Crate VFX5112 112 Combo

Year 2003 2 channel tube amp. cheesy printed circuit board makes amp sound real thin NO bottom end. Amp is way to heavy for a 1x12, cabinet made from chipped lead wood. Effects not for my taste. Amp really needs more power to fatten up the tone.

I use humbuckers pups in my guitars, have used some single coil pups to thin and noisy with this amp. Thin and very bright tone not enough distortion week bottom end. sounds like a Chinese made amp.

Amp has week chassis-cheap plastic parts can't take road duty unless you have road case. Never use this amp with out a back up.

Crate tells you take to some service center where they tell they can't fix the problem or don't know the amp.

Playing for 20+ years Marshall's Fenders are the amps to own. No more Crates for me just the name should tell you something.

bass mid and treble for each (2) channel with a global presence
clean channel has volume, dirty channel has gain and volume
footswitchable channels and fx
rotary digital effects selection with level

fx loop

I don't really use the digital effects, maybe some reverb every now and again, but they sound fine
I wish the tone controls on the dirty channel had more effect,
the amp is a bit too trebley but good sounds can be had
the fx loop does not seem to work all that well ... my EQ works in the loop, but my flanger can barely be heard? I don't know why, the flanger works fine on my other amps.

I use the dirty channel exclusively. It can get a good overdriven rock / metal sound

I mostly use it with humbucker equipped guitars, but single coils come through fine on this amp as well

I just wish it had some more low end kick and less treble

I needs a little more volume too, but that may just be a speaker change away. I currently have a Celestion G1275T in it (the factory speaker sounded way dull and lifeless to me)

Also, I put some lower gain pre-amp tubes into the sockets that drive the dirty channel ... just to tame the gain a bit, and darken up the amp a bit. It did help.

I bought it used off of Ebay. When I got it and plugged it in it sounded like crap, hardly any sound, and I smelled burning.

I pulled it apart (well constructed and easy to get inside) and saw that the factory Groove Tubes looked shot. I put some JJ EL34L's in, biased it up (it has a factory internal bias pot) and she fired right up and has been fine ever since.

never had to contact the company

I've been playing for 13 years. I own teo other 100watt Carvin X-100b's and a Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket. I also own about a dozen guitars, tele, strat, sg, lp, semi-hollow ... etc

I play heavey hard rock stuff

For what I paid for it, this is a great amp.

For what it retalied for new? ... ehhh

Bought two years ago, 2003 model. Lots of great tones using the effects on board. Keep the effects level below half and amp is quiet, turn up past that mark and lots of extra noise from the efx section. Two channels with their own eq's, effects loop and ext speaker out at 16 ohm just like the on board speaker. Smaller gigs and jams, also at home practice. Sounds very warm and Marshally when cranked, not the the classic Marshall tone but sweet and with a great edge like a Mesa. All el34 powered, mine came with EH tubes throughout !

I am playing two Gibson SG's, one with stock hums and the other with Dimarzio hot hum P90's. Amp sound awesome with both ! With a touch of reverb and delay I can nail the Petrucci "Glassgow Kiss" tone off G3 in Tokyo. No bs, turn your head and we have the same tone and harmonics he just shreds a little better than I do on the solo parts. OK, quite a bit better but I have been playing 30 years so I got some chops too. I can get great classic rock (ZZ,Clapton,AC/DC) tones as well and with the best sustain I have worked with on an amp. Craps all over my Marshall DSL I sold recently. Clean is amazing as well and I sold my Fender Deluxe after getting this as I can get a great clean sound with chime then switch to OD city with no pedals. I use a Barber DD on the clean side for my Blues with bite, Robben Ford tones. This is not the Holy Grail but the best I have ever had and am still very happy after two years with no problems at all. I use a Traynor 112 ext cab (perfect size match) with a Hellatone 30 in 16 ohm with this amp, just sings. I also bought the V30 for smaller gigs and it is a better Blues amp with a clean channel my old Fenders wished they had and a boost for blues leads. I am sold on these V Series amps and will stay with these until I find better.

No problems at all with either amp in two years use.

Called and emailed support with tube questions and cover order and they where fast and cool to deal with. A nice experience after calling Carvin and made to feel like I was wasteing their time, Carvin sucks, the reps know nothing about their gear.

Best I have found in the price range I can afford. Great tone for the bucks! The difference between this and botique tone is just splitting hairs, and I have played them all. Every amp is a compromise so get one of these and work on your skills, turn the TV or X-box off and play your guitar !

1. Do you know what year the amp was made in? I have the 1x12 version and apparently this was one of the floor models from the NAMM show from this year. I think this series with effects is new for this year, so maybe a 2005.

2. Is the amp versatile enough for you and the styles of music you play? I noodle around in most styles at home (jazz, old country, droney-mellow stuff, blues, rock), but I've only used it for a reggae-side project live (one show only). My main band is a hard rock-metal-reggae band (think a heavy 311) and I rely on my Mesa DualRecto Setup for that.

3. What are those styles? see above.

4. How many channels? The amps has two channels, but the distortion channel is lacking, so I don't use it nearly enough.

5. Does it have channel switching? Effects loops? Headphone jack? Yes, yes, no.

6. What features do you wish it had? Why? modulation of the effects aside from volume. I'd like to be able to slow the delays down a tad. Noise gate would be nice.

7. Are there features you never use? Channel two because the bass frequencies suck (gonna look into a repair/mod shop tho). External cabinet (but only because this is just for jamming and my extra cab is elsewhere).

8. Where do you use this amp? Mostly at home. Once at a gig. Soon to be jamming with friends on it.

9. Does it have enough power for you? 50w is 50w. It's loud enough for home. Haven't tried it over metal-style drums tho.

1.What guitar and pickup styles are you using it with? Custom Strats with Duncan noisecancelling single coils, Custom Tele with Duncan JB/Quarter Pounder, and PRS McCarty (stock).

2.How does it suit your music style (and what is that style)? The clean tone is amazing and reminds me of the Fender Hot Rod, but with less grit. I like to fake jazzy sounds and it does a good job.

3.Is it noisy? On what settings, and in what environments? Distortion channel is ridiculous. Lots of hiss under high gain. Haven't tried a noisegate yet, but I'm gearing up to avoid this channel at all costs anyways and just use pedals over the clean tone.

4.What kind of sounds can the amp make? How much variety? Vague question, but the clean tone is great and boomy with a lot of low end--roll back the tone knob on a solidboy electric and it sounds kinda like a hollowbody. Channel two is missing all low end, but gets a good metal chunk out of it. Reverbs are good.

5.Is the clean channel distorted at high volumes? In what settings?
Haven't tried it yet. The gig I had was mic'd and the volumen was maybe running 40% capacity.

6.How brutal is the distortion? Good enough for metal, a little brittle for blues, but I have a Ibanez tubescreamer reissue that handles that.

1.Can you depend on it? Would you use it on a gig without a backup? Seems like it should hold up. I played it out once and it was fine. Plus you would think for the NAMM show, you'd want your best product on display and functioning perfectly...

2.Has the amp ever broken down? Because of neglect of regular servicing (as in tubes), or just plain neglect? No, no, no. But the channel 2 is in serious need of a tone check...

1.If you've dealt with the company, how helpful/friendly were they?
2.Ever try and get it repaired? Was the repair done under warranty?
3.Were you able to find an authorized service center easily?
No, no and no.

4.How long is the warranty?
no clue.

1.How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?
16 years. My other rig is Dual Recto half stack with Rocktron Replifex and Patchmate and a midi floorboard. My main guitar is a PRS McCarty Rosewood (stock but with Sperzels). I have 2 Custom strat clones and 1 Tele all with Duncans in them. I also have a POD 2.0 but I use the Crate instead because it's tube and the POD doesn't sound very good thru my mixer/computer speaker set-up.

2.If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else? Well I got a killer deal on this amp, so likely I wouldn't re-buy it for $500-700. I would try to find a Mesa Boogie Rocket 44 or possibly invest into a Fender Bassman or Twin and more pedals (assuming the ones I have aren't stolen too).

3.what do you love about it? What do you hate? I love the price I paid for a 50w tube amp retailing at $999. I wish the distortion sounded good to me and that there wasn't any noise issues, and that the FX had more control of time and modulation.

4.Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? Why did you choose this one? Compared it to a Genz Benz, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, Mesa Recto combo, and some Marshall valestate combo. I chose this one because my friend works at the store and I got just above cost on the NAMM floor disply models. I really wanted a tube amp with good clean tone. Good distortion is a must too, but I figured I could always put a pedal in front of the clean channel if I truely hate the distortion.

5.Anything you wish it had? Um..the distortion of a Dual Recto...and the quietness of a handwired boutique amp.

6.Anything else you'd like to share? This is my first rating on Harmony Central. I enjoy the amp as it is. I use it on clean with some reverb in conjuction with a tubescreamer and a delay pedal, so I can set the timing of the delays that I want and a good blues ditortion. I'll probably get another distortion pedal for heavier tones and just run the amp clean the entire time. The clean tone is what sold me on this amp. If I could fix the distortion channel to my liking this would be a 10 for what I paid. But since I used it mostly for clean and noodling at home, it serves it's purpose well and gets a 7.

As for my opinion on tone (as some of you may disagree)...I'm not a cookie cutter PRS/Mesa player (though it appears that way!). I've tried Genz Benz, Marshall, Fender, Framus, Hughes & Kettner, Soldano, Rivera, Carvin, Behringer, Vox, Line6, and a few other amps I can't remember in search of a perfect amp. I still haven't found it yet. The Dual Recto in my opinion does what I need it to do which is why I play it. I like a jazzy clean tone (Recto falls short here) and a clear (non-nasal) nonscooped high gain distortion. I use the Orange channel on my Recto and I have the gain and mids set to the 1 position (~60%). I've played in live original bands since 1994 and I've gotten to understand frequencies and how the other instruments interact with and can squash your tone. So under other circumstances I may have given this amp a lesser rating. But since I was able to get a tone i liked for a price I could afford, it got a 7.

New model V Series with Celestion 70/80 speaker. 50 all tube watts EL34 powered with cool cab design and tolex. Cheap plastic pot shafts are a concern but all most every amp today is going to these, too bad... DFX section OK but leave this out and remake this amp with quality parts like the new Palamino series and a good spring reverb then this is a keeper.

This is a sweet sounding tube amp! Sound quality makes up for the cheap parts and this thing crunches and sings like a vintage Marshall. The clean is also outstanding, as good as I have heard in any tube amp and I have owned and played them all in 30 years playing. Great tones everywhere in this baby!

No problems yet but have heard good and bad about this series.

This is excellent here, I have emailed them and they are quick with help anytime.

I great sounding amp that is everything a Marshall should be but is not. Quality is suspect but time will tell. At this price I say buy two and keep one for backup.

This is an update after several months of playing the amp AND after the fried resistor problem AND the several problems I have had since.
What features do I wish it had?? Reliability.
It sounds fantastic when it is up and running. There is no denying it, when it works, it is the best sounding amp I have. The other feature I wish it had was a company that would back their equipment 100%. Instead, I just get lame emails telling me to take it to their local Tech. This is the same Tech who has never filed warranty repair tickets on this amp. So, it sounds like their Techs are as lame as the Crate company is.

I play Blues and Blues rock. I play a Strat and a MFT Telecaster.
The amp has full time hum, similar to a Traynor. No matter what you do, it is there. And not just this amp, I played one at the Guitar Center and it had hum, too. Also, the sound changes from time to time by itself. If I am in channel 2 and rockin' away, it will reduce volume by itself. ( I have changed the tubes 3 times and it still does it, so it is the amp). This is a problem I and the Tech have yet to resolve. I resent having to have the bias adjusted EVERY time I change tubes and yes, it does make that much difference. I put in one set of tubes and it was so bad, harsh & brittle, it sounded like Sovteks in it, just awful. After bias adjustment, it was like before, smooth and creamy. Until it craps its pants. Without a doubt, this is the best sounding amp I have ever heard WHEN and only WHEN it is up and running.

Reliability is absolutely the worst. Wait, let me change that; Reliability is non-existant. It has quit on me 5 times now. St. Louis Music says they can't replace it because their Tech never made warranty tickets on it. Next time they will say it is Wednesday and they only exchange crappy amps on Thursday or some other lame excuse. These guys suck. First time I contacted them I had all kinds of people contacting me to make sure I was happy. Once they found out I had a lemon, they wanted nothing to do with me. My brother has one of these amps and his is fabulous, no problems at all. So it must be a manufacturing problem or quality control problem. I have always disliked Crate products. I saw them as cheap beginner stuff. My opinion was changed for a while, but after the repeated failures of this amp, I am convinced their products are cheap beginner products and they couldn't care less if their customers are happy with their products. If they did, they would have me send this amp to them in St. Louis and get it fixed once and for all (or swap it out). But they want me to take it to the local repair Tech. and it just keeps failing and failing and failing......

Zero. Absolutely useles if you have a real problem. The very first time I contacted them, the lady I talked to could say "no" very well. That has not changed.All I get now is some lame email telling me to take it to their local Tech, the same guy who didn't fill out the warranty tickets. I have taken it to their local repair tech 5 times, total, and still it is not half as good as my Peavey Bravo (which in the 7 years I have owned it, it has NEVER failed one second). It all depends on whether you get a good amp or a crappy amp as I did. Crate is latin for crap.
If St. Louis Music (Crate) actually gave a crap what their customers thought, they would have taken this amp back and exchanged it, found out what is wrong with it and made sure it never happened to any VFX again. It is a lemon and I do not think it will ever be right. I cannot gig with it because I can't trust it. I sure do love how it sounds when it is working. But when it is working is a crap shoot.

I have been playing over 30 years. I have had everything from a '52 Fender Champ to a '68 Vox Super Beatle to a Marshall TSL to this brand new Crate VFX5112. I am a tube man and will stay that way. If it were lost or stolen, I would laugh my butt off. I do love the sound (when it works). The super clean tones and the smooth, creamy overdrive. Drawback is I cannot use it for live performances because I never know when it will crap its pants. So, I play my Peavey Bravo and back it up with a Peavey Bandit (I never play without a backup) and this VFX just sits in my music room collecting dust or I can use it to set my beer on.
I wish it had the backing from a company that cared what their customers thought. I will go out of my way to steer people away from Crate products from now on, just because they will not take this lemon back and exchange it with a good one. The kind of thing a GOOD company would do.
My advice is,DO NOT BUY CRATE PRODUCTS. If for no other reason than the experiences I have had with this VFX. It's your money, if you decide to buy a VFX I hope you get a good one, like my brother did. I hope mine is the only crappy one. I will probably trade it on a Peavey Ultra. No more Crate junk for me.

Followup review after several months use. 2004 model, two channels with separate eq's, 50 EL34 powered watts, built in DFX.

I play Gibson SG's, Standard Hums and Classic P90's. I know you read this all the time here but this amp really has that tone you can not get enough of! Best tube clean channel I have used in 25 years playing and my Fender Deluxe sitting next to it is for sale, watch Ebay for it soon. Think Los Lonely Boys "Heaven" on the clean side that pushes up to old Allman Bros sweet sustain. The gain side is a monster with low gain high level being classic rock tone city and high gain gets fat and meaty, not muddy. I did switch out stock speaker for a new Celestion Century Vintage for light weight and tone to the bone. If you can play you will find out on this amp, no more searching for that sound that you hear all the greats have. The DFX is ok but I use med room reverb at 1/3 and good to go.

Have had no issues and Crate is 24/7 response to emails and service questions.

Again I was surprised at how well Crate backs their products.

Yes in 25 years playing I have had a truckload of amps and recently took a photo of my studio with 10 different combos in it. Marshall, Mesa, Traynor, Fender been there. No more! I have a modded AVT 20(tube 10 speaker)for quick jams and to learn new songs plus this sweet tone box that screams the search is over. No more Saturdays playing everything in Guitar Center, this amp is it for me.

This is an update for the fried resistor problem I had with my new amp. It needs to be heard for a full appreciation of the amp and the company that backs it.

Sounds the same, but a plug was not plugged in completely on the digital effects board. It would cause an intermittant squeal for the Technician.

I have to bump the number up, because the amp DID NOT MALFUNCTION, as I originally thought. The resistors are current limiting resistors and are right at their maximum dissipation when used in this amp, so they take quite a beating, but it is not wholly detrimental. It will fail sooner than a amp engineered to, oh say, Peavey specifications, because these resistors are running at 3 Watts and are rated at 3 Watts. Good engineering practice says to always engineer for twice the dissipation, so a 3 Watt use would have a resistor rated at 6 Watts.Looks like a bean counter saved a few bucks here because these are precision resistors and as the Wattage goes up, so does the price. So, though they looked bad, they were not. I needed to clear that up.
Some things did show up worthy of note; the pre amp tubes have EMI/RFI shields on them, spring loaded no less, but the speaker loads from the front with wood screws. One positive, one negative.

I still hate that I live in Omaha, Nebraska and have to send it to Lincoln, Nebraska to get it fixed, but they jumped on it and turnaround was fast. So, they lived up to the warranty and when I emailed the factory, two folks emailed me back making sure I was satisified. Their customer service is open 365 days a year. Not too shabby. Sounds like they are really interested in their customers.

So, overall I have to rate the amp a 8 just because I don't like the Sovtek Groove Tubes (yes, they say Sovtek right on them), I don't like the way the speaker mounts, the speaker wires just hang down in the back, looks tacky, and the bean counting on things that should stay Mil-Spec and within good engineering practices. The amp sounds great and I cannot believe it is only 50 watts, this thing cuts like crazy. I think I have revised my opinion of Crate and all because of this amp and their customer service. I may just have a new number one amp.

This one is brand new 2004 I guess. Two channels with their own eq's and DSP then a global presesnce control. 50 powerful EL34 tube watts that sounds great on either channel. Footswitch and cable are solid and switch from clean to overdrive and DSP on or off.

A very pretty clean, the best I have heard next to my Fender Deluxe right beside it. Fat, full and jangly that grinds nice when you crank the volume and very loud. The overdrive side is the bomb for me! From Allman Bros to ZZ Top and Metallica when dimed. Excells in the Classic Rock AC/DC, Van Halen thing with gobs of fat tone. Think of vintage od on steroids. I did replace the speaker with a Celestion Neo Vintage as that is my personal favorite and my amp was one of the last ones with an Eminence speaker stock. The new ones now come with Celestions. This amp is a wonder as both channels sound great.

Can't say just got the thing but some have had problems.

Never needed them before and so far so good.

Been playing 25 years and have owned all but the botique lines. If it holds up this is a bargain for Fender clean and Marshall overdrive in one affordable combo! I would buy it again for sure.

My amp was made in 2002. It has the usual 2 channels one clean, one designed specifically for distortion. The channel switching footswitch has LEDs on it so you know what is going on, that is a nice feature. It has on-board digital effects with set parameters and a control to set the amount of wetness. It does have an effects loop but I wish it had a low-level XLR connector for going to the snake or board. It seems a little large for a single 12" speaker combo. Really nice handle, though. Of course it is all tube, but has the drawback of requiring you to get the bias adjusted EVERY time you change the power tubes, which will be about yearly. Even though it has onboard digital effects, I will still be using my pedalboard for discrete effects and wah. It does have a speaker impedence switch on the back to switch from 8 to 16 Ohms.

I play a Strat with Hot Humbuckers top and bottom and a VERY hot single coil in the middle. It works GREAT with this amp. The clean is great and the overdrive is very good. At high volume, though the stock speaker starts to break up and I don't care for that muddy sound. I bought it to play blues and blues-rock so it fits the bill quite nicely. I will be changing the tubes to JJ's and the speaker out to a Weber. Just my personal preferences. It seems a little noisy around fluorescent lights and such. It seems to come from the on-board effects, because when they are off, it is quite clean. The on-board effects handle everything from tremolo to delay and chorus.
Actually the distortion is quite good. I don't care for the Groove Tubes in it, they seem a little brittle sounding, kind of like Sovteks. Also, the tag on the amp had places to list the color and number of the GT's but they were not filled in, so I would imagine these are GT's but second class ones. The JJ's will change that. But then I will need a bias adjustment, so I am out $66 for the tubes and $45 for the bias adjustment. That part sucks, and I will have to do the power tubes ($24) and the bias adjustment ($45) every year.

Can I depend on it? No. I never gig without a backup amp anyway, but this one really is crap for reliability. Within about 30 minutes of turning it on for the first time, it fried 4 resistors in the power amp circuit. It was obviously never tested at the factory, another case of "end user quality control". I have never liked Crate and even though this is their HIGH END amp, it is still crap. I looked in the back and it was all epoxy-glass boards and all the components look Mil Spec EXCEPT the capacitors, the are cheap China stuff. That is probably where the breakdown came from.

Miserable. I live in Omaha, and I have to take it to Lincoln to get it fixed. There is just no excuse for this type of disregard for the end user. Supposedly the warranty will last 5 years, but I probably will not have it that long. If it breaks down again, it is gone. I am not so far from St. Louis, that I cannot go there and throw the amp through their front window. Also, the lady I talked with on their Customer Support line (so I could find out where to take it to get it fixed)was not very knowledgeable about either the products or service. The one word she knew well was "no".

I love the sound but hate the fact I cannot rely on it. I guess it is because I remember when Crate came looking like a wooden crate. I remember it as junk and this "HIGH-END" amp has not altered that opinion. Had it not been for Billy Gibbons playing one and my getting a good price, I would NEVER in my wildest dreams consider anything Crate makes. I do not forsee buying anything from Crate ever again, unless this amp REALLY changes its ways. The initial failure brings the overall down.

OK - If you have read the reviews below you know the specs.
2 channels, 50 Watts tube power
Loud, great looking, amp
With built in effects

I was drawn to this amp a few years ago when Guitar Center had been carrying them when they first came out. I was currently using a Crate Blue Voodoo head and was growing quite tiresome of the two trips needed to take a 50 pound head and 45 pound speaker cab up and down the 3 flight walk up of my apartment every time I had a show. Plus - I was never completely satisfied with my BV120H's Sound. Tried this combo in the store and just though the overdrive channel was the greatest I had ever heard Just a great "Stereophonics" crunch to it. Clean channel was Sparkling and a very FULL as well. And man was it loud.
I was always a bit taken back by the (if I remember correctly) $799 price tag - and just decided to wait it out.
This year I stopped in to a local music store that also had this amp for $699 for the longest time and then one day - marked down to 399! - still brand new. (Store owner said it just never seemed to sell - most likely because of the price and the fact that the "kids" in the area mostly bought the solid states and whatnot). I for one will never go solid state again - tried once with a Fender Stage 100 watt "dynatouch" head - yuck!- thank the maker for Guitar center's 100% Satisfaction garantee. Anyway I jumped on the VFX115.
After taking it home I loved it even more. The onboard effects are not totally useless -- I like using them "at home" the delay is cool and the other effects good for getting "that sound" at low volumes when practicing - but I choose to use my external floor board pedals on stage with it.
I have noticed one reviewer mentioning a humming or hissing at high volumes - I noticed this for a sec the other day -- it was the "mode" knob where the effects are selected - I put it back on "bypass" (where I like it) -- and the hiss was gone.
Overall this sound of the amp as others have said is Rock - not metal - this amp has a very classic "botique amp" sound to it.
See next area for a little bad news.

ok - this is going to sound bad -- but probably the first time I used the amp at a show, 3 songs in, my bass player and I were overwhelmed by the smell of electronics BURNING. Yep, the thing fried. - Went silent for a second - then came back on - sounding very weak like I blew a tube or something. Opening the back panel at home the next day revealed a black burned hole in the circuitboard - right between where the 2 tubes plug in.
So Back to the store I went the next day. Lo and behold, who was there luckily when I walked in?? -- The Crate representative! -- on to the customer support section...

Now I know this was lucky -- but the reps first words when he saw me walking IN to the store with one of his amps? -"...what happened?"
I have had other Ampeg/crate products and have never had any real "out of the ordinary" problems before - so this was an odd occurance. The rep and store owner immediatley opened up the Amp. The rep said he was not sure what exactly happened and that he had never seen it happen before - but he did get right on the phone with the home office warehouse to send me a brand new Amp -- So for me customer support was excellent. The second one has been used at a BUNCH of gigs now - and NO problems yet. I chalk the problem I had up to maybe the fact that the 1st one had been "sitting around" for quite some time?? Maybe was dusty inside? who knows.
My only complaints about the 2nd amp I was sent is that it must be the "newer" version of the amp - main difference i noticed is the KNOBS - and here is why - YOU CANT SEE THEM!!- I mean they are there - but the one I originally had had flat tops on the knobs with a hole for the "pointer" -- these are like Mesa boogie wanna-be knobs that are super "chrome" and ROUNDED on top -- making it impossible to see the "pointer" hole when you are in ANY type of low light situation - ie. a STAGE!!??
Not sure what Crate was thinking on that one - or who tested out that idea. Any way it is not that big of I gripe - just kinda silly that I had to put tape on the knobs of a 700 dollar amp just so I can see them.

If you are looking for a GOOD, solid, combo amp for gigging I really recommend this Amp. Especially if you can find it at a good price. I have tried out other Combo amps latley in stores that just seem very odd sounding and Cardboardy. (cough!, Fender Hotrod, Cough!) The Crate has a very impressive sound, and I am very satisfied thus far with my purchase. I also have to comment quickly about the look of this amp (I know it may not matter) but it just looks awesome - and nice that the company did not feel the need to put the CRATE logo on the front - the V50 on the face of the amp is very classy and botique looking - also has a very cool tolex and speaker screen.

Recent vintage. It's a;ready been said: two channel switchable tube amp with SS effects. Loud like 50 tube watts should. You can preset up to two effects per channel, not in combination. I dont care for preset take-it-or-leave-it switches of any sort and I'm not wild about these. I'd leave them all go for a good spring reverb like my Crate Vintage Club. But you make do with what you got and I think I can leave at least one pedal home.

This is my first EL 34 tube amp and it's fun comparing to my Creat VC with EL84s. The VC is cleaner and clearer but it's going through a 2x12 cab so it's not a fair contest. But I like this combo Crate too. It's tone is a bit tougher and grittier with loads of trebel and prescence to spare. It's got a bit earlier break-up and gets smooth and powerful pre-gain distortion on the second channel.

I don't know. This one seems well made with minimal noise. My VC head is from the early 90s and it lights up every time.

I haven't had to deal with support.

I've been playing, on and off, for forty years which makes me prehistoric. It's great that companies like Crate, Peavey and Traynor are manufacturing affordable tube amps with vintage tone. I've played SS amps but nothing quite satisfies like a tube amp juiced. I bought the Crate because at the price I paid, there was no other choice that had two channels with separate EQ with low, mid, treble on both channels.

Amp made in 1993. Very versatile amp for rock, metal, blues, and even jazz. Two channels (clean, drive), line out, no headphone jack. It has built-in digital effects, but they suck. I use external pedals. I use this in my house for practice and over friends' houses to jam. 50-Watt Class A/B all tube 1x12 combo.

Used with Ibanez SF470/Duncan Full Shred (until yesterday) and Schecter C1+ with stock pickups. Excellent amp for rock and metal. It sounds like a richer Marshall JCM800. There is some hiss when you're not playing, but you can only hear it if you're right next to it. Both the clean and dirty channels are GREAT. Warm, smooth tube sounds that can crunch. Makes most guitars sound great. I actually A/B'd it with a JCM800 head, and I liked this better. This isn't a Thrash metal amp, it doesn't produce grainy sounds like that. It's more a classic rock/metal sound, but that's what I wanted.

I've had this for about six months now, and I haven't had any problems yet.

Have not dealt with the company.

I've been playing since 1986. I would absolutely buy this amp again. It's got the tone that I need, and the price was incredible--better than Marshall tone for under $400! I compared this to my previous amp (Line 6 Spider 112) and the Crate blew it away. I also compared it to my last stack--Marshall JCM900. The 900 used crappy diode clipping distorion, and so I wasted $1500 on it. That experience made me lose my trust in Marshall. This Crate amp was the sound I've always been looking for (Scorpions, "Big City Nights"....). As another reviewer mentioned, a dedicated Reverb control would have been better than the effects here. Most of the digital effects are noisy and some of them are just plain bad (the delays are hard to control) but I consider them a throw-in. I bought the amp for its amazing tone, and I use external effects with it. But the built-in reverb is okay, it's a nice feature to have when you want to crank it to the max and play Arena Filling Riffs.

50 Watt, EL34 Tubes(2), 12AX7(4),Vintage/Retro styling, 2 Channels

The versatility of this amp gives me much more playroom than I'm used to. Having played Heavey Rock for years and giving my Peavey TripleX to my aspiring star son, I spent some considerable time looking for an amp that will still kick, but still give excellent semi-distorted tones. I never really considered "boutique" amps cuz I just don't get it...These practical retro amps, (Crate Vintage, Peavey Classics, Fender Devilles etc.) are all giving players great tube sounds at an affordable price. I settled on this Crate. (and I surprised myself for picking a Crate...for we all know the snobbish bias that "real" players have towards Crate and Peavey) The one outstanding feature I enjoy is finally someone has been successful at equipping an all-tube amp with built-in effects! I don't know of any others who have succesfully done this. (and it actually sounds good...)Love the TONE and COOL VINTAGE appearance. (the Tolex has a unique pattern to it that you can't see from the websites) 50 watts works it's way out nicely through a single 12" speaker. At times I wonder if I should have bought the 2x12, but I must remind myself that I'm in need of a portable amp and this is right at the door of being too heavey already. The effects "memory" feature is sweet..remembering what effect was used on a given channel so you can "preset" an effect for each channel and it will change it as you bounce back and forth. The effect are not gonna give you all the fine tuning that your stomp boxes have, but get real...it's usable as they are and they are good enough for me not to carry all that other crap around anymore... I'm tired of messing around with batteries and patch cords anyway. This makes it SO simple.

Guitars...let's see. I play a '76 strat with a Duncan "Hot Rails" in the bridge position, and a Ric 360 Mapleglo. This is the first amp that I can say did not "color" the natural tone of the guitar. Even with the gain at 100%, my strat is still "sounds" like a Strat and my Ric finally has that famous "Jangle" that Rics are suppose to give! My Peavey XXX would not do that very well. I'm not gonna bash Peavey though cuz that XXX amp is the best HI GAIN cruncher available out there for the money! But I'm getting a bit more bluesey in my preference and I enjoy "hearing" my guitar for a change instead of the amp. The distortion wil not "CRUNCH" like my XXX will, but it sings it's own song. Has an older tastey distortion. I have not changed the tubes out yet but have in other instances and you must all please heed the advice of those "tube gurus" that have discovered with a great passion that while most of these amp companies equip there stock tubes with "GROOVE TUBES", get rid of them as soon as you can afford to...I'm not kidding either...Call BOB at EUROTUBES (on web) and tell him what you got for an amp (and the sound your after)and he will send you some tubes that will blow your mind! Even a poor amp will sound HUGE with the tubes he sells. It will transform your amp into the sweetest killer....
It is not noisy per say except when you put the effects level up near 10. It will also hum a bit when I approach the amp with my Strat. The clean channel will break up when pushed but it gets pretty loud at that point. It has a different distortion when that happens and is pretty cool. EL34s breaking up sounds cool...very British...
The presence feature is sweet and I'm happy that they included it on this model. Some companies are leaving them out. It will really give that extra sparkle that make my strat soar and my Ric "ring".
What I was pursuing the most this purchase was an amp that I could adjust to get a nice "defined" semi-distorted soung when I want. I like playing distorted but so many circuits on other amps lose the definition of the individual notes of the chord that you play. For instance, playing a full six-string bar chord in a major and then changing it to a major 7th will get lost in so many amps that I try but they stay noticable in this amp...even at high gain levels.

Just bought it last Saturday...I did notice that one of the tube covers was laying in the bottom of the amp as I was getting ready to take it home. Couldn't get it back in at the store...too hard to reach...(good thing...bad thing???) If you look at the Peavey Classics, the tube are hanging right down at the back of the amp! (WITH NO TUBE COVERS OR HOLDERS)I got it back in when I got home. (but it wasn't easy...)

I have e-mailed their support concerning buying some matching tolex and grill cloth and piping to make an extension speaker and they are very helpful and will sell me parts to do this. Some companies will not do this...

I started playing in 1975 and have toured nationally with a company that used to exist in St. Petersburg FL called "Young American Showcase" and we were sponsered by Norlin Music at that time which equipped us with Gibson, Korg, Pearl, Lab Series and other stuff. I have worked my way through quite an array of sounds. This Amp is way COOL... One item that would have been useful is a Master volume that would adjust the overall volume so you could leave the individual channels alone. I'll miss my line out jack for my tuner also... Effect loop will not work for me for my tuner. I think they should go back to CELESTION speaker in these things to really round them off good...but that is not a big issue for me. I really enjoy this amp and I hope it will give me years of worry-free service. I'll buy it all over again if I have to (I went through a lot of sound checks to get to this decision...) GO BUY ONE !!!! I never thought I'd buy a CRATE but here I am and I'm having fun fun FUN...

The amp has 50 watts, 1X12 speaker, easy to use, EL 34 tubes and very nice digital effects as an add on. It has a clean and dirty channel for which there is a switch pedal with the ability to save/switch an effect per channel. More than enough of amplitude for monitoring with a live band. The only thing on the effects I would have liked is separate delay, reverb and chorus controls versus preset combinations.

I have only had the amp a week but I have used it in practice with the band and recorded to PC once - MAN, THIS THING HAS AWESOME TUBE TONE! Very british-like distortion and super clean with chorus setting is perfect for me. On the dirty channel, low gain is very tasty and turning it up get you that edgy, deep hard rock sound you hear on the radio. I cranked it pretty loud with the band an no problems - when recording there is a bit of a hiss but you cannot hear it when you play. The best thing is the tube tone - spongy and warm, very smooth - not quite at the level of my friends FUCHS amp but for th price (several grand less) it is awesome! I was happy to trade a very nice acoustic in to get it.

We will see.

never had to deal with CRATE - owned an crate acoustic amp for 5 years with no issues.

I have been playing for 10 years - mainly acoustic but have been getting into electric since home recording started 2 years ago. Since then I have used several amp modelers (jstation, POD, Korg, etc) and could not get that TUBE sound I have been craving to record with. This amp satisfies the need -- For my first electric amp, I feel quite lucky!

manufactured in 2002 good cleans and great overdrive makes it versatile enough. classic rock some country. 2 channels with digital effects which are pretty useful with footswitch. Damm portable allows me to save my back and gives me all I need for most gigs.
sweet luscious EL-34 tubes!!!!!

sounds best IMO with humbuckers. not very noisy. the distortion gives that 80s sound beautifully. Very pedal friendly but the built in effects should not be underestimated.

too new wont say
I have owned this amp for 4 months and have giged a dozen times
no probs 5 year warranty feels good.

never needed them...hope I wont

been playing 2o years and own many amps and quality gear.
stayed away from this amp at first because it was a crate and even though I liked the tone I needed to listen to this amp over and over before I purchased it. its got great tone ,its very portable very loud for a 1-12 combo...very versatile and a nice price.

This amp is has two EL34 power tubes and 4 12ax7 pre-amp tubes combined with some basic digital effects like reverb, chorus, delays, and a useless feature T-wah. It has a 12 inch Crate speaker made by Eminence. Other features are two channels and a effects loop.

The tone is pretty nice on the clean. It has great tone and combined with a bit of chorus or reverb is quite pleasing. The dirty channel is pretty good as well and sounds very British with the EL34's.

Here is my complaints. I have not had a problem with it yet but I took it apart to look at the inside and although the PCB is fairly thick and solid the tubes mount directly on the PCB. No friggin sockets but in holes on the board! What the F@ck is that? Also the speaker cable is cheap and thin. The tubes are all Groove Tube relabled Sovteks which I think sound very cold and harsh. It will be a pain in the ass replacing them as the whole chassis has to be pulled out to get ate the tubes.

I have never dealt with Crate customer service so I will not comment.

I tried this amp in my local store and was impressed with the tones. The sales guy told me he would sell it for $750.00. I shopped around online and haggled it for $573.00 which is about $220.00 cheaper than other online prices. For the price I paid I think it was a great deal! My score is based on a average of the three categories I rated.

I bought this amp for it's versatility. A Fender it is not (but man is it close) and it tries harder than any other amp it's size out there with it's capabality to be a Marshal (man it's close). What do you want everything? I do too!
I play aggressive blues to crunchy rock. So Buddy Guy to Hairband is not out of reach for this amp.
This is a combo unit that has a supplied footswitch jack, a line out, a line in and a ext. speaker jack with a 8 ohm to 16 ohm switch.
One feature I wish this amp had was constant reverb with a 1-10 knob. I understand Crate has done a terrific job with their digital effects, well thought out, but I still like the availibility. I think that the effects Crate has offered in this amp are great. There is no fluff here.
I currently use this amp in my home. But will be spending time in a house studio soon. I will really be able to see what this amp will do on a performance level over time then. I have only owned the amp for two weeks, played it every day.

I have been very frugle with my money so far. Looking for the best sound for the cheapest price. I own a schecter c1 plus with Duncan design pickups. The sounds I get are limitless. I have this guitar sounding like a les paul one minute to a strat the next. I know that sounds like a stretch. Maybe a little, but I have owned both. When I had a Strat I wanted a Les Paul, and so on. This setup really works well!
No noise! I am amazed. If anything, the only low whisper of an effect can be heard. Kudos to Schecter or Crate. I need to play a different guitar through this amp.
This amp has T-wah,4 different chorus,2 vibrato,4 delay,slapback and three reverb. All toggled. Or with use of foot switch, channel switch with ability to toggle two effects.
So far I have been able to turn the amp up to four on the clean channel at home. No distortion of any kind. It wanted more my neighbors did not. I am confident this amp will stand up when called on.
Distortion loves to be played. Great sound! Very crunchy, just watch your mid to bass settings at high volumes. You can get a muddy sound with maxed out gain and the wrong setting. No news there.

Haven't owned it long enough. Curious to see how the tubes will stand up.

First time crate owner. Friends and reviews I have read say customer support is excellent.

I am getting back into the gig thing again after 5 years. I played active for seven prior. I own no other gear,,, yet, so I am counting on this setup. I trust it.
Let's face it, 800.00 U.S. ain't cheap! You can always go Marshall or you can go Fender, or you can buy this and get VERY close to both.
It's simplicity with a wide variety, you can't go wrong!

i just bought this rig last week. it comes with foot switch and has a clean and lead chnanel, also has effects selector knob which you can choose 1 effect or a preset combination of two effects. the amp has an effects loop also. it has tubes so their will eventually be some maintenance, but well worth it. it is a very simple setup not to complicated like some digital bullshit i have had. i like the amount

my main guitar is an ibanez jem and i have got to say i am very impressed with the tone and overall sound of this amp. i have tried just about every digital and modeling effect their is searching for that high gain tube distortion sound and this amp has it. this thing has that smooth 80's gain, i love it.now i know why tube amps are so expensive, i've been using a peavey 212 transfex with digital processor which is very versatile but it does not have the tone like this amp. i really like it because it's not so complicated like say my digitech gnx2, i have messed with that thing for almost 2 years and haven't found a sound i am satisfied with i just use it for pc recording and headphone practice not good for much else.

i had a crate solid state head about for about 5 years never any trouble, other than that i dont know this amp is 1 week old

been playing 17 yrs mostly 80's hairband,classic rock and shred type stuff. I have 2 jacksons, 2 ibanezs, 1 kramer and 1 charvel all have humbuckers, floyd roses and are typical shred guitars. i have 2 wah pedals and am in the process of selling a peavey 212 transfex combo and an old ada mp1. I also have a digitech gnx. this amp compliments my musical taste perfectly it will do hendrix to yngwie and everyting in between. if it were stolen it would be replaced immediately. its all about tone and gain and this amp has it

Haven't submitted a review in a long time, but tried one of these today and was very impressed. Frist off, I'm a old Marshall Fender guy. My main rig is a JMP 50 watt and a 70 Super Reverb A/B'd.
The crate is a 50 watt EL34 powered 1x12 running in Class A, two channel with Crates digital mulit effects. I've done the Johnsnon, Line6 thing in the past, so was skeptical, and I don't put digital stuff in my signal chain any more either. Crate seems to have done a good job combining usable effects in a simple twist and set interface. They include a few delays, reverbs, chours, vibrato, maybe a couple more.

WOW, color me impressed. This is the best sounding Marshall that Marshall should have been making since the introduction of the 900 series. Great tight crunch unless you send the gain above 7 or 8 and then it gets a little muddy, but that's class A for you. Plenty of gain and it will do the low gain thing very very well. In addition, you have a clean channel that sounds great considering we're using EL34 powertubes. This is no Marshall clean (thankfully), it's not quite Fender but it reminds me of my Bogner Shiva. I know blasphemy, but it's true. The amp breathes great and the gain channel has tons of squishy harmonics. The eq has a great range and the prescence is not overwelming. The effects sound a bit steril and there is no control other than a mix knob, but I don't use many effects usually. The real story here is the amp and the quality of tone this thing puts out dry.

Well what do you expect? Unless you pay major money for a botique amp you are going to get similar quality whether you go Marshall, Fender etc.. They are all mass produced even though Crate is made in the USA vs a 3rd world country. Who knows. You might get lucky and get a good one.

N/A

I tried a couple of these over the last few days, and will probably pick one up this weekend. This amp is pricy for a Crate G/C is selling them for $799.00. I imagine they will sell well. I'd be interested to hear it through a sealed 4x12 cab and at high volumes to see if it retains its character and can cut through the mix. Anyway it's worth checkin out if you need a 1x12 that has good clean, a great Marshally crunch and enough gain to make the kids happy. Throw in a few well thought out effects and I think they'll sell a ton of em.

all lamp combo with Digital built-in effects. it uses EL-34 lamps for power i believe. 2 chanels wich keep the last effect assigned to it the last time it was used. and more stuf that I didn't bother to check-out

I own a crate GXT-100 combo wich is an Hybrid and this VXF blows it away EASY!!. the clean sound is cristal clear and every effect is usefull. I didn't get the chance to try it out at loud volumes to see how the distortion sounds. so I won't put any marks. but from what this amps has blown out (using a godin LG with seymour-duncan P-90s) It rocks.....

shoud be solid like a rock like any crate amps

they answer fats through email

i did put an 8 for my GXT-100..but that was then....so consider this 8 like so: Considering the short glimpse i had for this amp and sounds great and if the rest is anything close to what i've seen so far...this amp is one off the best or THE best crate has ever put out, quite pricy but worth it