Carvin BX1500, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
Seriously. I picked it up used on Ebay a year or two ago for like $600. This thing has every feature imaginable. Does it have a direct out? Yes. But does it have an adjustable output level? Yes. Is it pre- or post-eq? Yes, yes, yes! Does it have a tube preamp? Yes. Can you bypass it if needed? Yes. Does it have a built-in adjustable crossover? Yes. How about a compressor? Yes! Does it have both parametric mid control and a graphic eq that you can drop in and out of with a switch? Yes it does.
But I think the thing that I love most about it is that it's a "dual mono block" head. That is to say that it puts out 300w at 8 Ohms, 450 at 4 Ohms, and 750 at 2 Ohms. And then it has a whole second amplifier that does the same thing. (And yes! They do go down to 2 Ohms!)
I could, if I went absolutely insane, run eight 8 Ohm cabs off this thing, four per amp at 750w, going down to 2 Ohms a side.
I can, if i felt like it, cast caution to the wind and do what every TBer knows you're not supposed to do: use mismatched cabs. I could just run them each with their own separate amps and volume knobs.
And here's the real insanity. If you bridge the two amps together you get 900w at 8 Ohms and 1500w at 4 Ohms. (Doesn't do a 2 Ohm load in this configuration.)
This is the most fully featured, highest wattage amp I have ever owned. Also, it weighs 10 pounds.
What does it sound like? Nothing, mostly. A little warm, I think. I just came home from a pit rehearsal where I ran 300w into an Ashdown 112 with my Warwick Corvette Rockbass $$ 5-stringer. It sounded big and warm with enough mids to give me a nice burp where I want it. The amp itself was totally flat. Bass, mids, treble, all at noon, and the graphic eq off.
In conclusion: best amp ever. If you didn't know, now you know.
Edit: I thought of something I do not love! That tube preamp, I mentioned? It has a 12AX7 tube. When you turn it up around a quarter way, it sounds like nothing. Turn it up halfway, still sounds like nothing. Turn it up 3/4 of the way up and it sounds... like nothing! You'd think that the whole reason for having this is so that you could get a little grit out of it but it actually does no no such thing. It still baffles me.
Seriously. I picked it up used on Ebay a year or two ago for like $600. This thing has every feature imaginable. Does it have a direct out? Yes. But does it have an adjustable output level? Yes. Is it pre- or post-eq? Yes, yes, yes! Does it have a tube preamp? Yes. Can you bypass it if needed? Yes. Does it have a built-in adjustable crossover? Yes. How about a compressor? Yes! Does it have both parametric mid control and a graphic eq that you can drop in and out of with a switch? Yes it does.
But I think the thing that I love most about it is that it's a "dual mono block" head. That is to say that it puts out 300w at 8 Ohms, 450 at 4 Ohms, and 750 at 2 Ohms. And then it has a whole second amplifier that does the same thing. (And yes! They do go down to 2 Ohms!)
I could, if I went absolutely insane, run eight 8 Ohm cabs off this thing, four per amp at 750w, going down to 2 Ohms a side.
I can, if i felt like it, cast caution to the wind and do what every TBer knows you're not supposed to do: use mismatched cabs. I could just run them each with their own separate amps and volume knobs.
And here's the real insanity. If you bridge the two amps together you get 900w at 8 Ohms and 1500w at 4 Ohms. (Doesn't do a 2 Ohm load in this configuration.)
This is the most fully featured, highest wattage amp I have ever owned. Also, it weighs 10 pounds.
What does it sound like? Nothing, mostly. A little warm, I think. I just came home from a pit rehearsal where I ran 300w into an Ashdown 112 with my Warwick Corvette Rockbass $$ 5-stringer. It sounded big and warm with enough mids to give me a nice burp where I want it. The amp itself was totally flat. Bass, mids, treble, all at noon, and the graphic eq off.
In conclusion: best amp ever. If you didn't know, now you know.
Edit: I thought of something I do not love! That tube preamp, I mentioned? It has a 12AX7 tube. When you turn it up around a quarter way, it sounds like nothing. Turn it up halfway, still sounds like nothing. Turn it up 3/4 of the way up and it sounds... like nothing! You'd think that the whole reason for having this is so that you could get a little grit out of it but it actually does no no such thing. It still baffles me.
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