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Carvin's BX1500 and B2000

#521
NickCormier said:
DCM-L's you mean? Like, DCM1540L.. Honestly, if they were the same, that would make me so happy.

Can you comment on if you can plug another preamp into the back of the BX1200/BX1500? I recall reading you have one of them (maybe the BX1200?) so if you can comment on it.. Can you bypass the BX preamp, and say use something like a Pod direct into the poweramp section??
Click to expand...

If you want to do something like this why don't you just look at a power amp?

Paul
 
#522
This is a paraphrased quote from my B2000 review in the LDS Club thread:

silky smoove said:
I got my Carvin B2000 tonight for use with my LDS 15/6/1 (tall form factor that's VERY close to the fEarful design. Eminence Kappalite 3015LF, 18Sound 6ND410, selenium tweeter, Ralf's 800hz crossover). Here are my initial thoughts based on living room testing with a Warmoth G4 with a Status carbon fiber neck and Darkstar pickups.

First-off, the amp is very well made. All of the components seem quite high quality and the build is very nice. The knobs/pots all turn with a very even, positive resistance. The subdued blue of the huge power, mute, active input and effects loop LED's is absolutely sexy. It can't all be good though. The amp isn't silent from a noise perspective. I can hear a fair amount of hiss coming from the midrange/tweeter. About the same amount as with my Markbass LMTube. The fan is incredibly loud. I used to own an Aguilar DB750, which most consider to have a very loud fan. The fan in the B2000 is at least as loud, possibly louder. There are some interesting EQ issues while I'll explain in greater detail later. The amp makes a "clunk" noise after you hit the power switch to the off position. It happens about a second after the switch is thrown. You can also hear the fan "whining" as it slows down. Sounds high pitched, not unlike a large turbo diesel engine as you step on the gas. The tube bypass doesn't do a whole lot. With the tube engaged (a single 12AX7) the amp is a little more mid-present and slightly hotter. Not a night and day difference. More noticeable than the tube blend on the Markbass LMTube, but something I think they could have easily done without and potentially used to bring the cost down a bit. Although it is already priced stupid low at $700.

The tone was quite balanced.... Once I made use of some creative EQ'ing. At least with this cab and my bass, the flat tone (all EQ controls at noon and the tube bypass disengaged) was very midrange heavy, bottom shy and generally awful sounding. Very thin, very ganky upper mids. Bleh... No good at all. Time to start tweaking some knobs. The amp does take to EQ'ing quite well, but there were some unexpected things about it. Keep in mind that 0 is off, 5 is noon and 10 is fill on the EQ controls. I bumped the sub-bass and bass controls up to 6. Took the Lo Mid down to 4. The Mid and the Hi Mid down to 3. The Treble stayed at 5. That's way more EQ than I'm used to adjusting when using my Markbass LMTube and this cab. That EQ got me roughly to what I'm used to with the LMTube, but with a noticeably wider frequency response from top to bottom. The tone was absolutely delicious through the 15/6/1. Bright and present without being abrasive, while at the same time being warm and thick down low. Everything was nice and balanced. The amount of EQ required to get there is troubling though. In a tough room, this amp might have problems EQ'ing itself out of a bad spot. My living room is pretty forgiving tone-wise, but I could see where the amp's "noon" setting might make it challenging in other rooms. One thing to note: The treble control of this amp is either centered fairly low (couldn't find the center on the Carvin website) or it has a VERY wide Q (I suspect the latter... Read on). Despite having a dedicated Hi Mid control, the treble control brings a lot to the table in both the upper mid areas and the upper treble areas. It simultaneously adds gank and sparkle. Honk and glass. This was my least favorite part of the EQ. I really wish the Hi Mid control would have done more of the heavy lifting in that area and let the Treble control do more of the Epifani/Tecamp thing and just add sparkle up top.

All in all I would give this combination a big thumbs up. When you consider that you could buy one of these and a 15/6/1 from LDS and have an absolutely world-class rig capable of handling practically any stage and still come in at about $1,300... Well... That's just awesome! I haven't decided if I'm going to keep this amp or send it back to Carvin as I have a Tecamp Puma1000 on the way. Tough decision. Hopefully someone found that helpful.
Click to expand...
 
#523
BassmanPaul said:
If you want to do something like this why don't you just look at a power amp?

Paul
Click to expand...

Because then I would need to buy a bass preamp.. I want to use the BX1500 as a bass preamp AND just as a poweramp too, at different times, or having two inputs (such as a Chapman stick where the bass strings will be thru the BX1500, and the guitar strings thru the external preamp then power section)
 
#524
NickCormier said:
Because then I would need to buy a bass preamp.. I want to use the BX1500 as a bass preamp AND just as a poweramp too, at different times, or having two inputs (such as a Chapman stick where the bass strings will be thru the BX1500, and the guitar strings thru the external preamp then power section)
Click to expand...

I own a BX1500 and the owners manual says it can be done. Take a look at the rear panel connections and step #20:

scan0006.jpg
 
#525
5port said:
I own a BX1500 and the owners manual says it can be done. Take a look at the rear panel connections and step #20:

scan0006.jpg
Click to expand...

Yea, I saw that. So since you own a BX1500, can you comment on those types of setups?

Basically, if you have lets say a Bass in the first channel, it uses the BX1500 preamp/EQing, but then a external preamp in the FX loop in the 2nd channel, is that possible?

Ever try it out?
 
#526
silky smoove said:
This is a paraphrased quote from my B2000 review in the LDS Club thread:
Click to expand...

That is very true true and accurate smoove. I am finding the exact same scenario with the EQ. It is much more adjustment than I am used to. That being said the final result I am getting with my Epi cabs is rich smooth tone with so much horsepower. I am keeping mine for sure. You know that Puma is very nice but just bridges at 8 ohms not 4. That is a deal breaker form me for sure. Way too much $ considering. Just of course IMHO. The B2000 is huge bang for the buck for sure. :cool:
 
#527
Dr Funk said:
That is very true true and accurate smoove. I am finding the exact same scenario with the EQ. It is much more adjustment than I am used to. That being said the final result I am getting with my Epi cabs is rich smooth tone with so much horsepower. I am keeping mine for sure. You know that Puma is very nice but just bridges at 8 ohms not 4. That is a deal breaker form me for sure. Way too much $ considering. Just of course IMHO. The B2000 is huge bang for the buck for sure. :cool:
Click to expand...

I've been using mine mostly with Epifani cabs too, I've been digging this head, and digging late-night load-outs even more.;)
 
#531
Dr Funk said:
That is very true true and accurate smoove. I am finding the exact same scenario with the EQ. It is much more adjustment than I am used to. That being said the final result I am getting with my Epi cabs is rich smooth tone with so much horsepower. I am keeping mine for sure. You know that Puma is very nice but just bridges at 8 ohms not 4. That is a deal breaker form me for sure. Way too much $ considering. Just of course IMHO. The B2000 is huge bang for the buck for sure. :cool:
Click to expand...
The EQ does strike me as odd. I've yet to try this head in a band context. I'll be using it tomorrow in the most difficult room I play with no PA support for bass. I'll report back afterwards.

The Puma makes sense for me since I'm running a 15/6/1 which only comes in 8 ohms. It's a fantastic single-cab solution that can handle TONS of power. The Puma1000, Carvin B2000, and Eden WT-800 are the best options for lots of power into 8 ohms without having to haul a boat anchor of an amp around.

lo-freq said:
You didn't mention the drive control; have you experimented with different settings?
Click to expand...

I find that the drive control does far less than I expected it would. I expected it to be more of an overdrive circuit, but it acts more like a preamp gain control. I'll experiment more with it tonight and tomorrow and report back.
 
#532
silky smoove said:
...


I find that the drive control does far less than I expected it would. I expected it to be more of an overdrive circuit, but it acts more like a preamp gain control. I'll experiment more with it tonight and tomorrow and report back.
Click to expand...

I think it was designed to be fairly clean until you really crank it so that it doesn't leave the amp wanting for full output.

If the drive added some OD at medium settings, how would you get full output without resorting to distortion?

That also is a bit perplexing (having the gain tied to a drive control), but it seems to still be a heck of a lot of amp for the money.
 
#533
I don't like the way drive is required to get at all the headroom; and, that's why I don't own any of their stuff.

YMMV of course, and some people don't mind that.
 
#535
Yes. I had three B1500's two of which failed*, and all three of which seemed weak with the drive off, for their power rating.
I messed with Vic's BX500 at the STL GTG, and I liked it well enough, despite the drive function being what it is.
I, personally, would prefer to have it be "an added flavor knob" and "not a flavor + power knob."

YMMV, of course.


*carvin stood behind the failures readily enough.
 
#536
I've never tried a Carvin head before.
For me, the question would be, can I get enough clean power using the drive control without getting into an Overdrive sound or getting overly warm sounding?

I don't think Carvin expects to get boatloads of power without any increase in the drive (since it seems to be tied to the gain of the preamp).

Hopefully, silky smoove and Dr Funk can tell us how high the drive can go without really coloring the tone that much (very subjective, I know).
 
#537
Lots of people on this board own the B1500 (predecessor to the B2000, and reportedly similar in sound and function). This is the first I've heard about insufficient volume without using the drive control. I have only heard that the drive control was subtle. Hopefully more owners will respond.
 
#539
Bob C said:
Lots of people on this board own the B1500 (predecessor to the B2000, and reportedly similar in sound and function). This is the first I've heard about insufficient volume without using the drive control. I have only heard that the drive control was subtle. Hopefully more owners will respond.
Click to expand...

Chef only said that it had insufficient power with the drive control off (fully counter-clockwise).
Maybe he found it colored the tone too much at lower or medium settings, but that seems not to agree with what some others have posted.

:) Yes, Chef, I'm picking on you. :)
 

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