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Carvin BX500: Pt. 3

#461
Maybe I'll start a new thread, but it's always good to test-the-waters:

Anyone using the BX500 (or similar 500w Class D) into 2, 15" cabs at 2 or 4ohms? Anyone doing so and played a venue where this wasn't loud enough? Explain. THX!

(((BTW I have a Carvin Neo 600w rms and a fEARful sub with an "emergency" Kappa-Pro15LF2 600w rms. Tonight I'll test the new fEARful sub with 200-300w rms into each cab from my "pa" amp. If the volume's good, I'll be looking at a BX500 to replace my 80lb. power amp & 50lb. rack.))))
 
#462
I've been running my BX500 at a 2ohm load for a while with 6x10s. I did a cab swap today and now running more around the 2.67 ohm load with it. It handles it fine and I never feel the need to turn it up past 5 on the master at even the loudest of gigs. Here's a pic with the new cab:

Link Removed
 
#465
tocs100 said:
Maybe I'll start a new thread, but it's always good to test-the-waters:

Anyone using the BX500 (or similar 500w Class D) into 2, 15" cabs at 2 or 4ohms? Anyone doing so and played a venue where this wasn't loud enough? Explain. THX!

(((BTW I have a Carvin Neo 600w rms and a fEARful sub with an "emergency" Kappa-Pro15LF2 600w rms. Tonight I'll test the new fEARful sub with 200-300w rms into each cab from my "pa" amp. If the volume's good, I'll be looking at a BX500 to replace my 80lb. power amp & 50lb. rack.))))
Click to expand...

Hmm, ended-up running my amp at near-full-capacity just to match the PA-mains and sidefill volume (for when I play clubs with no PA): 650watts into the Carvin Neo 4ohm, and 400watts into the KappaPro15LF2 8ohm. Interesting that the Carvin started out a bit louder in the 100-200watt range, but the Eminence ended up louder at twice the ohms/resistance, and with fuller bass. To be fair, the Carvin is in a tiny, Sonic Mini cab. But with the 6.7mm xmax of the Eminence vs. the 4mm xmax of the Carvin, I really did expect twice the vol. and about 3x the bass, which I got.

Anyhow, this was just one of those common, unofficial ear-tests. I'm sure others will want more tech-data; or provide it themselves. But the soundman/club owner loved the fEARful cab and KappaPro15LF2 too.

My conclusions are
1) Man, an Avatar TB153 and Greenboy fEARful 15/6 must REALLY smoke.
2) For the clubs and music I play at least, I know the BX500 isn't gonna satisfy me. The BX1500 too would only give 450w to the Carvin 15" and 300w to the Eminence 15".
3) The Carvin 15" is at its limit at 600w rms, so I can't stack it with the Eminence 15" for 2.67 ohms and run them at 2000watts with the Carvin B2000 amp either.
4) Maybe I'll get a Carvin BX500 to run the Carvin 15" as a monitor, and then a Carvin HD1500 PA/slave amp (900w bridged at 8ohm) for the Eminence Kappa 15". Hmm.

Heck, idea #4 would cost almost $1,000 with rackcases. The 2x6" ALPHA CUBE I'm prototyping is looking better and better as it'll bring my 8ohm fEARful sub down to 4ohm for cheap, provide monitoring for the stage side and rear, and I could sell my 2nd 15" cab to fund just the BX500. Total cost, about $250 shipped for the ALPHA CUBE parts and labor from a friend (vs. $1,000 for idea #4).
 
#466
I use my BX500 with 2 1x12 DeltaLite's in a very loud 6 piece group.I am next to a guitarist who I think has a hearing problem and I have never ran my master past 3.I can run them off the stage with no problem ! I have had a lot of gear in the last 40 yrs.I LOVE this set up.
 
#467
Such a great amp....I have been using my Genz Benz Shuttle 3.0-10t and B100r for the last few months (I own them, so I might as well use them). Put the BX500 into action last night...man...it is the best amp I own without a doubt. Small, light, and loud. I love the eq point with the bass cranked. It thumps but still has mids...best Carvin product ever.
 
#469
DO you think that the BRX210neo is well matched to the bx500? I played a gig yesterday and cranked with my dj5 with the amp at about 9 o clock with the drive all the way up and the active switch on, I could get very loud but I still think that it may be breaking up on the bottom. Any thoughts? I bought the two as a pair ( amp and head). I think they sound good together and I want to know how hard other 5 string TBer's with the same head and cab push their setup.
 
#471
bassramos said:
DO you think that the BRX210neo is well matched to the bx500? I played a gig yesterday and cranked with my dj5 with the amp at about 9 o clock with the drive all the way up and the active switch on, I could get very loud but I still think that it may be breaking up on the bottom. Any thoughts? I bought the two as a pair ( amp and head). I think they sound good together and I want to know how hard other 5 string TBer's with the same head and cab push their setup.
Click to expand...





Bassramos your DJ5 has passive pickups turn off the active switch put the drive knob on 3 or 4 master at noon it will be louder with better bottom that's switch is design for active pubs. Your BRX cab 2x10 with the BX-500 is a great set up and can cover alot room and it's super loud with pleanty of bottom. Alot Tbers have this popular set up. Also don't forget your DI if your set up does not cut through the mix you can always run your amp through the house. I have two 5 strings and this head can handle any cab i throw at it my basses sound amazing. Currently my set up is BX-500 with two avatar's B112 cabs for large gigs and for smaller gigs i use my B410 Cab.
 
#474
I've been using the BX500 with a Schroeder 1210L lately and I came to the conclusion that the EQ is EXTREMELY powerful. The Schroeders are known to be mid heavy and I easily removed the mids to have a flatter/beafier sound out of it while keeping the ability to cut through and have the huge amount of volume. Very cool!

EDIT: Forgot to add: I did a gig last weekend in a mid size venue, around 100 ppl and the BX500 was at 4!! And could've been a little lower during the night 'cause we were 2 bassists and the other guy had a lower output bass. When I came in with my BB1024X I had to turn down a little.
 
#475
I think we trried this once, But I'm looking to create a nice spreadsheet with a bunch of settings people use for the Carvin BX500. There are SO MANY possibilities, I thought it would be nice for people to get a good feel for how their Carvin brethren are playing.
all those controls - I hate setting things flat - could have gotten a basic pre and power config for that ;)

Also, it would be nice to list a favorite pedal and it's settings. I mention that because I'm trying to get a VT Bass to play nice with the head. The onlt ime it seems to, it ends up either sounding just like the head or like my BDDI, nothing really usable in between.

HELP, fellow carvin'ites - let's share some success!

Preamp...
(in O'clocks)

Drive -
Contour -
Bass -
Para 1 -
(Freq) -
Para 2 -
(Freq) -
Treble -
Compression -

EQ settings (if on)...
(in +/- lines from flat)

50 -
80 -
125 -
250 -
500 -
800 -
1.3k -
2.6k -
5k -


Thanks guys - I love trying to get aweseom tones from this amp.
 
#477
Jarrett said:
I set my EQ flat. Drive and contour at 3 o'clock. Venue dictates volume (master) and sometimes I use a fuzz of compression if I am really driving it (master at or near noon). Basses are SB5000s.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I'm afraid my settings are pretty boring too... pretty much all flat except for a little bit of compressor.
 
#479
For me, its the bass. The Carvin SB series basses sound great and don't need any tweaking, imo. If I was running my Warwick (or a different set of cabinets) through the head, I would probably be making more use of the EQ. But just not needed with my current config.
 
#480
tlr1293 said:
Not trying to judge or anything - it this just one of those 'flat sounds best' heads?
Click to expand...
IMHO, no. I've played with the EQ a lot, and I think it all really works great. It's just that, like Jarret, I focus a lot on bass tone, so I don't usually ask much of a head as long as it doesn't "interfere". What I like about the BX500 EQ is, for the unusual cases where I'm just in a sucky room, it gives me super granular control so I can tweak it and get "my sound" pretty much no matter what. I rarely have to push anything far, but I have had to tweak it from time to time.

I personally also like it very much as a review tool. To my ears, it's the most neutrally voiced head I've ever heard, and with the GEQ, it gives me a lot of control to help me pick out voicing frequencies in cabs as well as other heads.
 

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