I’m a bit of a gear-head, and also a casual tinkerer who digs cool DIY projects. So when my beloved Carvin AG300 combo amp died last month, I saw an opportunity to A ) salvage the high-quality 3-way speaker cabinet, and B ) take my Oktoberfest bass/tuba gig rig to the next level.
The Carvin AG300 is an interesting, versatile unit. It’s a 250W 3-channel combo amp designed to function as an acoustic guitar amp, small bass amp, or small PA/speaker. The cabinet holds a 12” 300w woofer (angled down), 6.5” 150W midrange, and 1” titanium tweeter. This particular AG300 had been my gig companion for over a decade, seeing heavy use on trombone, vocals, bass… often all three on the same gig. Carvin discontinued this model years ago, so when the internal class-D amplifier failed I couldn’t find any replacement parts. Therefore, on to Plan B!
I started by removing the broken built-in amp head/mixer and disconnecting it from the speakers. Next, I made a simple, easily removable cover for the hole using a solid oak panel and strips of velcro tape. I drilled a 1” hole in the panel and installed a Neutrik speakOn & 1/4” combo jack. Next, I installed a 300W 500Hz/4KHz 3-way crossover from Dayton Audio, secured inside the cabinet using industrial strength velcro tape - easy to remove it for service if needed. The crossover is responsible for distributing appropriate frequencies to each speaker - lows to the woofer, highs to the tweeter, mids to the midrange, At this point, I soldered the +/- wires to the back of the new jack, and used 16-14 spade connectors to attach them to the crossover board. I also installed spade connectors on the +/- speaker wires and connected those to the crossover board. Close it up and it’s done! About 2 hours of work and ~$100 in parts.
So how does it work/sound? Same clear, warm sound, and in some ways it’s even more versatile than it was before. Hook it up to a powered mixer and it’s a cool little 300W passive PA/speaker. Hook it up to a bass amp head and it’s a cool little bass cab for small gigs. Stacked on top of a vintage Yorkville 1X15 300W bass cabinet, in parallel output from a bass amp head (Traynor SB500H here), and it’s ready for prime time - the warm mids and clear highs of the Carvin complement the punchy lows of the 1X15 beautifully. On Oktoberfest gigs with www.sbahnmusic.com, I usually run both my tuba (wireless mic) and bass signals through a Radial Bassbone V2 switching pedal into a bass amp. This dirty old mostly-Canadian-made stack reproduces the highs/mids/details of the tuba signal much better than my previous amplification setup, and I’m looking forward to putting some miles on this rig!
The Carvin AG300 is an interesting, versatile unit. It’s a 250W 3-channel combo amp designed to function as an acoustic guitar amp, small bass amp, or small PA/speaker. The cabinet holds a 12” 300w woofer (angled down), 6.5” 150W midrange, and 1” titanium tweeter. This particular AG300 had been my gig companion for over a decade, seeing heavy use on trombone, vocals, bass… often all three on the same gig. Carvin discontinued this model years ago, so when the internal class-D amplifier failed I couldn’t find any replacement parts. Therefore, on to Plan B!
I started by removing the broken built-in amp head/mixer and disconnecting it from the speakers. Next, I made a simple, easily removable cover for the hole using a solid oak panel and strips of velcro tape. I drilled a 1” hole in the panel and installed a Neutrik speakOn & 1/4” combo jack. Next, I installed a 300W 500Hz/4KHz 3-way crossover from Dayton Audio, secured inside the cabinet using industrial strength velcro tape - easy to remove it for service if needed. The crossover is responsible for distributing appropriate frequencies to each speaker - lows to the woofer, highs to the tweeter, mids to the midrange, At this point, I soldered the +/- wires to the back of the new jack, and used 16-14 spade connectors to attach them to the crossover board. I also installed spade connectors on the +/- speaker wires and connected those to the crossover board. Close it up and it’s done! About 2 hours of work and ~$100 in parts.
So how does it work/sound? Same clear, warm sound, and in some ways it’s even more versatile than it was before. Hook it up to a powered mixer and it’s a cool little 300W passive PA/speaker. Hook it up to a bass amp head and it’s a cool little bass cab for small gigs. Stacked on top of a vintage Yorkville 1X15 300W bass cabinet, in parallel output from a bass amp head (Traynor SB500H here), and it’s ready for prime time - the warm mids and clear highs of the Carvin complement the punchy lows of the 1X15 beautifully. On Oktoberfest gigs with www.sbahnmusic.com, I usually run both my tuba (wireless mic) and bass signals through a Radial Bassbone V2 switching pedal into a bass amp. This dirty old mostly-Canadian-made stack reproduces the highs/mids/details of the tuba signal much better than my previous amplification setup, and I’m looking forward to putting some miles on this rig!
