Has anyone had any experiance with carvin amplifiers? I've actually had my mind set on getting a gk 1001rb head for a while until i looked up carvin amps. The carvin BR1200 is cheaper and has more power (i dont really need a ton of power but its nice to have) and has tons of options for connectivity and other crazy options. So what i want to know is, what does a carvin amp sound like compared to gk?
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Carvin vs GK
- Thread starter Time Consumer
- Start date
I prefer carvin over GK. I just picked up a carvin r600 hybrid head. It's very powerful and super versatile. Lots of features and they're fairly managable after reading through the manual once. I've never been impressed with GK stuff. I feel like you're paying way too much for the name with those. but that's just my opinion
I considered both carvin and gk when buying a new rig. The carvins price cant be beat. The thing is, I could never play through one to see what it sounded like. The local gc has gk instock all the time. I got to sit down with my own bass, mess with the settings and eq, and bought one on the spot. If carvin would distribute through dealers, more people could try out their stuff. On another note, our entire p.a. system is carvin, and it kicks ass. It was bought sight unheard, but not my me, I have a hard time laying down dollars for something I cant mess with first. So unless you live in socal, you pretty much have to take other peoples word at how they sound.
true, but if that is the case you can always grab a carvin off of ebay. if you have a week or so, they're on there all the time(pretty cheap at that). so if you don't like it just throw it back on there and get your money back.
although I don't see why someone wouldnt be satisfied with one
First, no offense meant, but do a search. There have been several threads on this in the last couple of days alone, and dozens in the past months.
Second, for a personal opinion, I think they're both good. I prefer the Carvin B1500 to anything G-K makes, but if I showed up to an out-of-town gig and found a rented G-K, I'd do the gig quite happily (and have done so).
Second, for a personal opinion, I think they're both good. I prefer the Carvin B1500 to anything G-K makes, but if I showed up to an out-of-town gig and found a rented G-K, I'd do the gig quite happily (and have done so).
Of course, considering the great prices Carvin offers, plus the unconditional 10-day money back guarantee, it's pretty hard to go wrong. If you're willing to take a little time to evaluate the gear after you buy it, you can do so in your own home, or at your own rehearsal space, or on your own gigs - in a real-world playing environment. Try convincing your local Guitar Center to let you do that!
If you don't like it, you return it for a full refund or exchange - no questions asked. So they pretty much make it worth your while to give 'em a try...
MM
just bought my first carvin rig and absolutely love it ..... also i sold my ampeg 810 AND gk800rb today to get some money to but a couple of carvin dual 18 cabs ....
GK for sure. It's more practical on stage IMO and the tone is to die for. Way more well known players use them for good reasons. The variety of sounds and growl is why I have one. I've toured with mine for a year with great results!
Cheaper???? I went to GC and price matched one with rmcaudio.com for $600.00. So long as you have a good 4 ohm cab(s) setup, 750 watts is plenty of power and nothing to sneeze at.
Cheaper???? I went to GC and price matched one with rmcaudio.com for $600.00. So long as you have a good 4 ohm cab(s) setup, 750 watts is plenty of power and nothing to sneeze at.
Yeah, but the carvins all go down to 2 ohms, which is pretty cool, there aren't a lot that do that out there.
+10000 go with the carvin and if you don't dig it send it back
but you will dig it i'm sure
I have the Carvin B1500 and it has the deep, warm, clean thing going on that my GK 1001RB-ll couldn't produce. Both are great heads, it just depends on what sound you are looking for.
When I bought my GK at Guitar Center they said it had a 30-day money back guarantee. They also met the RMC price.
GK. Carvin doesn't have much reputation when it comes to reliability. GK's seem to run forever. Super flexible tonally - yet not fussy.
With Carvin you get zip for resale. GK owners for the most part stay with them so the used market is fairly tight.
Personally the only two heads I would bother with in the current market ?
GK 1001 RBII
GB Shuttle 6.0
With Carvin you get zip for resale. GK owners for the most part stay with them so the used market is fairly tight.
Personally the only two heads I would bother with in the current market ?
GK 1001 RBII
GB Shuttle 6.0
IMHO, there is just no comparison when it comes to tone, reliability, and after the sale CS....... GK all the way.
Unless you're playing around with a bunch of different groups, and a bunch of different situations, I just don't see how 2ohms is important. Typically, I run a GK700RBII through a Neo212 cab, and that is plenty of volume. Through 2 212's the thing is ungodly loud. If I need more volume than that, I'm going to run into our pa, which I like to do no matter what the situation, because of how it makes my bass sound out in the crowd. If our pa was inadequate for this, then I'd be putting my money into making sure it could.
Good, clean reliable power, with a great base tone is the key..... and GK fulfills those requirements better than anyone, especially considering the great prices from RMC on the gear.
Ljazz
Unless you're playing around with a bunch of different groups, and a bunch of different situations, I just don't see how 2ohms is important. Typically, I run a GK700RBII through a Neo212 cab, and that is plenty of volume. Through 2 212's the thing is ungodly loud. If I need more volume than that, I'm going to run into our pa, which I like to do no matter what the situation, because of how it makes my bass sound out in the crowd. If our pa was inadequate for this, then I'd be putting my money into making sure it could.
Good, clean reliable power, with a great base tone is the key..... and GK fulfills those requirements better than anyone, especially considering the great prices from RMC on the gear.
Ljazz
I second that. Both the Carvin heads I owned (Series III) died on me. They also loved to go into thermal shut-down, which is not cool on a gig. I have been using a GK 1001RB-II for a bit and have not had any issues at all. I used to run a 400RB and beat the snot out of it with no issues. Of course, YMMV.
I honestly can't recommend one over the other. Our ENTIRE p.a. system is carvin...mains, subs, amps, mixer, snakes, etc. We haven't had 1 single incident with our Carvin equipment. You will find me on both the Carvin and the GK boards. But, I can't buy an amp or speaker without trying it. I want to know when I bring it home if it's going to work for me. This was somewhat of a problem...I wanted the carvin 1200/810 combo, (right around $1100){check out the efficiency of this beast}. But I was able to Listen to the GK combo 1001RBII/810GLX. And gc bettered the price for me to $1050. I just didn't want to have to re-pack an 810 and a head if I didn't like it. Both of these brands are surely kick-ass. Both of them have gigged countless nights, and offer great customer support. It's gonna come down to your personal preference, but I don't think you'll go wrong either way.
probably because people tend not to resell something that works well. the ones people try to pass on (like a broken Redline series anything, because although my r1000 works perfect, others were not so lucky) are complete trash.
carvins improved since then. go give it a look
yep carvi improves tech every year and will continue to do so . esp when you consider that companies like carvin and peavey are hiring employees fired by companies like ampeg , that moves everything out of america and into another country .
I've had really horrible carvin problems... with both amps and cabs.. I actually couldn't stand the cab issues and the frieght charges sending it back and fourth anymore, so I gave the thing away to my drummer who's had issues as well- The Head took me 6 months of complaints to Carvin's heads to replace- they did end up discontinuing the model in which I had the issues with so they gave me the next step up which never left the box and was ebayed as soon as I got it!! Never will I ever look in the direction of Carvin products again!....In the middle of these issue I ran into a great deal on a GK head ...it's dope!
Go GK ..I did and love it!
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