@FastRedPonyCar i hear what you are saying about them being the same, but there is a big difference in tone between the two because i own both. you should really put this amp through a 212 cabinet because thats when it really opens up.
These amps are awesome. One of my best friends has had the 50 watt 2x12 version for years and it's always sounded fantastic. My 100 watt peavey halfstack is a little much for a house full of people (and for my back), so I'd like to get a combo that I could possibly play at bedroom levels. One question, does it have a headphone jack by any chance?
@bcaprari nah fraid not. if you put a volume pedal in the FX loop though you can pull the volume down to whisper quiet levels but still have the preamp cranked for a nice smooth gain.
@BarneyIsPerverted totally the same. The palominos were a different tolex color version made for guitar center/musicains friend. The only REAL difference is that the palomino never came with a tone tubby speaker and I *THINK* that the black tolex versions were never made in korea. I think they were all USA built where as the palomino production got moved to korea near the end of it's life cycle.
The guy that designed the V series says the korean models don't sound as good.
i got an old old, national,,solid state,,little amp,,with its tweed an blackn silver speaker with 2,,8 inch speakers,,that really smokes with a good crunchin, plexi kinda tone,,we just cant believe it at all, i hooked it to my vintage 4,,12 marshall cab,,an dear lord,,monstrous tone, chunky killer distortion,,at least as good as this crate,,easily,,with my lace senser strat,,very very loud,,its unbelievable,,see flyfish777,,if you doubt,,good sound outta the crate
no buy the older USA built ones. this comes from the guy who originally designed these amps. he said when they moved production to china the quality in parts and tone became worse. Worse yet, the new ones aren't even built on the same design as the USA ones.
no the newer V series amps are not very good. look for a used V3112T or non T version or the crate V32 Palomino. They're all the same amp. The palomino has a blonde tolex cover and generic celestion.
Those are the only V series amps worth buying in my opinion.
never played the BS 5 watter but I used to have the blackheart 5 watter and for bedroom jamming or jamming with a buddy, it's fine but it really struggled to be heard over just a moderate agressiveness drummer. I'd say 15 watts is the absolute minimum to use with a drummer IMO. 30 watts gives you room to stretch your legs for soloing and stuff.
I have a V30 and a V33 which i did the R4/R77 resistor swap to fix the lead channel factory screw-up. The V30 sounds a bit more chimey and articulate but the (modded) V33 lead has a great wall of sound like a Plexi.
These american amps are most definitely great amps, The old black ones, not the new ones made in china or viet nam. There is a huge difference. I own several VFX5212 's build a wall and drive these things like this guy here, man you cant touch it,,,, sad to say you can go to e bay and find them for almost nothing,,, everyone thinks cause its a crate its no good...
So what speaker would you recommend to replace the stock celestion in my amp? I was thinking about putting the tone tubby in it. Anything you would put above that?
Thanks alot for the help man, could you please do some tool clips for me, I've been trying to find some to no avial, thanks alot. some new and old tones, sorry for the late reply
thx for the great review/demo... i have the choice between a U.S.A made V30 and a Vietnam-made palomino v32... is the palomino worth it or should i grab the v30 while i still can?
hey, right now i have the option between a crate v30 (celestian speaker) at $375 or a palomino v32 at $350. which would you reccomend? both stock and u.s. made. i play a lot of alternative like Muse, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, and My Morning Jacket and then rock stuff like Doobie Brothers, Roy Buchanan, Hendrix, and Red Hot Chili Peppers etc. which do you think? thanks!
same amps different cosmetics. pick which one you think looks the best then replace the generic celestion with something like a weber silver bell or better yet, a scumback speaker.
actually, im starting to wonder if its worth an extra $125 to buy a v30 over a new v33. do they sound VERY noticeably different? ive heard the v50's are unreliable, but not the 33's. what do you think?
I actually live in STL where Obeid Khan, designes Crate and Ampegs. He's got his own Company Reason now, you should check it out, It's pretty badass. I'm thinking either Bogner Uberschall, Splawn Nitro, or Reason SM-50. What do you think for Tool style?
yeah I've seen his new amps. Very cool. I play a LOT of TOOL and my nitro captures Adam Jone's earlier (Aenima, Undertow and Opiate) tones when he used marshalls very well. The Nitro's low end grunt also does lend itself to the more modern tones he gets from the Diezels and Rivera though it's not as high fi sounding.
yeah it does do a hard rock and older metal quite well but compare it to the B52 AT 1X12 combo or even the valve king 1X12 or mesa mark IV 1X12... yeah it will get it's butt stomped as far as sheer brutality goes... what it will do though is politely show all of those amps (well maybe not quite the mesa) how to do a spectacular clean and low/medium gain.
It is what it is.. it wasn't built to play metal but in the hands of a competent metal player, ANY amp will do metal.
yeah i'm a big fan - the comp, the LTD (silver is my favorite), and the SS are complete winners in my book - i haven't used the clean boost but i hear that it's equally amazing also
technically a midrange boost but the frequency it pushes and the level of dB's it raises it by makes the sound a good deal louder for it to suffice as a volume boost.
If you want a perfectly flat volume increase though, you'd have to use a clean boost in the fx loop.
hmm you said in the video you played a gig with the volume at 10 o'clock how big was the gig?
also could i get a good shred tone with a distortion pedal (satchurator)? because i want to purchase a tube amp(first) and i play fusion and shred could this give me a good lead tone for shred? thanks
yeah I've used a few overdrives in front of it and they all perform really well. I use a tc nova system in the loop and it's very quiet and transparent. I've used my brother's boss DD6 with great results as well. The loop in the amp is really nice.
yeah you can swap tubes in any tube amp.. in fact, it's part of maintaining the amp. you don't have to replace them often but tubes are like lightbulbs in that they wear out eventually and need to be replaced with fresh ones.
Nice video bro, couple quickies -- is this the tone tubby or regular speaker version? Are the tubes in this video stock? Is the Palomino the same amp? What exatcly is the austion OD pedal is that the Rocktron gold pedal? thanks again and cool vid ps . can u put up a updated video when u have a few mins :-)
A store near me is selling an 18 for $279 and the 50 for $299. Is the 18 watt version big enough for gigs? Or would you spend another $20 on the 50? I'm afraid if I do that I'll never have any natural OD.
I'd think it would be similar but mine has the factory installed tone tubby speaker. It makes a HUGE difference compared to my brother's V32 palomino with the generic celstion.
30 watts of tube power is plenty enough to be heard in a full heavy rock band without needing a PA assistance. It's LOUD. Brian May with Queen gigged with 30 watt vox AC30's for decades.
both. it's loud enough to fill a small~medium club without the aid of a mic but of course, if you've got a decent soundman/system, using a mic is always going to give a better overall sound. It has the power though to be heard without the need of a mic though.
Never heard of it. But the EHX isn't a gate at all. So it doesn't try to pick up from what you play and try to take the noise out. It works by actually conditioning the signal to the amp. Which makes it so all your signal is kept in tact. I've tried gates but they take 20 percent of all the harmonics away. Gates suck, in my opinion. But hey man nice amp cant wait to buy mine. =).
I heard they were having initial overheating problems (the palomino 2X12 version at least). I haven't played one yet. I'd assume it has the same overall feel of the V32/V30 but they would have had to alter it's power section for the 6L6 tubes and that will inevitably change the sound. This one though is more than loud enough for just about every gig I can conceive. PA's are there to help.
USA. Designed and built by St. Louis music. The PCB inside was also inspected by an american. My brother's V32 palomino is the same way. I think it's the new palominos and Vseries amps that are korean built. Doesn't mean they're bad amps though.
I own a V3112 with a Celestion speaker made in Indonesia or something, It sounds very nice but not as well as yours! Your sound i s awesome! My amp is for sell, replaced by a Mesa. More versatile! Thx for your reply!
You're production values certainly have improved. Too bad you are only recording mediocre Splawn and Trainwreck amps now instead of awesome Crates.
b1gnasty69 1 month ago
@b1gnasty69 trainwreck.. I WISH!!
FastRedPonyCar 1 month ago
Im gonna have to disagree with you on the v32s being the same- im pretty positive they are not the same amp
claytushaywood1 1 year ago
@claytushaywood1 my brother has one. I've had them opened up side by side next to each other. They are identical component for component.
FastRedPonyCar 1 year ago
@FastRedPonyCar i hear what you are saying about them being the same, but there is a big difference in tone between the two because i own both. you should really put this amp through a 212 cabinet because thats when it really opens up.
maciverandy 8 months ago
@maciverandy I sold this thing like 2 years ago :/
FastRedPonyCar 8 months ago
Good !
soaring138 1 year ago
These amps are awesome. One of my best friends has had the 50 watt 2x12 version for years and it's always sounded fantastic. My 100 watt peavey halfstack is a little much for a house full of people (and for my back), so I'd like to get a combo that I could possibly play at bedroom levels. One question, does it have a headphone jack by any chance?
bcaprari 1 year ago
@bcaprari nah fraid not. if you put a volume pedal in the FX loop though you can pull the volume down to whisper quiet levels but still have the preamp cranked for a nice smooth gain.
FastRedPonyCar 1 year ago
So what exactly is the difference between this amp and the Crate V32 Palomino? Do they sound similar?
BarneyIsPerverted 1 year ago
@BarneyIsPerverted totally the same. The palominos were a different tolex color version made for guitar center/musicains friend. The only REAL difference is that the palomino never came with a tone tubby speaker and I *THINK* that the black tolex versions were never made in korea. I think they were all USA built where as the palomino production got moved to korea near the end of it's life cycle.
The guy that designed the V series says the korean models don't sound as good.
FastRedPonyCar 1 year ago
@BarneyIsPerverted The Palomino was made in Vietnam and USA at the beginning, not Korea.
sirgerry 1 year ago
I have just bought one new usa model with footswitch and grovetube valves tone tubby speaker for £84 all in what a bargain
rogerthehat 2 years ago
Beautiful tone. Sounds Marshall-like.
BarneyIsPerverted 2 years ago
i got an old old, national,,solid state,,little amp,,with its tweed an blackn silver speaker with 2,,8 inch speakers,,that really smokes with a good crunchin, plexi kinda tone,,we just cant believe it at all, i hooked it to my vintage 4,,12 marshall cab,,an dear lord,,monstrous tone, chunky killer distortion,,at least as good as this crate,,easily,,with my lace senser strat,,very very loud,,its unbelievable,,see flyfish777,,if you doubt,,good sound outta the crate
flyfish777 2 years ago
does this amp gotta effect loop
FingerLickinGravy67 2 years ago
yes it HAS an effects loop.
FastRedPonyCar 2 years ago
I heard you say that the newer ones aren't very good, should I not buy?
m0ckingbirda 2 years ago
no buy the older USA built ones. this comes from the guy who originally designed these amps. he said when they moved production to china the quality in parts and tone became worse. Worse yet, the new ones aren't even built on the same design as the USA ones.
FastRedPonyCar 2 years ago
man grat tone at 4:00
im goung to buy a V50 used for 250 euros with new tubes. is it a good deal?
lednicky1 2 years ago
no the newer V series amps are not very good. look for a used V3112T or non T version or the crate V32 Palomino. They're all the same amp. The palomino has a blonde tolex cover and generic celestion.
Those are the only V series amps worth buying in my opinion.
FastRedPonyCar 2 years ago
hey, you play some nice licks and lines :-)
romaneberle 2 years ago
really feeling this amp, i know its not as loud, but how would you compare it to the new blackstar amp the 5 watter
miller434 2 years ago
never played the BS 5 watter but I used to have the blackheart 5 watter and for bedroom jamming or jamming with a buddy, it's fine but it really struggled to be heard over just a moderate agressiveness drummer. I'd say 15 watts is the absolute minimum to use with a drummer IMO. 30 watts gives you room to stretch your legs for soloing and stuff.
FastRedPonyCar 2 years ago
i still love this line
EL34 2 years ago
this is a british style amp im guessing?
LikidySplitz 2 years ago
yeah it leans towards the british voicing.
FastRedPonyCar 2 years ago
I have a V30 and a V33 which i did the R4/R77 resistor swap to fix the lead channel factory screw-up. The V30 sounds a bit more chimey and articulate but the (modded) V33 lead has a great wall of sound like a Plexi.
terryorr 2 years ago
These american amps are most definitely great amps, The old black ones, not the new ones made in china or viet nam. There is a huge difference. I own several VFX5212 's build a wall and drive these things like this guy here, man you cant touch it,,,, sad to say you can go to e bay and find them for almost nothing,,, everyone thinks cause its a crate its no good...
rkller900123 3 years ago
Is a all tube amp?
mbnicolas19 3 years ago
i have the head...i drive it in a 4x12...amazing torque and bottom...perfect mid!!!go try it now!!!
sweethouze28 3 years ago
So what speaker would you recommend to replace the stock celestion in my amp? I was thinking about putting the tone tubby in it. Anything you would put above that?
francisz4 3 years ago
Thanks for the video. How much did u pay for this and when did u buy it?
Did u use that distortion pedal only in the HC part in the end or all the time?
What do you think about the amp's own distortion for metal music?
beuou 3 years ago
Thanks alot for the help man, could you please do some tool clips for me, I've been trying to find some to no avial, thanks alot. some new and old tones, sorry for the late reply
syn5643 3 years ago
thx for the great review/demo... i have the choice between a U.S.A made V30 and a Vietnam-made palomino v32... is the palomino worth it or should i grab the v30 while i still can?
datrueballa90 3 years ago
hey, right now i have the option between a crate v30 (celestian speaker) at $375 or a palomino v32 at $350. which would you reccomend? both stock and u.s. made. i play a lot of alternative like Muse, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, and My Morning Jacket and then rock stuff like Doobie Brothers, Roy Buchanan, Hendrix, and Red Hot Chili Peppers etc. which do you think? thanks!
LosmaFan 3 years ago
same amps different cosmetics. pick which one you think looks the best then replace the generic celestion with something like a weber silver bell or better yet, a scumback speaker.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
thanks a lot!
LosmaFan 3 years ago
what about the Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 20th Anniversary combo? theres one availible for $450. is it a better amp?
LosmaFan 3 years ago
actually, im starting to wonder if its worth an extra $125 to buy a v30 over a new v33. do they sound VERY noticeably different? ive heard the v50's are unreliable, but not the 33's. what do you think?
LosmaFan 3 years ago
so.... are the v30 and v33 similar/the same? i mean do they sound the same, just with the 33 having slightly more wattage? or what?
edgecrushers 3 years ago
no they're totally different amps. The new ones are chinese and have all sorts of reliability issues.
Obeid Khan, the designer of the previous generation V-amps was disappointed with these new ones.
Steer clear and find a used V32 palomino or V3112T on ebay. Some sellers have new ones just old stock.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
hmmm.. ok. thanks for the heads up.
edgecrushers 3 years ago
I actually live in STL where Obeid Khan, designes Crate and Ampegs. He's got his own Company Reason now, you should check it out, It's pretty badass. I'm thinking either Bogner Uberschall, Splawn Nitro, or Reason SM-50. What do you think for Tool style?
syn5643 3 years ago
yeah I've seen his new amps. Very cool. I play a LOT of TOOL and my nitro captures Adam Jone's earlier (Aenima, Undertow and Opiate) tones when he used marshalls very well. The Nitro's low end grunt also does lend itself to the more modern tones he gets from the Diezels and Rivera though it's not as high fi sounding.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
I dont see why you think it cant hang with the hardcore group.
Boosted with the Austin there, I'd say it sounds pretty metalish.
himynameisknox 3 years ago
yeah it does do a hard rock and older metal quite well but compare it to the B52 AT 1X12 combo or even the valve king 1X12 or mesa mark IV 1X12... yeah it will get it's butt stomped as far as sheer brutality goes... what it will do though is politely show all of those amps (well maybe not quite the mesa) how to do a spectacular clean and low/medium gain.
It is what it is.. it wasn't built to play metal but in the hands of a competent metal player, ANY amp will do metal.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
Try the BB preamp pedal man , i think you well like it
dimarzioooo 3 years ago
I do like the RC booster but it doesn't have enough gain to use as a standalone overdrive for some of the uses I need a pedal for.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
ever looked at Barber pedals?
HopePoisoned 3 years ago
yeah I like their burn unit.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
yeah i'm a big fan - the comp, the LTD (silver is my favorite), and the SS are complete winners in my book - i haven't used the clean boost but i hear that it's equally amazing also
HopePoisoned 3 years ago
nice drive!
12rw 3 years ago
the overdrive channel. haha it's a 2 channel amp with a midrange boost for either channel.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
is it a midrange boost? or a volume boost?
begarnham 3 years ago
technically a midrange boost but the frequency it pushes and the level of dB's it raises it by makes the sound a good deal louder for it to suffice as a volume boost.
If you want a perfectly flat volume increase though, you'd have to use a clean boost in the fx loop.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
what channel is that?
9balll 3 years ago
i'm thinking on buying the 50 watts version, because i can't find the 30 watts's one, does the 50 sound worse?, and is the overdrive similar?
begarnham 3 years ago
they're not too similar. I played the V32 palomino next to the V50 palomino and it lacks the mojo the EL84 version has.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
hmm you said in the video you played a gig with the volume at 10 o'clock how big was the gig?
also could i get a good shred tone with a distortion pedal (satchurator)? because i want to purchase a tube amp(first) and i play fusion and shred could this give me a good lead tone for shred? thanks
tenaciousjp 3 years ago
it will do fusion really really well. and the gig was a large club. probably a couple hundred people there. very big sound from the amp.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
nice. but does this amp go good with pedals?
tenaciousjp 3 years ago
yeah I've used a few overdrives in front of it and they all perform really well. I use a tc nova system in the loop and it's very quiet and transparent. I've used my brother's boss DD6 with great results as well. The loop in the amp is really nice.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
very nice amp! good playing too. I love that you can get a great sounding tube amp for <$1k.
Stephan0070 3 years ago
sounds great, especially for the price of one of those things.
Al112987 3 years ago
Where can I get the austin overdrive?
229Mafia 3 years ago
I love the tones your getting outta of that crate. If I was to get the 50 or the 33 would you be able to swap the tubes
Chaoticice86 3 years ago
yeah you can swap tubes in any tube amp.. in fact, it's part of maintaining the amp. you don't have to replace them often but tubes are like lightbulbs in that they wear out eventually and need to be replaced with fresh ones.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
Nice video bro, couple quickies -- is this the tone tubby or regular speaker version? Are the tubes in this video stock? Is the Palomino the same amp? What exatcly is the austion OD pedal is that the Rocktron gold pedal? thanks again and cool vid ps . can u put up a updated video when u have a few mins :-)
thenewnhlsux 3 years ago
have you used or heard the 100watt head? I'm lookin at it and I played the 50 watt combo and loved it.
standxdown 3 years ago
No but I know it doesn't have the same tone as the 30 watt (and less) versions use EL84's which are TOTALLY different than the EL34's or 6L6's.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
so would the tone be around that of the 50 watt?
standxdown 3 years ago
yeah the 100 watter would be more or less a louder, tighter, bolder version of the 50 watt version.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
alrright sweet, thanks alot dude.
standxdown 3 years ago
Nice and chunky
PutItAway101 3 years ago
I'd say the 50 watter but the now out of production 30 watt combos are supposed to have the best sound which is why I searched ebay for mine.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
oh nice. well what kind of tubes/speaker does the 30 have? and what speaker does the 33 have? thaks.
LosmaFan 3 years ago
A store near me is selling an 18 for $279 and the 50 for $299. Is the 18 watt version big enough for gigs? Or would you spend another $20 on the 50? I'm afraid if I do that I'll never have any natural OD.
LosmaFan 3 years ago
the crate will pretty much drown out his amp to be honest.. he'll need something with tubes in it to hang.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
Will this V30 get loud enough for gigs? The rhythm guitarist in my band has a 75 watt SS amp. Will this cut through?
EPILPROCKER 3 years ago
Sweet ass tone man! Do you know anything about the V50 model? is the tone similar to this?
EPILPROCKER 3 years ago
I'd think it would be similar but mine has the factory installed tone tubby speaker. It makes a HUGE difference compared to my brother's V32 palomino with the generic celstion.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
30 watts of tube power is plenty enough to be heard in a full heavy rock band without needing a PA assistance. It's LOUD. Brian May with Queen gigged with 30 watt vox AC30's for decades.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
how loud can this thing get? like loud enough to gig with or no?
alivewiththegloryof 3 years ago
I'm gettin one! Nice riffs Dude......
dutch04 3 years ago
you won't regret it! KILLER little brute!
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
Did you get that tone before or after you swapped tubes? I'm liking that sound. Where did you purchase tubes from?
andegq32 3 years ago
You said in the vid you gigged with it, Did you have to mic it or was it cool just through the 1 12"?
KnotX182 3 years ago
both. it's loud enough to fill a small~medium club without the aid of a mic but of course, if you've got a decent soundman/system, using a mic is always going to give a better overall sound. It has the power though to be heard without the need of a mic though.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
Hey man, i think im gonna trade a guy my randall for this. Great review btw, loved yor playing, what guitar are you using and what pickups are in it?
fredsnewfrisbee 3 years ago
It's a carvin C66 w/dimarzio evolutions. Incredible guitar. As good as any anderson or Surh I've played believe it or not.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
i own one and i like it a lot, thanks for the demonstration. more power to yuor playing
jrkat55 3 years ago
if you have noise issues check out the EHX hum debugger. Works extremely well. almost like magic
deleriousmoose 3 years ago
eh, it's ok. Check out the ISP G-string noise decimator. King of the noise gates.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
Never heard of it. But the EHX isn't a gate at all. So it doesn't try to pick up from what you play and try to take the noise out. It works by actually conditioning the signal to the amp. Which makes it so all your signal is kept in tact. I've tried gates but they take 20 percent of all the harmonics away. Gates suck, in my opinion. But hey man nice amp cant wait to buy mine. =).
deleriousmoose 3 years ago
You could also try to Boss NS2, I believe Yngwie Malmsteen uses that alot.
sabrakazama 3 years ago
my tc nova system has a built in noise gate I use.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
Very nice.
I'm thinking about buy a V50. What do you think about it ???
partyboy93 3 years ago
I heard they were having initial overheating problems (the palomino 2X12 version at least). I haven't played one yet. I'd assume it has the same overall feel of the V32/V30 but they would have had to alter it's power section for the 6L6 tubes and that will inevitably change the sound. This one though is more than loud enough for just about every gig I can conceive. PA's are there to help.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
Drew, I cant help it man...but you look like Topher Grace (Eric Forman/that 70's show) at the end of this vid. hahaha...
funkdified1 3 years ago
hahah usually I get the Ashton Kutcher
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
Where was made this amp? US or asia? Thanks
Zenabirg 3 years ago
USA. Designed and built by St. Louis music. The PCB inside was also inspected by an american. My brother's V32 palomino is the same way. I think it's the new palominos and Vseries amps that are korean built. Doesn't mean they're bad amps though.
FastRedPonyCar 3 years ago
I own a V3112 with a Celestion speaker made in Indonesia or something, It sounds very nice but not as well as yours! Your sound i s awesome! My amp is for sell, replaced by a Mesa. More versatile! Thx for your reply!
Zenabirg 3 years ago
nice man. very smooth. top end is a bit harsh on the higher gain tho. we cant get them in the UK.
Mahavishnu80 3 years ago
agreed. but his tone makes my amp seem like its crap lol.
liquidribs 3 years ago