Crab Benzin Head journey

[bikescene]

I just got word that my order of the Crab Guitar Effects Benzin 50W head (the VH4-inspired one) has shipped. I thought it would be helpful to update you guys about the timeline of a recent order and the amp’s journey from Ukraine to the Northeast USA.

I put my order in on February 17th and the amp was done on March 22nd, a month ahead of schedule. From following the other Crab threads, I’m expecting to take delivery in about 3 weeks based on everyone else’s experience.

The builder shared this picture of the amp with me the other day:

My only references to the VH4 outside of clips are the Helix/Fractal models, some NAM captures, and an AMT D2 pedal. From all I’ve read, Diezel users often refer to the large power sections of their amps. I don’t expect a 1:1 experience of the real thing. I do hope to get some use out of its power amp return with some AMT preamp pedals.

One thing of note is that amp has a Tone Shift toggle, which wasn’t on the other builds that I saw on his Instagram page.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Nice!!! Looking forward to your thoughts!

 

[bikescene]

I took delivery of the Crab Benzin head earlier today and just finished playing through it for the night.

This was the timeline for those interested:

• 2/17 - Ordered
• 3/22 - Amp completed
• 3/24 - Shipped
• 4/5 - Arrived in US
• 4/8 - Delivered

Some initial observations:

• The head is small. It measures around 18.5”x9”x9” and is around the size of my Jet City JCA22H. The customs form says it’s 8.9kg (~20lb).
• There’s only 2 sets of EQs on the Benzin. It’s more like a footswitchable 2 channel amp, with 2 modes on each channel (VH1/VH2 and VH3/VH4).
• No bright switch on VH1/VH2 modes. VH2 can be a bit bright.
• Tone Shift for VH3/VH4 thins out the sound a bit in the left position. Right is most likely Stock.
• The amp is a little noisy, but that is probably due to all the gain. I've been playing my Recto MW and Badlander lately and I think those are pretty quiet amps with moderate gain.
• No idea if it nails the Diezel sound, but I'm having fun.
• I haven't had the ability to evaluate the amp in the room sound due to late hours.

I plugged into my Suhr Reactive Load to make sure it powered up and recorded a couple of riffs while I was at it. Mostly my Dean MD24 guitar (Duncan TB-5 in the bridge) straight into the amp. EQ was all between 12:00 and 2:00, Depth and Presence at 5 for now because I don't know what I'm doing. I loaded an IR that I made, V30 with SM57 off axis to take off the edge.

Here's the clip:


VH3 w/ Gain at 1:00. (0:01) Tone Shift Right, then (0:11) Tone Shift Left immediately after.
VH4 w/ Gain at 11:00. (0:22) Tone Shift Right, then (0:30) Tone Shift Left immediately after.
VH2 w/ Gain at 2:00. (0:38) Treble dialed less than in the VH3/VH4 section.
VH1 - Clean - Epi LP w/ PAF level pickups - (0:53) middle position, then (1:07) neck pickup.

I won’t get the opportunity to evaluate the amp through a cab at anything higher than whisper volumes for a few days. I might eventually take a peak at the chassis. I'll share if I'm feeling adventurous.

Here's the head rack. I think I need to stop at this one.

 

[Whizzinby]

 

[Whizzinby]

Thanks for sharing clips dude. Sounds great.

Good to get feedback on the Crab stuff. I’ve kicked the can around on an MCII.

 

[bikescene]

Thanks for sharing clips dude. Sounds great.

Good to get feedback on the Crab stuff. I’ve kicked the can around on an MCII.

Thanks.

I was already looking at the Diezel preamp pedals a while back. When I saw the positive experiences in the Crab Amps threads here, I thought it was a risk worth taking over those pedals.

 

[BahamaDada]

What's the price point with shipping for these?

And I searched for it, but only found FB/Insta profiles. How do you get in contact with these guys?

 

[bikescene]

What's the price point with shipping for these?

And I searched for it, but only found FB/Insta profiles. How do you get in contact with these guys?

It was $520 with $140 shipping, which is the same price I’ve seen others mention. The 4 channel Dragon is a little bit more, as are the 100W versions.

I messaged him over FB Messenger, keeping in mind that his time zone is 6 hours ahead. He typically responded to me within minutes.

 

[BahamaDada]

It was $520 with $140 shipping, which is the same price I’ve seen others mention. The 4 channel Dragon is a little bit more, as are the 100W versions.

I messaged him over FB Messenger, keeping in mind that his time zone is 6 hours ahead. He typically responded to me within minutes.

Sorry to bother you with questions, but how was the payment? I suppose they don't offer CC payment?

 

[bikescene]

Sorry to bother you with questions, but how was the payment? I suppose they don't offer CC payment?

I don’t mind at all. It was a $100 deposit through PayPal Gift. That’ll depend on your appetite. Then the rest of the balance was due at completion.

He’ll make some clips of the amp at completion if you want to hear it, which is probably what the Crab YouTube videos are comprised of.

 

[Devin]

Sounds promising kimg

 

[bikescene]

I took a few minutes to take the chassis out of the headshell. The first thing I noticed was the mounting hardware: bolt, lock washer, flat washer .

I think the amp looks great. Looks similar to to recent Marcus gut shots that were shared in another post. It's cool that he can incorporate different amp toplogies into the same compact format. Solder joints look well done.

Hope it's alright to share. I think it shows how good of a value the amp is. He's probably cranking out amps now with the increased online exposure and the guts still look good. The earlier boards looked like they were self etched. These PCBs show that the operation is scaling up. The bias trim pots are clearly labeled on the PCB.

As an amp building enthusiast myself, I enjoy neatly twisted heater wiring.

 

[MatrixClaw]

I took a few minutes to take the chassis out of the headshell. The first thing I noticed was the mounting hardware: bolt, lock washer, flat washer .

I think the amp looks great. Looks similar to to recent Marcus gut shots that were shared in another post. It's cool that he can incorporate different amp toplogies into the same compact format. Solder joints look well done.

Hope it's alright to share. I think it shows how good of a value the amp is. He's probably cranking out amps now with the increased online exposure and the guts still look good. The earlier boards looked like they were self etched. These PCBs show that the operation is scaling up. The bias trim pots are clearly labeled on the PCB.

As an amp building enthusiast myself, I enjoy neatly twisted heater wiring.

Dang, these new boards look super solid.

 

[BahamaDada]

I don’t mind at all. It was a $100 deposit through PayPal Gift. That’ll depend on your appetite. Then the rest of the balance was due at completion.

He’ll make some clips of the amp at completion if you want to hear it, which is probably what the Crab YouTube videos are comprised of.

Thanks a lot! I am not that old (by far I hope), but the whole "product not available through normal online shop"-thing is new to me. I think the next days I watch a bit from his channel. Maybe something gassing me.