Crate V32

[hasserl]

Anybody check out the Crate V32 Palomino?

A friend brought over his new amp last week and I got to spend quite a bit of time playing with it. This is a VERY nice little amp! He had already replaced the stock speaker w/ an Eminence Tonker, which he said was a great upgrade. (I love those speakers!) This is a single channel 4 x EL84 amp with a switchable gain stage and gain control, so it operates like a two channel amp with a single EQ section. It also has a switchable mid boost which helps, when combined with the switchable gain stage, to make the amp pretty versatile.

The clean tone on this amp is very chimey jangly, and IMO has a decidedly Voxy sound. It sounds very nice, and responds well to your pick attack by breaking up nicely when you dig in and cleaning up smoothly with a light stroke. The switchable gain stage gives the amp a lot of overdrive that sounds very good.

I think the clean sound has about as much overdrive available as an AC30CC, and with the added gain stage switched in it overdrives much more than the Vox. You really wouldn't need a booster pedal with this amp. I could play a gig with this amp with nothing but my guitar plugged in.

The Palomino covering looks very nice, gives it a very upscale look. The gold accents are a little much, but overall it looks pretty cool.

Overall this is a very nice amp, I don't think you have to use any qualifiers like "for a Crate" or "for the money". It's just a very nice amp, looks good & sounds great. Good job Crate!

 

[John Thigpen]

I've got the standard V3112, which is the same amp with black tolex and grill cloth. I put a Weber ceramic Blue Dog in it a few months ago and it sounded great. I just swapped that for an alnico Blue Dog, which unfortunately is buzzing on the low E and may need to be reconed. Overall the Blue Dogs go very well in that amp and emphasize the Voxiness. Unfortunately, I've never had a chance to compare it to a real Vox, so it was very interesting to hear your comparison to the AC30CC.

These are definitely great sounding amps.

John

 

[Micter]

So this friend of yours has a great amp huh? LMBO!

That amp is pretty darn good. I can't stop playing that and the V16. They just have fantastic tone and they're cheap!

 

[EdMan57]

IMHO,a very nice combo.After playing a V32 at GC,I ordered the V30H...the head version of the V30/V32.I posted a short review on a thread titled "Crate V30H Head" about 12-13 pages back on this very same Amps and Cabs forum.

Since that post I have played my Strat [with Fender Vintage '54 pickups] through the V30H and utilized it's boost and presence functions.The head sounds superb with the Strat [great Texas blues tones with neck pickup and moderate overdrive] and the boost function really helps to push the mids up front [great for soloing].The presence function works real well on neck pickup stuff,but I found it to be somewhat grating on the Strat's bridge position pickup setting.Fortunately,I find that for my needs that I can get enough highs just using the amp's treble control.In my opinion,the V30 line of amps make for a superb all-around choice for those looking for quality blues,classic rock and "old school" metal tones.The modest price is just an added bonus.

Ed

 

[hasserl]

Hey Micter! Good to see you here buddy. This is the friend with the amp I was talking about folks. He also has a V16 Palomino that I reviewed on the review page (as well as over a dozen other amps! But that's another story)

John, IMO this amp is VERY Voxish, and in fact IMO it is a feasible alternative to the AC30CC. With the reports of poor reliability of the chinese Vox it wouldn't be a bad idea to consider this amp instead. Especially if you play with a lot of gain / distortion. Crate should offer it in 2 x 12 form for a more direct comparison. Or consider the head and 2 x 12 cab like EdMan57.

Ed, I missed your ealier review. I may have skipped over it because it was about a Crate. That was a mistake.

Forget what you think you know about crappy sounding Crates, these amps blow that image apart.

 

[flatfinger]

Hey you CA@### Guys knock it off!!!!!!!!!!!
hasserl , did you get a PM from ME?????

Did you get your spot yet???????

 

[Micter]

Originally posted by hasserl
Hey Micter! Good to see you here buddy. This is the friend with the amp I was talking about folks. He also has a V16 Palomino that I reviewed on the review page (as well as over a dozen other amps! But that's another story)

Over a dozen? LOL that pretty much sums it up. I do have a lot of amps. Well more than a lot but its fun. Don't talk about guitars OK?

I brought the V32 to rehearsal tonight and even our female singer liked the way it sounds. She usually plugs her ears when I play. Tonight she actually commented on how good it sounds. I brought my G&L Strat and was getting some great blues tones from the clean channel. I'm liking it a lot right now.

 

[Lennox Lewis]

Like one of the replies above, I tried out the V32 Palomino at GC, fell in love with it, and went and ordered the V30 Head. Interestingly, the box it came with doesn't say "Crate" anywhere on it. It says : V-Series Amplification. Then when I opened up the box and looked at the amp, I noticed that it doesn't have the word "Crate" anywhere on it. It also says V-Series amplification, made in the USA. The head itself is very cool looking, and sounds absolutley great. Warm punch-like cleans and a pretty meaty distortion and gain. This amp, along with the rest of the V-series and Palomino series are serious sleepers right now. I'm not even going to say that it's "good for the money" because it's more than just a good deal; it's a very good amp. It seems to be very well built and isn't noisy at all, even with gain engaged. Funny that it was compared to the AC30CC's above in this thread. I was about to lay down the cash for one (w/ Wharfedales....not the one with the "Blues") right before buying the V30. Ironically, I like the sound better on the V30 and am not as concerned about reliability as I was about the Vox. This thing seems more solidly built imo. Having the overdrive channel in this compared to the Vox made it a no brainer for me. I would've never believed that I would choose an amp made by Crate over an AC30, but all things being equal, I liked the V30 better. My choices were between a Mesa F30, AC30CC, Traynor50Blue, and Mesa .50 and this V30 snuck in and won me over.

 

[wutnot]

I bought a Palomino V32 amp about month and a half ago. I have been extremely happy with the sounds I hear out if it. The first one I got was a floor model and had crackling and volume problems. After getting a new one in the box I was set.
I was sold on the overdrive which I found soo much better than the fender HRD 4x10 and peavey classic 50 I was considering.
I dont really like the reverb in it all that much though.
All in all for the $549 I spent, I consider it a fantastic bang for the buck.
I play a 91 strat with lace sensors and a ernie ball silluoette through it, both sound great.

 

[Deaj]

Does the clean channel take pedals well?

 

[Micter]

Deaj

I haven't even tried any pedals with it. I'll plug my pedal board in and try it. I'll let you know what I come up with.

 

[Lennox Lewis]

Originally posted by Deaj
Does the clean channel take pedals well?

Actually, last night I tried a pedal through it for the first time. I was arranging my studio around, setting up all of my guitars, amps, etc. and found an old Boss CE-3 Chorus pedal that I haven't used in probaby two years. I wanted to mess around with it and decided to run it through the V30, since I hadn't tried pedals w/ it yet. I didn't hook it up through the effects loop; just put it in front. It passed with flying colors. I actually spent most of the night playing the V30 and Chorus pedal together and didn't finish the room (scenarios like this happen every time I try to arrange my studio. ) I haven't tried any other pedals through it, but it went great with that pedal. It's an amp where I don't think I would need any overdrive pedals though....It has plently of gain on tap for me, and has a nice mid-gain as well. I'm going to see how it likes my wah tonight.

 

[hasserl]

Originally posted by flatfinger
Hey you CA@### Guys knock it off!!!!!!!!!!!
hasserl , did you get a PM from ME?????

Did you get your spot yet???????

Hey flatfinger! What spot?

 

[flatfinger]

Sorry, I'm confusing my CA#$%^ guy's , Reeek was getting a uncle spot super reverb the last time I talked(PM) to him. I probably sent him the pm!!!!! He's probably been to busy. some people have a life!!!!!!
You and reeek and old amps where my amp teachers from back when I had a lust for that other product. Still gotta love my bolts though!! where's the v3???? I still tune in ocassionally to read a VAN novel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Micter]

LMBO! Van can type!!!

 

[hasserl]

Originally posted by flatfinger
Sorry, I'm confusing my CA#$%^ guy's , Reeek was getting a uncle spot super reverb the last time I talked(PM) to him. I probably sent him the pm!!!!! He's probably been to busy. some people have a life!!!!!!
You and reeek and old amps where my amp teachers from back when I had a lust for that other product. Still gotta love my bolts though!! where's the v3???? I still tune in ocassionally to read a VAN novel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, I've still got two of their amps, one of course is my Nomad! (my "secret weapon" amp). I've got a Vlavemaster I'll be doing my thing to. And I'm still taking in work on. I have a Vintage 16 on my bench now for mods, and one scheduled to come in in a couple of weeks. I can't complain about that.

I check in once in a whlie over there, but it is so sssslllloooowwwwww over there now I don't participate much. They may not have killed it, but they critically wounded it.

 

[Deaj]

I had an opportunity to demo both the V1512 and the V3112 today and I must say I was very impressed with both! Great cleans (plenty of clean headroom on the 30 watter) and much better overdrive than I had expected. Very cool little amps and easy on the wallet!

 

[Drowningrace88]

i finally made a big step from solid state amp to tube , i bought a Crate Series V32 for 300 from a guy , and i brought it home and after 10 min's i noticed that it kind of started to overheat i'm new to this thing and i have no idea if its a good thing or bad thing , i dont know if theres a fan that should keep it cool or not inside , i , i did look trough the top vent and i saw tubes light up will someone please be kind and explain to me in the easies terms how this amp works and if something is being done wrongly

 

[Dave B]

Hey Drowning, congrats on your Palomino V32 score! I take it you have the 1x12 combo and not the head?

Yes, these things get hot, so there is nothing wrong with your amp.

Here is an extremely comprehensive thread about mods for the V-Series V3112 and the Palomino Series V32 (pretty much the same amp schematically). You will have to wade through it, but there are a few references to guys who put fans in their heads or combos to help dissipate the heat.

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/510151&highlight=palomino

If you do a search on Palomino in this forum, you'll get a boatload of other hits, and can find out about its inherent tones, how well it takes pedals, etc. There were other threads discussing the fan issue, too, for both this amp and others.