Duff
May 28th, 2009, 04:42 AM
Or, "what happened to my Crate V50" I got new for 164 dollars out of the MF warehouse door with the coupon, etc.
As some of you may know my V50 Crate blew up, taking out the switching power supply (I'm tired of saying SPS). Will not get a SPS in a tube amp again, ok for ss though.
After +/- three months waiting for a pro tech to rebuild my V50, no sps replacements available, I called Crate and explained that the hyped up advertising regarding the sps as being so great and weight saving never materialized in the real world and that I had been considerably inconvenienced by being without my great sounding V50 amp. I suggested that I would Love to have a replacement amp sent to me in exchange for the V50 and he stated that he had a brand new V32 Palomino 2 by 12 with Celestion 70 / 80 speakers and rolling casters. I have always wanted one of these amps.
He shipped it directly to my house in a couple days and at 67 lbs it's heavy, but well worth the weight. What an amp. Had a torn speaker, six inch rip and he overnighted me a Celestion 70 / 80 and I put it in.
What an amp! I have a V8 that's nice, but this V32 is incredible.
I recently got a deal on a Peavey JSX Mini Colossal with a Weber speaker that is awesome. Both of these amps have that awesome "bloom" when you progressively increase picking force onto the strings - which pushes the amp into beautiful overdriven sound even on the clean settings, which is totally awesome to hear. These amps are incredible and the pick sensitivity is one factor that stands out very clearly with them and makes them special.
The V32 Palomino is really a great amp with conventional power supplies and, according to the pro tech that handled the warranty, the V32 is way better designed and built than the V50 new style. He said that the old style V50 Crates are also of superior build quality and overall design. I loved the sound of my blown up new style V50 though, it just didn't stand up to the advertizing and was not reliable with the catastrophic failure. The power supply has been suspected as the culprit for the greatest number of breakdowns but some capacitors have also been proven to be contributary to the breakdowns, according to the tech at Crate I spoke with.
Crate was very helpful with me and I am, naturally, very happy to have received the V32 Palomino 2/12 with the accompanying 750 dollar invoice; which I do not have to pay because the old amp is being shipped back. I was the recipient of a great amp for a good amp that proved to be unfixable.
I cannot say enough, obviously, about how great Crate treated me regarding the problem, attempt to fix it, and the resulting exchange for the awesome Palamino that I have always wanted buy thought was no longer available new.
You should hear this amp. When my son brings home my microphone I'll try to record some clips of it, it is that great sounding! The tone is very awesome with a great spectrum of sound and further tweakable with the included two button footswitch, boost, two channels, and presence button. I find the reverb to be great.
I like it better than the great sounding V50 and like having a quality two twelve combo, weighing in at 67 lbs. The wheels help. It takes pedals very well too.
So, if you have a new style V series Crate, excepting the V5, you probably have a switching power supply. I would watch the tubes and replace if you think they are not sounding right BEFORE you have a catastrophic power tube failure. You might even take it to a service center and have them look it over and perform any Crate authorized preventative capacitor replacements, power supply replacement that is supposed to be available in a new iteration very soon, and check for cold solder joints, etc. Just to be safe. I'm gunshy for sure and that's why I went for a replacement with a conventional power supply and was really surprised and delighted to have the guy offer me a NOS V32 Palomino: BUT, I had been inconvenienced for three months and the tech tried everything sensible to try to make the amp work. My long wait had a lot to do with getting the quality replacement. They had earlier asked me to give the tech another month to try to fix it. In the end Crate could have issued me a check for the 164 dollars I paid for the amp, but they were super great about it and exchanged amps for the 700+ dollar NOS Palomino. 700+ based upon the mfg. suggested retail, not actual MF type price.
I thought you all would want to know what happened during and after my long wait on the great V50. I won't miss it because my confidence in the sps is very low.
There are reasons why we got those Crate V series amps at such deeply discounted prices. The V5 has a conventional power supply.
I hope my feedback and description of the great treatment I received from Crate is helpful to someone.
Peace,
Duffy
Proud owner of a NOS V32 212 Palomino, cream tolex with gold trim.
As some of you may know my V50 Crate blew up, taking out the switching power supply (I'm tired of saying SPS). Will not get a SPS in a tube amp again, ok for ss though.
After +/- three months waiting for a pro tech to rebuild my V50, no sps replacements available, I called Crate and explained that the hyped up advertising regarding the sps as being so great and weight saving never materialized in the real world and that I had been considerably inconvenienced by being without my great sounding V50 amp. I suggested that I would Love to have a replacement amp sent to me in exchange for the V50 and he stated that he had a brand new V32 Palomino 2 by 12 with Celestion 70 / 80 speakers and rolling casters. I have always wanted one of these amps.
He shipped it directly to my house in a couple days and at 67 lbs it's heavy, but well worth the weight. What an amp. Had a torn speaker, six inch rip and he overnighted me a Celestion 70 / 80 and I put it in.
What an amp! I have a V8 that's nice, but this V32 is incredible.
I recently got a deal on a Peavey JSX Mini Colossal with a Weber speaker that is awesome. Both of these amps have that awesome "bloom" when you progressively increase picking force onto the strings - which pushes the amp into beautiful overdriven sound even on the clean settings, which is totally awesome to hear. These amps are incredible and the pick sensitivity is one factor that stands out very clearly with them and makes them special.
The V32 Palomino is really a great amp with conventional power supplies and, according to the pro tech that handled the warranty, the V32 is way better designed and built than the V50 new style. He said that the old style V50 Crates are also of superior build quality and overall design. I loved the sound of my blown up new style V50 though, it just didn't stand up to the advertizing and was not reliable with the catastrophic failure. The power supply has been suspected as the culprit for the greatest number of breakdowns but some capacitors have also been proven to be contributary to the breakdowns, according to the tech at Crate I spoke with.
Crate was very helpful with me and I am, naturally, very happy to have received the V32 Palomino 2/12 with the accompanying 750 dollar invoice; which I do not have to pay because the old amp is being shipped back. I was the recipient of a great amp for a good amp that proved to be unfixable.
I cannot say enough, obviously, about how great Crate treated me regarding the problem, attempt to fix it, and the resulting exchange for the awesome Palamino that I have always wanted buy thought was no longer available new.
You should hear this amp. When my son brings home my microphone I'll try to record some clips of it, it is that great sounding! The tone is very awesome with a great spectrum of sound and further tweakable with the included two button footswitch, boost, two channels, and presence button. I find the reverb to be great.
I like it better than the great sounding V50 and like having a quality two twelve combo, weighing in at 67 lbs. The wheels help. It takes pedals very well too.
So, if you have a new style V series Crate, excepting the V5, you probably have a switching power supply. I would watch the tubes and replace if you think they are not sounding right BEFORE you have a catastrophic power tube failure. You might even take it to a service center and have them look it over and perform any Crate authorized preventative capacitor replacements, power supply replacement that is supposed to be available in a new iteration very soon, and check for cold solder joints, etc. Just to be safe. I'm gunshy for sure and that's why I went for a replacement with a conventional power supply and was really surprised and delighted to have the guy offer me a NOS V32 Palomino: BUT, I had been inconvenienced for three months and the tech tried everything sensible to try to make the amp work. My long wait had a lot to do with getting the quality replacement. They had earlier asked me to give the tech another month to try to fix it. In the end Crate could have issued me a check for the 164 dollars I paid for the amp, but they were super great about it and exchanged amps for the 700+ dollar NOS Palomino. 700+ based upon the mfg. suggested retail, not actual MF type price.
I thought you all would want to know what happened during and after my long wait on the great V50. I won't miss it because my confidence in the sps is very low.
There are reasons why we got those Crate V series amps at such deeply discounted prices. The V5 has a conventional power supply.
I hope my feedback and description of the great treatment I received from Crate is helpful to someone.
Peace,
Duffy
Proud owner of a NOS V32 212 Palomino, cream tolex with gold trim.