Crate Palomino V8 5 watter

[M29]

Hello,

Well I heard a guy playing a Crate Palomino V8 5 watt combo ($279.00) today at the local GC and I was floored! That thing had the nicest sweetest overdriven sound. I have been considering a Champ or building a clone or getting a Valve Junior to mod but I do not need another project with two guitar projects going right now, my son going to college this fall and my father being 92 years old. I would like to just buy a tube amp and start having some fun. I would probably have that much in a Champ clone or a fully modded VJ.
Have any of you guys tried the Palominos? Do you know if I could get the same sweet tone from the 15 watter or 30 at low volume? I am seriously considering selling my 1 year old Vox ad50vt for one of these. I want a nice overdriven tube sound at a quiet level for recording. I have my Power Block for anything louder. I have read good reviews so far on the Palomino but I really need to go and try one out myself but I don't play that good to be playing at full volume at GC.

Any thoughts?

M29

[duhvoodooman]

I have read good reviews so far on the Palomino but I really need to go and try one out myself but I don't play that good to be playing at full volume at GC.

Any thoughts?
Yeah--not being able to play that good never stopped anybody else at GC! Besides, if it's anything like the one I go in, you'll have a hard enough time hearing yourself, so I wouldn't worry about anybody else hearing you. Check that Crate out and report back here what you think of it. You owe it to yoursefl and your brother Fretters! ;) :D :DR

[Spudman]

I haven't tried one of those myself, but the buzz around the Internet is pretty favorable.

I think Crate makes pretty good tube amphs for reasonable prices. I have a Vintage Club 50 watt 2x12 amph that I love. It's well made and sounds perfect. When it was new it was rather pricey so I don't consider it a cheap amp at all. In fact, the Vintage Club series won some awards after their introduction and had some pretty well known users including Mark Knopfler.

I think you are pretty safe if you get it providing it meets your volume and feature needs. Their warranty is very good.

[M29]

Thanks guys.
I just watched the latest Rocky Balboa movie tonight and I am pumped up. I am going to go into GC next week and have them hand me a U.S. Strat and I am going to rock that Palomino!!! Well... the best I can... And I am going to do it for the Fretters... Well...mostly for me, sorry:R

I read where one fellow did not like how smooth the overdrive was and that is just what impressed me was how nice the smooth overdrive was, I seem to be able to get a rough gritty overdrive from my pedals easy enough and this was smooth and not fizzy but very tubey:D It sounded like it would be great for blues.

One amp I have run across though that I want to check out is the Orange Tiny Terror which can be switched from 15 to 7 watts, I would like to give that a try but I have no idea where to try one at. I have not seen any around here anywhere. I do like the idea of more power but it is also more money and that may end it right there. Plus... I really do not need more power I need an amp to record with at low volume that can get that tube sound we all like and I think that Palomino may do it.

Thanks guys.
M29

[Robert]

Make sure you report back to us GAS'ers!

[Tone2TheBone]

The Tiny Terror is dang cool. Very good sounding amph and it looks neat as hell.

[Danzego]

Yeah--not being able to play that good never stopped anybody else at GC!

*laughs*

Oh man, does that bring back memories of when I used to work at Guitar Center. You're so right, DVM.

[M29]

Hello,

This looks interesting, I just ran across this Carvin which is switchable between 16/5 watts has a 12 inch speaker advertised with a large magnet, groove tubes, reverb and three band EQ. It is more money but the 12 inch speaker is a plus. http://www.carvin.com/products/single.php?ItemNumber=VINTAGE16&CID=VINT

M29

[Spudman]

44 reviews of the Carvin Vintage 16 are mostly favorable.
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar+Amp/product/Carvin/Vintage+16+112+Combo/10/1

[M29]

Thanks guys for all the input.

Well, I went to GC and let her rip on the guitar:R Well... Not exactly rip but kind of... twanked or ...maybe clunked would be a better description. The place was kind of slow so it was not so hectic. But I did it:R

After much thought and after reading reviews I thought shoot... even if I spend 450 or 500 $$ on a 5 watt combo I don't know if I am going to be totally satisfied, especially on the Carvin. There were some (not so good) reviews on that bugger (thanks Spudman) and I really liked the idea of a 12 inch speaker. My main concern on the Crate Palamino 8 was how it sounded clean. I heard the salesman play it distorted and it sounded great and the clean was pretty good but overall it sounded thin and somewhat boxy. I don't want to get into a larger 15 or 18 watt amp so I ended up ordering an Epi Valve Junior to play around with. This will get me a tube amp to play with and a whole future of fun modding for only 99 $$. Also I can make my own combo cabinet and put a twelve inch speaker in it. So I am happy now! Also, I am going to keep my Vox ad50vt which I am still very happy with after playing it quite a bit over the past week. That thing has such a nice (clean) sound and I really like the amp overall.

GC did not have any VJ's in stock and would not for a week. It is about $6.00 cheaper to order it over the web with free shipping and no sales tax so I ordered it from Musicians Friend along with a Marshall foot pedal for the Vox ad50vt. Well my GAS is almost over, it should be here in a few days!!

Thanks again all.

M29

[warren0728]

epi makes a cabinet for the valve jr.

http://epiphone.com/default.asp?ProductID=283&CollectionID=13

ww

[jasongins]

M29 -

Which Marshall foot pedal did you order?

[M29]

Hello,

warren0728, That is one sweet looking rig with that extension cabinet. I will have to give that some thought, I was going to make up a cabinet to fit them both but that looks sweet. Would probably have to do it that way to properly use a 12 inch instead of a combo cab, which might be too small of an area for a 12.

jasongins, I found on the valvetronix.net website that someone suggested the Marshall PED 802 foot switch which has two switches with two LEDs and a much longer cord then the Vox pedal. You don't have to have the LEDs but I like em. I paid 40 for it at Musicians Friend (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Marshall-PED802-Footswitch-with-LEDs?sku=482940) but I have seen them for 20 on the bay but not when I wanted one:(

M29

[Duff]

I got one of these a couple days ago to enjoy while recovering from some serious surgery. No pain meds needed to tolerate this little amp.

This amp is unbelievable. I can't stop playing. I have only used my Schecter Omen six so far and it sounds awesome at all settings. I wanted to get a small wattage amp with a ten inch speaker and I'm really glad I chose this one.

I had tried it out before and thought it was a bit too expensive for a five watt. When I noticed the other day that it was on sale for one ninety nine at MF I had to recheck the price to make sure I wasn't imagining things.

I went down to Gctr and picked one up on the price matching deal. What a nice amp.

I will do a more complete review on the review page later after I have enjoyed it some more, tried some more pedals, and generally provided myself with more information from which to develop a reasonable review.

Preliminarily, it takes the Bad Monkey very well. Sounds super great with distortion and tone straight up with no pedals attached. It is not noisey. It sounds sweet and full with that sought after type of tone that some of us crave. It plays a chord with lots of distortion but you can still hear the chord and does not sound thrashy when playing chord after chord.

It distorts the high pitched strings and not just the low end. So you can play some really nice blues and get some high pitched notes in there that resonate with a great smooth distortion. Not all amps do this, if you didn't notice.

It's loud enough to be too loud. I have not had any complaints from my wife yet, but can tell that it can be very loud for five watts. It also has a high coefficient of cool. With the cream covering and gold trim. It looks like class and doesn't intimidate my other amps on my wall.

I must add, however, that the 15 watt Vox Pathfinder reverb with tremolo, solid state, that I recently got sounds extremely good too. But the Palomino is only a few dollars more and has some really great tone. Both amps are super great looking and sounding.

I would choose either of these two amps over a chrome VOX without hesitation. Those chromies have been having and are still having an excessive amount of serious problems. Expensive problems. The chromes are super complicated and sophisticated. I imagine that there are millions of things that can potentially go wrong with them.

The Crate Palomino V8 and the Vox Pathfinder 15R both seem like simple amps that would not be excessively expensive to get fixed by a knowledgeable tech. The chromes probably require expensive specialized testing equipment not owned by the average tech. I could be wrong. But I know one thing I'm right about, and that is that, in my ear, the Crate Palomino V8 and the Vox Pathfinder 15R both sound unbelievably great.

I have other big amps that can be gigged with that will not be intimidated by a loud drummer. But for general playing and jamming to CDs, composing, practicing, etc., these two amps are unbelievable. I'm really glad I was able to get both of these.

Just right now I can't stop playing the Crate V8 long enough to plug into one of the other ones. I think I just want to get to know it better.

The Crate V8 BEGS me to be a better player and Promises me that it will make me sound better if I do my part, that's guaranteed.

I would advise not to underestimate the Crate V8 Palomino or the Vox Pathfinder 15R. And note that the Crate is on sale for about one hundred dollars off.

I hope these ideas and observations are able to help anyone thinking about a new small amp.

Duff

"The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind." BD

[Robert]

So, I thought we could revive this thread, since I believe at least one relatively new member has one, according to what my sharp senses pick up from a signature... :D

Compare it to some other amps, please - maybe the Vox ADxxVT, Epi Valve Jr, etc?

[tunghaichuan]

I have the schematic for that amp. A few observations:

The amp has a two stage TL072 opamp as the input gain stages. The next two gain stages are from a 12AX7. Both the 12AX7 gain stages have the stock Fender values: 100k anode resistors, 1.5k cathode bias resistors and 22uF cathode bias caps. This amp has a lot of gain on tap.

I don't see the op amp as a bad thing though. Using an opamp to drive the 12AX7 isn't fundamentally different than using a booster pedal on a two stage amp like a Valve Junior.

The output stage is a single ended Class A EL84 driving a 10" speaker. Kudos to Crate for not cheaping out and putting in an 8" speaker (or 6" for that matter).

The B+ voltage is not listed on the schematic, but the cathode bias resistor on the EL84 looks to be too small in value at 100 ohms. To get a Valve Junior with a B+ of 300v+ not to over dissipate the EL84, I like to put in a 270 ohm cathode bias resistor. I would guess that the EL84 will burn itself out quickly in that amp, but that is just a guess as I don't know the B+ voltage. The cathode bias capacitor is 220uF, but I'd probably put a 1,000uF to 2,200uF cap there to stabilize the output section.

The line out is preamp out, which can sound thin and buzzy. I much prefer the post OT line out circuits, you get the character of the power tube and output transformer (but not the speaker). Of course, the stock preamp line out could be used to drive the input of an FX loop of a more powerful amp, if one were to like the fundamental tone of the preamp. The line out jack looks like it is wired to accept an input to the last 12AX7 gain stage which in turn drives the EL84. Cool. It might have enough gain to plug a distortion/OD pedal into the power amp bypassing the preamp entirely.

The power supply uses run-of-the-mill 1N4007 diodes. I'd probably remove them and put in UF4007 diodes, which are ultrafast recovery. The UF4007 diodes are supposed to eliminate switching noise from the diodes in the power supply. I doubt anyone could pick them out of a double blind test, but they are only about $.25 each, so why not?

The power supply has a big 100uF/450v cap for the first node of the power supply. This will make the amp stiff sounding, but very quiet which I like. The next two filter caps (one for the EL84 screen and one for the 12AX7's anodes) are 10uF. I'd like to see at least a 47uF/450v for the screen supply to filter it better, but if the amp is quiet, it probably isn't needed.

I don't know anything about the output transformer, but if it is Chinese made it is probably small and doesn't sound very good. A Hammond 125CSE might be a good sub to beef up the low end.

Without having heard one and judging only by the schematic, it looks like it is mostly a well thought out amp.

My $.02,

tung


So, I thought we could revive this thread, since I believe at least one relatively new member has one, according to what my sharp senses pick up from a signature... :D

Compare it to some other amps, please - maybe the Vox ADxxVT, Epi Valve Jr, etc?

[Guitar Gal]

Robert...you DO have sharp senses.....

I have a Palomino V8 and an Epi VJ (version 2)....both are original stock w/o any mods. I wanted to play around with each of them for awhile before I did anything to them. My overall impressions are as follows: the V8 seems more versitile with its sound....perhaps because there are gain, tone, and volume knobs compared to the VJ which just has the volume knob. On the V8, with the volume up and the gain down I can get nice clean bluesy tones.....sharp and defined. Crank the gain and turn down the volume and get a good distorted sound....not garbled, but a nice distortion if you know what I mean. The V8 is loud, but not loud enough to make your ears bleed. The VJ is LOUD and I cannot turn the volume up past 2:00 without fear of permanent hearing damage from prolonged playing. Again, I have not done any mods....yet......everything on the VJ is stock. The overall tone is more bassy than the V8 even though it is a smaller stock speaker (8" vs a 10" on the V8). I can get a nice, clean tone on the VJ and it seems to take pedals very well. I have also used pedals on the V8, but have not tried using the line out jack as as effects loop yet.....on my list....:D So far, the pedals seem to work better on the VJ, but that may change when I run the pedals through the line out jack on the V8. Overall, I like both amps and would not hesitate to recommend either one. The VJ looks like it would be a fun mod project. Getting to the tubes on the V8 is a lot like getting to the tubes on the Vox....pain in the butt....

Can't really compare these two with the Vox AD30VT that I have...different animals. I love the Vox and the variety of tones I get.....and the effects are fun to play around with. I did switch out the speaker on the Vox for a Celestion G10 Vintage and it made a HUGE improvement in the overall sound. Everything just seemed to come alive with the new speaker.....notes are now defined and clear. I mostly use the amp settings on the left side of the selector switch along with the Boutique OD setting.

All good amps....glad I have each of them :Dude:

GG