Carvin Power Amps

[3toes]

Does anyone have experience with Carvin power amps for running their PA? My band is looking to get some gear and these seem pretty affordable.

[Laserman]

Well,

I own a couple of Carvin products. From what I understand their power amps are their best product but I would shy away from Carvin unless you live within driving distance of their store in California. If something breaks you have to ship it to them. Very few techs will work on Carvin stuff and the few that do Will tell you the same thing. The guy at my music store calls Carvin " The American behringer". But my Redline Bass amp and cabs are still going strong and I have a powered monitor that sounds great and has never had a problem. QSC or Peavy Power amps would be a better buy.

Barry

[73jbass]

Every Carvin amp I owned,was grossly underpowered comapared to,say a QSC or Crown.The had a preamp with a Carvin 1000w poweramp,and it just didn't cut it. The GK RB 800 I had at the time was louder and cleaner sounding than the 1000 watt power amp.Same thing for the R600 and R1000 bass amps I had.

[Gumby4]

Originally Posted by Laserman

Well,

I own a couple of Carvin products. From what I understand their power amps are their best product but I would shy away from Carvin unless you live within driving distance of their store in California. If something breaks you have to ship it to them. Very few techs will work on Carvin stuff and the few that do Will tell you the same thing. The guy at my music store calls Carvin " The American behringer". But my Redline Bass amp and cabs are still going strong and I have a powered monitor that sounds great and has never had a problem. QSC or Peavy Power amps would be a better buy.

Barry

+1

I will add that I've never had a good experience with Carvin when their products needed repair. On the other hand, I've had good experiences with the DCM2500 and redline bass amp. It is an all or nothing affair with them.

Crown Amps, for me, have been great performers and the one time I needed service, it was fairly painless.

[3toes]

Well what other mid-range (price wise...) power-amps would you guys recommend for our PA? Isn't Crown a bit pricey?

[baba]

For the value, I'm a fan of the QSC RMX amps.

[SERPENT865]

I use Mackie ,Crown , Peavey and Carvin amps and they all have their own pros and cons.

[3toes]

We found a used Crown 1300w in great shape, so we went with that. Thanks for the suggestions gang.

[joegeezer]

I have had all good luck with all of the Carvin DCM series power amps, that I have owned. I would have my whole PA powered with them, if I had the cash. I use a DCM2500 to power my rack head, for my amp, but use Behringer2500s for the PA. Just a cheap bastard I guess.

[srxplayer]

My church has had some Carvin amps for years (DCM 1500's). They are used as monitor amps and have to be nearly 10 years old. They have been solid performers and we have only had to replace the gain pot on one unit about a year ago.

As for value the QSC RMX series is solid. They are pretty much bullet proof and have no problems putting out the rated power they claim. I have several of them and they are been extremely reliable. The only downfall with the RMX is that they are HEAVY and the fan is a little noisy...I highly recommend QSC products.

[MysticMichael]

OK, it's now 2012 - three and a half years since the most recent post on this thread.

Carvin has since released an "L" (light) series, Class D version of all their power amps. It's way past time to get some brand new, current opinions on Carvin power amps...

MM

[JackTheRipper]

I use a Carvin DCM3000L to power the mains in my PA and a DCM2000L to power the monitors - no issues whatsoever. I use a DCM3000L to power my bass rig as well, again no issues at all. They are light, reliable and powerful.

--jack