My neighbor gave me an amp and my new Les Paul sounds great through it

[Bourbon Burst]

About two years ago my neighbor asked if I wanted his guitar amp. I said yeah but before I could ask what kind he brings out a Crate solid state combo. It is an 80's 1x12 40 watt job. At that moment I was thinking that I wish I would have said no because I'm thinking where am I going to put it and when will he be not home so he would not see me get rid of it. Crate amps are ubiquitous around here since they make them where I live and they don't have the best reputation (mediocre maybe).

I did eventually use the amp to practice learning jazz with it on my Ibanez George Benson GB10 and it sounds pretty good with that combination. I recently bought a Les Paul and since I brought the Paul up to where I keep the Crate amp I thought I would plug it in for the hell of it. The amp really brought out the tone of the Les Paul. I couldn't put it down. I have 3 Fender tube amps for clean (and a Marshall) but it actually sounds best through this amp. The Crate has a distortion channel but it sounds crappy just like every other solid state guitar of that era like the Roland JC120. I'm really happy with the amp now.

P.S. ( I wish he would have asked me about buying his guitar. It was a mid 70s Gibson Les Paul Custom Black Beauty. He sold it for $3,000 which I thought was a steal from the guitar store.)

Carry on...

 

[brookdalebill]

Glad it worked out so well!

 

[stnmtthw]

I don't know why Crate amps got a bad rap. The ones I played sounded great.

 

[corliss1]

Nothing wrong with Crate gear - roadworthy, reliable stuff.

 

[aging_rocker]

Glad you didn't listen with your eyes...

 

[Rockinvet]

I only had one Crate amp and didn’t do well on gigs. It was fine for practice, nice and clean but I ended up selling it. I’m glad this one works for you. You can never go by an amps reputation. It’s how it sounds for your purposes.

 

[brookdalebill]

Joining the chorus!
Crate tube, and SS amps are both great.
I’ve owned several, and all were utterly dependable.

 

[darkwaters]

I’ve had a green Crate acoustic amp for years now. The thing is a little tank and sounds great.

 

[mexicanyella]

Those 1980s G-series combos used to sound good to me with the clean channel cranked up enough to push the speaker a little and and a compressor pedal. It gave them a totally different character than the chorused-out high gain solid state soloing fizz most guitar kidzzzz dialed up with them.

For instance I have memories of this guy I went to high school with (and thought was a pompous twerp) using some Crate dirty channel fizz tone, from a G40C I think, to play INXS’s “Devil Inside” at a party. A group of girls including my girlfriend thought that was super awesome.

Not the amp’s fault...

 

[Neptical]

Huge SS fan here! No Crates l, but love my SS Fenders and Marshalls. They get played as much or more than my tubes ( and I have some good ones). IMHO - one isn't better than the other as they both have their own separate vibe.

 

[thunderbyrd]

i'm glad it worked out good. but i really dislike the crate amps i've played.

 

[Tone Quest]

I owned two Crate amps. Both served me well.

 

[chris m.]

Around 1990 I bought a brand new Crate SS combo amp, 2x12, open back, built-in chorus and reverb. I remember it being cheap to purchase though I don't recall the actual price.

I played in a reggae band and it sounded great for super clean rhythm and lead. The dirt channel was even acceptable for guitar leads. Sort of like a cheap JC120, I guess. I used it regularly in gigs for several years, never had any issues with it. Stock speakers were fine. I played my Made in Maryland 1988 PRS CE-24 through it. Kind of wish I still had that guitar. The PRS was only $800 new in 1988 but back then that was a fair bit of money.

 

[Peegoo]

Joe Walsh toured with Crate amps. He didn't need the money...he just wanted good sound. And he sounded killer.

 

[radiocaster]

Solid-state amps sound really good clean. It's not the same sound as tube amps, solid-state sounds thicker clean, not that tubes sound bad clean. Hard to really describe with words.

Distorted they vary from bad to acceptable to excellent, depending on the circuit and speaker.

 

[BlueGillGreg]

Yeah, I've got a free one too, and it too sounds pretty good. I keep it in a high school classroom and cart it around to other schools and churches. Decades of use so far, lots of kids have learned on it, it's trouble free, and It keeps cookin. Well manufactured. Glad to have it.

 

[Daytona.57]

I have a Crate compact 4x12 weighs 54 lbs with Legends. Rock solid plywood and metal construction made in the USA.

 

[frisco kid]

Only Crate I have played through was a Palomino. Sounded excellent but it’s tube not SS.