- Feb 12, 2006
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- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
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Carvin B1500 review
- Thread starter Magman
- Start date
So, I guess I just need to be very careful and/or buy a second 4 ohm cabinet to go with it!
Thanks for all the help!
Darren
Thanks for all the help!
Darren
- Apr 3, 2003
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- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
Well, your qualifier may change things, but I was under the impression that most bass shelving controls out there did impact at least some of the frequencies above their center point, at least to a certain extent.
I, too, may be wrong on this, and I'll tack that 'not an engineer' disclaimer onto any of my comments on this topic.
Tom.
Well, your qualifier may change things, but I was under the impression that most bass shelving controls out there did impact at least some of the frequencies above their center point, at least to a certain extent.
I, too, may be wrong on this, and I'll tack that 'not an engineer' disclaimer onto any of my comments on this topic.
Tom.
Yeah, not sure. I also think it depends on how the various companies describe the actual 'shelving point'. It they use that +/-3db turnover point, the 'stop point' were the slope flattens, or the actual start point of the cut/boost.
I guess the main point is that with a shelving bass control set as low as the B1500, it emulates a hi pass filter in use pretty well... gets rid (or adds) the deepest boom without impacting much of the upper bass, lower mid response. Pretty cool!
This is one of the aspects about the B1500 that I love. With a twist of the low knob, big deep bass happens without muddying things up, such as with the majority of other bass amps I have used over the years.
In my experience, warm, deep - great bass tone is very easy to obtain from the B1500 with it's simple controls.
Thanks Carvin!
I don't mean to split hairs, but I believe that power rating @ 4 ohms is actually 1250 watts RMS (continuous) - not peak power. Still, there's no reason not to use it with a 4-ohm cab rated at 600 watts - if you're careful.
Agreed...
MM
I have that exact set up(among others) and it is one of my best rigs! I have played it outside at large affairs(250-350 people with large stages) and I like the sound as much as my Ampeg svt! I also use it in good sized bars and clubs. It always sounds great. like most good speakers it loves power. My 610 HLF is the one piece of gear I've held onto the longest.
"Everything I want and nothing I don't need" is exactly why I ordered mine.
Four years later, I'm still in love with the brutal power and great tone.
With PA amps and speakers, it's generally considered just fine to run 1.5 to 2 times, or even 2.5 times as much power as what the speakers are rated for. As long as you're not pushing the amps to clipping, a good speker system (as your ampeg is a good speaker system) can handle it. There's no reason a bass amp and bass cabs won't comply to the same general rules of thumb. I'm not going to get into exactly what causes blown speakers on this forum. There are people here who know much more about it than I. But headroom is a good thing. Playing real music, rather than test tones, your amp is rarely going to be putting out anywhere near it's maximum wattage, and then only for very short peaks. This amp has enough juice that even on the louder peaks of your playing, it's not likely to distort.
Bottom line, running a 1250 watt amp into a speaker rated at 600 watts is just fine unless you're pushing the amp really hard. And long before you push this amp that hard, Bundy is going to tell you to turn it down because he can't hear his guitar.
I believe that 50Hz is either where it starts boosting/cutting or it's the 3dB down/up point and that 30Hz is where it flattens out.
I used to work for Carvin, mostly taking tech support type calls. I knew most of this stuff then. But it's been a couple years and I've forgotten some of it.
And I think the 50Hz/30Hz explaination agrees with something I read here on talkbass either in your Boutique Snob tries the Carvin B1500 thread or else in SMASH's B1500 review (both of which, BTW, I think should be required reading).
Nice and congrats! I've been looking at one of these and some other Carvin stuff. Carvin does seem to make some really high quality USA built stuff at very affordable prices.
pablomigraine
Commercial User
I seem to remember a post waaayyy back when where someone had modified the preamp with a homebrew HPF circuit of their own design... These things have so much muscle I'd be worried about smoking speakers...
Picked one up a couple weeks ago and it blew when I turned it on for my New Years gig. Good thing I have a backup.
Thank you everyone for your input. I just picked one up for $200 USD and I love the tone that get with this much headroom.
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,942
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
True. It was the most powerful head (at the time) that Bass Gear ever tested.
