On 2008-06-16, Benno gave this Crate Bass Guitar Amplifier a 3
History: I play bass in metal bands, on and off for the last 4 years.

Purchase: Got it at Billy Hydes for $660 (Australian) about 4 years ago.
Pros: The built-in, well lit tuner is great, and the footswitch/2 channels is handy as well.
Cons: The sound felt very fuzzy and soft, didn't have much luck dialing in any tones I really liked. Power-wise, the poor 100watt combo had trouble keeping up with a huge drum kit.
Quality: Good quality, lots of rehearsals and a few gigs, plenty of wear n tear. The only issue was that one time a fuse blew, but it was under warranty and was repaired very quickly.

Summary: A good amp for someone on a budget, still trying to do no more than play in the bedroom.

On 2008-06-16, Benno gave this Crate Bass Guitar Amplifier a 3
History: I've played bass as a second instrument for about 15 years now, but when gigging, I'm mostly playing guitar.

Purchase: Bought through instrumentpro.com for about $250 USD a year ago. Was looking for a relatively inexpensive portable bass amp and this fit the bill.
Pros: The built-in, well lit tuner is great, and the footswitch/2 channels is handy as well. Here's some notes from the product description at InstrumentPro.com: With 100W, a 15" bass driver, and a balanced line out, this compact combo can hold its own in nearly any gig situation. It has 2 channels: a distortion channel with gain, shape, and level controls; and a clean channel with level, 4-band EQ, and an octave switch with level for boosting bottom end. Its XLR balanced line out is pre/post selectable. The CFS2 2-button footswitch is included for switching channels and kicking in the octave switch from the floor. Limiter, chromatic tuner, headphone jack, and CD inputs are also incorporated.
Cons: Sound quality kind of sucked. A little soft and fuzzy when straining. This 100W combo will struggle with anything but a garage band, so understand you're getting what you pay for.
Quality: Good quality, lots of rehearsals and a few gigs, plenty of wear n tear. The only issue was that one time a fuse blew, but it was under warranty and was repaired very quickly.

Summary: A good amp for someone on a budget, still trying to do no more than play in the bedroom.

On 2005-02-28, Rob gave this Crate Bass Guitar Amplifier a 5


Purchase: Went to my local music shop in Derby UK (play it again Sam - 16 stores nationwide). I went not knowing what style of amp i wanted. Gave this one a try and instantly fell for it. Cost me £269, reduced from £330.
Pros: This amp is great. Let's start with it's output. It has 100 watt output through1x 15inch speaker. It can reach 103db so is big enough for small pub/venus gigs. It has a line out for external speakers. This amp also comes with 3 very useful in-built effects. It has a tuner on the top which is automatically on whenever the amp is switched on and doesn't require bypass to activate so stays on all through the playing. It also has 2 channels, one being a distortion feature. I've found the distortion to be a high quality 'bigmuff' style and includes a noise gate for a rich, smooth crunch. It also has an octive effect for that 'ultra-bass' rumble. Both the octive and dist. effects can be controlled by included footpedal which plugs directly into the amp and doesn't need batteries to run. General sound quality is awesome.
Cons: I could only find 2 faults with this amp: The size. It weights 69lbs and is 26-21-16 inches in size. This makes it both big and heavy and awkward to move round. The 2nd point is also related to the size, and that is it has a small handle on top by which to carry it. This is pointless as it needs side-handles and even wheels to move it about.
Quality: Good, sturdy contruction, reliable and well made. All components are inside the casing very difficult to damage the wiring.

Summary: A great amp for anyone wanting a reliable, gigging bass amp. The features on the amp mean i don't need to cart about a million pedals. Very good value for money, pick it up if you see it on offer.