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Carvin BX500: Part II

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#81
Hello to All

Thank you for all of the posts. Wow that was alot of reading.

I am considering this as my setup. I am mainly going to use this as practice setup. I am a newbie to playing the bass and to this forum. I really like the low extension of BRX10.2 Even though I am to new to playing the bass, I have been around sound and music for most most of my life. I also have a lot of prof friends I can jam with if I get my act together

1)I am concerned about using this pwerful of amp with a 4 ohm cabinet as a practice setup. I know Avatar has a 8 ohm cabinet but it seems that the BRX cabinet has had better press. Any thoughts?
2) Is it ok to use the headphone jack with no cabinet attached? I ask this because a friend sayed he damaged an amp doing this.

Also their has been a lot of talk about the LMII. I just noticed Markbass just added a LMIII to their lineup. Evidently they listen to you because it has a pre/post eq di switch. It also now has a Biband limiter. I noticed the low bass control is now centered on 60Hz not 40Hz. I am not sure of any other changes
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#82
BttmEnd said:
1)I am concerned about using this pwerful of amp with a 4 ohm cabinet as a practice setup. I know Avatar has a 8 ohm cabinet but it seems that the BRX cabinet has had better press. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

The cab resistance has not much to do with it, as long as the cab's power handling is sufficient and the amp is rated for the cab's resistance -- both of which are true, so you're fine (I believe your cab is rated 600W rms, and the BX-500 is rated 500W rms @ 4ohms). Driving the power amp to clipping can cause your speakers to overheat and fail, but if you are clipping a 500W power amp at a rehearsal, your band just plain rehearses too loud... I have been using a Carvin R600 (600W into 8 ohms) with a 450W 8ohm 15" neo speaker (Eminence KappaLite3015) with a somewhat loud classic rock band for a few years now and have not run into problems.

BttmEnd said:
2) Is it ok to use the headphone jack with no cabinet attached? I ask this because a friend sayed he damaged an amp doing this.
Click to expand...

For solid state (like the BX-500) it's no problem. Tube power amps cannot operate for long without a load. *Why* has always eluded me, but there are plenty on this board who can explain -- ask BillyB if you need to know.
 
#88
I'm happy to see that Carvin remains a stand up company and is working hard to correct what has been a production mess. Also sounds like the amp has quality tone.

Do want to point out that if this many people had a problem with a company who has unpopular politics or off shore manufacturing, (Ampeg, Behringer, Acoustic. etc), I think many would not have been so patient or supportive.

Guess what goes around comes around.
 
#89
Used my BX500 on a gig for the first time last night. It worked great, absolutely no problems. This was a small club that we regularly play so I didn't have to push it, playing a fairly large place on Thursday where I can turn it up a bit. I played through my Schroeder 1210L and the sound was big and deep. This was a honkytonk band so I'm looking for an old school tone and the consensus was I got it. I was worried with all the talk about the head being on the bright side but I didn't have to EQ it much to really bring out the bottom, even using the 1210L. I am very pleased I pulled the trigger on this guy and looking forward to Thursday.
 
#90
fesem said:
Used my BX500 on a gig for the first time last night. It worked great, absolutely no problems.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had the same experience last weekend. Only I went in cold with no time to get the sound tweaked in. Standing in front of the rig the sound felt great, punchy, tight and tons of presence. The engineer took the DI out of the back to push to the PA. I kept thinking I had too much stage volume because I had so much punch at the rig but once I walked away a little and got some distance (20ft) it sounded great. I listened to the video recording last night (we record most of our bigger gigs) and from the camera's mic (next to engineer) it sounded awesome. Punch without being too boomy, cutting through the mix without taking away from the "music". By the way, on my first review I'd said it sounded very trebley at first but, on the dance floor it sounded great and, after listening to the video last night my drummer commented on how great the bass sounded that night. He said "it sounded better than it ever has, especially in the upper end". So, yeah, I like it just fine. I'll need to play with it some more to find the different tones I'll need but the amp seems more than up for it. As long as this thing doesn't go belly up in the near future (I played it all night so I can't imagine it would) I'm stoked!:smug:
 
#91
I got a chance this past weekend to use my BX500 with my DR Bass cabs at rehearsal. It sounded spectacular.

Actually mine is from a BR515N combo. I just pulled the head to use it with other cabs. I found out at the same time that the combo airhead is a bit smaller than a 2U. My Genz Benz head won't fit in the combo.

Here's a pic. (I removed the head from my 2u rack cause I'm not ditchin the Genz yet)

3 12's anyone?

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#92
I've had the amp for a few weeks, but didn't have a cab to match it with, so I've been playing through headphones. Honestly, it sounded great.

About a week ago I picked up a 2x12, hooked it up, and now it sounds even better. I'm still tinkering to dial in my tone, but I'm getting a lot of useful variations out of it. It does have a bit to much treble for my taste, but I'm finding my bass taste is more in the range of a swift punch to the chest than a balanced note.
 
#93
well, I got my "third" BX500 today...
stoked! plugged it in, turned it on, everything seems fine...
POP! I thought my tweeter blew!, distortion!
turned amp off, put it back in the box...
I give up, the BX500 beat me, I will not try a fourth...
too bad, I was digging the amp from the very little time I've played it.
funny thing is the serial # is in the "bad batch", maybe they sent me a modded return
 
#94
unclekebm said:
well, I got my "third" BX500 today...
stoked! plugged it in, turned it on, everything seems fine...
POP! I thought my tweeter blew!, distortion!
turned amp off, put it back in the box...
I give up, the BX500 beat me, I will not try a fourth...
too bad, I was digging the amp from the very little time I've played it.
funny thing is the serial # is in the "bad batch", maybe they sent me a modded return
Click to expand...

Man! I can't believe the QC problems that good companies like Carvin and GK are having with their new micro bass amps! :eyebrow:
 
#95
unclekebm said:
well, I got my "third" BX500 today...
stoked! plugged it in, turned it on, everything seems fine...
POP! I thought my tweeter blew!, distortion!
turned amp off, put it back in the box...
I give up, the BX500 beat me, I will not try a fourth...
too bad, I was digging the amp from the very little time I've played it.
funny thing is the serial # is in the "bad batch", maybe they sent me a modded return
Click to expand...

Don't you have another cab to try out ?
Also try another speaker cable.
Also try another bass and another cable.

4 heads defect under your hand ........ not saying it's you but....... have you tried other options , other than a problem with the head ?
( I haven't read your other posts )
 
#97
fokof said:
Don't you have another cab to try out ?
Also try another speaker cable.
Also try another bass and another cable.

4 heads defect under your hand ........ not saying it's you but....... have you tried other options , other than a problem with the head ?
( I haven't read your other posts )
Click to expand...

I feel bad believe me..
it's the "third" head i've tried, not fourth, and i don't believe many have gone this far with defective heads, I think most returned either the first or second ones, otherwise I don't think I would be alone here...

yes, I've tried different cabs, speaker cables, basses, audio cables, power outlets,
AC cables and houses...

I just think Carvin released this amp to early...
and I find it weird that they sent me an earlier returned amp, I don't think they're fixing the right issue
it seems there is an interference from the fan motor to the tube circuitry...

cheers
 
#98
I went through two before i gave up. The first one was sent in for the " hiss " mod. When I got it back, I noticed it was'nt the same head I sent in, but a different one, so, no mod. I plugged that one in and got distortion and a decrease in volume for about 10 seconds, then the distortion went away, but the amp did'nt sound the same after that. Sent that one back for a refund. I'm going to get one of the new Carvin lightweight power amps and go back to the pre/power amp setup I used for years. I hope the power amps don't have the same problems, or I'm done with Carvin.
 
#99
You'd think Carvin would play thru these bad heads before shipping them out to people.

Carvin has probably sold hundreds of these heads, I really suspect that the majority of them work fine. I've said it before, but mine was probably the first one received and I haven't had any problems with it at all and have played several gigs with it. My friend picked one up a month ago at the Carvin Sac store and his has worked flawlessly. To get even 2 bad heads is some pretty bum luck IME.

I'll be glad when all the bugs are worked out so that I can read more positive reviews about the BX500, instead of all the bummer news about the heads not working correctly.

There I'm done.:rolleyes:
 
#100
vinxbass said:
You'd think Carvin would play thru these bad heads before shipping them out to people.

Carvin has probably sold hundreds of these heads, I really suspect that the majority of them work fine. I've said it before, but mine was probably the first one received and I haven't had any problems with it at all and have played several gigs with it. My friend picked one up a month ago at the Carvin Sac store and his has worked flawlessly. To get even 2 bad heads is some pretty bum luck IME.

I'll be glad when all the bugs are worked out so that I can read more positive reviews about the BX500, instead of all the bummer news about the heads not working correctly.

There I'm done.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Vinx...I'm sure they play thru them all before shipping. It's just Unclekebm has that Wile E. Coyote kind of luck. Or Schleprock....am I carbon dating myself? ;)
 
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