Nice review! I actually worked at Krank from 2004 to 2010 ish. I built/tested these amps in an un-airconditioned building in Tempe, AZ. It was awesome meeting Dime, but he almost killed a few of us with his drinking antics.
Played that same model at guitar center many moons ago. It was out of my budget and i didn't really NEED another amp,.........until I clicked on the Dime channel. Whoever set it prior to me had it absolutely DIALED. It was the fattest, crunchiest, nastiest high gain amp in that store. It was also EXTREMELY LOUD. And it's super quiet at high volume. I ended up trading my 1994 CE 24 PRS and $200 to take that head home with me. Later I traded it for a Tone King Imperial on a trade deal. Pure regret and disgust. You always think "eh, I don't really need a high gain amp",.......until it's gone. 😢
I own it, but really is and amp that can sound bad if not dialed in, I can sound harsh tho, don’t get me wrong. But love this amp, I’ll never sell it, but it’s cool. Reminds me of some famous amps, can get some sounds, but it won’t get you every sound.
@@fatsuperfly I personally think they will become quite valuable at some point. Maybe not vintage Plexi or Black Flag valuable,......but enough to hang on to one or two. I also think they hold they're own with most high gain circuits in build quality and tone. And yes,....they can sound extremely harsh and even bad. But I love a concentric eq though. Dialing your tone is very personal and unique with it. Jmo though. Thanks for the response and acknowledgement of my comment. You got my sub. God Bless brother 🙏😌
@@MF-Alien thanks! I thought it was important to show how the dials react with each other in case someone is considering purchasing this amp and does not have the ability to test it in real life.
DUDE! YOU MISSED ONE OF THE COOLEST FEATURES! On the back of the head, there is a push/pull pot. If you pull it out, it overdrives the tubes, kinda like Eddie Van Halen's early Marshall mods! It adds so much to the sound!
I actually was one of the first people to get one of these. Mine is serial number 0075. I absolutely adore this amp. I switched to a Kemper a few years ago for more compact & lighter touring/stage rig, but this was the first amp I modeled, and I still use the Krankenstein model the most.
This thing was everywhere in the mid to late 2000s and I wanted one so bad. It’s on so many great albums. Also, nice Darkness riff thrown in for good measure.
I’ve been playing on that beast for 2-3 months because an older friend of mine has let me used it and it’s incredible. I’ve recently bought a Dime Guitar and it’s amazing how close I am to the Dimebag’s tone just with the amp and the guitar. It’s a really huge amp and I love it so much. Sadly, they’re even harder to find that some Dimebag guitars… I hope the new Warhead generations that got published on dime guitarz about a month ago could be like the Krankenstein. Best amp by far
i just picked up the amp and cab! it is hard to dial in, but when you do. Its great! probably the reason why it gets hate. It requires some work to get those massive tones.
The Acacia Strain came through Houston years ago and they played through 4 Krank full stacks. The sound guy asked if they could turn down the guitar during sound check… “NOPE!!!,” and straight into the set!!
wanted to try this amp since Emmure - Goodbye to the Gallows came out (slightly embarrassed). Love the shirt, hope you got to see them on the farewell tour!
im a long time pantera fanim mainly a garage rock 60s psych guy but loved pantera as young teenager and still do i actually just got my first dean ml guitar yesterday ater wanting one for 25 years
tony krank is a friend of mine i remember his amp when they were gutted sovtek, he would use the chassis and transformers and build the rest. he is a great guy who played in some cool bands as well. my 60 garage style band kill baby kill played with his band the vox poppers. krank amps are very very great sounding
Krank has become cool again after being rediscovered after 20+ years. Even rarer is the Randall Warhead V2. Not many of those before Dime switched endorsements. IMO all you need is the Randall RG100ES from the 80s. They had budget RGs in the late 90s and 00s but the 80s ones are what he used on Cowboys. There are several excellent demos on RU-vid. They make the bright, articulate solo tone and scooped mids Dime was known for. Only downside is the shag head covering. George Lynch used early Randalls to great effect as well. The Warhead had the bonus of built in effects. I have a Cyclone (one right under the Warhead, and then the Titan under the Cyclone) and they all had so much gain they were noisy. You really needed a noise gate on them. And all they made was a scooped chug sound. The one benefit is the Cyclone had a parametric and graphic EQ so you could really dial the mids in. Even the Krank here doesn't have that. The Cyclone was 300 watts, solid state. Heavy as f^&*()_ (literally, in weight). I still have a Warhead 2x15" cab as well.
It’s always nice to see someone who actually knows amps demo one of these. It’s my favorite amp, but if the Master Volume isn’t turned up, it doesn’t sound good lol. It’s a shame none of the modern modelers include this, as it sounds so good.
I bought my first one (I still have it) and the guitarist I was playing with at the time heard me playing through it before we started band practice. He asked if he could use it for practice that day, so we swapped amps. Next practice, he walks in with one of his own. A couple of years later, I joined a band and the head guitarist’s sound was…. Meh. He was using a Mesa Dual Rec borrowed from the guy I replaced, and he just sounded sloppy through it. We swapped amps and it was an immediate change. So we got him a Krankenstein as well.
I ran across a used Krankenstein full stack in a local Guitar Center about 6 years ago. I played it a little, wish I had the money to buy it, haha! Kranks were all the rage in the late 2000s, then the brand changed their name to Revolution for a while, then back to Krank before going out of business sometime in the mid-2010s. Maybe at some point a boutique maker will reissue the amp or at least build something with the same circuitry, who knows?
i build pedals for a living been doing it for like 13 or 14 years now i remember when tony krank hand drew me the schematic to a dallas rangemaster so i could build one
@@moriata1 dude he would’ve done the exact same thing and had the exact same career even with a different tone. His tone was perfect from the start anyways. my point is it doesn’t matter what a good guitarist plays through, if there a good guitar they can make any tone sound good.
Cool man I had both a Stein+ and Rev+ but only kept the Rev. If u ever have a chance I'll tell u a trick. They're both identical except the Rev lacks the global master (good thing) all u need is a couple wires. My Rev is now a Stein, the Steins a better sounding amp minus the global master. So if u have either of these amps u can have both. Cheers 🤘
That full mix demo sounded great! I really love that style...the mix of djenty rhythms and chords that sound kinda melancholy. I do find it hard to dial in a tone that works best with that kind of style as you want a lot of growl but also tight and with a lot of note definition too. You managed to get a tone out of this older amp that suits modern metal really well. What pickups are in that LSL btw? Would also be interested to know what the guitar in the 'Krank + V30s' section was too as that sounded great also. I'm pleasantly surprised by this amp overall, I was expecting it to only do Dimebag's particularly unique tone that works so well for his style but isn't particularly versatile. But as well as getting the perfect Pantera sound out of it was great for the modern tones too. And it's cool to hear that metallic sound of the string when you want a really disgusting tone like in the 8 string demo.
The cause of the “problem” with the amplifier that most people perceive lies in the sweep control. This makes the normally fixed input resistance of the tone control variable. This resistance is also one of the main differences between British (33 kOhm) and American sound (100 kOhm). In the Krank Rev1 (and as far as I understand it, the distorted channel is the same as the Krankstein) this is a 250 kOhm potentiometer. This means that very low sweep values must be used for the traditional amplifier sound. For the Marshall sound almost turned off and for the American sound not even half. With the classic tone setting start (all controls at 12 o'clock) you are already above the American (sharp) sound and people don't seem to like that (I myself find all settings above 9 o'clock on this control too harsh). Unfortunately, I keep seeing people not using the extreme settings of the tone control (are they afraid of destroying something?). You can try out the effect with the Tone Stack Calulator (a small program that simulates the tone control of amplifiers). Simply try out different values for the R1 resistance and observe the effect on the frequency response.
Im pissed at myself. Back in the day (2004-2005?) I worked at ESP and one of the guitar techs also worked as Kerry King's tech. He brought one of these heads in that was given to Jeff Hanneman. He wanted $1100 for it but i was broke and didnt have the money. Damn. 😂😅
@@troymiller885 I've heard about Kerry's tech and his wicked collection of guitars! Damn if only you could have bought this amp since it's a beast. Working at ESP must have been a sweet ride
Get some Texas Heats and let this thing shine... There is a reason the matching cab has Texas Heats, instead of any of the more common speakers. I will never get rid of this amp, and I wish I never got rid of my Rev Jr.
@@edwindominguez1596 If you want the sound of this amp specifically I would say you should buy this amp if you can find one on the used market. Also try to find one of these Krank Cabinets as well
Pretty sure morgan lander and tara McLeod from kittie used this amp its the reason i want the gear i want despite not being very good at guitar and still in the beginning stages
I remember the brand in-general had reliability issues plaguing them when they were first introduced. Real or not, it was hard to shake. Thats a nasty sounding amp, though LOL!!! In a good way.
Dime was signed yes, but the gear on stage as it got closer to his passing was a dummy rig from what i understand. He went back to using his Randall heads which were backstage.
@EricMorettin just read something on rig talk saying he didn't use the krank heads live, but used the cabs. Said his backline road case was filled with Randall heads including an X2 and a MTS, and some cyclones and that was from April of last year. The first time I heard of this was a couple years after his passing.
Ur rip man it is badass .go to med store n ask for selenium sulfate 2.5 tropical solution ..u CN thank me by sending a guitar..lol... no real man I had what u have until I gt my hands on it n the redness is gone forever but u have ta use it monthly .. redness gone gold n a bottle broo believe me..
@@EricMorettin when you hit the front end with more signal, you clip and compress the preamp even harder. in the case of this amp, which has cartoonish levels of that already going on, it's pointless
You need a third hand to control the controls n' sht ....if only our peene's came with fingers to tinker with the EQ controls n' sht. Just sayin' (I Am Man).
@@EricMorettin Good question... I saw 2 or 3 amps here and their on differents countries of Western Europe but it definitly was some custom orders! I never heard about a resaler in Europe who ever made an advertisement about selling Kramp amps... I bet some guys in England (and maybe France, Germany or Italia) had possibilities to make a special order for them but I don't think anyone here bought a stock of those amps to resale them on the European territory! Maybe I'm wrong...😄
@@EricMorettin Those Eminence Legend and/or Texas Heat speakers are a big part of that tone imo. Just bought a shit-ton of Two Notes DynIR virtual cabs with these speakers last night just to get similar tones :)
@@djabthrash speakers are the largest part of the tone. The amp will get you close to where you want, but the cab/speakers do the heavy lifting. Enjoy the IRs and let me know how you like them!
