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Carvin Pro Bass 500
- Thread starter Hammertime3
- Start date
I used to play with a guitarist that had one.
I really liked it a lot. Had loads of hard-hitting punch!
I really liked it a lot. Had loads of hard-hitting punch!
I had one. It was built like a tank and as heavy as one too. Solid amp but the tone was always a little too SWR'ish for my taste.
I used to own the PB900, gigged with it for over 15 years before I sold it off.
IMO the PB series heads are the best sounding Carvin ever made.
The downside to getting one now is that Carvin no longer services them, so if anything goes wrong with it you may be out of luck getting it repaired.
IMO the PB series heads are the best sounding Carvin ever made.
The downside to getting one now is that Carvin no longer services them, so if anything goes wrong with it you may be out of luck getting it repaired.
The PB series sounds good and is rock solid. If you put one through a good speaker(s), you will be surprised.
There's a reason for that SWR'ish tone. Carvin called it the "mudcutter circuit".
It's in the manual for the Pro Bass series (300, 500, and the PB15 preamp). I have the PB15 preamp. Exact same circuit as in the full head versions, minus the graphic EQ. It basically adds a permanent mid-scoop around 600 Hz. Talk about built-in voicing. I investigated this and made a mod that defeated this with a switch. Actually with it in you can get a decent slap tone, but if you want a flatter tone with more mids, it gets in the way. The heads can compensate a bit better I guess because of the graphic eq in addition to the single semi-parametric.If someone is so inclined you can easily defeat this and get rid of the baked in scoop by adding single jumper wire, or if you want to add a switch you can make it switchable. The diagram below left shows the input stage of the preamp with the mudcutter circuit circled, and the mod in place on the right.
This can be just a jumper wire tacked across C6 (.022 uf) or a switch if you want. The jumper is of course easily reversible if you don't like it that way. To me it sounds much more like their current amps (I have a BX500 as a comparison), more flat before having to add EQ.
As always IMHO, YMMV.
I had one for a while in the early '90s. I thought it was pretty dry and bland on its own, but it did really well with various dirt pedals. It was always solid and dependable.
