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Carvin BX500: Part II

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#23
unclekebm said:
to all BX-500 owners,
will you please check something out for me?, I need peace of mind...
with the amp on, speaker connected, nothing plugged in, volume doesn't matter,
mute on or off.
and the tube "engaged"

do you hear a "hum" through the speaker? you might have to listen close,
when you dis-engage the tube it goes away, or at least becomes very faint...

please let me know, thank you
K
Click to expand...

My BRX10.2NEO speaker came yesterday, so I plugged the BX-500 into it and sure enough, there's the hiss/hum you described. It immediately disappeared when I turned the EQ off, which is not a good thing. It's one of the low SN versions so it can go back for an update.
 
#27
I had my first gig last night with my new BR510N combo (BX500 head in a 2x10 neo cabinet). It performed flawlessly! Played four 45 minutes sets. It was very warm and stuffy in the bar so there was a potential for overheating problems, but the amp never shut down on me. It sounded great! Very punchy and clear. Guitar player has a Marshall stack and the drummer is heavy handed. No problem hearing me in the mix. Only had the volume on 3. I did keep the graphic EQ on all night to pump up the low end a bit more. The only effect I used was an Electronix Submarine on a few songs to enhance the tone and add a bit more volume. At the end of the night when I was tired it was no problem picking it up and loading it in my car due to it's light weight. I love this amp!
 
#28
gjbassist said:
I had my first gig last night with my new BR510N combo (BX500 head in a 2x10 neo cabinet). It performed flawlessly! Played four 45 minutes sets. It was very warm and stuffy in the bar so there was a potential for overheating problems, but the amp never shut down on me. It sounded great! Very punchy and clear. Guitar player has a Marshall stack and the drummer is heavy handed. No problem hearing me in the mix. Only had the volume on 3. I did keep the graphic EQ on all night to pump up the low end a bit more. The only effect I used was an Electronix Submarine on a few songs to enhance the tone and add a bit more volume. At the end of the night when I was tired it was no problem picking it up and loading it in my car due to it's light weight. I love this amp!
Click to expand...

4 string or 5?
 
#31
OK, I bought a BX500 and it arrived this week. It arrived late on Friday so I set up w/my regular rig (Carvin R1000 bi-amped to a 4 ohm Avatar 410neo and 4 ohm 212neo cabs). On Saturday night I set it up on top of the other Carvin head (just in case) and plugged the whole shabang together, set it on 2 ohms and flipped the switch. Not having had a chance to play with it and find the sweet spot this was a HUGE leap of faith on my part. But, having had some experience with Carvin I set everything flat and went for it. It was one the larger clubs that we play, lots of covers tunes and various genres and lots of Cougars. I struck the first notes on the first song and I was just amazed how great it sounded just set flat across the board. I was playing my Yamaha TRB1005 5string and man, what a pleasure. Lots of presence, definition and thump. I added some mid and bass on my guitar that put the tone right in the park. I found the amp has a lot of high end for my cabs (while on stage) but when I walked away and listened from the dance floor it sounded awesome. I'll have time to dial in the tone later but, after reading the posts on this thread I'm glad I went for it. No problems at 2ohms all night pushing about 1/4 - 1/3 the power available. I heard no hums either at the speaker or on my in ear monitors so take that for what it's worth.
Enjoy.:bassist:
 
#32
Hey guys: if you have read my posts you may or may not know I am awaiting head #3.
To review
1st head early # just crapped out from the first note.
Repack & return

2nd head sounded great at first under "normal mellow playing" conditions. Upon driving it hard and slapping as hard as I could it started thermal shutdowns. Restart and play mellow all good. Start bangin away shutdown.
Repack & return

Now while waiting for #3 I was greeted with a return call from a Carvin engineer. (which I requested)
He stated he was one of the design team
We had a long conversation regarding the issues with this amp. Yes there are/were more than 1. Most of which have been already addressed. BUT there is evidently one component that is sensitive to very high frequencies that can trigger shutdown..
He told me that this may have to do with suppliers particular specs but regardless they had identified the component responsible and were correcting the problem.
I sensed that he was honestly and actively trying to "get it right"
So I am hangin' in. even if still pretty frustrated.
I should have #3 in a couple of days.
I'll keep ya'll posted!

Peace.......Capt. Kirk
 
#35
Kirk Bryant said:
Hey guys: if you have read my posts you may or may not know I am awaiting head #3.
To review
1st head early # just crapped out from the first note.
Repack & return

2nd head sounded great at first under "normal mellow playing" conditions. Upon driving it hard and slapping as hard as I could it started thermal shutdowns. Restart and play mellow all good. Start bangin away shutdown.
Repack & return

Now while waiting for #3 I was greeted with a return call from a Carvin engineer. (which I requested)
He stated he was one of the design team
We had a long conversation regarding the issues with this amp. Yes there are/were more than 1. Most of which have been already addressed. BUT there is evidently one component that is sensitive to very high frequencies that can trigger shutdown..
He told me that this may have to do with suppliers particular specs but regardless they had identified the component responsible and were correcting the problem.
I sensed that he was honestly and actively trying to "get it right"
So I am hangin' in. even if still pretty frustrated.
I should have #3 in a couple of days.
I'll keep ya'll posted!

Peace.......Capt. Kirk
Click to expand...
Wow, what a bummer. So far my experience has been great. I played it all night at 2 ohms blasting the heck out of cabs. Stage volume was substantially high with our 2 female singers jumping up and down all night. Again, lots of presence, attack. So far it seems very flexible. I was a little worried because of the newness of the product and some of the early heads having some issues but mine was one of the new ones so, maybe the problems are fixed? When #3 comes in, make sure you let us in on the test drive.
 
#37
I'll be calling in to send my second one back tomorrow...

still trying to decide if I want to try a third amp, I do like it, when it works...

#1 was ODO4953 distortion / shutdown
#2 is ODO50105 nauseating hum while tube is engaged / loud intermittent pops
 
#39
I played a double this weekend (2 nights) and iIused the head through 2 Avatar neo 210 cabs at 4 ohms. Sounded very good and I had no issues at all. I liked having the mute switch right there in front. Funny thing though, I run the effects out send into my IEM system and it isn't muted by the switch. The switch appears to mute the amp at the very end of the chain as i can still clip the limter while it is muted. I forgot to ask my FOH guy if the XLR was muted by the switch. Also he asked me to turn down the DI as it was louder than my Acoustic DI out. I had run it at noon so backed it off a notch. Very light head and makes my rack a joy to lift.

CP
 
#40
i ordered my first bx500 saturday and was told it would ship out monday or tuesday. i asked if they had a protective carry bag for it like i had for my mesa walkabout and he said not yet but soon. he said he recently saw a prototype and that it should be in production soon. nylon exterior and padded.

as long as you're not slinging it around during transport, that should be enough protection, right?
 
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