player opinions
Crate GX1200H
Name: Aaron
Band: The Voles
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Model Year: -----
Price Paid: $1000
Performance
What can I say? It's been to the shop once for a busted power switch.
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Performance Rating: 6
Sound Quality
This amp has the worst clean I've ever heard can't run a pedal through it or it sounds muddy. The distortion on it sucks as well if you turn the gain up past 3 it feeds back... When you turn up the shape it sounds too thick to distinguish guitars from anything else. I've used a Gibson SG though it, an Ibanez ISJ20, and a Schecter Omen though it. All sound muddy. I thought maybe the cab I was using was the problem at first. I was using a Randall Jaguar cab then went to a Behringer stereo cab — crap, crap, crap. I hate this amp and wish some one would get it off of my hands.
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Sound Quality Rating: 0
Construction
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Well, it's built well very light and small looks kinda dumb on top of a 4x12 cab. Sturdy shell. I've dropped it, spilled beer on it, landed on top of it during shows. That is the best thing about this amp. It will not die on me no matter how hard I try to kill it.
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Construction Rating: 10
Name: Seth
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Band: -----
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Model Year: -----
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Price Paid: $350
Performance
It is a 2 channel head with 2 modes within the distortion channel. Separate reverb for each channel. The amp is all solid state. The amp came with a dual foot switch which controls the channel, and mode of overdrive. There was a problem with the switch though — it requires a stereo cord, but came with a mono cord. It took me forever to figure out what was wrong. Just goes to show that the quality control at Crate is nonexistent. The effects loop requires a single stereo 1/4" to dual mono 1/4" cable to use (not included) in order to cut back on cost (I would rather pay and extra $5 for a second jack on the loop and not worry about the cord). Other than that, I had no problems with the features.
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Performance Rating: 6
Sound Quality
Sound quality — here is where the real problem lies. I used my Jackson soloist (neck-thru, hot pickups) with it and the amp robbed all of the sustain that my guitar has. Every note stopped dead right after I played it. The gain on the overdrive channel was good using the higher gain mode, but without sustain it sounded like garbage. The lower gain mode was completely useless. The amp was shrill and piercing when used with the matching speaker cabinet. I didn’t notice this until one day I played for 3 hours at low volume and my ears began to hurt from the treble. Messing with the EQ didn’t help. I even tried using my RP-6 in the effects loop to make the amps distortion sound good. A blind test where I played using the RP-6 in the effects loop with the amp’s distortion and then in front of the amp (same preset as in the effects loop) with it’s own distortion showed how weak the amp was. Every person I did this with said that the sounds that came from the Crate were no good, no matter how much I tweaked it, I couldn’t get a good sound out of it (I tried for a month and a half). Eventually I traded it back in for a Marshall (wallet say ouch, but the ears say hurrah). The clean channel is okay though, and the amp is a good value for $350, putting out 120 watts. If you have a rack then this amp might not be bad for you, but if you plan on using it for anything other than a power amp with an equalizer than I would think carefully, and then think some more before buying it. It is not the worst amp I have ever heard, but it isn’t good either.
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Sound Quality Rating: 4
Construction
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The amp seems to be solid, but I had to return it once due to the problem with the foot switch cable, and then again because there was a loud humming when the reverb was above 4. I gave up and got a Marshall. I will never get another Crate because of this and I would seriously advise you to save your pennies and wait until you can afford something good (like Marshall, Mesa Boogie, Fender, VHT, whatever your tastes are.)
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Construction Rating: 6
stats
Average Ratings
- Performance: 6
- Sound Quality: 2
- Construction: 8
Ratings Key
- 10: Excellent
- 0: Useless
Company
- Crate