player opinions
Crate GFX212
Name: Rich
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Band: -----
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Model Year: -----
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Price Paid: $135
Performance
This is a great amp to start with. I found it at a pawn shop and it was basically new. The clean on it sounds great and the distortion is good at the right volume — no higher than 6, if you’re looking to play small shows at the local cafe this is a great amp.
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Performance Rating: 10
Sound Quality
The sound is good, and like I said, the clean is great and the distortion is good.
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Sound Quality Rating: 8
Construction
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Great.
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Construction Rating: 10
Name: Phil
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Band: -----
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Model Year: -----
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Price Paid: $420
Performance
Yes, this is a simple amp to get going. I use a 505 pedal for most of my tone adjustments, so I didn’t want lot of crap on my dashboard. The amp is powerful and is clean. It does not produce the tone of a tube amp, like the ads for the Flexwave preamp, but it is closer than most.
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Performance Rating: 8
Sound Quality
The clean channel is amazingly clean. The gain channels and level are OK, but I use the 505 pedal for all that so I am not really qualified to comment on the gain channels.
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Sound Quality Rating: 8
Construction
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It is tough and durable so far, but I have not moved it around much.
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Construction Rating: 8
Name: Nate Gruzs
Band: Serene
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Model Year: -----
Price Paid: $410 (first year made)
Performance
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This is a very simple amp to use. I plugged it in, turned a few knobs, and I was ready to play. It’s a great amp for someone who is starting to play out with bands or just wants more power. Obviously it’s not going to be as nice as a Peavey 5150, but it’s a great amp for its price. My next is going to be a 5150.
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Performance Rating: 10
Sound Quality
This amp has very pure tone... for a solid state amp. It’s a great all around amp, pure clean channel and nice crunch from the lead channel. The best sound with distortion is around volume 4 or 5. If you go higher the lows drop off and the highs really come out. But that’s the nature of a solid state amp. One of the other guys said it is noisy with lead channel 2 with gain all the way up... oh well. I am considering changing the speakers in it or buying a 4x12 cab to make the amp work harder so it drive the power stage more.
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Sound Quality Rating: 8
Construction
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This amp withstands regular use beautifully. Wouldn’t survive a world tour, but then again it would never go on one, right? I haven’t had anything break on it yet and I’ve had it for 2 years, played lots of shows, gone to lots of practices. It’s holding up pretty good.
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Construction Rating: 10
Name: Dan Nelson
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Band: -----
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Model Year: -----
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Price Paid: $399
Performance
I had been looking forward to upgrading the amp that I had been using for some time. I decided on the Crate GFX 212 for several reasons. First, for the money I don’t think anyone offers anything even close in terms of performance. I consider this to be very “user friendly.” The controls are not that complex and the range adjustments allow for a broad range of playing styles. It is not overly complex by any means and I would feel comfortable recommending this to anyone from a new player to a veteran. If anything it exceeded my expectations!
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Performance Rating: 10
Sound Quality
Once I got my new toy home I was a concerned that it was flat sounding. But with only minor adjustments I found the amp was certainly responsive from the lowest to the highest sound ranges. I primarily use the clean channel with my DigiTech RP3. I honestly felt like I was using the processor for the first time. The amp is completely compatible with the processor with any effect I tried. The Crate offers a very nice sound when the overdrive channel is used also. The clean channel alone is perhaps what impressed me the most. It is rated as having 5% THD, but even at higher volumes it sounds as clear as much more expensive amps I tried out. I could go on and on but I really recommend giving this amp a try. Don’t overlook this amp just because it’s inexpensive.
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Sound Quality Rating: 10
Construction
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The over all construction of this amp is impressive. I don’t feel that there were any corners cut in the overall design. The 5 year warranty seems to indicate that Crate expects the amp to hold up for quite a while. I have yet to find anything about it that I don’t like but I will certainly follow up once I have put a few miles on it.
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Construction Rating: 10
Name: Joe Hendrix
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Band: -----
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Model Year: -----
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Price Paid: $380
Performance
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I love it ! I feel like it closely mimics a tube amp....so close that most can’t tell the difference. PLENTY of power and the distortion (if you set it up for that) is great. I have gear many times more expensive and this amp is one of my favorites.
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Performance Rating: 10
Sound Quality
Overall I love everything about. It does have a fairly loud “hiss” sound when it is not being played.
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Sound Quality Rating: 8
Construction
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No problems. Very solidly built.
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Construction Rating: 10
Name: Bozo The Death Machine
Band: The Bozo The Death Machine Orchestra
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Model Year: -----
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Price Paid: $325
Performance
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First of all, this is an update of my last review. I’ve had some more time to play this amp after getting it home for a while and my opinions on it have changed. Easy to use. Boy, does this amp deliver!
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Performance Rating: 10
Sound Quality
As stated earlier, best solid state clean, ever! Some of my friends at church who have been playin’ for twenty years thought it was tube! Well, I now use the first distortion instead of the second. For hardcore like zao, spitfire, travail, and society’s finest kinda stuff, it just doesn’t have the “jaggedness” that is needed. The first distortion does this fine. I turn the first distortion all the way up, highs to max, lows to 3 o’clock and shape to none. It gives me the “sandpapery” and “jagged” sound I need. I can also get a blues sound (which I have just discovered. Who knew you could play rippin’ solos from your soul and and sound cool? I guess all those old black dudes were really on to something! hehehe). I back off the dist. a bit, adjust the e.q. a bit and slowly roll-up the shape. The second dist. does have its uses, too. The effects are great. With a little imagination, you get all the control and options you need from them.
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Sound Quality Rating: 10
Construction
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As said before, solid state. I gigged with it (kinda, just played at church with it) once already. I decided to drench it gasoline and light it on fire. After that, I kicked it down a flight of stairs and then my friend and I dragged it down a gravel road from the back of his pickup truck. When we were done, it sounded just as good as when I first bought it. If you are 16-year-old weakling like me, you wanna put some wheels on the bottom of this thing. They say it weighs ONLY 50 pounds, but I’m thinkin’ it is closer to 80. When I was carrying it up some stairs, I strained my back and it hurt to move for three days. You have had your warning. I give it a 4 for the massive weight.
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Construction Rating: 8
Name: Bozo The Death Machine
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Band: -----
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Model Year: -----
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Price Paid: $325
Performance
This product takes some getting used to. It is 120 watts, has 2 12 inch speakers, two overdrive channels, and digital effects. After ten minutes of goofing around in the store, I had a good feel of how to use it. Both overdrives work great and the effects are pretty, too.
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Performance Rating: 10
Sound Quality
Distorsion 1 is for classic rock, I don’t use it. Distortion 2 is for hardcore like Snapcase, Zao, Travail, and Living Sacrifice. It very thick and can be either bassy or trebly. It gets good feedback, too. The clean is wonderful. I have never heard a better clean. It stays crystal clear even at maximum volumes (all of you tube amp purists can put that in your pipe and smoke it). The digital effects are delay, flange, chorus and reverb. They sound good but I would have like more options and control but I’m not complaining. This is one loud amp, too! 120 Watts and 2 12 inch speakers is just about the loudest you will ever need. And at that price, you can’t find a better deal, I dare ya!
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Sound Quality Rating: 10
Construction
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Built like a rock. Solid state so I don’t have to worry about it shorting out or losing volume while I’m playing. The reverb is digital so if I accidentally bump it while I’m playing I don’t have to worry about that splashing sound you get with spring reverb, but the sound is just as good as spring reverb.
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Construction Rating: 10
Name: Stardog
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Band: -----
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Model Year: -----
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Price Paid: $500
Performance
Footswitchable between clean and 2 distortion channels. One distortion channel allows for the scooped “death metal” sound. There is an onboard digital effects processor (not footswitchable) that includes chorus, flange, reverb and two types of delay. Controls are reasonably simple and the instruction manual isn’t really necessary.
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Performance Rating: 6
Sound Quality
Both distortion channels are equally useless with little power in the highs. The clean channel is more servicable. The effects are also pretty mundane with minimal control over sweep rate on the chorus and flanger. Delay can be set to a short slap-back or a long echo but no fine-tuning is possible with delay time.
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Sound Quality Rating: 4
Construction
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Can’t really say much here since it’s never left my living room and hasn’t been road tested.
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Construction Rating: 6
stats
Average Ratings
- Performance: 8.8
- Sound Quality: 8.4
- Construction: 9
Ratings Key
- 10: Excellent
- 0: Useless
Company
- Crate