The Powerblock amp from Crate is really astonishingly small, considering the power that it packs. Featuring a switch-mode power supply and Class D power amp means that it’s power to weight ratio is good, plus it runs extremely efficiently and generates little or no heat. Meaning that you can pop it in the supplied gig bag without melting any of it! The power amp can be driven in bridged mono or stereo providing 150 or 75 watts respectively. You also get a phono stereo line in for running a CD player, stereo line in / effects send return so you can connect a mono or stereo source into the power amp – such as a guitar processor (Line 6 do several I’m told). The preamp has been designed to feed a more musical signal to the poweramp section – class A amps can be a little clinical. The active EQ gives good tonal shaping and the input gain plenty of crunch. Indeed, Crate recommend that you just turn the gain up full on the preamp and drive it with the volume of your guitar, start off low for a clean sound and crank it to get a driven or crunchier one. Another nifty feature is that there’s direct XLR line out which is enhanced by the speaker circuitry to get a more fulsome sound. Best of all though is that the Crate looks great and the price? We’ve seen it for as low as $200! And you guitarists needn't keep it all for yourselves, remember this amp is also stereo..

http://www.crateamps.com/

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