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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Crate V5 (All tube) for harp? do I buy it?
Crate V5 (All tube) for harp? do I buy it?
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rogonzab
85 posts
Aug 09, 2012
6:36 AM
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Hi,
A guy in my city is selling this amp. Is not the new version (half SS, half tube), rather than the old one (all tube). the price is low (I think), and right now I am able to buy the amp whitout to much sacrifice.
Acording to the web site, this are the specs:
Output Power Rating 5 W rms @ 5% THD, 8 ohm load, 120 VAC
Input Impedance 700 kohms
Signal-to-Noise Ratio 42 dB, Typical
Gain 58 dB, all controls @ 10
Tone ±30 dB @ 10 kHz
Speaker Specs 1 x 10", 5 W, 8 ohm, ceramic magnet
Preamp Tubes (1) 12AX7A
Power Tubes (1) EL84
Power Requirements 90-132 VAC, 60 Hz, 30 watts
220-240 VAC, 50 Hz, 30 watts
Size (H x W x D) 13.75 in/34.9 cm x 14.25 in/36.2 cm x
8.11 in/20.6 cm
Weight 19.2 lb/8.7 kg
The thing is:
This amps cost half of the Laney cub8, and 1/3 of the E.Valve jr. There is a "significant" difference betewen these amps? do I buy the crate V5 or save for one of the others? Is a good deal?
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KingBiscuit
193 posts
Aug 09, 2012
8:10 AM
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I bought a Crate V5, same as the one you describe, for $99 brand new at Guitar Center a couple years ago. Out of the box, it did not sound good. I put a Weber speaker in it for about $40 and played around with swapping preamp tubes (AY,AT,AU). An amp tech that I know put a different capacitor in it, don't ask me where or what...I'm not very good with the hardware. It now sounds pretty darned good for around $150.
I have since bought a Kalamazoo 2 from Greg Heuman. The Kalamazoo is far and away a better harp amp than the Crate. It cost me twice as much, but it is well worth the extra money.
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didjcripey
362 posts
Aug 09, 2012
2:42 PM
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I have one of the early (made in USA) crate v5's (V58) and I love it. Its very loud. It was a bit bright, but I replaced the 8" speaker with a 10" Celestion vintage G10. This made it too big for the cabinet, so I scaled up the original by 25% and made a new one.
It now has plenty of warmth and bass to my ears.
What I don't like about it is the tone control is a bit weird; its not treble/bass, it goes from cutting both the highs and lows to cutting the mids. The only way I can get a get a good tone is to have it all the way clockwise.
A very decent harp amp to my ears.
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Lucky Lester
Last Edited by on Aug 09, 2012 2:43 PM
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