Anybody have experiences with Carvin Amps???

[Chasarms]

I played a Carvin R600 Series II along with a RL410T for about 18 months or so. The head was very dependable. I'd go to war with it any day. Tone shaping took a while to get used to but ending up being very usable. Compressor only goes to 5:1, which is functional, but by no means a limiter as they claim.

I thought the tone was plain and boring, but by no means offensive. Very Peavey-like in my interpretation.

My only beef was the volume. Bridged at 8 ohms, it is supposed to push 500 watts. Into that 410, that ought to really rock. It didn't. I play a G&L L2500, they are the hottest pickups on the planet, so it wasn't the guitar. It wasn't noticably louder than my Nemesis NC210, so I saved my storage space and use the Nemesis all the time now.

All and all, it was usable. If I was a young lad in search of a decent, affordable rock amp, I might snatch up another one. But I certainly don't miss it.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

Originally posted by cassanova


The rl 4x10 rated at 600 watts, distorts at higher sound pressures for me, i thought it could be because I was only pushing 120 watts into it. I just keep the volume a bit lower on the RL 4x10 to avoid this problem.

Just a thought: if you were only pushing 120 watts into the cab--not a huge amount of power for bass, as you know--IMO it's more likely that the distortion you heard was from the amp clipping, not the speakers. This is especially likely if you had a lot of bass boost on (which eats up power like nobody's business).

 

[farboozle]

I'm sorta surprised at the strength of Carvin support on this thread, but anyway, I play through an RL1000, its fantastic in terms of sound and volume. I think their 2x10 cab that I have is okay, especially since its relatively cheap (and light). However, I will say that some soundguy pushed in the DI input on the back panel the other day, which was a pain. I opened up the amp (shh . . . don't tell carvin.) and clicked the board back in place, it's held on by clips to the 1/4 jacks. Which I think is a little, cheap, considering screws would do a better job. But it's fixed and I don't have to send it back. I would always recommend the 1000 over the 600, why not?

 

[Luis Fabara]

Originally posted by farboozle
I'm sorta surprised at the strength of Carvin support on this thread, but anyway, I play through an RL1000, its fantastic in terms of sound and volume. I think their 2x10 cab that I have is okay, especially since its relatively cheap (and light). However, I will say that some soundguy pushed in the DI input on the back panel the other day, which was a pain. I opened up the amp (shh . . . don't tell carvin.) and clicked the board back in place, it's held on by clips to the 1/4 jacks. Which I think is a little, cheap, considering screws would do a better job. But it's fixed and I don't have to send it back. I would always recommend the 1000 over the 600, why not?

Dont know why they used clips, but I do know that some of that could be part of their modular replace-and-forget design.
If something goes wrong they send you the module and it is a snap.

At least thats how it has worked with me.

 

[MikeyD]

Originally posted by Chasarms
I played a Carvin R600 Series II along with a RL410T for about 18 months or so. ... Bridged at 8 ohms, it is supposed to push 500 watts. Into that 410, that ought to really rock. It didn't. I play a G&L L2500, they are the hottest pickups on the planet, so it wasn't the guitar. It wasn't noticably louder than my Nemesis NC210, so I saved my storage space and use the Nemesis all the time now.

I'm not surprised. I also have the R600, but feed it into Carvin's 2x10 (the RC210 combo). The 500-watt rating is not conservative (1% THD, at 1 kHz), IMO. It's probably pushing less than 400 *clean* watts into 8 ohms, and Carvin's bass cabinets are not very efficient. Carvin states that the drivers themselves (in free air at 1 kHz, presumably) have a sensitivity of 94.7 dB (1w/1m). That's not very loud. It's better than home stereo woofers, but if you are used to drivers capable of 101 dB sensitivity, you're talking a difference of 400% in power required to achieve equality. So feed 100 clean watts into a cabinet using 101 dB drivers and it will be about as loud as the R600 feeding a cabinet with 95 dB drivers (all else being equal). I have heard the Nemesis 2x10, and I suspect it is quite a bit more efficient.
- Mike

 

[Gabu]

Originally posted by MikeyD
I'm not surprised. I also have the R600, but feed it into Carvin's 2x10 (the RC210 combo). The 500-watt rating is not conservative (1% THD, at 1 kHz), IMO. It's probably pushing less than 400 *clean* watts into 8 ohms, and Carvin's bass cabinets are not very efficient. Carvin states that the drivers themselves (in free air at 1 kHz, presumably) have a sensitivity of 94.7 dB (1w/1m). - Mike

Hmm....I have often thought of trying out some new speakers just to see what will happen. Maybe I can buy 10" speakers for my ext cab project, and just try them on the RC210 first.

I need to wait until my wallet gets a bit more heavy though....

 

[MypartnerStinks]

I have a R1000. Just got it a about a week ago, played it though a peavey 2x15 4ohms so far. Just one side of the amp becuase its 500 watts per side. It got very loud. Im still waiting for my aguliar 4x10 to show up so i can see what this amp can really do.
So far im happy with it but i have only had it week so who knows....

 

[cassanova]

Originally posted by Richard Lindsey


Just a thought: if you were only pushing 120 watts into the cab--not a huge amount of power for bass, as you know--IMO it's more likely that the distortion you heard was from the amp clipping, not the speakers. This is especially likely if you had a lot of bass boost on (which eats up power like nobody's business).

maybe, ive thought that too, but i think if i ran it through a more powerfull head, id still have the distortion problem, the cab isnt all that efficient and just cant handle the higher volumes.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

Originally posted by cassanova


maybe, ive thought that too, but i think if i ran it through a more powerfull head, id still have the distortion problem, the cab isnt all that efficient and just cant handle the higher volumes.

Could well be, but you won't know unless you try it. It's possible you may be assuming something that may not actually be the case. Have you got a buddy with a bigger amp you could borrow to try? Can't hurt, and you might be surprised.

BTW, not being efficient and not being able to handle high volumes aren't the same thing at all. The first has to do with how much acoustic output the cab generates at a given level of input, and the second has to do with the maximum amount of input the cab can accept. You can have cabs that are very inefficient but can handle tremendous amounts of power.

 

[Luis Fabara]

Originally posted by cassanova


maybe, ive thought that too, but i think if i ran it through a more powerfull head, id still have the distortion problem, the cab isnt all that efficient and just cant handle the higher volumes.

Believe me, I had an Ampeg SVT410HE that distorted a lot at high volumes with my Hartke 2000 Head at 8ohm = 120 Watts.
The interesting thing is that I always assumed that It was the cabinet because it was sealed and designed to handle a mere 200 Watts.

When I got a Carvin DCM1000, and pushed about 350 Watts on the Ampeg with it, I couldnt believe it.
The Bass was TIGHT and not distorting.
It was the Hartke that was Clipping!

In the case of the Carvin I am SURE its the Head.
Innefficient Cab + Low Powered Amp = ULTRA AMP CLIPPING.
Not because of anything on Physics, but We players want to sound louder.
If the cab is inneficient, we put up the volume to compensate, thus making the amp clip.

Solution for Inneficient Cabs = More Power.

 

[cassanova]

i'll go borrow my friends svt head, its an older one from the 60's. and ill see what happens

 

[Phat Ham]

My RC210 gets pretty loud without distorting. When I turn the amp up real high the speakers start to fart, but that's not all that unexpected since it's a 600 watt amp pushing a cab that is rated to handle 400 watts.

 

[Stong_Bass]

I've been playing a Carvin PB500 (500W @4ohm), thru a 2x10 and 1x18 for several years now. The thing is loud and clean, and has more tone shaping options than I know what to do with. (I did a gig once, and used another players Ampeg 6x10 or 8x10, and the tone was unreal). Their cabs are built like tanks, but the drivers could be better. the head rules. (Its even been used to drive PA)

If money is an issue, go with Carvin.