Crate CA30DG Taos Acoustic Guitar Amplifier (30 Watts, 1x8 in.)

30 watts. 8 in. driver. Dome tweeter.

See Full Size Image

Overall User Ratings

Overall:: 9 out of 10
Features:: 8 out of 10
Quality:: 9 out of 10
Value:: 10 out of 10
I Want It:: 9 out of 10
Sound:: 10 out of 10
Ease of Use:: 10 out of 10
Support:: 9 out of 10

"Very Satisfied!"

Overall:: 10 out of 10
Features:: 9 out of 10
Quality:: 10 out of 10
Value:: 10 out of 10
I Want It:: 10 out of 10
Sound:: 10 out of 10
Ease of Use:: 10 out of 10
Support:: 10 out of 10

User: a customer from verizon.net

Submitted: 6/10/2006

Style of Music: Classical, Jazz, Blues

Musical Experience: Hobbyist

Location: Redlands Ca, USA

Feature:
It has everything I need. The only thing I would change is the ability to mix the delay and reverb, however the echo produces a similar effect. If given the choice to mix any two effects it would be the chorus and reverb, and it does that nicely. The other effects are just icing on the cake that I rarely use. Oh yes, and a headphone output would be nice, but I would probably use it seldom, so I won't consider that a weakness.

Quality:
Beautiful workmanship,cosmetic design, and ergonomics. People in other reviews have complained about it being heavy, but that just proves that it's built like a tank. I expect it to last a long time, especially considering that I use it primarily at home and rarely take it anywhere.

Value:
Worth every penny, and I would buy again if something happened to it.

Desirability:
As mentioned above, it's a very cosmetically pleasing and well laid out amp.

Sound:
This amp sounds amazing. It brings out the natural tone of my Alvarez classical guitar. Sounds better than other amps I have tried in it's price range.

Ease of Use:
Very easy to use. That is one of the main selling point of this amp for me. I'm tired of owning equipment that I have to strain my brain to learn how to use. I like the simplicity, and it offers enough versatility to tailor my sound the way I want.

Support:
Haven't had a chance to test the customer service. I have experienced no problems to date.

Overall:
I will upgrade someday, but no time in the immediate future, and not because of dissatisfaction. I would probabaly go higher up in the same line.

5 of 5 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?

Thanks for your opinion!

"Hellz yeah."

Overall:: 10 out of 10
Features:: 7 out of 10
Quality:: 10 out of 10
Value:: 10 out of 10
I Want It:: 10 out of 10
Sound:: 10 out of 10
Ease of Use:: 10 out of 10

User: a customer from mindspring.com

Submitted: 8/15/2008

Style of Music: Side Show Freak

Musical Experience: Active Musician, Vocalist, Multi-instrumentalist, Engineer, Side-Show Freak

Location: Washington, D.C.

zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.

Feature:
I give it a 7 because, well its not designed to be a huge feature-full box. But there is quite a lot of EQ ability with the mid-sweep. You really can get anything EQ'd right with this. I have challenging instruments (see above) and it does the job.

Quality:
It feels solid. The knobs are tight and inputs feel strong and durable. I got like $75 off for a dented grill!! Awesome, I'd have dented that in 1 show anyway.

Value:
Hell of a lot of volume for a tiny price.

Desirability:
Sure nice to have a tiny box (not taking up stage space) that get get over any loudness of drums.

Sound:
This is so clean and rich sounding. I am using it for banjo, classical guitar, and accordion. Certainly, I have preamps to deal with the idosyncracies of those instruments, but for each I get a MUCH better sound that running direct through a PA.

Ease of Use:
Totally intuitive, but then again, its basically WYSIWYG.

Overall:
I am totally jazzed about this amp. First actual acoustic amp I've had, been running straight thru the PA or an electric guitar amp for too long. I didn't know what I was missing.

6 of 6 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?

Thanks for your opinion!

"The best sounding acoustic amp I have ever heard."

Overall:: 10 out of 10
Features:: 7 out of 10
Quality:: 8 out of 10
Value:: 10 out of 10
I Want It:: 8 out of 10
Sound:: 10 out of 10

User: a customer from yahoo.com

Submitted: 1/14/2005

Style of Music: all

Musical Experience: Hobbyist

Location: Flint, MI, USA

Feature:
I was really glad to see to inputs.

Quality:
So far, it seems really well made and sturdy. The handle is hard and part of the casing, easy to carry, and I am not too worried about messing anything up.

Value:
Worth the price, I would have paid more.

Desirability:
I like the look, I am proud to own it, I show it off all the time.

Sound:
The second I plugged my Ovation into this amp, I was in love. The sound is amazing, it puts out the sound of my acoustic so clean it just makes my guitar sing. I became a better player just by buying this amp. The effects are gentle, I have been able to find every sound I have attempted to go for so far. I have played only on amps for electric guitars, and always had fun with them, but I will never go back now that I have heard how full and beautiful my acoustic can be with this amp.

Support:
NA

Overall:
I plan on using this amp for a very long time, the only other amp I ever plan on buying is the 60watt of the same.

1 of 1 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?

Thanks for your opinion!

"Great Little Amp!"

Overall:: 8 out of 10
Features:: 6 out of 10
Quality:: 9 out of 10
Value:: 10 out of 10
I Want It:: 7 out of 10
Sound:: 9 out of 10
Support:: 9 out of 10

Submitted: 7/8/2005

Feature:
The only issue I have with this amp is that you cannot mix effects. There is only one effects knob that you turn to pick effect. You can only select and intensify one effect at a time.

Quality:
It seems that this amp is built with high quality parts.

Value:
The best price in this product range with limited effects.

Sound:
This amp produces a very tight sound clean sound. Almost too clean. I have owned it for 5 months now and I do enjoy it. I use it for church services every week and it sounds good. I play a Martin D-16 RGT and I'm still trying to find that perfect mix of sound between the pezio and the internal goose neck mic on my guitar. I also use a Boss AD-3 processor so I can have access to foot switchable chorus. All and all, I'm pleased.

Support:
Have not experienced any problems.

Overall:
The bottom line is, this is the best high quality amp you can buy for the money. The only downfall is the inability to mix reverb, chorus and other effects.

1 of 1 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?

Thanks for your opinion!

"Killer Acoutic Amp"

Overall:: 10 out of 10
Features:: 9 out of 10
Quality:: 10 out of 10
Value:: 10 out of 10
I Want It:: 10 out of 10
Sound:: 10 out of 10
Support:: 9 out of 10

Submitted: 1/31/2006

Feature:
For 200 some bucks this amps does a great job, ok maybe if it had a little crunch that would be kool, but for clean sexy acoustic in a small package, WOW

Quality:
great amp, great looking, solid.

Value:
It kicks butt

Desirability:
It just sounds sexy

Sound:
This amp sounds amazing, you will have no idea you are playing an 8" speaker. My wife accidentally plugged me into this amp at the guitar store, an amp i would have walked by because its so small, then when I played through it our jaws hit the floor, esp with the killer hall reverb (not found on the more expensive versions of this amp, and thats a shame) anyway I sat there and played every acoustic thing i could think of and I sounded great.

Support:
Answers email nicely

Overall:
I wish I could add effects to the second channel and put the hall reverb on the higher end models, id play this baby for ever

1 of 1 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?

Thanks for your opinion!