Whatever happened to Crate amps?

[jazzyitalian]

I used to own crate practice amps. They were a subsidiary of Ampeg. So if they were discontinued, my guess is that Ampeg would have made the decision to end the brand. I had a nice little crate until 2018. I sold it because I bought a slightly larger practice amp from Ampeg. I wish I didn't sell it because the shipping took a big bite out of my sale. I think I recouped $12 after that transaction. Oh well...I digress. I should have hung onto it, or at least sold it locally...

 

[Amano]

Whatever happened to Crate amps?

Nobody ever asked. I’m convinced Crate is the backline for musicians in hell. Awfull amps.

 

[MNAirHead]

Bust on Crate all you want... the Crate Block was a ground breaking concept

 

[-Asdfgh-]

To me, they just never were amazing. Where Peavey hung their hat on reliability for a good price (even though the tone was muddy), Crate built their rep on features for a good price (even though the tone was muddy). They had all kinds of dials and switched and graphic EQs. But none of that made them sound incredible.

If I recall (and I may be way off) whoever bought up Crate changed the name to Blackheart and they too were eventually shut down.

Ah, is muddy the word I wanted? I thought Peavey amps just sounded lifeless for the most part. A few people seemed to be able to wring a good tone out of them, but not me.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

Crate seemed to the 'the thing' for local metal guitar players in the 1990s. It sounded terrible to me, but that might have been all the overdrive pedals rather than the amp. But then when I played guitar in a band for a bit I was using a Boss OD-2 into bass amps - tube before it caught fire, later via a Marshall DRP-1 (can't have enough preamps!) into a Custom Sound Cub (Club?) 60, so I am not sure I can really talk about good guitar tone... Although I did get positive comments.

 

[two fingers]

Ah, is muddy the word I wanted. I thought Peavey amps just sounded lifeless for the most part. A few people seemed to be able to wring a good tone out of them, but not me.

They were made in Mississippi. When I was in bar bands in the late 80s (as a teenager playing in a band with guys in their 30s) Peavey stuff was referred to as "Mississippi Mud".

 

[-Asdfgh-]

They were made in Mississippi. When I was in bar bands in the late 80s (as a teenager playing in a band with guys in their 30s) Peavey stuff was referred to as "Mississippi Mud".

Transtube seemed to be a great recreation of muddy tube amps, which is not the sort of tube tone I ever wanted. I could see the appeal if you wanted the EVH sound. A got a friend a 5150 modelling pedal and apparently it pretty much nailed the sound. My idea of tube tone is Fender cleans and/or Vox AC30 crunch. Transtube didn't seem to really achieve either, sadly. I found more joy from the Marshall DRP-1 and the offerings of Award-Session.

Crate amps (again caveats - I played through one precisely once when my tube amp caught fire at a gig, and I was shaken by that and not really listening for great tone afterwards) always seemed to sound angry.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

They were made in Mississippi. When I was in bar bands in the late 80s (as a teenager playing in a band with guys in their 30s) Peavey stuff was referred to as "Mississippi Mud".

I've played through a ton of Peavey amps and PAs in my time. TNT - eww. Mk IV bass amps - a bit better. The PAs of the mid 1990s seemed to make everything sound like cardboard. I proposed that as a band name back then, as we always seemed to end up playing through Peavey amps. Some of the Behringer Euro range seems to have faithfully recreated that cardboard feel. Don't ask me exactly what gives that 'meh' to the sound as I've never really been able to put my finger on it, and maybe the exciting sounding PA amps are technically 'wrong'.

 

[Gyver]

I had a small Crate solid state guitar combo that was my only guitar amp from 1985 until 2000 or so. I still have the shell, but the speaker is long gone. In theory it was a cheap, undesirable amp, but it always served me well and sounded really good! I have several recordings, both studio and live, where I used that amp and it sounded great. Keep in mind this was for guitar, not bass.

 

[neo 7]

I have fond memories of my old Crate 440BX head

 

[dfreeland83]

I had a cheapie Crate guitar amp circa 1992-1994 when I was first starting to learn to play. I'd like to say it wasn't a bad lil amp, but I was ten, so my taste in gear wasn't exactly on-point yet

 

[LowActionHero]

I have a 60w SS guitar amp I've had for 30 something years. It's still going. I'll admit I haven't plugged it in in awhile, but it wasn't terrible. It was my first amp, my dad bought it 'like new' for Christmas.

 

[dfreeland83]

I have fond memories of my old Crate 440BX head

I bought my first head / cab rig from a guy at work back in the early 2000s. He had a Crate 440BX going into a monster Eden 15'. I will say, that 440BX was a nice unit. Served me well for ~5 years or so until I moved to a new head and a 410 cab.

Looking back, it seems like the only time I ever move away from an amp I like is when I move to a new state or move to a smaller house. Then, I move to a larger house and buy something big again... you'd think I'd learn by this point

 

[-Asdfgh-]

I've played through a ton of Peavey amps and PAs in my time. TNT - eww. Mk IV bass amps - a bit better. The PAs of the mid 1990s seemed to make everything sound like cardboard. I proposed that as a band name back then, as we always seemed to end up playing through Peavey amps. Some of the Behringer Euro range seems to have faithfully recreated that cardboard feel. Don't ask me exactly what gives that 'meh' to the sound as I've never really been able to put my finger on it, and maybe the exciting sounding PA amps are technically 'wrong'.

(After the 1990s other things started becoming more prevalent in terms of PAs, certainly at my cheap end of the gigging market).

 

[Tim Schnautz]

interesting.
they tanked and whoever bought them out, they tanked too

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/i...-crate-amps-are-they-out-of-business.1853840/

 

[6thplanet]

Started playing guitar around 1990, parents bought me a Honer LP copy and a little Crate GT10. It made enough racket to keep me entertained for a year or so. Then I replaced the speaker with an equally as crappy Pyle driver. That lead to building a separate enclosure to run both speakers. Ohms? What we're ohms back then to a wanna be rock star?

 

[Ostie]

I bough a Crate B80XL combo around 1992 and still used it for practice until a couple years ago when it died. It actually was a workhorse for me for almost thirty years. It has rat fur covering, graphic EQ, DI out, line out/in, limiter, pre-shape, boost….a lot of features for a bass amp from that era. It has a tag on it that says”Crate 990 Series Limited Edition #354/1000” Made in St. Louis MO, USA. Yeah they weren’t pro grade amps but it was affordable and it lasted for 30 years. I certainly got my money’s worth out of it. I still have it because I can’t bear to trash the old amp. Lots of gigging memories there.

 

[poppunk]

However, they did make one outstanding guitar amp I used to borrow from a friend sometimes. The Blue Voodoo. That amp sounded incredible.

I played with the 120 watt Blue Voodoo half stack back in the day. I couldn't afford the Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier, but I could afford the BV and sound wise it is underrated by/unknown to most. Had either of my bands really taken off back then and gotten signed by a major I would have used advance money for a dual rec (basically the standard along with JCM 800s), but I really did like my BV.

It's not a bass amp, but Crate had a short-lived line of Class A Tube amps called the Palomino series.

I'm pretty sure these were import reboots of the Vintage Club Series. I had a Vintage Club combo before I got my BV (probably what led me to it) and they sounded great and were LOUD. The knock on them (and the BV) is typically reliability as mentioned in the thread. Things just came loose and they needed more maintenance, and if you're doing serious touring it's problematic.

 

[foolforthecity]

Crate… the yardbird of mom and pop music stores

 

[1958Bassman]

I have a Crate "Bass Bus" battery powered bass amp, I really liked it when it worked, but it never worked quite right (charging issues). The built in effects were actually nice but they died first then later the whole amp just stopped. Wish I could get it fixed.

If you have a multimeter and know how to use it safely with AC power, check the power switch. Those can fail without any outward sign and they're not always expensive. What I have found on some equipment though, is they may be coated with epoxy where the wires connect. Makes it a bit more difficult, but not impossible to replace.