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Carvin BX500: Part II

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#861
After careful consideration (ie, reading a whole bunch of posts here + 1 video from Carvins site) I pulled the trigger on a BX 500 last night. After having surgery and still battling a medical issue, I have to downsize my rig, any way that I can. I'm retiring a LH 500 (which I liked a lot especially with a Telefunken in it and a Barber Linden in the effects loop) because of its 20+ pounds of weight. I considered going with the new GK combos (33 lbs? can'beat that) but I had nagging thoughts that at high volumes, the cab would blow over or at least move and GK seems a little too sterile to my ears.
How many of you guys have changed out the tube for something different? Were there noticable results?
 
#863
jgsbass said:
I considered going with the new GK combos (33 lbs? can'beat that) but I had nagging thoughts that at high volumes, the cab would blow over or at least move and GK seems a little too sterile to my ears.
How many of you guys have changed out the tube for something different? Were there noticable results?
Click to expand...

I've read about the GK MB210 walking on stage because it's only 33 lbs! I had been thinking about getting the GK MB212 (39 lbs) but wasn't comfortable with it being made in China. I don't know what the cab is made of, but it can't be that sturdy with being so light for it's size. I also don't think the preamp has enough in the way of features, while the BX500 is very feature rich.

I'm okay with the extra 13 lbs for lower cost, more features, made in America, and sturdier construction.
 
#864
I've watched the BX500 video and I love the tone they get out of the head and that 210 they're playing out of, but each time I watched it something was nagging at me. They kept talking about it sounding good "flat, out of the box", but they've got the "contour" control set at 12:00. The parametric bass, mid, and treble controls are "flat" at 12:00, but the contour control is like the compressor, drive, DI level, and master volume - flat when fully counterclockwise.

This is a goof that would have had me really frustrated if I hadn't caught it because I would have set all my controls truly flat and wouldn't have gotten a similar sound.
 
#866
I keep the contour at about 10am (I have turned it off on occasion for more mid bite).
Bass 3am or higher at lower volumes. Compressor at 9:30-10am.
Treble at 3:00 (remember I disengage the tweeter in my combo).

Sometimes I activate the graphic eq for extra depth (and kinda use a <shudder> smiley-face).

The amp has punch and is very fat/warm, yet there is still presence to sit nicely and distinguish the notes being played (I play in a modern rock cover band and also a modern country band for reference).
 
#868
#869
I have an older one (not my original BX500 from the very beginning) which did not have the grommets. But when I took the top off it had slots for grommets. So when I installed it in a BR12 combo I took the grommets out of the existing 120W head, put them in the BX500 case and then it was a drop in replacement.

I don't think the BX500 top plate worked on the BR12 head portion as it didn't have the screw holes to put it on (I'm not 100% sure and it's boxed up and put away for now).

While I see the convenience of the one pictured above I wouldn't like it so much if I were using it standalone (an aesthetic thing - not liking the plastic chunks showing in the top). The BX1200 I had was similar - it had the plastic grommets in the top (I guess it was cheaper to install it in the case that way than make the case an actual 2-space rack and use the built-in rack ears).
 
#870
fourstringbliss said:
I've watched the BX500 video and I love the tone they get out of the head and that 210 they're playing out of, but each time I watched it something was nagging at me. They kept talking about it sounding good "flat, out of the box", but they've got the "contour" control set at 12:00. The parametric bass, mid, and treble controls are "flat" at 12:00, but the contour control is like the compressor, drive, DI level, and master volume - flat when fully counterclockwise.

This is a goof that would have had me really frustrated if I hadn't caught it because I would have set all my controls truly flat and wouldn't have gotten a similar sound.
Click to expand...

In the very beginning of the video, the contour was actually set flat...
 
#872
Lync said:
I keep the contour at about 10am (I have turned it off on occasion for more mid bite).
Bass 3am or higher at lower volumes. Compressor at 9:30-10am.
Treble at 3:00 (remember I disengage the tweeter in my combo).

Sometimes I activate the graphic eq for extra depth (and kinda use a <shudder> smiley-face).

The amp has punch and is very fat/warm, yet there is still presence to sit nicely and distinguish the notes being played (I play in a modern rock cover band and also a modern country band for reference).
Click to expand...

This sounds a lot like what I'll probably do tone wise. Carvin's inconsistent information doesn't bother me too much because there are folks who know the right info. I'm glad I noticed the contour thing from the video because I want to get the sound they got from the BX500 and now know I need to engage the contour knob to get it.
 
#875
fourstringbliss said:
I checked the video later, though, when the guy on the right was soloing and it was set to 12:00.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't expect to be able to get the same tones using his settings when you plug in your bass. There are too many variables. for that matter it looks like he is playing an active bass and adjusting tone there as well.

That said...the tone section on the BX500 is very powerful.
I use 2 different sounding basses with mine and set the standard eq for bass #1, then setup the graphic for #2. That way when I switch basses I just flip on the graphic and I'm good.
 
#876
xbassmanx said:
I wouldn't expect to be able to get the same tones using his settings when you plug in your bass. There are too many variables. for that matter it looks like he is playing an active bass and adjusting tone there as well.

That said...the tone section on the BX500 is very powerful.
I use 2 different sounding basses with mine and set the standard eq for bass #1, then setup the graphic for #2. That way when I switch basses I just flip on the graphic and I'm good.
Click to expand...

Good point. To get the same tone I'd need the same bass with the same strings and the same cabinet and the same hands. I'm just interested in getting a similar tone.

He was using an active SB4000 bass, so probably an ash or alder body and single coil jazz type pups. I've got a mahogany bodied Ibanez BTB 4-string with an Audere preamp and Nordstrand Big Splits. My bass is definitely going to sound different.
 
#877
fourstringbliss said:
I completely understand your frustration, but do you like the amp? Are you returning the amp because of their inconsistent information or is it because you don't like the amp?
Click to expand...

Well, I'm building a rack setup and probably won't need to keep my bass amp. I've just gotten a real impression of flakiness from Carvin so that's the icing on the cake. Unfortunately I can't return it at this point, gotta sell it used. The amp itself is decent. I'm just worried about the 1 year warranty (it already crapped out on me and I had to exchange it) -- and all the inconsistent information kind of pisses me off. It may not bother most people. I just don't have a good impression of Carvin at this point.
 
#880
eastcoasteddie said:
Anyone else run this thing successfully @ 2 ohms?
Click to expand...

I often run mine at 2 Ohms into a pair of 4 Ohm Schroeder 15+L cabinets. My first one (one of the very first, never a problem, sold to another TBer) did an outdoor "festival" running my rig for probably 6 hours in May in Houston (pretty warm) and my more recent one (bought used from a TBer) has several 2-3 hour gigs with the most recent one being outdoor last month at maybe 40 degrees F (if it got that warm) - we had to stop because we couldn't feel anything with our hands any more.
 
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