NAD Crate BT350

[lowend1]

Been looking for one of these for awhile. Tube preamp, built-in chorus, 350w @ 4 ohms (200w @ 8 ohms) - came with an Anvil rack case. Haven't had a chance to really wring it out yet, but the tone is nice - very Ampeg-y - even through 2-1x15s. Have to plug it into the squareback SVT for a real taste test. Pics to come - I know most of you have never seen a Crate.

[Nocturnal]

I've had two of these heads. The first one I bought when they were first released, the second last year. I like the sound of these a lot. Almost nails that Ampeg sound for sure. I ran my first head thru a Genz 2x15 cab with great results. Always got compliments on my sound (not so much on my playing  )

[bassvirtuoso]

My first amp that I owned was a Crate Stack, 4x10, 1x18 and a BT-350. Music store that I bought it from said that during that period Crates were being built in the same factory as Ampegs. Not sure if its true, but I took it with a grain of salt. Sounded ok through the stack, never did get to try it through a good cab....

[lowend1]

In my perpetual search for amps that sound like my vintage Ampegs but weigh much less, the BT350 was a must-have. For smaller gigs, jamming, etc., I use a B100R and a B50R, stacked, with a Radial Big Shot ABY and a Yamaha NE-1 in front (the Yammie sorta does the V-Series parametric thing). I needed something for larger venues, since I'm not resilient enough to drag the '72 SVT and 8x10 around anymore. The Crate should fit the bill nicely - at 34 lbs plus the case, it's no lightweight, but it's about half of what my V4B weighs, and way lighter than the SVT.

[nofi]

what is NAD? i'm just not hip at all.

[bassvirtuoso]

New Amp Day

[godofthunder]

Where are those pics ?

[bassvirtuoso]

Man, now you have me jonesing for my old one back!

[Psycho Bass Guy]

Haven't had a chance to really wring it out yet, but the tone is nice - very Ampeg-y

That's because it pretty much IS an Ampeg with some minor preamp voicing differences. Both came off the same line at SLM and used most of the same parts. Crates were usually somewhat slightly less robust in design but tended to be more reliable in the field, probably because the people who bought them weren't expecting to sound like God through them; they just wanted a decent sounding, reasonably priced bass amp. I remember trying that amp out when it debuted in the mid 90's; I liked it too.

[lowend1]

Where are those pics ?

Sorry - busy week...

[jumbodbassman]

built in biamp too??  nice amp.  Congrats.    I have never heard one.

[lowend1]

You need to add a second power amp to do the biamp thing. Nice option, but not one that I'll likely ever use.