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Carvin SB5000 / SB4000 Roll Call...Part 6!
- Thread starter smperry
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Here's a good question (at least, I think it is).
Is your SB your primary bass or is it just another tool in your kit?
If it is your primary, what bass is your second choice?
If it's not your primary, what bass beats it?
Is your SB your primary bass or is it just another tool in your kit?
If it is your primary, what bass is your second choice?
If it's not your primary, what bass beats it?
Not my primary, which is a Carvin Bunny Brunel 6. I simply find it easier to play. If Sekou ever authorized a 6-string, I'd be on it with a quickness!
Soon to be my primary and only bass. I can't imagine needing anything else. Now i just need someone to buy my 6 string.
SB is becoming my primary. Icon as backup. selling off the rest - looking for a fretless SB 4000 to complete the set!
- May 4, 2003
- 148
- 15
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Kiesel/Carvin Basses. Trickfish Amplification.
My SB5000 has been my primary bass for almost three years now. My Sadowsky NYC Vintage 5 is my backup.
The SB5000 has been my primary since June 2010
(Prior to that I primarily used a ($4000 new then) 1993 Warwick Streamer Stage I for roughly 17 years, still have it in the closet)
My secondary bass is my fretless SB4000
I haven't found another bass that beats it for me.
I feel like I kinda hit the jackpot with the SB series. I used to to play Warwicks, Alembics, Modulus, old Tobias, etc basses back in the 90's. They were still pretty expensive back then. When I started looking for a new bass in 2010, I thought I was going to have to spend $3k/4k/5k or more to find something that I liked as much as those old basses I played. I played a few things, but nothing grabbed me. I broke down and paid $2800 or so for a Sadowsky Metro and was sort of shocked about how little I liked it. That sort of bummed me out a bit and put me off the trail.
Then in April 2010, I went to the local guitar show with a buddy and surprisingly Carvin was there with a bunch of SB's. I had read a little about them on here so I picked one up and immediately thought wow, I liked that neck profile, wild. The salesguy said to plug it in one of their BX500 based combos. As I was walking over I was thinking, "I know Carvins have crappy electronics and their amps probably sound bad too so be prepared to be bummed out again." He plugged it in and flipped the switch and I started playing was literally shocked at how good it sounded. Both the bass and the amp. Sounded better than my Warwick/Genz Benz Shuttle 9.0 rig I had at home. I played for a couple of minutes and was just reeling. It played well and it sounded great and the bass was like $975 new Invalid Link Removed
I ALMOST bought the bass on the spot. The only thing that stopped me was knowing that I could customize one to my specs through Carvin. It was hard walking away from that bass at the show, but I did. I called Carvin as soon as they opened and ordered one. Got there a couple of months later and I have been playing them ever since.
Since then I've been to a few shops that have high end basses. Bass Emporium, Guitar Sanctuary, Jimmy Wallace Guitars and have played several more basses. Occasionally I will find a bass that is 4 times the cost of the SB that I like as much but its rare. Most of the time I pick up basses costing 2-3 times as much and put them down because I like my SB's better. Carvin made a great product here and I'm glad I stumbled into them.
You make it almost sound as if they were expensive then, but aren't now... they've always been, and continue to be expensive.
(I know, just had to give you a bit of crap for fun)
Ok, I have a genuine question to ask you. Where did this impression come from?
I ask because I've always felt Carvin's stuff was really well made from good componentry and designs (I remember their stuff from all the way back in the 80's!). I just never really felt they had anything in particular that called me... at least until the SB came out. And I'd say it more scruffed me by the neck than actually calling me, too.
Same net result tho... wow, what a fantastic instrument, and truly comparable to stuff costing LOTS more.
You make it almost sound as if they were expensive then, but aren't now... they've always been, and continue to be expensive.
(I know, just had to give you a bit of crap for fun)
Ok, I have a genuine question to ask you. Where did this impression come from?
I ask because I've always felt Carvin's stuff was really well made from good componentry and designs (I remember their stuff from all the way back in the 80's!). I just never really felt they had anything in particular that called me... at least until the SB came out. And I'd say it more scruffed me by the neck than actually calling me, too.
Same net result tho... wow, what a fantastic instrument, and truly comparable to stuff costing LOTS more.
I have one of their amps (B800). Incredible amp. No doubt about it.
The old Carvins didn't have "crappy" electronics but to my ears they were very neutral sounding and most people don't care for that.
Hehe, yeah but they are even higher now it seems! I can't believe what Alembics go for now. We used to get them fairly reasonably back in the day.You make it almost sound as if they were expensive then, but aren't now... they've always been, and continue to be expensive.
I'm not really sure. I think I played a really beaten up used Carvin bass in a store one time and it played and sounded bad. But a lot of things did back then. Who knows if it was stock or not. Also, way back when a band that rehearsed next to us had a guitar player that used Carvin guitars and amps and they were terrible sounding. Again, not sure what models or their state, but those were the only experiences I had with them personally. Very minimal first hand experience. And in general any time I talked to anyone locally about Carvin they carried the same weight as Rondo it seemed meaning a mail order place with terrible gear. (For all I know Rondo makes great gear too, just no experience with it). I'm talking around 1994 or so in this case.
Even now when I tell people locally that I play Carvin basses they go, "Oh..." sort of to suggest I play crappy gear
And many times at gigs people will walk up and say it sounds good and then ask about the amp I'm playing (as to suggest that there is no way the good sound could be coming from a Carvin bass) I'm not sure if that is how it is in other places, but in the DFW area, folks I've run into typically consider Carvin to be bad gear. Where that sentiment came from exactly is unknown to me. Maybe due the pointy stuff? At any rate, it makes my basses even more special to me to find out how wrong I was 
It's cool with me if people think that older Carvins have bad electronics, that just means I can pick up a used bass for less money. Then when I hear that golden sound coming from the instrument, my smile grows just a little bigger.
No doubt the SB brings a different sound, and I'm glad that people like it. I love my SB4000, for sure. Also, though, I'm still jamming away on my older LB70s with "inferior electronics" and loving every minute of it.
Even now when I tell people locally that I play Carvin basses they go, "Oh..." sort of to suggest I play crappy gear
LOL. Yep, been there, myself. Or, I tell them it's a Carvin and they say, "oh, you made it from a kit?"
This is my black beauty. Not the chicken. This has been my primary bass since April 2010. I've acquired an early MTD 535 which for the moment is my main bass. They're both wonderful basses and have great tone. I'm sure I'll bring the SB out occasionally just because it is so great. Sorry for the huge pic.
Either this is a gratuitous display of my awesome bass or is in fact a figured top in satin.
It is Flame Koa on Swamp ash, the finish is super high gloss, definitely not tung oil anything, as I was thinking that would be too fiddly. Thanks. Carvin makes beautiful stuff. I'm so wanting a fretless, and I can't hardly play what I have now..
I had two SB5000 and love their tone, what I didn't like was the top horn that would poke me. But I still use my BB75 for my main gigs.
This is my black beauty. Not the chicken. This has been my primary bass since April 2010. I've acquired an early MTD 535 which for the moment is my main bass. They're both wonderful basses and have great tone. I'm sure I'll bring the SB out occasionally just because it is so great. Sorry for the huge pic.
Now that a bass I could gig with. Just look so cool.
Ok, this really doesn't belong in this thread, but I feel like this is the one thread I can just really let loose in regardless of topic.
I just got back from a horrible radio interview.
It started off with the power going out, which lead to setting up equipment in the soundroom (read closet) in the dark. When the power came back, almost a full hour into the show, we had to do a rush soundcheck. Ok, it happens, right? Then, halfway through, we find out that this is not only not streaming like usual (the computer system is still down from the power outage), but it is also not recording and won't be archived.
The interview section, sandwiched between two song bookends, was done by turning our instrument mics up to our faces and conversing with the voices in our headphones from some unseen location.
Come to find that all our technical difficulties stem from the fact that the whole station is picking up and moving across the road to a new location next month.
I can't help but feel all this hassle would have been negated if my SB4000 had already arrived (poor attempt to make this rant relevant).
I just got back from a horrible radio interview.
It started off with the power going out, which lead to setting up equipment in the soundroom (read closet) in the dark. When the power came back, almost a full hour into the show, we had to do a rush soundcheck. Ok, it happens, right? Then, halfway through, we find out that this is not only not streaming like usual (the computer system is still down from the power outage), but it is also not recording and won't be archived.
The interview section, sandwiched between two song bookends, was done by turning our instrument mics up to our faces and conversing with the voices in our headphones from some unseen location.
Come to find that all our technical difficulties stem from the fact that the whole station is picking up and moving across the road to a new location next month.
I can't help but feel all this hassle would have been negated if my SB4000 had already arrived (poor attempt to make this rant relevant).
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