Post Honeymoon Reviews for The Carvin MB15 Wanted

[Stinsok]

With things changing, I am considering selling my head and cabinets and going with a simple combo. Now that you've had it for a while, what are your thoughts? What situations have you used it in? Thanks!

[Scogman]

I've had mine most of this year. I use it as a practice amp. It gets plenty loud for that. I was using it today and last night. I think it would be plenty loud for small gigs, and if not, add the 15" extension that Carvin has for it and you could probably do small / medium volume gigs without a problem. I say this, but I haven't used it in any gigs, only practice. But the sets I have played in the last few months (medium-volume, country-club-bar house-band playing Beatles, CCR, Van Morrison, Christie, Mama's and Papa's, Wilson Pickett, etc) it would probably do just fine.

The MB15 seems to have a bit of midrange bump when EQ is flat. I find it OK with the MB15 but in some of Carvin's other cabs I find the mid range bump a bit too much for my taste (2x10, 4x10 cabs). I prefer the neutral voicing on the fEARful cab that I have and EQ the amp to my preferences. Maybe if I didn't have a fEARful, I never would have known the difference in voicing. :-)

I would think if you want something portable and simple that sounds decent at a very reasonable cost, the MB15 and the 115 extension cab (if needed) would be a decent practice and medium to medium-loud volume rig.

I got mine in the country western covering, they didn't charge me for it because I took it off the showroom floor. Sits in the decor of my office a bit better than plain black. If I ever got the extension cab, I would get the same covering.

Maybe I will bring it along with me tomorrow and get some SPL numbers out of it while I'm playing my fEARfuls. If I do I will update with that information.

I do like it enough that I am keeping mine and am thinking of getting one for my nephew for Christmas.

[craig.p]

I find that some of that mid honkiness is due to the PS15 driver. I've tried a Peavey PRO 15 in that box, and its midrange signature is totally different. I've also tried an old square-magnet Eminence from the '70s in there, and it sounds the best of the three -- the brash midrange goes almost totally missing.

Another contributor to the mid honkiness could be the minimal cab lining. I never bothered adding more to mine because I don't slot myself up in that range. (Traditional C&W.) But for folks who want to cut back on midrange brashness, I'd recommend doing a complete (well, four-side, anyway) cab lining. I don't know what Carvin is doing with their larger cabs in this regard, but I wouldn't ding the MB15 amp absent that information. It could be merely guilt by association.

As I experiment more and more with this amp and with external cabs, it becomes more and more obvious how important it is to watch what kind of extension cab you pair the MB15 with. You can really kneecap yourself in terms of phase/delay cancellations, to the point where you get less volume in some frequency ranges than you did running just the MB15. You can get some VERY weird things going on. (This is nothing new to the folks who make their livings doing speaker/cab design.) A combination you think ought to work well might turn out to be a disaster. A combination you think out to fail miserably might work out fine. This is why I believe it's important to snag the 115MB extension cab if you want more volume; it's the same driver in essentially the same-volume box. I'd already have one if I could justify the purchase, but I can't justify it, 'cause when I inch slightly past the point where the MB15 alone won't cut it, I bring out a BX250 and a 2x12 Avatar. If the MB15 were all I had, then yeah, I'd have already sprung for the matching extension cab.

Third and finally, in terms of midrange smoothness, any cab that's designed to send midrange to an appropriately-sized driver is going to walk all over a cab that forces its bass driver to do midrange duty. In the latter case you'll more often than not get bite, honk, gank, directivity, and all the other marvelous behavior we all know and love.

[Stinsok]

The MB15 may not be for me. I'm not worried about weight so much, it's just so cute!

[Vintage Guy]

I bought a Carvin BR 515N from one of their ebay scratch and dent sales. Ended up getting it for $499.00 shipped. I love it for small to medium gigs. Nice with the tiltback design,and weighs a manageable 52 lbs. I have a small Nissan Frontier pickup I use to hall our gear,and it sits right on my passenger seat. I even keep it in my bedroom for a practic amp.

[Stinsok]

Carvin MB15 paired with a Musicman HD-210?

[britishbikes]

I bought the MB15 with the extension speaker. I got the knobs twisted the way I like it. The more I play it the more I like the tone. At first one of the drivers was defective and I had to play without the extension speaker. I am not impressed with the MB15 by itself. But with the extension cab, there is just enough low end to make it work out real nice; a little lean but not starving either. Just enough overtones to not sound like mud. You can tote one box in each hand.

That CV is 12", the sub is 18" for reference. The top of the stack is 37".

You might also consider cost. With the extension cab, you're talking 650-700 bucks depending on if you get colors. That puts you at the same price as a 500 watt combo which probably sounds better...

[Steve S]

I pair mine with a GK 115 and it sounds great! Thick and juicy without the honk..

[Mojo-Man]

I've had one for two months.
I use it for practice, and band rehersal,with small amps.
I like the tone, that little med-bump, tight and smooth.
For the money, this is a great deal.

[craig.p]

Last week I broke down and bought the 115MB extension cab. I agree with everything britishbikes said. All I would add is that this 2x15 setup sounds strangely like a mini-SVT, with that sort of flamethrower midrange thing going on. I was using the kit last night for some pretty aggressive new country where the bass is slotted higher and "rounder" in the mix than it would be in earlier (say, '90s) country. Drummer was LOUD, PA was LOUD, and there was a guitar player there who was playing through a Mesa cranked LOUD. Still could hear the bass. Not exactly feel it, but definitely hear it. All told, it worked great, even better tone-wise than my usual Avatar 2x12 or 4x12 setup, because the Avatars don't have that midrange brashness.

One huge advantage is logistical. Getting up and down narrow stairs is a heck of a lot easier with two little suitcase boxes than with a big 2x12 cab.

Friday I have to help a band audition a drummer, and I'm going to use this kit again. Songs include Black Velvet and Before He Cheats -- both perfect for this setup because of the very forward low midrange and general "impoliteness" of the sound. (Welcome to New Country.)

Almost forgot . . . The amp chassis ran nice and cool, even putting out as much as it could into a 4-ohm load. I had the amp cranked to the point where I was getting some volume compression, but the distortion levels weren't objectionable. Actually, once the band got going, the distortion disappeared in the mix.

[craig.p]

WOLF NOTE!

I was doing a sub job with the MB15+115MB, and I got the worst wolf note Ive ever heard. Just shy of fret 12 on the G string. Britishbikes, does this happen on your units?

Next week I'll be lining both cabs. I know they're too small to work right, but I still want to minimize the resonance problems. If lining alone doesn't work, stuffing will be next.

UPDATE:

Lined all unlined surfaces inside both cabs with that 2" open cell foam from parts Express. One sheet is enough for both if you cut it right. Used Super 77 to attach. Easy job, was done in just over an hour. I didn't bother covering the surfaces where Carvin had stapled carpet felt. (That felt stuff works pretty well, so why mess with it.) Results are definitely noticeable, with far less brashness in the mids. The rig still sounds mid-heavy, but that's because it's bass-shy. That wolf note is WAY reduced, almost gone. So, this is pretty much what I expected to happen, and I'm glad I did it.

[craig.p]

I am withdrawing the following recommendation due to phasing anomalies.

Well, I had a 100 Hz low-pass filter lying around from a previous experiment, so I thought I'd connect it between the MB15's external speaker output jack and the 115MB.

YIKES!

You think these two tiny sealed 15" boxes couldn't deliver bass? Well, with everything above 100 Hz blocked from the bottom cab, and the MB15's bass control spun up, there's shedloads of it. Big, bad, honkin', wallboard-shakin' bass that has no right to be coming from such a tiny rig. I haven't had a chance to crank the thing, but I gotta say it sounds fantastic. It's a drastic improvement over the 115MB hooked directly into the MB15, which itself is a huge improvement over the MB15 alone.

I tried the filter connected both in phase and out of phase. In phase was clearly better. Out of phase was pinched and thin-sounding and clearly "wrong."

Probably of limited value for slap, jazz, middy stuff, and all that. But for rock 'n' roll and country and metal, this filter will improve things A LOT. Same as a well-engineered ported 2x15? Of course not. After all, we're adding only a few dB below 100 Hz. But much better than any small pair of sealed 15s I've ever heard.

Unconventional, yeah, but that's never stopped me.

Oh... don't forget: I fully lined both these cabs, so that may be helping, too. See above.

[Stinsok]

Most awesome, could you put up a pic of that mod?

[craig.p]

Will do. Give me a few mins to find my camera, put new batteries in, etc.

[craig.p]

I am withdrawing the following recommendation due to phasing anomalies.

Here it is:



May have to click on the pic to get full resolution, depending on your browser & its settings.

The front wire pair is from the MB15's speaker output. The rear pair is running down to the 115MB.