Crate VC508

the line out thing is a good thing. plugged into my 002 digi rack also sounds wonderful. Who needs a microfone to record your guitars?

growls. It has a solid looking speaker so the growling does not appear to be the speaker falling apart

we'll see. because of how this crap reacts to moisture, particle board anything gets poor marks, IMHO. And it crumbles. So the crappy cab is a flag. but it is chunky feeling . we'll just have to see.

If I ever find somethiong lioke this with spring reverb also it gets the 10. but this gets a solid 9. I got it at used music store for 100$. I didnn't even go n google it first. It just looked staright away to be worth it.

Very basic little 5W tube amp with single input channel into TL072 op amp, 12AX7 tube preamp, EL84 tube power amp , solid state recitifer, , effects loop (line-out), volume, tone, gain, with 8" Celestion speaker.
But this is a hidden little gem!! These 5 watts are actually quite loud and with mods probably pushing towards 8 watts.
Little extra features (which are un-needed anyway at this price imho, but give a 6 rating to be fair...

Am using an Epiphone Alleykat semi-hollow with '57 humbucker on bridge and NY humbucker on neck, mostly classic blues, light rock classics etc. I bought this amp used and modified it similar to the mods at guitarnuts.com, although I've made a couple of additional changes which work well for me. I now have excellent clean headroom blooming into that creamy distortion tone that most blues and classic rock artists crave. With the added 'Master' volume mod added between the second pre-amp stage and the EL85 PA; along with changing the bias resistors in the preamp etc. I find the amp is now fully adjustable for either or both pre-amp or that all-important power amp distortion and by swapping out the slightly harsh 12AX7 preamp tube for a 5751 and swapping out the TL072 for an OPA2604 I feel that this amp is equal to any similar boutique amp selling for upwards of $600... Will be adding a speaker out soon and plan to use this for smaller venue gigs.
10+++

Have had no problems with playing every night at home. As stated above I will try gigging with the amp into a 1X12 cab, as I just love the tone. Will find out if it's hardy enough to take a night out on the town...

VERY basic, tone gain and volume. when the amp comes stock, the gain and tone nob arent very usefull, but pop in a 12at7 to replace the stock preamp and they take on a whole new role!

would give a 10 if only it had reverb and a 3 band eq.

this amp like i said needs a 12at7 to unlock its full potential, but once thats done this amp rocks. the amp take a while to warm up but once it does the tone nob is a really nice feature. 5and down give u a more "marshall" type of distortion and 5and up gives u a more "mesa dual rectifier" sound and the cleans are great for clapton, but it doesnt break up too smoothly with just the volume nob, the preamp need alittle coaxing from the distortion knob.

with patience this amp can be very classic rock, that vintage sound is right ther


bad side, natural and pinch harmonics dont ring out too well

third owner, still goin.

5 year transferable warrenty? its all good

i have owned 5 amps this is my 6th abd favorite. been playin almost 3years and would buy it again.

i give it an eight because of it needing an upgrade to "unleash the beast" (and u have to tke the whole chasis off to do it)


also because of its basicness (would gladly pay 100$more for reverb and an eq.)

all in all a great amp,

a 30watt eq and reverb version would be superb

Bought in 2000, I think. I posted a review a few years ago. I let the amp gather dust for a few years shortly after. We had to make some room in the den this week, so I decided to do some things I had wanted to for a while. I took the chassis out of the cab and mounted it in my cheesy Park amp case. It fit fine, but is a little skinnier, so there are some, uh, airholes. Right away the amp sounded infinitely better. The Park speaker (8") is WAY better, and the cab is tighter. I tossed the Crate cab. Then, last night I followed another poster's idea of switching the pre and post volume pots. You have to take the pc board out to do any soldering, but no problem. I put it back together, and.... It now does exactly as it should!! The pre-amp gain is much lower, while the post is much higher. I can set the post to 10, and use the pre as it was intended. Since I am no electrician, however, I cannot vouch for the safety and security of this mod. It's working great for now, though!

I play crunchy blue soul rawk with a tele. The amp tone is more musical, now. It won't fuzz out now since the pre gain is so low. You can turn the pre gain all the way up and it hardly distorts the front end. But you can dime the master and just use the pre as an actual volume control, like a real amp. Plus, the distortion feels much more output tube-like, and you actually have to turn it up in order to get it. I guess I sacrificed some of the bedroom playability, but it's worth it. The amp's gots tubes. They should be used the way the gods intended them to be.

Even with all my tinkering, the amp still works ok. I have never changed the tubes. I doubt I would ever get seriously giggy with it. I don't play any gigs right now anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter.

I love that I only paid around 70 dollars for it new, and have spent nothing to date on maintenance or modifications. I think these things are perfect for projects, but little else, and that's ok. I haven't had much luck recording it in the past, but I'm sure it's better after the mods. However, it now has to be turned up to sound good, so you might as well get an old Champ, which would sound way better. The rating is Fun Factor, not exactly usability.

Small practice amp, two tubes 12AX7 in the preamp and EL84 on the power section, 5W, speaker designed in conjunction with Celestion, line out that works as a effect loop, volume, special tone control (turn clockwise enchances treble and bass, anticlockwise enchances midrange, and drive, boosting the gain of a built in opamp overdrive.

Loud amp, dont pass above volume level 1. I like to use it with the gain at max, sometimes use with Boss GE7 for solo boost. This amp is very flexible, can play from country to metal, the sound is warm, and when fully distorted becames fuzzy. Ideal for practicing or recording. I bought it because I wanted a tube amp, this was my first tube amp, and I still love it.

I experienced some problems with this amplifier, but I fixed it. Sometimes it starts to hum heavily and the volume control dont affect the sound, I discovered that the problem is in the line out jack making bad electrical contact, so I removed the line out jack, because I dont use it and shunted the preamp section that goes from the volume control to the input of the second half of the 12AX7 tube, and the problem was solved. Aside from that it is built like a tank.

This was my first tube amp, and use it for practicing and plan to record with it using sm57 mic. It is a tube amp with a built in "tube screamer", the difference is that the gain of the built in opamp is higher than the TS9 so you can shred with it. If stolen or lost I would be very sad and try to buy another.

tubes !! 2 of them, 1 preamp tube a 12**7 , 1 el84 power tube. gain, tone and volume, 1X8 inch celestion speaker. one channel. 5 watts. very sparse. no reverb. awesome gain. low volume power tube saturation is killer. very vox-ish.

for classic rock, this small thing is the size of a bread box and has very good overdrive and tube saturation in volumes that are actually tolerable. good clean tone. i use a mic on it and play clubs. a small rp7 pedal and / or a ts9 into the tube tone is all you need if you can mic it. and who wants to carry a 4x12 cab when this will do? gibson night hawk, 3 pickup config. and i can get clean fender with the single coil and gibson bucker with awesome over drive for the 70-80's stuff. tone control has good scoop and accents. i did a little wood work on the cab and replaced the stock 8" speaker with a VOX/celestion 10". the one they use for the 4x10 config. 35$ and what a cheap price for this tone!!!!!!!!

never had a problem, but get two they are cheap , 99$, used on web. box is sawdust board. but it is way sturdier than needed.

n/a

been playing since '67. for the size and weight, and cost , i would buy 5. as a matter of fact i am looking for the next one right now......

Bought used on ebay - fairly new. This is my first amp and I went tubes (mostly, apparently not the rectifier/gain)) and new rather than vintage. I play harp exclusively using a green bullet, and almost always mic to PA. Also switched tubes according to web recommendation for harp players. The interaction of volume, gain and tone is somewhat of a mystery but I find 5+ vol., 5+ gain., and 5- tone gives a good sound for most songs when mic'd. I play harp with church band that does contemporary, originals and will play locally as non-church band. We rock as everything from sweet to crunchy! As I become more comfortable with this amp, I'll push it for overdrive. This is a lightweight (under 20 lb), semi-durable, versatile, no-frills, mostly tube, little amp. Wish it had more power to be played without PA mic, and a reverb would be fun.

I've played on this amp for over 1.5 years. The amp can go from clean to crunchy by adjusting volume, gain and tone. Sounds best at higher gain and volume - for anything but smooth and sweet. Not sure about the gain, it sounds forced at higher end. Inadequate for playing without mic'd PA. Does a good job for an 8" speaker - but makes me yearn for a single or double 10" full tube set up (played through a 2x 10" Working Dog and was blown away by sound - and price).

Bought at least 2nd hand. Replaced tubes just for sound, originals still worked. "On" indicator works only sometimes. It gets dragged around a lot and always works well. It has a steel grill that can take some punishment, however, the cabinet is particle board without any protection of corners - seems like a contradiction. I think crate made a winner with this amp. Makes me want to look at other Crate "vintage club" amps (VC 20, VC 210). I'd rather play on than work on my amp and appreciate the tubes w/o being an old amp.

Bought used and never brought in for service.

I've played harp for at least 30 years and this is my first amp (late bloomer). The crate has been a good performer and I keep finding new versatility by playing with the knobs. This is a great value (apx $120) for a harp player, and I'd buy another if this one was stolen.

Basic

Too much solid state gain.

good

na

The gain in the solid state section is too high for my taste. The gain in the tube section is very low. I've modded mine to bypass the tone and solid state portion completely. On the the way there, I did find a decent sound, (if you like solid state preamps). Switch the gain pot (P3,250k) with the volume pot(P1,10k) on the pc board. This increases the tube section gain and decreases the TL072 solid state gain. Sounds better in my opinion.

class A tube 5 watt
Plus wimpy speaker, questionable preamp, but did I mention class A tube 5 watt..???

I`m not really anal about my lead tone- basic B.Gibbons/E.Johnson/J.Satriani/SRV type tone will do. Plenty of distortion,musicallity, jumping harmonics, sustain,etc. And VC508 delivers- that`s all. Use distortion box. You buying this to play late at nigth right? Well, if you crank this little amp it`ll get lous as hell. And may not sound good. Don`t. Set the volume on 10, preamp on 2 or 3 and use distortion box. I don`t know about clean/blues/jazz/whatever tone... but zz top/ac dc/jimmy page is definitely here. I just connected my recto 2/12 cab (8 ohm)- holy smoke!, I wish I did that 3 years ago...
You could use external preamp by sending signal to Line Out jack.
I use Mesa Formula Pre, works great. I like setting it on 10, and with my Mesa all tube 50 watt its impossible to stand closer than 25 feet from my recto cabs. Painfull? Yes. Sound? O, I get the sound, all right... @ 180 lbs of weight...
So aside from speakers pushing the air, I can get close to that sound in my bedroom by using VC 508 plus separate 2/12" cab. And maybe separate preamp.
I`m sure you can get clean/pure/jazz/whatever sound as well, just need a little tweaking. My amp is 3 years old, has worn out tubes, wires hanging out, and sounds great. Put a little love in it and you get your pure sounds...

no problems

You know the features. 5 watts class A tube through a celestion 8 ohm 15 watt speaker. Gain, tone, and volume controls. Comes with 12AX7 and EL84.

I found this amp on sale, brand new, for only 120 dollars, so I decided to buy it. I figured that because it was all tube, that it would sound better than my solid state amp. After a few months playing it stock, I really wasn't too impressed. Then I went to the crate website and printed out the manual(I didn't get one). I found that the line out jack can double as an effects loop because it is a stereo jack. I thought this was pretty cool because I like to use chorus and such. Then I went to guitarnuts.com, and they have a mod posted. They said the reason that this amp doesn't get amazing sound is because the power tube isn't getting enough volume into it to achieve power tube distortion. After I read this, I realized that I could boost the volume through the effects loop and get the tone I was looking for. I used a little beringer mixer(has a TMB tone stack too), and wow. That tube sound I have always longed for was at my finger tips. It was the best tube sound I have ever played through. Guitarnuts.com also suggested to put a 12AT7 preamp tube instead of a 12AX7 because you would get more head room and a smoother distortion. I put the 12AT7 tube, and I was amazed again. With these two simple mods I get great distortion from both tubes, and an amzing blues guitar sound when I run both tubes on the brink of distortion. This amp also drives my mesa 2X12 cab with vintage 30s loud enough that I got the cops called on me the other day. I love my tone now!

This is a great amp for the value. With the tips I give, this amp has that great tube tone that only power tube saturation can give you. This is inexpensive, and you get great tone. Every guitarist should visit guitarnuts.com. They have great info and tube amps.

General info for all that own this. there is a great website Guitar nuts where mods to guitars and amps are the purpose of the site.
http://www.guitarnuts.com/amps/vc508/index.php
The owner of the site gives a great modification to this amp to make it more fully functional.

A definite must see!!

Basic tube preamp and power section. Gain is IC based which means that white noise is added to the carrier to create distortion. No reverb and basic Crate tone control setup.Graet potential but needs tweeking to get that overdriven tube sound.

I like that tube overdriven sound which is the sound wave clipped at the top and bottom. This amp has that potential but not stock. I modified it by bypassing the IC chip by adding a wire to bypass the gain control. WHAT A difference!!! Now I have a all tube amp that overdrives to a milky smooth texture without breaking the windows.

The outside is just painted black with a metal screen attacked so you have to tighten it up off an on and touch up the paint but no big deal.I put felt pads between the speaker and chasis and each screw to chasis and that made the chasis buzz free.Electronics is solid.

These guys were great! It was a used amp not under warrenty and they not only talked to me but sent me schmatics for it.

Basic small tube amp out of box but with some minor tweeking you have a great little tube amp that has that natural overdriven sound that does not make your family mad. If you email me I will tell you how to by pass the IC, Its easy 10 minute job and makes a world of difference.It it only had reverb and a covering it would be perfect!

This is a two channel, 50 watt tube amp. I has a really nice clean, creamy channel "|A", and a pretty dirty channel "B". There is a foot switch and a button on the top to go from one to the other. Channel A has the master volume, a treble, and a bass knob. Channel B has Gain, Treble, Hi, Bass, Level. Both channels have independent reverb.

I play a Strat and an old hollow body through it, and I think the sound one either one is true and quite pleasing. I play mostly good fashioned rock and roll, and it comes through well. It is somewhat noisy, but are'nt all Tubes? It is loud, and I rarely get it over 4, never higher than 5. I have gigged with it and have been happy. It is however, heavy.

There is an issue with the channel switching. The button doesn't always work, but the footswitch always does.

I think it is about 7 years old. I have had it for one year, and have had no cause to seek a repair.

I have been playing for so long I should be much better. I had a Marshall 2x8 combo of some sort, and this Crate is far superior to it. I wish it were lighter, but then it wouldn't kick ass like it does. I has a great blonde finish.

see prev. reviews

I'm a blues player w/single & hum guitars, I've tried everything to make this thing sound good-tube preamps, speakers etc. Tube preamps did'nt do it for me, speaker change gave it a little improvement, lower gain in the preamp stage gave a little improvement but the main weakness of this amp is the ss rectifier and the chassis rattle. If you disconnect the speaker leads and dismount the amp/chassis you can shake the amp and hear the rattles, only solution is to build it as a head and isolate it from the speaker cab.

no problem

I'm 30 yrs in the biz, anal about my tone, was looking for a tube amp for home use/practice to match my stage rig and dial in my pedal board, really wanted to get this thing to work but I'm not going to sink another $200 to do it, something about that ss rectifier blows it, the chassis rattle is annoying. As a previous reviewer stated the rec. circuit is a fuzz box.

first off this amp is much more versatile than yuo would think. you can get that paradise city type of ratty overdrive easily,and go to an eagles barely driven sound also.the volume and gain are self explaining,howevr the tone control that everyone talks about is not my favorite.That is not to say that I dont like it ,I would just prefer a treble cut type of tone control.At 12:00 it is preety much even frequency response,turn the knob to the leftit boosts the mids, to the right it boosts the bass and cuts tthe mids. Turn the tone knob hard left or hard right and you get mud....but that can also be cool at times.

THe vc 508 is not a 10 ! I own two amps that are 10s,a SF priceton and a 50s sherwood master,BUT.....this thing is VERY FUN!!I play rock mostly and like a big warm round tones with perusive bass notes,turn the volume to 10 and the gain to 4 and you are there.I would not recomend any mods though as some have said.I have tried a homebuilt pine cab, a 10 in celetion vintage 30,and dozens of diferent tubes........all of which only wasted my time.I put the aMP back to stock, crappy cab,cheap speaker ,original tubes,etc.....it still sounds good.I own both a tweed and BF champ and i can say this..the BF champ has more warmth,and more sparkle,and quite a bit more bottom end BUT..When i grab my guitar,9 times out of 10 I plug into the 508! GO FIGURE.When you crank the volume on the champ the bottom farts out,not so on the crate.(by the way neither of the champs are a 10 either)the treble on the crate is not offensive at all,I used to own a blues jr and I realy hated the treble on that thing. AS for the tweed,it has more mids and nicer high end roll of than the 508 but once again I play the crate MUCH more than the tweed.I would not say the crates tone is complex at all,,but there is something very comfortable about it. KInd of a woody tone in a cheap sort of way.Prior to buying mine I would visit our local music store and they had a 508 . I would find myself sitting in a pile of ampegs and $800.00 grove tube solos,and playing this litle crate.there was nothing in the store that i liked better. It sounds good for jazz with a les paul believe it or not. I am a genuine tone snob and i find myself scratching my head sometimes as to why i like this amp in the first place....BUT I DO!!!! I have quite a few amps that sound much better than my 508 but for some reason they are colecting dust.

I live in the coldest place in the country, Fairbanks AK.this amp has spent monthes in my shed at temp as low as -40 degrees.It has been torn apart,bastardized,and put bak together again. I have NEVER had a problem. It is bulletproof,and i am not kidding.

I would not know.

I love this thing!!I would record with it although,I havent yet.I have been playing for 14 years ,have one album to my credit and have played on one other.I have lots of very sought after vintage gear,but find myself drawn to this amp constantly.The vc 508 is NOT the last word in tone,but there is definetly something to this amp.I have read reviews where people bash the fact it is not 100% tube amp (evidently having an op amp in the pre amp )and to this I say,who cares!those reviewers need to put down their multi-meter and pick up their guitar for a change.Now for the down side ,in the store they cost around $300.00 new and that is too much as far as im concerned.For $300 you could buy a princeton w/o reverb and have a 10. Take my advice get one on ebay for about 130.00 including shipping,at that price they are WELL WORTH THE MONEY........OH by the way for 5 watts they are real loud!!!

I bought this amp at Guitar Center a couple of years ago, as a display model for cheap. It was missing the jeweled light cover, and replaced it for cheap also. It's as basic as you can get, no frills, straight forward and perfect for my musical tastes. The only thing it needs is an external cabinet plug.

I use an SG with old Dimarzio S.D. PU's. This amp in its originality still sounds better than ANY solid state amp, in or near its price range... But there was something missing. That PURE "A" class brilliance at high tube saturation. I read all these mods and such that are posted, but there's a simple solution. Go out and get an ART tube preamp for around $50, Buy a 1/4" stereo to a double 1/4" mono "Y" cable and run it into the effects loop. Set the preamps input gain all the way up(+40), 20db gain switch OFF, output gain anywhere from +5 to +10. Set the 508's gain no higher than 9 oclock, tone and volume at 12 noon, turn the ART preamp and 508 on. Wait 20-30 for the tubes to warm, plug your guitar in and ROCK! This setup for the most part bypasses the P.O.S. sound the stock Crate preamp stages produce, and give you that beautiful, FAT, tube saturation without replacing the tubes, speakers, cabinet, etc. There's no a transistor buzzzzzzzzzz. The rattling sound related to the microphonics of the 12ax7 tube (not the cabinet!) in the combo's preamp, is all but eliminated, due to isolating the preamp tube outside of the amp's cabinet. The touch sensitivity and articulation of the strings is 1000% better at high gain settings than stock, and when I back the guitar's volume down, it cleans up rather nicely, even with the Super Distortion PU's. I'd give the Crate a "10" for sound quality, but my Old Marshall 50W JMP with "Blackback" Celestions are a "10", and sounds better than the Crate.

No problems so far

NA

I've been playing since 1976, and have owned MANY amps, some good, some not. I've learned after all these years, transistor amps sound "ok", till ya turn em' up, then they go downhill fast. Even the new transistor and trans-tube hybrid amps out that emulate tubes, still don't cut it at any cost. PAY A BIT MORE AND BUY A TUBE AMP! Why buy trans-amps that are advertised to sound "like" a tube amp when you can REALLY sound like a tube amp... with a tube amp. Just wait till the tubes cool off before you move the amp, properly BIAS the valves, and they'll last a long time. For my style of music (60's-80's rock), I prefer Marshall tube amps 1st,(pre 800 series), then all other TUBE amps after that. The Crate VC508 fits the bill as a recording/practice amp, or in a pinch, mic'd at a gig. I might install a vent under the Crates handle to allow some of the heat out of the cabinet, and add a 1/4" switched female plug so I can run the amp thru an external cabinet. Get one of these valve amps and have good, clean fun!!!!

All you need for a small straight forward class A tube amp. Volume, gain, tone, line out.

I play a American Standard Strat and I play around a lot with delays and reverbs. When pushing the power amp section this amp sounds incredible. Nice class A cut and the EL84 in the power amp section gives it a nice glassy tone when pushed hard--great dynamic. Was a little turned off by the gain feature. It's a hybrid solid state/tube preamp--this is why the preamp gain on this amp tends to sound a bit tinny or cold. My favorite setting for this amp would be vol @ 10, gain between 2-3, and tone around 5-7. When running the amp this way I find that it really sings--surprisingly well for an amp its size--and it also responds incredibly well to the attack of the guitar. In fact I've never heard an amp this small sound so good. Since I pretty much only run the amp this way it isn't very versitle--I really don't care much for the gain. Past 5 the amp doesn't seem to be able to handle it very well--kind of farts out. For what I play though it does the trick. I'm usually in search of a way to get that sweet, chimy, glassy overdriven voxy tone without having to pay thousands of dollars--damn this poor college life. To sum up though, I give the sound a 9 because I think if an amp this size can sound as good as this one does, then there is hope for those of us without thousands of dollars to spend on botique gear.

no problems yet--and I've had it for almost 6 years!!

For me, this amp is wonderful. It does just what I want it to do surprisingly well for an amp its size. Nice classic rock overdrive--you know, the kind of overdrive before they had pedals. Just crank it up and let the EL84 soak. The celestion 8" speaker is a good match I think too. The only impovements I would make on this amp would be to give it separate treble, mid, and bass pots, give it a nice spring reverb--not necessary though--and get rid of the hybrid pre-amp. All tube is the way to go; they just sound so much warmer. The only other way this amp could be better is if it were bigger. So for its size I give it a 9. I guess there's always room for improvement.

very basic small "tube" combo
8" speaker, volume ,gain and tone controls

sounds like what it is , a small, overpriced piece of shit.
8" speaker, tube/ss hybrid= no bottom and crappy gain, nothing good
in a word ....pitiful

would be a great foot stool or door stop or boat anchor if nothing else

Crate needs to trash this amp. it sucks bad, really

Tried this thing today just for the hell of it and it sucked so bad I laughed at the sales guy when he said "its really great little box"
Wrongo! Right next to it was a Roland Cube 30 which blew the doors off this piece of crap. If you are considering this amp , don`t go out of your way to hunt down this dog. It sucks. My little Behringer GM110 is far better than this junk.

Read below for the basic features of this guitar. The most important thing to note about this amp is that is has a hybrid solid state/tube preamp section. You can see the schematic of this amp at http://www.stlouismusic.com/downloads/division_logos/Schematics/Crate_Schematics/VC-508/25101H2_.PDF.

This is not necessarily a bad thing as I'll discuss later, but you should note that for any hi-gain stuff, you're hearing mostly solid state distortion in the preamp. The solid state section provides most of the drive to the preamp tubes which are split by the tone stack and effects loop. The first tube preamp stage can be overdriven by the 2 solid state stages but with the tone control after it, it loses much of its ability to drive the second tube preamp stage hard, therefore any hi-gain distortion you'll be hearing is most likely from the solid state side.

The best feature is the FX loop.

As noted below by some observers, the stock 12AX7 is too harsh-sounding. The solid state gain stages seem to be driving the first gain stage too heavily that it "farts out". This is evidenced by the fact that when you take the line out of the amp into a mixer or another amp, it still sounds farty when the volume is at 5 or higher. Remember, the line out sits BETWEEN the 2 12AX7 stages, so you're only hearing one half of the preamp tube. You can subsitute a lower gain preamp tube such as a 12AT7, 12AY7 or 12AU7, but you're really just hearing an IC at this point. If you like the sound of a solid state fuzzbox into a clean tube amp, then you'll be okay.

The good news is that you can drive the power amp section (an EL84) to distort and here is where you can get some of the magic. Even better, plug an all-tube preamp into the effects loop, completely bypassing the VC508's 3 initial stages, and you'll get some really good sounds. This method is also useful for warming up a tube modeling box or multi-FX preamp like a POD or Digitech RP1. I noticed greatly enhanced sweetness with a sansamp Tri-A.C. this way.

The little 8" speaker ain't bad. It's better than some 10" Jensens I've used, but this amp would've been better with a 10" Celestion or Eminence speaker.

These things have been aroudn a while and no one seems to complain about them, so ...

Also, Crate has a good reputation as a decent amp maker.

n/a

If you're thinking about getting one of these, then don't spend too much on one. About $100 is fair. It doesn't have all the mojo of a real all-tube amp. If you want THAT, look for a used vintage tube amp like a Champ or Silvertone. You can always put a pedal in front of those for more hi-gain sounds.

Simple set up. Although the amp isn't all tube like the ads say it is. There is a TL072 Op amp in the 1st stage that gives it that solid state tone.

The amp has a built in solid state boost to overdrive the 12AX7. I'd have to scope it to see if the OP amp is distorting before it gets to the tube. The power amp section is decent. You can mod the OP amp to get a less tinny sound. The only decent sound I can get is volume on 10, gain on 7 or 8, tone on 6 or 7.

It seems reliable. Although I've experimented with it alot, no meltdowns yet.

Don't need 'em.

All tube? No. Hybrid? Yes. Hook a fuzz box to a Champ. You'll get better tone. Been playing for 20 years. Fender Strat, Tele, Carvin parts guitar with EMG-81 Pro system, Samick 450SA.

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.