Carvin

Do you think Carvin is a good brand?

  • Yes

    Votes: 18 94.7%

  • No

    Votes: 1 5.3%
  • Total voters
    19
I think there are a lot of carvin owners with horrible taste. I've seen some horrible options thrown on a custom, and then they try to sell only to be met with people who have taste and tell them to fuck off.

But that doesn't mean they don't make some really nice instruments.
 
Guitargodgt said:
I think there are a lot of carvin owners with horrible taste. I've seen some horrible options thrown on a custom, and then they try to sell only to be met with people who have taste and tell them to fuck off.

But that doesn't mean they don't make some really nice instruments.
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a more accurate statement would be there are people who have different taste than yours.
Taste is not an absolute and it's all a matter of opinion.
And what would you mean by horrible options?
Carvin doesn't really offer things that are intrinsically horrible.
Do you mean color?
That's WAY a matter of opinion.
Stainless steel frets? Neck-thru? Quilted maple vs flamed?

Looking at it I don't see a single thing they offer that could be classified as horrible.
 
Lt. Bob said:
a more accurate statement would be there are people who have different taste than yours.
Taste is not an absolute and it's all a matter of opinion.
And what would you mean by horrible options?
Carvin doesn't really offer things that are intrinsically horrible.
Do you mean color?
That's WAY a matter of opinion.
Stainless steel frets? Neck-thru? Quilted maple vs flamed?

Looking at it I don't see a single thing they offer that could be classified as horrible.
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It's all how you combine options. Stainless frets or a neck through body aren't really options that stand out. Putting binding on the entire guitar with a reverse headstock in a light blue body color with gold hardware is fucking ugly. lol

Certain headstocks on a PRS style body is also ugly... IMO of course.

Then there is the Holdsworth... the hell is that?
 
I've been using Carvins for years.

As far as the instruments and amps go I do not see them as "cheap", but "affordable".

I'll give you an example. Several years ago, when I bought my first Carvin guitar (a C66T), I ordered it with a mahogany body, quilted maple top, ebony fret board on a maple neck, abalone block inlays, Sperzel locking tuners and a Wilkenson trem. The total price? $300-$400 less than an off the shelf MIA Fender Strat. If you go with their kit version of the Bolt (Carvin's Strat) do the finish and assemble it yourself, you will save a $1,000 for a comparable Fender. Their guitars are made in San Diego (20 minutes from my house) and have a really high level of quality across the board.

By cutting out the middle man you do save considerable amounts of costs,


My current trio of Carvins. Bolt+ C in trans Saphire blue over ash, C66T as described above, and an LB76 6 string bass with 18v active/passive electronics with dual HB's and split switch.




An HF2 "Fatboy" with a Claro Walnut top. I used to own this one, but traded it with a Carvin forum member for the Blue Bolt Plus above. It was a great guitar, and even the thicker neck didn't bother me, but at the end of the day, it and I didn't see eye to eye.




And now for my "modern" X100B; stock outside of the cosmetics. This was the first ever two tone finish on a Carvin halfstck. It's a great "modded Marshall" kind of amp. It has amazing cleans, and the distortion channel can handle blues, to rock, to hard rock, and even metal (although not the Djent thing) without a pedal. The head and cab, with the custom cosmetics was well under a grand.






So with that: Cheap? No; Affordable? Yes
 
Ok now with less pics...

I live near the Carvin factory and have had the chance to go there often and meet the owners at various points in time.

I think Carvin makes a great line of products for a reasonable amount of money. The build quality that I've encountered has been top notch. For example on my bolt on guitars there is zero, I mean ZE-RO, gap between the neck and bucket. They've done full setups for my guitars and bass years after purchase, along with electronics clean up. They even did one of those as a "while you wait" kind of deal. Maybe it's because I've been there often enough that they know me, or because I've had plenty of chats with Jeff and Mark Kiesel, but I think it's just how they are.


As for the thing about guitars designed with "terrible taste"... well at least with Carvin you get the option to choose that particular "terrible taste". With a Fender you get whatever you want in Olympic White, black, or some form of brown sunburst. Gibsons not much better. While I agree there are a lot of Carvins out there with questionable color/hardware/wood choices, those guitars were not designed for you and me, but the owner.


I'd say give them a shot. They have been around as long as Fender, so they must be doing something right. Just sayin'
 
I've been looking at their catalogs for a very long time.
I have plenty of guitars so I'm not likely to get one though.

I am sniffing around that V3 Micro pretty hard.
I have plenty of amps too..... but that one looks like it'd be a nice addition as an all around, easy to carry head.
Realistically there's simply nothing that i don't have plenty of ..... amps ... recorders .... guitars .... pedals ....... I have an unconscionable amount of the things but you always want more.
:)
 
I've always been a Gibson and Fender guy myself, but have looked at their catalogs for years and years. I trust Joe Walsh and if he says that they're quality guitars, I'm inclined to believe they probably are. I might break down one day and order myself one.:guitar:
 
Good so far. Have their 4-ch filter doing pa rack duties and wifie is running a nice bass of theirs.
Just ordered a 2-12 cab to put a pair of D-120's in for 'Jerry cleans :)

I'd add I stayed away for a long time after working with some just Dog awful pa cabs from them, but that was way back- 30 years ago.
 
Lt. Bob said:
..I am sniffing around that V3 Micro pretty hard.
I have plenty of amps too..... but that one looks like it'd be a nice addition as an all around, easy to carry head..
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Yeah. I love a chance to see how it stacks against a Mesa at half the cost. Real tempting, I just don't need to go ..there $$$
It never ends!
 
If I were looking to play live again, I would def invest in their speaker cabs. They were always solid. BRX series 4x10 and 1x18 sets with bi-amp crossed over at 240 hz. Used Crown amplification and my Yamaha B100 before, but would like to give the BX1500 a go. If you need more amp than that, you can go through the direct out on the back...

Played a lot of Carvin basses in the day, some were great playing machines, some not so great. I think they're all really well made, but some people set them up too high for my taste...Got my eye on a matched set of guitar/bass, but need about $4000 to pull that off. Not on this year's budget.
 
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