Topic: Used tube amp buying tips? Crate VC6112 (Vintage 60)

I'm going to check out this used tube amp Crate VC6112 (Vintage 60).  Any tips on what to look for or what not to look for? Thanks.

Re: Used tube amp buying tips? Crate VC6112 (Vintage 60)

it would help if it still works...lol

but seriously, check for hums and rattles (that might make a great name for a cd?)

when you plug it in, touch the strings to ensure it's safely earthed (no shocks)

if you can, check there are no tears in the speaker cone.

i know nothing of crate amps, these are just basic checks for any amp you might want to buy.

phill

Ask not what Chordie can do for you, but what you can do for Chordie.

Re: Used tube amp buying tips? Crate VC6112 (Vintage 60)

What phill says...

Plus, with any tube amp, you'll want to have the tubes themselves checked out.  They leak as they age and lose some of the electrical properties that make them sound so cool.  If you're really interested in restoring it, you might want to have all the capacitors and resistors in the audio chain checked, too.  Bigger caps especially will have a huge impact on how the amp sounds.

Someday we'll win this thing...

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Re: Used tube amp buying tips? Crate VC6112 (Vintage 60)

The way to check if the filter caps are no good.1-turn it on and let it warm up. 2-turn the volume all the way down.If you hear a buzz or hum,then the filters are no good.Turn up the volume and there may be some noise.Its up to you if its an acceptable level.

Enjoy Every Sandwich
Nothing In Moderation  -- Live Fast. Love Hard. Die Young And Leave A Beautiful Corpse. -- Buy It Today. Cry About It Tomorrow.

Re: Used tube amp buying tips? Crate VC6112 (Vintage 60)

Very nice amps are Crate amps, if it's a good 'un 'ave it.

Jerry

Live the life you love, love the life you live

Re: Used tube amp buying tips? Crate VC6112 (Vintage 60)

Any thoughts on the simplest or most user-friendly tube amp? I'm not much of a gearhead.  Looking for something that will give me good clean tone
for guitar and can also be used for harmonica. Thanks for the input.

Re: Used tube amp buying tips? Crate VC6112 (Vintage 60)

http://www.amazon.com/Kustom-Combo-Prac … B0002D094M

I swear by that amp.   The crunchy tone is a bit meh, but the clean tone is sweet.  If you've got some gnarly pickups in your guitar and you turn the volume up to 11, you can overdrive the  input tube and get some sweet, sweet distortion out of it.

Lots of smaller tube amps (like this one) only have a tube pre-amp, and a solid state amplification circuit, which is why you need to drive the input as much as you can.  If you count on the output circuit, it's going to sound like every other solid state amp out there.

Someday we'll win this thing...

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Re: Used tube amp buying tips? Crate VC6112 (Vintage 60)

Thanks for the input. Is there a larger wattage model for gigs?

Re: Used tube amp buying tips? Crate VC6112 (Vintage 60)

Cork_92 wrote:

Thanks for the input. Is there a larger wattage model for gigs?

Kustom makes a whole lot of different wattages.   I gig with that amp in smaller venues.  It is surprisingly (obnoxiously) loud, and if you close mic the amp into the house system, size no longer matters.   smile

We've got a Fender Hotrod Deluxe (80W) in the studio and the Kustom competes with it at high volumes.  For really bright instruments like mandolins we have to tone it down or it will cut through the mix too much.    In fact, we've got two of the Kustoms (the guitar player bought one, too).  Last time we played out I ran both of them off my POD2, one on each channel.  I was able to use the POD to over drive the holy living $#^! out of the input tubes and it sounded awesome at volume.

If you do want more headroom, they make a similar 18W model called "The Contender" and 30, 50, and 100W models called "The Defender."

Someday we'll win this thing...

[url=http://www.aclosesecond.com]www.aclosesecond.com[/url]

Re: Used tube amp buying tips? Crate VC6112 (Vintage 60)

Cork_92 wrote:

Thanks for the input. Is there a larger wattage model for gigs?

There's still a few Musicman 410's out there.  It's switchable between 65 watts and 130 watts.  Loud it is.

Now available in 5G !