If you were going to buy an amp would you buy a marshal jcm 800/or a CRATE of any kind?

Man....If you have the money, go ahead and get the Marshall....they are still made in England...15 years pass and if you still have the amp..you will still be happy (can't say the same about the Crate...I have a Vintage Club 50 I should have sold years ago). Crate has moved much of their production to China (formerly St Louis). You are stuck on getting a half stack right? My only thing about half stack amps is you really need to turn them up FREAKIN' LOUD to get anything out of them....not a good practice amp....If you go with either you may want to get a power attenuator either for practice or even smaller club gigs.

Im such a fan of marhsall that i couldnt even consider a crate over the guvnor, however, used jcm 2000 or jcm 900 100 watters from guitar center will be about 650-850 cheaper than an jcm 800 and will sound much much much better the 200 and 900 heads are very gainy and provide massive brit wall of sound...I have owned the jcm 2000 and its jcm 800 (2203) channel is very beeffy and has got tremendous heavey metal thunder at high volume...did i say high make that crushing.....
If u can afford the marshall do get it to pass it up and not be able to get it later will be a missed opportunity.. further the resale/trade value of the marshall we will be considerably better than the crate.... but most important the tone is legend...........................

Tonnally speaking, the 800 master volume can be turned all the way up to give a plexi-esque tone which u may enjoy...

i dont have my jcm 2000 anymnore b/c of finacial difficulties and i kick myself in the a** evereyday....if i ever get the money again I WILL invest into another marshall (50 watt plexi re-issue)

also the newer marshalls jvm, vintage modern, jcm 2000 all have a very convenient bias feature located behind the rear panel that is accesible without removing the chassis.. all it requires is a volt ohm meter and a small screw driver to adjust the pot.
this will save you from having to take your amp to a tech to have it rebiased if you are not familiar with the procedure in the JCM 800 or the Crate (if the crate of which u speak is tube)

in case you wanna know the setting for JCM 2000 is 97mv....