How to Use a Crate G60 Amp

The Crate G60 is a solid-state combo guitar amplifier. Now discontinued, it was first manufactured in the late 1980s in Crate's St. Louis, Missouri factory. The G60 features two-channel operation with reverb, and 60 watts of power through a 12-inch speaker. The channels may be switched via foot switch, or with a manual switch on the front panel. The Crate G60 also features an external speaker output jack, a line-out jack for connecting additional amplifiers, and a line-in jack which can be used as a guitar effect hook-up when used with the line-in jack.

Plug the power cord into a standard 110-volt wall socket, and plug your guitar into the 0 db (zero-decibel) input jack with a standard guitar cord. The second input jack is -6 db, which reduces the input by 6 decibels. The -6 db input may be used if your guitar has very powerful pickups, or when plugging in a CD player or other high-output device.

Turn the volume controls on your guitar all the way down, as well as the amplifier's channel A and B level controls (level is another term for volume), and turn the amp's power switch to the on position. Turning down all volume controls prevents a potential loud "pop" sound coming from the speaker when the amp is powered on.

Switch the amplifier's "Channel Select" switch to "A", and turn your guitar volume up all the way.

Turn the channel "A" level control up about one-quarter (approximately 9 o'clock), and slowly turn up the channel "A" gain control while strumming the guitar until you begin to hear sound. The gain controls the amount of distortion, and the level controls the overall volume. Adjust the gain until the desired distortion sound is reached, and adjust the level control to reach the desired playing volume.

Turn the "Shape" knob on channel "A" to experiment with different tones. Turning the knob fully clockwise boosts the low and high frequencies, while turning it fully counter-clockwise boosts the mid-range frequencies. Turning the knob anywhere in between will allow you to balance between these frequency extremes to reach one that sounds best to you.

Switch the Channel Select switch to channel "B", and slowly turn the channel "B" volume control up until the desired playing volume is reached.

Turn the low, mid and high tone controls up or down to experiment with different tones. All tone knobs will add minimal effect when turned fully counter-clockwise. As they are turned clockwise, tone will be increased. The "low" control adds bass, the "mid" control adds mid-range and the "high" control adds high frequencies. The high frequencies can be further extended by switching the "Bright" switch to the right. The Bright switch also affects channel "A".

Adjust the "Reverb" control until the desired reverb effect is reached. With the knob turned fully counter-clockwise, no reverb effect is added. As the knob is truned clockwise, the reverb effect is increased.

Switch the channel switch to channel "A", and plug the optional two-way foot switch into the "FT SW" jack on the back amplifier panel. One of the foot switches will turn the reverb effect on or off, while the other will switch from channel "A" to channel "B". The use of a foot switch is optional, but note that the channel switch must be in the channel "A" position for the foot switch to perform the channel switching function. If no foot switch is used, the channel switching and reverb may be operated manually.

Plug the external speaker (if desired) into the "EXT" jack on the back amplifier panel with a speaker cord.

Attach an external guitar amplifier (if desired) by plugging in a standard guitar cord into the "Line Out" jack.

Attach external guitar effects by plugging a guitar cord into the effect devices output, into the amplifier's line in. Plug the effect device's input into the amplifier's "Line Out" with another guitar cord. This method of connecting effects is optional, and is called an "effects loop". An effects loop can provide quieter operation when multiple devices are used. Note that you will not be able to use the amplifier's "Line Out" for connecting an external amplifier if effects are connected in this way.