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Carvin BX500: Pt. 3
- Thread starter Chef
- Start date
I haven't yet heard if there was any significant revision to the real guts of the 700, or whether it is a simple re-rating and re-packaging (red face, panel lights, locking AC cord) of the same old 500. Any tech geeks have that answer?
A local CL seller is offering a 2.5 year old BX500 for $250. I had planned to buy the BX700-BRX2.10 set from Carvin, however.
After reading this thread, I'm a bit hesitant to jump on this CL deal. Any thoughts if I would regret/benefit from getting a used BX500 instead of the planned new BX700?
After reading this thread, I'm a bit hesitant to jump on this CL deal. Any thoughts if I would regret/benefit from getting a used BX500 instead of the planned new BX700?
500 at 2 ohms should be fine for my purposes. My question more had to do with the quality of a non-new BX500, considering the issues folks have had earlier in this thread. Plus, I got burned buying a used (and older) Carvin combo a few years ago. I don't want to get another out-of-warranty lemon.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
Most of the issues seem to be ironed out, from what I can see. I love my 500. The wattage increase is at 4 ohms fwiw. Depends on what you want to spend.
That's the million $$ question. I bought a BX500 a few months ago and have practiced and gigged with it a ton now. About 2 weeks ago it started doing some strange stuff. I took it apart and did the ribbon cable clean and all has been good. I think if I had the cash available I would just buy a new one for the peace of mind of having a warranty and knowing exactly how the amp has been handled. Keep us posted on what you end up doing.
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buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
I can only speak to mine - bought mine early '13 I believe, and have not had issues. Seems to me, the more recent ones have not had the same issues. I know a guy who bought a 700 and he likes it.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
Are there any tutorials on the ribbon cleaning? Never had any issues, but would be nice to know just in case.
That's (probably) what I'll end up doing, as even my wife agrees that the warranty and peace of mind is worth the extra $120 or so.
I'll decide in the coming days, and will let you know what I end up getting.
Not the one I had. It was fine after I sent it back and had it serviced, but my 2012 model had more than the ribbon cable gremlin.
I ended up ordering the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] from Carvin today. I'll definitely post my impressions when it arrives (probably next week, as today's a holiday and I'm on the east coast). This will be my first non-combo bass amp, so I'm excited to play with it and dial in my own tones.
Does anyone know why Carvin doesn't include a Speakon cable with this system? It seems rather... cheap that they include a standard 1/4" speaker cable rather than the recommended Speakon cable. I ordered one for $4 from Monoprice, so I'm not complaining, just curious.
Does anyone know why Carvin doesn't include a Speakon cable with this system? It seems rather... cheap that they include a standard 1/4" speaker cable rather than the recommended Speakon cable. I ordered one for $4 from Monoprice, so I'm not complaining, just curious.
We're good!!! I played a festival (indoor) the other night, and the other act's bassist (good friend of mine) had his Ampeg blow out just after sound check. We both used my BX500, and saved the evening!
GO BX500 GO!
GO BX500 GO!
I'm the original owner of a BX500 since 5/2011. Light usage, occasionally gigged with, loaded in SKB shallow rack with Furman PL-Pro Power Conditioner. Used with fEARful 15/6. Very happy with the versatility of the amp.
But... I've had at least 4 frustrating occasions when the crappy ribbon cables caused complete loss of functionality, twice on a pro gig, twice at rehearsal. WITHOUT WARNING!
Used Deoxit-D5 each time on *all* ribbon cables...each time removing all knobs & nuts to get at the front vertical circuit card ribbon cable connection.
The amp is long out of warranty and I was about to dump it in favor of a $800 GK head.
The last time the amp went boobies up, I realized that Deoxit was not going to be a lasting solution. So I did what no one else on this forum seems to have mentioned or done. I started with the simplest & most likely candidate for replacement. I tossed the short ribbon cable that runs between the input jack board to the main board. That cable has 4 conductors, but only 2 are actually used. I soldered two solid-core wires from the input to the board. To gain access to the ribbon pins, I cut away half of the receptacle with my Dremel. (Sorry i didn't take any pictures.) The board receptacles that house the pins are U-shaped, so I cut away one leg of the "U". Wrapped the solid-core wire around the tip of the pin. Adjusted the soldering station heat to the minimum wattage.
I'm happy to report that the amp has been working perfectly the last 6 times I used it (for about 5 hrs per session). It actually seems MORE powerful than before. I'm not absolutely sure I found the ultimate cause (could be a different cable) but I thought -- what the hell -- what have I got to loose?
Hope this helps others that may be having this chronic problem.
But... I've had at least 4 frustrating occasions when the crappy ribbon cables caused complete loss of functionality, twice on a pro gig, twice at rehearsal. WITHOUT WARNING!
Used Deoxit-D5 each time on *all* ribbon cables...each time removing all knobs & nuts to get at the front vertical circuit card ribbon cable connection.
The amp is long out of warranty and I was about to dump it in favor of a $800 GK head.
The last time the amp went boobies up, I realized that Deoxit was not going to be a lasting solution. So I did what no one else on this forum seems to have mentioned or done. I started with the simplest & most likely candidate for replacement. I tossed the short ribbon cable that runs between the input jack board to the main board. That cable has 4 conductors, but only 2 are actually used. I soldered two solid-core wires from the input to the board. To gain access to the ribbon pins, I cut away half of the receptacle with my Dremel. (Sorry i didn't take any pictures.) The board receptacles that house the pins are U-shaped, so I cut away one leg of the "U". Wrapped the solid-core wire around the tip of the pin. Adjusted the soldering station heat to the minimum wattage.
I'm happy to report that the amp has been working perfectly the last 6 times I used it (for about 5 hrs per session). It actually seems MORE powerful than before. I'm not absolutely sure I found the ultimate cause (could be a different cable) but I thought -- what the hell -- what have I got to loose?
Hope this helps others that may be having this chronic problem.
I have a Carvin RL600 that suffered from the same problem (ribbon cable issues) and my tech did the same fix, permanently soldered the cables one by one and the amp has never failed again. My BX500 has gone the deoxit route twice in a year, but appart from that has been a great gig amp. If the problem with the ribbon cables in the BX500 persists I'll go the same route.
I'm gonna kind of agree with this post. Now I don't get quite the same results as fenderhutz but the mullard ri is very good in this amp. I can get no real saturation at all out of the preamp, regardless of tube unless I push it to unusable volume level. But the mullard tube does give a nice warm sound and just sounds bigger than the other tubes I've tried in it (stock, ruby labeled Chinese, JJ, tung sol). To me the mullard tube takes a bit of the edge off this amp without taking away any of the guts. In fact its even 'gutsier'.
Now, I'm not looking for distortion out of a preamp tube, but saturation is a reference point for me to back off from there just a bit. In that neighborhood is the tone that I like and I heard that out of the mullard tube without having to push the amp into overdrive first and at sensible volume.
So yeah, I've been trying some different things on the gig with this amp but all ten screws are buttoned down on top now.
Got the BX700-10.2 system today, and I would like to say that it DOES include a SpeakOn cable. The $4 cable I ordered from Monoprice will be my backup.
Cool. Tell us your thoughts when you've had a chance to spend some time with it. My little BX500-10.2 works well for me. Not the best thing I've ever heard but it gets the job done. Enjoy!
