• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Chef's Carvin B1500...

Chef

Chef

In Memoriam
May 23, 2004
41,814
18,945
65
Columbia MO
Disclosures
Staff Reviewer; Bass Gear Magazine
#1
For those of you who wanted to know what happened to me and my B1500 review:
It showed up with shipping damage. Carvin sent a USP call tag the very next day, and serviced it right up. Replaced the fan which had a broken blade, replaced some resistors that were damaged, shipped it right back...all on their dime...due for delivery tomorrow if it stays on time.
If it shows, I'll try to dial it in Thursday night, and gig it Friday...

At some point, I'll A/B/C/D the Carvin to:
Thunderfunk 420, Wt800B, Eden Nav-QSC/PLX1602...
 
#3
I'm in for the ride also... the Chefster has a very different tone than what I go for, but we seem to hear things similarly (from our many PM discussions)... so it will be interesting to hear what he thinks of the this head.
 
#7
One *can* put rounds on a P bass.
One could even put :gasp: stainless rounds on a P Bass.

Really it was just in the last 18-24 months or so that I even strung anything personal with flats. If I needed to for a studio deal, sure, but personally...not until I spent a bunch of time listening to Jamerson, Dunn and some of those other old school cats.

They're cool daddio;)

I have enough basses that three are now wearing flats. That represents about 15% of my toolkit, if I'm doing the math right...
 
#16
Chef said:
One *can* put rounds on a P bass.
One could even put :gasp: stainless rounds on a P Bass.

Really it was just in the last 18-24 months or so that I even strung anything personal with flats. If I needed to for a studio deal, sure, but personally...not until I spent a bunch of time listening to Jamerson, Dunn and some of those other old school cats.

They're cool daddio;)

I have enough basses that three are now wearing flats. That represents about 15% of my toolkit, if I'm doing the math right...
Click to expand...

LOL! On a P, I like rounds, and if I'm using flats, I think they sound best on a J! :)
 
#17
Status report:
It survived ups this time;)
It's on right now, blue lights glowing away.
1972 P with LaBella 760FL stainless flats in the front end, Schro 410 to the output...
It's loud, certainly.
It's clean and pretty accurate in character.
I don't like the way one must use both volume and drive to get full gain.
Drive is..interesting. I've not seen the likes of it before. It can get pretty harmonic and gritty all the way open, but even then it's not like full bore driven tubes.
The bass and sub bass can really dial in "slam." The other eq controls don't seem to be as wide ranging.
It's not gonna work for DB-not for me anyway...I just gotta have selectable frequency para eq for that. This alone may be enough to drive me out of keeping it, tho I think I like it for electric well enuff.

Thus endeth the brief lunch report.
 
#18
Chef said:
Status report:
It survived ups this time;)
It's on right now, blue lights glowing away.
1972 P with LaBella 760FL stainless flats in the front end, Schro 410 to the output...
It's loud, certainly.
It's clean and pretty accurate in character.
I don't like the way one must use both volume and drive to get full gain.
Drive is..interesting. I've not seen the likes of it before. It can get pretty harmonic and gritty all the way open, but even then it's not like full bore driven tubes.
The bass and sub bass can really dial in "slam." The other eq controls don't seem to be as wide ranging.
It's not gonna work for DB-not for me anyway...I just gotta have selectable frequency para eq for that. This alone may be enough to drive me out of keeping it, tho I think I like it for electric well enuff.

Thus endeth the brief lunch report.
Click to expand...

Cool! Yeah, the lack of a traditional pre gain/ master is one of the few negatives that I posted on my review, but the input gain (without the pad switch engaged) has plenty of 'give' in it, and seems set right about where the TF is at around the 10 o'clock pre gain level.. which is adequate for most basses. Enjoy!
 
#19
Howdy;
Just wondering how you kats and kitties are setting your B1500...the eq sounds pretty dang good flat...plus a click or two of sub-bass, bass, and treble just to fill it out, and add a touch of high end clarity...
But, The whole Drive vs Volume=Gain thing is unlike anything I've ever messed with. I'm curious what y'all's Drive to Volume ratio is, along with anything else you care to throw out...


thx-alan
 
#20
I tend to use the drive anywhere from all the way off to about 10 o'clock, depending on how I'm feeling, and then set the overall volume with the volume knob. So far, I've never had the need to go past that setting. One of these into an Acme B-4 can give some serious booty.

At very low volumes, I tend to bring up the low end EQ just a tad; at substantial live volumes (though I never play punishingly loud), however, it's generally flat or not far from it.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back