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Carvin BX Amp reliability?

Have you had to send your Carvin BX Amplifier in for services?

  • Yes

    Votes: 16 25.4%

  • No

    Votes: 47 74.6%
  • Total voters
    63
#41
louloomis said:
This reason people sell could be any of the reasons you are saying, but I personally find that the notion of people consistently unloading their prized top-notch stuff is difficult to believe.

LL
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louloomis said:
No. I was not - I have no Carvin-related experiences to base this on. My opinion is based on some other companies' gear.

LL
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I think a lot of people rave about how great their gear is when they sell it because they can't say "I bought into the hype and don't like the way it sounds.", or "I really don't know what I want, but this is a great sounding version of what I don't want.".

Every piece of gear in the classifieds is the absolute best example of that item ever made.
 
#42
Grateful said:
I think a lot of people rave about how great their gear is when they sell it because they can't say "I bought into the hype and don't like the way it sounds.", or "I really don't know what I want, but this is a great sounding version of what I don't want."
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This is so true. Most sales aren't due to a flaw in the item for sale, but rather a misconception by the purchaser.
 
#46
Well my BX1500 is only 7 months old and it works like a champ, but I baby all my gear so perhaps I am not a good representative to attest to the reliability of Carvin's amps!

However,I feel the need to point out that polls are generally a poor area to obtain data from even when conducted scientifically(which this one was not). You can look at politics as an example of this since we are in an election year. Of course that doesn't even take into account the relative point of view taken by the media source and the quantity and quality of 'spin', either intentionally subjected or not, upon said 'information' as it is projected upon the masses.

All manufacturing processes have problems from time to time. It's the nature of the beast. That said, I believe the 'role' Carvin fills in the bass amp market at his time is one in the vein of, 'bang for your buck'. Really I think this mentality lends itself to people being more vocal about their product then otherwise might be the case if you were to have a problem with some other brands gear that you paid 2-4x the price for. Not to mention the tendency for people to be much more vocal in general when there is a problem. Companies do not get an equal amount of 'props' to 'complaints' in there inbox.

I don't know anything though. It may just be as simple as dirty ribbon cables from their distributor or the guy putting that component together scored some awesome dro and was getting peanut butter on the connectors for a couple months.... Heck my amp works great so I try not to over analyze crap too much. I think I had too much coffee this morning lol!
 
#47
jzucker said:
No, according to my poll 30% have had problems. Doesn't matter if carvin takes care of the problems and if they're happy. I don't want to spend money on a product with that kind of failure rate. Whatever...
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I know this is from over a year ago, but you do realize that all of these surveys are flawed for one simple reason: There is no random selection at all. The respondents are all self-selecting. Therefore, those who had an amp fail on them may be more likely to vote just because they're upset that their amp failed.

I'm not saying that these surveys are completely worthless, but I'd take them with a large spoon of salt.

With that said, I've had an MB12 for about a year and half now, which has the BX250 in it. I primarily use it for personal practice, but I've gigged it and used it for rehearsals with extension cabs. It's been flawless so far - same with the B2000 I bought back around March, second-hand off of Guitar Center's used page.
 
#48
Ive had my bx1500 for about two years now. I love the versatility. I've used the neo 10.4 Carvin cabs, bi-amped two 18" cabs and an 8x10 cab with it. Its been played at outside gigs in the winter and summer, day time, night time. It must have a few thousand hours on it. I can dial in any tone with any cab I need. Absolutely love it, and if it failed at my gig tonight, I'd finish the show with my Tonebone DI and go buy another BX1500 tomorrow.
 
#49
It's great to see everyone's opinion and feedback here.

Part of my point is this:

I have several amps that are very roughly between 30 and 50 years old. Some of them I've had roughly for between 20 and 30 years. The amount of repair and maintenance these have required since I've owned them has been and seems destined to be almost nothing at all. Amps were used many times, been all over the city in cab trunks/all over the country (as in the U.S.) without road cases, etc. etc. Not abused, but not entirely pampered by any means.

Regardless of price point, in the amps I've bought new in the last several years, I am not seeing durability (although the examples above are perhaps extreme).

Yes, the "they don't make 'em like they used to" is annoying to hear, but you will see that the examples that people are providing in this thread attesting to reliability are generally between 0-3 years. This is very different than comparing an amp to a 20-30 year period.

I'm interested to hear more details.

LL
 
#50
Very little is made to last for decades anymore. It looks like everything anymore is disposable. Getting 10-15 years out of a lot of the new stuff will probably be a miracle. It seems like that's just the way it is with almost everything.
 
#51
louloomis said:
...
Yes, the "they don't make 'em like they used to" is annoying to hear, but you will see that the examples that people are providing in this thread attesting to reliability are generally between 0-3 years. This is very different than comparing an amp to a 20-30 year period.

LL
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GIbson gb440 for a few years now... bought used. Made in 1989 or 1990? Still rocking, no reliability issu... oh wait, this thread is about the BX500.

:hiding:
 
#52
MyMusic said:
Very little is made to last for decades anymore. It looks like everything anymore is disposable. Getting 10-15 years out of a lot of the new stuff will probably be a miracle. It seems like that's just the way it is with almost everything.
Click to expand...

Yup, you're right. Computers, any consumer electronics. However, I built my own computer 9 years ago using very carefully selected "best for the money" components from different manufacturers (all confirmed ahead of time for compatibility) and my computer is still issue-free after 9 years of incredible service and full-on marathon-level usage.

So, considering this approach and considering that I didn't spend very much on the PC, I'm thinking about the impact of quality components on the end result (a no-brainer) and also the manufacturing process (I was pretty careful in putting together my PC).

This is no surprise, but there are amps out there which are not cheap to buy so, are they SO expensive to make (they look cheap inside) or are these companies unable to stay afloat without giant profit margins?

I don't know.
 
#53
It comes down to this. Some people have had issues within a few months of receiving their BX1500 and Carvin's CS fixes the problem promptly. Most people have had no issues and love this amp and would buy another because of the value. Is there better stuff out there? Yes! Can you buy 3 BX1500 for the price of said better stuff? YES!!!

I have one and she has served me well. I do think I'm ready to move on to something else. I don't know what yet and I'm in no hurry to find it, but it is the only piece of gear that I still have since picking the bass back up 4 years ago. I had their BRX410NEO cab that I wanted to replace and the only that convinced me to do so was a fEARful 1515/66 cab. Carvin heads and BRX cabs are serious pieces of gear.
 
#54
Sigh . . . I've had a BX500 for a couple of years now. Went to practice last night, turned on the Furman power strip in my rig . . . NOTHING. No blue light on the BX500. Luckily I had my old built like a tank B1500 MonoBlock still there. I switched to a lightweight head shortly after they came out from Carvin to save my back plus I didnt need all that power.
I got it home and opened it up today hoping that it was just the line fuse that blew. NOPE the fuse was just fine. I replaced it anyway and still nothing. I took my DMM leads and checked the switch, it was good - power in/power out. UGHHH I have a gig Friday.
I guess I will have to lug the B1500 to the venue and it looks like I'll be calling Carvin.
I'm now very leary - seriously considering a new amp for my rig.
Any suggestions??
 
#55
Honz said:
Sigh . . . I've had a BX500 for a couple of years now. Went to practice last night, turned on the Furman power strip in my rig . . . NOTHING. No blue light on the BX500. Luckily I had my old built like a tank B1500 MonoBlock still there. I switched to a lightweight head shortly after they came out from Carvin to save my back plus I didnt need all that power.
I got it home and opened it up today hoping that it was just the line fuse that blew. NOPE the fuse was just fine. I replaced it anyway and still nothing. I took my DMM leads and checked the switch, it was good - power in/power out. UGHHH I have a gig Friday.
I guess I will have to lug the B1500 to the venue and it looks like I'll be calling Carvin.
I'm now very leary - seriously considering a new amp for my rig.
Any suggestions??
Click to expand...

Did you check the ribbon cables ? This seems to be an intermittent problem with the BX series, although it has never happened to me ( yet ).
 
#58
Had my BX500 for a couple of years. Completely reliable after about two gigs a month and daily practice. Just got a GK MB200 as backup and like it so much I'll probably get a GK when the Carvin drops dead (hopefully, not for a very long time yet).
 

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