Go Back   TalkBass Forums > Bass Guitar Forums > Bass Guitar Forums > Amps [BG]
Register Rules/FAQ/CUP Members List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read



Supporting Membership
Thank You

Latest Supporting Member
Donate to Upgrade Today

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
  #1  
Old 01-31-2012, 04:18 AM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Raleigh, NC
Carvin R600 (Not RS600... duh...)

Sign in to disble this ad
I've found a Carvin RS600 at a not too distant Music-Go-Round shop but haven't had a chance to get out to see/hear it.... life gets in the way sometimes. From the control layout it appears to be a Series II.

I've done some reading/researching here on it, and there are definitely those who like it, but I haven't seen a description of the tone yet. What I've found is I seem to gravitate to a GK kind of modern-ish tone, but with warmth, and occasionally a little edge to it. So does the RS600 have a characteristic sound? I'd guess Ampegs have a "sound", GK's have a "sound", probably others do too, but I'm not familiar with that many amps.

If it makes any difference this will be going thru an old Genz-Benz 410 for a while until I can afford to build a Fearful 15/6/1, and I'd like to use the bi-amp capability of the head for that cab.

They're asking $300... I'll probably offer $250 if I do.

Thoughts?
__________________
Think. It ain't illegal yet! -- George Clinton
Genz-Benz Owners Club #255 // US Peavey Cirrus Owners Club #118

Last edited by geoff_in_nc : 01-31-2012 at 09:51 AM.
  #2  
Old 01-31-2012, 07:44 AM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Northern California
Do you mean an R600? There is no such thing an RS600. Anyway, I owned an R1000 and hated it. My other gear at the time was a Modulus Q5 and a Bergantino HT322. My tone was mediocre at best. I could never get a sound I was happy with. It always sounded kind of muffled. The problem was definitely not the Modulus or the Berg.

That said, play through it and listen for yourself. Only you can decide if you like the tone. If you like it, $250 is not a bad price, but I wouldn't pay $300.
  #3  
Old 01-31-2012, 07:53 AM
Old Joe's Avatar
Supporting Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Upstate, SC
Supporting Member
I have a R600 series 3 and I love it. But I wouldn't pay that amount for a used one. The series 2 is from around 1998. Seems overpriced for a 13+ year old Carvin amp.

As for the sound it is fairly clean, some would say sterile. Mine has a tube emulator instead of an actual tube in the preamp which the series 2 has. So they may sound different. It can get gnarly for sure, you just have to play with the knobs a bit.


Maybe you've seen this already.
  #4  
Old 01-31-2012, 08:05 AM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Apex, NC
Supporting Member
I have an R600. Paid about $150 plus shipping for it. I wanted a practice amp that would drive 2 ohms. It has lots of tone shaping options for my needs but YMMV.

I would not pay anywhere near $250 for one however.
  #5  
Old 01-31-2012, 09:50 AM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Raleigh, NC
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quackhead View Post
Do you mean an R600? There is no such thing an RS600.
Yes, R600... slipping into work related product naming conventions starting with "RS"... sorry.
__________________
Think. It ain't illegal yet! -- George Clinton
Genz-Benz Owners Club #255 // US Peavey Cirrus Owners Club #118
  #6  
Old 01-31-2012, 10:21 AM
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: austin,tx
A redline600 was my main gigging amp for a few years. They don't really have much of a baked in "sound" of their own. Some woyld consider them sterile and weak sounding, others would view it as a blank canvas. I'm somewhere in between.

Advantages:

Lot's of EQ, can make it sound like pretty much anything.

Footswitchable graphic EQ, can switch on the fly from band mix tone to solo tone, or finger tone to slap tone, etc.

Stereo poweramp, built it crossover, biamp capable or can power a lot of cabs.

Low resale value, can pick them up cheap.


Disadvantages:

All that eq can be confusing to some. It's not a plug-n-play amp. Probably won't like it that much until you turn some knobs.

Seem somewhat underpowered, but that could be the lack of a baked-in, powerful sounding eq curve.

Hard to get repaired if you need to. Even carvin stopped making circuit boards for them and is rather just offering sort of a pro-rated discount on a new amp rather than fixing them.

Low resale value, have to sell it cheap too.



In addition, some of the inherent problems when they start acting up are dirty or unseated ribbon cables. Easy fix you can do yourself if you know this. Mine fried after a few years but in fairness, that was after a few thousand hours of abuse by someone who at the time, didn't know all that much about what they were doing......me.
Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off

Follow TalkBass on Twitter   Visit TalkBass on Facebook  

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:17 AM.




Copyright 2011 Talk Music Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Play guitar? Visit our new sister site TalkGuitar.com [beta]
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.12
Copyright ©2000 - 2012, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.