The amp has great sound whether played clean or distorted. The clean sound is chimey when you add reverb and plays great blues, jazz or light rock. Switch to channel two and crank your guitar volume all of the way then use the amp gain to dial in the crunch and amp level to control the volumeand you have fantastic heavy rock and metal tones. This is a very loud amp but can be used at home with without blowing out your windows with careful amnipulation of the level control on channel two.

The controls may seem bare bones in nature but it gives you enormous flexibility by having a minium amount of controls. You have everything you need to coax out and tailor yur sound. I like the minimalist approach. This is a very easy amp to use and setup.

This is a plain looking amp and the constuction is solid. It does its job well. The metal corners are a nice touch and will keep the amp looking nice when carried from gig to home to gig again.

This sis the bargain of the century for a top quality tube amp. It has three 12AX7's and four EL-84's (The same as my Vox AC30) and loads of sound and versatility. Amazing at this price.

hobbyist [30+ years]

Blues, jazz, rock some metal.

This amp is awesome. The clean channel provides beautiful, clean, singing, punchy, crisp chords and the lead channel can range from slightly grungy to a fully saturated sustain. The tubes respond instantly to how hard you pick, and distort more under harder attack - just like they're supposed to.

The tone controls are simple and work fine, and the Boost button kicks up the midrange which adds a nice snarl to the lead channel. The amp requires a footswitch to change channels and to engage the Boost circuit, which I ordered. I think this is an excellent feature that both these functions are controllable.

Simple to use. It sounds great on every setting I've tried, and it's really loud - first full rehearsal was a pure pleasure compared to the older 1x12 Peavey amp I was using. Two 12" speakers move a lot more air which gives a much fuller tone.

It's solidly built and easy to carry. The controls are clearly labeled and it came with its components all properly plugged in.

Unbelievable value for an all tube 2x12 combo amp!

Loud Technologies is a great company

40+ years of semi-pro playing and recording

R&B, funk, fusion, acid jazz, latin, reggae, some hard pop

The cleans on this amp shine like no other. I use my Godin Exit 22 with a Dirty Fingers in the bridge, run it through a Digitech RP70, and straight into the Crate. I don't use the overdrive much, since the EQ applies to both channels and with good clean channel settings the overdrive sounds a little bassy and muddy. Not that it sounds bad, just not my preference. But I use my Digitech for overdrive and distortion, which all sound phenomonal. Oh, and you may be concerned about it's volume, being 30 watts and all. The first day I practiced with my band (drums, bass, backup guitar, and vocals, I literally NEVER turned it past one. This baby outperforms any half stack under $1000, for less than half the price. Remember, 30 watts in a class A tube amp is about the same as a 100 watt solid state.

Footswitch would be nice IF I did alot of channel switching. Like I said though I don't really use the overdrive, but if you did, you'll want to buy the optional footswitch. It's all about personal preference. The twin 12" speakers are awesome, amp is very easy to use. The effects loop output can also be used as a line out to a mixer or recorder, which is nice.

This amp is as simple as it gets. Flip the power, wait a minute, flip the standby, play. Make some tweaking to the EQ while you play. I've played this thing for hours since I got it yesterday and I still have yet to find a bad sound from it. It also takes pedals extremely well. The manual also explains anything you don't get, if you need it.

This is by far the toughest amp I've had yet. You often hear bad news about Crate, but rest assured this amp will change your mind. It's a little on the heavy side, but worth the weight. The knobs are attached securely, and I'm sure it can take a beating much better than many other amps. Definetly giggable.

I got this amp for a steal from ZZounds. It was on clearance for $250, and by far they could sell it for 3 times as much. It also sounds amazing, very comparable to Marshall and Vox amps in the $1,000 range. If you have the cash, snatch one of these up as soon as you can.

Haven't had a problem, but I hear they're pretty good.

I love the looks. Simple, it matches all my gear great.

Active Musician

Punk, Alternative

Wide range of tones. All tube signal chain so very little of the compressed overdone solid state tone.

would like the reverb to be foot switchable. minor issue

very very easy to use. I had to read the manual in order to learn the difference between volume, gain and level.

I actually bought two of these. It was cheap enough that I'm giving one to a friend. "His" unit had a broken reverb. Not resolved yet.

Great tube sound. not much money/

Sent an email. No reply yet. 3 days.

Looks ok. I';m really a bass player so Crate doesn't mean much to me. Seems like a giggable amp.

Active Musician

Rock

I've only had it for about a day now... but so far I love it. It's so punchy and clear on the clean channel and the dirty side of those tubes really growl with a couple of humbuckers pushing them! Can't wait to get together with the rest of my band and run my pedal board into this amp.

The only thing that kept this category from a 10 is that there was no footswitch included, and the Reverb isn't controlled with a footswitch anyway. Otherwise excellent, simple, flexible, intuitive.

The only way it'd be easier is if the reverb was footswitchable.

I don't see that this thing will have ANY problem on the road, Totally "giggable"

A comprable amp by another company would easily be 3 times at much!

haven't needed it

It's classic rock-n-roll sex with speakers.

Active Musician

Alternative Indie Rock

Change the tubes for a 10. Stompboxes a must. Loud and proud. I swapped the speakers with greenbacks, but the stock speakers sounded better. For the price of this amp you can't go wrong. I can get tones out of this amp that equal marshall/tophat/vox. It also looks easy to mod. I play hard rock to funk to pop . This covers all the bases.

Foot switch would be nice. New tubes a must. Stock tubes sound like someone dump a handful of change in the dryer.

Well made. Super surprised at the quality.

Buy 4 for the price of a Marshall or Vox.

Loud has a great track record.

Cool looking. Take off the Crate logo and people won't believe what your playing.

Retired Pro, Producer. Active in 3 bands and a studio player.

funk,rock,jazz,country,pop.