Crate TX15 Taxi Battery-Powered Combo Amp 

Comments about Crate TX15 Taxi Battery-Powered Combo Amp:

I tried this unit to do some busking with my guitar and noticed a problem. Any loud bass notes (e.g., strumming an open E chord) would cause high frequencies to be suppressed. It sounds like someone is turning the treble control off. You could hardly hear the higher strings in the chord.

I emailed Crate about this and they replied saying their engineers could hear the problem and believed it was a flaw in the "summing" circuit.

This was some years ago, I don't know if they ever bothered to fix the problem

But for any situation where you are just doing basic announcing it makes a good portable PA. Much better than bullhorn.

Comments about Crate TX15 Taxi Battery-Powered Combo Amp:

MF sent me a restocked amp that was weak and distorted, it was never checked out by the warehouse staff. I also purchased some battery operated effects so I could play some outdoor gigs with, an echo on the voice and chorus on the guitar, because the amp had neither. When I asked about returning these as well, I was told that I would be charged almost as much money as I spent on those items for returning them, because I had not claimed they too were defective. (No way to really tell since the amp was so weak and distorted.) So I got stuck with them. Previous I had ordered a capo and was sent the wrong one, I e-mailed the office and explained that perhaps the warehouse had sent me the wrong one because the pictures of the items that were switched are actually switched on the website as well. I was told to keep the original capo and they would send me the right one, instead they sent me another one of the wrong ones. I have been a Musician's Friend customer under several accounts, since the 1990's and lately it an't working out so good. It all ended up being a big waste of time and money that should not have occured if the people had checked out the amp and made sure it worked fine and that they had the right items before shipping either off. Also the computer pictures should have been corrected.

Comments about Crate TX15 Taxi Battery-Powered Combo Amp:

I bought it used so I wasn't paying a lot. But with the sound quality and dead lead-acid battery issues, it needed some money to fix it up. This amp is now my experiment / project amp. I have also mod the amp by replacing all the coupling capacitors in the signal path with HiFi capacitors (MKS/MKP type), plus a new full range coax speaker. I have also taken out the pizeo tweeter and put a 4" long pvc pipe in the opening to make a bass reflex box (I sealed the hole at the lower right corner). With this configuration, the amp sounds wonderful like a high end unit. For the battery problem, I discarded the charging circuit board and put a linear power supply in place of it. I don't play at places that have no power.

So, if you don't need portability and don't play in places without power, get something else. The Acoustic AG30 is a lot better (which I also own).

I'm an electronic engineer also so I did the above mod on my own risk. You will void the warranty if you do it.
Basic for a portable amp with mic and guitar inputs. No effects or phantom power. But expected within this price range. Light weight, small size for good portability.
I only comment on sound quality, not on build quality.

They put a cheap electric guitar speaker for an acoustic amp. The sound quality is tinny and like you plug an acoustic guitar into an electric amp. The surround of the speaker is "W" accordian type, which is for electric guitar. This type of speakers will give a higher SPL (louder with less driven power) but linerality is poor. For an acoustic amp, the linerality is important because it needs to reproduce sound faithfully without coloring. I have confirmed this by temporary swapping the full range speaker from my Acoustic AG30 into the Taxi and then it sounded like a real accoustic guitar amp.
I'm a HiFi guy so sound quality is most important. With the above in consideration, I don't think it worth it's market value. But again sound quality is my top priority and you may have a different priority.

Comments about Crate TX15 Taxi Battery-Powered Combo Amp:

Don't love it, but was worth the $100 when it was on Stupid Deal of the Day. I think they're more than that now.
Battery operated or plugged in. Sounds decent for it's small size. Wish it had a digital reverb built in.
Worked intermittently for the longest time. Was advised to change the battery, so I did. That didn't fix the problem. Turns out the wires connected to the on/off switch were corroded and not making proper contact. It was just luck that I happened to wiggle those wires. Thing works fine now. I've got a spare battery.
I does what it's supposed to do now. Very convenient for low volume situations.

Comments about Crate TX15 Taxi Battery-Powered Combo Amp:

BREAKS TOO OFTEN
When MY CRATE TX15 AMP is working it's ok. The attractive feature is the 2 inputs at a resonable price. The problem is that more often than not, it breaks down.
The first time my battery went bad I replaced it. After having read the forum discussions and downloading the electronic schematics it appeared that this unit would work better if the unit was constantly plugged in. However, after the 2nd battery replacement and always keeping it plugged in, I am dismayed with the quality. It doesn't seem to matter which way we use it and note..... we don't travel with it or knock it around. We have always taken very good indoor care of it and it has still broken down on me three times. The batteries aren't that expensive....you can find them for about $15. But I work in the electronics industry and don't mind dismantling things to try to fix them. I just get tired of something that has poor performance. I won't replace it this time with a crate product. Next time I will also look for something that doesn have battery power built into the direct power circuit.
Poor value because it keeps breaking down.

Comments about Crate TX15 Taxi Battery-Powered Combo Amp:

Buy it.
Simple and effective.
Owned for 5 years, no problems.
Super cheap compared to the competition.

Comments about Crate TX15 Taxi Battery-Powered Combo Amp:

This is a great amp. Two inputs (guitar and mic) make it great for a one man show with a guitar and a mic. The battery lets you take it anywhere, and depending on what you do with it the battery lasts quite a while. The on board EQ makesit better than most amps since most don't have EQ built in. All in all, this is a decent amp for a great price.

Comments about Crate TX15 Taxi Battery-Powered Combo Amp:

I hate to say this is my go-to practice amp. First time I ever plugged into a Crate, I thought, "Wow!" I have the older rendition. This mutha pumps out clear, crisp tones. Mine has the distortion option and the sounds are just primo for my taste! I have tube amps that I also play thorugh simultaneously which gives me a purist element. But whenever I lean over to listen to the crunch coming from the Yellow Taxi, I am always pleased. I just kinda sounds like a Marshall Wall component compacted into a 10 inch speaker.

Comments about Crate TX15 Taxi Battery-Powered Combo Amp:

Wow! How can this thing be so loud and clear? I've used it set to about 2.5 on the volume knob and it is SO LOUD! Battery seems to last forever on a charge, as well. You know, reverb would have been a nice addition for vocals, but you want to use your own pedal for guitar effects anyway, so adding those built in is kinda a waste. Great product and so portable.

Comments about Crate TX15 Taxi Battery-Powered Combo Amp:

I am a classical guitarist and I play A LOT of beach weddings where no power is available. This amp has become a piece of sound equipment I could not do without and one that has paid for itself a dozen times over since I purchased it. I use it with a condenser mic and an ARTcessories Phantom II battery powered phantom power box. The mic imput was a great idea and one of the main reasons I bought this model. I agree that it does need reverb (or any effects), but all in all, if you are a musician who plays a lot of gigs where no power is available, who needs a sturdy and powerful amp that is affordable and powerful, this is it!