Whatever happened to Crate amps?

[BrentSimons]

Not that I miss them, just kinda curious.

I'm old enough to remember when they first came out, they had plain wooden outsides, like they were actually made from old pallets or something.

Later on they dropped that look and went to tolex coverings.

The thing is I don't even remember them around during the "Rat Fur" era, but I suppose they were.

I recall them being part of St. Louis Music and Wiki confirms this, SLM actually created the brand, but that is about all they say about Crate in the SLM article.

I take it the brand went by the wayside when Loud bought SLM? Or was it before that?

Again, not pining for the return of Crate amps (but stranger things have happened), I'd rather see SWR or Sunn revived before that but Crate amps used to be EVERYWHERE, especially in the small local mom and pop type stores.

I suppose when mom and pop brick and mortar stores went away so did a lot of the market for Crate amps.

If anybody has fond memories of their Crate bass amp, well by all means post that, I have zero experience with them, just used to see them around a lot.

Analogeezer

My first practice amp was a B-10. Although I may have the model # wrong. it was a great little amp! This was one of the tolex offerings.
Later on I picked up a B150 head with a matching BC -1810 cabinet. I only wish I knew more about Eqing back then. I remember doing one of our first "gigs" in our drummers living room for about 8-10 people and had every knob on full blast! It was knocking knick-knacks and pictures off the walls!
I eventually traded it in for an Ampeg B-15T which I still have surprisingly.

 

[SheaNC]

Their entry into the world of compact, class D heads about 15 years ago (I think it was called the Block or the Power Block or some such) was not the most reliable piece of gear. That might have been the beginning of the end for them.

St. Louis Music changed hands in 2005 and again in 2008 so the new owners may have dropped the line.

I had a Crate Powerblock for a while because I heard they were a good little bass amp. They were discontinued (not sure why), but soon a whole bunch of similar small class D amplifiers came out to fill the void. One thing I loved about the Powerblock was the really great sounding overdrive circuit. Very tube-like and really great for bass.

 

[WolfMonster]

My first and only Crate so far was one of their Guitar line.... a G20C... two 8" speakers, chorus, spring reverb... not bad for its size.... They had a version with Celestions in place of their normal speakers.... I don't remember hearing that version though.

Was thinking of this brand recently... as an option for a small gig/practice bass amp on a budget, but alas... an unexpected truck repair bill has sent me back to saving my $$$ before I can get anything.

Also knew someone who worked for SLM years ago now... They suggested adding/replacing a part (can't remember which now) in a product line that would have added only about $0.05 per unit in manufacturing costs (was this on the BV? Can't remember that either) and increased reliability. It was shot down by the bean counters because it exceeded price point, AND that's why they had a good sized warranty budget to handle failures.

 

[Al Kraft]

The GK's EQ knobs are backward, so this is the only way to make them right with the bass knob on the left and the treble knob on the right.

From a Bob Gallien Winter NAMM Q&A interview by Tom Bowlus (in 2009 as I recall):
Q: I notice that you set up your EQ section “backwards” from the norm, from high to low. Why is that?
A: My first amplifiers that used the serial equalizer (300B, 600B) were hand-wired with terminal strips. In order to reduce noise, a serial equalizer must have the high frequency bands first, so with handwiring the high frequency pots had to come first. I can always tell when the competition has been looking at my designs, because for no reason at all they run their equalizer high to low. To my knowledge, GK is the only company using a serial equalizer, therefore the only company with a reason to run the equalizer from high to low.

 

[JTE]

You know from a marketing perspective it made a lot of sense for SLM to develop a cheaper line of amps for their customer base (the mom and pop music stores, not the actual customers).

That gave these kinds of places something to sell to the kinds of customers they had. Not many people walked into a place like this to buy a full SVT setup, a lot of times it was broke kids or the parents of kids who just wanted a small, cheap amp for them to start out on or was affordable.

Also - I bet these kinds of stores didn't exactly want to invest in some SVT's to sit around on the showroom floor for years while some kids without money came in and ran all the customers out while playing the Ampegs at coliseum volumes LOL.

Circa 1978 (when Crate was created) I gotta believe SLM also looked at Peavey, who sold a crapload of cheap and affordable amps to just these kinds of music stores; and the people who came into these kinds of music stores bought Peavey in droves.

So no doubt the SLM folks said "hey we want a piece of that action, lower profits per amp but we'd sell a lot more of these than Ampegs"

Nothing wrong really with entry level gear, as long as it is cheap and durable; everybody has to start somewhere.

Interesting how they just seemed to kind of float away as a brand, sounds like when Loud bought SLM they realized that brand and made in USA production didn't have a lot of future in it so they just dropped the line.

Hell as it is they offshored Ampeg but Ampeg has a name and a lot of great models that people wanted to buy, better to cut costs on a flagship product and hope the buyers didn't care (which apparently they did not) it was made overseas....than to try and offshore Crate too but compete with like Behringer.

Sounds like Crate had a pretty good almost 30 year run so I guess in that respect they were a successful brand for SLM.

Analogeezer

Except the time-line is wrong. The Crate amps pre-date SAM'S acquisition of Ampeg.

 

[agedhorse]

Crate was a budget broad line product category by SLM, guitar, bass and PA products that were a good value at the time. Like all brands, there were good models and not so good models in their offerings. When SLM was acquired by Loud, Crate remained in production but was slowly wound down as Ampeg, Mackle products filled the void.

 

[Leo R]

After 30 years it still wheels ...
Last recent gig was in last February

Soon I'll be posting a short clip of another live gig

 

[Berniez40]

I play in a little jazz trio. We use an old Crate PA that, similar to the original Dodge Darts with slant 6 engines, refuses to die. It sounds very good too.

 

[Leo R]

As a combo, I guess it fits well when plugged to a double bass
It has that EQ w/ 7 sliders, IMO delivers a deep low end that fills the room

 

[Zooberwerx]

I'd give my right arm to find an intact wooden "Amish Ampeg" 115-B enclosure so I have a matched pair. They really sound good and a second cab gets me that much closer to gig-worthiness.

Riis

 

[Michedelic]

Early 80’s…I briefly used a BX combo as part of what should be a janky-ass rig of doom contender; it had a 15” with what wattage I do not recall, sitting on, and also plugged into, a Marshall 4x12. Used that for one gig. All I can say is, it worked, and didn’t blow up. It was a weird situation, I had just gotten involved in a start-up band, a coalition of sorts, and everyone had pieces of gear that someone else needed. I was in between proper bass rigs, the guitarist had that Crate, I swapped him the use of an HH guitar combo that I had(a rare sight in the US midwest)and the Marshall was a leave-behind from someone I knew who was off having drug problems. I even played synth bass through that mess.
Later on I picked up a Power Block, still have it somewhere, as a first mini-amp; it worked OK for bass, not astounding. Then about 2008 I encountered a Crate bass set-up in an LA rehearsal studio…a 2x15 with pronounced rounded-off corners, ports in back, and a head with knobs of different colors. It sufficed, no worse than a Peavey.
Lastly, I have a small blond tolex Club Vintage guitar amp, 15-20 watts from two EL-84’s into a 10”. That series actually has a following as “the one that Crate got right”. The only drawback is that there’s poor ventilation for the tubes, and it gets very hot.

 

[MonetBass]

My first guitar amp was a tiny Crate with a 10" speaker. It's long gone, sadly. Regarding the company:
"In recent years, however, Crate Amplifiers has been facing financial difficulties. The company has been plagued by a number of lawsuits, and its products have been losing market share to competitors. In September of 2015, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Despite its financial troubles, Crate Amplifiers continues to produce quality products. The company’s products are used by some of the biggest names in the music industry, including Metallica, Foo Fighters, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. It is uncertain what the future holds for Crate Amplifiers. The company’s financial situation is precarious, and it remains to be seen if it will be able to recover."

 

[agedhorse]

My first guitar amp was a tiny Crate with a 10" speaker. It's long gone, sadly. Regarding the company:
"In recent years, however, Crate Amplifiers has been facing financial difficulties. The company has been plagued by a number of lawsuits, and its products have been losing market share to competitors. In September of 2015, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Despite its financial troubles, Crate Amplifiers continues to produce quality products. The company’s products are used by some of the biggest names in the music industry, including Metallica, Foo Fighters, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. It is uncertain what the future holds for Crate Amplifiers. The company’s financial situation is precarious, and it remains to be seen if it will be able to recover."

That’s a marketing statement with some “creatively optimistic endorsements”.

 

[tlc1976]

I use a Crate BX-15 as my primary practice amp. In 2018 I bought it from a guy in town for $25. One knob was missing, so I bought a set of knobs off Digi-Key or something. I just keep it set flat, with the EQ coming from my Zoom pedal. It’s plenty loud with the volume not turned up too much. I go for a sound with lots of mids that cuts easily.

Before this I used a Peavey Minx, which I still use upstairs. Another similar size practice amp. I did a lot of A-B-A testing with same room, same bass, wide open, no pedals. As everyone I played with used Peavey, I’ve always been a Peavey guy too. As much as I hoped to be wrong, the Crate just has more clarity. Which is also what I’m reading from several posters in this thread.

 

[Ostie]

I bought a Crate B80Xl 990 series combo amp back in 1992 for a couple hundred bucks. I used that thing for practice and gigs for 30 years before it died. Then I removed the amp and I still use the 1x15 cab for an extension speaker. It refuses to die. I’m always looking for a used one with a blown speaker, so either I or someone else can cannabilize it back to its original glory.

 

[Marko 1]

Used Crate Bass Amplifiers | Guitar Center

 

[hbarcat]

Their entry into the world of compact, class D heads about 15 years ago (I think it was called the Block or the Power Block or some such) was not the most reliable piece of gear.

Yes, the Crate Powerblock. I have one and I use it to monitor keys and e-drums in my music room.

They have their fans, but it's widely regarded as being failure prone.

It's rated at 150 watts but that's being generous. I'd say it's half of that. It does have a nice feature set.

-- Aux in
-- Stereo or bridged mono out
-- Headphone out
-- DI out (XLR)
-- Stereo effects loop

 

[Reid-O]

My first amp was a BX100 in 1993. Later I had a BX10. Unloaded both a long time ago when I needed bigger iron.

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Awesome! My 1st amp was a bx100. I think it ended up catching on fire at some point

One of my favorite guitar amps ever was an old Crate GX-212 combo. I'm sure it was absolutely terrible, but it sounded awesome to me as a teenager.

 

[Reid-O]

I blew one up once.

Blown Up a Crate Amp (at least once) Club
#1 - Chickenwheels
#2 - errornosignal

 

[Element Zero]

I play in a little jazz trio. We use an old Crate PA that, similar to the original Dodge Darts with slant 6 engines, refuses to die. It sounds very good too.

My dad had a bunch of cars he and his Air Force buddies swapped around. 2 different ‘57 Chevys, a ‘69 Chevelle, a ‘71 Mach 1, and his final “good car” was a ‘69 Camaro Z28 with the Rally Sport Package and dual Holly carbs… sold that after he and my mom got married and bought a slant 6 Dodge Dart. It was dark green. We called it The Frog Prince.