I guess you have to decide what $2000 means to you. I know some people would justify the Engl (maybe I lean more in that camp as well) but, I agree that if the user cannot justify the difference then do what works for you.
Way back in 2003, someone in the old Harmony Central guitar forum recorded a riff with a GX15 and a SM57... and the whole forum praised his sound/tone... until the reveal ;-)
Some years back I got a similar wake-up call while recording an EP with my old band. The bassist was a Berkely-trained player and sound engineer, and when it came time to record, he told me to bring my Vox Cambridge 15 instead of my full 100W rig. The Vox is a total bedroom amp, one tube in the pre, solid state power, and 8-inch speaker. It sounds fine for what it is but doesn't have anywhere near enough output to gig with in even a small setting. But we set that thing up, I dialed in a crunchy rock tone with a bit of chug using the built-in gain, and we went to town. And I was stunned when I heard the finished product. My takeaway was that studio rigs and live rigs are completely different animals, especially when you're in higher gain territory. (Which is why metal tones are also the easiest to dial up with a modeler, incidentally.)
crate didn't sound bad, but I can definitely hear the difference. There's a presence to the big cab that the small amp just doesn't have. That being said, I'm betting the sound would be even closer if the crate were a head running into the 4x12 cab. Speakers matter
essensially i dont think the amp is the issue i agree its the cab use that crate as a amp head and u will be laughing at how good it sounds, the lesson is get a shitty cheap crate as a amp head instead of spending stupid amounts on a [cooler] amp head it will do the job more than fine especially in rock and metal
My Crate G60GT has the G12M65 which was standard also in Marshall cabs mid-eighties, so in theory it could be the same type of speaker, or at least equivalent (Eminence Premium/Celestion G12T75) The closed/open construction and size matters, and most of all - the phase notches that 4 speakers make together with the mic-placement angle of the mic.
I can certainly hear the difference. But if you didn’t tell me which amp you were playing through I would not be able to tell the difference meaning one does not sound better than the other in the context of the song. The moral of the story. Gear is important but playing skills are more important.
This was my brother's first amp (and basically last - his fascination didn't last very long.), but I remember being blown away that I could crank the output but keep the volume down. I would sneak into the garage and play along to Deftones Around the Fur and Hybrid Theory, quietly of course, and have the best time of my life just playing with one finger. I'll always remember those nights.
i'm really surprised how good that Crate sounded, but the engl clearly sounded better... my first amp was a Crate, sounded like shit til it shorted out and caught on fire. i either rocked too hard at 13 y/o, or it was broken lol
Nah The crate sounded better. Buts it's subjective to each their own. I tend to like more treble and tightness to my tone. Some like less mids and a warmer tone.
I swear, double tracking can make almost anything sound adequate! The difference is definitely bigger in the rhythm parts, but double tracking saves the Crate quite a lot. I imagine a single isolated rhythm track with the Crate would more give the more typical lackluster tone we expect.
This couldn’t be more wrong. I modded a crate gx15 to basically run as a head unit and even for tight modern medal tones boosted w an overdrive through a 4x12 sounds huge af
@@mikeskis7887 With this amp, the settings make a shit ton of difference. Remove the mids completely, and boost the slows and highs to the max. It sounds fucking awesome, the little beast.
@@mikeskis7887I think the persons point had more to do with tracking and how that can help. Not that the crate is impossible to sound decent. Plus you gutted the thing and made it a stack which is very different from a small combo lol.
I think the moral of the story is that the tiny Crate amp is pretty Damn Sweet for $35. I had a Crate back in the day and was shocked how good it sounded- the crunch coming out of that amp was AWESOME!
Out of all the amps I've ever played, my favorite to this day, for recording and for gigs, is my dad's old Peavey Bandit 112. That thing,, even though it was a solid-state amp, had some serious cred wherever I took it. It leaned into everything I gave it, and it never once required any special treatment.
So my guitar teacher uses a USA version of this crate and a digitech Gnx3 for all of his lessons. He’s been a long time touring musician as well as a producer and let me tell you, he got this thing to sound incredible for practice. I picked up that exact rig for $200 all in and it’s better than a lot of high end gear I’ve had in the past and way more versatile.
🤘🏻I think both actually sound really close! All versions sounded pretty damn good, I think the ENGL just edges out as being that little bit better, to my ears anyways 🙂
We just have to admit it boys. Back in the day these Crate combo amp's ripped ass for us. Made us jam and love it. Those old Crate amps are magical. The problem is we got older and got bigger amps, better guitars and just thought those old amps were straight shit now. BUt they have their place in all of our hearts. We learned on these things man. I need to track one down
I just got a Crate gfx65 and tried it out last night, ..it sounds so good,it has made me reconsider my current setup, wich is the Carvin v3m ran thru a nice 412. All I can say is for a so called Budget amp this Gfx65 is a Beast!!
That Crate sounds awesome! Obviously the ENGL has a smoother warmer sound, as if the jagged edges have been sanded off but it depends what you're playing/recording. For something Dream Theatre-esque the ENG wins for sure but if I was recording something in the vein of Megadeth or Slayer, i totally prefer the Crate's sound. It's so vicious.
Push up the 10k on the guitar channel eq and that crate will be the same clarity! Trust me, I sound engineered for many years! (10k is figurative, with a 32 band you'll close the gap very nicely!)
Is it a $1,000 or even $500 dollar difference? If you didn't hear them back to back, do you think you could tell? Do you know how women can feel compelled to dress up and put on makeup, more so for other women than for men? Is it possible that rock guitarists assume the average or even above average fan would recognize the difference, when the fan is completely oblivious? Are sound snobs only that way to impress other sound snobs?
I have that same crate, found it on Craigslist awhile back and have laid down tracks with it several times now. I definitely think it works better for leads, but it is pretty good on rhythm tracks too. Surprising what you can get out of a practice amp for sure! Love the video man!
I just bought a Crate 15 used from a practice buddy. I LOVE IT! I bought an adapter to go from my iPad to the Crate. Sounds amazing! I follow along with CZcamsrs. I just a beginner player.. I love the sound.
My first amp was the GX15. My 2nd was the head version of this which I still own 28 years later, and a mess of amps since. I'm a shred and sweep player relative to yourself, and tube has the advantage when you start hitting very bassy, clustered sweeps with definition and note separation, but SS has the raunchy, sleaze and balls tube always needs a SS pedal or internal stage to produce. *I just got home with a 30 year old Crate GX212 for $70, so beat that!* I have a dozen amps, an all tube head and everything in between. Crate was pretty much "the amp" when it came to solid state for a few decades. *When it boils down, tube texture and note separation is almost always superior for certain pieces of music, but SS isn't utterly worthless for solos and instrumentals as many push.*
just smoother depends on the context of the mix which actually sounds better i think, different styles do different jobs better. grit goes to crate and the smoothness goes to the marshal speakers but celestian just always sound smooth and bassy with any amp really
I listened to it through my studio monitors and I have to say the Engl sounds slightly cleaner but not $1965 more clean. I would say the crate was a great choice.
Give me a moment while I pick my jaw up from the floor. If I'm being honest, I'm stunned at the similarity, which says a lot about how much of the tone actually comes from a player's fingers. While I did think the ENGL sounded just a bit better, it wasn't so much better that I'd pay the difference. Thanks for the great content. I really enjoyed this.
Great video!! I LOVE CRATE AMPS! My main rig since 2003 is a POWERLOCK into a pair of homemade cabs with Celestion 1x12 & 1x10! It is a FACT that Neil Schon recorded his SOLOS with a cheapo Roland transistor amp - so it would ´stand out in the mix´. As he said ´IF IT SOUNDS GOOD - IT IS GOOD´. Stuff the Purists!
Couple things Crate gx series. Beast mode, theyve been on some good old school death metal albums. Thoughts: you can setup and eq to sound good in a room but when you put a shure sm57 up to the speaker everything changes and then you end up with amp settings that by themselves in the room dont sound so amazing but through that mc and mic preamp do sound great.
I just got given a 15gx and was shocked with the sound for such a small amp....then I saw your video and new I had a little Gem, tx for the video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I bought a crate glx15 in 2006 and loved it. I put a WGS G8C 20 watt speaker in it a couple years ago just cause I had a gift certificate and now it's crazy good for what it is.
I started this video with just the audio. I was sure that it was going to be a blind test, and at the end, you would say which was which. So, I didn't see the giveaway script on top of the video. To me, listening through an Android phone, the Crate kicked ass. I couldn't believe it when I went back and saw which was which. What makes this hysterical for me is how I found the exact same model next to a dumpster. I took it home, and told myself, "I'm not even going to see how it sounds, I know this is a piece of junk.". So I just canabalised it for parts. Wow, just, wow.
Dude wow you made Crate sound amazing great job bring some justice to the Crate Amp line, Crate made in USA 🇺🇸 is a way under rated amp brand. Its to bad they went under. My USA made Crate 120watt-GFX 2x12 combo is way insane it can be pushed to ac30 levels of db I own Marshall, Orange and Vox amps but will never sell and I love my old American made Crate120.
Crate sounds great! Engl more scooped. Both rigs sound good enough! I have even more extreme experiences... My Mesa Triple Rec sounds flubby and loose recorded and in the room when compared to my rack gear and even a Line 6 Spider IV 120W 2x10. I used that Line 6 at gigs and jams for a very seasoned multi-instrumentalist band leader and got compliments on the sounds of my patches. Tone compliments on my CZcams videos as well when using the Spider, go figure. I think it's more about the playing and the vision behind the sound designs (patch tweaking), ultimately: the ear of the player. I'm considering taking the Line 6 logo off that amp to end all negative comments in the future. That would be interesting.
I have a Mesa and it took me for-fricking-ever to really get it dialed in for recording. I ended up swapping out all of the speakers in my 4x12 to complement the Mesa and guitar tone better. Now I get exactly the tone I want out of it. Huge amount of the tone and crispness is in the speakers, not the amp. I ended up going with G12K-100's and G12T-75's to get a punchy, crisp metal tone on ch3, they're very complementary to each other.
The GX sounds surprisingly well especially on the lead parts and I think actually tops the $2k setup. Of course the ENGL sounds better overall but still, both are amazing Mike - the GOAT since teenage years
My go to amp is laughed at by most ! It's a Behringer GTX60 . I also currently own a crate stealth 50 watt tube head with a vintage 4-12 cabinet . I sold my Marshall Plexi long ago . My little solid state GTX60 does everything adequately ! I forgot t mention ......I upgraded my Behringer with an EV12L and it weighs a ton now......but it absolutely Screams ! I will put it up against any rig of there and it will hold it's own ! Your "sound" comes as much from your hands and blood,sweat and tears as your equipment ! If people only knew how many songs they listened to a million times where the guitar was recorded with a small 5-15 watt amp (think Fender Champ or Princeton) they would be shocked !
I have one of those Crates. Actually played through it today. Your Engle/ Marshall setup may have sounded a little warmer/smoother , but does this matter. I learned on a Peavey Pacer. A 45 watt SS from the late seventies. I’d set the Vol. up, use the Master vol.. crank the overdrive, then hit the treble booster switch that came with it. Finally, I’d run an LPB 2 Linear Power Booster in front of the amp. Now, if I would have had this little bedside Crate back then, I would be using it, hands down.
When I stopped gigging and sold my Marshall 2204 and 4x12 cab, I picked up a 1x12 Crate GS-150 with and EVM-12L in it as a practice amp for home. What beast that thing was!! The tone was really bright and the EV gave it beefy low end. I wound up gigging with that amp for a handful of shows (much to the annoyance of the sound guy) and it held its own. I wound up selling it for almost nothing, I regret it now.
I gotta special place in my heart for the crate gx 15! It was the first amp I had in the 90s! And I had a washburn can't remember the model but should of kept it!
i own a crate gx 65 and i think its great live and recording as it has a nice id range and cuts through despite picking it up for about 100 and putting it against my laney tube amp it sound great i think different things can do jobs either better or worse for eg the crate is great for heavy and gritty sounds where as the laney shines through on leads and smoother heavy distorted guitar parts
This is a fun listen and yeah, that Crate sounds pretty damn good. I just acquired a Crate CX-30, which was my very first guitar amp because I wanted to see what sort of tones I could get out of it now that I have a lot more experience and I was also very surprised at how good this amp sounds - even the overdrive channel. It's also louder than I expected. I haven't really cranked it, but bedroom volumes are only at like 2 or 3 on the level knobs.
In a mix...imho it's all about the EQ!!!...so many folks get hung up on using smaller or inexpensive amps for recording so.e sound so great!!!..BUT there is a huge difference when your in a practice session or in your bedroom jammin!!..I still have my Crate GX15 after I bought it of a buddy for 10 bucks 22 yrs ago..love it...but do like to feel air move like when you can push a 2x12 or 4x12 and a tube amp or even a little hybrid like the Joyo ViVo of Joyo Bantamp series of amps..imho for the features and power you can't beat them at 145.00 US....I wish they made the XL version of the ViVo like they do for almost all the other bantamp amps adding the second Channel and a footswitch for only 50 more bucks!!..I've played the ViVo thru a 1x12 2x12 and 4x12 and my favorite is how it pushes a good 2x12...gonna have to pull the tiny trigger on the Joyo Zombie XL modeled after the Mesa Boogie dual rectifier...that little head is freaking amazing!!!..you should do a review on the new Soldano Mini 30! I got to play one the other day at GC...thru a EVH 4x12 and the little thing shook everything in the store with the gain on 6!!! Its an awesome sounding solid state that really captured the gain channel of the OG SLO 100...not exact of course but I was BLOWN AWAY!! at just how close it comes to the sound and Tube feel of the OG amp...at 30 solid state watts a full effects loop and at a 249.99 price tag ..no time in history has it been such a great time for beginner guitar players of all ages!!! I only wish I had the stuff they have now along with the quality and affordability when I started playing at 13 yrs old back in 1986...when even just a small practice amp like my first..a 1986 Peavey Backstage Plus 1x10 35 watt practice amp..still cost a pretty penny for a kid mowing lawns and washing cars saving all summer..
I knew I had to comment as soon as I saw the title. The Crate GX-15 was the first amp I've ever owned. I remember hating it for not having all the fancy features other amps had, like reverb, two channels EQ controls and whatnot. And the tone was definitely less than great. In hindsight I was totally naive, I couldn't demand that much from an amp like that. Now I know for sure it wasn't the Crate, but me. 🤣 But I liked tiny little things like, for example, that it was enough to set the gain at 3.5 or so to generate a decent feedback (still controllable though). I don't know if my cheap Cort's Mightymife pickups were responsible for it but I didn't care, at the time I was just going for being absolutely loud rather than just learning how to play guitar properly. 🤣 It's interesting to see while the Engl+Marshall pair delivers a nice, rounder, smoother and more resonant tone, the Crate somehow gets by well, though you can hear is a bit wonky. But by no means unbearably shrill when raising the high end like other amps can get.
CZcams compression kills some of the nuance, but they both sounded good. For recoding only it does not sound like there's a $1965 difference between. We can always go with the old "yes they might sound similar, but THE FEEL..."
I worked there, and built and tested literally 10s of thousands of those GX-15 amps (60/hr was the assembly line quota). I'm not surprised at all. I think the Engl sounds better, but the Crate isn't awful. A friend borrowed mine years ago and never returned it. Guess I need to buy another one as well.
Need to give some love to the 90’s by framing it as “Proof that you can get a $2000 ENGL to sound like a cheap Crate!” But seriously, you got that Crate to sound good on the recordings.
I think a blend for rhythms would work on a record pretty well. Alice In Chains used a Mesa Boogie for lows, Bogner/Marshall for mids and Rockman headphone amp for highs in the Dirt album. Van Halen used a small combo bass amp on one album because of the punchiness. Experimenting is fun!
I had that same Crate amp. They're not bad for recording, it's in a live setting where they struggle. It sounded a bit boxy, they don't have the best speakers. Just out of curiosity I hooked mine up to a beat up 412 that I bought used, cabinet was tore up but the grill and speakers were fine. Wow, was I surprised at the amount of tone and low end thump the speaker in the combo was hiding! It's funny that now everyone is into 15 to 30 watt amps live, they just mic it. My rig has gotten smaller over the 35 years I've been playing. Now it's a 20 watt tube head into a 212 cabinet. No more 100 watt full stacks for me.
Makes complete sense when you consider that Ace Frehley would mike (backstage) a fender superchamp for all of his live solos in the 70's and Warren Dimartini used that same amp on Out of The Cellar, thru a 4x12. Whatever it takes to get your tone. PS my setup in the 90's was a superchamp mounted on our drummer's travel case.
Recording in a studio you can use ANYTHING you want as long as it gets the desired effect. Doesn’t matter the cost. However, playing live you probably couldn’t get away with using the $35 amp. That’s where a bigger more expensive rig is needed. Not because of a particular sound but more for volume and durability.
The crate has an awesome tone for the size! The Engl+Marshall has a fuller sound for the rhythm guitar part, but as far as lead / shredding tone.. they’re pretty evenly matched!!
Big amps are only really necessary for live settings in my opinion. With good enough EQ and mic placement a 3 watt mini amp could sound totally fine for recording
I listened through regular old every-day speakers / headphones, and I couldn't tell a difference. I _think_ the crate sounded a tiny bit thinner on the rhythm, but I only noticed it while watching the video & had a giant label telling me what each track was. There's no way I'd notice it if I wasn't watching the video along with the audio.
One of the best metal tones I ever got was My underpowered Washburn into a Metal master distortion pedal into a 15-watt Vox Pathfinder. Mic'ed it and double-tracked it.
I had the same crate amp. Got divorced. ------ I always loved crate amps. Wished they would still in business. I got 3 all tubes and 1 solid state crate amps now. Now I am collecting them when I seen them on Craigslist. Love crate! I do have other non crate amps too. But crate has that unique crate tone that only crate amp could do l. Crate rules. Look how many 80's musicians uses crate in the 80'. Check it out.
I got the crate gx-15r 30 years ago and still love it. It has the line out so you can run a cab with it for gigs. All these years later, much abuse, it's still going strong!
I've considered getting two crate GX 100w amps and turning them into heads so i could run then parallel. I've been playing my GX15 home for ages, and it has one of best lead channels i know.
Well, the microphone hears only one 12 inch Celestion Speaker and a 50 watt hi-gain amp - one transistor and the other tube, so the Engl has a bigger, smoother sound due to better dynamics and headroom, but the Crate ain't bad ... remember it was the #1 choice for many of the pros in the 80s and 90s. Many albums and shows were the G60GT - not only for practice, and demo recordings often ended up on the albums ;)
I prefer the big tube amp sound every time of course. But I love my GX15, I've had it for years, it sounds amazing for what it is. My mate who has a room full of marshalls loves it too, he keeps trying to buy it from me.
I used to always play a Zoom multi-effects pedal through the clean channel of my Crate GT1200H stack at shows, and other players would compliment me on the sound all the time. They always used to say stuff like, "I can't believe a Crate can sound like that!" I personally liked the Crunch and Solo channels' tone also, but the effects loop used a crappy Y-cable setup, so that's why I never used them at shows.
I closed my eyes...2000 Amp was clean and warm. I guess Joe blow off the street won't notice. Maybe clean tone with out pedals might be a better test. Thank you for the vid🙂
This was my very first amp. I think the store (in a Dallas suburb) was pimping them at the time. I just defaulted to what they suggested and I could afford. It ended up with my parents and my hard-of-hearing dad piped tv audio through it until it exploded a couple of years ago. You make it sound good. I'd sound equally terrible through this and my EVH 5150 III.
I thought they were close, but the ENGL was just a bit cleaner. My first amp was a little Fender Squire and yeah, got laughed at by the big kids with their big amps lol. One concert it was the only amp I had available, so we mic'd it. The big kids stopped laughing . . . well at least for that night they did lol. Now I am carting around the Crate tidal wave, but still have that little Fender Squire (which I won't lie, sounds like crap to my ears now days, but I still love it! lol).
beautiful both of them! keep rocking on. people today are too spoiled about technology they forget if you go back a certain number of years they were using a cell phone carrying a bag and they don't realize how good technology is at times and how good they have it ..great job!
Call me nuts but I preferred the small, cheap, practice amp. I own a laney cub10 and absolutely love it!!! Sounds way better than many bigger and more expensive ones plus it's so portable.
Surprisingly close. It's why Clapton recorded the Layla LP using a Fender Champ with an 8" speaker... sorta. The Marshall is smoother and warmer, but for metal... It doesn't matter as much as a less processed and overdriven style like say Blues.
Its all in the head room. Most solid state cheapos do a lot of things pretty well, especially staying tight and articulate in high gain settings. Until you push the power amp past 25%.
I'm very surprised at how serviceable the Crate is! I remember those amps well... Crate everything was big in my music scene back in the mid-to-late 80's. Those half-stacks with the crazy-present built-in chorus effects (I think it was washed in chorus anyway) was all the rage with our local shredders. Anyways - I actually liked the Crate lead here, but much preferred the ENGL rhythm tracks. Color me VERY surprised!
My dad and uncle used to have a fairly successful country and western band back in the day, they were recording an album in like 89 and had hired studio guys to record the drums bass and lead guitar I remember that the lead guitarist was a young rocker who was playing country twang on a b.c.rich and he had a tiny practice amp all miced up and the engineer said that was all he needed and could make it sound as big or small as he needed by how he miced and set the eq
I mean… recording vs in-person live sound is apples vs oranges, different worlds, totally different set of “rules”. So this result doesn’t surprise me (and some of those old crates had a nice sound for small setup, anyway, so even less surprised by the result).
The Engl had just a bit more clarity, lovely clarity, I can hear some midrange that is not in the Crate. But that’s me being really, really a pain in the 4rse, because the Crate sounded ridiculously good! More importantly, your playing is brilliant. You got the speed and clarity, plus some unusual choices on the notes, which I found quite refreshing.
I used to play through a $2,000 Mesa Duel Rectifier. I couldn’t play it because it was too loud. If it wasn’t cranked it didn’t sound great. I bought a Katana a couple years ago and it’s the best amp I’ve ever had. You need to be able to control your tones AND volume. I can’t tell much of a difference that explains $2,000 between any modern amps anymore.
Mike, close. The small amp has a bit more mids I think, so I would have started by lowering those mids. But also, in the context of Thrash metal it sounds correct, many bands have that kind of mid sound, and I also would feel satisfied, past justified. Then I saw some videos about somebody saying that 4 x 12 is useless, they are only useful for live concerts and in other words he warns people they are loud, point in 1 direction anyway (so, sound doesnt spread anyway), and it is a configuration people should not use. And in recording the mic will only record 1 speaker anyway. This man I am telling you about is a pro guy, I quite admire him and I think he is right in most things he says, I disagree with some things he says, but he is a pro, and I listen to him. He thinks that 4x12 is a vain configuration that should be avoided, and if you use it is because you want to look cool and loud, but it's not functional. I have 2x12 combo (transistor, Fender USA, 120w I guess) and I love it even if I use it with my Humble gt10 (That's what I call gt10s). I use it with low volume (like 15-25% volume, in the lowest of both inputs) but I like it enough. Anyway, what people say is that 2x12 is loud if you have it in your bedroom, and I should have 1x12, 50w maximum. Which is kind of right, but I am Ok with it.
It has and always will be in the ear of the musician and how he sets up his sound on an amp either good at it or you're not, And for you young lead guitar players put a booster on your effects loop on your amp if you have one? and push your own leads the soundman will never get it right ! No matter how good he thinks he is ! Do not let anybody talk you into anything, take good information learn everything you can.
Of course the Crate sounds much more old-school. For some reason the way it sounds reminds me of death metal pioneer bands from the 80's. The head + 4x12 cab makes the guitar sound a certain way that I'm already very accustomed to hearing and also kind of expecting the guitar to sound.
I thought the Engl did sound slightly better, but not $2000 better
I guess you have to decide what $2000 means to you. I know some people would justify the Engl (maybe I lean more in that camp as well) but, I agree that if the user cannot justify the difference then do what works for you.
Way back in 2003, someone in the old Harmony Central guitar forum recorded a riff with a GX15 and a SM57... and the whole forum praised his sound/tone... until the reveal ;-)
Some years back I got a similar wake-up call while recording an EP with my old band. The bassist was a Berkely-trained player and sound engineer, and when it came time to record, he told me to bring my Vox Cambridge 15 instead of my full 100W rig. The Vox is a total bedroom amp, one tube in the pre, solid state power, and 8-inch speaker. It sounds fine for what it is but doesn't have anywhere near enough output to gig with in even a small setting. But we set that thing up, I dialed in a crunchy rock tone with a bit of chug using the built-in gain, and we went to town. And I was stunned when I heard the finished product. My takeaway was that studio rigs and live rigs are completely different animals, especially when you're in higher gain territory. (Which is why metal tones are also the easiest to dial up with a modeler, incidentally.)
crate didn't sound bad, but I can definitely hear the difference. There's a presence to the big cab that the small amp just doesn't have. That being said, I'm betting the sound would be even closer if the crate were a head running into the 4x12 cab. Speakers matter
they really do probibly more than the amp depending on the style of amp
essensially i dont think the amp is the issue i agree its the cab use that crate as a amp head and u will be laughing at how good it sounds, the lesson is get a shitty cheap crate as a amp head instead of spending stupid amounts on a [cooler] amp head it will do the job more than fine especially in rock and metal
My Crate G60GT has the G12M65 which was standard also in Marshall cabs mid-eighties, so in theory it could be the same type of speaker, or at least equivalent (Eminence Premium/Celestion G12T75) The closed/open construction and size matters, and most of all - the phase notches that 4 speakers make together with the mic-placement angle of the mic.
I can certainly hear the difference. But if you didn’t tell me which amp you were playing through I would not be able to tell the difference meaning one does not sound better than the other in the context of the song.
The moral of the story. Gear is important but playing skills are more important.
This was my brother's first amp (and basically last - his fascination didn't last very long.), but I remember being blown away that I could crank the output but keep the volume down.
I would sneak into the garage and play along to Deftones Around the Fur and Hybrid Theory, quietly of course, and have the best time of my life just playing with one finger.
I'll always remember those nights.
i'm really surprised how good that Crate sounded, but the engl clearly sounded better... my first amp was a Crate, sounded like shit til it shorted out and caught on fire. i either rocked too hard at 13 y/o, or it was broken lol
Nah The crate sounded better. Buts it's subjective to each their own. I tend to like more treble and tightness to my tone. Some like less mids and a warmer tone.
I swear, double tracking can make almost anything sound adequate! The difference is definitely bigger in the rhythm parts, but double tracking saves the Crate quite a lot. I imagine a single isolated rhythm track with the Crate would more give the more typical lackluster tone we expect.
This couldn’t be more wrong. I modded a crate gx15 to basically run as a head unit and even for tight modern medal tones boosted w an overdrive through a 4x12 sounds huge af
@@mikeskis7887 With this amp, the settings make a shit ton of difference. Remove the mids completely, and boost the slows and highs to the max. It sounds fucking awesome, the little beast.
@@mikeskis7887I think the persons point had more to do with tracking and how that can help. Not that the crate is impossible to sound decent. Plus you gutted the thing and made it a stack which is very different from a small combo lol.
I think the moral of the story is that the tiny Crate amp is pretty Damn Sweet for $35.
I had a Crate back in the day and was shocked how good it sounded- the crunch coming out of that amp was AWESOME!
Out of all the amps I've ever played, my favorite to this day, for recording and for gigs, is my dad's old Peavey Bandit 112. That thing,, even though it was a solid-state amp, had some serious cred wherever I took it. It leaned into everything I gave it, and it never once required any special treatment.
I had a Bandit in the 80's. AWESOME.
Yeah, Peavey rules if you don't want to break the bank. Especially those old Bandits. My guitarist still uses one.
Yeag, had the Bandit too and it was great!
I still have a Bandit red stripe. My neighbors hate me!
I have an old Peavey Chorus 210 and it kills. Love it more than the Mesa Stiletto and Blsckstar club 40 I had.
So my guitar teacher uses a USA version of this crate and a digitech Gnx3 for all of his lessons. He’s been a long time touring musician as well as a producer and let me tell you, he got this thing to sound incredible for practice. I picked up that exact rig for $200 all in and it’s better than a lot of high end gear I’ve had in the past and way more versatile.
🤘🏻I think both actually sound really close! All versions sounded pretty damn good, I think the ENGL just edges out as being that little bit better, to my ears anyways 🙂
We just have to admit it boys. Back in the day these Crate combo amp's ripped ass for us. Made us jam and love it. Those old Crate amps are magical. The problem is we got older and got bigger amps, better guitars and just thought those old amps were straight shit now. BUt they have their place in all of our hearts. We learned on these things man. I need to track one down
I just got a Crate gfx65 and tried it out last night, ..it sounds so good,it has made me reconsider my current setup, wich is the Carvin v3m ran thru a nice 412. All I can say is for a so called Budget amp this Gfx65 is a Beast!!
I use my GX15 as a preamp but the bigger ones sound killer all on their own.
I had the same amp back in 2011 and it rocked..played a little get together with some friends of mine and they loved it !
I had a Crate GFX-15 when I was in college, which is the same as the GX-15 only with an effects knob. I got it for Christmas in 99 and it still works.
That Crate sounds awesome! Obviously the ENGL has a smoother warmer sound, as if the jagged edges have been sanded off but it depends what you're playing/recording. For something Dream Theatre-esque the ENG wins for sure but if I was recording something in the vein of Megadeth or Slayer, i totally prefer the Crate's sound. It's so vicious.
True, Dimebag was a Randall solid state guy
The Crate is basically New York Death Metal in a box.
Probably a lot of people wouldn't hear much difference but I thought the ENGL was much smoother and warmer.
Which is why I'll take the Crate for metal. 😶🌫
It is. But, not 2k better.
Push up the 10k on the guitar channel eq and that crate will be the same clarity! Trust me, I sound engineered for many years! (10k is figurative, with a 32 band you'll close the gap very nicely!)
Ya for 2000 more dollars of course... But it clearly examples would a $35 amp can do in a close race
Is it a difference?
Yes!
Is it a near-2000$-difference?
Eh...
I'm not so certain.
I very much agree
Is it a $1,000 or even $500 dollar difference? If you didn't hear them back to back, do you think you could tell?
Do you know how women can feel compelled to dress up and put on makeup, more so for other women than for men? Is it possible that rock guitarists assume the average or even above average fan would recognize the difference, when the fan is completely oblivious? Are sound snobs only that way to impress other sound snobs?
I have that same crate, found it on Craigslist awhile back and have laid down tracks with it several times now. I definitely think it works better for leads, but it is pretty good on rhythm tracks too. Surprising what you can get out of a practice amp for sure! Love the video man!
I just bought a Crate 15 used from a practice buddy. I LOVE IT!
I bought an adapter to go from my iPad to the Crate. Sounds amazing! I follow along with CZcamsrs. I just a beginner player.. I love the sound.
That's funny, I pulled out my old crate MX10 a few weeks ago and was very surprised at how good it sounds!
My first amp was the GX15. My 2nd was the head version of this which I still own 28 years later, and a mess of amps since. I'm a shred and sweep player relative to yourself, and tube has the advantage when you start hitting very bassy, clustered sweeps with definition and note separation, but SS has the raunchy, sleaze and balls tube always needs a SS pedal or internal stage to produce.
*I just got home with a 30 year old Crate GX212 for $70, so beat that!* I have a dozen amps, an all tube head and everything in between. Crate was pretty much "the amp" when it came to solid state for a few decades.
*When it boils down, tube texture and note separation is almost always superior for certain pieces of music, but SS isn't utterly worthless for solos and instrumentals as many push.*
the crate sounds alright for how cheap it is, but the engl sounds a lot better
Nice pfp RIP chuck
just smoother depends on the context of the mix which actually sounds better i think, different styles do different jobs better. grit goes to crate and the smoothness goes to the marshal speakers but celestian just always sound smooth and bassy with any amp really
I listened to it through my studio monitors and I have to say the Engl sounds slightly cleaner but not $1965 more clean. I would say the crate was a great choice.
Give me a moment while I pick my jaw up from the floor. If I'm being honest, I'm stunned at the similarity, which says a lot about how much of the tone actually comes from a player's fingers. While I did think the ENGL sounded just a bit better, it wasn't so much better that I'd pay the difference. Thanks for the great content. I really enjoyed this.
Great video!!
I LOVE CRATE AMPS! My main rig since 2003 is a POWERLOCK into a pair of homemade cabs with Celestion 1x12 & 1x10!
It is a FACT that Neil Schon recorded his SOLOS with a cheapo Roland transistor amp - so it would ´stand out in the mix´.
As he said ´IF IT SOUNDS GOOD - IT IS GOOD´. Stuff the Purists!
Couple things
Crate gx series. Beast mode, theyve been on some good old school death metal albums.
Thoughts: you can setup and eq to sound good in a room but when you put a shure sm57 up to the speaker everything changes and then you end up with amp settings that by themselves in the room dont sound so amazing but through that mc and mic preamp do sound great.
It's not about the gear, it's all about your fingers and your spirit. God bless.
Bro that riff is killer… it’s been stuck in my head all day 😎🤘
I just got given a 15gx and was shocked with the sound for such a small amp....then I saw your video and new I had a little Gem, tx for the video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I feel like a bit of high end roll off would make that Crate sound phenomenal. Definitely a great sounding amp!
The Ampeg version has the highs focused at 3.2k instead of 5k, it definitely helps tame the high end.
I bought a crate glx15 in 2006 and loved it. I put a WGS G8C 20 watt speaker in it a couple years ago just cause I had a gift certificate and now it's crazy good for what it is.
Very smart not lugging the Peavey around. CRATE video Mike!!
GX-15 was my first amp. Picked it up around 1998 from a pawn shop with an Aria Pro II. Still have them both.
I started this video with just the audio. I was sure that it was going to be a blind test, and at the end, you would say which was which. So, I didn't see the giveaway script on top of the video. To me, listening through an Android phone, the Crate kicked ass. I couldn't believe it when I went back and saw which was which. What makes this hysterical for me is how I found the exact same model next to a dumpster. I took it home, and told myself, "I'm not even going to see how it sounds, I know this is a piece of junk.". So I just canabalised it for parts. Wow, just, wow.
Dude wow you made Crate sound amazing great job bring some justice to the Crate Amp line, Crate made in USA 🇺🇸 is a way under rated amp brand. Its to bad they went under. My USA made Crate 120watt-GFX 2x12 combo is way insane it can be pushed to ac30 levels of db I own Marshall, Orange and Vox amps but will never sell and I love my old American made Crate120.
The Engl & Marshall definitely sounded better. But the Crate by no means sounded bad.
I'd be perfectly happy to use that Crate's tone on my recordings.
Crate sounds great!
Engl more scooped. Both rigs sound good enough!
I have even more extreme experiences...
My Mesa Triple Rec sounds flubby and loose recorded and in the room when compared to my rack gear and even a Line 6 Spider IV 120W 2x10.
I used that Line 6 at gigs and jams for a very seasoned multi-instrumentalist band leader and got compliments on the sounds of my patches. Tone compliments on my CZcams videos as well when using the Spider, go figure.
I think it's more about the playing and the vision behind the sound designs (patch tweaking), ultimately: the ear of the player.
I'm considering taking the Line 6 logo off that amp to end all negative comments in the future. That would be interesting.
Yeah, its amazing how things sound when you take eyesight out of it.
the secret to mesa amps when you crank the gain is turn the bass down to where you can just barely hear it. otherwise it just sounds like a wet fart
I have a Mesa and it took me for-fricking-ever to really get it dialed in for recording. I ended up swapping out all of the speakers in my 4x12 to complement the Mesa and guitar tone better. Now I get exactly the tone I want out of it. Huge amount of the tone and crispness is in the speakers, not the amp. I ended up going with G12K-100's and G12T-75's to get a punchy, crisp metal tone on ch3, they're very complementary to each other.
The GX sounds surprisingly well especially on the lead parts and I think actually tops the $2k setup. Of course the ENGL sounds better overall but still, both are amazing
Mike - the GOAT since teenage years
My go to amp is laughed at by most ! It's a Behringer GTX60 . I also currently own a crate stealth 50 watt tube head with a vintage 4-12 cabinet . I sold my Marshall Plexi long ago . My little solid state GTX60 does everything adequately ! I forgot t mention ......I upgraded my Behringer with an EV12L and it weighs a ton now......but it absolutely Screams ! I will put it up against any rig of there and it will hold it's own ! Your "sound" comes as much from your hands and blood,sweat and tears as your equipment ! If people only knew how many songs they listened to a million times where the guitar was recorded with a small 5-15 watt amp (think Fender Champ or Princeton) they would be shocked !
EV12L is one of the best for flat response and high output which is great for modern modelers.
I have one of those Crates. Actually played through it today. Your Engle/ Marshall setup may have sounded a little warmer/smoother , but does this matter. I learned on a Peavey Pacer. A 45 watt SS from the late seventies. I’d set the Vol. up, use the Master vol.. crank the overdrive, then hit the treble booster switch that came with it. Finally, I’d run an LPB 2 Linear Power Booster in front of the amp. Now, if I would have had this little bedside Crate back then, I would be using it, hands down.
Dang- I think the Crate sounded pretty close. I need to buy that GX15 before the prices start to skyrocket after this video.
too late. lol
When I stopped gigging and sold my Marshall 2204 and 4x12 cab, I picked up a 1x12 Crate GS-150 with and EVM-12L in it as a practice amp for home. What beast that thing was!! The tone was really bright and the EV gave it beefy low end. I wound up gigging with that amp for a handful of shows (much to the annoyance of the sound guy) and it held its own. I wound up selling it for almost nothing, I regret it now.
That was my first and best amp ever! Loved that little thing!
I gotta special place in my heart for the crate gx 15! It was the first amp I had in the 90s! And I had a washburn can't remember the model but should of kept it!
i own a crate gx 65 and i think its great live and recording as it has a nice id range and cuts through despite picking it up for about 100 and putting it against my laney tube amp it sound great i think different things can do jobs either better or worse for eg the crate is great for heavy and gritty sounds where as the laney shines through on leads and smoother heavy distorted guitar parts
This is a fun listen and yeah, that Crate sounds pretty damn good.
I just acquired a Crate CX-30, which was my very first guitar amp because I wanted to see what sort of tones I could get out of it now that I have a lot more experience and I was also very surprised at how good this amp sounds - even the overdrive channel. It's also louder than I expected. I haven't really cranked it, but bedroom volumes are only at like 2 or 3 on the level knobs.
I had a little Danelectro Dirty Thirty back in the day, that thing screamed !! Had a couple of Crates as well, loved the tone.
That was my amp growing up too. I still have it. I think it sounds better than the half stack rig you're using in the recording.
In a mix...imho it's all about the EQ!!!...so many folks get hung up on using smaller or inexpensive amps for recording so.e sound so great!!!..BUT there is a huge difference when your in a practice session or in your bedroom jammin!!..I still have my Crate GX15 after I bought it of a buddy for 10 bucks 22 yrs ago..love it...but do like to feel air move like when you can push a 2x12 or 4x12 and a tube amp or even a little hybrid like the Joyo ViVo of Joyo Bantamp series of amps..imho for the features and power you can't beat them at 145.00 US....I wish they made the XL version of the ViVo like they do for almost all the other
bantamp amps adding the second Channel and a footswitch for only 50 more bucks!!..I've played the ViVo thru a 1x12 2x12 and 4x12 and my favorite is how it pushes a good 2x12...gonna have to pull the tiny trigger on the Joyo Zombie XL modeled after the Mesa Boogie dual rectifier...that little head is freaking amazing!!!..you should do a review on the new Soldano Mini 30!
I got to play one the other day at GC...thru a EVH 4x12 and the little thing shook everything in the store with the gain on 6!!! Its an awesome sounding solid state that really captured the gain channel of the OG SLO 100...not exact of course but I was BLOWN AWAY!! at just how close it comes to the sound and Tube feel of the OG amp...at 30 solid state watts a full effects loop and at a 249.99 price tag ..no time in history has it been such a great time for beginner guitar players of all ages!!! I only wish I had the stuff they have now along with the quality and affordability when I started playing at 13 yrs old back in 1986...when even just a small practice amp like my first..a 1986 Peavey Backstage Plus 1x10 35 watt practice amp..still cost a pretty penny for a kid mowing lawns and washing cars saving all summer..
It sounds pretty alright at first, but when you switch to the ENGL at the end, holy crap. It's like coming up for breath!
I knew I had to comment as soon as I saw the title. The Crate GX-15 was the first amp I've ever owned. I remember hating it for not having all the fancy features other amps had, like reverb, two channels EQ controls and whatnot. And the tone was definitely less than great. In hindsight I was totally naive, I couldn't demand that much from an amp like that.
Now I know for sure it wasn't the Crate, but me. 🤣 But I liked tiny little things like, for example, that it was enough to set the gain at 3.5 or so to generate a decent feedback (still controllable though). I don't know if my cheap Cort's Mightymife pickups were responsible for it but I didn't care, at the time I was just going for being absolutely loud rather than just learning how to play guitar properly. 🤣
It's interesting to see while the Engl+Marshall pair delivers a nice, rounder, smoother and more resonant tone, the Crate somehow gets by well, though you can hear is a bit wonky. But by no means unbearably shrill when raising the high end like other amps can get.
i love the GX15!! i had one as a kid, and then bought one 30 years later
CZcams compression kills some of the nuance, but they both sounded good. For recoding only it does not sound like there's a
$1965 difference between.
We can always go with the old "yes they might sound similar, but THE FEEL..."
I worked there, and built and tested literally 10s of thousands of those GX-15 amps (60/hr was the assembly line quota). I'm not surprised at all. I think the Engl sounds better, but the Crate isn't awful. A friend borrowed mine years ago and never returned it. Guess I need to buy another one as well.
Need to give some love to the 90’s by framing it as “Proof that you can get a $2000 ENGL to sound like a cheap Crate!” But seriously, you got that Crate to sound good on the recordings.
I think a blend for rhythms would work on a record pretty well. Alice In Chains used a Mesa Boogie for lows, Bogner/Marshall for mids and Rockman headphone amp for highs in the Dirt album. Van Halen used a small combo bass amp on one album because of the punchiness. Experimenting is fun!
I had that same Crate amp. They're not bad for recording, it's in a live setting where they struggle. It sounded a bit boxy, they don't have the best speakers. Just out of curiosity I hooked mine up to a beat up 412 that I bought used, cabinet was tore up but the grill and speakers were fine. Wow, was I surprised at the amount of tone and low end thump the speaker in the combo was hiding! It's funny that now everyone is into 15 to 30 watt amps live, they just mic it. My rig has gotten smaller over the 35 years I've been playing. Now it's a 20 watt tube head into a 212 cabinet. No more 100 watt full stacks for me.
Makes complete sense when you consider that Ace Frehley would mike (backstage) a fender superchamp for all of his live solos in the 70's and Warren Dimartini used that same amp on Out of The Cellar, thru a 4x12. Whatever it takes to get your tone. PS my setup in the 90's was a superchamp mounted on our drummer's travel case.
Recording in a studio you can use ANYTHING you want as long as it gets the desired effect. Doesn’t matter the cost. However, playing live you probably couldn’t get away with using the $35 amp. That’s where a bigger more expensive rig is needed. Not because of a particular sound but more for volume and durability.
For the added bite and street cred, The
Crate is badass. The Engl was smoother, but that lead part doesn't call for a smoother timbre. I vote Crate.
The crate has an awesome tone for the size! The Engl+Marshall has a fuller sound for the rhythm guitar part, but as far as lead / shredding tone.. they’re pretty evenly matched!!
Big amps are only really necessary for live settings in my opinion. With good enough EQ and mic placement a 3 watt mini amp could sound totally fine for recording
I listened through regular old every-day speakers / headphones, and I couldn't tell a difference. I _think_ the crate sounded a tiny bit thinner on the rhythm, but I only noticed it while watching the video & had a giant label telling me what each track was. There's no way I'd notice it if I wasn't watching the video along with the audio.
One of the best metal tones I ever got was My underpowered Washburn into a Metal master distortion pedal into a 15-watt Vox Pathfinder. Mic'ed it and double-tracked it.
I had the same crate amp. Got divorced. ------
I always loved crate amps. Wished they would still in business. I got 3 all tubes and 1 solid state crate amps now. Now I am collecting them when I seen them on Craigslist. Love crate!
I do have other non crate amps too. But crate has that unique crate tone that only crate amp could do l.
Crate rules.
Look how many 80's musicians uses crate in the 80'. Check it out.
I got the crate gx-15r 30 years ago and still love it. It has the line out so you can run a cab with it for gigs. All these years later, much abuse, it's still going strong!
I've considered getting two crate GX 100w amps and turning them into heads so i could run then parallel. I've been playing my GX15 home for ages, and it has one of best lead channels i know.
Well, the microphone hears only one 12 inch Celestion Speaker and a 50 watt hi-gain amp - one transistor and the other tube, so the Engl has a bigger, smoother sound due to better dynamics and headroom, but the Crate ain't bad ... remember it was the #1 choice for many of the pros in the 80s and 90s. Many albums and shows were the G60GT - not only for practice, and demo recordings often ended up on the albums ;)
The crate cuts better through the mix in the leads
I agree, the lead tone on the crate sounded better than on the engl.
I still have and play my Crate GX-40c, which was my first amp that I got when I was 14…which was 30 years ago.
Very subtle difference, great video!
I prefer the big tube amp sound every time of course. But I love my GX15, I've had it for years, it sounds amazing for what it is.
My mate who has a room full of marshalls loves it too, he keeps trying to buy it from me.
I used to always play a Zoom multi-effects pedal through the clean channel of my Crate GT1200H stack at shows, and other players would compliment me on the sound all the time. They always used to say stuff like, "I can't believe a Crate can sound like that!"
I personally liked the Crunch and Solo channels' tone also, but the effects loop used a crappy Y-cable setup, so that's why I never used them at shows.
If you want a better result out of that Crate, use one side of the insert loop as a preamp out and run it into the effects return of a bigger amp.
imo the ENGL and marshall was better for rhythm but for leads it was pretty much the same when compared to the crate
I’m not the bit surprised. Good video!
I closed my eyes...2000 Amp was clean and warm. I guess Joe blow off the street won't notice. Maybe clean tone with out pedals might be a better test. Thank you for the vid🙂
With some careful mixing and eq, the crate would sound really nice! It already is pretty good
This was my very first amp. I think the store (in a Dallas suburb) was pimping them at the time. I just defaulted to what they suggested and I could afford. It ended up with my parents and my hard-of-hearing dad piped tv audio through it until it exploded a couple of years ago. You make it sound good. I'd sound equally terrible through this and my EVH 5150 III.
I thought they were close, but the ENGL was just a bit cleaner. My first amp was a little Fender Squire and yeah, got laughed at by the big kids with their big amps lol. One concert it was the only amp I had available, so we mic'd it. The big kids stopped laughing . . . well at least for that night they did lol. Now I am carting around the Crate tidal wave, but still have that little Fender Squire (which I won't lie, sounds like crap to my ears now days, but I still love it! lol).
I remember a Sanctus playing around Minneapolis back in the day... That you??
Heck yes!
As a bassist, I'd play through a crate any day. I use a BX-15 as a practice amp. You can hear one in all my youtube covers.
beautiful both of them! keep rocking on. people today are too spoiled about technology they forget if you go back a certain number of years they were using a cell phone carrying a bag and they don't realize how good technology is at times and how good they have it ..great job!
Charvell was my first guitar, had a small Peavy rage 158 Amp, best sound I've had. Nice little Amp
Call me nuts but I preferred the small, cheap, practice amp. I own a laney cub10 and absolutely love it!!! Sounds way better than many bigger and more expensive ones plus it's so portable.
Lol no
Nuts
Surprisingly close. It's why Clapton recorded the Layla LP using a Fender Champ with an 8" speaker... sorta.
The Marshall is smoother and warmer, but for metal... It doesn't matter as much as a less processed and overdriven style like say Blues.
Its all in the head room. Most solid state cheapos do a lot of things pretty well, especially staying tight and articulate in high gain settings. Until you push the power amp past 25%.
I'm very surprised at how serviceable the Crate is! I remember those amps well... Crate everything was big in my music scene back in the mid-to-late 80's. Those half-stacks with the crazy-present built-in chorus effects (I think it was washed in chorus anyway) was all the rage with our local shredders.
Anyways - I actually liked the Crate lead here, but much preferred the ENGL rhythm tracks. Color me VERY surprised!
I’m getting one of those Crates in a few days!
My dad and uncle used to have a fairly successful country and western band back in the day, they were recording an album in like 89 and had hired studio guys to record the drums bass and lead guitar I remember that the lead guitarist was a young rocker who was playing country twang on a b.c.rich and he had a tiny practice amp all miced up and the engineer said that was all he needed and could make it sound as big or small as he needed by how he miced and set the eq
I mean… recording vs in-person live sound is apples vs oranges, different worlds, totally different set of “rules”. So this result doesn’t surprise me (and some of those old crates had a nice sound for small setup, anyway, so even less surprised by the result).
The Engl had just a bit more clarity, lovely clarity, I can hear some midrange that is not in the Crate. But that’s me being really, really a pain in the 4rse, because the Crate sounded ridiculously good!
More importantly, your playing is brilliant. You got the speed and clarity, plus some unusual choices on the notes, which I found quite refreshing.
I thought they kinda sounded the same.
You just keep getting better!
💜💜💜
I used to play through a $2,000 Mesa Duel Rectifier. I couldn’t play it because it was too loud. If it wasn’t cranked it didn’t sound great. I bought a Katana a couple years ago and it’s the best amp I’ve ever had. You need to be able to control your tones AND volume. I can’t tell much of a difference that explains $2,000 between any modern amps anymore.
Mike, close. The small amp has a bit more mids I think, so I would have started by lowering those mids. But also, in the context of Thrash metal it sounds correct, many bands have that kind of mid sound, and I also would feel satisfied, past justified.
Then I saw some videos about somebody saying that 4 x 12 is useless, they are only useful for live concerts and in other words he warns people they are loud, point in 1 direction anyway (so, sound doesnt spread anyway), and it is a configuration people should not use. And in recording the mic will only record 1 speaker anyway. This man I am telling you about is a pro guy, I quite admire him and I think he is right in most things he says, I disagree with some things he says, but he is a pro, and I listen to him. He thinks that 4x12 is a vain configuration that should be avoided, and if you use it is because you want to look cool and loud, but it's not functional.
I have 2x12 combo (transistor, Fender USA, 120w I guess) and I love it even if I use it with my Humble gt10 (That's what I call gt10s). I use it with low volume (like 15-25% volume, in the lowest of both inputs) but I like it enough. Anyway, what people say is that 2x12 is loud if you have it in your bedroom, and I should have 1x12, 50w maximum. Which is kind of right, but I am Ok with it.
in a blind watch the differences were very subtle, to the point that no one would ever care or notice.
It has and always will be in the ear of the musician and how he sets up his sound on an amp either good at it or you're not,
And for you young lead guitar players put a booster on your effects loop on your amp if you have one? and push your own leads the soundman will never get it right ! No matter how good he thinks he is ! Do not let anybody talk you into anything, take good information learn everything you can.
Of course the Crate sounds much more old-school. For some reason the way it sounds reminds me of death metal pioneer bands from the 80's.
The head + 4x12 cab makes the guitar sound a certain way that I'm already very accustomed to hearing and also kind of expecting the guitar to sound.
The crate is so fire! 🔥 im suposed to be picking one up today!