|
|
BGRA: Crate BX-15
| Manufacturer |
Crate |
Model |
BX-15 |
| Reviewer |
Brian Rost |
|
|
| Experience |
|
Item owned |
|
| Review Date |
|
Price paid |
$125-150 street price, I paid $50 used |
|
|
|
Dimensions | approx., 12" x 12" by 7" |
|
Wattage | 10 watts RMS, more or less |
|
Speaker(s) | 8", ported |
|
Effects | none |
|
Controls | volume |
|
Other | two inputs, line out, headphone out |
|
|
|
The BX-15 is what most people call a "practice amp". Indeed, it's good
for that and not much more due to the tiny speaker and low wattage.
To Crate's credit, the thing actually sounds better than you might
expect for it's size. But an SVT it is not.
The unit is about as simple as you can get: plug into one of the two
input jacks (one is padded by 15dB if you have a very hot signal),
adjust the single volume knob and then tweak the EQ to taste. To get
every watt of power squeezed out, a limiter is built in to the amp and
cannot be defeated. Turning the volume past 2:00 starts to result in a
more comporessed sound, although it is still usable. After about 3:00
it starts sounding extremely squashed, although not truly
distorted. At full blast, the speaker starts to break up on the lowest
notes, but the amp itself is still remarkably undistorted. The range
of the EQ is pretty decent; the manual claims the bass control is
centered at 80Hz, and it does have an audible effect even though I
don't think the speaker is able to reproduce a tone that low. The best
sound to my ears is to be had by boosting the bass and treble to
1:00-2:00 and rolling both mid bands off to 10:00-11:00.
The line out is unbalanced and post-EQ and volume. You can use it to
patch into another amp, a mixer, etc. The headphone circuit is mono,
but wired for stereo phones. It sounds rather dry (no effects in the
amp) and is a bit noisy compared to dedicated headphone amps I've
used. Still, it's free. With adapters from Radio Shack you could plug
a Walkman into the second input for play-along practice, in
mono. Plugging into the phone output disconnects the speaker. In
general, the construction is good; for home use this amp will probably
last forever. It's solid enough so it doesn't rattle or buzz until you
have the volume almost flat out. The covering is a good grade of tolex
and the rubberized corners are excellent protection.
I hesitate to recommend practice amps to beginners and the BX-15 is no
exception. It simply is not loud enough to play along with a typical
drummer; why buy an amp that you'll need to replace in a few months?
As a second amp for practice at home, it's great, though, easy to move
from room to room and if you just leave it parked in front of your
stereo, it takes up little space. The tone quality is adequate for
home practice (and it's far superior to some other amps like the
Gorilla, Matrix, KLA, etc.). I would recommend anyone shopping for the
BX-15, or it's immediate and nearly identical predecessor the B-10XL,
to buy a used one as it can save you significant money (I paid $50 for
mine, less than half what new ones go for). Crate offers a 5 year
transferrable warranty, so the warranty may still be in place on a
used one (there was over a year left on mine) as long as you get the
original sales slip.
| |
|
| construction |
 | (90%) |
| |
|
| clarity |
| (80%) |
| |
|
| value |
| (100%) |
| |
|
| overall |
| (80%) |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
