Crate Stealth sleeping monster

[Drinkingdeath01]

Anybody have one of these ? I just fired one of mine up and damn it blows me away. Designed by Lee Jackson and to me, the ultimate sleeper of an amp.

I have a ton of amps and everytime someone new comes over they laugh at them. They make their jokes about why I have some Crates until I plug them into one.

The last two friends who came over immediately went out and bought one within the week.

Check out youtube for clips and pick one up for yourself. They're super cheap because of the name plate but worth every dime

 

[Frodebro]

The store I managed was a Crate dealer back in the day, I remember when they were first released. Great amps, and cool looking for the time as well.

 

[LPMarshall hack]

The Stealth was my first real amp. Loved it! Sold it off years ago when I moved into an apartment. Shoulda kept it. Great sounding amps.

 

[wakjob]

The other guitarist in the band I was in had one.
We'd switch rigs at practice all the time...

Killer amps...as are other Crate amps.
They just got the Beavis & Butthead "Winger" treatment in the guitar realm.

 

[Adieu]

This is akin to decrying the joys of paedophilia (surely there must be some, in light of its enduring popularity)

But... it ain't something to speak of in decent company or in public

 

[ampmadscientist]

Anybody have one of these ? I just fired one of mine up and damn it blows me away. Designed by Lee Jackson and to me, the ultimate sleeper of an amp.

I have a ton of amps and everytime someone new comes over they laugh at them. They make their jokes about why I have some Crates until I plug them into one.

The last two friends who came over immediately went out and bought one within the week.

Check out youtube for clips and pick one up for yourself. They're super cheap because of the name plate but worth every dime

Crate amps are the most un-reliable amps I have ever seen.
Back at the time, I used to refuse to repair them, and sent them to the factory.
The factory would repair them and then they would blow up again a short time later.
The basic design for Crate amps comes from a guy named Jerry Gold who also designed the Sunn Beta Lead.
I think they are the poorest made guitar amps I have ever seen.

 

[Frodebro]

Crate amps are the most un-reliable amps I have ever seen.
Back at the time, I used to refuse to repair them, and sent them to the factory.
The factory would repair them and then they would blow up again a short time later.
The basic design for Crate amps comes from a guy named Jerry Gold who also designed the Sunn Beta Lead.
I think they are the poorest made guitar amps I have ever seen.

The Stealth amps were designed by a different guy.
Having said that, their Vintage Club series had an alarmingly high infant mortality rate. Of the first seven that arrived at my store (various models), five had to be sent into our repair guy almost immediately. Once he went through them they were solid, but they were specced pretty poorly coming out of the factory.

 

[MantraSky]

.

 

[ricksdisconnected]

never played a Crate i liked to be honest but i havent played
all the models.

 

[Matt_Krush]

I had one of those Stealths.
When I was first learning to play, the guitarist I was hanging around was a Crate guy.
I decided I was going to get me a half stack, him and and I went to every store in lower Michigan to check out all the top rigs at the time.

I played guitar, he dialed the amp in (Big Mistake).
as he'd dial the Crate to sound its best and everything else to sound their worst.

So I ended up with the Crate Stealth...and he bought one to match.
I hated it.
Could never get the tone I wanted without running major EQ and compression.
After a few years finally sold it and went Marshall Valvestate.

I know they are supposed to be Lee Jackson design, but they really aren't an all tube design....the clean channel is (until reverb and effects loop of course).
The distortion channel skips V1b and uses a series of op amps for distortion then hits V2a for a signal boost and V2b for the tone stack.

Schematic: https://www.tdpri.com/threads/crate-gt-100h-tube-biasing.781757/

 

[saxon68]

I had a stealth 50 head and it was crazy good. Had the matching rat hair cabinet that was loaded with Celestions.

One of my buddies who had a JCM800 used to bitch that at sounded more like a Marshall than his amp, but truth be told he wasn’t very good at dialing it in.

my lead guitarist had one of the Lee Jackson Ampegs (the ones with the “ignition key”) and they sounded really good together.

 

[ampmadscientist]

 

[saxon68]

View attachment 65534

Whatever dude I had that amp and played it weekly for over 20 years lol.

the only fire was over the frets

 

[Drinkingdeath01]

Funny the only amp I've ever had catch fire was a brand new Marshall. DSL 100H got crispy within the first 15 minutes of playing it. My Crates on the other hand have never failed me.

 

[wakjob]

Just fired up my G130C XL...

Damn, I forgot how good these amps can sound.

 

[purpleplexi]

First time I saw ZZ Top they had crates on stage. At least that's what it said on the cabs. Never know with BG. You don't see them much in the UK but I tried a crate blue voodoo in the US once and I remember it sounding pretty darned good.

 

[Zensee]

The crate gx 130c is a hidden gem. Very similar to an ampeg vh140c tonally. I recorded with one within the last year and was pleased with the results. Crate hate is a shame. When I try out an amp i try to see if I can do the amp justice. If you watch really good players they can make the so called worst amps work and sound great. Not that I'm in the great player category. lol
Ymmv.

 

[Wildeman]

The crate gx 130c is a hidden gem. Very similar to an ampeg vh140c tonally. I recorded with one within the last year and was pleased with the results. Crate hate is a shame. When I try out an amp i try to see if I can do the amp justice. If you watch really good players they can make the so called worst amps work and sound great. Not that I'm in the great player category. lol
Ymmv.

I have never ran across any real amp that i couldn't get at least one decent tone out of, maybe some of those crappy battery amps but i don't consider those as real amps.
My first big amp was a SS Crate with 2x12"s that i remember as being pretty shitty but i don't think i gave it much of a chance as i got a real Ampeg tube amp shortly after.

 

[eastwood6]

Had a Crate V-15 combo bought new on close out, one of those little combos with the “V” in front and no visible Crate branding. Made in USA, Celestion speaker, Groove Tubes. Really crunchy small amp. Sounded huge AF when plugged into the Marshall 1960 4x12 I had at the time. Even smelled good after the tubes were cooking for a while. Another one I should have kept.

 

[LPMarshall hack]

I will fight, to the death, anyone who would disparage the Stealth.