I have a Schroeder 112L which I use with my BX500. It sounds great and is an incredably light rig. I use this combo 85% of the time. For a bigger sound I go with my Avatar 2x10 neo.
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Carvin BX500: Pt. 3
- Thread starter Chef
- Start date
Anyone notice that there's is NOT stable @ 2ohms?
I rewired my 212 8ohm avatar to 2ohm (per dave's instructions) twice. The bx500 would play for about 30mins each time before cutting in & out & going into protect mode.
I rewired my 212 8ohm avatar to 2ohm (per dave's instructions) twice. The bx500 would play for about 30mins each time before cutting in & out & going into protect mode.
Hmmm...sounds like the total load on the head is dipping below 2 ohms. I have run my BX500 with two 4 ohm cabs many times on gigs and never run into any problems.
Maybe.....but isn't a cab with two 4ohm speakers wired in parallel = to 2ohms? Maybe it's lower than 2ohms.
I've since sold the cab & bought an Acoustic 106 (4ohm) replica & dropped new carvin 8ohm 15s wired in parallel (4ohm total right?) & it sounds incredible & is very loud!
I've since sold the cab & bought an Acoustic 106 (4ohm) replica & dropped new carvin 8ohm 15s wired in parallel (4ohm total right?) & it sounds incredible & is very loud!
If I remember right, I thought someone on here said that the true ohms rating of a speaker will actually fluctuate quite a bit while being played, though I can't remember by how much. Maybe that's what you were experiencing, and it went just low enough to set it off.
Maybe that's what happened. The first rehearsal I did with the cab wired at 2ohms.....it was fine. Every time I fired it up after that ......after 15-20 mins it'd go into protect mode.....so of course I wired it back to 8ohms & it was fine.
I have bought the head from a fellow TBer and since he had no issue with it prior to sale I guess I should be safe. Play it through a TC Electronic RS212 and I must say this thing sounds great. I am truly satisfied.
I'm not knocking it though....at 4 or 8ohms....mine is an impressive little workhorse with more eq options than anything in its price range on the market.
I just got mine about two weeks ago and absolutely love this thing. Playing through an Avatar 2 x 12 and it just sounds sweet. I'm still playing with the settings and having a blast. This has been my second Carvin amp. I bought a Pro Bass 300 II in 1987 via mail order and it still thumps. I just wanted something with a little more umph and weighed less than my car.
Having reread this thread, I have seen that some of you use the GK 212MBE with the BX500 with good results. I think I might return the RS212 because of it's bulkiness and get the 212MBE instead. Even cheaper than with the RS212. I really like the sound of the RS212, but I'm not a big guy and I need the most portable rig possible. Anyone here using it with the GK 212MBE that would like to add something?
I've had 2 prior carvin amps . . .
PB300, and R600. The PB300 blew up after a long career of giging, plugged into some funky power at a gig and it went pfffffffff. When I went to get it repaired, they could not repair it so I exchanged it for the R600. The R600 lasted about 1/2 as long. Again plugged into some power and it blew out my DI (amp was fine), and a couple years later I am sitting with a basically blown amp. I took it in for repair and low and behold I will have to swap it out for the BX500.
I should preface this, I have minimized my rig quite a lot. I usually use a Avater 1x12 (4ohm) cabinet off of the direct out of my line6 POD for a monitor, and feed the house with the line6. On bigger gigs I could use a SWR Goliath I, though I don't have to resort to that very often (as in ever).
What I am debating is going spending the cash with Carvin to get the BX500, or getting a GK MB200. They are about equal in price at this point. I am just learry of getting another Carvin since my last 2 blew up . . . I just want something that is reliable . . .
any thoughts from current BX500 owners?
PB300, and R600. The PB300 blew up after a long career of giging, plugged into some funky power at a gig and it went pfffffffff. When I went to get it repaired, they could not repair it so I exchanged it for the R600. The R600 lasted about 1/2 as long. Again plugged into some power and it blew out my DI (amp was fine), and a couple years later I am sitting with a basically blown amp. I took it in for repair and low and behold I will have to swap it out for the BX500.
I should preface this, I have minimized my rig quite a lot. I usually use a Avater 1x12 (4ohm) cabinet off of the direct out of my line6 POD for a monitor, and feed the house with the line6. On bigger gigs I could use a SWR Goliath I, though I don't have to resort to that very often (as in ever).
What I am debating is going spending the cash with Carvin to get the BX500, or getting a GK MB200. They are about equal in price at this point. I am just learry of getting another Carvin since my last 2 blew up . . . I just want something that is reliable . . .
any thoughts from current BX500 owners?
I've been practicing/gigging my BX500 hard since December at 2 and 4 ohms and its rocking along. You mentioned power issues, I recently rack mounted mine in a 4 space Gator rack bag along with a Korg tuner and a Furman power conditioner. I did this mostly because I wanted everything together for easy setup/breakdown at gigs, but a secondary reason was to keep the BX500 plugged into the Furman to give clean, consistent power every time I use it to avoid situations like you described above.
Get an outlet tester?
Seriously, bad power would hurt many amps, it's not just the Carvins. There has been a history of revision to beat the problems that this amp was released with. This to me means greater real world reliability in the newest designs, due to large scale real world testing. It sure sucks for those who helped with the testing, but a large portion of those individuals were given whole new amps.
I don't know if the GK has had similar issues, but to me, no amount of lab testing beats the trials of gig use.
Get the one you like the sound of more, and an outlet tester.
Seriously, bad power would hurt many amps, it's not just the Carvins. There has been a history of revision to beat the problems that this amp was released with. This to me means greater real world reliability in the newest designs, due to large scale real world testing. It sure sucks for those who helped with the testing, but a large portion of those individuals were given whole new amps.
I don't know if the GK has had similar issues, but to me, no amount of lab testing beats the trials of gig use.
Get the one you like the sound of more, and an outlet tester.
