This is the only amp I’ve ever owned, for now almost 30 years which is crazy. Got most of its use in the first 10 years admittedly. I have to say it’s had its fair share of electrical issues which never got fully resolved. But when you crank this amp to the point where you need earplugs (at least I do), it really sings. And that’s where I felt the best tone came out of it. There’s a point right before it breaks where you get this sweet clean tone that crunches as soon as you pluck just a little harder. It took me a long time to find that spot, but once I did I became a lot happier with the amp. Not gonna try to say it’s on the level of a fender tweed but it did the job for me and I’m grateful for its service.
Just reflowed a Vintage Club 30; built Nov '94; looks basically identical and had - from player's perspective - an awful lot of problems. But actually it all boiled down to the same source - broken and/or iffy solder joints on tube sockets. It works like a new now, no weird rattling/rushing/firecracker/sizzle sounds anymore, no jumps in volume, all fixed, without having to replace a single part. Thank you so much Lyle for this.
I've got a VC6210 and it served me well for a good number of years. Like another commenter said, it runs hot and had a burned out something or other that I had repaired under warranty. It has a good sound and as long as I don't have to move it, I like it just fine. Seems that St. Louis Music used MDF infused with lead or depleted uranium. Heavy stuff. I always thought it sounded quite a bit better than the price point or name would imply. Thanks for this video!
I have a Crate V18-112 of similar design, this video certainly gave me some things to think about when it comes time to service it. It sounds decent and while it's not a vintage Fender, Marshall or Vox, I didn't pay a vintage amp price for it either. It cost me less than $200 and for that, I can't complain.
The Crate VC amps were never something I paid attention to, I was one of the many players who thought of Crate as budget/beginner amps, even owned a Crate practice amp once that sounded awful. But then someone had a VC50 with the 1x15 that they were looking to trade for a digital amp, so I traded my Fender Mustang that I'd been fighting with for a year for it. It's big and heavy, but I absolutely love how it sounds. Hope I can get some years out of it. I made the trade based on these kinds of videos where actual amp techs are evaluating the amp, and most of the techs have very little bad things to say about the Crate VC amps.
That looks like a box of goodies from AES in the background! Best mail ever. Even beats Christmas cookies from relatives ! All the pots have different colored shafts! Adorable!!😊
I had some great Crate amps from the 90's and early aughts. As long as you don't need parts, they're great. I had to replace a couple of pots on a Palomino, and those were almost impossible to find. Ended up buying some from Ampeg service in Belgium or somewhere.
I still have my VC3112 that my gf bought for me back around 1996. I believe they were going for around $600 or $650 back then. It has been an awesome sounding amp and VERY loud for its 30 watt spec.
Perhaps the most fundamental lesson learned over past few months since I’ve started watching your channel is keeping hardware tight and everything clean. I think if you ever do a show with Phil McKnight, knowing your gear is maintaining it. Thank you, Lyle.
I worked in retail in addition to guitar repair back when these came out. They sound really good for an inexpensive tube combo. Better to my ear than the Peavey Classic 30’s although those were workhorses too. Great video!
got a 1995 blonde vc5212. mark knophler can be seen using two of them in a live london video from 1996. This was my first tube amp and will never part with it. great clean sound and good od with pedals. glad you did this one!!! love ur vids. always interesting.
I got one of these (blonde) for $40. All problems were related to oxidation on switches plugs and pots. I didn’t like the knobs (prefer pointers), and eventually came upon the idea of shrink tubing over the shaft to accommodate standard knobs.
Thank you for showing this amp rework. I have the smaller Crate Vintage Club 20 (VC-2110 with Reverb) with the blond tolex cab and grill cloth. Twenty watts from 2 EL-84's and 3 12 AX7's. Only one channel with no footswitch, but it works great as a pedal platform. I do wish mine was the 12" speaker, but those models were more rare in the 20 amp version. I am going to use your previous suggestion to me from your open chat a couple of weeks ago and upgrade the 10" speaker to a Warehouse ET-10. I have retubed the amp with all matched JJ's a couple of years back, but I have to find a local shop here in Jacksonville, FL that can recap it and not butcher it. O love all your videos and I love the old Fender, Crate, and Ampeg reworks that you do.
At
This is the only amp I’ve ever owned, for now almost 30 years which is crazy. Got most of its use in the first 10 years admittedly. I have to say it’s had its fair share of electrical issues which never got fully resolved. But when you crank this amp to the point where you need earplugs (at least I do), it really sings. And that’s where I felt the best tone came out of it. There’s a point right before it breaks where you get this sweet clean tone that crunches as soon as you pluck just a little harder. It took me a long time to find that spot, but once I did I became a lot happier with the amp. Not gonna try to say it’s on the level of a fender tweed but it did the job for me and I’m grateful for its service.
Just reflowed a Vintage Club 30; built Nov '94; looks basically identical and had - from player's perspective - an awful lot of problems. But actually it all boiled down to the same source - broken and/or iffy solder joints on tube sockets. It works like a new now, no weird rattling/rushing/firecracker/sizzle sounds anymore, no jumps in volume, all fixed, without having to replace a single part. Thank you so much Lyle for this.
I've got a VC6210 and it served me well for a good number of years. Like another commenter said, it runs hot and had a burned out something or other that I had repaired under warranty. It has a good sound and as long as I don't have to move it, I like it just fine. Seems that St. Louis Music used MDF infused with lead or depleted uranium. Heavy stuff. I always thought it sounded quite a bit better than the price point or name would imply. Thanks for this video!
The reason people like these Voxy Crates is that they are biased hot as hell.
I have a Crate V18-112 of similar design, this video certainly gave me some things to think about when it comes time to service it. It sounds decent and while it's not a vintage Fender, Marshall or Vox, I didn't pay a vintage amp price for it either. It cost me less than $200 and for that, I can't complain.
The Crate VC amps were never something I paid attention to, I was one of the many players who thought of Crate as budget/beginner amps, even owned a Crate practice amp once that sounded awful. But then someone had a VC50 with the 1x15 that they were looking to trade for a digital amp, so I traded my Fender Mustang that I'd been fighting with for a year for it. It's big and heavy, but I absolutely love how it sounds. Hope I can get some years out of it. I made the trade based on these kinds of videos where actual amp techs are evaluating the amp, and most of the techs have very little bad things to say about the Crate VC amps.
That looks like a box of goodies from AES in the background! Best mail ever. Even beats Christmas cookies from relatives ! All the pots have different colored shafts! Adorable!!😊
I have an older version that I recapped and reflowed a lot of solder joints. It’s a ver good sounding amp now.
I had some great Crate amps from the 90's and early aughts. As long as you don't need parts, they're great. I had to replace a couple of pots on a Palomino, and those were almost impossible to find. Ended up buying some from Ampeg service in Belgium or somewhere.
I still have my VC3112 that my gf bought for me back around 1996. I believe they were going for around $600 or $650 back then. It has been an awesome sounding amp and VERY loud for its 30 watt spec.
That sounds a heck of a lot better than I thought it would.
Perhaps the most fundamental lesson learned over past few months since I’ve started watching your channel is keeping hardware tight and everything clean. I think if you ever do a show with Phil McKnight, knowing your gear is maintaining it. Thank you, Lyle.
I worked in retail in addition to guitar repair back when these came out. They sound really good for an inexpensive tube combo. Better to my ear than the Peavey Classic 30’s although those were workhorses too. Great video!
got a 1995 blonde vc5212. mark knophler can be seen using two of them in a live london video from 1996. This was my first tube amp and will never part with it. great clean sound and good od with pedals. glad you did this one!!! love ur vids. always interesting.
I got one of these (blonde) for $40. All problems were related to oxidation on switches plugs and pots. I didn’t like the knobs (prefer pointers), and eventually came upon the idea of shrink tubing over the shaft to accommodate standard knobs.
Thanks for the free information and knowledge man. You sound well chill today Lyle! Have a good festive season mate!
Thank you for showing this amp rework. I have the smaller Crate Vintage Club 20 (VC-2110 with Reverb) with the blond tolex cab and grill cloth. Twenty watts from 2 EL-84's and 3 12 AX7's. Only one channel with no footswitch, but it works great as a pedal platform. I do wish mine was the 12" speaker, but those models were more rare in the 20 amp version. I am going to use your previous suggestion to me from your open chat a couple of weeks ago and upgrade the 10" speaker to a Warehouse ET-10. I have retubed the amp with all matched JJ's a couple of years back, but I have to find a local shop here in Jacksonville, FL that can recap it and not butcher it. O love all your videos and I love the old Fender, Crate, and Ampeg reworks that you do.
This is a great deep dive into a more recent era of americana.
it is a great sounding amp, I like them! :D