everybody i know has been dissapointed with the crate GX or GHX or whatever.... it gets shitety sounding at high volume.
and sterile... best way to describe it... compare an emg 81 to a passive pickup... the emg is sterile as $%: no warmth, no life, no character: just straightforward pushes out the note you play. A non sterile sound will have a colourful note: can be warm or cold, has some extra feeling to it, it wont be a straightforward note, it will have TONE to it vs. just the straight up note itself.
same thing for amps... madisons are sterile as hell... theyre also piles of shite stacked ever so high.