Gallien Krueger MB212 or Carvin BR515N???

[Willy Franklin]

I'm looking at getting an inexpensive light-weight combo amp and am torn between these two amps.

The Carvin BR515N Pro's:

• Tube Pre,
• Graphic EQ,
• Mute
• Tilt back...
• MADE IN USA!!!!

GK MB212 Pro's:

• The power, 500 Watts to two 12's without an extension cab.
• The ability to get it serviced locally
• I can hear it before I buy it

GK Con's: I've been a fan of GK for many years but am having a problem with that whole China thing. Not as many tonal options as the Carvin.

Carvin Con's: Am wondering if the 350Watts delivered to the 15" speaker will be loud enough without an extension cab. Don't want to pay for shipping twice if it doesn't work out. Can't get it serviced locally. DON'T like the speaker cable hanging out the back of the combo connecting it to the speaker...

Anybody have experience with either of these amps and have an opinion??

[MIJ-VI]

Originally Posted by Willy Franklin

I'm looking at getting an inexpensive light-weight combo amp and am torn between these two amps.

The Carvin BR515N Pro's:

• Tube Pre,
• Graphic EQ,
• Mute
• Tilt back...
• MADE IN USA!!!!

GK MB212 Pro's:

• The power, 500 Watts to two 12's without an extension cab.
• The ability to get it serviced locally
• I can hear it before I buy it

GK Con's: I've been a fan of GK for many years but am having a problem with that whole China thing. Not as many tonal options as the Carvin.

Carvin Con's: Am wondering if the 350Watts delivered to the 15" speaker will be loud enough without an extension cab. Don't want to pay for shipping twice if it doesn't work out. Can't get it serviced locally. DON'T like the speaker cable hanging out the back of the combo connecting it to the speaker...

Anybody have experience with either of these amps and have an opinion??

So, how's the MB212 working out?

[LAG]

GK owns the factory in China where the MB212 is built, but at the end of the day it is still made in China.

[Willy Franklin]

I ended up ordering the BR515N and Carvin is taking their sweet time delivering it... I figured that since it was available, I'd get a custom color, so I ordered it in the "bronco navy blue" or whatever... The guy on the phone said that custom colors take about 5 days to ship. The website says add 3-10 business days for delivery. Well, I'm on business day #10 so I guess I can't complain...

I'm really anxious...

But the reasons for ordering the Carvin are basically because of all the features it has over the GK. I've been using GK for about 20 years and love their stuff, but think it's time for a different sound. Since I can't find any audio of the BR515N I figured I'd bite the bullet and give it a shot...

Believe me, when I get the thing I'm going to do a full review of it on Youtube... Mic it up, direct it, whatever...

[dogofgod]

Bought the MB212 and I gigged with it on Saturday and the tone was awesome, sound was thumping, got lots of compliments, and was able to bring the amp and bass in in one trip. I also wanted 2 12s as opposed to the 1 15. this thing is no joke and looks, feels, and sounds like it will be with me for quite sometime. also, the mb212 cab is 600w so you have plenty of headroom.

[Willy Franklin]

Originally Posted by dogofgod

Bought the MB212 and I gigged with it on Saturday and the tone was awesome, sound was thumping, got lots of compliments, and was able to bring the amp and bass in in one trip. I also wanted 2 12s as opposed to the 1 15. this thing is no joke and looks, feels, and sounds like it will be with me for quite sometime. also, the mb212 cab is 600w so you have plenty of headroom.

That's great to know!!! In the event this Carvin doesn't work out, I'll be all over that MB212!! ...and I have to say, I'm second guessing the 15" cone surface vs. the 24" cone surface area of the 2x12's. I hope I can move enough air with 1x15...

[Willy Franklin]

Now I'm starting to get a little miff'd... BR515N has been out of stock for a week... I ordered mine 9/1... It's now 9/23... I called them last week and they said it would ship this week. Wouldn't commit to a day...

Thinking of getting a refund and buying the GK...

[Willy Franklin]

Still waiting... I saw that the regular ones went back in stock over the weekend, but no word on the custom one I ordered...

[DavePlaysBass]

Interested to hear your findings. I am rediscovering 15" love just like it was the 80's all over again. If the Carvin is done well, you may be very pleased with a well done 15" combo.

[Willy Franklin]

Thanks man... I just called Carvin again, it DID ship out last week but their website didn't reflect that. I didn't get a notification email either. But hey, it'll be Wednesday then I'll let the world know...

-W

[Willy Franklin]

So... I GOT IT TODAY!!! The UPS man was later than usual today so as the afternoon dragged on, my heart was sinking further and further into the abyss... (sigh)... Just then, my wife yells, "UPS is here!!!"...

Alrighty then... Here we go...

Out of the box, NO POWER CORD!!! (friggin'.....)

Ok, I have lots of those around, so no biggie... I got the Bronco Navy Blue covering, and it looks sweet!! It's nice to have the option to get whatever color you want... Really, it is!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo...eat=directlink

The blue isn't that obnoxious. The camera is bringing out the color a bit too well...

Where am I coming from?? Well, I mostly I've been using and Eden D-410T 4x10 and SWR Goliath III 2x10's... I recently sold my 4x10 because I'm getting old... and lazy... The 2x10's are nice... I've been running them with a GK 1001RB... A REAL nice head... I had used SWR and Eden heads and the GK worked best for me. Always a clean punchy sound with a little dirt...

2nd bad point is the connection to the speaker. It looks like it's an afterthought... I may drill a hole in the cab and run the speaker cable down to the cross-over and solder the connection on the inside. I've already accidentally yanked the thing out of there when I was messing around in the back...

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo...eat=directlink

So hey, want to hear it?? First ever sounds of the BR515N on the web?? At least as far as I know... I may be the only person east of the Mississippi that has one of these things... At least, you'd think... I should have taken more time to edit these sound files. They don't reflect highly on my playing...

The strings on everything are old too... The J style bass ~4 weeks, the Fretless 1.5 years, the MM5- I don't know...

The mic was an AKG Perception 100 Condenser mic with a 1" element... (cheap mic, but works well) Positioned between the woofer and the tweeter. Maybe leaning towards the woofer side...



Control settings as follows:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo...eat=directlink

#1 - Jazz style bass, Front pickup only, Bartolini pickups and preamp, attempted to be played with a pick...
Pick

#2 - Fretless bass, Bridge pickup only. Soapbar style pickups on my 80's Ibanez Roadstar....
Fretless

#3 - Upright bass - Underwood pickup. I turned off the tweeter for this and turned on the Graphic EQ section and pulled down the 500Hz and 800Hz sliders...
Upright

#4 - Musicman 5 String. Dead strings, but you may be able to get the idea of how it handles the B-String... (tweeter still off for this one, and the Graphic EQ off too)
Musicman 5

#5 - Of course, what would the world be without slap bass?? Tweeter back on...
Slap Bass

#6 - I wanted to try one of my SWR 2x10's with the BX500 head, so here's some more slap bass for ya...
Slap Bass through SWR Goliath Jr. III 2x10 Cab

And the mic position for that SWR sound sample:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo...eat=directlink

A couple other notes: The compressor... It works well! Just a little goes a long way! ...and this thing is LOUD!! Someone mentioned it in another thread and they were right...

My conclusion?? Well, since I just took it out of the box tonight, I'm expecting the amp to begin to have more low end as the speaker is broken in... I'm REALLY looking forward to my next gig!! I think it takes like 4 hours of playing... At least, that's the way it was for my Eden cabs... And it was noticeable...

What would make this amp better for me??
1. The Mute switch doesn't work well... I had 5 different instruments plugged into it this evening and had sporadic popping and clicking when changing basses... Some active, some passive... Sometimes it would happen, other times it wouldn't... Weird! Don't know if the popping happens through the DI port...

2. A top handle... This baby weighs in at... Hold on, I'm going to weigh it... Ok, on my doctor's scale (you know, the one with the height measurement on it) it weighs in at just under 51lbs... Not the advertised 40... But I still want a top handle on it!!

3. A better solution for the speaker cable... I understand that I can remove the head and put another head in there if I want, maybe my 1001RB, but... I don't know... The cable comes out pretty easily so I may find a way to tether it to the cabinet...

4. A little gripe about the vinyl cover I bought. Not the blue, but the black protective cover... It should have a zipper pocket in it for the power cord... No biggie, but it would be nice... I may tether the power cord to the amp as well...

5. I'm a little torqued that it took 29 days to get to me... My day job is in the electronics industry and I understand that component manufacturers are not keeping stock on components. Recession stuff, keeping their overhead low to maximize profit. I'm guessing that is what Carvin is doing as well.

6. No power cord... I mean, REALLY?!

ALL that said, this amp is REALLY cool!!! I'm actually thinking of buying one of the BX500 heads as a backup for my GK1001RB... I think it sounds great with my SWR cabs... (I'm not big on removing the head from the 1x15 cab...) One person mentioned in another thread about the new port design being a cat house... I have two cats. We'll see if they end up at a gig with me...

I'm excited!! I hope the honeymoon doesn't end soon... I have a couple gigs over the weekend, we'll see what happens!!

Well, I hope this clears the mud for a lot of people... If you want to hear anything else, drop me a line and I'll see what I can do...

Peace!!

Willy

[MIJ-VI]

Originally Posted by Willy Franklin

So... I GOT IT TODAY!!! The UPS man was later than usual today so as the afternoon dragged on, my heart was sinking further and further into the abyss... (sigh)... Just then, my wife yells, "UPS is here!!!"...

Alrighty then... Here we go...

Out of the box, NO POWER CORD!!! (friggin'.....)

Ok, I have lots of those around, so no biggie... I got the Bronco Navy Blue covering, and it looks sweet!! It's nice to have the option to get whatever color you want... Really, it is!!



http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo...eat=directlink

The blue isn't that obnoxious. The camera is bringing out the color a bit too well...

Where am I coming from?? Well, I mostly I've been using and Eden D-410T 4x10 and SWR Goliath III 2x10's... I recently sold my 4x10 because I'm getting old... and lazy... The 2x10's are nice... I've been running them with a GK 1001RB... A REAL nice head... I had used SWR and Eden heads and the GK worked best for me. Always a clean punchy sound with a little dirt...

2nd bad point is the connection to the speaker. It looks like it's an afterthought... I may drill a hole in the cab and run the speaker cable down to the cross-over and solder the connection on the inside. I've already accidentally yanked the thing out of there when I was messing around in the back...



http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo...eat=directlink

So hey, want to hear it?? First ever sounds of the BR515N on the web?? At least as far as I know... I may be the only person east of the Mississippi that has one of these things... At least, you'd think... I should have taken more time to edit these sound files. They don't reflect highly on my playing...

The strings on everything are old too... The J style bass ~4 weeks, the Fretless 1.5 years, the MM5- I don't know...

Control settings as follows:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo...eat=directlink

#1 - Jazz style bass, Front pickup only, Bartolini pickups and preamp, attempted to be played with a pick...
Pick

#2 - Fretless bass, Bridge pickup only. Soapbar style pickups on my 80's Ibanez Roadstar....
Fretless

#3 - Upright bass - Underwood pickup. I turned off the tweeter for this and turned on the Graphic EQ section and pulled down the 500Hz and 800Hz sliders...
Upright

#4 - Musicman 5 String. Dead strings, but you may be able to get the idea of how it handles the B-String... (tweeter still off for this one, and the Graphic EQ off too)
Musicman 5

#5 - Of course, what would the world be without slap bass?? Tweeter back on...
Slap Bass

#6 - I wanted to try one of my SWR 2x10's with the BX500 head, so here's some more slap bass for ya...
Slap Bass through SWR Goliath Jr. III 2x10 Cab

And the mic position for that SWR sound sample:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo...eat=directlink

A couple other notes: The compressor... It works well! Just a little goes a long way! ...and this thing is LOUD!! Someone mentioned it in another thread and they were right...

My conclusion?? Well, since I just took it out of the box tonight, I'm expecting the amp to begin to have more low end as the speaker is broken in... I'm REALLY looking forward to my next gig!! I think it takes like 4 hours of playing... At least, that's the way it was for my Eden cabs... And it was noticeable...

What would make this amp better for me??
1. The Mute switch doesn't work well... I had 5 different instruments plugged into it this evening and had sporadic popping and clicking when changing basses... Some active, some passive... Sometimes it would happen, other times it wouldn't... Weird! Don't know if the popping happens through the DI port...

2. A top handle... This baby weighs in at... Hold on, I'm going to weigh it... Ok, on my doctor's scale (you know, the one with the height measurement on it) it weighs in at just under 51lbs... Not the advertised 40... But I still want a top handle on it!!

3. A better solution for the speaker cable... I understand that I can remove the head and put another head in there if I want, maybe my 1001RB, but... I don't know... The cable comes out pretty easily so I may find a way to tether it to the cabinet...

4. A little gripe about the vinyl cover I bought. Not the blue, but the black protective cover... It should have a zipper pocket in it for the power cord... No biggie, but it would be nice... I may tether the power cord to the amp as well...

5. I'm a little torqued that it took 29 days to get to me... My day job is in the electronics industry and I understand that component manufacturers are not keeping stock on components. Recession stuff, keeping their overhead low to maximize profit. I'm guessing that is what Carvin is doing as well.

6. No power cord... I mean, REALLY?!

ALL that said, this amp is REALLY cool!!! I'm actually thinking of buying one of the BX500 heads as a backup for my GK1001RB... I think it sounds great with my SWR cabs... (I'm not big on removing the head from the 1x15 cab...) One person mentioned in another thread about the new port design being a cat house... I have two cats. We'll see if they end up at a gig with me...

I'm excited!! I hope the honeymoon doesn't end soon... I have a couple gigs over the weekend, we'll see what happens!!

Well, I hope this clears the mud for a lot of people... If you want to hear anything else, drop me a line and I'll see what I can do...

Peace!!

Willy

That Carvin amp sure speaks bass with a full, even tone! The B string never ran out of breath!

Thanks for sharing your insights and some of your new amp's sounds.

(That missing power cord is worthy of an e-mail IMO. You paid for it.)

[Kael]

The weight discrepancy is not acceptable IMO. A few pounds I can understand as wood varies. An 11 freaking pound difference in wood weight is way (weigh?) beyond the realm of believable.

[bal704]

The 40 lbs noted in the catalog is bogus. It's been noted here in a few threads in the past. Mine weighed in at 51 lbs. Not sure why Carvin doesn't fix it. And mine came with a power cord.

[Willy Franklin]

Originally Posted by bal704

The 40 lbs noted in the catalog is bogus. It's been noted here in a few threads in the past. Mine weighed in at 51 lbs. Not sure why Carvin doesn't fix it. And mine came with a power cord.

Yup... I was hoping that the people saying it was 51 lbs we mistaken, but I should have been a believer... Now, I know...

BELIEVE!!! The thing is 51lbs!!!

[Willy Franklin]

Well, I guess I showed them!!



My son and I figured that the center of gravity for the side handles was about 1 1/2" from the back of the side handle grip. (so, for clarification, if you were holding it by the side handles from the front, it would be about where your middle finger was)

We figured the center of the top was about 10 3/8" from the side. Drilled two 1/4" holes 7 3/4" (3 7/8" on each side of the center mark along the center of gravity) and there you have it!!

I just bought the Chrome handle they had for sale at Carvin... The path of least resistance...

[Willy Franklin]

So yeah... I went to the trouble of installing that handle, and I rarely use it... But it's there if I need it...

[Sten]

The fretless clip makes me wanting to buy one and learn to play it...