Crate GX-130 and I need speakers for a cab.

I recently purchased a Crate GX-130 head from a music shop here in town for $200 (used). Since I'm attempting to slowly but surely build my first stack, I haven't had a chance to hear this head through anything other than the cheap rig at the music shop. It sounded pretty decent and I'm figuring if its overdrive sucks, I can buy pedals. Does anyone on here have any experience with Crates (This one in particular) and can tell me whether or not it is a good buy. And maybe any special things I should know about Crates in general? Please...

I also have the actual cabinets for the stack, I just need to buy speakers to put in them. Can anyone point me in the direction of good quality 12" speakers that would be heavy on sound quality and light on the wallet?

Thanks for any help you can offer me.

Crates aren't my favorite amp, but I have owned one and played on all kinds. The overdrive you'll get from your crate doesn't suck. As a matter of fact I think it has great overdrive, although I have played a couple crates that did have crappy overdrive. Tone, on the other hand, is debatable. Personally I hate most pedals and prefer pre-amps. Not all of them cost an arm and a leg, especially when used. Check out Rocktron pre-amps if you aren't happy with your sound, and keep your ears open for deals on used equipment. As far as the speakers go, you could go with anything, as long as it's not Fender. Nothing against Fender but you said you were looking for good distortion and Fender is more of a blues type of tone. Look into buying Celestion speakers though.

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BadHorsie, holdin' it down like Gravity!

Assuming you want a ton of disortion, you'll definitely need a pedal or something for that blistering scooped mid high gain sound. If you can't get the soud you want from a Metal Zone or something, get a Line 6 POD or Johnson J-Station and run it straight into the return inputof your efeects loop. This way, you'll bypass the amp's preamp entirely, leaving the tone of what you're using pure, only using the power amp section of the amp. As for speakers, I strongly reccomend Celestion Vintage 30's. A good cabinet (for a reasonable price) that comes with them is the Red Voodoo cabinet (Sammy Hagar signature model).


[This message has been edited by loner92 (edited 08-02-2000).]

Thanks a lot...

I'll look into those.

Another thing you could do, which I am in the process of doing now, is buy the Celestions' and make a cabinet for them. It's cheaper than the Voodoo cab., but if 'ya got the money go for it.

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BadHorsie, holdin' it down like Gravity!

Thanx...

I already have two empty cabs and I just need the speakers. I found a pretty good deal on Celestions at musician's friend for $59 a speaker.

$59?! Which model? The best Celestion models for distortion are the Greenback, Vintage 30, and Modern Lead (G12M70). Don't make the mistake of buying blues speakers if you want tight, thick distortion.