# Anybody remember the Crate Blue Voodoo 300BV head and cabinet combo?



## metalbiker (Jan 3, 2017)

Man, I've been looking to find a Crate Blue Voodoo 300 watt head and a matching BV cabinet. 

I know they were discontinued in 2006 and I'm going to bug Crate to see if they make me a couple amps using the Blue Voodoo 300 stuff. 

That amp and cabinet was a beast!! ENORMOUS GAIN AND VOLUME!! man, it didn't take much to get really loud. wow!! and i want one so bad!! it's super rare to find now but man, I want to get Crate to reissue it. Just the sheer amount of tubes in that thing was imposing. That fiery glow on the inside of the head and viewable through the mesh grill was eye candy!!

If anybody hears of one, please let me know.


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## Nitrobattery (Jan 3, 2017)

Reverb and eBay both show results.


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Jan 3, 2017)

Nitrobattery said:


> Reverb and eBay both show results.



I think he means the BV300. Not the standard 120w or 60w version.

But eBay does have 1 result. Which is shocking.


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## vick1000 (Jan 3, 2017)

They were rare as hell to begin with. I almost bought the 2x15 bottom cab at my local GC, just to have it, but thought better of it. Now I wish I would have snagged it.

They pop up occasionally, but I doubrt you could get Crate to make you one since that factory is closed now, the one in St. Louis. Lowest I have seen the 300 is $700 on the GC website.

I would not say they were that great an amp, not tonally certainly. More of a collectors item IMO. The 300 and 150 were built well though, made in the USA in St. Louis. Some of the pots and switches could get flaky, not to hard to fix. Quality iron and PCBs, probably would need a recap at this point though.


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## SwanWings (Jan 3, 2017)

God dang. Just looked this sucker up. 6 power amp tubes and 10(!?) preamp tubes? must've weighed like 120 lbs!


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## NinjaRaf (Jan 3, 2017)

The 300 and 150 definitely sounded better than the 120, but were still very...well, not very good. Not sure why you would want to have Crate re-issue these things.


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Jan 3, 2017)

Crate doesn't even exist anymore.


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## op1e (Jan 3, 2017)

Saw a "popular" metal band in my area that draws well and their guitarist had one. Sounded like a flubby, dry rock amp. Supposed to be a super heavy hardcorish band, but his tone was not. Not many around here understand what a clean boost is, however. They just bitch that their Dual Rec isn't as tight as their HD147 and can't figure out why


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## Drew (Jan 4, 2017)

I remember thinking the Blue Voodoos (which, as a predominately blues player who loved Jimi back then, I REALLY wanted to like) were kind of dry and edgy sounding, and I was kind of turned off by the 120 I played. Somehow I can't see a cleaner poweramp improving that...


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## bnzboy (Jan 4, 2017)

I've tried when a used one came to a local music store and I don't remember anything fancy about it; nothing special


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## Dekay82 (Jan 4, 2017)

I only remember seeing Marty Friedman adverts for these in Guitar World way back when.


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## cGoEcYk (Jan 4, 2017)

Probably sounds like ass but I love "Old Iron" tube amps. I run my ISP Theta through my 300w bass amp and it's pretty sick. BV300 might make a nice power amp.


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## vick1000 (Jan 4, 2017)

cGoEcYk said:


> Probably sounds like ass but I love "Old Iron" tube amps. I run my ISP Theta through my 300w bass amp and it's pretty sick. BV300 might make a nice power amp.


 
LOL, that's what Marty used them for too.


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## trem licking (Jan 5, 2017)

buddy of mine bought one of these and i've played through it a few times. sounded great to me for high gain... i could easily pull tones out that i liked. would definitely buy.


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## Handbanana (Jan 5, 2017)

Pfft GT3500H FTW.....hehehe


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Jan 5, 2017)

The power amps are Ampeg designs, IIRC. The power section and transformers were the same things used in the SVTs at the time.


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## Descent (Jan 5, 2017)

I remember hearing the first version of the Blue Voodoo 150 watter and liking it, then they did something to the MkII and sounded awful. 
Had a local guy selling one a few years ago (300 watt head) and brought it into our studio for us to check out - it was okay amp but just too brittle. With a lot of eq changes I knew I could do OK with it but it wasn't anything impressive. I passed on it...but now I wonder with the right eq section tweaks/mods it could've been a good amp. I did something similar recently to a Fallen Angel, actually turned out into a very capable Marshall JCM800-like dirt channel.


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## feraledge (Jan 5, 2017)

Anyone else feel like they were walking into the other side of a Rigs of Dad post here?


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## rebornself27 (Jan 6, 2017)

http://www.musicgoround.com/p/656479/used-crate-bv300h-tube-guitar-amp-300-watts


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## cGoEcYk (Jan 6, 2017)

rebornself27 said:


> http://www.musicgoround.com/p/656479/used-crate-bv300h-tube-guitar-amp-300-watts



If it's an SVT power section... that is interesting for the $! I'd bypass the Crate technology and run a Darkglass or something into it. Might need a dolley to roll it around though.


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## rebornself27 (Jan 6, 2017)

cGoEcYk said:


> If it's an SVT power section... that is interesting for the $! I'd bypass the Crate technology and run a Darkglass or something into it. Might need a dolley to roll it around though.



New name for it Crate backbreaker 300 lol


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## NorCal_Val (Jan 7, 2017)

Jeez.
It'd be useful as a power amp!!!!


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## Krucifixtion (Jan 7, 2017)

My first tube amp ever was a BV120. Gain channel was ok, but it did have a pretty powerful clean section. I remember many years later playing a BV300 or 150 whatever it was in GC and it was much much better. I sold my BV120 in like 2001 I think for the 5150 II.


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## Grindspine (Jan 7, 2017)

A friend of mine had a BV60 and 120 back in high school. I always found the gain to be harsh, bright, and abrasive, regardless of amp EQ settings. To be fair, he used bright pickups; Duncan JB, Jackson pickups, EMGs.

However, later on, he did snag a BV300 and matching cabinet. Honestly, it sounded really good to my ears. Even with the same guitars and pickups, the harshness was greatly reduced, but it still sounded tight and big. Using the right combination of speakers does help too--he was using a JBL 1x15 to compliment and round out the 4x12s. He never could find the 2x15 Crate cab though.


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