Carvin BX500: Part II

[Swimmer]

Hi, I have a question for any/all of you.

In my continuing testing of my new BR515N I added an extension speaker, a Carvin 1542 PA Monitor. It's rated 400W and is 8 Ohms and bi-ampable with a wide hi freq horn in it and a 15" speaker. I switched it so the horn is still in the chain. It's carpet covered and weighs 42 lbs. I stacked it upside down on top of the BR515N which leaves the Carvin logo on the top, but upside down and backwards. I call it my NivRac setup (Carvin spelled backwards). I set the 4/2 ohm switch to 2 ohms on the amp. I presumed that the BR515N is 4 ohms, like they told me before they shipped it. The sound was more rich than before, seemed like less bass, which makes sense, but also more full.

It looks impressive.

Anyway, I've never done this before and wonder if any of you have comments on such a setup??

Take Care,
Swimmer

 

[Lia_G]

I have three gigs this week with two different bands, so I'll give the BX500 a workout. Monday is a small bar with a country / southern rock band. I'll play the BX500 into a TL606. Thursday is a latin jazz/rock trio at a Telemundo Nashville soccer party. I'll either use the same rig, or maybe the Carvin BRX10.2 Neo cab instead. Friday is the same band from Monday at a bigger club, so I'll use both TL606's. We'll see how things go ...

Cheers,
Liam

 

[greenboy]

WinISD screenshot sent

Eli's c-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-m-ing, wo-o-o-o-o-o-oah!

Amazing how when you offer up the facts pretty someone can pretty much call you a liar multiple times and exhibit absolutely no motivation to find the answer to prove their case, get others to do their legwork for them - and then not show up for the Fess Up ; }

 

[fokof]

Heads are actually now where near flat at what you would think "flat" is by the controls. They are voiced by the pre-amps designer to give you a starting point they think is ideal. It's usually a smiley face EQ applied at "flat"
The manufacturers would like most people to walk up to an amp, with the controls set "flat" and think it sounds great straight out of the box. That what sells - people thinking "flat" on a head sounds great with no changes. Go figure.
On the other hand, a pro level power amp is flat. Unless it has a built in DSP and that DSP has been set to provide some EQ.

+1
I use an active monitor as a bass amp (RCF) an even some of those have an onboard EQ'ing/processing that can't be bypassed.

That's the beauty of it , all piece of gear has it's own voice.

"Flat amp" per say is an Utopia.
We could start a philosophical thread on that

Back on thread , I don't use bass amps but if I had to , I'd go for this one......

 

[Swimmer]

Hi, I have a question for any/all of you.

In my continuing testing of my new BR515N I added an extension speaker, a Carvin 1542 PA Monitor. It's rated 400W and is 8 Ohms and bi-ampable with a wide hi freq horn in it and a 15" speaker. I switched it so the horn is still in the chain. It's carpet covered and weighs 42 lbs. I stacked it upside down on top of the BR515N which leaves the Carvin logo on the top, but upside down and backwards. I call it my NivRac setup (Carvin spelled backwards). I set the 4/2 ohm switch to 2 ohms on the amp. I presumed that the BR515N is 4 ohms, like they told me before they shipped it. The sound was more rich than before, seemed like less bass, which makes sense, but also more full.

It looks impressive.

Anyway, I've never done this before and wonder if any of you have comments on such a setup??

Take Care,
Swimmer

Ok, I quoted myself. Here's the NivRac Stack with a BR515N as the heart. Also, I determined that the BR515N has an 8 ohm speaker in it.

Any comments?

 

[jnewmark]

Are you also using the Fender that is on the bottom?

 

[Swimmer]

Are you also using the Fender that is on the bottom?

Yes, it's 1990's Fender BXR 100 without the amp, I'm using it as a cabinet with a 4-ohm 15" speaker in it.

This is just a fun setup, designed to shake the building. I wouldn't use the Fender with it anywhere else or for more than a few minutes (could blow the amp).

It's still quite ambiguous as to what resistance I should consider the Carvin Combo Cabinet to be. But I'll have more on that later after some more testing.

8-Ohm Carvin Cabinet (8-ohm 15" + 16-Ohm HF Driver, probably should treat it as if it's 4-ohms) + 8 Ohm PA Cabinet (15" + Mid/Hi Horn) + 4 Ohm Bass Speaker (Fender). = 2 Ohms (I think, but I'm really pushing it.....).

It's a monster in the house great without the Fender 15" speaker an evil (smoking) monster with it.

 

[greenboy]

Measure the DCR of the driver (can be done through connector, but free of amp head) with an ohm meter or multimeter. DCR of less than 8 but more than 4 (usually between 5 and 6.5) indicates a nominal 8 ohm load. DC resistance of less than 4 but more than 2 (usally around 3.0-3.2 ohms) indicates a 4-ohm load.

 

[Lync]

Cool, get another one of the top cabs and make a Carvin sandwich.

 

[bass4worship]

I don't know if amps burn in but our mind does with any new piece of gear. There are expectations with anything new (not just with bass gear) where our mind is kind of using it's own presets and EQ'ing, in a way.

When what we expect to hear is different than what we actually hear we automatically go into "rate the experience" mode and it is either good or bad depending on our expectations. If you expected it to sound like your B1500 and it didn't, it was a bad experience.

Once you played with it enough to stop expecting it to sound like the B1500, you started allowing it to sound the way it does. Combine that with spending time fiddling with it enough to figure out how to get it to sound "good" and just like magic, it suddenly meets your expectations (which are now as new as the amp itself).

So it's more like your expectations changed to fit your new amp, rather than your amp changing itself to meet yours.

Right on... It take time to find that right sound and every gig you do with it the condition are going to change, big hall, little hall and etc.The BX500 fits right in because I take the time to learn the amp. Get to know the amp and what each knot and switch do. I realize when I got it that I'm not going to try to push more than it can handle.
I know everybody not going to be happy playing this amp and I have gotten some pretty bad sounding bass amps I had to dump myself. But I like this BX500 for what I play and use this setup most of the time.

 

[thudfromafar]

Has anyone compared this against a GK 700RB-II? I'm skeptical of the little heads against the regular sized classics, in terms of both volume and tone. But I LOVE this design and although I love my GK, if the BX500 put out the same volume and a good tone, I would consider selling my amp and picking this thing up. The GK 700 is also "500 watts at 4 ohms" so it's a fair battle.

 

[thudfromafar]

bumping this

 

[optikhog]

Dunno if it's a lot of help but I used my BX500 w/BXR10.4 Neo on Saturday night and had the bassist from the band ahead of us use my rig as well (he came with a GK combo amp which the DJ didn't wanna run through the PA). He did some fiddling and told me after the show that the BX500 sounded "pillowy" compared to his GK, but that he loved the massive punch in the low-mids which he couldn't get from his rig. I know that ain't much to work with min comparing GK with the BX500, but it's a start at least.

BTW, *I* loved the BX500 sound I was getting with my G&L Tribby. Just enough of a modern sound mixed with a classic vibe to make me one happy big-fiddler.

 

[Swimmer]

Measure the DCR of the driver (can be done through connector, but free of amp head) with an ohm meter or multimeter. DCR of less than 8 but more than 4 (usually between 5 and 6.5) indicates a nominal 8 ohm load. DC resistance of less than 4 but more than 2 (usally around 3.0-3.2 ohms) indicates a 4-ohm load.

I did that, as I noted the 15" in the Carvin Combo if 8 ohm and the Titanium HF is 16 Ohms (I opened the cabinet and looked, it says so on the pieces). The 15" measures about 5-6 ohms across the leads and the whole cabinet measures the same. My guess it that's it nominally an 8 ohm cabinet, but it it's parallel with the HF horn it's about 6. When they sold it to me they said it was 4 ohms.

 

[Swimmer]

On the other hand, the x-over could make it just whatever the 15" is (nominally 8 ohms).

 

[greenboy]

The woofer's DCR and impedance is the only thing that matters here. So it's an 8-ohm enclosure.

 

[vinxbass]

I just added the Carvin BRX10.2 neo to the BRX10.4 neo and my BX500 at 2 ohms. Man what sound this thing can produce with 2 extra 10" neo speakers. I thought the sound was full before, it's really full now. Super punchy and powerful to boot. Can't hardly wait for our next outdoor gig that is coming up, this baby should and will pack a punch.

 

[Blues Cat]

Vinx that 210 would be an even better match if it was 8ohm.

Nice rig!

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

Has anyone compared this against a GK 700RB-II? I'm skeptical of the little heads against the regular sized classics, in terms of both volume and tone. But I LOVE this design and although I love my GK, if the BX500 put out the same volume and a good tone, I would consider selling my amp and picking this thing up. The GK 700 is also "500 watts at 4 ohms" so it's a fair battle.

The thing about the GK is that it has a unique tone... You'd have to side-by-side them, I think... but I suspect the Carvin will sound "Bigger", since the GK was not a particularly warm sounding head (and yes, I've had them). I found my old GK gear great for sitting in the mix and easy to use - and strangely, I found I liked the sound of my 400RB better than my 700. Same preamp - go figure.

I would bet you that the Carvin won't sound much like it, though, even if it sounds great.

 

[Lia_G]

Played the BX500 / BRX10.2 Neo rig with a latin jazz / rock trio tonight. Actually got on tv! Telemundo Nashville was having a soccer party for the games tonight (US vs Honduras and Mexico vs Costa Rica I think), and we played the party. We played Oye Como Va behind a few commercial spots, which was very cool.

Anyway, the rig was just perfect. Punchy and clear, very articulate. I started with the eq set with just a bit of bass cut, but a guitarist friend in the audience asked for more lows, so I set everything to noon with no graphic eq, and just never moved it the whole night. This was an outdoor patio gig. I was not in the PA, but was balancing everything very well (vocals and cajone in the PA, acoustic / electric guitar into a combo amp, and congas unamplified).

Very happy with this combination of gear ...
Link Removed

Cheers,
Liam