Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

Are any of you using any of their amps and loud stuff. Their prices look good. What about their quality ?

Another day in Paradise !!!

sans sure swears by them! I don't like that I can't see them & play them in a store before I buy.

I always recommend that if you do not want to spend the money on Crown and JBL SRX's than go Carvin.

Sans uses Carvin stuff, right?

Most of Carvin's pickups are pretty awful in my opinion.
Not enough output and the humbuckers are noisy as h$ll.

My Carvin mono mixer works excellently. it's about 15 years old but never saw professional use.
The neck I bought from them also very high quality.
The British Series speakers I bought from them, my favorite paper speaker to date.
The bass/PA 12's I bought really great speakers as well. All the speakers I've bought from them are very solid.
The crossover/limiters w/exciter lamps I bought, very high quality though ridiculously expensive as I later learned.
Red eye horn tweeters were high end, very popular fostex/foster painted red lol.

I think that covers it though there might be a couple things I bought from them I've forgotten. Overall they're probably the best custom gear supplier in the commercial market and more accurately, the only one.
I hear great things about their guitars but my experience with neck through guitars as a whole is that the necks go the squirreliset. Been hearing the woes of neck through since I was a kid before I even played.

I bought 4 Maestro neck throughs, built more or less exactly the same as Carvins and Agiles with the laminate construction. All 4 including the 7 string went squirrely. Fretting issues that a file can't remedy to satisfactory.

I think that's why all Carvin's have the graphite rods inserted down each side of the truss rud. This eliminates the superior squirreliness of the neck trhough construction. Having said that, I would bet they produce the best neck through sold commercially.
Probably how they've survived all these decades.

Yep.
RX1200 PA
Legacy Nomad 50 watt tube amp for my Les Paul.
Micsfor drums, condensers, and vocal.
And some of their speakers as well.
Stay away from the low end speakers (plastic cabs) they don't sound as good as my Yamaha.
Cables are good both mic and speaker.
Speaker stands amp/PA stands.
Road warrior cases are built like a tank.
And I'll buy more when the money is available.
My initial contact with service department was not pleasing, but subsequent calls (all with questions not problems) were met with friendly knowledgeable staff.
No I don't work for them and I am not a paid sponsor. LOL

OO00oo I almost forgot.
Carvin produced some pedals several years ago!

Much like their pickups, everyone said stay the F! away from them!
They sure looked pretty but the quality was said to be truly useless with each and every model.

I used to use a Carvin X100B tube head before I started using Marshall 2203's.
The X100B was a huge step up from the old Ampeg V4 tube amp I had been using.
Great amp - freakin' loud, lots of tone manipulation with the graphic eq and the lead channel was very hot.

Here's an old pic of it:



I also currently own a Carvin V3 head with the diamond plate front, all tube, midi, 3 channels, really nice once you back out some of the treble sizzle.
I'm not using it right now because my Mesa Mark IV has me captivated but I have never had a problem with owning/using Carvin.
Quality stuff and a great price, IMO.

I appreciate the responses a lot fellows. I have so much junk now I don't know why I'm considering buying more. I'll definettly have to get rid of some to make some room.

Chris, I have a brother living in Cumming and visit the Atlanta area often. Some of the kids over there have some really good bands. Hands down I'm wishing I was living over there. But next time I come over to Atlanta I'll holler and we can get together for some jams.

Its another day in Paradise !!!

The new line of Carvin 4 Bus mixers have six monitor outputs.
Dang, I'd love to have one of those right now.

I own a Carvin X-100 B with 6L6's and 12AX7's from 1986. Was serviced in 1989, but no problems since then just change tubes every year.... still love that amp !!!!

Recently threw a pair of LS2153 3-way mains in front of the band.
They sound great. The separation of highs mids and lows really cleared up the overall sound were producing.
We've not used them live yet. In rehearsal Eric's wife (whom has been listening to the bands he's played in most all her adult life) said that was the clearest she has heard the individual instrumentation since the band formed.
I believe they make first rate equipment and though it is hard to do comparisons I believe the "no middle man" way they do business also keeps the price down.
One draw back for sure as Phil alluded to is there is no way to hear or see for yourself until you buy for most of us.
The return policy is good however.

OO00oo I almost forgot.
Carvin produced some pedals several years ago!

Much like their pickups, everyone said stay the F! away from them!
They sure looked pretty but the quality was said to be truly useless with each and every model.

I recently bought and installed a Carvin M22SD pick up. It has properties that remind me of a Dimarzio Evolution with a little more drive , treble and head room. I like it

Right now I'm studio poor. I've invested into my music as far as I can allow myself, because: A - I' m not doing music professionally (may not get there), and B - I'm married (not exactly in that order). I get the mailers Carvin sends me, and I would love to have a couple of their guitars to add to my collection, and I think I would be done (with the exception of having some of their audio eq. such as amps and p.a.s). I am a woodworker, and have an appreciation for wood antiques, yet Carvins woodworking and finishes are the best I have seen in the world. Hands down. I have seen furniture that has been made for the very privilliged. My opinion is that for the workmanship they put into their guitars is peerless in anything made of wood, now or ever. Crunch.

we got a 1200 watt bass rig that sounds killer with the bass players 1985 fender p-bass.an old bass player bought 2 carvin bass guitars in kit form and they sounded horrible.