Crate PowerBlock Head

Single channel solid state guitar amp with stereo power section.
75W/Channel (bridge to 150W mono)
Effects loop (doubles as stereo line in)
CD Input
DI Output

Bought this to power a talk box, so it only needed to be a one-trick pony. Plenty of power for this application (i.e., I can rattle my own teeth with it).

Clean sound is OK. Not a lot of life too it, but passable. Distortion is good, but not super high gain (think JCM-800). If you want more gain, you'll need some type of stomp box in front of it. With the gain at about 3:00, you get a real nice AC/DC crunch that cleans up nicely when you back your guitar down a bit.

The midrange control is very effective. Bass and treble controls are good.

Worked out of the box. Has gigged with me twice so far. No problems.

Haven't had to call anyone.

For the price, you can't beat it. It's replaced a 40 pound Peavey head from the 70's that I've been carrying around. I also love the fact that I've got a backup guitar amp that rides in the bottom drawer of my work box.

I can also see using this animal with my GNX4 workstation in a live situation.

I think the hand-written graphics on it are a little cheesy, and the blue power LED (while very cool looking) is almost overbearing (in a smokey club, you can actually see a beam coming from it).

Major points to Crate for including a great padded big with the deal (instead of charging another $20 for it like some companies).

Great feature set. That's why I bought it. I needed something to gig with that was lighter than my monstrous LANEY 120w head from the 80s.
Really useful as a power amp too. I use it as a power amp for a keyboard rig and its really good as a power amp for my sansamp bass rig too. Best 160 euros you could spend. Only one channel though... you need to have disto pedals...

Fabulously loud. Destroys the sound of the nasty (expensive) digital 150watt marshall head in the practice room. The tone is pretty dark, not much high end at all. I have the high knob at full but it alters frequencies that are a little too high. The mid knob frequency is too low! I way prefer it to a harsh marshall sound because I prefer the duller more tube like sound. It can't be mistaken for a tube amp but it is not far off. The gain structure is pretty bluesy but not saturated enough for real rock. It sound great with both my tele and my SG, although only the Tele has enough treble to pierce the mix. I strongly recommend pedals and especially, a EQ pedal.

The first time I turned it on it turned itself on and off loads of time and made a strange electrical buzz. I didn't return and it has worked fine ever since. Bizarre. I'm not the first to experience these quirks either. Maybe it's a weakness in the amp technology. Anyway, I'm scared it'll happen again one day...

I am considering buying another one to dedicate to keyboards. Imagine how cool it is turning up at a concert and your amp is tiny and it destroys the sound of the competition! This product is really revolutionary. It's changing the way we think about amplification. Can't get better than that!

I don't write these unless a piece of equipment impresses me. All the features you could ask for and more in a head less than 5 pounds. No FX, but an FX loop. Here I wish it was not "speaker simulated", or could be switched.

Reminds me of a MESA. Some say Marshall, but most would agree it's a very vintage sound. I am using it as a power amp for a Rocktron rig, and it is much better than a straight power amp for this. It will take a ton of voltage up front, 8 volts, and overdrives nicely. It adds very useful harmonics that help with that good controlled feedback. Reminds me of a MosValve Power Amp I had once in this regard. I do wish the FX loop could be switched to not be routed through the speaker simulation, or that it had 1/4" power amp inputs. I am using the CD/phono plug inputs because it's the only way to bypass the speaker sim. I started using it as a fill in while my power amp was being serviced, but I'm sold on it, I won't be going back.
If I were using it as a guitar amp, I would prefer the addition of a high mid, frequency sweepable knob. The treble is centered at 10khz. That's a bit high to tweak your sound properly. In fact 2 sweepable mid controlls would be ideal... Low Mid & High Mid.

good so far...

Multi-use box. It will be my spare guitar amp and my main power amp for my rig. I sincerely wish Crate would come out with a rack mount, power amp version of this thing... 75 watts X 2 and a 150 watts X 2. I'd buy one tomorrow. Go Crate, you have a winner here.

2006 model. This amp suits all that I play which is rock, metal and blues. One channel. Effects loop, headphone jack. Lots of different things you can do with this product due to all of the connection choices on the back. Can be used as a stereo power amp only, Single channel head, or used to power other audio gear. also a headphone practice amp which is very cool. I will be using it for all of these applications at one time or another. It actually completes my third guitar rig. Plenty of power, very loud. Warm sounding and transparent solid state circuitry. Very tube like. Basic and simple.

This amp really reminds me of a single channel Marshall JCM 800 head. Fairly clean distortion and the same kind of bottom end thump. Very surprising. Great clean sound is there when you want it. With the gain cranked you get basic hard rock distortion that cleans up with your volume knob. Alot like a basic JCM. Does not sound exactly tube like, but really close. Really close. Tone controls work well. Treble is a little weird at higher settings but can be tamed. Is very dependant on the type of cab used. A 4-12 is best. 8 ohms for full output. This sounds good. Loud enough for any gig you might have. Hearing damage loud. Easily competes with a 100 watt Marshall because of the 150 watt solid state rating. The extra 50 watts makes it equal to 100 tube watts. I like the tone. Can be built upon with the right effects to sound really good. I have turned it into a two channel rock head by using my Rocktron zombie distortion pedal. Sounds really chunky and fat with that. Great for hard rock and full on metal. Just back off the volume for clean. I really don't miss reverb as other reviewers do as I never use reverb. I prefer a dry sound. It cuts better and is fuller sounding when dry so lack of verb is not a problem for me.

Not had it long enough to tell

not talked to them

26 years of playing. all music. I don't know if I would buy it again. For the price I got it for it is a fantastic piece of gear. I love the weight and sound quality. Very cool amp

i guess this year 2006 it was made.Dont know how to date this equipment. The pb is good for the music i play which is blues,R&b,classic rock(with pedals).just one channel.simple solid state.I dont use the effects loop with my pedals ,no problems in sound.
i did wish it had reverb but for the size & cost i would prefer to use my line 6 verbzilla (as a really good reverb installed in the pb would change the cost and perhaps the sound performance)..SO far the volume hasnt been cranked pass 12 o'clock,plenty loud for the places i play..i work in small & medium size rooms on the average and bigger venues have sound anyway so i think i could use this in that situation also (as i havent yet,i really cant say).But with the proper tech & pa system i dont think there would be a problem.

i ues a warmouth hollow body swamp ash strat/with harmonis design pick ups...a 69 tele thinline with duncan vintage pick ups.. and a parker nightfly m when im feeling lazy..the power block is good for the music i play,which is blues,r&b,as i said before...in fact my mesa lonestar special took a back seat to this tiny amp....the mesa stays at home(cost me 1800 and this 99 dollar pb sounds almost as good). ive had alot of trouble with the mesa,which could be a whole chapter that doesnt pertain to this subject.there is some hum when it gets up to 12 but it may be the single coils and that 's not a problem with drums and bass going on. the pb does sound close to a tube amp and reacts to your picking very well...it's amazing..if cheap stuff like this sounds this good ,why are maufactures chargeing so much(to make money of course).who ever disigned this knows his/her shit.SORRY TO ALL THE TUBE GUYS BUT THIS IS CLOSE..Close enough to fool some good musicans( all of them pros here in st.louis) who have sat in on my sunday night jam session 's at a club i play..i hid the pb behind the speaker cab(the cab that goes with this by stl music, with the one 12 celestian)and every one of them commented on it's tone...and how good it was..then when they saw it was a little crate box,all of them were taken aback....now you must tweak this thing to what your after and use what ever pedal to go to different tones for what ever your playing..for blues i have the gain on 2'o'clock ( any higher i dont care for the distortion it gives,but some one will i suppose) treble at 12 or 1 or 2(depending on the room accoustics) mids 2 and bass at 9o'clock( i find the bass to not be as tight as i would like,so i dont crank it)..Then from there i use my guitar tone to change things to my preference....the amp responds to picking dynamics very well for a solid state..as far as pedals for the blues i either play straight through the pb with a fulltone fat boost(this really helps to get even closer to my sound) for clean ,if i want a litte break up i step on a xotic bb and for more i use a fulltone ocd..also use a chorus but not much unless we are mixing the set list..i always keep that fat boost on with the pb..just makes it sound bigger..NOW HERE IS THE BIG TRICK I FOUND...I TOOK A(STEREO) CABLE FROM THE SEND AND THE CD INTO THE LEFT MONO LINE IN..GUESS WHAT? THE STEREO JACK INTO THE MONO LINE IN "MUST NOT GO ALL THE WAY IN"..IT MUST JUST GO IN THE INPUT TILL THE FIRST CLICK(RING).NOT ALL THE WAY TO THE SECOND RING .THE RING MEANING THE LITTLE CIRCLE AROUND THE MALE JACK END AND NOT THE SECOND RING(WHICH WOULD PUT THE WHOLE JACK ALL THE WAY IN AND YOU WONT GET ANY SOUND). sounds like a hassel but it's simple and the sound and volume difference is alot...but if i didnt use that cable, the pb still sounds good.... but the way i am doing it sounds better to me ,thats all...and that ladies & gentlemen is the big trick to this thing(for me,lol). If any one out there has other ways to get a cool sound please e-mail me....

this is my concern as i havent had it long,made in china,was cheap..but hey 5 year warrenty..i dont care as i just bought another one as a back up and they both fit into the open back crate cab that its made for ...so if one goes out i ll have a brand new one to pull out ..this cut out me haveing to carry a spare amp (always have a back up)and saved my back from lugging that lonestar around with it's tempermental tube thing always going on...i just heard that some company bought out stl so i would think they would still back up the product..time will tell....

havent had long enough but i did have trouble contacting & talking by phone to a tech as i had questions about the pb..wish i could talk to who ever designed this thing....5 year warenty

been playing music along time ...1963....and after being in top 40 ,show bands ,rock bands ,backing up famous acts,and being on the road for 22 years..ive settled down and just play with my own blues band for a living here in st.louis...have had almost every amp out there at one time or another ..if lost i would use the back up and get another one...i like the tone of this pb and the power and the size..you wont believe the volume you can get from this..there is nothing to hate about the pb as it hasnt caused me any trouble yet...if it does go out on me at a gig or fries,it's so light weight. i could probably throw it a good distance into the mississippi..ill give it an 8 for what it is...and i have to say it's better sounding than any solid ive tried(vox ,line 6, all that crap)...and very close to a tube sound ...

An update... I've had the pb150 almost a year and learned a bit about it by experimenting.

For what it is, it's a 10. Compared to fine tube amp, it's not more than somewhere between 8-9 but that is fine enough! There has been some debate as to whether the speaker simulator circuit is applied when you have real speaker cabs hooked up. The diagram in the owner's manual makes you think it is. But blind test says it is not. You can verify this by testing the exact same effects loop combo and running the return to the amp either into the loop or into the cd phono inputs. NO difference. The diagram appears to be in error. All this hoo-hah because us pb owners often feel the sound is a bit dull and lifeless.

There are several things that will liven the sound of the powerblock up.

1) drive the input hard. It will take a big signal well. I've compared going straight in from singles and hums with going thru a clean preamp (i used the preamp in the yamaha magic stomp, which is pretty darn good). No comparison. A higher input level gives you more output (duh) but more importantly more clean and lively output.

2) don't be afraid to dial the treble and mid way up, and the bass down. the last bit on the treble adds a lot of sparkle... 9.5 is a long way from 10. obviously only applies if you need some brightness in your sound.

3) don't use dark speaker cabs unless you want a really dark sound. it's easy to get a dark tone from the block. getting something with "sparkle" is trickier but doable. the crate gt112sl that's meant to go with the block is a bit dark but works great for a heavy sound.

4) you may or may not like this, but you might find that putting a bbe sonic maximizer in the loop opens up the sound. I really like it but I'm lazy so I usually just do steps 1-3.

5) an outboard reverb in the loop works great for some dimension or splash.

I hope everyone who's experimented with the block will pitch in what they've learned. there is a LOT of potential in this lightweight wonder. I have some great tube amps (rivera, fuchs, musicman) but I find for practice I often run through the block. I always take it as a backup to gigs and would not hesitate to use it. It has a nice clean, handles gain well and takes effects well. set it up right and it will give you some great controlled feedback to wail with.

i've never had an issue with mine. for the manufacturing cost, you have to expect that corners were cut and i guess some folks have been bit. hopefully if it's going to crap out it will happen in warranty - so use it hard right away!

With the $99 blowout running now I don't see how anyone could go wrong, especially if you gig and don't already have a decent backup amp. this thing may surprise you.

I bought this amp new,recently, and was amazed at what it can do.I'm no kid, and have been working as a musician since 66'...... my real gear would piss all of you off, I don't have alot but my guitar gear is the dream team.....I'll play the game and let you kids cream.
Gibson GA 19 RVT amp(59-62?) all original
Gibson 2x10 stereo amp cab(mid 60s)
62' cream Strat
68 Martin 0018, added thinline pickup
mid 60s scandinavian jazz box,blonde single cut 1 p/u
What I'm using right now, with real basic effects,echoplex wah dist flanger



I know what sounds good for me. I haven't plugged a guitar into this cigarbox,only because I do studio work and about 50 gigs a year on guitar, and why would I bother.......I looked at this little rodent from the other side of the fence.......I make the real doughnuts singing and playing bass......You can look around and find my band The Staynz......we are in here.....myspace, etc......garage/surf......
When I tried this amp out in guitar center, I had the kid plug it into an svt 8x10 cab.......it pushed that cab like a shopping cart.....I'm using it with a 1x15 ported cab with a 300w 1X15 electrovoice.........40 gigs so far and no problem........I don't use it to hold my drink, or as a stepstool, I take it out of the bag and use it as an amp.......It makes a great bass amp.....Crate mimarketed this thing.....kids want quanity..........real guys want quality......And the little girls worrying about having the logo too big......give me a break! If it said Marshall you little twerps would be lovin it........ Little boys, live with a stripper for a year and learn a lesson.......a wallmart thong will rock your world as much as one by Lily St. Cyr.......its not the product, its how its used......Don't knock it learn how to rock it!

Like any amp, it says what you speak......try playing out of a different amp every night when you are on tour overseas.......you aren't carrying anything over there, oh, well maybe all of you with big record deals.....I use it high on the master and tweak in the volume......nice and clean with s/c bass pickups......

I've only used it on gigs.......no problem....I gamble, and thats all I'm carrying....if it blows out, I know our tech can grab another one...but it hasn't happened yet......my gear gets handled like it should........are you going to piss on your laptop?!?!?!?

No idea......runs great......

I think I went through all of this in the other catagories.....Anything I wish I had? Yeah, Danni Ashe as my housegirl!

HERE'S A HEADS UP: Do not waste your money on this product! It is build to break! Features already covered. Single-channel, solid-state, low priced piece of chinese junk. Size and weight is awesome though.

Sound quality was surprizingly good. Low noise, clean single. Pretty good for a cheap toy.

Owned 5 months when it crapped out. Opened it up, be careful, high voltage. The hot-lead contact inside the input jack had broken off, so, no signal. The metal was not much thicker than thick foil. Destined to break. You can count on other parts being close behind. At this price I had hoped it would last a year or two. If it had I would not be complaining. After all, you get what you pay for!

Did not contact.

P.O.S. Sounded decent, but died too young.

Its like a single channel tube head without the tubes. Gets pretty clean, or fairly dirty depending on the gain setting and your guitar's volume knob. Mostly useless effects loop (except for its big trick). Very compact size, awful huge CRATE logo on the front.

This works very well for all sorts of rock music, but is probably not as good right out of the box for super heavy music. It does respond well to pedals, so you could probably chunk it up a bit that way.

It is fairly versatile, though it has some limitations. Obviously you can use it as a single channel amp, and it likes pedals well enough. You can use it as a poweramp or as a DI box. It gets loud enough to use at most gigs.

Here's a trick: the speaker simulator is on all the time, even if you're hooked to a speaker cabinet. This is bad because it makes everything sound lifeless- even tube preamps, or tube amp slave outs. The trick is to loop out of the FX send and back into the CD input. I was both disappointed that I had to do this, but relieved that I could. This is one of those things that doesn't bother me on a $100 amp, but would on a $500 amp.

If I was using something like a POD into this, I expect that it might sound better routed through the CD inputs than the line ins. Just as you'd most likely disable the POD cabinet sims when running through a real cabinet, I don't know you wouldn't want to do it for the powerblock... or why they made it on all the outputs instead of just the non-speaker outputs.

I wish it had a switch for the speaker sim, I wish it had a level control that worked with the line-inputs (or was post-fx loop). I might be unhappy if it was $500, but it was $99. I really couldn't be happier with it.

No rating because it is tough to give a features rating for something that is a no-frills device. The features that it has are executed tolerably.

Honestly, I'm surprised at how good this sounds- after you bypass the speaker simulation. With the speaker simulator engaged and playing through a guitar cabinet, it sounds amazingly bland. Nothing bad, just no sparkle at all- dead sounding. Like a modelling amp, perhaps. Bypassing the speaker simulator as mentioned above wakes it right up. Its like a different amp.

It gets fairly dirty. Not dual-recto dirty, but more than just overdrive. It cleans up if you pick light and especially if you roll the volume knob back. It really retains its volume when you roll the guitar volume knob back. How'd they do that?

It responds well to pedals, so if you need some extra distortion, a boost pedal works well. Likewise, an EQ pedal set up for a loss works well to give you a faux "clean channel"

It is capable of pretty nice clean tones that grit up a little when you dig in hard. I like some harmonic sparkle on my cleans as opposed to completely clean tones. This will do pretty darned clean sounds, but the inbetween sounds are actually workable.

Its not a tube amp, but it is workable for a backup- and easily better than some of the modelling amps I've played. I think it compares very favorably against the Sansamp Trademark too. The response is probably better, but at least as good.

I play various styles of rock music, but nothing hardcore. If you need something with brutal amounts of gain, this amp will need some help, but it covers most non-brutal rock music pretty well.

I've played my samick RL/3 semi-hollobody (with humbuckers) and the av3 (tele-paul style humbucker guitar) into this amp with good results.

Noise is managable. There is a little bit of hum present, but its tolerable.

I've gotta give this an 8- If it cost $500, I still think the tone would be good, but obviously the lack of features would play into the buying decision.

This is my backup. :)

It looks to be pretty rugged, but its undoubtably cheap chinese junk. It would be a very bad idea to rely on one piece of cheap gear exclusively.

Try as I might, I don't see a customer service email on their website. That stinks. There is a phone number though.

I wonder if the build quality has improved after SLM was acquired by Loud Designs.

I've been playing rock music since about 1987- in bands and for pay since about the mid-90's. I don't make a living playing music, but I've played in front of a few thousand people a few times and played in front of less than a hundred people plenty of times.

My main rig is a 2xEL34 amp with a removable preamp that I built. I've been playing amps that I've built since 2000 or so and have never looked back. I've tried commercial amps here and there and while there are aspects that I like about some of them, I end up preferring my own gear because it just suits me better. A good amp just feels like an extension of the guitar and commercial amps often fall short in this department. The powerblock isn't a magic device, but for what it costs, its worth owning.

I've seen the powerblock in the catalogs for a few years and I thought it was a joke. When I saw that they were $99, I figured "there must be something I can use that for. Maybe it could be tolerable as a backup". I played a whole rehearsal with it a couple of weeks ago after intending to just warm up with it. Its more than tolerable. Its highly tolerable. :) I think you can do a lot worse if you're just looking for a straight-ahead single-channel rock and roll amp.

For the record, I end up hating a LOT of gear. I send back about 90% of what I order because things always seem to end up sounding like garbage. Some things would be acceptable if they cost less, some things aren't worth a dime. This is a rare item that is worth more than I paid for it.

If it were $500, I'd still think it sounded pretty good, even in comparison to $500+ amps. No, its not as good as a nice tube amp, but its highly tolerable. If it were $500, I'd be more irked by its limitations. What limitations? OK, here goes:

The speaker simulator is on all the time. This makes anything running through it sound slightly dead. Theres no sparkle at all. Fortunately, this is easily solved by looping out of the FX send and back into the CD input. Try it. It really brings the amp alive.

The FX loop seems mostly useless as a loop. The master volume is before the loop, so if you're trying to play loud, the loop may have too much signal for whatever is connected to it. I don't usually play with reverb so this isn't a big deal to me. A good amp that is playing with me has a way of making a lot of effects unnecessary. For me, anyway.

The loop and line ins share jacks and it requires external cabling magic to get at the loop. Space saving, but irksome.

The line-ins bypass all of the controls, which means you've got to have controls on whatever plugs into this. That's not necessarily a huge problem, but I sorta hoped that at least the level control would work. I also hoped that the line-ins might still encounter some sort of tube power amp simulation, but no such luck. All of the tube faking is in the preamp.

The GIANT C R A T E logo on the front is OBNOXIOUS! :)

With all this said, it works pretty darned good as a single-channel backup rig, or for someone who doesn't want to spend a bunch of money. If I had to play a gig using this, a modelling combo, or a POD, I think I'd use this. It's almost like a real amp. almost.

At $100 it is an unquestionable fantastic value.
At $200 it is a solid value
At $300 it would be a good buy
At $500 it would be a feature-poor amp that had good tones.

you know...

greatttttttttttttttt when works... later on that

Well this is where i am dissapointed with the amp. I has 4 of them, all second hand, with receipts of purchase (for warranty purposes), and less than 6 months old. This is a great idea done wrong. First one that i had did turn on but then after 1 month of usage did not sound, sent to crate and supposally they reapir it, after 2 months get back to going dead again...get a couple more because i love his product , but all of them after 10+ gigs the level control goes intermitent after position 12 oclock , or i will say scratchy, used the anti scratchy spray(thats how i call it) and does not help it.
I think crate should improve the quaility of parts of this product and raise maybe $ 50.00 on the price ( i hope the new version is an improved one)... And not give a 5 years warranty instead. I will pay the xtra money to not have to deal with warranty issues...

When sent to repir the first time was ok, but it seems the tech did not fix the problem completely...

I love this product hope they fix it...

You already know. The one thing I'll mention is that the stereo inputs on the back are after the volume control (as well as gain and EQ)in the chain. So if you plug in a POD or something you must control the volume with the POD. None of the controls on the front of the amp work if you use the stereo inputs on the back.

I'm embarrassed to say how much I like this thing considering the number of $1000+ amps I own or have owned (I just bought this for kicks since it was only $99 on sale at GC, I have pedals that cost twice as much as this head). Just plug into a Marshall 1960 4x12, crank the gain and bass, mids at about 5, highs at about 4, with volume about 5-6 (very loud). Perfect rock distortion when you dig in. Back off the guitar volume and a great semi-clean sound. The distortion is perfect for blues or rock type soloing but shredders will want more gain. It is a total misconception that this is made primarily as a power amp for effects. It sounds perfect plugging straight in. It does a perfect AC/DC (which is way less distorted than many people think). Keep in mind also that it will sound way different using a cheap 1x12 than it does with the Marshall 4x12 cab.

Too early to say.

Purchase date sept. 29, 06
Price paid 99.95 (new)
You know all the features. What a great product for 99.95! Still a bargain at twice that much. I bought this as a back-up in case my main rigs ever go down (I work in two bands with two independent set-ups;pretty much the same rig, though. I do utilize a Vox modeling pedalboard (which I love!) and run it through the effect return of the amps. I do the same with this as well. It has more than enough juice for me to hear myself so it doesn't matter whether it's "as loud as a tube amp" or whatever that old argument is.

Using it as just a power amp is great. Nice transparent power. As a guitar amp through the front it does an adequate job and would get you through the night (with your overdrive pedals and delay units, etc) in a fairly convincing manner. I wouldn't make it my first choice but it could save my ass.
I generally use fender and gibson style guitars for playing classic rock (a pretty wide variety) and original stuff, as well.
It's no more noisy than the signal your'e feeding into it; shit in..shit out.

It is my back - up.
Just got it so I can't remark about its reliability.

Never dealt with the company before.

Been playing since '75. I've owned more gear than I can remember. I pretty much refuse to sell any of it any more, too! (I've sold some Les Pauls in the past and could kick myself in the ass!)

I won 18 guitars at last count; 8 of which I've built in the past couple of years. Much more economical and just as good as the shit that major manufacturers are asking you to spend 4-5 times the amount of money on. I've always been a tube amp man.. until the past several years when modeling took a big step forward. Of course I am still running them through the back of tube amps which doesn't hurt, but quite frankly I don't hear any difference with my vox going through this bad boy (crate)

I Like the size, weight, balanced line out, sends-returns, line level adjustment, etc. I don't need bells and whistles and don't use pedals. Good power (150W mono or 75W stereo). I currently play in two blues bands and when we do an outdoor or big stage job I wasn't getting the stage coverage or presence that I wanted from a 40W, 1-12 tube amp. The PB150 with a Celestion loaded 2-12 cabinet took care of that.

I'm using Strats, standard Teles and an HB loaded Tele. If you turn the gain up (8-10) high with too much high band it makes some very offensive noises. Too much of any one thing (gain, high, mid, low, level)can/will alter the tone drastically. If you "massage" each band and the gain/level to match the guitar in hand you can get anything from a Tweed Bassman to a JTM45 to a modded Band Master with smooth break up or really punchy, clean tones. The amp itself is pretty quiet considering that I use mostly alnico single pu's.

I've been working it pretty hard since June and haven't had a problem yet. I gig 2-3 nights a week. If I'm travelling further than 20 miles from home, I always carry a back up.

Good Warranty (5 yrs). I've had other Crate/SLM products and always found the support to be very good when needed.

Been playing professionally for 37 yrs. Current amps include Line6 Flextone, Yamaha JX65, 64 Fender Deluxe, 67 Fender Super Reverb, Musicman HD130, Laney and Crate. I would (and probably will) buy another Crate PB150. I don't want to have to depend on "vintage gear" out on the road. Some DSP reverb might be nice on a future model. If you place it on top of a speaker cabinet with a top mounted handle, the head tends to rock back and forth because the rubber feet are too short. Not a big deal but an annoyance anyway. People that cannot play without effects will not like this amp. I think it's pretty cool.

No reverb and not enough mojo to pull it off. A Champ doesn't have reverb either, but come on, does it really handicap it? This thing is so dead and dry without some reverb or delay. Sure, it's very small, but that goes out the window when you have to take along a reverb or delay effect.

This does not sound like a tube amp. It really kills me reading all these reviews that say "this thing had me fooled". B.S. If you have a 100 watt tube amp that you can only play on 2 (I have a 50 watt crate VC5212 that I can only play on 3 or 4 in most cases) then you are not driving it hard enough to get tube sound and any solid state amp will give you the same sound, duh! Get your hands on the aforementioned 6 watt Champ, put it on 10 and then tell me how close the powerblock comes. It ain't even the same thing. Ain't no f**kin ballpark neither.

Seems well built. Didn't own it long enough to find out.

I read the reviews and bought into all the hype and now, a few weeks later, in's gone on the bay. It is probably ok for what it was designed to do. It will probably be ok to run as a poweramp for a POD, but for real men (and ladies) who can create their own sound with an amp, a guitar and a few choice effects instead of by pushing a button and choosing an amp sound, this thing is better left to the teenagers who equate high volume with good tone. For the $200 this sells for, plus whatever you would spend on a cabinet, get yourself a nice 5 to 15 watt all tube combo that would kick ass. Then when you've saved more money, get yourself a Super Reverb or Bassman, or, if metal is your thing, just sell your guitar and go away, there are enough of you. We don't need any more.

Features are very handy: cd input, mono effects loop/stereo line input, output to mono or stereo speakers. 150 or 2x75 watts. Impressive for this size. Speaker emulation on line output (for direct recording) and headphones output.

I use it conecting into effects loop with with my Zoom G2 and Boss Flanger and then mono balanced into Edirol UA 25 soundcard.

To bad there is no balanced output for stereo, but you can do this from headphones with the stereo-to-mono cable.

And yes, it is a single channel amp head.

Sound is quite warm for a d class amp. Distorsion is useful, maybe to polite, but I use it from the effects loop anyway.

I have G&L Tribute ASAT guitar with two large single-coils, and my it translates really well through my rig. Beautiful clean sound of G&L stays that way, distorsion and fuzz is convincing.

Mind you, I didn't try this head through the speakers, as a home producer this is no neccesity to me (yet).

Its light, but sturdy feeling. I don't gig so it won't break.

Not needed and not applicable (Croatia).

This is very useful peace of kit for practicing and recording guitar. As a home producer I really don't need more for my set-up, and soundwise, I also couldn't ask for much more.

I maybe miss one more channel with a switch, and a stereo XLR output, but there are workarounds.

The price is almost double the one in USA, but still increadible value.

Very Nice Little Amp 150 watts of power. I really love it a lot. Very simple.

I use it with a 4x12 Mesa Boogie Cab. Sounds really good. I use the Line6 AM4, DL4, and MM4. It sounds good even without the pedals. I had to sell my 3 Channel Mesa Head, I wish i never would have but I tried this little power block out and it's really cool. Pushes the cab really well. It's no Mesa or Marshall but it's well worth the price and sound quality is really good. If you miss your tube amp and are poor like me, get it you'll like it.

Super Strong.

Have not used Customer support.

Go get one if you cannot afford a good tube amp at the time. It will work just fine.

alot of in/out options,Gain,3-band EQ, Master Vol, CD input - you'll know all the features. Nice small box fits in the back of an open cabinet (with carrying bag)

woow - this small tiny box rocks!!! its loud enough to rock with a full band and brings out a nice, dirty Rock n Roll Sound - maybe a Tubescramer or any other Distortion for more heavier sound needed....
Tried it with my POD XT in front and in CD-Input but thats what really disappointed me - this is (X)tra(T)hin Sound. Compared with the basic sound of the Powerblock !!! -> sent it back to my dealer NO Good for PODs!!!
But as standalone with a cabinet - give it a try

built like a tank - cool softbag included

3 Years Warranty.

i wanted to use it with my Line6 POD - that didnt work so i returned the thing - if i was in need of an amp only i kept it

I bought it on eBay, apparently used, but effectively brand new new - the guy said he was broke and needed the money. I guess it was probably made sometime in 2005...
If you're reading this, I guess you know what this amp is about and what it offers in the way of features.
Having said that, this tiny little amp is pretty much feature-packed. What?s missing?
I generally use single-channel, non-switching amps, so the lack of channel changing is not a problem - not only that, but this is the most responsive solid state amps I've ever used, so riding the guitar's volume control and/or using pick attack is all I need.
Someone else complained about the use of a stereo jack for the effects send/return and yes, it would be better to have dedicated send and return jacks, but given the size of this box, I?m not sure where you?d put ?em!
The size, the weight, the general design, the price - and the fact that that dinky little gig-bag is included in the price - are all huge plus-points.

I play blues, using a variety of guitars, but mainly Strats and Teles and I must say I am very impressed by the Powerblock.
I bought this amp because I was intrigued by the look of it, its general concept and the fact that it was so small and so cheap. My thought was that I would carry it as a spare amp (it fits underneath the passenger seat of my car) for use with guitar, bass, PA monitors or whatever.
I usually hate solid state amps, so I wasn?t expecting too much.
The reviews were the clincher, but I doubted it would live up to the hype. Believe me - it does!
This amp sounds better than some tube guitar amps I?ve played through. The sound is remarkably transparent and ?valvey? - responsive to volume and pick attack and generally quite ?organic? sounding.
The tone controls are very responsive and really do allow you to shape the sound to a degree which is perhaps a bit alien to those of us wedded to tube amps. Very impressive.
Running it up through an 8-ohm Celestion-loaded 2x12 cab, it was reasonably loud. It delivers its full load into 4 ohms, and my guess is it was probably punching our about 120 watts. Everyone knows that 120 solid state watts is nowhere near as loud as 120 tube watts - a FenderTwin would wipe the floor with this for clean volume, but this amp is plenty loud enough to gig with, especially when you wind in a bit of gain. And in many ways, the Powerblock actually sounded sweeter than most Twins I've used.

Obviously, it sounds rather dry without effects, but then so does your average old Marshall head or Fender Bassman! I tried the Powerblock with my trusty Peavey Valverb (1u rackmount tube-driven reverb and tremolo unit) and it really came to life. I also tried it with a couple of digital fx units and it seemed to cope pretty well with those, too. All in all, it's a superbly well-thought-out and brilliantly executed piece of engineering on a budget that?s hard to believe.

I also plugged it into a 4ohm 8x10 bass cab and gave it to my bass player to use at a rehearsal. When he?d stopped falling about with helpless laughter at the sight of this tiny little box, perched atop a monster cab, he plugged in and was astonished at what a good bass amp it made. It needed a surprising amount of front-end gain to get it working (still running pretty clean, with an active bass, I hasten to add), but once we?d tweaked that, It sounded great, with plenty of volume and no shortage of range in the tone controls. In fact he loved it so much, he now wants to buy one and use it with a small cab for home practice and small gigs!

I wonder if Crate have any plans to market something similar, but with twice the power, specifically for bass? If they did, they?d surely clean up and put Mark Bass and the like out of business!

I?ve not yet tried it as a PA amp, but I have no reason to doubt it will do this job admirably if I ever need it.

Not sure about this, since it?s too soon to say for sure.
After all, this is a cheap amp that?s packed with features. Logic dictates corners must have been cut somewhere, though it?s hard to see where, looking at the amp. It?s very solidly built and the fact that it will spend its travelling life in a padded bag suggests it probably can?t come to too much physical harm.
The switch-mode power supply makes it very light and compact, but it?s technology that has yet to prove itself completely in guitar amps, so that must be my main worry.

One point about switch-mode power supplies...
Am I right in thinking they?ll operate on any voltage, within the normal range of worldwide mains supplies (ie 110-240v) without adjustment?
If so, this would make the amp even more useful.

One more query:
The handbook refers to the fact you can use the balanced line out to turn the amp into a recording preamp. What it doesn't stipulate is whether you need to have headphones, or a speaker load connected to stop the power amp blowing up. I'm assuming not, since the manual is otherwise fairly comprehensive, but I'm not sure I'd want to take a chance!

Nothing to report - never dealt with them.

This is a totally incredible piece of equipment.
It looks great, sounds very good (probably too good to keep as a spare amp, to be honest), weighs next to nothing, costs very little and is extremely versatile.

Crate deserve to have a huge worldwide hit on their hands this with amp. It is truly amazing.

I bought this new a couple of months ago. My main reason to buy this amp was that it's an easy package to carry to the gigs. It seemed perfect as a backup amp because of it's size and it's still very powerful (150 w mono / 75 per channel stereo). It has only one preamp channel but the amp cleans up enough when I turn down my guitar volume, I have no need for the second channel. I think it has all the features I really need, just a basic amp with gain, eq and volume. I like this simple setup but I think that for most of todays young players the preamp section of Power Block gives just too little choices. Anyway if I want something more I get that with the stompboxes.

Unlike the previous reviewer said that there is no usable effects loop in Power Block - well, there is effects loop but how usable it is I can't say 'cause I haven't used it. But I guess it does the job. There's even possible to use stereo effects in that loop if needed.

This amp can be very loud, far louder than I ever need. Even if my band have a loud drummer there's not a question if I'm heard. I use the amp in mono mode (150 watts into 8 ohms) with a Marshall 4 x 12" cabinet. My main amp is a Marshall Jubilee 50 watt tube head from the 80's. Maybe I don't have to mention that Marshall does it better, but this little amp comes not so far behind. Especially, if we talk about price, size and weight, power and sound the Power Block is an excellent value for the money.

I play loud rock'n'roll and punk-style stuff. I mainly use Gibson Les Paul Special with P-90 pickups, and sometimes also Tokai Stratocaster with stock singlecoils. Power Block and the P-90 pickups are a very good combination together to my taste - it gives grit enough to the sound but still doesn' get muddy. If I want more briht sound with less distortion I get it with the stratocaster. Both guitars works fine with this amp. I also use Ibanez Tube Screamer TS10 if I want more sustain and punch.

For a solid state amp it responds well to dynamics. I use gain in about 3 o'clock and eq to taste. If I want less gain I turn my guitar's volume lower. If I want more gain I kick in the tube scremer. Power Block seems to like stompboxes, at least the ones I have. The amp's eq really works well too.

My setup gives not a big variety of sounds but it gives me the thing I need. The amp has plenty of overdrive on it's own if the gain is full up but maybe not enough for metalheads. Clean sound is the territory where this amp ain't on it's strongest at the high volume.

I don't find this thing too noisy. Of course there is some hum when you have the gain and volume turned up but that's normal with any amp. That doesn't disturb me.

I've tried Power Block with Behringer V-Amp2 -modeller connected to the loop's return, but that wasn't my thing. The V-Amp gives a nasty digital touch to the sound and the dynamics get lost. So the problem is in the V-Amp, not in Power Block. Maybe some better modeller sounds better with the Power Block, but I like to keep it simple. I'm not interested to play with those digital toys anyway.

Until now after a few gigs and rehearsals it may be too early to condemn. This was supposed to be as a backup amp for me, but I've used it as main amp on few gigs now without backup and it's been working well without any kind of problems. So far so good, you should never trust blindly on these things. Anyway this one seems to be well made.

I haven't had need to deal with the company.

I've been playing guitar for about 19 years. I've had / have a few amps after I've started playing. The first amp was a solid state Marshall 5210 combo, then came Marshall Jubilee 2553 head, Ampeg VT-60 head, Fender Blues Deluxe combo, Koch Twintone combo and now this Crate Power Block. It is quite funny looking setup as you have Power Block in the top of a big 4x12 cabinet, but the sound and power kicks ass for everyone who's mocking on it.
I could say this amp is a very good change for the money. If you need a basic, healthy sounding rock'n'roll amp for a little money, this is it.

I wish that is had an out of the box, useable effects loop. Other than that the features are OK

Sounded OK in the store. Not good, not bad.

The thing never really turned on. It would just cycle on and off, the led flashing slowly. I got sound for about a second, then nothing for another three seconds. Any product that has problems like this brand new is not going to go on stage or even to practice with me.

How can people give this a good rating for reliability when they had to return two or three?

The manual is 4 small pages. No real information, no help at all.

I was really dissapointed, although not surprised. When I bought it, they had to unbox one because the floor model didnt work. I wanted an amp to practice with until my Mesa comes in. I only needed a loud clean sound. I was going to keep it for backup, maybe a stereo rig using its poweramp. I love the concept, the portability would be great. Unfortunatley it is a 200 paperweight.

I'm 44 and at 4 pounds (!!!) it's hard to beat. I play classic rock into an Eminence loaded Avatar stereo cab, and I have no problems keeping up with the band in small rooms.
I have two negatives:
1) This amp begs to have a modeler run into it, as it has nothing but gain, level, and three band tone. So I run a GNX-2 floor modeler into Effects Loop/Line In, stereo. But unfortunately, the PowerBlock has no level control after the Line In. I have to control the level by bending down to my GNX-2, which is a REALLY inconvenient way to make level adjustments while gigging. So I had some guy on ebay build me a small box with a ganged (stereo) pot that I sit on my cab to control level.
2 The PowerBlock can not drive a 2 speaker stereo cab, whose jacks are grounded together on a common shield. The first PowerBlock manual did not warn against this, and after returning 2 (sorry Guitar Center) amps that actually worked, I finally contacted Crate and described my setup. After about three days, they emailed me the new manual warning against this. So I had to install a plastic jack on one of the channels of my Avatar Cab.

Since I model, running into the Line In gives me clean power with very little coloring. It is easy to get controlled feedback with my Strat, modeler, and this amp at about any volume. The sound is repeatable day in and out, and I think I like it better than my Peavey Bravo (two EL-84s).

Excluding the operator error connecting this to a stereo cab I mentioned above, it has worked every time. Barely gets warm. Class-D amps like this don't have big caps, so I expect this amp to last a long time.

Even though I clearly spelled out my setup to Crate the first time, it took a couple of email exchanges for Crate to figure out my setup problem.

I've had a variety of tube combos and heads, and I'm going to stick with this for performing, and possibly recording.
I would replace it if stolen.
I wish it had a level control following the Line In.

Everything you need if you have something musical to say.
Fantastic features that number more than I have time to write about.

Sounds somewhere between a 40 watt Fender bassman head and a 50 watt Marshall 800.
It sounds like a great tube head and cleans up as such when you know
how to use your guitar volume.

5 year take it back policy. Its my main head now and I have no fear playing anywhere with it. They don't write that stuff to lose money.
They expect to last much longer.

Not needed.

If you can play the guitar this amp will make you happy. It has all the basic sounds to build from. I make a living recording songs and touring and you just kind of know when something is solid. I can play any amp I want and I say for the next 3-4 years this powerblock will be perfect as my live head.

I was greatly suprised at the number of features the PowerBlock had for it's small size.
It's a single channel 150W mono amp (or 75W/Side stereo). It has an XLR line out which lets me easily hook into a mixer for anything from recording to amping out a PA. Has a headphone output, but it doesn't cut off the amped outputs when you plug headphones in. You have to unplug them first. Also has RCA tape inputs and 1/4" L/R inputs. If you buy an insert cable the Left 1/4" in also doubles as an effects loop.

Don't let size deceive you!
I was probably like everyone who first sees this head, I couldn't build myself to believe it could compete with big Marshall's and other Crate heads in terms of power and volume.
I was terribly wrong!
I play everything from rock/alternative/hardcore/acoustic, etc. If you setup the EQ right and maybe pair it up with an external effects unit or preamp then the PowerBlock is capable of anything you may play through it.
Putting the gain to about half way still keeps it very warm and clean sounding allowing you to crank the level to deafening volumes. If you crank the gain all the way up and keep the level down, you'll get a nice warm overdriven sound. When the gain is at full there is a bit of hum, but that is typical with every single amp head out there.

It's solid state so there's no tubes to worry about failing or needing replacing. I'd gig it without a backup, and I do, it's my main and only amp head.
Works excellent as your main head, or for those who have something expensive already it's definitely a recommended inexpensive backup. Small and easy to carry.

Haven't had to deal with them yet - that's a good thing!

I've been playing for over 8 years and I've jumped around and owned/used many amps in my time. The crate is finally something I know I'll be using for a long time to come. It packs more volume than I'll ever need to use and I love it for the portability. Every feature on this thing is useful! I just wish they'd put reverb though, that's my only disappointment.

Very no BS type of head. Gain, Volume, Treble, Mid, and Bass on the front. Effects loop, balanced line out on the back. It's stereo and can be bridged to mono. But the best feature is it's size, weight and power. It's little and loud. Draw your own comparisons ;)......

As far as the loud part, It really ain't as loud as 75 watt stereo/150watts bridged implies. It's about like a twin. It is nothing like as loud as a Super Lead or a V4. However, I am running it into a 16ohm 2x10 (portability, baby.) If you run it into 4 or 8 ohm's it will be louder because it's solid state.

In short it weighs next to nothing, is very small, and comes with a gig bag. Just what you always wanted.

I could first tell you that for a solid state amp, it sounds really tube like, but this really dosn't make any sense. All tube amps sound different and this Solid State Amp sounds better to me than most current production tube amps. Why, tone center and touch sensitivity. This amp wants to sound like a bassman or JTM-45. If you ask for something else your not going to get it. Pegging the gain will give you more grind but it gets a little harsh for me. However if you want more grist in the will, it takes to pedals very well. As far as sensitivity it, compresses quite nicely and responds well to your picking dynamics with that bounce we all love. Volume knob reduction yeilds nice, controllable cleanup.

Having sang the praises of the Power Block, I have to say it does not sound or feel as good as my modded JTM-45. But when you factor in the features listed above, mainly size and weight, it is great. I give it an eight and I usually don't like anything.

Built like a tank, but I havn't had it long enough to form an opinion.
Oh, and by the way it is real cheap, so if it breaks out of warrenty, just get another one. It's cheaper than getting most stuff fixed.

This is a great portable head for that small, light rig you always wanted, and it could quite possibly be the worlds greatest back-up amp.
And, most of all like I said before, it's cheap.

The features are pretty much covered by others i.e. single channel, no reverb, etc., etc., light weight, "fun".
One notable thing I would like to say is that the tone and volume controls are very linear, inthat when you rotate the control knob thru it's rotational travel, you actually get a graduated change in that particular tone....nice.
As far as power, it is about equivelant to a 60 watt tube amp in terms of volume and headroom. I can easily compare it to my Reverend Hellhound in the volume department, AND....I wish it have just a tad more of the clean headroom. But don't get me wrong, the amp has some snort to it! And the tone controls are very active and useful.

I play a home made strat, comprised of a Carvin neck (love'em!!) Lace Transensor Pups, a Torres Engineering control package, and a green strat body I found on Ebay, Ash wood, I think. I also have about 13 other guitars.
The distortion is very even and nice for my tastes......I'm not a trasher. It is not noisy...that is until I hook up my Boss ME-33 multi-effects board to it.........grrrrrrrr. And like other observations, you can run the Gain up to 12 o'clock and still be clean. Between 12 and 2 you can get some very controlable overdrive...nice.

Too new for me to tell how reliable it will be. I do know that Crate made 10,000 of these units, so I would think the manufactoring standards would be sufficiantly high, therefore reliability.

I called them and actually spoke with a real humanoid.....asked a few questions.....blah blah. OH!! One question I DID ask of the Tech Support guy; Will the speaker output tolerate a 4 ohn load in the Bridged setting???? (Some guy here stated that he runs a 4 ohn load and that it runs OK without a problem) The Tech guy said that it WILL NOT function properly for long if you do this, and that eventually it is bound to fail or malfuncition. IN my experaince, TUBE amps will tolerate lower than spec impedance levels, but solid state amps are not so forgiving.........

I have been playing for about 35 years. I played in the service clubs here on Oahu during the peak of the Viet Nam era. I was 14. I've built Heathkit amps, etc,. etc., ....Currently I have 2 Reverend Hellhounds, a Fender Prosonic (Green snake), a Carvin Belair, an Ampeg Reverberocket,a Yamaha G100II, a Roland Cube 60 (newer version),and a 1950's Valco Chicago 51 (Funnnn)
If lost, I might replace it. I just bought it out of curiosity, really. Would be very interested to see what follow-up products utilizing the Class D power are brought onto the market. By the way, the chipset that makes the Class D power possible for us consumers are made by various manufactureres, and as a set they are very cheap....about $2.70 per set..It's that chipset that makes the Class D power possible.
I like the amp, as it is a new and refreshing item for the guitarists in general. FOR ME, I wish it had about 50 more solid state watts. THAT would really be a fine amp..MORE clean headroom. BUT, overall, this is a great value for the money. They are Wayyyyyyy affordable, quite loud, and they sound very good. Not maybe as good as a decent tube amp, but very very close, IMHO.
Email me if you like; Gary. kissingeg001@hawaii.rr.com