Crate Stealth clip-vid

[Kordoba]

Groove Tube El34s, V1-Tung Sol, V2-Sovtek 12AX7 WA/7025, V3-Sovtek LPS.

I have two other Stealth vids on youtube, and a common criticism was "too much mids, pull them back" so I did that here and liked the result. What I'm hearing on this one is "pull back the highs/presence." After sleeping on it and listening back, I agree.

I've got two of these heads, and this is the one I bought from Jeff Hilligan on here about a year ago.

 

[311boogieman]

Sounds mean

I like how it is dead quiet when not being played. You running a noise gate?

 

[Inearthed]

Great thrash / heavy metal type sound!

 

[skullfxr]

I have had too many crate and ampeg ls shit the bed.

I have a blue voodoo I modded and it sounds OK. Not amazing. But has been reliable. I have a Lee Jackson ampeg fail three times after teduis work to fix it twice and saying fuck it. The vh140c was fine but I just heard too many stories about failure and ditched it fully functional.

I had a 130 watt crate that was free that I fixed up a bit. Never felt like I could trust it on a gig. Sold for $150.

I hope yours does better than mine.

Also, that is a badass tone! Cheers!

 

[Kordoba]

Sounds mean

I like how it is dead quiet when not being played. You running a noise gate?

No noise gate, she clams up on her own. One of the cool things about these amps.

Thanks for the comment 311splawndude!

 

[Kordoba]

Great thrash / heavy metal type sound!

Appreciate that Inearthed, thanks for the listen and comment!

I have had too many crate and ampeg ls shit the bed.

I have a blue voodoo I modded and it sounds OK. Not amazing. But has been reliable. I have a Lee Jackson ampeg fail three times after teduis work to fix it twice and saying fuck it. The vh140c was fine but I just heard too many stories about failure and ditched it fully functional.

I had a 130 watt crate that was free that I fixed up a bit. Never felt like I could trust it on a gig. Sold for $150.

I hope yours does better than mine.

Also, that is a badass tone! Cheers!

I've got two of these things and have had them both over a year without any problems.

Thanks for the comments swamptrashstompboxes, much appreciated!

 

[Racerxrated]

Great thrash / heavy metal type sound!

Appreciate that Inearthed, thanks for the listen and comment!

I have had too many crate and ampeg ls shit the bed.

I have a blue voodoo I modded and it sounds OK. Not amazing. But has been reliable. I have a Lee Jackson ampeg fail three times after teduis work to fix it twice and saying fuck it. The vh140c was fine but I just heard too many stories about failure and ditched it fully functional.

I had a 130 watt crate that was free that I fixed up a bit. Never felt like I could trust it on a gig. Sold for $150.

I hope yours does better than mine.

Also, that is a badass tone! Cheers!

I've got two of these things and have had them both over a year without any problems.

Thanks for the comments swamptrashstompboxes, much appreciated!

Nice playing and tone....these amps are criminally underrated. Like the previous posts, they are super quiet and can easily dial in a nice modded Marshall thing. It's really a 3 channel amp; clean and two crunch/lead channels. The loop is great too.

I used to find them for 75-150 bucks and flip on eBay for like 300. I remember reading a post by Mark Cameron on a long ago amp/circuit forum...he says that the Crate Stealth was easily the best sounding of ANY of Lee Jackson's amps. Over Ampeg, Metaltronix etc.

 

[Kordoba]

Nice playing and tone....these amps are criminally underrated. Like the previous posts, they are super quiet and can easily dial in a nice modded Marshall thing. It's really a 3 channel amp; clean and two crunch/lead channels. The loop is great too.

I used to find them for 75-150 bucks and flip on eBay for like 300. I remember reading a post by Mark Cameron on a long ago amp/circuit forum...he says that the Crate Stealth was easily the best sounding of ANY of Lee Jackson's amps. Over Ampeg, Metaltronix etc.

I've never played the LJ Ampeg, but I do prefer the Stealth to the Metaltronix I once owned. One thing common with both of those amps is that they have so much of everything and need to be dialed in more conservatively than my other amps. I've found that ear fatigue sets in quickly and what sounds good today is downright painful tomorrow. At least that has been my experience.

I know the Mark Cameron comment you are referring to and I've seen it quoted a few times here as well as on TGP. Aren't you the one who used to seek out these amps for Jeff Blando? I thought he quit using them onstage years ago, but just ran across a pic from 2017 where he had one onstage along with the Marshalls.

Anyway, thanks for the comments, I do appreciate them!

 

[Racerxrated]

Nice playing and tone....these amps are criminally underrated. Like the previous posts, they are super quiet and can easily dial in a nice modded Marshall thing. It's really a 3 channel amp; clean and two crunch/lead channels. The loop is great too.

I used to find them for 75-150 bucks and flip on eBay for like 300. I remember reading a post by Mark Cameron on a long ago amp/circuit forum...he says that the Crate Stealth was easily the best sounding of ANY of Lee Jackson's amps. Over Ampeg, Metaltronix etc.

I've never played the LJ Ampeg, but I do prefer the Stealth to the Metaltronix I once owned. One thing common with both of those amps is that they have so much of everything and need to be dialed in more conservatively than my other amps. I've found that ear fatigue sets in quickly and what sounds good today is downright painful tomorrow. At least that has been my experience.

I know the Mark Cameron comment you are referring to and I've seen it quoted a few times here as well as on TGP. Aren't you the one who used to seek out these amps for Jeff Blando? I thought he quit using them onstage years ago, but just ran across a pic from 2017 where he had one onstage along with the Marshalls.

Anyway, thanks for the comments, I do appreciate them!

Back in 2012 I had one for sale on eBay, in the ad I listed Jeff as a user. He contacted me through eBay and I ended up selling one to him. Super nice guy; he offered tickets to the Northwoods Rock Rally as Slaughter was playing but my daughter just had her wisdom teeth out so we couldn’t make it.
An old soundguy I used to use in the 90s told me that when he ran sound out in Sturgis for the rally, Jeff was playing for Vince Neil and had 2 Marshall stacks on stage....but in reality he had a mic on a Stealth behind the stacks. Lol
I agree with the ear fatigue; those amps are severely bright.

 

[Kordoba]

Back in 2012 I had one for sale on eBay, in the ad I listed Jeff as a user. He contacted me through eBay and I ended up selling one to him. Super nice guy; he offered tickets to the Northwoods Rock Rally as Slaughter was playing but my daughter just had her wisdom teeth out so we couldn’t make it.
An old soundguy I used to use in the 90s told me that when he ran sound out in Sturgis for the rally, Jeff was playing for Vince Neil and had 2 Marshall stacks on stage....but in reality he had a mic on a Stealth behind the stacks. Lol
I agree with the ear fatigue; those amps are severely bright.

I've heard that one too. At least he has one back on stage again, at least for that gig in 2017 anyway.

 

[Racerxrated]

Back in 2012 I had one for sale on eBay, in the ad I listed Jeff as a user. He contacted me through eBay and I ended up selling one to him. Super nice guy; he offered tickets to the Northwoods Rock Rally as Slaughter was playing but my daughter just had her wisdom teeth out so we couldn’t make it.
An old soundguy I used to use in the 90s told me that when he ran sound out in Sturgis for the rally, Jeff was playing for Vince Neil and had 2 Marshall stacks on stage....but in reality he had a mic on a Stealth behind the stacks. Lol
I agree with the ear fatigue; those amps are severely bright.

I've heard that one too. At least he has one back on stage again, at least for that gig in 2017 anyway.

When I chatted with him, he told me he would buy up as many Stealths as possible...because they were so cheap used. Easily replaced if one failed...he had over 50 back then. He was a sponsored artist way back and got free amps when they were new. He has a nice collection of great vintage Marshalls too, but why risk those when you can get 80% there with the Stealth?

I had all variants, the 100w EL34 and the 50w 6V6...preferred the 50w. I honestly think the Stealth is the quietest high gain amp I've owned. Super quiet.

 

[Kordoba]

Back in 2012 I had one for sale on eBay, in the ad I listed Jeff as a user. He contacted me through eBay and I ended up selling one to him. Super nice guy; he offered tickets to the Northwoods Rock Rally as Slaughter was playing but my daughter just had her wisdom teeth out so we couldn’t make it.
An old soundguy I used to use in the 90s told me that when he ran sound out in Sturgis for the rally, Jeff was playing for Vince Neil and had 2 Marshall stacks on stage....but in reality he had a mic on a Stealth behind the stacks. Lol
I agree with the ear fatigue; those amps are severely bright.

I've heard that one too. At least he has one back on stage again, at least for that gig in 2017 anyway.

When I chatted with him, he told me he would buy up as many Stealths as possible...because they were so cheap used. Easily replaced if one failed...he had over 50 back then. He was a sponsored artist way back and got free amps when they were new. He has a nice collection of great vintage Marshalls too, but why risk those when you can get 80% there with the Stealth?

I had all variants, the 100w EL34 and the 50w 6V6...preferred the 50w. I honestly think the Stealth is the quietest high gain amp I've owned. Super quiet.

Over 50, damn! I plan to grab a 50w and a 1x12 combo at some point. There was an NOS looking 1x12 combo on ebay about a year ago. Still had the sticker on the speaker grill. I didn't bid aggressively enough and lost out on it. I don't remember what it went for, but it wasn't a whole lot.

The Stealth is also the quietest high gain amp I've owned. There is no way I could do the chunk/pause routine that I did in my vid with another one of my amps at that high of a volume without a noise gate, especially facing the amp from 4 feet away.

 

[D-Rock]

Ruthless and sick tone dude!

 

[mctallica1]

Hell yes Mr. Butter Nuts.

Love listening to you jam
T

 

[Kordoba]

Ruthless and sick tone dude!

Thanks for the comment D-Rock, you are the man!

Hell yes Mr. Butter Nuts.

Love listening to you jam
T

The feeling is mutual. I try to like and comment on as many of your youtube vids as I can.