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#1
06-09-2017, 01:26 PM
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A Traynor TVM15/Crate Taxi 15 battery amp w/ reverb! $150
I used to use a Crate Taxi 15 as my main amp and though I had battery troubles for all the years I used it, I'll note why in a minute, the biggest reason I couldn't like it a lot was the lack of reverb. Most everything else about it was pretty good for a $220 battery amp. I just found this $150 thing and if its the same amp as the Crate with a reverb, its the most powerful of the $150 or so battery powered amps youll find at a real 15 watts. It looks to be. Same "Designed in California, Made in China" type on the back panel:
http://tinyurl.com/y9lwnyre https://www.amazon.com/Coolmusic-BP2...TN55T1AP4BWQ1S On lead acid cell amps: lead acid cells can't stand being discharged and form dendrites even as they're under load. When you use a lead acid battery amp, you need to top off the charge as quickly as you can in order to preserve cell capacity. They also lose charge when they're sitting quickly and, if you can't pull the battery and leave it on a low volt maintainer, you'll really need to recharge the thing every couple of weeks. My Crate Taxi was not a reliable amp in other ways. One thing it did was run down the battery to exhaustion. There's no circuit to keep the 12v battery from running down below 10v, the point at which individual cells in the pack are in danger of reversing, which kills the battery forever. I didn't know it at the time so I killed a number of good batteries (which are a bear to replace in this chassis). The big warning sign is that the amp will begin to distort slightly. The minute you hear that, you need to turn the amp off and recharge it. That's all the warning you'll get. The lead plug for the very large/heavy power brick is also fragile because it sits on a daughter board that has delicate connections to the main board in the amp. This is what finally killed my Crate Taxi. The eqs are also a bit wonky and phasey. They did get the job done though. All in all, I could get a solid 10 hours play time out of it and it was much louder than most any battery amp available, with reasonably good/ok, Roland Cube Street EX quality level, sound. If this is the Crate amp with reverb and your budget says only $150, it deserves a good, long look. Last edited by dannyg1; 06-09-2017 at 04:10 PM. Reason: Tiny URL so it works 
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#2
06-09-2017, 03:15 PM
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This amp apparently has a lithium battery in it and 3-4 hr recharge time. Much better than the Crates 12-14 hour charge time. The pack is user reported to be externally replacable but consists of three 18650/3600mah cells, so run time will be less than the 12v/7200mah that was standard in the Crate. One user reports longer than 4 hours at unity gain/12 o'clock volume. It should be _far lighter though, maybe by 4 lbs. This is a truly interesting amp!
It also has a 9v/1a power out on it to run a pedal via its internal battery. Last edited by dannyg1; 06-09-2017 at 04:03 PM.
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#3
06-09-2017, 04:12 PM
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No XLR mic input takes it out of contention for me.
1/4" D.I. out? It is portabel though... (their spelling!)
__________________
Call me Scott Cole Clark Angel 2 Thin Line | Emerald X7 Custom Woody | IRIS DF in sinker mahogany Methos1979: (Almost) Every guitar-related review I've written on AGF! Scott & Donna Music
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#4
06-09-2017, 04:23 PM
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Quote:
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#5
06-09-2017, 04:26 PM
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It's too bad as I'd love to find something small, battery powered and relatively inexpensive for those rare bonfire gigs.
All kinds of bad grammar in the ad. Obviously English no their first language and got some bad translation. If you end up auditioning one, keep us posted. I've been thinking about grabbing an AC-33RW but it's a lot of change for the few times I'd ever use it...
__________________
Call me Scott Cole Clark Angel 2 Thin Line | Emerald X7 Custom Woody | IRIS DF in sinker mahogany Methos1979: (Almost) Every guitar-related review I've written on AGF! Scott & Donna Music
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#6
06-09-2017, 05:17 PM
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Going by the photos, the two amps do seem slightly different dimensionally, the Crate has an xlr on the mic channel, no line out and the silkscreened verbiage reads 'Designed by SLM electronics, 1400 Ferguson avenue, St. Louis, MO 63133
Made in China'. I know Ive seen that 'Designed in California, Made in China' label on some amp I own. Wonder which? This amp most probably is some kind of a copy of the Traynor/Crate amp and because of that, its an unknown animal. If anyone happens upon one, a lot of people here would be interested in hearing about it.
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#7
06-26-2017, 03:47 PM
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Just for people who happen upon this thread and are looking for an amp thats something like the Crate Taxi and that's inexpensive with reverb, CASD57 has found the closest thing from Amazon and China, the Mugig BM25:
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...rds=mugig+bm25 It's smaller than the Taxi, close to much smaller and it's certainly lighter, by a mile at around 4 lbs. It's not as loud either, but it's serviceable and cheap (It was on a Father's day special for $85 and a youtube review has the price he paid at $60, so look for another special coming down the pike. Its $129 normal price. This is my way of saying forget this Coolmusic thing, it's not what I was hoping it to be. I bought the Mugig and for a cheap amp, its pretty good.
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