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Carvin SB5000 / SB4000 Roll Call!

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#962
I put in another 7 hours of play time with my SB5000 this weekend. Saturday was with a hard rock band and Sunday was the church gig. It kills me how well this bass fits in with each. I swapped back and forth between my Warwick and SB5000 on Saturday, but by the end of the day, the band wanted me playing the SB5000 exclusively for that deal. Which is fine by me, I'm pretty smitten with it right now anyway. Then another P&W set today and it kills in the mix there as well.

I noticed with the Marcus Miller Fat Beams, it was a really thick sound. Maybe a hair too thick for me but time will tell. I had to dial back the mids a hair at gig levels to compensate and ran the bass control a little lower than usual. But over all the tone is nice, really nice. The guitar player in the Saturday band wanted to play my bass after we got done he liked the tone of it so much. Which reminds me the pick tone of this bass is really nice as well. I typically do the finger/slap/tap technique stuff, but the guitar player was using a pick with it. I put him in passive mode and it sounded great. Very cool old school picked Jazz Bass tone.

I went to Guitar Center today which I rarely do anymore, to pick up a Line6 M9 for some effects for the hard rock band. While I was there I went through and picked up several of the J type basses they had there. From the offshore to the high dollar Fenders (way more than my SB) none of them felt anywhere near the quality of this bass. Some were lighter though I think, but none better build quality, imo.

I still digging this bass a bunch. I just wish I would have chosen different cosmetics now :) Something a little more fancy since I like the bass so much. Other than that, totally digging it in stock form.
 
#963
So I've been wondering about the trade offs between the j99a vs. the h50a. I hate buzz but the output is rather important to me. I was wondering if you had one volume and a blend control rather than two volumes, would that get rid of the hum from the single coils?
 
#964
I haven't run into the buzz with the J99As so far. Carvin says the H50As have like 30% less output and listening to sound clips here, they sound a little less dynamic, which is what I don't want to lose personally.
 
#965
zeppelinbass95 said:
So I've been wondering about the trade offs between the j99a vs. the h50a. I hate buzz but the output is rather important to me. I was wondering if you had one volume and a blend control rather than two volumes, would that get rid of the hum from the single coils?
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A blend control really wouldn't make any single coil pickup any quieter. I've been going back and forth between the J99s and H50s myself. Everyone seems to love the tone of the J99s but as with any single coil pickup, hum is the price of admission when either pickup is soloed. I'll likely go with the H50s because I've been fighting hum from my old G&L bass for years and would really like something dead quiet for a change. Hopefully the tonal compromise will not be too much. I'll give a review when I finally cut the crap and pull the trigger.
 
#968
phillipkregg said:
Just curious about something here...

I was trying to spec out a Carvin "Geddy Lee" lookalike, and I noticed that you can't get the block inlays on a maple fingerboard.

That's very odd to me - does anyone here know why that is the case?
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You can call or send an Email.
Some options are not on the web site.
I once asked a few that where not on the web site and they could do all of them!
 
#969
#970
jb64 said:
Check out this link for the answer:

http://www.carvinguitars.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=8653]
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Ahhhh... that explains it. Oh well, so much for the SB5000 Geddy Lee.

His reasoning was that maple is less dense than Abalone or MOP and more difficult to sand with the inlays - so does that mean that rosewood and ebony are more dense than maple (since they do have the block inlays)? I always thought rosewood was softer and less dense.

I'm still gonna get one regardless. :)
 
#971
phillipkregg said:
Ahhhh... that explains it. Oh well, so much for the SB5000 Geddy Lee.

His reasoning was that maple is less dense than Abalone or MOP and more difficult to sand with the inlays - so does that mean that rosewood and ebony are more dense than maple (since they do have the block inlays)? I always thought rosewood was softer and less dense.

I'm still gonna get one regardless. :)
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Hmm, good question. Looks like they'd still do it for you though.
 
#974
Freddels said:
I don't find it Warwick like at all. In fact, it's not even as thick as my L2000 jazz necks. If definitely thinner than my Stingray neck. I find it very comfortable.
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Don't get me wrong - it wasn't a baseball bat - but it felt just a bit too "Round" and deep for my tastes... but the 5000 knocked me out, and I'm used to playing a Zon, which has a crazy thin neck...

Glad you dig it. It appears Carvin has really turned the corner here. Now, if Carvin can get a *big* name guy to tour/endorse them... Say, like the recently mentioned Geddy...
 
#975
BigOldHarry said:
Don't get me wrong - it wasn't a baseball bat - but it felt just a bit too "Round" and deep for my tastes... but the 5000 knocked me out
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This happened to me as well. Bear in mind, I am a total 5-string guy, so I don't know 4-string necks that well. I picked up the SB5 and thought "WOW, that's the perfect neck profile." Then picked up the SB4 and thought, "eh that's a completely different neck profile and I don't like it as much."

I had the exact opposite feeling when I picked up a Peavey Cirrus for the first time. The 4-string neck profile was cool, but the 5-string was just too clunky feeling. I don't know enough about bass neck profiles to know why I preferred one over the other thought, but I definitely did.

This bass is killing me. I'm glad it doesn't have black pickups and Dunlop strap locks or I might of had to pull the trigger on it:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#976
Jarrett said:
This happened to me as well. Bear in mind, I am a total 5-string guy, so I don't know 4-string necks that well. I picked up the SB5 and thought "WOW, that's the perfect neck profile." Then picked up the SB4 and thought, "eh that's a completely different neck profile and I don't like it as much."

I had the exact opposite feeling when I picked up a Peavey Cirrus for the first time. The 4-string neck profile was cool, but the 5-string was just too clunky feeling. I don't know enough about bass neck profiles to know why I preferred one over the other thought, but I definitely did.

This bass is killing me. I'm glad it doesn't have black pickups and Dunlop strap locks or I might of had to pull the trigger on it:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...


Dude - you can change the pickup covers - buy it before I do something stupid - like spend a thousand bucks... lol
:hyper:
 
#979
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