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Carvin Basses?

#42
Masher88 said:
ANY bass would look better with all the bells and whistles on it, but then you'd be looking at a WAY more expensive instrument. Remember how much Foderas cost? it's cuz they have all the "Ferrari class" amenities on them!
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I was saying that the look of the pickups was the only thing keeping them from looking like a $4000 bass. I don't see why they can't make a pickup with unexposed poles for that model.

lowsound
 
#43
I don't know where these ideas of floppy necks and not "standing out" are coming from ... I've got a Bunny Brunel 5 fretless that stands out in a mix, my band loves the tone, and it's just downright sexy to boot. And resale value? No, it's not good, but I got mine used. How else would you score a precision made 5 neckthrough fretless, made entirely of mahogany for 700??????? It's a total winner for buying used.
 
#46
I think that Carvin basses represent a real good "bang for the buck". I used an LB75 for years as my main go to gig bass. It cut through mixes and was very articulate! The stock preamp died on a very hot gig last summer, but fortunately, I was able to finish the gig in passive mode. Was I mad about this? Nah, I had hundreds of gigs in this bass already, so I felt that it owed me nothing! I since replaced the stock preamp with an Aguilar OBP-3. I once swapped out the J99's for a set of Nordstrand NJ5's, but I went back to the stock J99's after three gigs. I will agree that the necks are sensitive to weather changes, but nonetheless, their necks just feel great. The basses are light and balance well. They record very well. I've said it before - Carvin basses will score you zero points with gear snobs, but they are well built, can work in just about any style of music, and are a screaming bargain at the prices you can get them for. If they work for you, who gives a rats rear end what anyone else thinks?
 
#47
Commreman said:
I their necks just feel great. The basses are light and balance well. They record very well. I've said it before - Carvin basses will score you zero points with gear snobs, but they are well built, can work in just about any style of music, and are a screaming bargain at the prices you can get them for. If they work for you, who gives a rats rear end what anyone else thinks?
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Not to mention, they are made in the USA!!!
 
#49
Eric Moesle said:
No, they don't. They just have a wide list of options. They will REFUSE to do any custom requests not already existing on their list of options.
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Okay, if 19 colors (if I counted right), plus any burst pattern you care to choose, plus gloss, satin or tung oil finishes aren't enough, you have a point. If 5 different pickups in a variety of combinations isn't enough, you have a point. If several neck radius choices and 5 or 6 headstock options aren't enough, you've got a point. They offer walnut, alder, swamp ash, mahogany, maple or koa body wood. Not enough? They have flamed maple, quilted maple, flamed walnut and flamed koa tops. You can get a neck made of various woods or combinations of woods. You can get maple, ebony or rosewood fingerboards. You can get stainless steel frets, or regular old nickel, in a variety of sizes...

I'm just scratching the surface here. Sure, there is a limit to what they will do, but what more do you expect!?
 
#50
Bass Viking said:
I dunno, it's all pretty subjective when it comes to pickups. Carvin doesn't really have a signature sound, like Warwick for example. But then, I've seen people complain about Warwick pickups! And look at all the replacement pickups available for Fender instruments. You can't please everyone.

My Icon plays, looks, and sounds great. It has excellent build quality, as did the BB75 I owned.
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I think about this whenever I read a Carvin thread.

You see some people saying they really don't like the sound of Rics, Gibsons, a few say it about Fenders, you get the pic. Not too many people hate Carvin stuff- they just find it... meh. It may be part of Carvin's marketing plan to avoid giving their instruments too much "personality" in their sound, because you can replace the electronics with no problem, even the new soaps (P2 size, IIRC).

iamlowsound said:
It wouldn't bother me if both pickups had exposed poles, but since only one has it makes the pickups look like an after thought.

lowsound
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There's a point there. You'd think Carvin would match the pups so that either they both has exposed polepieces, or covered polepieces.
 
#51
WoodyG3 said:
If 5 different pickups in a variety of combinations isn't enough, you have a point.
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You just hit on one of the very, very few things I dislike about Carvin: Their unwillingness to use third-party electronics. True, my Icon has a great sound, and I realize that keeping everything in-house helps keep costs down, but I would have had a much better idea what to expect if I could have ordered my bass with Barts.

A couple more top wood selections would be cool too, but that's just because I'm a complete whore for spalted maple and cocobolo.
 
#52
doctorjazz said:
You just hit on one of the very, very few things I dislike about Carvin: Their unwillingness to use third-party electronics.
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I hear you, but I don't think Fender's custom shop would build a bass with Barts, either. Sadowsky? I don't think so. Nordstrand? Again, as far as I know, no. I guess you can't expect a company that makes it's own pickups to offer a bunch of other options.

Don't get me wrong, if Carvin offered DiMarzio Model J pickups, I'd be all over it. :D
 
#53
WoodyG3 said:
I hear you, but I don't think Fender's custom shop would build a bass with Barts, either. Sadowsky? I don't think so. Nordstrand? Again, as far as I know, no. I guess you can't expect a company that makes it's own pickups to offer a bunch of other options.

Don't get me wrong, if Carvin offered DiMarzio Model J pickups, I'd be all over it. :D
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You can order Sadowsky's with nordstrands in them AFAIK.

lowsound
 
#54
I've been receiving Carvin catalogs for years, always enjoying the beautiful basses they craft. But I've never heard or played one in real life. I just can't pull the trigger and buy an instrument I haven't played. One day I hope to find one used or meet someone who has one so I can see what the score is, since by appearance they're grand.
 
#55
Basic info: I've owned an LB70P fretless, LB75 (2 jazz pickups), BB70P, BB75, and a Bolt guitar.

The good -

  • They build what you want them to build
  • They can be purchased for little on the used market

The bad -

  • Underwhelming electronics
  • Necks require frequent adjustments
  • They can be sold for little on the used market

Just to elaborate further on the positive. The feel of their instruments is on-par with American Fender instruments. Considering the sheer number of options (with the exception of electronics), you really could build an ideal instrument.

Now, as for the negative aspects... Like I mentioned above, I have owned quite a few Carvin products. Some people like the electronics, others do not. I happen to fall on the side that really cannot stand'em. Terms like "thin," and "lifeless" immediately spring to mind. You cannot get the Music Man tone. You cannot get the Jazz tone. What you get is a very bland, vanilla tone. Sure, it's serviceable, but when you trick out woods and get an electronics system that negates the inherent tonal qualities you would expect from ash, or mahogany, it just plain sucks.
After swapping the J/MM setup on the LB70P to Nordstrand single coil and vintage Sting Ray pickups, the bass sounded a heck of a lot better. Like "night and day."

As for their necks... I also have found their necks to be quite temperamental. Every instrument I have owned from Carvin required constant attention. Lower the action one day and its great. Come back the neck and you have horrible buzzing. It really got on my nerves.

For what its worth, I do like the build quality of Carvin instruments, and at their used price point, they make great choices for backup instruments, or instruments to keep around. I do not think I could go back to their stuff though.

Just a final note... the Icon series is pretty nice. I had a chance to mess with a few Icons at their shop in Cali. I was STILL a little disappointed with the electronics. Still too pedestrian for me.
 
#56
I am still kinda confused as to what people expect for under 1500 bucks? For example: You could get a nice Stingray...with NO choices on electronics and VERY few choices on woods. You could get a Lakland...2 different pickup setups...hardly any wood choices. Both are great basses, but the options are limited. Shall I continue? I think i made my point.

Carvin is NOT a custom luthier that you can pick and choose the bass options YOU want. If you are looking for that...go elsewhere. Carvin makes Carvin basses/guitars. The turn around time is just a few months. They have TONS of options to make it semi-customizable, but using other peoples brands is just an outrageous notion....call Mercedes...tell them you want a Nissan engine. See what response you get.

If you dig em...that's cool..if not, don't buy it! But don't say you are upset at the fact that they don't offer their competitions pickups/preamps whatever. What do you expect?
 
#57
I haven't played any of the new ones. So, no clue on them.

I played several a few years back and had somewhat neutral impression. The weight was ok, but kinda depended on the lumber choices of the guy who ordered it. Fairly comfortable and nice action. Pickups were kinda weak when switching between other basses. The low B on the 34" scale models I tried were pretty weak. I see that they now offer 35 1/2" scale, which would probably fix the low B problems I had.

I had no experience with the necks being unstable, but a friend of mine had a bolt-on neck and ended up sending 2 or 3 back because there was entirely too much bow and it constantly needed to be tightened.
 
#58
WoodyG3 said:
Okay, if 19 colors (if I counted right), plus any burst pattern you care to choose, plus gloss, satin or tung oil finishes aren't enough, you have a point. If 5 different pickups in a variety of combinations isn't enough, you have a point. If several neck radius choices and 5 or 6 headstock options aren't enough, you've got a point. They offer walnut, alder, swamp ash, mahogany, maple or koa body wood. Not enough? They have flamed maple, quilted maple, flamed walnut and flamed koa tops. You can get a neck made of various woods or combinations of woods. You can get maple, ebony or rosewood fingerboards. You can get stainless steel frets, or regular old nickel, in a variety of sizes...

I'm just scratching the surface here. Sure, there is a limit to what they will do, but what more do you expect!?
Click to expand...

Exactly. Like I said in my post above, you can't please everyone.
 
#60
Regarding the necks, in my experience it's been a mixed bag. The LB76 I used to have had one of the infamous temperamental, wandering necks, but the neck on my parts fretless (Carvin neck and body) has been 100% solid since I built that bass about 3 years ago.
 

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