Crate V Series

[ahcleinad]

so i was looking at musiciansfriend and found that these amps were on sale by alot. the V18 212 is 199.99 and same with the V50.

i have an ampeg vt60 that i really like the cleans on. however, it is too heavy to carry around everywhere. so i was thinking about getting the v33h for 179.99 but dont know whether its any good or not...

so are these amps worth it?

[richey88]

I really like my V18-112. I did make some mods, but it was 149.00! Search the amps forum for clips and comments (I have a few clips up).

[daveg777]

I just recieved mine today and I am suprised that it sounds as good as it does. Takes pedals well. I will be swapping out tubes and the speaker this weekend to improve the clarity and depth some. Overall a stupid great deal for a small gig/jam or around the house kicker. I may go for the 50watt one with the 6L6's in it just for kicks...


Dave


:dude

[Maruuk]

Yeah that 50 is some sweet deal as well, and gets you those sparkly cleans and mega-thunk factor the 18 can't.

[johnnyblues]

That V100H for $330 shipped at zzounds looks yummy.:)

[Gas-man]

I ordered the 33 watt head for $179.

Hopefully it will be here before tomorry's gig.

[nomadh]

Whats funny about this amp "family" is the differences. <=30 watts are all class a(ish) el84 and the V50 and I believe 100 also are 6l6 full class a/b. Yet the small time I spent on a V50 I'd say it was very similar style and sound or "voice" to the smaller amps. So what is all this "class a" stuff and "el84 sound". This "family" seems to have no similar DNA yet all sing in the same key very well.
So is all this tube type and class stuff just a bunch of BS? This designer, Khan, seems to get a great tone, and similar tone, no matter the class and tube.

[Squigglefunk]

This designer, Khan


http://mysite.verizon.net/omacdonald1/images_2/khan.jpg

[JubileeMan 2555]

Whats funny about this amp "family" is the differences. <=30 watts are all class a(ish) el84 and the V50 and I believe 100 also are 6l6 full class a/b. Yet the small time I spent on a V50 I'd say it was very similar style and sound or "voice" to the smaller amps. So what is all this "class a" stuff and "el84 sound". This "family" seems to have no similar DNA yet all sing in the same key very well.
So is all this tube type and class stuff just a bunch of BS? This designer, Khan, seems to get a great tone, and similar tone, no matter the class and tube.

Well... when looking over the amp's schematics one thing jumped out at me that was really weird. There was Vactrols in the circuit!?!? I have NO idea what they are doing or how they effect the circuit. But there are 5 in the amp and I wonder if there is a secret weapon involved here. (Vactrols are cool light sensitive resistors that play a part in synths I believe.)

[Maruuk]

Yeah, they say cathode-biased Class A is kind of a cheat compared to closed-end. But aren't all the well-known "Class A" amps like the AC30 and Matchless etc all cathode-biased? All I know is my V32H sounds incredible. Especially for the money.

[Gear91]

I just got a V18 1x12 and I will be returning it. The clean tone was dull and flat--well there really was not much of a clean tone to be had. I realize that the speakers aren't the best and you could put a 12AT7 in the pre-amp circuit for more headroom but in the first five seconds I could tell it just was flat. Opened up the amp had pretty good crunch, fairly articulate, but a little processed and I don't know if it would be loud enough to play with a drummer. Not nearly as a loud as other 18 watt amps that I own. The reverb was unusable. Cranked the amp squealed a lot.

Overall, stock this is a one trick amp that does that trick moderately well. For $149 its still a bargain, but if you already have a half-decent amp, I wouldn't recommend getting one. I think my Crate power block (which I use as a backup head) sounds better (although I use it more for clean and pedals for O/D).

I realize that others with the same amp have written positive reviews and I don't mean to put them down in any way. Different amps of the same make can vary, and different players can have widely varying opinions depending on their ear, guitar, playing style and what they are looking for in an amp.

[RussB]

we've all been down this road before :)

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=427991

[Gear91]

we've all been down this road before :)

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=427991

Yeah, I did read that entire thread before buying but there was enough of a mix of reviews that I thought I would give it a shot.

[pgissi]

Well... when looking over the amp's schematics one thing jumped out at me that was really weird. There was Vactrols in the circuit!?!? I have NO idea what they are doing or how they effect the circuit. But there are 5 in the amp and I wonder if there is a secret weapon involved here. (Vactrols are cool light sensitive resistors that play a part in synths I believe.)
__________________
Tyler



rivera uses them also, they are used to switch on various parts of a circuit, bridge a channel to the output while killing the other channel, kick in a gain stage etc without the need to use IC based switching like the 4066 IC switch which would color tone more than a resistor.

It preserves but improves over the old school summing method found in old fender 2 chan bf combos where the norm and vibrato channel are summed pre pi by just the joining of 2 resistors from each channel which causes tone bleed slightly since they are connected together.

For 149 its a no brainer. Change the speaker and probably tubes, maybe a cap here and there and I will bet it can be brought to life. Coudl make a good spare amp in a pinch and you didn't sell your soul