Product Review: Crate Durango Acoustic Amp

[Monte]

Interesting gig situation yesterday.

Got a call to play with a saxophonist and keyboard player for a Christmas party. The saxophonist said not to worry about an amp, that if the room needed it he would have a PA with him.

So, I show up to the gig and it turns out it is a huge ballroom for the Hunter Douglas factory Xmas party. On top of that, the saxophonist (who owns a music store) decided not to bring the PA and instead brought this 120 Watt Crate Acoustic Amp.

My problem was that I had a mic that needed phantom power. I had my Schertler Dyn B, but no preamp, so I was prepared for the sound to suck.

You know what, it didn't suck. Actually, it sounded really good. Just plugged straight in, turned down the tweeter. For the large room size, I had to turn it up to the point of feedback, but lo and behold, it had feedback eliminator on board.

For not an expensive amp, I would not hesitate to recommend this to a bassist who needs a good sounding upright amp but can't afford some of the more boutique solutions like Acoustic Image, Walter Woods, EA, or Schertler. I was very impressed, and for 120 watts and a 12" speaker, it put out a lot of sound.

Very good EQ section, with sweepable mids. I had no time to play with it, but I can't imagine not being able to get a good sound with any decent upright pickup.

Handled the open E very well, with no farting noises. I'm not getting rid of my Bose L1 and bass module, but this is pretty darn good.

It was nice to try a piece of equipment under actual battlefield conditions and have it far exceed your expectations.

Bottom line, for a budget price, this is going to sound better than a bass specific amp like an SWR on upright. It is a good coffeehouse gig amp, a bit heavy at 48lbs, but what do you expect for sub $500. Attach it to an amp dolly; it is small and easy to tote. It also greatly outperforms the SWR California Blonde, the only other acoustic amp I've ever used.

I take back all the negative I've said about Crate only makes crap.

[Ric Vice]

Monte,
Pretty interesting, I checked the specs of the Crate Durango and it has a 3.3 Meg Ohm input impedance so along with a pretty creative EQ and Feedback Control it will match well with most piezo's.

Ric

[kwd]

I wanted to audition one of these but they didn't have one in the store, only it's smaller sibling. My feeling is that the feedback control circuitry pretty much trumps everything else. Is it a notch filter? Or, is it active circuitry?

[mikeypbass]

this seems more suited to my needs (as a broke high school student) more than the $1500 AI-Raezers Edge rig (however amazing those are)

Thanks for stumbling upon this gem!