volume for shows I find this amp stays perfectly clean at a volume loud enough to play over drums. It seems Crate have balanced the gain and level perfectly for all applications. It breaks up around half way which gives me a lot of room for the sound I like which is a crunchy, bluesy, hard rock overdrive, it does this sound amazingly. So if you like hard rock, punk, blues, classic rock etc. this is definitely the head for you.

Also, VERY low noise, nice and quiet even when cranked.

I've had it for a couple years, it's never given me any trouble of any sort at all. I gig all the time with a couple bands, I kick it around at gigs, it's built like a brick and because of it's size it actually does resemble a little futuristic looking brick. All the controls and parts seem really sturdy and not plastic/cheep AT ALL.

Never had to deal with them, once I wrote Crate about the head tho asking why they discontinued it and if they were planning a PowerBlock II. I got a prompt, polite and informative response.

Again, for me it was $150 (with case) for an awesome sounding 150 watt head... can't beat that value.

I love everything about this head, period. If it was lost or stolen I'd replace it right away. In fact I am currently looking for a secondary one to keep at my practice space for guest guitarists and to have as a backup. If you're low on cash but need something loud good and worry free, if you want something that sounds good straight away without the need to "find" your tone, if you need a backup head, if you're tired of carrying your big heavy one, or if you need something to use with a preamp or as a simple 150w power amp... you should buy this head.

really,all of the "features" on this amp are state of the art...and it's LOUD


AND SMALL

this amp only sounds decent when it's played cleanly,but if you want to get REALLY,REALLY heavy metal sounds you'd need a pretty nice distortion or overdrive pedal....which i don't have

i haven't really gone through hell and back with this amp(because i can't get my sound),but because of it's "slim-lined" design i'd say it's pretty sturdy

i haven't had to deal with the customer support,but because this amp has been discontinued(and it'd be hard to get),you can go on crateamps.com and print the user's manual...which is pretty handy

this is a nice amp for traveling(if you prefer cleaner tones),and it's got alot of useful featurs on it...so yeah

it's ok if you're not looking for HEAVY distortion sounds

This is a 150W Solid State power amp designed by SLM Eletronics in St. Louis, MO and manufactured in China.
On the front: Input jack, headphone jack, 5 knobs: Gain, High, Mid, Low, Level
On the back: Mono & R&L Stereo speaker outputs 75W RMS per side -4ohms. w/ a "Bridge Mono" @150W - 8ohms. button. Cd RCA inputs, Output level knob, Line Out XLR jack, Line in stereo or mono/effects loop snd/rtn, power button, AC Line in for the power cord.

The whole thing is smaller than a lunch box, under 5 pounds, and less than a foot wide and 4 inches high.

I think the reviews(and ratings) have been misleading on this piece of equipment so I want to state up-front the purpose for this amp. No it's not for jumping your car, no it's not for powering your auto-body shop welder, no it's not a PA system or a pirate radio staion transmitter, and no it's not a bass amp.

It IS a 150 Watt Stereo Guitar Amplifier. It also has an even more specific design purpose which I will discuss later. I will rate it as such.

Crate built this amp primarily for the "POD Heads". The POD line of electronics by Line 6 is(in case you have been exiled to a 3rd world country) a very cool multi-setting guitar amp modeler and guitar effects box among other things. The Crate Power Block gets the input from POD(or other effects boxes) and boosts it out any one of a hundred different speaker cabinets. This was and is it's primary design function and it does this VERY well. Yes I know it has a lot of other holes for allowing some flexibility. You CAN play a Marshall Stack on the clean channel at a 1 setting all the time too. But it's not it's intended purpose!!! you get my point...

Considering the purpose, the Crate Power Block can be configured to really adds nothing of it's own to the sound being amplified. Great! Excelent! Outstanding! If you are using cabinet/microphone modeling and dial in a Marshall?? 1968 Variac Plexi miked through a Shure?? SM-57 Off Axis with some Big Muff Pi?? and Arbiter?? Cry Baby Wah mixed in, what you don't need is adding another whole set of amplifier characteristics on top of it. The Power Block does a good job of just passing this setup through my Peavey 6505 4x12 cabinet without much else. Yes of course whatever you play it through is going to add some character of it's own but for me this is a great match. The perfect match actually.

I also have a single 12" fender extension cabinet that I use with the Power Block for jamming instead of lugging around the big cabinet. The Fender doesn't do quite as well being transparent. It seems to like the Fender models and is fine with the VOX stuff but it lacks some of the very defined highs needed to cut through when doing metal.
The Power Block runs it like a champ.

The Crate PB does have gain and some EQ and these are great for helping to match up a speaker cabinet with the modeling desired. It is not meant to be "the ultimate tube overdrive amp" or anything of the sort. I use some gain to add a little extra punch over the top of the POD effects sometimes which actually lends itself to some amazing overtones.

The bottom line on sound is that the CPB does an outstanding job of doing it's job, making my POD and effects boxes really, really LOUD.

What you put in to it is exactly what you get out of it, times 150.

It is dependable, seems solid as a couple bricks wrapped together with an aluminum heat sink. I never gig without a backup. Runs cool, even with driven hard, has never clipped on me during performances or gigs.

Firstly I hate most of Crate's products. I have played with several hundred guitarists over the years and I don't know any of them that said "Wow I can't wait to get a Crate amp" For the most part I think they make junk. BUT the Power Block and the newest tube Crate amps in the "V" series seem to exceed expectations. I have tried the "V" series V-33 twin and I love it. It's an entirely different tool than the Power Block I will use both as intended...

I've been playing professionally since I was 13. I am now after 25 years still playing and I love where technology has taken things as much as I love old school tubes. The Power Block is a great amplifier in it's own right for a specific purpose. If you're going to buy one(used since they are out of production) then know what it's good at doing at least. No I'm not going to sell my Fender Twin or my M-80 or my JCM2000, but I love the Crate Power Block and none of these does what it will do. Boost the signal I am putting in it without influencing it. They also don't fit under the seat of your F-150 if you go to the bar after practice... The Power Block does. For $150 you can't ask for more.

I bought my PowerBlock in '05, so it was manufactured then or in'04.
I am submitting another review because the XLR output fizzled. This feature was "the" tipping factor when I decided to purchase this product. The XLR sounded like utter crap for guitar, but was absolutely the best sounding D.I. for bass, and that's what I used it for, uh, like twice, then it died. (The amp itself still works fine.)
I should mention that I've been at this a "long time" and have many choices for bass D.I., but to my ear this sounded the best. The PB150 amp thru one 10" Eminence bass speaker both mic'd and direct-injected was perfect in the studio. (And yes, I can trouble shoot...the problem is not my cables.)

The XLR sounded great for bass, while it was working. It simply stopped working for no apparent reason. The amp has never been played out, and has never suffered any damage. The "very basic" guitar sound can be decent when mic'd through the right speaker - I prefer a 10" Eminence Ramrod - single 10's are easiest to deal with in my small project studio. The effects loop is configured in kind of a ridiculous manner, it could have been simpler without raising manufacturing costs.
I run an old Boss "half rack" unit for reverb (not on bass, duh).

Obviously the XLR out is not reliable. I have probably only used it a total of 5 times. This amp has never been abused or dropped.
Otherwise, I love this amp.
I have not opened it up to seek out the likely cold solder joint - because the thing is so miniature, I find the prospect of self servicing it to be rather daunting - but what am I gonna do, send it back to China? I'll grind my teeth and crack the "little b*st*rd" open eventually.

I have not contacted Crate about this problem - the amp is three years old so it is no doubt long out of warranty. Since my PB150 was only $80 (new!), it simply isn't worth paying to have it serviced.
It's a "disposable product," like all the other "made in China" stuff that globalization has subjected us to. So, I'll try to find another one cheap on Craig's or somewhere.

These amps had great potential. The PB150 filled a void left after Gallien Krueger gave up on small portable guitar heads. It's shame that Crate did not refine the design. This isn't an "overbuilt vintage style tube amp," but it could have been an effective amp for recording or small gigs. (If you're carrying enough gear to play a stadium, you wouldn't be worrying about the size or weight of an amp head.)
That said, I'm bummed about the direct out...

This small digital head for guitar and more is a real value. At it's original price of $300 it was a steal - at the closeout prices around of $100 - it is a rare deal!!

This is a two channel output or summed output - 75 x 2 or 150 x 1. It has a line level input set but bypasses the volume control [wish it didn't]. It features a volume control plus a gain control along with tone controls. The amp runs very cool.

I have used this with a 10" bottom, a 12" and a 15" bottom as well as with several multi-driver rigs. It performs well under all circumstances. With the gain set at 11:00 and the volume where you might need it - it sounds very good. I sold my Bedrock 1600 combo and replaced it with this... It is superb.

I have used both of these that I purchased and have had zero problems with these.

Love the sound, portability and performance. Wish they still made these and even expanded the line.

Why the hell did they stop making this amp, and why have no other amp manufacturers tried to copy it?! It is a brilliant design in my opinion.

A single channel amp with no reverb is obviously not for everyone, but this amp has a very clever set of features. Because of the inputs and outputs I've managed to use it as an emergency PA before, it's very flexible in that sense. It's incredibly small and incredibly light - if I'm playing a gig and know that there'll be a cabinet there, I simply need to take my guitar, pedal bag and powerblock, so I can do it all in one trip, making life very easy.

I'm regularly gigging in two bands and this is the only amp I have right now. I had a Dr Z valve amp head which I sold, mainly for financial reasons but also because the powerblock nearly does the same job. I've had a few sound engineers compliment me on how good my guitar sounds and then look confused when I show them what I'm using. They find it difficult yo believe such a small box can make such a convincing sound.

As others have said, this has a very transparent sound. I have a nice set of pedals that produce the range of sounds I want, and the powerblock simply does a superb job of amplifying it. I put it through a custom cabinet with a 15" eminence speaker, and it sounds full, rounded and fat.

I normally push up the middle control to around 3pm which fattens the sound and adds presence. The EQ controls are very well voiced.

This obviously does not sound as good as a boutique valve amp head. To me though, through a decent cabinet it can sound 90% as good. I think the main thing it lacks in comparison to a valve amp is the ability to cut through a band. It doesn't quite have enough bite to do it, but it's not far off.

I've been using mine for about 18 months and it's been solid as a rock so far. Obviously not having any tubes makes it much more reliable than a valve amp, and you avoid a major expense of having to get it retubed every year or two.

To be honest the build quality is a bit cheap, but in it's padded bag you can still throw it in the bag of the car knowing that it will be ok.

Not had to deal with them.

I bought this cheap when they were selling them off after they were discontinued. It was so cheap that I picked it up just to use as a little practise amp. I then tried it at rehearsal and discovered that it was nearly as good as the valve amp which cost me 20 times as much.

I would be first in the queue if Crate released the Powerblock II. I would absolutely love to see a new version of the powerblock with higher build quality and an improved sound, but essentially the same features. If Crate aren't going to do this would some other amp manufacturers PLEASE rip it off! We're not all so obsessed with valve amps that guitarists don't need this sort of product.

There's a massive range of small, portable solid state bass amps on the market. Why can't the same be true for guitarists? There is far too much snobbery in guitar equipment, the technology is now there to produce good, simple alternatives to valves.

Features: see other reviews

Power 150watts=LOUD

Cool Features: Effects loop, RCA Aux in, XLR out

SMALL, TOUGH CONSTRUCTION!!

CONSIDERING WHAT IT IS, COMPARED TO LIKE POWER AMPS FEATURES ARE GREAT!

I'm writing this in response to a few reviews that gave it 1's (like mortuusspecter). After reading their poorly conceived reviews I had to respond after using this great little piece of equipment for over a year now.

YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER IT"S A POWER AMP: AKA GREAT BEHIND A MODELER ETC.

Behind your favorite pedals etc. this little puppy just shines. Because it's made to NOT COLOR YOUR SOUND. It will simply take your sound and make it louder. That's why it's great.

The on-board distortion is not great by itself because basically its a power circuit simply overdriven but as others have said it sounds great with pedals like the bluesdriver or my favorite with it a mesa-boogie v-twin or sometimes I use a Tubescreamer type (the barber direct drive is GREAT)

The EQ shapes very well.

Mortuusspecter's review said it wasn't loud enough for his bedroom well unless his bedroom is in the boiler room of a world war 2 aircraft carrier then he either had a faulty unit or set it up wrong, because mine is LOUD! I've paired it with 4x10", 4x12", 2x12" and even a 1x15" cabs and they were all LOUD.

Great, transparent sound that simply amplifies YOUR SOUND-genius...
Unless your sound sucks. But then hey with the price of this amp you'll have alot of chedder left to customize your sound after you get the amp.

Well made, tough little amp. Never had a prob in over a year of solid use.

I use it as a backup to my tube amp. I like to combine it with my johnson J-station amp modeler. In this role it really shines. I also team it up with a tube preamp/ distortion pedal (mesa v-twin) which also kicks ass.

THINK ABOUT IT AN AMP THE SIZE OF A LUNCHBOX WITH YOUR FAVORITE PEDAL AND A CAB OF YOUR CHOICE!-

--You could have a 150watt set up that fits in a small back pack-SWEET!

I use it for practice all the time with a 1x10" cab I made in my little wood shop. PERFECT PRACTICE SETUP!

A $100 power amp that rivals some $300 poer amps I've heard over the years.

No idea when it was made. Suppose it doesn't matter much. I like most of the features but I wish it had a reverb on it. Effects loop is a nice feature. I have Line 6 Pod 2.0 that plugs works really well with this amp.

Sound quality is good if not great. It won't give you that deep dark distortion you crave if you're into metal or modern style music. With the gain turned most of the way up, you can get a convincing ac/dc type sound with it wich is pretty cool. But as far as deep dark tear your face off distortion, it just doesnt have it. Clean tones are also good not great. Turning the treble all the way up gives a tinny jangly kind of sound. Mids and lows are quite tight though.

Mine has been gigged, left on overnight, used as a make-shift P. A. system and generally miss-treated. I have had no trouble with this amp at all I turn it on and it works. I bought it as a back up, tried it gigging one night and now its my main amp. I have that much faith in it.

I bought it brand new out of the box and I was instantly impressed. For such a small piece it has plenty of headroom to keep up with and surpass even the most aggressive drummers. On its own it is not a special sounding amp. It sounds like what it is. A very loud, solid state amp. Adding effects to it as I and most users of this product have, opens up a world of choices. The Line 6 Pod 2.0 is a good choice as they are rock solid reliable and since Line 6 has released a new version of this, Used ones on Ebay are popping up all over the place.

Pretty light on the front-panel features. No reverb. No effects. Just gain, treble, mid, bass, and volume controls.

Has some great features on the back though, including effects loop, stereo CD/line input, XLR out, and powered-outs of either stereo @ 4ohms each, or mono at 8ohms.

I LOVE this little powerhouse! And this is coming from a guy who's been using 100 watt tube heads live for years. I have been using Hughes & Kettner Triamp Mk I and a Traynor YCS-100H for my live classic rock and country gigs.

I play a G&L Tribute Legacy strat, G&L Tribute Asat tele, and three ESP Ltd EC-400's at gigs. All of them sound great through my tube heads. And they all sound great through the Power Block.

I purchased the Power Block used for $100 off of Ebay a couple of weeks ago. What a deal! I got it to have as a backup so I didn't have to haul multiple tube amps around to gigs. But I've been using it as my daily practice rig every day since I got it. I don't like having to warm-up and cool-down tubes and having wear and tear on them just for practice. So I have the Power Block plugged-into my two JCM 900 1960 cabs (A and B) and it rocks!

Plenty of volume for sure. And it sounds great for clean country on my tele if I roll-off the gain back to about "3" and use my Visual Sound Route 66 compressor for that Brad Paisley sound. Or I roll the gain up to "10" and kick in my "Ultimate Mod" TS-9 Tube Screamer for rock and metal. Maxed-out the Crate has roughly Marshall JCM800 level gain on-tap. With the addition of any decent OD or distortion pedal to the chain there's plenty of gain on-tap.

I'm impressed with the tube emulation in this little beast. It does a decent job. To my ears a LOT better-sounding than the Line 6 Duoverb or the Behringer Vampire heads that I used to use for backup and/or practice. And I even like the fact that it's got no reverb or anything fancy on-board, as my good quality effects pedals do what I need in those areas. I will still gig with tube amps because I've learned over the years that NO solid state or modeling amp can match tube amps for clean headroom, or that musical quality that power tubes being driven hard have (they're "ALIVE"). But I feel more than confident throwing the Power Block in its soft bag and hauling it to gigs as my only backup to the tube head. It sounds good enough that the rest of my night wouldn't be ruined if I had to use it. That's saying a LOT!

Dunno what kind of reliability it has long-term. Hope it holds up. But may eventually buy another just to have around since they don't make 'em anymore.

Dunno. Hope I don't have to find-out.

I've been playing since 1984 and been gigging since 1986. I've played thousands of gigs with just about every piece of gear out there over the years. Found a lot of good stuff and a lot of junk. So far I am very impressed with this little beasty.

The only way this thing could be any better for my tastes is if they somehow squeezed 4-El34 power tubes in there! But then I'd still have to have a backup for that... so this thing rules "as-is" and is perfect.

The Crate Powerblock 150 watt solid state amp. It has all the "back to basic" amp controls. I'm begining to learn that this is something that allows you to build from it's basic design to get the final sound your looking for. The option that I wish it had was a dual channel. I'm of the opinion that when using this amp you have the basic necessities to build from and with that the most valuable "feature" on this amp is realized when you go to grab your equipment and load it into your car. I have finally learned how to grow the sound from this amp. Of course it would be nice to have that Marshall, Fender and Ampeg sound right out of the box which I have done for many years but I'm willing to learn how to grow my sound off this thing. Dollars and weight are by far the best feature on this amp. Enough said!

I play exclusively through an American made Stratocaster and Gibson SG. Most of the time I'm playing through the neck pickup and sometimes through neck and middle. I mostly play Blues of all sorts and some Rock from 60's 70's and 80's. If I were to quote my favorite artist the top five would be first and foremost Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan and then Derek Trucks, Robin Trower and Duane Alman. Yes, the tube sound is what I prefer by far. I finally found the sound I was hoping for out of this amp yesterday. When I first purchased the amp I plugged straight into the amp with my guitar and played with tone a little and finally begin to work on the level and gain controls. I must admit that I wasn't very pleased with the sound at this time and wanted to dismiss it very quickly as only a backup amp. Although it could produce some ok sounds that could get you out of a bind when you need a amp or go home it just didn't cut if for me. I experminted even further and found when using my Blues Driver pedal I could easily grow the quality of sound but it still couldn't produce what I was looking for. That soon changed. Read on.

I must tell you that I've had no problems with this amp as of yet and I'm very pleased. Additionally, the sound I like is playing with the level in highest position possible and this is where others are having problems supposedly. Even though I have discovered the sound with this amp that I enjoy, I still would not use it without a backup in public simply because of the reports of the amps failure in some cases. I would use it in public as I love the sound but never would I pack it alone.

No Opinion

Alright, this is the nitty gritty of it all isnt it. I've been playing for little over 30 years now. Through the years I have developed a love affair with all types of amps and at the very top of my list are two special amps of mine; The Ampeg VT 40 and many different Marshall head/4x12 combinations. The most recent Marshall head in the stable is the JCM 2000 3 channel. They are both great sounds but the truth of the matter is this simple fact. Every time I set them up to deliver that sweet sound I love, an argument almost always breaks out between my wife and I. It was sometime during one of these discussions with her that I began to study these little amps that were supposed to produce that sweet delicious sound but at a lower level. (My Marshall when playing through the lower watt option just does not due the amp justice either) I have played, purchased, sold and kept some I liked but the bottom line is I don't believe they can be reproduced completely at lower levels. Although some amps come close I feel they just don't compare so I turned my focus on trying to get a great sound out of one of these small light weight amps that I kept. Several just couldn't cut the mustard but when I hooked up this Power Block to my Marshall 4x10 cabinet (yes they did make them) and with the level on full out and gain at 10 o'clock or more with the Blues Driver pedal level at 10 or 12 O'clock and gain half way up, this little amp began to sing for me like the VT 40. I couln't believe what I was hearing and thank goodness I was home alone at the time. Whoever said these amps are weak don't have a clue or like me didn't experment with them enough in the beggining. After reading the previous review I've decided to try some other devices with this amp to get more of the tube sound through. I'll tell you straight up, I'm no Crate fan but they have caused my eybrow to raise slightly with this one. What baffles me is why they discontinued the thing. If modifications were neceessary on the amp for reliability purposes I would have them done on this one and would buy another one in a heartbeat if stolen. I'm going to do some research on this one to see what kind of mods if any are available. I wish Crate would see this concept through and bring it to a standard for all amps. If some young techie figures out a way to make these things cream of the crop, people will be spending thousands on them. Musicians are young only so many years and then they hate carrying all that weight around.

This review is an update focused on a few features I didn't sufficiently appreciate when I started using this amp. The most important are the collection of I/O on the back panel. The amp has an effects loop plus CD in, XLR out, and two 1/4" auxiliary ins, stereo or mono. It took me a while to realize that I could run a guitar modeller into an auxiliary in, controlling volume and tone from the modeller, and use the input for a microphone. In other words it's like a powered mixer. That realisation saved me from buying a dedicated combo for solo work.

It's not the best sounding amp I ever heard as a standalone, pretty bland. But it does a good job of amplifying the sound of a modeller, and modellers/multi FX are the core of my rig (I travel with a guitar and modeller, and use a modeller when I sit in). No, modellers don't sound like the originals, but they can sound very good, and the convenience of practicing, gigging and sitting in with the same rig is priceless. I use the PB with a Zoom G2.1u (see my review) and Digitech RP200. Sounds better with the RP200 but either box can be tweaked to get a very good sound with the amp.

It's working fine.

Never called 'em.

Look, at $99 for a device that weighs 4 pounds, comes with a carry bag, runs on either 110 or 220 volts, and can function as a PA system and power amp for solo gigs, this thing is unique. I'm a light gear freak. My preferred amp is a Kustom Tube 12A (see my review), another light (10 lb) cheap device, because it has inbuilt tube sound and the line out means I can use it as a preamp through PAs as well as a practice amp. So I put the PB aside until I started looking for a keyboard combo to use with mike, guitar and maybe drumbox... and then realized the PB's inputs solved my problem. I'll be experimenting with different speakers to see which gives me the best sound. Meanwhile, I'm glad I got one of these before they were discontinued. I don't know why these weren't bigger hits when they were introduced -- maybe because soundwise, they take some work to get good sound. I think Crate was ahead of its time here.

gain. level. highs. mids. lows. one channel. poorly devised effects loop. 150w solid state.

this thing is pretty bland.

at 150w, it has no power to it. i wouldnt dare take it out of my house, but even sitting in my room, practicing, its still too quiet.

it has one sound. the gain knob and level knob work together to make volume. you cant make it distort or make it clean. its in the middle, where it has no life.

im using an ibanez xiphos with a seymour duncan invader. i mostly play metal.

without a pedal, its useless. even with a pedal, the pedal is all you can hear.

im sure its reliable, as long as you dont accidentally hit one of the knobs out of place (which is easy to do, considering they stick out a good inch).

i had an issue with the power cord. it shorted out, but i dont blame crate for that one.

n/a

ive been playing long enough to know better than to spend $100 on this thing. if i lost it, i wouldnt care a bit.

new early 2007. Basic stuff: Gain, Volume, bass, mid, treb. It's a basic amp. As that it's good.

This amp sounds great to my ears and I have been playing tube amps for a very long time. Still have 6 vintage tube amps. I bought this for a back up and have started to use it lately at the gig. It is clean but can have a little grit or rasp to it. Love the deep clear lows with an edge to them. The highs can be a little spikey but not too bad actually for a SS amp. It's a one trick pony to my ears. Run the gain at 11-1 oclock and the volume in the same range and it sounds great...and loud. I've been running the volume at just past 12 oclock and the gain about the same. This gives a semi-clean sound but with just enough hair in it to satisfy me. It takes to pedals pretty well. Bass and Mids are near cranked and the treble about 2 oclock on the dial.

I've heard they fail often.. or shut themselves down, but I haven't seen it yet. Maybe if you crak it allthe way it overheats or something?

havent tried.

Played 40 years. love tube amps. Trying to use this to tone down the volume. However..... it's loud as hell! Now I'm really starting to like it! ARGHH...it's sacriledge...playing a SS amp...But with the gain, I can tweek it in at little lower volume. for $99 buck it's afantastic value... if it keeps woking.

I got this amp liek a month ago, and I've played on it every single day + one gig-
I wish it had two channels, nothing else, for this price and lightweigt, IMO this is the best you can get.
I'm using the effect loop all the time, ad when I get another cab, I am going to use both, I got a pedalboard of 2 multi-fxs, a wah, a dist & a noise gate.. so i got all the fxs to tweak, (I must have more than one knob).. well.. power is not a problem. i play with the control round 7-8 .. and it is enough for normal practise (with one 100W speaker that is.) turn it up past 12 and it ERUPTS.. the whole house shakes. I play With EMGs' and started out with gain at 11, ,now I play halfway distorted clean-tones with gain at 3 + a full out jackhammer in front, it is a beautiful combination, for only clean w/EMGs this is a maybe.. haha.. this or a veery expensive tube amp I say.. It is tube- emulating, but I compared it with a vintage tube peavey and the dynamics ARE TH SAME, It knocked me on my back. I give it a nine cos' it would have been really fun with another channel and stuff. the rest kicks ass

K' This amp is not good for "suuper scooping" the mids cos' the middle tone control got a little too large bandwith to make that sound, I use my dist. pedal to do that, then boost them at the amp a litle bit. It haves a tiny, tiny bit of noise there is cos' it has 150 watts of power.
Now, I took it for a test ride to see what it was good for, the kurt kobain "clean sound" on the song "about a girl" from the album bleach. It IS THE SAME, and kobain uses a MESA!. I got stunned.. the distortion is kinda guns & roses on full,, slash-ish, but with a decent dist-pedal in front it is a reaper. go harvest som souls:D think of it as a tube amp with invisible tubes. flexvawe 6 works awesome

this is the most rugged amp head I have ever seen, no sh't.

didnt deal with them,, but 5 yrs guarantee for the head.

I got this, the 112 cab to it with celestion. a marshall jackhammer, boss pw-10, yamaha magicstomp v2.10, boss ns-2, zoom g1x. My guitar is a n over-modded strat with EMGs' 81, SV & 89(85 w/split) a PA2 & SPC, sperzel locking tuners.

If I lost this I would mourn over it as if my girlfriend had died then proclaimed a Vendetta upon the person that stole it. and buy a new.

I love mostly everything about it, some things could be more fun like two channels and stuff, but for the price it is unbeatable..

I bought it after I had heard a different crate amp with flexwave 3 in it, after I got it I discovered that with a bit of tweaking on the knobs (& some of my fxs) I could get any sound out of it.

It is now my main amp and will be until I'm payed for using something else.

150 Watts/ 3 knob EQ/ drive & volume/ 8 ohm or stereo speaker imputs.
carrying case.

The sound quality of the Crate Power Block is very good. It will also
depend on what speaker(s) your using with it. An old Silvertone with
Jensens sound great/ a Epiphone cab with a Lady Luck speaker is pretty good. Great for carrying in you effects bag; just lug a speaker cabinet. Set it clean and use a good processor. Use it for a back up. It's a good product but I don't see them offered in magazines or stores anymore at all. Careful tweaking gives a sound you can jam to all day long. Not too clippy with the gain cranked.
I wish the circuitry of the Power Block was used in some solid state
amps I've tried.

I would be confident using this amp head without a back-up. So far very reliable.

I've played about 40 yrs. I own 3 tube amps & 3 solid states. There are some great solid state amps. Amps are about the last thing in electronics hanging on to tubes. Playing in a band I mostly used a solid state, occasionally bringing out my tube amps. Many good solid states are great "work horses" that never "cough" or hiccup or any problems whatsoever, admit it. The speaker(s) used with this amp head
factors into your results. This amp head is not a dud.

Well described already in other reviews, but this is a one-channel, solid-state head with 150 watts mono into 8 ohms, with a capability for 4 ohm stereo. This amp, run through a 2x12 Avatar cabinet with Celestion Vintage 30 and a Celestion Classic Lead 80 has plenty of power for me to gig clubs with a 4 piece band including a loud (aren't they all!)rock drummer, but remember,its not 150 TUBE watts. Still, I keep the volume at about 3/4 and the gain at about 1/2. The line out XLR is a nice feature, as is the CD line-in RCA inputs. The features on the back are nice, though I don't love the split 1/4 stereo cable for the effects loop, but there are limited features on the front of the head (i.e.: reverb, a second channel), so I give this head a 3.

This amp, as described elsewhere in other reviews, has limited flavor of its own. I play classic rock covers in a gigging band; I don't use modeling pedals, but I do use a lot of stomp boxes, and I can always know that this head will just amplify the sound I create with my stomp boxes, and not impart any flavor of its own. That said, I find it really hard to get a convincing distortion out of this head...sorry solid-state lovers, but even with a Big Muff going full bore, this head still doesn't growl like a Hughes and Kettner or other tube head. On its own, even with the gain at full bore this amp cannot produce a distorted sound, but rather just a mild overdrive sound that might be similar to a Boss Blues Driver or a Tube Screamer dialed in about half-way. That said, this amp makes nice sounds when tweaked correctly, and is quite versatile due to its lack of fixed tone. I don't find this amp too noisy, though I use a Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor as well. I do find that I can make this amp feedback easily, but that is often my own stupidity. I'm giving this head a 6; I don't love the sterile sounds and I would like more onboard distortion, but it does the trick for now, and will make a great backup head once I upgrade to a tube head.

I gig with this head currently, and have never had any problems. I will use this amp as a backup head once I get a new tube head, and have used it as a bass head before in a pinch. Plus, you gotta love the portability.

N/A

I've been playing on and off for about 13 years or so, seriously for about 5, and gigging for about 1 year. I think this head was perfect for me for the purposes I bought it for--it was a cheap, loud temporary amp for me to gig with until I could afford something better. With that in mind, this has been a great head...it's loud, easily transportable, and doesn't sound bad. I would like an amp with more individual characteristics, but I know that isn't what this amp was designed to do. I would buy another one if it were stolen because it is a really versatile backup amp, and because it's really easy to transport for practice purposes. All in all, I give this head a 7.

The XLR Direct out is great. I use it instead of a direct box. The speaker out is excellent. I have not used the effects loop but it is definately a nice add on.

I have gotten a great blues sound direct to PA. Just add some effects and your good to go. Awesome for its portability. I do not understand the previous review for head room issue. Price point this is one of the best units out there. It is plenty loud and versatile. If you want a tube amp and have the money go spend it. If you have limited funds and need something portable to plug direct and into a speaker cab then this is the ticket.

Never had a problem and have been using it for over 1 1/2 years.

Did not need.

For reasons above anyone who plays live and direct into a PA and has their own pedal board should have one as a back up system. You can't beat it for the price - $100 used on EBAY.

As many have posted here, the back panel of this unit is where the versatility is at. I use it on the mono 150-watt setting.

I bought mine for use as a small back-up amp in case my '65 Bandmaster were to go down. I had been hauling along a solid-state 1-12 combo amp for that purpose and wasn't thrilled to be doing so.

After purchasing the Crate used at a pawn shop, I checked it out once through my cabinet for about five minutes and then it went back into it's bag until our bass player's giganto-rack system went kablooey at a gig and he didn't have time to drive home and get a spare head. I offered up the Crate, he hooked it up through his SVT cab and the whole band let out a collective "Holy s***!" It sounded absolutely ferocious, ballsy and LOUD! Needless to say, he is now looking for a Powerblock of his own for a backup.

I decided to give it a whirl when we were rained out of an outdoor gig and we wound up playing in a bar the size of my living room. I needed to use as little space as possible and the Powerblock fit the bill. I was very pleasantly surprised by the Powerblock, it sounded very good, and as many have posted here, it worked excellent with multi-effects. To be perfectly honest, that was the best that my multi-effects have sounded, even better than through my Bandmaster. Unlike others who have had issues with the sound of the Powerblock, I was very impressed with the tone. None of the buzz or fizziness that has been described, and I was able to get a very comfortable stage volume (comfortable=pretty darn loud). Yes, I noticed differences in tone between my blackface Bandmaster and the Powerblock..duh!..but I still sounded like me. I was so impressed that I plan on using the Powerblock for gigging this weekend at another sardine-can of a venue. I'm sold.

Boy, the power issues I read about here scare me, kiddies. Haven't had any problems yet and I've had mine for about 4 months. Heck, out bass player used mine again at a benefit gig last weekend without any problems..perhaps (knock on mahogany) I have a reliable one. Thanks for the heads-up on the design flaw, though.

If I did call Crate, I'd just say "Did the logo have to be so damn HUGE?"

Been playing about 24 years now, have had lots of amps and I think I may have found the ultimate back-up amp. It's light, portable, versatile and sounds great through my rig. I usually run my '65 Bandmaster through a 4-10 Peavey cab loaded with reissue Jensens with a couple dirt pedals and my multi-effects. Guitars are usually Strats. The Powerblock works perfect for any of the smaller gigs I may play and I don't feel I am compromising on my tone too much when I use it. Although I could hear the minor differences, the rest of the guys in the band couldn't hear any real difference in my tone with the Powerblock. I'm a working weekend warrior musician, not a cork-sniffing tone snob and what matters to me is tone AND the viability of the device. A piece of gear must work well and be able to take the rigors of gigging instead of being a bedroom showpiece. The Powerblock is a welcome tool in the arsenal of the working musician. I love it. The ultimate back-up amp for the working musician.