Crate V33

[ctte2112]

Does anyone have one? How good is the clean channel? Any problems?

 

[trev333]

I had one for about a year, it was frikken loud!!!!..

I was just getting to like the amp and the power board section blew....

no one's been able to fix it..... sadly.... 4 redundant EL84's....sigh

I'd get another one to swap the power board.. but they're discontinued and Crate wasn't any help....

 

[ctte2112]

That doesn't sound good. I don't think it's a common problem because that's the first I've heard of it and I did search Google. What did it sound like?

 

[trev333]

when I got mine second hand the owner had already done some mods recommended by Soldano to fix up the gain channel.. which wasn't that good stock..

I had been using it for about a year and then one day it was sitting V down on stand by..and I heard a small click,,,, that was it.... the power switching mosfet thingo blew up... my amp tech tried for months to get it going and it never came good... the same parts kept blowing.. a mystery...

stock clean is a great sound... I never got it past Vol #2 in the house, it had some guts!.... I run my fender 210 at V #6....

I wish I still had it working....

 

[ctte2112]

Do you think it was because of the mods? The one I'm looking at is stock, but I'm a little worried now. I can't try it for about a week.

 

[sidneystreet]

I have a v-series V3112 from the original american made run. It has been bullet-proof. The clean channel is sweet and takes pedals nicely. The gain channel is also very good.

From memory, I'm pretty sure most of the later models like the V33 were made in Vietnam. These contained cheaper switching power supplies (and perhaps other cost-cutting changes), rather than the more expensive traditional power transformer.

I'd be wary of buying one of these later v-series amps.

 

[BiggerJohn]

Aswitching power supply is good for reducing weight and keeping performance stable. But it adds complexity and is just another thing to fail. I'd pass on an inexpensive amp with a switching power supply.

 

[dragonfly66]

I had a Crate V33 Head for a while. I got it in a trade. This amp shouldn't be a big investment. I installed the Soldano SLO mods and it sounded great. My friend's nephew played on it all night long. It was hooked up to a 1x15 Eminence Legend 1518. The mods open up the gain so it isn't so muddy and helps the reverb sound a little better. The mods also include a switch on the clean channel for super clean and a rougher clean.

I didn't have it long enough to say anything about the reliability of it. I do know the mods help immensely and they were relatively easy to do. The circuit board is small and uncomplicated. There are schematics, instructions and parts list to do the mods. Without the mods the gain channel isn't worth it.

From what I read you want the one that looks like this. I can't remember if this was the older model or the newer model.

 

[trev333]

I was using mine with the Soldano SLO mod for 12 mths before the power switching blew... I can't see it being the mod that did anything bad..... it would have showed up much earlier....

as I mentioned...when it blew ..the amp was on stand by, V down for a few a short time.. while I watched some TV news....

I might turn it into an AC30...

 

[Rick330man]

I have two of them. Some interesting points.

In one, I had to drop the PI tube to a 12AY7. Using a 12AX7 or a 5751 gave me a chronically distorted tone. The second V33 got a Sylvania 5751 in V1 and a 12AX7 in V3.

It is not a bad sounding amp, but it will never be the best sounding amp in anyone's arsenal.

 

[Turtleface]

I have a V50 combo. Loud as all get-out, distortion channel is lacking. Rarely use the distortion channel, just run pedal into the clean side. Very Fenderish clean sound. That is, until it stopped working. Haven't opened it up, but I suspect the switching power supply to be the culprit. It may be a simple component swap to get it working again, but no telling when it might grenade itself again. Nice amp, crappy power supply.

 

[ctte2112]

I think I'll wait a few more months and buy a silverface Bassman or Bandmaster...

 

[trev333]

here's the culprit.... and the bits we replaced that kept blowing?...

I even sourced the IC's myself from china to save the tech some time..as there were no PQ65's in stock in Oz?...

after multiple tries over a few months the tech gave up... handed me back my amp like a dead dog and didn't charge me for his time..... which I protested and offered some cash.. he refused.. stating company policy.. he couldn't fix it so there was no charge... cool I guess,,, for getting a dead dog back take home...

 

[trev333]

Take this you frikken zombie thread and dead dog amp....

the V33 lives....

after my tech friend put trannies in it and re engineered it to all fit back into the cab, the reverb tank is flat on the back and works fine....

it's LOUD!~..

here's what he did without a schematic..... from an email...

Regards the V33.
I have established that there are 3 filament voltages. (WTF? A real pain)
Power valves and one AX7 run on 6.3VDC while the first two AX7's run on 12V,, one on +12VDC and the other on -12VDC,, jezz what were they thinkin??
But I think I can get around it all in spite of all this;
Today I rigged up a 6.3Volt supply that has been running 4 power valves and 1 AX7 for a few hours,,I've used a laptop PSU which pumps out 4Amps@15VDC the power Valves and 1 AX7 draw 3.5Amps leaving room for big current draw at powerup, that will save space and weight.

Using 4 x 10Watt 10R resistors drops the 15volts to just a smidgen above 6VDC which is within the +/- 5% tolerance for long valve life.
So I think we have a winner there.

I now have to rig up the 300Volt HT and the other 12volt rails.
I have a big power Tx with heaps of power but only 78Volts AC and with the aid of a quadrupler supply trick I should get around 310VDC. This should work well and give a little extra sag at high volume.
Lucky for you that Tx also has the other taps which will supply the 12-0-12VDC to run the first 2 AX7's and run all the SS stuff.

So with one large Tx and a lappy SMPS it just might work.
Lotsa bits to make so It will take time.

You will need to remove the Reverb tank and find some other place to mount it. I assume there would be room in the cab?
Also By mounting the new power Tx underside I'm wondering if there is enough room. The speaker magnets might be in the way.

This will cost at least $150 cause it's a hairy one with a lot of fiddling around.
But as per normal if it all Ef's up and does not work then no charge mate.
Kind regards,, Phil.

 

[Ironwolf]

I have a V33 head and the V212 cab to go with it. As noted above, it is loud, and, the gain channel essentially sucks. However the gain channel takes gain pedals well and produces some nice tones. ambient effects in the effects loop work well. I've had mine since '08 and it still runs very well. I pulled it out of storage just a couple of weeks ago wiped all the Tolex down with protectant and then fired it up. still a window rattler and sounding pretty da*n good as long as you don't switch to the high gain channel. I'd like to use it as the third amp in a wet/dry/wet rig with my Fender and my Marshall, but I just don't have room currently.

 

[Msgalicki60]

I have a V33 that I blew something in the power supply. I have attached the SMPS schematic for my V33! Please let me know if there's hope on repair.