BV150H Review

This is a 3 channel all tube head unit, has excellent tone!

Features:	9
Sound:	9
Reliability:	9.5
Impression:	9.5
Overall rating:	8.5
Reviewer rating:	9.3
Users rating:	7.8
Votes:	4

overall: 9

Reviewed by: EspTro, on september 12, 2011

Price paid: $ 150

Features: Amp was made in late 99. The amp boasts a ton of versatility. If you see all the knobs it will blow your mind. Each channel has a basic bass, treble, and mid control. In addition, there is also a level control for each channel (no master volume), gain, and something that really lets its versatility is the mid freq knob. Each channel has I think 4 or 5 different frequencies that you can run your mid's at. At a total of 3 channels, it also has an effects loop/boost stage, 4 speaker outputs, a slave out, level controls for in and out of the fx loop. Foot controller that controlls all 3 channels switching and engages the Loop. Also on the front panel there is an "Eek" and "ugh" control which acts as a bass boost and presence knob. Its is a 150w head pushing 6 power amp tubes and 8 pre. Side note, I have retubed it completely with JJ's and I had very little experience on how the stock Groove Tubes sounded which I only heard once a couple years ago. It pretty much has every feature out there besides a power attenuator. I'm a bedroom halfstack player (yea, redundant... I know) so it can get noisy when I want to crank it a bit but people learn to LIVE WITH IT:) its got a 9 missing 1 point for no attenuation. // 9

Sound: I'm using 2 guitars. One with an alder body with a Seymour Duncan jb in the bridge and a 59 in the neck, a very common set of pickups. My other guitar is a basswood LTD with an EMG 81/85 set. You have to EQ this amp completley different due to the drastic differences in both my guitars.

Channel 1: sparkly clean but can be pushed to get a light crunch but sounds pretty gnarly, channel was built to be clean and stay clean.

Channel 2: this channels gain structure has 2 parts to it. You can get that Zeppelin/acdc crunch but when turned up it holds its own as a great metal rhythm channel. It has more of a British voicing to it so great for nailing that thrash/slayer/early metallica tone. The mid freq control actualy has a setting for "off" so you can actually turn off your mids lol

Channel 3: balls out power. Anything from scooped as mids (it goes intense scooped), but can also get enouogh mids to sound like your broadcasting over a radio >_> middle ground is where its at really. The gain structure is great and has amazing bass response. The treble knob is your worst enemy because it can get very treble'y. I usually back it off and use the presence (eek) knob in its place.

so again, extremely versatile amp // 8

Reliability & Durability: This thing weighs... A ton... I'm just talking about the head. Its at least a good 50-75 pounds. Very well made in the USA with high quality materials and nothing has failed on it in 11 years besides the tubes. I would definitely rely on this amp for a gig without a backup. // 10

Impression: Suits almost any genre even country, the clean can get very twangy with the right guitar. I can get here with my '59 in the neck. The genres it can handle go from a-z. If it was stolen or something, I would buy another in a heartbeat, considering the fact my local samash just got a used one in :P but not for the price I got it for, its about $500 which is that average used price. I got mine for an absolute steal. Amp suits and fulfills all that I need. Any other reason to get another amp is if you simply want a specified tone and need to have it (GASing for a Vintage modern) // 9

overall: 9.5

Reviewed by: mizta diggz, on april 07, 2008

Purchased from: Guitar Center

Features: Just recently purchased a used Crate BV150H. This is a 3 channel all tube head unit, has excellent tone! Each channel (selectable with footswitch) has level-gain-mid-treble and a 5 way mid frequency adjustment to tweek your sound for whatever you are looking for. It also has adjustments for how your speakers handle the sound for low end and clearity, the only thing this amp lacks is a reverd! I never was a fan of Crate amps until I came across this one. It's basically the Crate version of a mesa Triple rec. In my opinion it sounds killer I've been very happy with it. You can power up to 4 cabinets with this. adjustable 4-8-16 ohm Switch on back of amp, Effects loop, slave out, this amp is by far the greatest thing Crate has ever designed! it uses 6x6550 power tubes and 8 12ax7 pre-amp tubes. I was informed by the company that the only reason this is a discontinued amp is because Crate was bought out by another compnay and this amp was considered too expensive to have a "Crate' name on it. If you come across one of these and you like big tube tone and killer crunch I say give it a shot and remember you have to do a lot of tweeking around but you can get any sound you want from this amp. // 9

Sound: My main guitar is a Epiphone Les Paul Standard with a DiMarzio tone zone in the bridge and a DiMarzio PAF classic in the neck. I also use a Fender stratocaster with a DiMarzio tone zone humbucker and 2 single coils. The amp sounds great with my equipment, I play all kinds of music from classic rock to '80s pop style to metal, even some blues and this amp does it all very well so far. The clean channel seems to be ok even at high levels you simply have to adjust the gain according. // 10

Reliability & Durability: so far it's been road worthy, it has been banged aruond a bit and seems to handle well, it's built very solid and it's beast weighing in around 50lbs! It's been reliable to me and durable. I never play gigs without some kind of back up but I think I could put my trust into this one if needed. I've played it several 4 hours gigs never shutting it off and it worked just fine! // 9

Impression: This amp is good for just about any style, you just have to adjust the eq according to your style and run with it. I used a Marshall AVT150 and JCM2000 TSL and this Crate blew them both completely away, basically it DESTROYED them with power and tone! I would definatley be searching for another if it were stolen at this point. It was very hard to find being discontinued. // 10

Comments

[kon_arc]

ummm how much is this?????

[A Bad Guitarist]

WATS TEH PRIEC?!?!

[enselmis]

costs a left testicle man.

[EspTro]

u cant buy these new anymore, but they did MSRP for somewhere around $1,000 back then

[Mrk00k00dud3]

If you go to a guitar center website, the price of it would be 700$. I don't even know how Esptro bought it for 150$ :/