While I was in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, I tried out some good guitar amps at Guitar Center. One of the amps I really liked was the Crate V Series amps. I also loved the Crate Palomino, but I don't think they make that one anymore.
Crate to me has in the past mean "cheap solid state crap". Well, obviously that ain't the case any more. These new amps are still fairly cheap, but boy they have TONE!
I grabbed a Strat and plugged into one of these Crate amps. I was stunned by the big, fat tone. It was astonishing to hear such a good tone from an amp for under $400. It sounded somewhere between a Vox AC-30 and an old Marshall. Amazing.
I ended up sitting there playing for a good while, and customers came up and asked what I was playing through, the tone was really good. If I didn't have enough amps already, I'd be all over one of these.
For me, the amp sounded the best when the gain setting was fairly low, but the amp was turned up quite a bit. I got that big tube tone that I usually associate with much more expensive amps. I am the kind of player who looks for a good clean tone, and then adjust the gain to taste by using pedals. This would work really well with this amp, but you can also get some crunch from the amp itself, should you want to.
In summary, if you are looking for a good sounding tube combo at a really good price, check out the Crate V Series amps. There several models to choose from. I think there are 5, 18, 33, and 50 watt versions available, so you are sure to find something that suits your level of noise-making... :)
The Crate V18-112 combo features a single-channel 18W Class A design with gain and master volume controls, 3-band EQ, and spring reverb for awesome tone and versatility. Its dual cathode-biased EL84 output tubes pump their searing mojo into a single 12" speaker.The V18's Class A design delivers the hot guitar tones of early British valve amplifiers with smooth clean sounds and thick, meaty overdrive. Take a simple cathode-biased Class A tube circuit, add a tone stack and 12" speaker, and you've got a small recording/practice amp with some lead in its pencil.
Tubes! Just the smell of those glass bottles blazing with fire gets amp aficionados to perk up and lose their cool. Giving our all for the evolution of all-tube tone, Crate's V Series combos and stacks produce the sweet cleans and earthy distortion that can only come from tubes. Roadworthy construction, modern features and genuine value are causing legendary players and novices alike to develop a thermionic love-Jones for the Crate V-Series tube amplifiers.
The Crate V50-112 combo is based on a classic American all-tube circuit, delivering brilliant cleans and crunchy overdrive sounds.Tubes! Just the smell of those glass bottles blazing with fire gets amp aficionados to perk up and lose their cool. Giving our all for the evolution of all-tube tone, this Crate V-Series combo produces the sweet cleans and earthy distortion that can only come from tubes. Roadworthy construction, modern features and genuine value are causing legendary players and novices alike to develop a thermionic love-Jones for the Crate V Series amps.
By Robert Renman - www.dolphinstreet.com
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