Crate Blue Voodoo (now with sond!)

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 4:43 am

OK.

So what do you guys think of the Crate Blue Voodoo head (BV120H)?
My brother's friend had one at my house for a while before he blew the transformer (he just got it fixed). I thought it sounded pretty good.

He's selling the whole half stack for $600.
I'm thinking of buying it because he's my ng and he'll let me pay in little bits and maybe trade for some recording time etc... so I'll get it cheaper.

Let me know your experience with these amps if any.

thx in advance, ngz.

aen · Post by **aen** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 4:50 am

My big fat boss has one of those for testing guitars at work. I fucking hate it. I have everything set on 1, and it's paralyxingly loud and tinny. I htink it may be broken.

Also, I am honored to be quoted in yr sig.

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 4:52 am

aen wrote:My big fat boss has one of those for testing guitars at work. I fucking hate it. I have everything set on 1, and it's paralyxingly loud and tinny. I htink it may be broken.

Also, I am honored to be quoted in yr sig.

I got some almost awesome tonez out of it, but i checked the dude's cab and it's not the V30 loaded one so I don't expect anything to sound sweet out of ass-speakers.

If it sondz tinny, it probably is broke. But it is a tube amp and you have everything on 1, wtf?

I AM PRIMARILY CONCERNED WITH RELIABILITY OF SAID AMPLIFIER.

aen · Post by **aen** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 5:04 am

Sloan wrote:
I AM PRIMARILY CONCERNED WITH RELIABILITY OF SAID AMPLIFIER.

To me the reliability of the afformentioned amplifier would seem suspect.

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 5:12 am

aen wrote:
Sloan wrote:
I AM PRIMARILY CONCERNED WITH RELIABILITY OF SAID AMPLIFIER.

To me the reliability of the afformentioned amplifier would seem suspect.

i skeerd.

kim · Post by **kim** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 10:23 am

to be honest.. hate it.. those were the amps guitarists had to play thru for the emergenza gigs (same backline for every band)

i tried to get a decent distorted sound when doing a soundcheck for our guitarist because he couldn't be there for soundcheck (he doesn't use fx pedals).. i kept twisting those knobs and never got a sound out of the distortion channel that made me go like 'yeah, that's alright'..i gave up

they have some kind of bit destroyer on board that's supposed to be a distortion, the knobs are weird, it' s hard to see what your settings are but the distortion.. i didn't like it, no body, no warmth, just shhshshshshshshsh

that's just my opinion tho, maybe some people love them, but not me, or any other guitar player i spoke to there.

Post by **Mike** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 12:59 pm

If you set all dials on an amp to 1 it will sound like ass.

Set the EQ to midnight, the gain to taste and use the master volume to set the sound level. That's your start point.

aen · Post by **aen** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 4:43 pm

Mike, this amp is borked. All settings sound like ass. Beleive me, I've worked with it, i really hate scaring the shit out of customers when i test their Washburns and red squier strats through the devil-amp.

Post by **dots** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 5:16 pm

i knew a kid who owned a blue voodoo half stack, and it sounded amazing. it was frightening to me that a crate was coming up with all of those really warm, lush tones. yes, that fucker was loud, but IT'S A FUCKING HALF STACK. so, if somebody held a gun to my head and told me i had to buy a crate, it would be that one. or if i had only teh moneyz in this scenario and needed a all tube half stack.

aen · Post by **aen** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 5:31 pm

Dude, there's some bizarre crate combo here, i think it's hybrid or all tube, it looks awesome and sounds fuking cool.

"Vintage club 60" i guess its called.

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 9:09 pm

aen wrote:Dude, there's some bizarre crate combo here, i think it's hybrid or all tube, it looks awesome and sounds fuking cool.

"Vintage club 60" i guess its called.

yes!
the crate v-series is fucking brilliant.
the palamino amps are good too.

i was blown away the first time i played the v212 or whatever. it was really sweet and made anything worthy of a boner.

I'm really torn on whether or not I should pick this amp up.
It seems it's 50/50 on if it's good or bad, y'know?

i know infact that it has brand new JJ/tesla tubes in it.
Me and dude though maybe his tubes were screwed so I got him to buy some JJ's (which i really like).

I'm not really in a good financial standing to buy an amp, but I think I might see if he'll let me use it for a basement show tomorrow and see how it works with a band. i hate most amps by themselves but sometimes they sound awesome with a band.

gaybear · Post by **gaybear** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 9:19 pm

i don't think crates are very reliable.
but i've only played on solid state ones.
they usuaully have a good warranty, but you'll definately be using it.

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 6:21 am

Ok, I think I'm going through with the deal. He's gonna let me use it at the show tomorrow so that is awesome.

Also, I hooked my ampeg up to my Johnson PA speaker and it sounded way better, but wasn't as loud. That confirms my knowledge of my crate cab being super shitty. everything sounds so shit through that thing. i just want some standard v30 loaded cab, but i'm srsly broke. it's almost nonsensical for me to be picking up this amp. srsly.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 12:22 pm

Check this out Sloan - seems like a great amp to me:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/Indyguitarist

Subscribe to the podcast and get Episode 2 - loads of Crate Blue Voodoo sounds, sounds like a versatile head. Crate get too much bad mouthing for their brandname.

or download direct here:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Indyguit ... t-2707.mp4

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 6:48 pm

Ok, so it's at my house and I made a sample recording of it. WOW.

I was gonna use it at a basement show last night, but it was cancelled. DAMN.

Anyway, here's the mp3 y'all:

http://www.sloanstewart.com/audio/bluev ... sounds.mp3

Post by **Doog** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:10 pm

OMG SLOAN MADE A TALKY DEMO!

SPIN MOVE Y'ALL!!

Post by **Mike** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:39 pm

Awesome.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:42 pm

This is the best sample ever made. LISTEN TO IT NOW.

This made me wanna hang out with Sloan and get drunk so hardcore.

euan · Post by **euan** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 11:38 pm

Sloan don't like know treble.

Post by **Doog** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 4:03 pm

I can't believe your recorded a demo with a 120w tube amp with the volume on 10!

That, and the fact the "clean" channel is so dirty makes me think maybe some of the tubes are crapping out?