Any Crate Blue Voodoo love out there???

[Mattfig]

Of all the amps that have come and gone outta my place...The Blue Voodoo has always stayed...Always a full stack too...EL34s and all the gain you could ever want from the preamp tubes...

When I compare it to my others I can hear the fizz that bothers me after awhile but I often expect it to suck when I plug in and am usually am quite happy with both the clean and crunch...

Anyone else?

 

[Mr. Willy]

Had to play through one at a gig once when my amp blew a fuse, and I'd forgotten to bring spares. One the worst tones I've ever plaed through. To each his own.

 

[Mattfig]

Fuzzy/Buzzy?

 

[fluff191]

Saw a hardcore band about 15 years ago and the guitarist had one of the early BLue Voodoo's. I remember thinking how good it sounded at the time.

 

[Mailman1971]

Never played one....but loved what Marty Friedman did with them for sure.

 

[Chris6870]

I had one. It had a lot of preamp fizz. I liked it with the gain low and cranked the master for some power tube saturation.

 

[JackBootedThug]

i always wanted one of those 300 watters they made.

 

[blackba]

IMO the blue voodoo is one of the amps that gave crate its current reputation.

 

[joepete77]

I am far from an amp snob and believe you should use whatever works for you. Unfortunately I found pout the hard way why they have a bad rep when I saw the bv60 2x12 combo on sale for $200 and figured for that price I couldn't go wrong,,, I was. It was the worst overdrive of any tube amp I have played since. In just a week the reverb went out never to return. I quickly sold it just not to take a total loss. I have heard that later models and the higher watt models were better. I have since heard dome crate amps that sounded pretty nice for the dough but I didn't like the tones of the bv.

 

[glassjaw7]

I remember wanting to play one pretty badly as a teenager because Marty played them, but by the time I got to play one I had already popped my tube amp cherry with a Peavey Ultra which blew it out of the water.

 

[D-Nastee11]

The V series Crates aren't bad. Although if it's a combo you definitely MUST change the speakers for something decent

 

[maddnotez]

Its been about 15 years or so, from what I remember it was powerful but didn't have the ultra high gain that I wanted.

It was just for one rehearsal so I have no idea about the tubes that were in it. But it definitely had some thick balls.

I liked the Stealth for 80's metal.

 

[Chubtone]

I was a dealer for Crate at the time the Blue Voodoo amps came out. It is a little known fact that Crate let Helen Keller give final approval for the sonic signature of these amps before releasing them. We immediately began referring to those amps as Blue Doodoo's and that was us being nice.

I actually want to go douche out my ears after just thinking about those amps again. I was literally stunned when I heard them, and not in a good way.

 

[rokket2005]

You guys know that Friedman used a different pre through the effects return of the BV right? He didn't use the preamp on the Crate.

My drummer had a Sammy Hagar BV that he demoed a lot of guitars with before I joined the band, and it didn't sound completely awful. The BV cab did though, though it might've been more the 70/80s that came in the cab.

 

[tom_h]

Never played one....but loved what Marty Friedman did with them for sure.

I remember wanting to play one pretty badly as a teenager because Marty played them, but by the time I got to play one I had already popped my tube amp cherry with a Peavey Ultra which blew it out of the water.

You guys know that Friedman used a different pre through the effects return of the BV right? He didn't use the preamp on the Crate.

Believe it or not, it was actually a pair of Boss Metal Zones that Marty was using for his primary distortion tones at that time. How do I know? I've seen his rig from this era... My former bandmates toured with Megadeth in the late 90's.

 

[headlessdeadguy]

Although I think the amps sound like poo. I do have a V30 loaded BV 4x12 that is a great cab.

 

[fek]

I used an extra one that was in our rehearsal space about 10 years ago while my Mig 60 was being modded by Roccaforte. I ended up using a dirt box out front for gain.

 

[boost]

The V series Crates aren't bad. Although if it's a combo you definitely MUST change the speakers for something decent

I think the V series amps are the best Crate ever put out. The V15/16 or V30/32's are very nice sounding amps and sound even better with a speaker upgrade. The G12K-100 in my V32 kicks and is a great cheap grab & go amp.

Avoid the Loud Technologies V18/33's at all cost. Not even close to the same amp.

Never was a fan of the Blue Voodoo's although Sammy didn't sound so bad when using them, but who knows what he was running there.

 

[glassjaw7]

Never played one....but loved what Marty Friedman did with them for sure.

I remember wanting to play one pretty badly as a teenager because Marty played them, but by the time I got to play one I had already popped my tube amp cherry with a Peavey Ultra which blew it out of the water.

You guys know that Friedman used a different pre through the effects return of the BV right? He didn't use the preamp on the Crate.

Believe it or not, it was actually a pair of Boss Metal Zones that Marty was using for his primary distortion tones at that time. How do I know? I've seen his rig from this era... My former bandmates toured with Megadeth in the late 90's.

If that's true, I'm not shocked actually. I have an older Metal Zone and it sounds really good through a clean tube amp or into the fx return (bypassing the pre). Only bad thing about it is that there is literally one setting that is useable without sounding like a cocked wah.

 

[Shawn Lutz]

no love here