Crate VC508

Basic, all-tube amp: gain, tone, volume, single-channel, line-out, no reverb, no stand-by switch. Line-out doubles as an effects loop, but requires a Y-connector (1/4" stereo male to two 1/4" mono males).
I wish it had a reverb...

Sounds great! I'm playing a Guild solidbody with a "PAF" style humbuckers and coil-taps, and play blues and blues-rock.
The "gain" knob provides anything from clean to rich, thick, heavy distortion, with lots of room in between. It gets MUCH dirtier and crunchier than a Fender Pro Junior or Blues Junior, but does not get muddy. Even with gain on 8 or 9, notes still have a sharp attack and good definition.
The "tone" control is very effective. Set between 5 and 10, it progressively boosts both high and low. Going from 5 down to 1 boosts the mid-range. Setting it on 10 provides a scooped-mid sound. Going down to about 3 gives a pure, Fender-like sound. This amp produces LOTS of different sounds.
The only negative is that the 8" speaker does not produce very rich bass response, as you might guess. However, the speaker does sound well matched to the amp. And, using the "line-out" allows me to drive other speakers with it, and then it sounds even better!

I'm guessing a "7" based upon perceived build quality, and my past experience with a 20 year old Crate "CR-1" amp.

I have not used Crate's customer service, so I have not experience here.

For me, this amp is excellent. I chose it because it can sound great at home/basement volume levels. I've been playing for about 20 years, so I've used lots of different amps. This one not only sounds great, but it is amazingly versitile in terms of the wide range of DIFFERENT sounds I can get from it. Plus, it's small, inexpensive, and nice looking!
I would recommend this amp to anyone. I bet that if you go get one, you'll find yourself playing around with this little amp more than your other "real" amps...

I was loking for a low wattage tube amp and ran across the Crate VC508. A very affordable and unique little box. I contains an 8 inch Celestion speaker a 12ax7 Groove tube and a EL84 Groove tube. What more could a guy ask for?

I like the overdriven sound of the 70's. This little amp brought my guitar to life. I have been using solid state and digital stuff for decades. I can finally use my volume and tone knobs and they actually do something. The amp provides a warmth that I felt I just couldn't quite get with the solid state stuff. Although the amp lacks channel switching, patching in my RP1 through the Line Out really works well. I put my RP1 (Digital Processor) in storage 3 years ago because it always sounded so sterile. This little bugger really warms it up, and now I'm using it again. This thing can really crunch when driven and it is surprisingly loud.

Seems well built, I took it apart to see, they put a strap across the tube to hold it in place. I have read and experienced that buzzing noise at higher volumes and fixed it myself. I took black rubber faucet washers and placed them under the washers on the external screws. I also put the same washers on the screws that hold the metal grill in place, between the grill and the case. Cost of fix .$0.25. No more buzz, Crate take note.

I have owned Crate products before with no problems, I hope this will be the same.

I have been messing with the guitar for 30 years or so. This amp takes me back to the pre solid state era, without emptying my wallet. I really like this amp and would quicky replace it if something happened. I like the idea of keep it simple and the cost will follow.

This is a new tube amp. It's very versatile for the music I'm playing (rock, blues jazz-rock), although the live performance versatility is limited by the single channel nature of the amp. It has 3 controls: gain, tone, and volume. The effects loop is called "line out" and requires a male stereo 1/4" plug to 2 mono male female jacks adapter for use. It doesn't have reverb, but with my Alesis Midiverb II, it sounds unbelievable! I don't need any more power for my practice use, but I would mike it for live use.

I'm playing a Japanese strat with stock pickups through it, and I LOVE the tone! I'm running the strat through a DOD compressor into the main input, with a Midiverb II in the effects loop. I can get the best clean strat tone I've ever had with any amp, as well as insane, meaty overdriven tones. The clean sound is limited to lower volumes, which of course can be miked for volume. And there's enough gain available for distortion to a level that is most likely high enough for any reasonable person. The tone control is very useful. Counter-clockwise gives you more midrange, clockwise dials up both bass and treble. I love the way the tone sounds at the mid-point. I am truly in "tone heaven" with this amp.

No info. It's really new.

I called SLM in St. Louis and got an opinion right away on a slight buzzing sound I noticed at high volumes. This is not a hum, it's a rattle caused by something vibrating. I took the amp to guitar center, and they tightened up the screws, which seems to help. I liked the fact that I did not have to go through a "phone tree" to reach technical support, nor did I have to wait at all to speak with someone.

I've been playing for 24 years, and I've owned many amps, admittedly none were expensive (mostly Peavey, but I've had Roland also). I've played through tons of amps, including the Fender Hot Rods, which are very similar to this amp as far as tone. The main thing for me is TONE, and this amp is completely satisfying and inspiring to play through. The only thing I don't really like about this amp is that it is just particle board painted black. But I figure, for the price-tone ratio, you can't expect an expensive cabinet.

Designed to be basic and simple to use. Wish it had reverb, otherwise no complaints. The tone control takes some getting used to but is extremely versatile once you figure it out (Fender to Marshall and all points in between). This amp is strictly for practice and , lately, recording which has been a big suprise, a good suprise. If mic'd properly, a little reverb,a little delay, my Les Paul DCS: stand back, prints like a Marshall to tape. try it.

basically a practice and now a recording amp. Haven't tried using it at a gig with line out or into a bigger amp. who knows? from what I can see so far, it probably would work. One noted "characteristic": not much clean headroom above gain set on 3, master volume on 10. It would be nice if it could go a little longer before breaking up. One other thing: annoying buzz somewhere inside (I took the first one back for this same reason). I have opened it up, tightened it up, and may be about to "give up" and try one more from the store. Anyone know why this is happening?? At louder volumes, recording at high gain, etc., it is not noticeable but at lower practice volumes it is little things like this that become a major pain in the ass. Maybe Crate will do fix. Mine is one of the first production units so maybe this has already been take care of.

Too early to tell (except for already mentioned annoying internal buzz).

Been playing 30 years, partner in a vintage guitar store, played lots of stuff. For a practice combo and for the money, this is a bargain even compared to "vintage" or new "boutique" gear. It takes some getting used to the tone control and balance between gain and volume. Once done, you will probably make this a keeper considering what you paid for it. Many solid state practice amps, including Crates own products, have a tighter and louder clean channel. However, when this amp warms up, you will be pleasantly suprised at the harmonic overtones coming from the stock Celestion speaker (a real nice touch other companies should take note of) and class A EL-84. P.S.: I traditionally dislike Crate gear (Fenders rule): however, its' never to late to learn something new. This amp was an eye opener.

Gain, tone and volume knobs. On/Off switch. Single EL84 power tube running in class A, single 12ax7 preamptube, solid state rectifier. Preamp out jack. One eight inch Celestion speaker. Tone knob sounds best at 5 (12 o'clock), turing it to the left from this position boosts mids, turing it the other way boosts highs and lows, but any deviation from 5 results in a muddier sound. It's a loud five watts. For an amp of this size, power and price, features are more than adequate (after all, the old tweed champs which this is loosely based on had only a volume knob which doubled as an on/off switch as well).

Even with the master volume on 10, there was little clean headroom in this amp. Distortion starts in with the gain level at about 3, and significantly increases from there. Lots of saturation on tap once the gain level is above 4 or 5, and feedback is attainable even with an American Standard Strat's single coil pickups if gain is above 7 or 8. A Les Paul with Duncan Antiquity humbuckers results in heavier distortion and feedback. Nice if you're really into heavy distortion, but a bit much for my taste. Both my guitars started losing their character very quickly, and there was not the kind of sweetness i was hoping to find even at lower gain settings. Little difference in sounds of neck or bridge pickups once gain was above 4 or 5.

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Not a bad amp for the money, but not for my tastes. I shipped it back after about 1 to 2 hours of playing it. I considered trying to substitute a lower gain 12at7 or 12au7 for the higher gain 12ax7 preamp tube, but decided against fooling around with it as the basic sound I wanted just wasn't there. I'm still looking for a small 5 or 6 watt amp which has a tiny bit more natural gain than a blackface champ, but not nearly as much as this. Some of the tweed champ replicas by Fender-copy companies such as Victoria or Clark might fit the bill (I tried the Kendrick version, but found it too clean), but they are expensive ($600 to $700). Mark Baier of Victoria played one over the phone for me one day (with the optional reconed Jensen), and even over the phone, it sounded great. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

The Crate VC-508 is a all tube amplifier. It is a single channel, all tube (5) watt screaming tone machine.It has one (8) inch speaker, one EL-84 and 0ne 12AX7 tube and it weighs (18) pounds. It comes with these controls, gain,tone, and volume control.I use this amp for practice in my bedroom and for gigs in small venues.It also has a line out feature.

I use this amp for playing blues and boogie style harmonica.I use a "Shaker Dynamic Harmonica Microphone" with this amp backed two clicks from full throttle. I set the amp controls as follows:gain between four and five, tone between one and two, and the volume between two and three.No kidding, this is the amp of my deams,it distorts in a very smooth and creamy way instead of too harsh or edgey.I think this the best little amp on the market,when i tried it out at the music store a old mailman came over and sais that it sounded like the old amp that like the old amps he use to hear harp players use back in the old days at Juke Joints when he was younger!It sounds as good to me as my "Matchless" considering it's size.
The only problem is the tubes are hard to access.

I only have had it one month.

I called Crate when i got home and they were helpfull very and called back two days later to make sure that i was doing ok with it !

I would definitely buy again, i compared to many other small amps and for harmonica blues,this is the one.

All-tube 5 watt (five!) practice amp, 8" Ceseltion speaker. (1) 12AX7 in the Pre-amp, (1) EL84 in the power amp. Came equiped with Sovtek tubes. Volume, Gain, Tone - Line Out/Effects insert that's it. This little amp is a flashback to the low-end tube-era practice amps. Think "old" and "cheap." The all-metal grille, "vintage" crate logo and purple (!) jewel power-on light add to it's charm. Feature rating is based on features vs price. Then think how those old, cheap amps are commanding premo prices on the "vintage" market. Painted particle board construction (I said Cheap!) and all-metal grill. I have only had a week, but since no info on this amp was available, I thought I'd do an initial post and follow up later.

I bought this as an alternative to the Fender Blues Junior or Pro Junior. I was primarily interested in a small, all-tube practice amp that sounded good at low levels. Even the 15 watts of the Fenders was a bit much. With the VC508 you get the gain control for distortion that is absent form the Pro Junior, but it lacks the reverb of the Blues Junior. But then again it's roughly 75 bucks less than the Pro junior and 180 less than the Blues junior. I play it with a Fender Am. Standard. Strat at moderate to low volumes. It absolutly sounds better than ANY small transistorized practice amp I've played. It is relatively noise-free. The distortion is so-so, but remember, I haven't cranked it up yet (Damn this apartment life!)"2" on the volume knob is plenty loud, and I have a hunch this little amp can put out a surprising amount of volume for it's wattage and size. The tone control is kinda funky- the center is neutral, the right is a boots to highs AND lows, to the left is a mid boost. This actually works pretty well, but takes a little getting used to. My rating is based on A) Low volumes and B) Price.

I had it disasembled within an hour of owning it - by choice. The PCB looks like any other practive amp, but with the inclusion of sockets for the tubes. Tube swapping should be a 15 minute job. The amp is class A and self-biasing, so you won't need proffesional service to change tubes. I would guess it will be as reliable as any practice amp - with the added variable of tube reliability in general. The painted particle board cabinet will undoubtedly ding up. Big deal. Buy a permanent marker. Rating is based on construction and warranty at this point as I haven't had it that long.

Good so far. I called Crate immediately to see if the amp needed biasing when tubes were replaced, (I wanted to put in some premium tubes), They returned my call with in an hour. 5 year warranty on the amp, 90 days on tubes.

When you consider that a crappy practice amp will easily set you back $75-125, I think 180 for a cool all-tube job it worth it. I have a long history of disliking Crate amps, primarily because my experience was limited to the cheap transistor practice amps. I am a Fender bigot. However, this little amp changed me. It's essentially 80% of a comperable Fender amp for half the price. Or more precisely, it's that exhorbitantly priced $400 used "vintage" gem in a "vintage" shop for a lot less money (and none of the "prestige".) I know the amp has been available for as low as $169 - I had the instant gratification thing going. I'll re-submit an Eval after I re-tube with premium tube and have had the sucker cranked up to it's full 5 watt (!) potential.