Crate PowerBlock Head

features are ok, kinda standard.

Ok, I'll make clear here that I'm one of the "tube tone snob" and that I usually play in all tube non master volume amps, without reverb and with flat tone settings.
Said this, when I considered the powerblock it was not because I was looking for the tone of my life, but because I found interesting the idea to have a small, portable, cheap and hopefully just decent sounding amp to play live in some non optimal situations (most of time...).
Basically I expected an average transistor quality sound, packaged in a smaller and ligther box. Crate itself has done some transistor amps decent for the bucks in the past and I presumed this should more or less be the same quality.
More than this, an absolute point of powerful transistor amps is that they are cleaner than tube amps and, if you want to carry two amps, they permits you to have a powerful clean tone togheter with expressive tube distortion. I thougth that at least the powerblock would have been useful for clean tones.
To make a long story short, after trying the powerblock I must admit I was completely wrong.
First, this "wanna be an amp" has no clean headroom! The manufacturer credits it for a 150W when bridged but it has no more CLEAN headromm than a 10W practice amp: disappointing at least (and useless...)!
Then the amp by itsel extremely dark a deadly sounding. No dynamics, no touch sensitivity and no "euphonic" distortion.
I've tried it with tube preamps, boutique overdrives, full range speakers and digital simulation but I've not been able to obtain a decent sound out of it.
Ok, it is really cheap and it is not fair to pretend great things of it, however reputation of crate is really meant to go destroyed if they continue to produce and sell items like this.

New out of the package, ther'was some rust. I would not bet it will stand any abuse.

Toy amp, dead sounding and without clean headroom. If you are not critical about size and weight and you don't want to spend money, buy an used all transistor amp instead. IMO the powerblock is a waste of money.

Can be used as a single channel guitar amp or bypass the pre-amp section with line in and use it as a power amp for amp modelers and multi-effects. There is an effects loop, rca and 1/4" line level inputs, as well as support for 4 Ohm stereo or 8 Ohm mono speakers. For what it is, I give it an 11.

No it doesn't have digital effects, amp modeling or a built in tuner but there are several vendors that make these and don't andd power amp tho their producs. This is a dual purpose solid state guitar pre-amp, combined with a very light weight class D power amp.

This gets confusing since you can use this thing for more than one use.

As a single channel guitar amp head, the sound is OK. With the gain around 10:00 o-clock, the clean is clear with just the hint of buzz (it is a class D amp after all,... 10% THD). With a clean output the signal is a little weak, but as you increase the gain you get a decent pre-amp crunch sound with lots of volume. Does the tone equal a boutique amp,.... absolutely not, but it is more than good enough for most situations.

As a power amp for an amp modeling rig, this thing is GREAT!!! I use it with a Boss GT-6 and an M-Audio Black Box (my favourite modeler at the moment) through the stereo line-in on the back. The amp adds no additional colouring to the signal from the modeler so you get the sound that you programmed in the first place, and not some hybrid of the modeler and your guitar amp.

You need to match this to a fairly flat response cabinet. The Crate GT112SL seems to be a good match and is very inexpensive. A Traynor YCX12BLUE is also a good match but will set you back some more coin.

Here it is a little questionable. I purchased mine second hand and there doean't appear to be any problems. I've heard of people using these things for a long time without any problems BUT there is a known issue that seems to effect some units. Once the blue light on the front starts to fade in and out, you've got problems and unfortunately these are discontinued so good luck getting service. It's a shame because I'me sure that with some minor design changes this could be made to be rock solid. Oh well, for $99 buck,...

Haven't used it.

In this price range, there is nothing out there that will touch it. I knocked a point off for the potential reliability problems. I've use mine with a variety of guitars (Ibanes SA, Godin Freeway and a Lado Elite) direct into the pre-amp as well as through a couple of different amp modelers/effects units and it has performermed well in all cases.

These have been discontinued but worth looking at if you use amp modeling and can find one on the used market in good condition.

Features have been mentioned.

The idea for this amp is a very good one. Build a small, solid state, Class D amplifier that can put out 150 watts in mono. 75 per side in stereo. Give it some decent basic EQ, and an ok distortion sound.

Sound quality isn't really that bad. It doesn't have enough headroom for cleaner sounds (mainly because you need the preamp volume up about half way to get any volume).

With the preamp up high, the amp gets an ok distortion sound. Certainly nowhere near the sound of a decent tube amp, but fine for a cheaper amp that is very small.

OK, here's the main reason why I'm writing this review.

THE RELIABILITY OF THIS AMP IS TERRIBLE. You couldn't find cheaper components if you wanted to. Well, cheap components are one thing, but THIS AMP HAS A DESIGN FLAW. The amp can become unstable when it heats up. What you will notice is that the blue power 'on' light will start flashing, the volume will rise and fall (from total silence to just low volume).

What is happening is that the transistor labeled IC101 is unstable. This is a known problem (Crate's owner, St Louis Music knows this and had to send out a tech service bulletin on how to fix it).

The fix is to solder a 1 meg resistor across the two front legs of IC101. This usually fixes it, but not always. Don't try this yourself. Take it to a repair facility. I'm just letting you know that a fix is usually possible.

This is the main reason that the Power Blocks were discounted so cheaply, then discontinued. It's not made well, and has a desing flaw.

Went beyond the warranty period. Fixed my own and it lasted for a little while. Now the volume knob only works about two thirds of its travel. Yep, what a piece of junk.

I'm giving the overall rating a 3.

The idea behind this was great, and it certainly seems that enough of these are still working that their not all bad.
Still, the amp was built so cheaply, there's no way these are going to still be working many years from now.

To really sum it up, the idea behind this appears to be:
Lets come up with a great design, then build it in China as cheap as possible, then find out there are problems with it, blow them out for huge discounts, then discontinue making them.

As stated in an earlier review, it's humorous, if not downright idiotic how obtuse people can be in their lack of desire to understand what a product is specifically designed to do. I know. In my past, having been a Pro-Audio Department manager for a major music retailer for over 6 years, I worked with all manner of musicians. My favorite example is the guy who would purchase a piece of gear like a guitar processor or a synthesizer that intrinsically have slightly higher learning curves than a stomp box. The inevitable phone call would follow the sale with the customer asking how to get his new piece to do this, that or the other thing. While as sales professionals we would always be more than happy to provide support after the sale and would typically ask "Have you taken a look at the manual?". OK, now to the good part....the answer....."Uh....I don't like to read manuals".

The moral of the story (as if you couldn't tell), this Crate CPB150 Powerblock Head was first and foremost designed as an bandwidth neutral (read: flat frequency response) amplifier to use with one of the many different modelling processors currently on the market.

This thing does just what it supposed to. Provide lots of clean, neutral power with quite a bit of headroom. As far as versatility, it can be as versatile as whichever modelling preamp you are currently using!! Also as noted previously the correct hookup with a modeller is to use the Line In jacks on the back panel.

As stated above, depends upon what you are using. I've recently moved from a Line 6 PodXT Live to the Boss GT-8 and had been struggling to use these with my Traynor YCV-80 combo amp and get all the tones that the GT-8 can produce. While I love the Traynor for it's incredible tube tone and it's reliability, once I tried out the CPB150 with a reasonably flat response speaker cabinet, I was blown away by what a huge difference this made. My GT-8 came alive and even the Hi-Gain models finally sounded darn close to the real thing. It sounded so good, I went back to the music store and bought a second CPB150 and am now running 2 in stereo with 150 watts per side.

The technology of Class D amplifiers has been proven in many different musical arenas and is pretty much bullet-proof. Light-weight, simple AND it's got the happenin' blue LED. I love it!!

5 year warranty. I've only had these for a short time but don't expect to be dealing with Crate given the reputation these have for reliability. I did email their tech guys with a question about speaker cab ohm loads and got a fast, friendly response within 24 hours. Outstanding!!

Been playing professionally for over 30 years and have owned more amps than I can remember, but now I really feel like I need look no further. When modellers first started surfacing, it seemed like such a great idea. It's taken some time for some of the manufacturers to fine tune this technology and coupled with a amplifier like the Crate CPB150, all I can say is "WHOOPEE!!! For $99.00, that's a "DOUBLE WHOOPEE!!

I don't mean to be so stand-off-ish from the beginning but lets face it... there are very few features to this amp. But the features it DOES have are VERY nice. You get a basic 3 band eq, a volume and gain control and that's about it on the front.

Where our little friend stands out is what he's hiding in the back. You've got 4 ohm stereo outs at 75 watts and 8 ohm mono out at 150 watts. You've got an FX-loop if you use a stereo "Y" cable (a common setup in crate amps) or you can bypass everything and straight into the poweramp. This is how I run it. I use a PODxt live and I have found that this yields amazing results.

The best feature has to be the size. The rest of my band uses heavy amps and cabs. I have a nice 212 Avatar G212H. So I can easily throw the powerblock over my shoulder and not have to break my back hauling gear.

If you are looking for a 4 channel amp with tons of built in effects take a look at something else. Maybe the new Flexwave or the new Marshall JVM series are nice too. If you have a nice array of equipment (like the PODs, digitech guitar stations, zoom, etc) this amp is the way to go. It add almost no color to your tone and you can hear your models come through.

I took some time to play directly into the amp without my POD just to see how well it sounded on its own. While you do lack much of the versatility of larger amps with built in DSP you do get a nice sound with plenty of crunch. The amp uses crates cascading gain circuit to help emulate a tube amp sound. A very nice technology.

I turned the gain down and played with a lot of volume but no gain on the amp. Even a relatively high volumes it stayed nice and clean. The EQ is very responsive and it wasn't hard to get a nice sound out of this amp. If you are looking for a nice crunchy amp and don't care if you can't switch back to clean without adjusting knobs I'd say go for it.

I also took the time to run a reissue big muff i had laying around into it for some extra fuzz... it was very nice and the big muff came through nicely. So there are a lot of options to what you can do with this amp if you have the equipment for it. I'd like to run one of the new Boss/Fender Deluxe Reverb pedals.

I am an active musician and I have been gigging for years. Lets be honest with ourselves... nothing is foolproof. But I have had this amp for nearly a year and I have never had a problem with it. I don't have any type of backup and I don't ever worry. One of the best things about it being so small is that its easy to carry and doesn't get banged into walls by people helping haul your gear.

I've never had to deal with crate since I bought it.

The beauty of this thing is not in what's on the front, but rather what's on the back. Two 1/4" line level inputs and stereo 4 ohm 1/4" outputs. Two RCA inputs, and a line level XLR output. This thing is perfect. It serves as an ideal power amp for a multi-effects pedal and eliminates the need for a separate direct box. It's a deal more powerful than some of the more expensive "made for guitar" power amps and is significantly lighter weight.

This amp sounds like nothing. This amp is supposed to sound like nothing. If you want an amp that sounds like anything except nothing, this is not the amp for you. If you do, however, want an amp that sounds like nothing, this amp does the job extremely well. If you have even the slightest expectations of tone from this thing, you will be disappointed. There's great beauty in this though.

Let's presume you have a multi-effects pedal with a variety of amp models, let's presume you don't like the way most of these models sound through your tube amp. It seems natural to presume that you can be more expressive with the tones in your pedal if you don't have to compensate for a preexisting tone in the tube amp. This is why the Powerblock is was created.

Keeps going, and going, and going, and going, (etc)

Never spoken with them.

Playing seriously for about 7 years. I use a PodXT Live run stereo into the line level inputs on the back of this thing in order to bypass the preamp altogether. I'd buy another one in a second (and can on account of the price) if anything happened to the current one.

This amp was designed to serve a very distinct purpose and it fulfills that purpose amazingly well. It depresses me when I see people disappointed in a product when they try to use it for something it wasn't designed to do, regardless of whether that something is within it's capacity. That being said, this amp is not a traditional amp is shouldn't be expected to perform as such. It's hard to color a tone to this amp with traditional stompboxes as it was designed to not have tone. This amp was designed to be a slave to external digital amp models.

Now if only Crate would make a rackmount version...

Solid State, One channel

If it had a dedicated clean channel, and they got rid of the "buzz" (see next section) on the clean channel, I would use this thing on all my gigs and I'd rate it a 10.

As it is, it still has quite a few good features and the size and weight alone give it extra points.

I leave it in the trunk of my car so it's always available as a backup no matter what gig I'm at. And I use it at many of my rehearsals just cause it's so EASY to carry around.

The Crunch is pretty good. The clean is pretty good for most gigs, however not nearly the volume available as when you have it distorted. The gain can't go much past 11 o'clock or you start to break up. This is expected I guess, as it's a single channel amp.

If you set it for a purely clean sound, there is a "buzz" sound in the background on all the notes. It almost sounds like a fuzz pedal added onto the top of your clean tone but put way way in the background volume wise in relation to the clean signal and it's more noticable as the note trails away.

For many gigs, this won't be an issue. You probably won't even notice it except during quiet sections of the music. For super clean country or jazz tones, it's going to be a little bit of a compromise in the tone. For blues or rock, it's more acceptable.

It would never work for recording if you're expecting a pure clean sound out of it. The "buzz" is always there in the background and you'll definitely notice it.

But I do like the convience factor with the light weight and small size. It's got plenty of volume to get you thru most rehearsals and many gigs. I use it at rehearsals mostly but also sometimes at gigs if a perfect clean tone is not necessary. The overall tone when heard with a band is actually pretty good, so don't think I hate the way it sounds cause I keep mentioning the buzzing thing. But it is something to consider if you're going to need REALLY clean tones out of this thing.

So far it seems very reliable, but I've only had it for a few months.

Most important features for me are light weight (4 pounds), gain and volume controls. No reverb, unfortunately, but at the price I paid ($99 incl shipping from Musicians Friend) I don't mind. It's got a very good manual, which one should read. Has outs for two speaker cabs or mono. VERY powerful. For what it is it's incredible. But NOT very versatile. Also has automatic electricity switching from 110 to 220, a key feature for me.

Crate says this thing is made to use with multi FX units, and guess what? That's how I use it. Over the past few years I got into multi FX so I could travel with my sound in my backpack, and that's why I bought this, for when I'm using my own gear. I plug a Zoom G2.1u or Digitech RP (50 to 200) in the single input, run the output into a Laney 112 cab with Celestion, adjust EQ, and bang. I am knocked out by how good the sounds are when used this way. If gain is raised past 2 o'clock there's some hiss, but below that it still fattens the sound. I'm running it with Reverend (Rocco), Curlee with Dimarzio Super Distortions, Washburn SS80 with Trembuckers. All the guitars have their own sound with this rig; I'd love to hear it with a Tech 21 Sansamp. My guess is this thing was designed for a flat response, hence the nice tone with multi FX. I wouldn't run it as a platform for regular pedals. BTW, those who complain about weak output probably ran in mono without reading the manual; if you don't push the mono button the output goes blah (happpened to me before... I read the manual!). I'm taking off a point only because it won't sound great without a front end.

Haven't gigged with it yet. I will say that my wife dropped it on the tile floor and it still works fine. I doubt a tube amp would withstand that.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing ovver 40 years, solo and in bands, studio and live, mainly semi-pro (I get paid when I play but I don't want to live from it). I have pro guitars (see above) kept performance ready, and several amps ranging from Microcube to Bassman 100 Export (the big tube job, which weighs 66 pounds, ai yi). I needed a powerful head that wouldn't break my back or wallet, and tube amps are too expensive here in Europe (with the exception of my little Kustom Tube 12A, see my review, dynamite box but not for clubs). I may buy another just for backup. I love the weight, the way it works with the multi FX I practice on, the power, the versatile way it's thought out. Compare it to what? At this price and specs, there is NOTHING to compare it to. Tube purists won't like it; as a stand alone its sound is nothing special. But use it the way it was designed to be used, and you will be very happy.

OK the features have been well described so far. There are many good features built in to this amp.

OK so for the price what do you expect.I got this becuase it was inexpensive and I entended to use it as a backup head. Well This is totaly not possible. It works well as a clean amp if you put the gain around 9 or 10 and feed a beafy medium signal to it and put the level at almost max. You will have to play with the EQ to get a flat sound and at this point is makes a good amp to put a set of pedals into and try to get a decent last ditch sound if all fails. I howerver would consider getting a lower wattage tube head it will sound almost as lound and you can mic it. The tone will have nothing to do with this thing, well the price will also be a bit different I guess. Well to sum it up...if you have no other choise use this as a backup and be prepared to experiment at home with pedals and EQ well in advance to have a setting that you can get away with. I would not use this as a main amp at all unless you can't help it, save up and get a decnt amp even if it is lower wattage. NOT A TONE WINNER

I have no idea

???

Well for the price it is nice to just have in the collection and take allong in case all goes wrong. Other than that I wouldn't blink if it blew up. I guess this is one of those why not if it's on sale for 60 bucks.

As already described.
It is important to note that when using the CD or line in inputs, the front panel controls have no effect on this input (although they do add to the noise, so best turn all controls down if using back panel inputs)

The guitar input sound is very good for the price, quite chunky and VERY loud (I placed the amp on top of a 2x 12, and the ensuing vibrations caused the amp to jump off the amp onto the floor, even at 1/2 volume). Even with a clean sound, there is a little highish frequency superimposed fizzy noise, but not too bad in a live situation. There is definitely a little compression going on, and a noise gate (you can hear that HF noise turning off as the note dies away),but, considering the price, this is perfectly acceptable.
I also note that with my guitar (PRS SE with soapbar PUs), the noise floor is pretty quiet with the guitar volume at 10, but there is some hum when the guitar volume is backed off to about 8. However, this hum goes completely when backed off to 6 or less - weird.
The clean sound through rear panel IPs is nowhere near so loud, but probably just about loud enough for a small gig. Good quality through line in, not so good through CD inputs for some reason.

Not known. Seems VERY solidly built, but for ??50 it MUST be made to a price.

NK

I bought this for use mainly as a stereo amp for my live guitar rig (OP from mixer into line inputs). Too loud for bedroom (have to have mixer outputs turned right down), but may not be quite loud enough for a gig situation, we'll have to see.
EXCELLENT VALUE

Made in 2005 I think
Good for jazz, blues, rock
1 channel
good for practice, jamms, small gigs.
150 watts mono, or 2*75 stereo, solid state.
effects loop
xlr output
cd inputs
Headphones out.

The amp cleans up until gain reaches 12 o'clock, then starts to crunch. With the gain all the way up, you get ac/dc like distortion.
I'm using it with a Washburn X40 pro. 2 splittable humbuckers.
With this amp, you can play a variety of music styles, except for hi-gain music such as metal.
There's a bit of noise then the gain is cranked all the way, just like on most amps.
The amp is pretty responsive, on clean settings as well as with maximum distortion. The tone reminds me of Marshall amps.
The only thing I do not like about it is the headphones output. It doesn't sound great through headphones, kinda fizzy, even though there is a built in speaker simulator.

so far I have had no problems with the amp.

I never had to deal with the company.

I have been playing for 15 years.
If it was stolen, I would certainly buy a new one because this amp is very affordable.
I like that it is so small and simple. It's a little bit limited, for it doesn't do high gain and it doesn't have a reverb. However, you can by-pass the preamp and use it only the power amp section, and it handles effects pedals, multi-fx units, modellers, and external preamps very well, making it a very versatile device.
I have a short video of the amp on youtube if you want to hear it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7uO9oO6pOI

I give it a 9 here mainly because of all of the features on the rear panel and the headphone jack on the front. At 150 watts in mono at 8 ohms or 75 watts per side in side at 4 ohms, how could I go wrong? It's important to stick to the ohm rating as I'll go into later.

I'm a bass player primarily(progressive and classic rock) so I don't know what guitar players expect out of this amp, but the sound is very transparent and reminds me a bit of my old Gallien-Krueger. Overdrive is easy to induce by turning the gain knob higher than the level control.

I just got it so I can't say how reliable it is but it's built like a tank.

Never had to call them.

I've been playing bass for 30 years and like to play guitar once in awhile just to see how the other half lives. If this were stolen, I'd find another(if I could since these are now discontinued). One thing about this amp that I'd like to mention, and that the instructions really don't tell you, concerns speaker use and ohm rating. In stereo, if I try to run an 8 ohm speaker out of each channel, it cuts out when I hit it hard. Normally, you can go to a higher ohm rating on and amp but not lower, but not with this amp. I then ran the amp into two Ampeg PortaBass 212 cabs at 4 ohms per side(like it says on the rear panel) and it absolutely kicked! This amp had no problem reproducing the frequencies of my 5 string bass at volumes that I couldn't even go to without the neighbors banging on the walls. This amp is made in China by the same company that makes my Ampeg PortaBass amps and I suspect that there are some very similar things going on in the design of the circuitry. PowerBlock..PortaBass..hmmm.

Single-channel amp, with gain, hi, mid, low and master controls from left to right. Tiny light-weight in a cute, handy little transport bag.
Has a line out to go directly into a mixing desk (with a level control pot), a CD-input for music playback, also an effects loop. Can be used as a poweramp via a line-in input for maybe digital preamps. Has a headphone output jack.
150 watts mono when bridged (switchable) at 8 Ohms min. or 2 x 75 watts stereo at two 4 ohm cabs.
Most versatile single-channel amp I`ve ever owned.

Sounds terrific! The closest to a tube amp sound I`ve ever heard from a solid state. Decent clean sound with single coils up towards gain at about 11 o`clock. Warm sounding crunch at higher gain settings, but surely not enough distortion for endless sustain.
I use a TAD "Range King" gain/treble booster to overdrive the Powerblock a little more and get a marvelous lead distortion.

I`ve got it new - can`t tell ...

-

Great sound for little money.
During the past few weeks, I left my beloved all-tube heads at home, took the little block with me in that handbag it was shipped with to every gig or rehearsal. It`s pleasure and comfort, fantastic !

Effects loop, Headphone Jack, stero, overdrive and clean channel... more overdrive would be nice ;) Great for preamps.. which im trying to get my hands on!

i bought with a schecter black hawk bundle for ??200!!

Sounds pretty thick, if it had full on distortion i would be very happy, its more crunch than anything else..

clean sounds superb.. i still cant believe how much i got for..

its built pretty solid... i havent had long enough to judge though..

dont use them!

VERSITILE, RELIABLE, SOUNDS GREAT, INCREDIBLE LOW PRICE, what more could you ask for!

you've read the specs already somewhere else... Decent amount of control of the sound, presence and reverb would be nice but this unit is ok without.

Very loud!!It keeps the neighbors awake for sure. If you have a really nice pedal, nice cab, but no amp, this amp is for you! I'm not a huge fan of the sound going straight into but preproccess and be easy with the gain and it is has as much crunch as my friends marshall hybrid.

I play punk/thrash/metallish type stuff and run an Agile LP-2500->Digitech RP-80(for the expression pedal)->Digitech Distortion Factory->Powerblock's main in->'78 Peavy 4x12. My bass setup is a no name bass->Digitech Main Squeeze compression pedal->Powerblock fx in->'78 Peavy 4x12. both can jam at the same time so when i got a friend over, the powerblock gets a threesome. Giving it a 9 because feels like it could use just alittle higher range on the thresholds of the controls.

As long as it doesnt break in 5 years im in good shape. Seems stable.

Not dealth with yet, hopefully wont have too unless its intentionally damaged to get a new one just before the warranty expires.

Been playing about 10 years, 4 seriously but now that i have this, its a reason to play everyday. This little amp has the tenacity of a much larger amp(or 2). The versatility to be able to run anything, not just guitar, makes it an even greater value.

New Powerblock head.. single channel, Gain/High/Mid/Low/Volume. Output section has many uses from mono out to stereo and FX in/out.

Doesn't sound like much, but it is deceptively useful. Set the front panel right, and it has more than enough clean power.

Use the FX in for running a POD etc.. and use the tone controls on the POD for a noiseless power amp. If you use the front end, you won't be happy, but don't blame the amp, it's not what it was design for. All the modeling pedals are designed to be used as direct boxes, preferably in stereo. Don't blame the amp for your laziness.

The clean tone from the front end is very "spanky" sounding. I like the clean tone, though other say it's not clean enough. At what volume? You can't have big volume and clean tone. Not even my old Twin Reverb or Deluxe gave crystal clear clean at gig volume with humbuckers. Back off the volume knob on the guitar and use the neck pickup and it's as clean as about any amp I've ever played through. There is a slight "fizz" however, on the trailing end of clean notes. It's exceptable though and live you'd never notice it.

The gain at full is more an OD tone than distortion, but I think most folks buying tis amp are doing so for the clean, and using pedals. My Line 6 DM4 shines with this head. very fluid and articulate, alot like a Fender deluxe reverb clean channel with a good Distortion pedal. Notes are very pronounced.

I tried this amp with everything from my LP, to a Strat. I like it better with a hubucker, but I feel that way about most amps. I think with the right setup for you clean tone, and a good set of pedals, the front end is way useful. POD, GT-8, RP and GNX users will be better served using the line-in and making sure their models are setup properly on the processors.

I don't know how reliable it is yet, but I will try to use it at practice first before taking it to a gig instead of my Mesa.

It is built pretty f'in sturdy though....

Also, to the guy before me that complained about the amp "turning on/off" like a tremelo... I experimented with mine and found if you plug the 8 ohm out into a 4 ohm cab it will do that. It must be some kind of internal protection circuit on the output stage. When plugged into either stereo 4 ohm out, it never did it.

n/a

When Guitar Center was blowing these out for $70 I couldn't resist geting one. I had looked at them before and thought it would be good for the 2nd channel of a stereo rig instead off hauling around a whole other head etc.... But, it was way over priced initially. At $70 who cares if it is the be all end all amp! After getting it home, I found it works great through the line-in with my RP2000 and works even better with my pedal board going thru the front end.

One thing that would have made it an even better amp, would be an on/off switch for the gain knob. Most people buying this head will be using it with somekind of effects board (thats how they marketed it), and will want it loud and clean.

Single channel, 150 watt stereo head.
Weighs 5lbs
Fits in a superb dedicated gig bag.
Effects loop
CD Input
Headphone jack
Line out xlr
Level control for effects loop
Gain, High, Mid,Low tone controls and Level (Volume) control.
WAY cool blue on off LED in the A of CRATE which shines like a beacon on a dark stage. It's shallow but when I plugged it in at rehearsal the other guitarist in one of my bands said, "That's a cool gadget before you plug it in , but now it's beyond cool..."

I've used this amp in 2 different ways:-

1 With headphones as a practice amp.
2 Plugged into a Marshall 2x 12 cab in mono.

Rounded clean, tubey in character. Good as a "flat" power amp for V-amp, POD etc

With the Gain wound up to about halfyou can get a really nice "crunch" very Marshally in character.

With Full Gain on it is also Marshall like in tone, not massive gain but more than sufficient for Classic rock tones.

In band rehearsal I've used it with the following set up:-
Tokai Love Rock>Morley Classic Wah>Marshall Chorus>Marshall Bluesbreaker>Crate
With the Bluesbreaker set to "boost" it really does sing. Plenty of volume (the other guitarist is using a Marshall TSL 100 watt head and 1960B 4 x 12 cab and couldn't be heard!)
Not a great deal of variation in the tone controls but sufficient.
Give plenty of "clunk" when you hit the strings hard and sounds very similar to my Marshall 50 watt JMP Combo. responds to playing dynamics well. Not quite as warm as a real Valve amp but very very close.
Simple to use and get a good sound immediately

Some noise inevitably when you wind it up but not obtrusive.

The band play classic rock to 90's punk and beyond e.g: Green day, Thin Lizzy , Audioslave, Velvet Revolver, RHCP etc

Not gigged yet but am looking forward to not lugging loads of gear around.
I'd use without a back up.

Playing for 31 years.

I play in 2 bands.

Band 1 is a girl fronted Corporate rock band playing from the Beatles to Dusty Springfield to Guns N Roses
Band 2 is all bloke punk/rock band playing Clutch to green Day to Lizzy etc

I use a genuine Marshall JMP 50 watt 2 x 12 comobo for Band 1, The Crate for Band 2

Not yet used my Fender Strat through it but Tokai Flying V sounds pretty damn good.

At ??49.99 it's criminal, I've already got one for my son.

Any body who uses a Valve head should buy one immediately

2006 model (no changes since inception)
Small, powerful, good tones for the price.
A superb amp for jobbing & when the bass player/keyboardist blow their rig. It's my default amp (with a Mesa 1-12" EVL cab) for jobbing. Solid state but had a respectful amount of tone. But be aware: you have to use a stereo y-cord in order to use the FX loop.

Pretty clean w/ a decent distortion. Shredders & metal players: you will have to use a stomper or some sort of pedal to get to your sound. Works with singles or humbuckers, active or passive pu's. Surprisingly low noise & hiss too. Many jobbers use this amp for keys & guitar here in Chicago.

Seems to be reliable; solid but the knobs protrude a bit. Comes in a rugged little bag that you can carry or sling over your shoulder (there's a pocket of the power cord on the side).

Here's the snag: you can wait forever on the phone when you call. Or wait a few days (if you're lucky) to get a response to your e-mails.
A woman wrote me back to ask the model & serial number: and she seemed to not know anything about the actual product. All I wanted to know if the various y-cords they talk about in their owner's manual are available at a store or via some other means. She never wrote me back. Pretty lame for a big company that sells zillions of these little things.

Playing for many years, and own Boogie, Fuchs, Bogner, Yamaha, et al. This little item will save your back when you have a tux gig, and will help anybody else if another amp fails. Light, compact, and has deceptively good sounds. Get a decent multi-use pedal and you're set for those small gigs or in the studio.

For what it is the features are not bad. Single channel mono and stereo out, XLR out, headphone out, effects loop, line input, cd input. 3 band EQ, gain & master volume. Nice small form factor, metal case. Solid state. 150 watts RMS @ 8 ohms mono. Can go from clean (more on that later) to crunch.

Here's where this amp comes up short in my opinion. Even at low volume with the gain set low, around the 9 or 10 o'clock position there is a noticeable and annoying distortion (rattle/fizz sound.) At first I thought my speaker cabinet had some sort of vibration or the speakers were blown. To be fair if you turn the gain way down you can get the rattle/fizz down to tolerable levels but then it's too low for a practice or gig. Looking at the specs on the amp it does show amp is rated at 150 watts mono @ 10% total harmonic distortion so this shouldn't be a surprise I guess.

If you play only high gain this shouldn't be a big problem but I bought this to run with a POD or other floor amp/effects modeler and I'd prefer to have a cleaner "clean" sound.

Also as mentioned in an earlier review, the stereo output is an issue. I plugged this into a Behringer 4x12 stereo cabinet and at low volume it cut out a lot. At higher volume settings you just get a clicking sound, no guitar sound. Mono output works great. Going into two separate speaker cabs eliminates the problem. Could be a grounding issue as mentioned earlier. The Behringer cab input jacks seem to be on a plastic mounting though so not sure if that is it.

The case is metal. Knobs are not recessed and could break off if you don't treat your stuff carefully. Only had this for a week so hard to say if it will hold up but mechanically it seems sturdy enough.

I called them on the stereo output issue. Very polite, but not as helpful as I'd hoped. The support rep said he'd never heard of this problem and it should work fine but if I couldn't get it to work feel free to call back and they'd get me an RMA to send it in for service.

Been playing 35 years or so and owned a fair amount of gear over the years. Guitar Center was selling these for $69.95 so it was an impulse buy. For the price this isn't a bad amp. If you need pristine clean, keep looking. For a knockaround backup amp to keep in the gig bag, this fits the bill.

Solid state rail switching tech. One of the best new techs in my opinion. Light, small, powerful, clean, low power consumption.
8 ohm minimum @ 150 watts in mono mode which can be a problem.
4 ohm minimum @ 75 watts in stereo mode which is still plenty of power

I like it. The effect in on the back bypasses the preamp and gives max headroom with no noticable distortion, great for pods and tonelabs. The preamp distortion is smooth and very usable. Real tube emulation is coming, folks! Put a tube screamer ahead of this baby and say it's not! The only problem is the eq. Not enough presence, kinda dark overall with a spanky strat. Not particularly unique.

I have hammered it, no prob so far. Aluminama case, solid constuction.
The knobs poke out, so I guess you could break one. Built like a brick restroom.

no experience. Crate has been around a long time.

Been playing out since 1980. Road hard put away wet. Own vox, fender, top hat, yamaha, mackie, peavey, jbl ect. For 100 bucks, everybody (everybody) should have one. You could use it on your T.V. for cryin out loud.

The Crate Power Block solid state amp head: single channel, 3 eq's
vol & gain. Effects loop, 4,8,16 ohm imputs, mono/stereo capabilities
jack imput for headphones. A very usable, versatile amp head for many types of music.

The amp goes from a soft,clean to a (slightly clippy) overdrive to a smooth distortion. I have only used with with a Schecter with EMGs
How it reacts to single coil or passive pus I don't know.
It has O noise!! I use it with a cabinet with 2 vintage Jensen speakers.I would give the sound quality rating a 10; but the slight clipping on the od I give it a 9 (maybe 9 1/2)The warmness of it is
great. I wish Crate would have put this in their GFX amps. I have a 120 with 3 channels. 2 of the channels are unusable. Maybe their evolution 5 is now 6 and is closing in on what we want.

Having the power block head even for backups is a smart tool to own.
I like the sound better than my tube amps. I wish it was a 2 channel
head.

All the features are well known by now.

I replaced my Carvin sx200 2x12 100 watt combo with this little amp. My Carvin had something wrong with the power section and now I just use it as a cab for my Crate Power Block. This amp sounds pretty good. It has a mature "burnished" tone. Warmer and less "clanky" than the Carvin. It helps tame that ice pick in the ear sound I sometimes get from my Strat or Tele ( with p90's) when using the bridge pickup. I have to adjust the bass control on the amp pretty low so I dont get some booming overtones. I like the sound, maybe humbucker users will feel different.

Time will tell

I grabbed one of these babys up for $99 at Musicians Friend. I almost bought one a few months ago for $199 but I held off. This is a super deal folks. Gets a 9 rating at $99. Gets an 8 at $199

This is a really compact, powerful, all-round instrument amp with plenty of tone control and enough versatility to be used for guitar, bass, keyboard, as a PA auxiliary, monitor amp... you name it. A great utility infielder. No effects, but everything else you need in an amp. Perfect companion to a POD

Nice distorion- with the tone controls, you can get a fair amount of amp flavors. I prefer it in the clean mode, where the distortion is more of a tube-like soft clipping.

In full overdrive mode it's pretty noisy; you wouldn't want to record with it. But for live sound it's fine.

No idea, but Crate gear has a good rep.

At the current blow-out price, every guitar and bass player should buy one as a backup and spare for their amp, or as a PA slave, or just a portable stereo they can use with an iPod and a pair of cabinets.

Just a quick comment - I had the same thing happen as the last review says when I rewired a mono 4x12 cabinet into stereo. I changed the metal plate holding the original input jacks to a plywood one and I was able to run the powerblock no problem. I seems that this amp can't run in stereo with a common ground or if there is a metal plate for the input jacks in stereo - possibly some kind of signal leak or ground situation that causes this amp to act as described. I drove myself nuts trying to figure this thing out until I eliminated all possibilities except that metal jack plate. Works and sounds wonderful since then.

Not as much volume as I expected (see reliability section!) from my LTD EC-1000 w/EMGs and a handmade 4x12 loaded with Eminence. Ran my Jekyll & Hyde, Shredmaster, H20, thru the main input, but I preferred the pedals tone without the preamp, using the Line input (AKA Send/Return) on the back. The preamp sounds nice on it's own, just not clean AND loud. Clean sounded good. Dirty sounded good. Clean won't get too loud, though thru the preamp. The Line input is very clean and sounded great with my pedals.

None of the front knobs function when you use the line inputs.

Although I'm sending mine back for another unit, I really like the sound. Not edgy like my other solid state. I was glad not to get the shrill "ice" sounds mentioned before. I would compare to vintage Marshall sound.

People have said this sounds "tube like." The best way I could explain it is slightly compressed (not distortion, just compression) with very smooth midrange with EQ settings at 12:00. Bass can be there if you crank it, but it's not overpowering.

Ouch. Yes, my PowerBlock delivered by FedEX this afternoon is being returned to Musician's Friend in the morning.

Everything was fine until I pegged the gain & the level, you know, because that's what you do when you get a new toy, right?

At that point the amp shuts off...turns on...off...on... with about a second pause in between (imagine a tremolo pedal set for a square wave). It continues this until I back the level to under 3:00. I grabbed my Washburn P2 with passive pickups and got the same problem. I tried with and without pedals, but anything past 3:00 started the power cycling problem. I even switched the "Bridge Mono" off and on with no fix.

I couldn't replicate this problem using the Line input on the back.

I have the Left output connected to two 8ohm Eminence 12" in parallel, and the Right output connected to the other two 8ohm Eminence 12" in parallel. The amp says 4ohm load for Left and/or Right, with a separate 8ohm mono output. I didn't get the problem when I connected EITHER left OR right, just when BOTH were connected.

I didn't try the 8ohm mono output.

I'm returning to Musician's Friend, so not sure about CRATE.