Hey Zach,
Over the years, I’ve collected a little bit of everything when it comes to guitars and amps. Buying this wooden Crate amp was one of my weaker moments. The amp works, but really doesn’t sound good tonally. I bought it because the wood cabinet it is housed in is unusual. I know older, retro amps have become more collectible over the years, so is that the case with mine? Also, is Crate still in business? I can’t seem to find much about them.
Thanks,
Hey Brett,
When it comes to punching bags, Crate—justified or not—could be seen as the Nickleback of guitar amplifiers. It seems that just about everyone takes jabs at Nickleback for a number of reasons, but you know what? Their concerts still continue to sell out. Crate amps never held the reputation of being the most expensive or best sounding amps out there, but they have definitely served a purpose for many guitarists. It’s probably safe to assume that many of us have owned a Crate amp at one time or another—often when we were just getting started.
Crate was started in the late ’70s by Gene Kornblum, who ran the instrument distributor St. Louis Music (SLM). Gene’s father, Bernard Kornblum, founded SLM in 1922 and got his start in part by importing violins, strings, and harmonicas. Following the guitar boom of the ’60s, the company began importing Alvarez guitars from Japan. By the ’70s, SLM was distributing a few lines of amplifiers including Magnatone and EMC, but had not yet produced or manufactured an amp under their own brand.
Legend has it that Gene Kornblum was in a Crate & Barrel store and was inspired to build a guitar amp by the wooden crates that held the retail chain’s products. In 1978, the Crate CR-1 (the very same model you own) was introduced. And it was indeed housed in a wooden crate similar to a military footlocker.
The 20-watt CR-1 fit the definition of an entry level/practice amp to a T. Utilizing ponderosa pine for the cabinet, it featured a solid-state chassis, a single 12" speaker, dual inputs, and gain, bass, treble, and master volume controls. The CR-1 was instantly popular, and several variations soon followed including the CR-1D Deluxe with a distortion channel and footswitch, the CR-1R Reverb, and the CR-1RD Deluxe Reverb that featured both distortion and reverb. Larger 60-watt models with more controls and features called the CR-II and CR-65 series were also available, as well as some higher-end models with oak cabinets. And by 1980, there was a Crate amp for everyone—including bassists!
A view from the rear of the CR-1 combo’s ponderosa pine enclosure shows the line out jack and single 12" speaker.
The wood-enclosure Crate amps were produced through the early ’80s, when the company began making tolex-covered amps that were more traditional looking. SLM enjoyed enormous success with Crate during the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s. In 2005, however, Kornblum decided to sell SLM to Loud Technologies in Woodinville, Washington, and this is where the history gets a bit fuzzy.
Mark Ragin of U.S. Band & Orchestra Supplies, SLM’s parent company, bought back most of SLM’s brands from Loud Technologies a few years later, with the exception of Ampeg and Crate. Ampeg is still very much alive and well, but it appears that Crate hasn’t produced anything in several years. Crate’s website still works, but the last year it was updated for copyright purposes was 2009.
Even though the CR-1 is a unique amp, these combos don’t hold much value for collectors. Your amp today is worth between $75 and $125, but I think a very clean model could fetch $150. It’s interesting to note that the list price in 1980 was $199, so it hasn’t exactly held value. Unfortunately, most Crate amps have little collector value, but what you have is definitely an interesting retro piece with a cool story.
For over five decades, audiences worldwide have marveled at Baxter’s inimitable and instantly recognizable guitar playing and generational songcraft. His output spans classic records as a founding member of Steely Dan and member of the Doobie Brothers in addition to hundreds of recordings with the likes of Donna Summer, Cher, Joni Mitchell, Rod Stewart, Dolly Parton, and many more. During 2022, he initially unveiled Speed of Heat, showcasing yet another side of his creative identity and introducing himself as a solo artist.
On the Storytellers Edition, his fascinating commentary pulls the curtain back on both the process and the message of the music. This version traces the journey to Speed of Heat and its core inspirations as shared directly by Baxter in the form of detailed anecdotes, candid stories, and insightful commentary on every track.
The 12-songalbum, co-produced by Baxter and CJ Vanston, is a riveting and rewarding musical experience that features a host of brilliantly crafted originals co-written by the guitarist and Vanston, as well as inspired versions of some of the great classics. Along the way, Baxter is joined by guest vocalists and songwriters Michael McDonald, Clint Black, Jonny Lang and Rick Livingstone. Baxter notably handled lead vocals on his rendition of Steely Dan’s “My Old School.” Other standouts include "Bad Move" co-written by Baxter, Clint Black, and CJ Vanston, and “My Place In The Sun”, sung by Michael McDonald and co-authored by McDonald, Baxter and Vanston.
As one of the most recorded guitarists of his generation, Baxter’s creative and versatile playing has been heard on some of the most iconic songs in music history, including “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton and “Hot Stuff” by Donna Summer.
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If 3 Were 6
With six times the controls found on the 1 and 2 versions (if you discount the original’s on/off slider switch,) the LPB-3’s control complement offers pre-gain, boost, mid freq, bass, treble, and mid knobs, with a center detent on the latter three so you can find the midpoint easily. A mini-toggle labeled “max” selects between 20 dB and 33 dB of maximum gain, and another labeled “Q” flips the resonance of the mid EQ between high and low. Obviously, this represents a significant expansion of the LPB’s capabilities.
More than just a booster with a passive tone, the LPB-3 boasts a genuine active EQ stage plus parametric midrange section, comprising the two knobs with shaded legends, mid freq and mid level. The gain stages have also been reimagined to include a pre-gain stage before the EQ, which enables up to 20 dB of input gain. The boost stage that follows the EQ is essentially a level control with gain to allow for up to 33 dB of gain through the LPB-3 when the “max” mini toggle is set to 33dB
A slider switch accessible inside the pedal selects between buffered or true bypass for the hard-latch footswitch. An AC adapter is included, which supplies 200mA of DC at 9.6 volts to the center-negative power input, and EHX specifies that nothing supplying less than 120mA or more than 12 volts should be used. There’s no space for an internal battery.
Power-Boosted
The LPB-3 reveals boatloads of range that betters many linear boosts on the market. There’s lots of tone-shaping power here. Uncolored boost is available when you want it, and the preamp gain knob colors and fattens your signal as you crank it up—even before you tap into the massive flexibility in the EQ stage.
“The preamp gain knob colors and fattens your signal as you crank it up—even before you tap into the massive flexibility in the EQ stage.”
I found the two mid controls work best when used judiciously, and my guitars and amps preferred subtle changes pretty close to the midpoint on each. However, there are still tremendous variations in your mid boost (or scoop, for that matter) within just 15 or 20 percent range in either direction from the center detent. Pushing the boost and pre-gain too far, particularly with the 33 dB setting engaged, can lead to some harsh sounds, but they are easy to avoid and might even be desirable for some users that like to work at more creative extremes.
The Verdict
The new LPB-3 has much, much more range than its predecessors, providing flexible preamp, boost, and overdrive sounds that can be reshaped in significant ways via the powerful EQ. It gives precise tone-tuning flexibility to sticklers that like to match a guitar and amp to a song in a very precise way, but also opens up more radical paths for experimentalists. That it does all this at a $129 price is beyond reasonable.
Electro-Harmonix Lpb-3 Linear Power Booster & Eq Effect Pedal Silver And Blue
