Review Of The Crate V18
I know this review is pretty much irrelevant since it looks like is phasing out this generation of the V series amps. Online retailers have slashed the price of this amp to $149.
I was in a Sam Ash and decided to plugin. In a nutshell this amp is a bargain at $149. The only reason I didn’t buy it is because I already have a small tube amp.
I’ll admit that in the past I was a Crate basher. Partly because I remember the total crap they were putting out in the 80’s. However since the Palomino series Crate seems to be gaining some fans.
The V18 is a stripped down meat and potatoes rocker. The amp breaks up rather early so there’s not a whole lot of clean headroom. Crank the gain a bit and the amp starts to growl. I would consider this amp to be voiced more like a british amp than a fender. Kind of Marshally, kind of Voxxy. It actually reminded me of the Peavey Classic 30.
The Crate V18 doesn’t have face melting distortion like a Recto or 5150. However users have reported this amp takes pedals well so you’d be able to throw a Metal Muff or something similar on front to get your grind on.
If you have the chance buy this amp. For a little more than the price of a pedal you get a Class A 18w tube amp. This price point is just silly for a tube amp and a few years back an amp with these specs would have been $750+. If you don’t dig it I can almost guarantee you could sell it for what you bought it for.
Check availability at Musicians Friend
I love the fender pro junior for this kind of thing but will have to check this little baby out.
I got one of these puppies for $150.00 and did two very simple and fairly inexpensive upgrades. The first thing I did was change the preamp tubes from 12AX7 to 12AT7 which tamed the gain circuit. It still breaks up but at higher levels. The second thing was change the speaker. The stock speaker is completely doped and has a British flavor. I changed it to an Eminence 1258 which is a recommended replacement for Delux Reverb and Blues Jr aamps. This has turned a usable into a real gem and it only cost about $85.00.
I have the 33W Amp $179 head version and $99 Cab. The Cab speakers are just awful, IMO. The head is criticized for it’s dirty channel, but I prefer it over the clean. I swapped pre-amp tubes with Tung Sols. After 2-3 years I just still don’t know about this Amp. I A/B it to a Blackheart 1W for about the same price, and the Blackheart sounds better. I just can never get the tone I really really like out of the V series. This Amp may do very well with some MODS. This Amp is symptomatic of getting something “just like” Marshall. Just buy a Marshall, you’ll save time and $.