Crate VC508

Features are very simple and straight forward. I really can't add anything to what others have already said. When you are buying this, you know you are buying a simple little amp. However, my one big complaint is that having one EQ is inadequate. There should be separate tone controls for treble, bass, and even one for midrange.

SPEAKER ISSUES: The stock speaker excels at mediocrity. It makes the amp sound like a shallow and tinny plastic toy. I rigged a simple 1/4 female end plug that allows me to run straight to an external speaker. I think this is a MUST with this amp. (The amp comes with a five year warranty, so I would be concerned that some of the other mods people have suggested would void the warranty.) I have experimented a lot with different speakers including Celestion blue alnicos, Celestion greenbacks, and an Eminence Legend 125. I was a bit disappointed that the tone did not improve more when I used some top quality speakers. It still retained a lot of that shallow, tinny, plastic kind of tone. This amp delivers a usable tone for practice, but I would only use it live on stage if it was all I had left.

TUBES: I experimented extensively here, too. I have read all of the reviews. In the pre-amp, I tried a Shuguang 12AX7, a JJ ECC83S, the stock SOVTEK 7025, NOS GE 5751, NOS JAN Philips 12AT7, NOS Sylvania 12AY7, NOS GE 6072A (12AY7 equivalent) and a Mullard 4003 12AU7 equivalent. I found that the 12AT7, 5751 and 12AX7 types (gain factors of approximately 60, 70 and 100, respectively) all had too much gain. They left the amp with very little headroom. With the 12AX7 types, the signal would start to overdrive with the gain not even yet at 4. With the others, it would be overdriving around 5. I wanted more clean headroom. I also noted that these higher gain tubes tended to make the amp sound muddy as you to got louder.

The Mullard 4003, a 12AU7 equivalent (gain factor around 19) gave lots of clean headroom and really sounded good, but it left you with very little in the way of an overdrive option. I found the GE 6072A (fain factor around 44) to be the best pre-amp tube for this amp. It gave me a clearer, less muddy signal than all others except the Mullard. It would not start to overdrive until the gain was on about 6, so it gave me a reasonably good clean range along with enough punch to get some overdrive going.

POWER TUBE: I replaced the SOVTEK/GROOVE TUBE EL-84 with a JJ. The SOVTEK tended to get muddy too soon when pushed. It lost highs very easily. The JJ was clearer.

Stock, I would give this a 5 or 6. With the minor modifications in tubes, I give it an 8. It averages out to a final rating of 7.

I have only owned mine about three months. No problems at all. And this amp is so simple that I would shocked if it gave much in the way of problems. I use it for fun, low volume bedroom practice or when I am jamming with a friend but still need to keep the volume at a level that will not offend the wife or the neighbors. Based on its track record to date, I have to give it a 10 here.

I have several Crate amps. Their customer service has been the best I have experienced in the musical instrument field.

I've been playing now about 25 years, and I have accumulated enough gear over the years to show for it. My other amps are Fender Hot Rod Deluxes, a Fender Deluxe 112 Plus, Sunn T50 combos, Crate VC 50 heads, Crate GFX 1200 head, Crate GX 140D, and a bass amp. It is all modest gear that I have tweaked to get to sound good.
If this amp is the best tone you've got, then you've got a problem. This VC508 is a good little practice amp. That is all it is! I absolutely would not use it as a main to slave others off of. Just have fun playing it in your bedroom or doing low volume jams with friends.

As it comes from Crate this amp is a fair entry level into tube tone. Vol, gain & tone controls, no reverb. It's main feature is that it's a tinkerers dream, 1 pwr. & 1 preamp tube, 1 spkr. My review, like many others will be of a modified amp.

My best results with this amp are with a H-S-H Ibanez as far as versatality goes. Humbuckers being quieter than single coils run better thru this amp as it does get noisy with the amp's vol. & gain cranked, in the 4-3-2posistions it will clean up and 5-1 will throw it into high gain. My guitars range from H-H, H-S-H to S-S-S.

3 yrs. no problem.

With all the mods I've made the 5 yr warranty is void, never dealt with co.

Been playing 30 yrs., if stolen I'd buy again. Now for MODS.
Recabbed with 12" Eminence
Retubed 5751 preamp (lowered noise and gain)
Focus ring installed between cab. & spkr. This lil tidbit came from an interview with the Dr. Z guy, it's a ring you make of 2 pcs. of 3/4 plywood glued together to make a 1-1/2" spacer.
I'd done the recab w/12" and still was not impressed with this amp. Did the preamptube and focus ring @ same time so I do'nt know which was the major contributor but this baby kicks butt. The tube knocked the gain down & the ring made it sound better. Except for the tube & spkr. the mods were made with recycled plywood & particle board @ no cost,$70 total which brings it into the $300 zone so I guess you could buy a blues jr. I wish I knew how to add a reverb to put the icing on the cake.

This is an important update to my post below. This is me eating my words. Read on!

I initially gave this amp a poor review, but since I had already bought it, decided to try one of the recommended mods and replaced the 12AX7 preamp tube with a $5.00 12AU7 I bought on the net.

Oh ... my ... it's a different amp! Instead of the gain knob being useless from about 3 onwards, the knob became totally useful and musical virtually everywhere I dialed it. Suddenly I was capable of a range of cranked tones from sweet blues to dirty blues to full on rock. Only heavy metal and grunge were out of reach and on an amp with 2 tubes like this, that really requires a pedal anyway. Even that weird tone knob took on a new life and while previously it was impossible to find a tone I liked, now I can't find a sound I don't like! To be sure, that 8" speaker is still incapable of the kind of punch and sizzle that would make this amp great, but before you take an axe to your VC508, take it to a tube amp repair shop and ask if you can audition some different tubes. You might just find that magic tone. What a difference!

See my post below.

See my post below.

If you get a good deal on one of these, buy it and experiment!

Pretty basic 5-watt tube amp with gain, tone and volume control plus a line-out (insert) jack. I bought this because I needed a bluesy amp for low volume practice and recording in my home studio. Pretty loud ... in fact, too loud for my needs. For the price, the features would be okay. The best feature is the line out/insert feature (more on that later).

I've tried this amp with a custom Fender Strat copy with Active EMG pickups and a stock Ibanez S540. As mentioned by others here the amp rattles and buzzes liek a chainsaw. It's really because the dinky little cabinet can't handle the high volumes this amp generates. I modded the amp to include a speaker out jack that kills the internal speaker so I could run it into a larger cab or DI box. While better than the internal speaker the limitations of the cheesy preamp section became apparent. The preamp saturation was quite unmusical and exhibited very little usable gain before becoming ratty. It is possible to drive the power tubes to saturation, but by then, the preamp's spotty character reduced the sound to a loud drone. Maybe it was that speaker? So I then ran the speaker out into a larger cab: different sound, but not much better. DI'd through a Behringer with 4x12 simulation tamed down the rattiness, but still no magic tone.

Bypassing the preamp and plugging a gitar cable partly into the lineout yielded some better results, but saturation was limited. No has mentioned this to much detail, but you can use an insert cable (stereo phone jack to two mono jacks) plugged in all the way to patch an effect in; i.e., it has a full fledged effects loop. This allowed me to use a variety of pedals to control the sound. Here is where I found some useful combinations. I plugged a Digitech RP100 with amp and cab simulation turned off and was able to use the pedal's reverb and EQ to process the preamp sound a bit better. Also, setting the amp to a clean sound and putting the RP100 between the guitar and amp input allowed me to use more of the features of the RP100. The thing is, I can get the same results by doing the same with a solid state amp. The Crate added minimal warmth and IMHO the trouble and extra noise wasn't worth the effort; I'd rather just plug straight into the console.

I haven't had the amp long enough to have an opinion here.

Ditto, I haven't had the amp long enough to have an opinion here.

I would not buy this amp again. Sure, maybe an accumulation of the mods mentioned below might result in a better sounding box, but that's too much trouble, if you ask me. There are amps out there that have more useful sounds.

Brand new. Bought from AmericanMusical.com. One channel, tone, gain and volume knobs. Has a line out which is a stereo socket. The tip of the stereo is a power-amp in, the shaft is a pre-amp out. Using a stereo Y cable lets you use it as an effect in/out. Or you can use a mono cable plugged half way into the line out to hear both amps. If you plug a mono cable all the way into the line out, it mutes the VC508 speaker. This amp has only 5 watts but it is plenty loud. It's easily twice as loud as my solid state 20 Watt Pignose Hog 20. It uses a 12AX7 pre amp tube and an EL84 power amp tube. It has a rubberized looking vinyl covering and weighs 18 lbs. Also has an on/off toggle switch and purple jewel that lights up when the amp is on. No reverb or standby, nice long cord that fits in a slot in the otherwise sealed back.

I have only had this a week and played in my room. I play a Vaccaro guitar with two single coils and a humbucker in the bridge position. This amp does not have alot of sounds, but it does have some good ones. I bought this amp because I recently realized I want a tube sound. I also have a Fender Super Sixty tube amp and I got to the point where a solid state sound just doesn't have the guitar vibe I want. I play 60's rock and use a little but of distortion (ala the Stones). This amp satisfies the limited palatte of tones I want, basic guitar sounds with tube over tones and a bit of distortion when needed. I don't use any pedals anymore, so I want an out of the box sound I like, and this amp has a few I like and am happy with.
One thing that is a real bonus with this amp is that if I use it as a pre amp to the Fender Super Sixty, it makes the Fender sound enormous. It really brings out the reverb and presence on the Fender much more than I have ever heard in the ten years I owned it. That said, after using it like that, I still play it by itself, to get it's own sound. However, I don't think I'd play the Fender without the Crate after hearing how it enhances it.

Only had it a week, but looks as solid as a car battery. I plan to gig with it without a backup, slaving it into a Roland K300 mixing amp that belongs to the keyboard player. (I can always plug direct into the Roland if it fails).

N/A. The 4 page manual is on Crate's website.

I have been playing since the 60's. I have a Fender Super Sixty sixty, an ART 80 Watt combo, a few Pignose and Prime amps. I researched the web and forums for several days before buying. I needed a light weight tube amp that was reasonably priced. This is the ONLY ony I found at less than $250 and weighing under 20 lbs. (I can't carry the Fender around any more without throwing my back out.)So far I am very happy with my purchase. I don't plan to upgrade the tubes until I need to. Then I'll try the JJ Teslas. I don't plan to mod the speaker because plugging this into the Fender power amp-in (with the 12" Fender speaker) doesn't improve the tone. Of course plugging this into the Fender low Z guitar input turns the Fender into a beast. If there is a better sounding new tube amp that sounds like an amp, that is this light and this cheap, let me know and I'll buy it too, and keep this one as well.

Its a simple no frills low wattage tube amp.
Very loud, I giged with it, barely kept up, the Crate VC2110 keeps up!

Rockabilly/Blues machine for recording and practice.

Cool, no probs.

N/A

Over 30 years playing, good deal for $100 or under. Other people always gotta make there little mods, switch out speakers etc. If you got a good guitar and pedal you don't need jack. This amp rocks!

Here's a bit of an update on a previous review. You can get some
decent sounds out of this amp with a little pursuasion. In stock
configuration the amp is quite midrangy, weak and lacks a good clean
sound. You will need a Boss Equalizer Pedal and a 12AU7 tube. Substitute
the 12AX7 tube for the 12AU7. Hook the equalizer up to the guitar.
Plug the output of the equalizer 3/4 of the way into the effects loop
jack. This will bypass the preamp (The gain and tone controls won't work).
Turn the volume to 10. Adjust the equalizer for scooped mids (The 400, 800 and 1.6K
tones near -15db) Enjoy the tube clean tone.

With the above setup, the amps finally sounds like what a tube amp
should. The amp can do some mild overdriven tones, not much clipping.
If you want more distortion, leave the 12AX7 tube in. The EQ can hammer
enough bass and highs into the amp to be nausingly loud.

The additional cost of the tube and EQ can add 100 bucks to the cost of
the amp. Too bad the tone control and preamp in this amp is so cheesy.
It's never going to be a classic with a high resale value so feel free
to mod it.

it's all pretty much been said

had it for a while and messed around with it some. right now it is looking a bit different! I removed the amp and made a 8' extention speaker cable. the amp sits upside down (tubes facing up) on the table. removed all hardware on the cab except the grille (that handle rattles like mad) and mounted the speaker on the inside of the cab. swapped out the tubes for some JJ's. plug the strat half way in to the line out jack and turn the volume up almost all the way. man I love this thing now...

still goes

have fun with this one...once the amp was out of the cab the rattles left and the speaker could breathe more. It can really go. I don't use the regular input any more.

The basics of three what is realy needed

All those solid state virtual amps were a waste of time this is the shit for the price or na wear near the price. This amp can make you feel good for this low price. All that digital is nice for the pros or whatever that goal is but for the guy woho wnats to play at homw and exlperience the seperation from real life and melt into his won realm why not and pay this little price it is the bomb and the groove and the way.

It's gotta go as grampa would say.

don't know who cares?

If you got a small budget why not experience the true tone for a small price. You can always add some of those pedals laying around you eliminated for that lame digital amp. I Like it. I wish I had known sooner on my budget that I could get there>

I hate the the single tone knob. All they needed to is add a few extra
cheap passive components to get a seperate bass and treble controls.
Crate did everything they could to get the component count in this amp
to the bare miniumum. The cabinet of the amp is painted particle board.
If that isn't cheap enough, in order to save money by using less particle
board they mounted a low profile speaker on the front of the amp. The
beancounters designed this amp.

The main problem with this amp is an uneven frequency response. It is
sounds quite notchy. Almost as if a wah pedal is hooked up to it and
put in a semi-neutral position. This amp would be great for someone
who likes lots of warm sounding mids and highs. There isn't much bass
and the tone control really do much to change it. The E and A strings
of the guitar completly lacks any punch. This might be great for country
players who like the trebly twang of a telecaster, but not to my tastes.
5 watts is still too loud in an apartment for power tube distortion. The
amp can do preamp distortion, but that sounds just the same as any old
solid state amp. This amp produces a noticable hiss and background
hum even without any instrument connected to it. It becomes much much
worse if their are any effects that generate a background hiss as well.

People have gone to various lenghts to modify this amp. A 1x12
extension cab is expensive and most come with high power speakers.
A custom 1x12 cab will run about $200-300 dollars and a 15W 1x12 will
set you back up to $100.

The crate is not worth a purchase of a extension cab, or any serious
modifications for that manner. The money spent on upgrading the crate
can be spent buying an amp that is already much better.