One of the most asked for products by Krank users has been the Jr. version of Dimebag Darrell’s mighty Krankenstein+ amp and the mini versions certainly capture it’s big brother’s tone! Using the same tone circuit that was developed with Dime, the Krankenstein Jr. offers all of his signature sound at lower wattages, making it a great choice for that awesome high gain sound at lower volumes for the home or studio yet still being powerful enough for a club gig. Features include a 3-band eq, parametric mid-sweep, gain, footswitchable Dime and Kleen channels, tube driven active effects loop, ohm selector and voltage selector for worldwide use.
These amps are excellent studio amps as well as being ideal for band rehearsal and club gigging. The matching 1×12 cabs and great for practice as well as miking up nicely in the studio, giving you great separation without the phasing that can accompany miking a 4×12. Also another great choice to match with the 50W head is the Rev SST cab, giving you a high quality gigging rig at an affordable price!!!
- Two channel, footswitchable 50W head
- Preamp three 12AX7 tubes, power section two Sovtek 5881 tubes
- Krank channel: sweep control, 3 band eq, gain, master, Kleen channel: volume, 2 band eq
- Active effects loop, 8 and 16 ohm selector, worldwide voltage use, footswitch included
50 watt:
20 watt:
VIDEO SAMPLES:
Rich Ward of Fozzy/Stuck Mojo at the Krank booth at the 2010 NAMM Show on the Krankenstein Jr.
Jeff Duncan and Phil Sandoval of Armored Saint on the Krankenstein Jrs. full stacks at their NAMM 2010 Krank booth performance
GEAR USED: Rev+, Nineteen80, Rev Cab, Nineteen80 Cab, Rev Jr. Cabs.
At the age of 8, I inherited a bass from my uncle, who died tragically in a motorcycle accident in San Leandro, CA.....
@catero: Hi, I’m from Vietnam. I can’t find the email to contact to get more information to become Krank dealer in Vietnam. Could you help me please?
G’day. i now own a krank rev jr pro 50 and was wondering if it was possible to remove one of the power tubes to lower the overall volume or would this damage the amp?.. Greetings from Australia
Hey Tom no you really can’t take any of the tubes out but here’s a trick to lower your overall volume: activate the effects loop and turn the level know down for that to the desired volume! Even with nothing in the loop it can be activated…it’s a good way to still scream the preamp gain and master how you like it yet turn down the volume…
Hello from France!
I received my Krankenstein Jr 20W today. The sound is fantastic, so much gain ! And the volume is very loud, the fx volume in the back is very useful to lower it. But I have questions, for which I didn’t find any answer in the owner manual. What is the procedure to correctly switch it on and off (because there is no stand by)? In which order have I to proceed for : connecting jack in the amp, connecting jack in the guitar, switch on ? How then to switch it off without having a big noise in the cab even with the volume at zero ? Is it mandatory tu cut the fx boost before switching it off ?
Thanx for your answers ! Bye !
Glad to hear you dig the amp! So to answer your q’s there’s no standby switch because it doesn’t need one the way that amp is configured so no worries there. And there is no “right way” to hook everything up like your guitar, etc., but commonly yes you’d plug in the guitar and cord into the amp first then turn it on, reverse that process turning it off. And no you don’t have to turn off the fx loop prior to shutting down…
So, I can switch the amp on and then plug my guitar. And after, I can unplug my guitar and then switch it off. I prefer do like this, so, It won’t damage it ? (I do this with the volume at zero)
Yes that will be fine!
im wondering how to change the tubes.. ive read the previous comments, as to replace the power tubes you just need a matched pair, and to replace the pre amp tubes as they are fixed/auto biased just use any 12ax7′s, i assume the 3 12ax7s in the front of the chassis toward the pot’s ect, are the preamp, and the 2 12ax7s in the back are the effects loop? basically the question is how would you go about changing out those 2 12ax7s just want a matched pair? wondering of course because eventually they will die and need to be replaced too.
FYI on tube amps in the preamp 12AX7s can be changed and if necessary mixed and matched tho I recommend using a single brand all the way around. And as far as the two preamp tubes in the back again this is the same thing, there no “matched set” or anything. It’s in the power section that tubes need to be matched and biased. In the case of the Jr amps because the head is self-biasing (something less common in tube amps but really convenient in this instance) you can freely change the power tubes BUT cannot go with anything bigger than a 5881. Essentially if you can’t fit the tube in with the chassis int he head box then you can’t use it!
alright sweet. i find mine works great with an old fender bass cab with an old 8ohm jbl 1×15. especially since my ml tends to drop off real fast after about 6.4khz even when its only tuned stardard e. makes it sound wayy better than a little 12″ specially if you use any octave pedals, or have some 12db bass boost and 12db trebel cut, which most 12″ speakers dont like at all, but they def. dont like it when you start mixing in alot of gain, or if the presence knob is turned all the way up to keep good tone at low pitch usually 12″s just distort even at really low volume like 0.33/10. might want to offer a compact 1×15 it really maeks a big difference in tone on this baby :p
I currently use a solid-state Randall 120W half-stack. However, I have since decided that I prefer the richness of a tube amp. Also, I’m still nowhere beyond bedroom jamming, so I don’t really need 120W of power. But if I still wish to occasionally “krank” up the volume for high energy jamming, which would you recommend: the 20W or 50W Krankenstein Jr.?
Can the 20W achieve fairly high volume (when desired) without being pushed really close to its limit? If it can, I’ll buy that and save money. Otherwise, I’ll get the 50W. What do you think?
Well Corey 20 tube watts is actually pretty powerful! So yes if you’re mainly bedroom playing but want to get a little loud on occasion the 20W will do just fine. The 50W does have more headroom and would be a good choice if you foresee yourself starting to jam more with a band and want that added volume. If your desire is to get out of the bedroom and into a band at some point then just pony up for the 50W now as you’ll prob want that extra headroom sooner than later…
Thanks for the info and advice! Since I do intend to start or join a band at some point (hopefully soon), I’ll take your advice and save up for the 50W.
Also, it seems based on your answer as well as other sources that tube amps tend to be louder and more powerful than solid-states of equal wattage. Is this true? If so, it’ll be the final nail in the coffin of solid-state amps as far as I’m concerned.
Yeah I think the 50W is the answer then! And also yep tube watts are deff louder by a long shot. Solid state amps have their place and some player really love their more narrow and direct sound but tube amps do tend to be the most popular by far…
I know that the stein jr pro and rev jr pro are both serious metal monsters. But what are the differences in the clean tones? is there one that is more warm or more twangy or jangly than the other?
The cleans to my ears are somewhat similar with the Krankenstein Jr. being a bit more jangly in nature which is true of it’s big brother the Krankenstein+…you can’t go wrong with either tho!
ok Krank i have a problem. I love my two kranks with all my heart ( revjr,Krankenstein jr) but i suffer the same thing with both i have a boss noise suppressor and looper and i cant seem to use both in front of the amp ( it makes it sound muddy with multiple loops ) so i run them through the Fx loop and it sounds amazing i can loop all day with prestine tone but at the sacrifice of volume. is there anything i can do where i can have the best of both worlds? i am not sure how to CORRECTLY run things though the Fx loop
Have you accounted for the loss of volume by turning up the effects loop knob on the back? That helps make up volume loss that some pedals can cause. My guess why they don’t run well in front of the amp (especially the looper) is they color the sound quite a bit where in the loop it’s not as noticeable. But I would try running just the looper in the loop and the suppressor in the front and see how that goes as well. Again make up the loss of volume in the loop by activating it and turning up the effects level…hopefully that helps!
What kind of warranty does the Stein jr come with?
Limited lifetime warranty like all our amps! If any part goes out under normal circumstances (tubes and fuses not included nor normal wear and tear cosmetics, user error or sever damage) you can ship the amp back and we’ll replace the part no charge!
Hi, I just got a my Krankenstein Jr. in the mail. I previously had a Rev Jr. which had 3 Ruby 12ax7′s, but for some reason my Krankenstein Jr. has 5 12ax7′s??? Just wondering why. Any info would be appreciated.
It has a tube driven effects loop which your earlier version doesn’t!
Hi I’m a proud owner of the Krank – Krankenstein Jr. 20W
and I just love so first thing keep up the good work making quality equipment! =)
2nd thing I have a question I’m about to go on for recording my band stuff
and so far I couldn’t record the amp directly from it means I tryed to get a cable from my 2nd head output(where I connect a cable to my amp cab)neither worked when I tried to connect it through the pedal loop.
now I checked and it did record when we connected the same cable from other amp to the computer
so am I doing something wrong? is it suppose to work? is there a way to record my tunes without a mic in front of my cab?
Hope you can solve that for me.
Thanks in advance
Ben.
Glad you dig the amp! Now when recording you will need to mic up a cab, it’s not a modeling amp or anything with that type of line out to go direct…
@catero: Hi, I sent some email to Krank team, I did send through Krank web, but no reply. Do you have email of any person could have information for us?
Go ahead and send it to catero@krankamps.com
what is the price for the 50 watt head, and does it come with a 1×12 cab or are they extra?
The 50W version street price is $769 and the 1×12 is $279….
I see theres several tolex color options for this head in your online store. But no Green. Anyway I can get one of these made in green tolex?
Unfortunately green isn’t an option at this time due to the fact we only buy tolex in bulk and have plans to add that color to our options…
hi, i want to get this amp, but i have a question. can it do some rock stuff like deep purple/Steve morse(with a lot of mids)? i play everything between blues and grindcore, so i need an EQ with a very wide range.and do you have a dealer in switzerland? Cause it really rocks
It can do that type of stuff for sure! And honestly for how varied of styles you play it’s a very good choice for you. We do have a dealer in Switzerland, Sticks Musique, ask for Lionel!
Avenue des Boveresses 58
1010 Lausanne, Switzerland
021 657 67 77
thx dude, i will try it out
Hey man. I already have a krankenstein 4×12 cab i got from a buddy, sounds great btw! I don’t really want to buy another cab. So i was wondering if this amp would work well on the 4×12 cab? If so what size would you recommend. I don’t need anything too loud. =)
Yeah absolutely that amp would work well, I’d suggest getting the 50W version!
Hello Catero,
I see we have 2 output in back of Krankenstein Jr. and the 8 and 16 ohm selector. When I want to connect 2 independent cabinets 16 ohm, which selection I should to ? 8 or 16 ohm.
I bought a Krankenstein Jr. 50W but really I don’t know how many Watt is it. Because I don’t see the 50W anywhere in my head :| Could you tell me how to recognize?
If you’re running two 16 ohm cabs use the 8 ohm setting on the amp (you can google the typical the rules regarding ohms). And as far as recognizing the 50W version the transformer is much bigger than the 20W, coming close to the tip of the inside of the headbox…
I live in a condo but I want a Krankenstein JR 20w really bad. Do you have to krank it up to get a good tone?? I can play a little loud but nothing beyond loud talking type of volume. Any thoughts? Thanks!
Hey man that’s what the Jr line was made for, players who want real tube tone without the raging volume! So yeah you can deff get a good tone at a condo volume…
Thanks!
Hi there,
Just wondering if I need to bias a krankenstein jr in order to replace with EL34s?
Thanks
Well the amp is self-biasing BUT unfortunately EL34s aren’t an option with that transformer…
Have you guys ever considered making a 50 watt version of both the rev and krankenstein but full size heads? because I’d love to own one for the low wattage (bedroom jammer haha) but I think it’d look a lil goofy on a 4X12
Truthfully the 50W version would be to pull the 1st and 4th power tubes :) No the Jr. line is all that we plan on doing in the realm of 50W versions of the Rev and Krankenstein and bedroom jammers like yourself are exactly who those amps were made for! And actually they don’ look funny at all on a 4×12 haha!
The old questions: Europe? When?
Greetz
Europe has been tough getting the Jr product into as many of the distributors have been hurting from the economy. However seeing as we don’t have them In egrmany right now if you’re interested in buying one direct from Krank please send us an email at sales@krankamps.com…
Hi….what’s the power type and config for the 20w head?
thanks!
I meant power TUBE type and layout for the 20w head.
It’s power section is two Sovtek 5881 tubes with five Ruby 12AX7s in the preamp…
I have the 20w Head and my questions is: Can you swap out the power tubes for TAD 6L6GC-STR and the preamp tubes for Tunsol Preamp Tubes? The stock Sovtek tubes just aren’t cutting it. I read somewhere that the head sounds great with this combination.
You can do that BUT those tubes don’t really fit in the headbox well so you may have to either modify it or not have the chassis in the headbox at all…which can create a dangerous proposition when you have anything exposed. SO…officially we don’t recommend leaving the chassis exposed and out of the box. Another thought on the 20W is to try 6V6s. Preamp tubes are no issue to swap around and try!
hello, which would be better for old-school thrash: Rev Jr or Krankenstein Jr? bands like Testament, Exodus, Megadeth, Metallica, Annihilator, Evile, Municipal Waste, etc. thanks!
Honestly you can’t go wrong either way, both will be great at thrash! I guess if you have to choose the Krankenstein may have the edge…
Any Dealers in the New Orleans Area?
Actually hit up the Best Buy store that does musical instruments there and ask for Rizzo, he’ll get ya hooked up! 504-780-0172 ext. 2267
Thanks dude will check him out
Hey there a have a question, i have a Krank rev jr pro 20 and i have no much gain in my amp i have like a overdrive distortion but is not too hard, could be by power tubes ?..
Yes it could be the tubes as those amps usually have a lot of gain… I’d check both the power and preamp tubes.
I just picked up a what I think is a 20w Krankenstein with the Rev jr Cab. How can I tell the difference between a 20w and 50w? Also, to hook up the head and cab all I need is a on line from one of the head outs to one of the cab’s line in’s, with the ohms set on 16?
hye, my name nis julien, and i would like to tell your amplification for bass guitars is very awesome and amblelivable, well i would like to see a adress internet in my country for the price for bye a combos nwith bass amplification and and head amplification send me a message in my box mail thanks a lot
Hey Julien feel free to reach us at sales@krankamps.com and we’ll see what we can do!
Hi love the amp.I am taking this o/seas using 240v.I need to change the fuse to 1.0amp right?My question how do you get it out from under the power supply i dont want to force it open in case u r not sposed to and do damage.Also how do u tell the 50w from the 20w.In the descriptions it says it has 3 power valves and 2 sovteks.Mine has the 2 sovteks but ive counted 2 of the smaller tubes at the front and 2 more at the back???
Yes you are correct, you will need to change the fuse out. Basically the easiest way to get the fuse housing out is to take a small flat head screw driver and you’ll notice there’s a tab on the top of the housing (or the bottom of the opening where you plug the cord in…however you look at it). Put the head of the screwdriver in that tab and gently pull out the housing and you’ll see the fuse is in there. And btw you can usually tell the difference between the 20W and 50W by the size of the transformers, the 50W almost goes to the top of the headbox while the 20W is not even halfway up…
Cool thanks yep mines definatly 50w
Hi, Mr. Catero!
I like your attitude of replying those in need!
Keep it up!
So..
I’ve contacted Mr. Patrick, because my Distortus is damaged,
And i agreed to ship it back to krank, and he already gave me the RA,
the question is,
can i also buy the krankenstein jr, and the 1×12 cab simultaneously?
so when you guys shipped the distortus after its finished, you shipped it too with my new amps?
Do i take the shipping charges?
Mr. Patrick says that i should put the money in the package,
is it safe?
or can i just transfer it with the price of the amps and the repair fee to your account?
I’m in Indonesia, Asia.
Sorry for a lot of question.
Thanks.
Well no thanks to your tech support I finally discovered that one of the power tubes in my Krankenstein jr 50w is going bad. Or is bad. I’m wanting to replace them with KT88 medium’s so I get a little more headroom so that the clean channel doesn’t become a muddy blues-plexi channel (Unless I want it to.) Is this possible or am I looking at having to stick with the Sovtek 5881′s ?
Hey Rex sorry if you couldn’t get hold of tech support! The biggest you can go in the KT realm is KT66 on a Jr. For max headroom honestly the 5881 is the best bet, any bigger than that the transformers will smoke. I’m guessing you must be using a guitar with very hot pickups and thicker body mass (like say a Gibson Explorer type body) as usually you can get the clean channel to be pretty clean, especially on the 50W version. If the hot pickup scenario is the deal then you’ll probably be challenged to get it super clean without changing up the pickups as it’s simply hard for the smaller wattage amps to have that big headroom for the cleaner tones when the input signal is very hot. If you don’t have anything especially hot pickup-wise front loading the amp then it could be possible there’s another issue somewhere. I did ask tech support if they had heard from you and they said they didn’t have any messages or e-mails so maybe there was a communication breakdown, try e-mailing tech@krankamps.com or worst case scenario call back again and leave a message on the sales option.
hello! I have a Krank rev jr 50, but I have a big problem with it.. when I put the master to 60% and gain on 30% not higher, appears a great background noise… I already put in another tubes… and the problem remains. I tried differnet guitars… but.. can you tell me what can I do.. p.s (sorry for my bad english, and if you will tell me to bring it back to you, for repair, i can’t< because I'm from Moldova, it's very far from you…
Hmmm I think your best bet is to get with our tech department, please send an e-mail to tech@krankamps.com…
hello. i have some questions!
back panel’s f/x volume control is kind of master volume?? or just preamp’s volume??
and i want really heavy metal sound. which i have to choose between rev jr 20 or krankenstein 20?
I want lots of gain!
Either amp has a lot of gain and yes you can use the active fx loop as a means of cleaner gain to allow you to push the preamp harder and adjust the overall volume levels with the fx volume control…
thank you!
Thank you for answer!
But i’m confused…
Is that a master volume? or power attenuator??
It’s neither but it can act somewhat as an attenuator. See when the loop is activated if you turn it all the way down there’s no sound like a master volume. So you can really push the preamp and power section harder then bring up the fx loop volume to use as a master volume that’s attenuating to point…make sense?
Thanks for the response. I might add that their must be a problem with your websites feedback to tech support then, cause I’ve sent 3 mails about this. I use Ibanez Xiphos 6 strings with Seymour Duncan Blackouts. We’ll see after I get my new power tubes. :(
So it came down to me ordering the Sovtek 5881′s from the Krank Store here. I hope those are the correct ones. That being said are they Hard, Medium, or Soft? I emailed tech support Thursday about this when I was going to order but received no reply.
For a Jr you ordered right! And the 5881s are medium…
Yo catero! can i use my combo amp for the output of this head?
and also, can i use it in any type of 4×12 cab??
Thanks!!
Yes you can slave the preamp using the effects loop to use the power section of your combo amp. And absolutely you can use both the 20 and 50W versions of the heads with a 4×12! Juts a couple weeks ago my own band Razer did a one off gig with Tesla in CA and due to the size of their backline and stage we couldn’t fit our guitarist’s road rack on the stage so he used a Nineteen80 Jr 20W thru his Nineteen80 16 ohm 4×12 we had with us and it killed, plenty loud!
Awesome!!!!
I’ve seen your Razer vids.
They’re soooo cool!!!
Do you want it? Do you need it?
Hahahaha..
I LOVE IT!
So, i just plug the fx loop to my input of the combo amp and slave it off???
And what is the ohm thing? i don’t understand about it.
Any rule about selecting ohm??
Hahaha thanks a ton and awesome you dig the Razer stuff! So when slaving the head simply take the send from the effects loop of the Jr. to the return of the effects loop on your combo. Be sure to note that doing this is the only instance you shouldn’t have the head’s speaker outs connected to keep a load on the amp so you don’t fry it. And as far as ohms basically you select the ohms setting that the cab you’re running into says it is, if you run two of the cabs the ohms is dropped in half so you’d set it at the next lower setting -> one 16 ohm cabs set to 16 ohms on the amp, two 16 ohm cabs set to 8 ohms on the amp. I’d suggest googling the topic to understand it fully as well as maybe just googling tube amp care in general to make sure you don’t do any harm to it!
wohohoho..
You’re welcome!
I’ll wait for new vids!
:-)
That explain it all mates!
It really helps.
So, the ohms needs to be matched with the cabs?
And also, my combo didn’t have any fx loops. So, how can i slave it?
Do you think 20W version is loud enough for a gigs?
Most of it use a mic to the cab and it goes to the live sound output.
Glad the explanation made sense haha. As far as slaving the head now with you combo if it doesn’t have a loop the only thing that could be done really would be to take the send out and put it into the input of the amp with it set on the clean channel. This isn’t truly slaving it as you would still have the amp’s preamp coloring the sound tho fyi… And yeah it’s deff loud enough for gigs!
Hehehehe…
Thank you brother!
For the Krankenstein Combo Jr.
How much it’ll be?
But it can’t be used as a head, can it?
The pricing isn’t set just yet but I think somewhere in the $750 range. And you could use it as just a head by disconnecting the speaker in the combo and just using a separate cab…
that’s cool!
So its a combo, and a head in a 1 piece?
Wohoho..
I can’t wait!
Thanks for the info, brother!
What’s up dude? Don’t know if you remember me. I left a comment a while back whenever I bought a Krankenstein+ stack. unfortunately due to hard times I had to sell it. But things are looking better,so I went out and bought the 50w head, I tried looking for the cab, but only found the Rev cabs. Are these ok to use for this head?
Honestly you can use any of our cabs with this head! If budget is a concern some other good options are the 50W heads is the SST or Nineteen80 cab, both sound great and are less expensive depending on what your budget is. Are you having a hard time finding cabs? Any of our dealers can order one for you or you can also get one off the Krank web store…
Hi,
I own a Rev Junior pro 50W, I’d just like to know if this head could handle properly the low frequencies of an 8-string guitar?
Thanks and keep up the good job, I love my amp!
Hey Pierre the head itself won’t have any problem with an 8 string guitar, the only thing that could possibly be an issue would be whatever cab you’re running not being able to handle low end well…
Thanks!
I own a 1×12 cab (ENGL) equipped with a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker, do you think it could handle it?
Oh yeah it should be able to handle it I’d think, I’ve never seen and Engl 1×12 but have some experience with the 4×12 and they’re built stout. The only small thing I might see is because the V30 is a lower watt speaker it could possible get a little farty on the low end side of the 8 string. All the Krank guitar heads can produce tight low end if that’s how you want to set them up so really any potential fartiness from that cab has to do more with the V30 not being the tightest sounding speaker for low end response. Another factor too with the V30 is whether it’s a better made UK version or a Chinese version, the Chinese aren’t that great a speaker. But any potential problem with a V30 can be easily rectified with a quick speaker change out IF you really thought you needed to. Thru the Krank 1x12s there’s no prob with low end tightness, the Eminence speakers we use are very tight sounding.
Hi i really want to buy a krankenstein jr camo……..but i live in uk.
is there any dealers out here? i have a 3 watt peice of solid state trash and it would sound better if i just plugged into a tin can……….somehow?
Hey Harry hit us up at sales@krankamps.com and we’ll see about selling you one direct.
Hi messaged you a while ago about getting a 20w krankenstein head and two cabs all in camo with black grills to the uk cause theres no dealership out here…………..heres my postcode pe21 7bh
Since we don’t have a distributor there right now one other outlet would be to check Thomann online, they should have it and ship to the UK…