Anyone Ever Heard An Older Carvin Tube Amps ???

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metalj

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Ive been shopping around for a used tube amp (head). Something that sounds good, and doesnt have to be great as its only for band practice.

Ive checked ebay on Carvin used heads and man these suckers seem to hold their value for some reason. Their web site has info on their old models even old pricing from like 20+ years ago. Heads that sold for 500 bucks new are getting $300+, +shipping on them. Maybe any lesser known Tube head will always fetch $300 as it is quite a bit cheaper than say $1000 or more for a new one.

Anyone hear an old carvin head before?? the ones im looking at are the X100b and X60b models from the early 80's. They claim to have a hotrodded marshall sound in their old catalogs(as per their web site archives). The X models seem to have lasted throughout the 80's. Anyone know if the ones in the early 80's are that much different sound wise than the late 80's?? I think they also dwarfed into the "vai legacy series" eventually, but not sure.

Im way over in the middle of the country so Carvin is not that known, and what it is known about isnt anything from the 80's.

thanks
 
If I remember right, Vai was using those before the Legasy's came out.

They were good sounding heads at the time, they were cheaply made (compared to Marshall, etc... at the time) and had problems with the circuit boards doing stupid things. There were two versions of the x100's. They didn't sound that different from each other, but the circuit board layout was completely different.

I had 2 of them, they both failed a long time ago. They were good sounding amps at the time, but would not get you any modern sounds.
 
Back in the late 80s, I heard one of their 2X12 combos. It rocked in a Mesa-esque way.
 
I have a 2x12 combo. I haven't been able to find another one on the internet to get an exact model make, but it appears to be an x100. This gets wicked loud, and I bought it because it had a lovely twangy clean channel. The distortion is good, but in a metal sort of way. It doesn't have growl like my little blues jr. so isn't the best for classic rock etc. The 8(?) band eq is nice though. I also plan on selling mine because I don't gig much (espically ones that need 100watts of carvin tube power =] ), but you're after a head, this is a combo.

Edit: I should clarify my classic rock statement. I don't think its all that great for crunchy blues. Led Zep, and clean floyd sounds are good, as is the reverb imo. It has a lot of options to adjust the tone which is cool. Presence, reverb, bass/mid/treble, bright switch, gain switch, 8band eq... lots of stuff to play with, all of which are very responsive :D
 
I know its all in the sales pitch, and most amp makers that are not marshall, or fender, are always trying to compare their amps to them.

The Carvin catalog(in their archives) says the xseries from the 80's has a "hotrodded" marshall sound. So would you agree with that statement ??

Im guessing at the time, they would be comparing to either the JTM, or JCM800 ?? just a guess. which would give you a good variety of gain from metal to rock. Im thinking most guys back then used a medium gain setting, then kicked in something with a pedal for leads or for more drive as a 3rd channel?

just wondering, and good conversation.
 
It is just like a JCM800 with much more gain, a graphic EQ, a clean channel, more responsive tone controls, etc...

It really doesn't resemble a Marshall at all. But, to be fair, any marshall with that many modifications wouldn't sound much like a marshall.
 
do you think they are worth $350 in working order?

thanks
again
 
I bought one new in 1985 for 537.00, and still have it to this day, it's the x100b 100 watt head with the matching celestion 4/12 slant cab.
As mentioned, it has two channels/ an assignable graphic eq/a tube buffered effects loop/switchable between 25-50-100watts, active eq controls consisting of bass, mid, treble, presence, [setting at 12 noon is neutral] it comes standard with 3 12ax7 preamp tubes, and a quad of 6l6gc's.

lead channel has preamp and master volume, clean [rythm]channel has only volume, the lead channel master has a push/pull "hi-lead" pot that adds a brighter "marshall" quality, rythm channel has push/pull bright that adds a nice sparkle/shimmeryness.

I also have a 1987 jcm800 2203 half stack,[F#####G ridiculously loud marshall 100 watt] so I feel qualified to provide a comparison.
Neither amp by itself is what most people would refer to as HI GAIN, the carvin is is a very rich,dynamic amp, I would definately say it doesn't have more gain than the marshall, though with extreme eq settings, you can kind of lean that way.
Its better to clean boost these amps with the trusty tube screamer/boss sd1/ge7 eq,etc.

As far as having the "hot rodded"marshall sound I'd say no, Hot rodded marshall to me is 80'S/early 90's metal, dokken/ratt/vanhalen/blah blah, you get the picture, even the stock 2203 needs to be clean boosted to achieve that kind of saturation,squealing punchiness,etc. either amp with the guitar straight in sounds very AC/DCish 70's hard rock etc.

The x100b has for the better part of 90's to the present day served as a poweramp to an ADAmp1/lexicon rack setup, now THATS a hotrodded marshal sound. :D

So I hope this provides you with a bit of information, all in all the carvin has been a very reliable amp, gigging for hundreds of hours, with no more care than changing tubes every few years[did I mention that this amp is very loud, and gets cranked] :cool:

I know that the later models 89/90ish, the ones that had that godawful felty fabric covering shit on them sounded horrible, they changed the circuit & put el34's in them to make them more like marshalls, but they lost the mojo that the 6l6 tubes had, kinda a fattness or something.
Anyway good luck
Shred
 
I had the X100 the first year it was available ('81?). The X100B came out virtually the next year and I wanted to kick myself (looks had something to do with it)...The X100 was extremely versatile, except that the original model had four volume pots and was problematic in that regard as to dialing in a sound. This was back in the days before presets and programmables...

...If memory serves, the B model had been reconfigured with only three gain pots...

Mine was flippin' loud, I remember that much well...

Eric
 
This is my early 80's Carvin. It was the 12" combo till I broke out my trusty jig saw. It's OK, I used it for about 10 years with no problems whatsoever.
As far as tone goes..it's a little fizzy,doesn't have the growl of a Marshall if you ask me. Tons of eq options though. I ran it almost flat on the tone controls and the eq.
 
I saw a Carvin catalog in 1968. Yes, they sold amps and guitars back then, too.
 
goldtopchas said:
This is my early 80's Carvin. It was the 12" combo till I broke out my trusty jig saw. It's OK, I used it for about 10 years with no problems whatsoever.
As far as tone goes..it's a little fizzy,doesn't have the growl of a Marshall if you ask me. Tons of eq options though. I ran it almost flat on the tone controls and the eq.
Click to expand...


Yeah, fizzy is a good way to describe it, but I think a lot of marshalls sound that way as well. That's kinda what I meant when I said it didn't growl... which can be a sound to like, just not for me. That said, if you like the tone 350 isn't a bad price, although you hopefully already have a cab.
 
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