Crate v 33 head ????

[john.w.lawson]

Thoughts?Sound good for 80s rock/ metal?

[emperor_black]

I have one. $115 after the microsoft cashback. Out of the box, very sturdy construction, no loose knobs, looks great. Clean channel is very very nice. Ok, maybe not fendery nice, but I was not playing with single-coil strats either.

Reverb is good sounding. The amp has a reverb tank with two (maybe three) springs. The reverb level around 3 to 4, sounds really good. Past that, it sort of sounds muffled and feels like a blanket over the cab.

The amp is VERY LOUD!! yes, 33 watts, but goes from whisper quiet at 1 to "call the cops" loud at 3. Havent really felt the need to crank it past 4. The OD channel is very dark and fat sounding. With a OD pedal and its treble boosted high, you can actually get some nice 80's metal tones. Actually, tonight I will get the amp out and try my digitech bad monkey and my DIY 2x12 cab and let you know.

The biggest complaint, noise. When the Uber and mark iv are ultra quiet even at high gain and loud settings, this amp has a very noticeable hiss. Maybe some tube swapping can help? Havent yet decided to spend any more money on it.

The sole reason I got the amp, there is a SLO mod for it out there. If you do some searching you can find it. And some guy on youtube has actually done the mod and it sounds great. I was hoping someday I would muster up the time to do it. but that has never happened.

[john.w.lawson]

sooo, 220. for the head and a 2x12 cab would be too much?

[emperor_black]

Well, depends on you. I bought it solely for the purpose of mod'ing it which may or may not happen. I might just sell it instead of wasting my time. if you get a chance, play on it and see. I would not pay more than $100 for it. If you're just going to use it like a tube power amp, its a worthwhile investment. If you're planning on getting some great tones with it, I would look elsewhere. Crate amps just decrease in value. They're never going to appreciate.

how good is the 2x12? Is it a crate 2x12 with crappy crate speakers? If yes, then I would pass on the headache.

[john.w.lawson]

P.M'ed you!