Crate Vintage Club 20 Combo Amplifier

I’ve owned this amp for about 2 years now. At first I went to my local music store to re-fret my guitars, I saw a pack of Crate Vintage Club amps lying around at a very low price. They were discontinued years ago, so they were not really brand new..and also not dead mint. I’ve never heard of this amp before. The sales person told me that they are all tube amp, so I gave it a shot…and I was blown away right on the spot. There are 5 Vintage Clubs at the time, two 50 watter, two 20 watter, and one beat-up 20 watter with no reverb. I picked one, the VC 20 with reverb, and went home a happy man.

First let me tell you about the feature: It is a one channel full tube amp, controls are on top: gain knob, a punch (boost) button, three equalizer knobs, and reverb. There are no digital effects on it, so the reverb has to be a spring reverb (yay!). It has a headphone jack that I never use and an external speaker jack. It’s rated 15 watt, and the “punch” button adds another 5 watt (hence the name, VC 20). two EL-84 tubes, two 12 AX7 and 12″ speaker. The classy old style cream colored tolex was a little bit dirty when I got it..still a little dirty even when I cleaned it, but it does give the “vintage” look to it.

How to describe the sound? Well, the best that I can describe it is Marshall JCM800 in a small combo amp that you can take anywhere. Absolutely perfect for blues, old school rock and many other styles. Adding some stomp boxes, I think this one may be suitable for virtually any style, but it’s obviously better using its vintage side. I personally go for “crunch” sound, so this amp suits me well. The bass is not too tight, and it gets flabby when you push it to do hard metal distortion.. but who wants to do metal on a 12” open combo anyway? Just connect it to a cabinet guys, and you’re all set. I gigged with it and it sounded super, and everyone of my friends who hears it gave good praise.

I did encounter some problems with this amp. A month after purchase, I played at my room with it, went out to get a drink, by the time I went back to my room, it’s dead. It took me a while to revive it (because there is no manual or schematics about this amp on the internet, even on Crate website), but after it was fixed, this thing is solid as a rock right to this moment.

I love this amp. I am extremely happy to say that the Crate VC20 is heavily considered to be one of the best I have ever played through. Its an overall bargain, versatile, tube amp. My next thing to try is experimenting with changing the tubes and the speaker, although for now I’m happy enough already. I’ve seen a few of these VC20 amps around and I’m thinking of getting another one because they pack so much bang for the buck.

Ibanez DE-7 Delay/Echo

I was looking for a delay pedal, and I have been researching for it for a while. Then I came across the Ibanez DE-7. What intrigues me is that it has an echo sound function, kind of like old 70’s delay sound to it, where the decay sounds darker than the initial sound. I also liked the Marshall Echohead delay unit, it has more feature to it, but it’s a little more expensive than the Ibanez. The DE-7 is not really expensive new on the market, but someone’s selling it second hand (of course a lot cheaper than new), so I figure nothing to lose, if I don’t like it, I can sell it again.

Operation is simple. Three knobs: Delay Time, Repeat, and Delay Level. Also there are two switches: Range (30-160, 120-650, 480-2600 ms) and Mode Echo or Delay between a warm analog type sound, and digital delay). It doesn’t have tap tempo function. it is sort of tricky to set your exact delay times, but it still is relatively simple. the knobs pushes down into the pedal, effectively locking your settings into place.

I think this is a solid pedal. Sound is from good to sometimes excellent. I have played this thing where I must have just set it just right, a few times where it was heavenly. The sound is good. It doesn’t seem to be sucking tone when off, and it sounds a lot better if you use the stereo out to two amps.

Altough I think the delay mode is pretty good, my favorite setting is the echo mode. Think of David Gilmour type delay. I use all three of the time intervals, from slapback to slow repeats. I know this not Echoplex, but I’ve had plenty of people be impressed with the “vintage” Space Echo sounds that can come out of this box. Plus, you can mess with the time knob to make some crazy tape-echo sounds. If you put it on echo and jack up the repeate rate you get the infinite analog “feedback” sounds like the end of Radiohead’s ‘Karma Police’. I’m still having fun messing with it.

Combined with my other digital delay effect (from my Adrenalinn) it can create a very interesting space to my guitar sound. The Delay mode is also good, but not very special. What I like about it that it can used as a reverb unit by setting the time short and adjust the rate a little.

I really love this pedal,especially the echo, which to me worth the price alone. The delay mode to me is a nicely added bonus, and surprisingly useful indeed. For the second hand price that I paid it’s a steal, but if you are looking for an echo or analog-ish type of delay, I really recommend this one.

Behringer EQ700 Graphic Equalizer

The unit provides a 7-band equalizer activated by an on/off pedal. The EQ700 has a simple, traditional interface. It’s easy to use and it does the job of equalization well. There is some noise when certain bands were raised and when I’m using distortion, but nothing that causes a tremendous problem for me.

The pedal is housed in a plastic case.Yes, it is breakable. but not that easy. It’s really tough plastic. I never stomp on any of my stomp boxes though, I just tapped them lightly, so to me the casing won’t be a major problem. The upside, however, is that this makes the unit light in weight, which one realizes is an asset after lugging gear around to a few gigs.

The EQ700 a very nice pedal at a very affordable price (really..it’s really cheap). I mainly bought it as a curiosity for its price and having seen technical tests where it was deemed 99% identical to the Boss GE-7. Here is the official short features straight from the Behringer website:

Behringer Graphic Equalizer EQ700 Features

• Shape your sound and eliminate feedback with 7 bands of equalization
• This BEHRINGER product has been designed to compete head to head with leading products on the market (I’m sure by this they mean Boss GE-7, hahaha)
• Wide frequency range from 100 Hz to 6.4 kHz with a powerful 15dB boost/cut per band
• Status LED for effect on/off and battery check
• Runs on 9 V battery or the BEHRINGER PSU-SB DC power supply (not included)
• First-class electronic On/Off switch for noise-free operation
• High-quality components and exceptionally rugged construction ensure long life

Okay, back to my reviews. This pedal is pretty easy to use and its only a matter of minutes until you find a tone that suits you. its a standard 7 band Eq its an easy concept but like any Eq it takes a little while to figure out how to use it usefully but the 15 + or – range gives a lot of versatility. One gripe with the sliders is it’s hard to find where the 0db is (not affecting tone).This unit doesn’t have a center “click” like it’s Boss GE-7 counterpart, so because of the dramatic range what seem like flat can change tone but after fiddling you can get flat although i would like it easier to find this point.

Battery compartment is idiotic. It’s really hard to open it. It was designed to open using the tip of a guitar cable, but the buttons are really too small for guitar cables. You’ll end up needing a pen, or small screwdriver to do it. I like the Boss mechanism more, or better yet, the Ibanez ToneLok Series.

I also didn’t like that the adaptor input position is at the side. I prefer it like Boss effects

For what it does, it does its job really really well. It’s extremely versatile while it can sound awful (with bad settings) most sounds are usable and can improve tone in any setup. Use it after my distortion pedal (Boss OS-2) to increase the highs a little, because if I use the tone on my distortion unit to increase the treble, it sounded harsh..not the case with the Behringer EQ. Also I sometimes use it as a clean booster in front of my tube amp for soloing.

My conclusion for this pedal: buy it. For that price, you can’t get a better (or any at all,for that matter) equalizer pedal. It’s good for bettering your sound for the least of the cost. I’d recommend it to anyone. It does what it Boss counterpart does, and It does really good in term of sound quality, for about 1/3 of the price. You won’t be disappointed, and for the price, you should get one any way!

Boss OS-2: OverDrive/Distortion

I had this stomp box for a while now, and at this moment this is my primary distortion unit. For those of you unfamiliar with this unit, here’s the description straight from the Boss web page:

The OS-2 gives players a choice of overdrive or distortion or lets them combine both–all in a single compact pedal. Its distortion maintains the subtle nuances of single-coil guitar pickups.

• Flexible distortion pedal capable of producing blended overdrive/distortion sounds
• Provides both “over-the-top” distortion sounds and less extreme overdrive tones for rhythm playing
• Includes Level, Tone, Drive and Color controls for precise tonal shaping
• BOSS 5-year warranty

Okay, basically this unit is a combination of overdrive and distortion sound in one compact stomp unit. It has 4 control pots: drive, tone, level and color. The level knob changes the sound level, drive changes the amount of overdrive or distortion, tone shapes the tone (treble/bass), and the color knob changes how much of the sound is overdrive and how much is distortion. Like any Boss pedals, it’s pretty easy to use, but finding a good tone is a little tricky.I would not say that the process of finding the sound you desire on this pedal is very easy. The possibility of blending Overdrive and Distortion signals, on one hand offers more versatility, but it will also take one considerably more time to figure out the way it works (what settings to use, to achieve the desired sound).

The key to this pedal is that the range of sounds is very wide, I have great sounds in all settings, depends on what kind of tone your trying to get/what your playing. but it can do it all. you can get a nice overdrive if you want, or get some pretty heavy distortion and everything in between. Thanks to the tone knob you can make it crisp with the high frequency area and with the low frequencies it shall sound just as good, deep and blunt.

What sets it apart from other Boss pedals is the fact that you can “blend” the sound of the overdrive section and the distortion, creating sounds that are likely impossible to do with just one single stomp box.

From what i know the overdrive section sounds similar to the Boss SD-1, but with a more vintage sound to it, with more mid hump sound and less bass than the SD-1, while the distortion part is similar to Boss DS-1, but the distortion is somewhat fuzzier to my ear, compared to the piercing DS-1 tone.

My favorite setting is with the color knob at dead noon (12 o’clock everybody), drive at about 11 o’clock, and the tone knob just barely open (like about 8 o’clock). The reason is that the drive section really lacks bass, while the distortion has too much of them, so the middle is where I found the most pleasing. The tone is very trebly that even pass 9 o’clock it cuts my ear, that’s why I don’t turn it too much.

I also find that this unit only sounds good if you put it in front of a slight overdriven amps. Forget about clean amps, it will disappoint you. I used it in front of a clean Marshall Plexy once and it sounded sterile and harsh..let alone on a clean transistor amp. It just happens that I always set my combo tube amp (crate Vintage Club 20) slightly overdriven, so my amp loves this pedal.

Conclusion : I really like this pedal, it has a wide range of sound at your disposal, and it has a nice tone to it. I just wish that the overdrive had more bass to it (there’s a mod to fix it, but I’d rather use Eq pedal). I’m still searching for a more “cooked” sound stomp box that would sound good even on a clean amp, maybe I’ll search around for some Marshall Jackhammer..but for now this nice pedal will do.

Also check out my band’s songs here:
http://www.myspace.com/duasisi
You can hear examples of the Boss OS-2 in our songs there

Roger Linn Adrenalinn II

I have been using this unit for about two years now. For those of you not familiar with Adrenalinn, The AdrenaLinn II is the successor to the original AdrenaLinn developed by Roger Linn Design a couple of years back. This unusual processor has the same physical layout as its predecessor, but with redesignated controls and enhanced software. Like the original, the AdrenaLinn II is a mono-in/stereo-out stomp-box effects processor designed primarily for guitar, with an integral ‘simple but solid’ 200-pattern programmable drumbox based on 40 drum samples.

When I first know about The AdrenaLinn II, I think it’s a brilliant concept, but I personally found it a little too complicated to program, (I heard the first one is far more iritating to use. so Roger Linn has redesigned the software and interface to make it more user friendly. One of the cool thing for owners of original AdrenaLinns is that an upgrade kit, comprising an EPROM and a panel overlay, is available at a reasonable cost. Here’s a little product descriptions on the adrenalinn II:

What’s Different from AdrenaLinn II?
AdrenaLinn II gives you everything the original AdrenaLinn does — beat sync’ed filter effects, amp modeling and drum machine — plus lots more, using a more powerful internal computer and expanded memory:

Redesigned for simplified operation — quickly and easily get the sounds you want

12 new superb amp models for a total of 24

New filter types for cool and strange new sounds

Delay time nearly tripled to 2.8 seconds for simple looping-like sounds

Foot selection of presets and tap tempo

Improved drum sounds, presets and drumbeats, and lots of new features all around!

New to AdrenaLinn? Don’t Know What it Is?
AdrenaLinn II is an award-winning effects processor for guitar, keyboard or bass that combines 3 products in one:

A beat-sync’ed multi-effects processor
Tremolo, flanging, rotary, delay, random filtering and other modulation effects — including programmed sequences or filtered tones or note arpeggios — in perfect sync to the internal drumbeat or MIDI. Also included are classic filter effects like auto-wah, guitar synth and talk box!

A superb amp modeler
24 superb models of classic guitar amps over the past 40 years, distortion boxes, a clean preamp, and a few original amp models of their own.

A programmable drum machine
A great-sounding beat box with 200 drumbeats and over 40 sounds.

Beat-Sync’ed Filter Effects
What are beat-sync’ed filter effects? Examples include tremolo, auto-pan, filter tremolo, flanger, chorus, rotary, vibrato and more, all in perfect sync to the internal drumbeats or to MIDI clock. (That out-of-sync tremolo on your guitar amp won’t seem as useful anymore.) Plus all new effects including:

Random filtering — like a new random wah pedal position on every 1/8 or 1/16 note. Very cool solo sound when used with our amp models.

Random flanging — a new random flanger tone on every 1/8 or 1/16 note. Great for twangy arpeggios or held chords.

Tremolo sequences — how about reggae tremolo? Or swing tremolo?

Filter sequences — like a 2 measure rhythmic sequence of wah pedal movements. An incredible idea generator.

Pitched arpeggio sequences — infuses your playing with a sequence of pitched musical notes. Very weird/cool.

Classic Note-Triggered Filter Effects
Did we mention filters? AdrenaLinn II contains emulations of various audio filters including wah pedal and classic Moog and Oberheim synth filters. You’ll get plenty of auto-wah effects, guitar synthesizer sounds, volume swells, and even a talk box emulation without having to stick that damn plastic tube in your mouth.

Superb Amp Modeling
AdrenaLinn II also includes 24 superb modeled simulations of classic amps, distortion boxes, a clean preamp and even a few new amps of their design:

• Fender Bassman
• Fender Twin Reverb
• Marshall JTM-800
• Vox AC-15
• Roland Jazz Chorus JC-120
• Soldano SLO-100
• Roger Linn Design Deep
• Fuzz tone
• Fender Blackface Deluxe
• Marshall JTM-45
• Hiwatt DR103
• Budda Twinmaster
• Boogie Mark IV
• Roger Linn Design Thin
• Roger Linn Design Bright
• Octave fuzz
• Fender Early Deluxe
• Classic Marshall JTM-50
• Vox AC-30 Top Boost
• Matchless Chieftain
• Boogie Dual Rectifier
• Roger Linn Design Blues
• Roger Linn Design Rectified
• Clean Preamp

For distortion lovers, AdrenaLinn II models don’t stop at the original amps maximum gain. They don’t even stop at 11. They go to over 1600 times overdrive! Go scramble some eggs and your note will still be sustaining when you get back.

Beat-Synched Delay with Simple Looping
The audio delay is always sync’ed to the drumbeat or to MIDI. Just select a note value 1/4 note, 1/2 note, or any other — and the delay stays with you. With longer delays like a full measure, you get simple looping features: play a chord, then solo over it when it plays back perfectly in sync on the next bar.

Programmable Drum Machine
The internal drum machine has 100 factory and 100 user drumbeats from hard rock to lo-fi to dance to soft, and over 40 excellent drum sounds. Run the drums through the amps and beat-sync’ed filter processing for some truly rude processed beats.

Easy to Use — Really.
To play one of the 100 factory presets, simply find a preset in the list printed on the back of the manual, turn the PRESET knob to select the preset number and play. You can also press START to hear the drumbeat as you play.

To adjust any of the effect, amp or delay settings that make up a preset, simply find the setting in the Edit Preset section in the center of the front panel, press the UP or DOWN arrow buttons to light the light next to it, then turn the knob above it. Thats it.

Selecting and tweaking effects has been greatly simplified from the original AdrenaLinn. Simply set the Effect parameter (in the Edit Preset section) to one of the 14 effect types shown at the left side of the panel, and then select one of the effect variations using the Variation parameter. Fine-tune the effect with the other 6 settings, or deep-edit with 4 additional hidden parameters.

Okay, the basics aside, after two years of using this effect I found that the Adrenalinn II is really useful in recording situations, but in for playing live…it need a little help. I really love this unit for its modulation section, the beat sync’ed effects are marvelous, amp simulations also top notch in my book (i like the fact that the amp simulations shines more on clean amps and slightly overdriven sound) and it also accepts my stompbox pedals really well. The delay is also nice, although it did sound a little ‘digital’ (it’s a digital delay, so what do you expect? hahaha). I don’t use the drum pattern for recording, but that’s okay because I have better software based programs for that, but it’s nice to know that I have options when I don’t have my computer around.

But as I said before, in live situations, there are plenty ‘I wish it was more like this’ category. For instance, while I liked the amp simulators for recording, I cannot use it with amps without it sounded crappy. Even when I plug it from the effects loop of the amp it still sounded wrong to my ears, so for live, I bypasses it altogether. For live I only uses the modulations and delays. But here’s another gripe: using the beat synced effect in a live band

Is next to imposible! Drummers tend to drift a little (my drummer, anyway..) and it’s hard to tap tempo this machine. I almost always accidentally hit bypass or ended up changing patches in a middle of a song..not a situation I want to be in a performance. Maybe if I have a midi clock or a midi trigger connected to my drummer it will work out, but that’s more money to spend on gears..

There is also one annoying thing that’s bothering me when using it live: it’s not true bypass, and the bypass is really coloured, so I hate it. I’m planning to buy a true bypass box from Revolt to eliminate this problem.

Conclusions: All in all, this unit is very intuitive and stimulating tool for jamming or creating rhythmic compositions. A few minutes jamming while recording the stereo outputs can provide you with enough loops and grooves to form the basis of a new song. If you’re running out of inspiration, just play with one of these for half an hour and you’ll see what I mean! The AdrenaLinn II also sounded great using a bass or a synth as an input source,so it has more mileage in my studio than just another guitar effect. It’s rugged enough to use live, too (after I buy a true bypass box, it will be golden).

I am planning to upgrade to version III very soon. Because I have this version II I can just purchase the upgrade kit for $ 99 (available online on the Adrenalinn official website http://www.rogerlinndesign.com/products/adrenalinn3/adrenalinn3_upgrade.shtml , a very tempting price for a truckload of new improvements.