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Chef's Carvin B1500...

#61
Often times the "burnt" smell with new amps has to do with things like heat sink grease or other things that require a "set" (fully drying) before they're solid. My GK 1001RB-II has that "problem". It's just now starting to lose the smell, but no performance problems. I kind of consider that like a "new car smell," and something I rather enjoy for its limited time.

Surface mount components are obviously chronologically more modern, being that they allow for more speedy automated assembly and soldering. Because of how they mount (lower mass, flat on the PC board), they should provide more resistance to vibration-oriented failure. Yeah, you don't want to have to mess around with hand-soldering these if you can avoid it. Special techniques (and great eyesight) are required.

Good luck on resolution of the problem.
 
#62
I was there last night and it sounded pretty damn good to me. That said, after Chef stopped by and chatted one of my friends claimed he could smell it from where we were sitting (25-30 feet away in a fairly crowded bar). Hard to say with him though, he might have been drunk! :)
 
#63
Couple of points of clarification:
I bought the unit from Carvin USA on ebay. It was sold as new, with a 1 year unlimited warranty, but no 10 day return period. They do with with units that get returned inside the 10 day return period, as they cannot be re-sold as new. Heck, I mighta had Ken's!
This mutha was flippin' hawt y'all. I could not have left a finger on the front of the amp. The fan was running, and Smash, this one is not a particularly quiet fan-I'll rate it as "not as quiet as TFB, and on par with Walkabout."
The smell coming out of this thing sure *was not* an amp getting warm and cooking in like you might expect out of a new TFB with the fan off. Like a WT800B pushed hard at 4 ohms bridged. Like a walkabout pushing 2 ohms-which by the way, doesn't even get warm to the touch.
Heck, my MusicMan HD150 4 tube power section doesn't get warm pushing hard for 4 hours. I've had a lot of gear over the years...Fairly sure I know what new gear getting run in oughta do. An amp that's sitting down in my basement, off, that I can still smell from last night's "heat-scapades" as I walk up to it *is not normal.*
Having talked extensively with several of you who own B1500's, I'm gonna have to presume that this one-while sounding ok-is not healthy sonically either. I don't feel I should have to use an active bass such as the G&L 2500 in treble boost mode to get "clarity" out of this. I don't think I should have to boost treble and high mids to get clarity out of this amp.
From what I've read, flat oughta be plenty clear, and boosting treble and high mids oughta be so sparkly you can "see the notes flying outta that cab." I had the horn on my Schro 410 all the way up: I *never* do that, it's been set at about 40 since I got it.

I think I noted early that I beat on it for about an hour this morning, and it never even got warm. I don't know if last night was some freak-ish anomaly, but when a show and a paycheck are on the line, I don't want an amp with a two deep track record of failure. I really hope they send me a fresh one, and bench test it well before it leaves.

While neither the box nor the amp showed it when it arrived the first time, something happened to it that was drastic enough to break a fan blade, and shift the transformer. They replaced the fan and a couple of resistors according to the repair sheet...They shipped it back in a new box, not the one I returned it in.

So far Carvin has been standup about working to fix it...chit happens...so again, if I come out of this with a fully functional product, I'll be happy.
 
#65
Chef said:
I looked inside before I sent it back last time.
I could look in there again...I'm no E.E., but I guess I'd see anything...drastic...
Click to expand...

Chef the problems you're having are the complete opposite of the way mine is running, so quiet with no heat problems. I think you just may have received a bad unit. It happens.

Call Mon (which is actually the worst day for CS @ Carvin) and ask to talk to Marco. Rationally explain what you've been going thru at your gigs, and that you would like to go ahead and kick some more in and get a new one.

I got mine shipped to my zip for $700 ;) . Ask and ye shall receive.

My SS pre/power GAS has been totally cured with the B1500.
 
#66
That doesn´t sound like the B1500 I have at all...
You must have some black sheep on your hands there.

I rarely put my Schroeder tweeter above 1/3.

Chef said:
Couple of points of clarification:
I bought the unit from Carvin USA on ebay. It was sold as new, with a 1 year unlimited warranty, but no 10 day return period. They do with with units that get returned inside the 10 day return period, as they cannot be re-sold as new. Heck, I mighta had Ken's!
This mutha was flippin' hawt y'all. I could not have left a finger on the front of the amp. The fan was running, and Smash, this one is not a particularly quiet fan-I'll rate it as "not as quiet as TFB, and on par with Walkabout."
The smell coming out of this thing sure *was not* an amp getting warm and cooking in like you might expect out of a new TFB with the fan off. Like a WT800B pushed hard at 4 ohms bridged. Like a walkabout pushing 2 ohms-which by the way, doesn't even get warm to the touch.
Heck, my MusicMan HD150 4 tube power section doesn't get warm pushing hard for 4 hours. I've had a lot of gear over the years...Fairly sure I know what new gear getting run in oughta do. An amp that's sitting down in my basement, off, that I can still smell from last night's "heat-scapades" as I walk up to it *is not normal.*
Having talked extensively with several of you who own B1500's, I'm gonna have to presume that this one-while sounding ok-is not healthy sonically either. I don't feel I should have to use an active bass such as the G&L 2500 in treble boost mode to get "clarity" out of this. I don't think I should have to boost treble and high mids to get clarity out of this amp.
From what I've read, flat oughta be plenty clear, and boosting treble and high mids oughta be so sparkly you can "see the notes flying outta that cab." I had the horn on my Schro 410 all the way up: I *never* do that, it's been set at about 40 since I got it.

I think I noted early that I beat on it for about an hour this morning, and it never even got warm. I don't know if last night was some freak-ish anomaly, but when a show and a paycheck are on the line, I don't want an amp with a two deep track record of failure. I really hope they send me a fresh one, and bench test it well before it leaves.

While neither the box nor the amp showed it when it arrived the first time, something happened to it that was drastic enough to break a fan blade, and shift the transformer. They replaced the fan and a couple of resistors according to the repair sheet...They shipped it back in a new box, not the one I returned it in.

So far Carvin has been standup about working to fix it...chit happens...so again, if I come out of this with a fully functional product, I'll be happy.
Click to expand...
 
#67
Chef, I agree with what Smash says about the heat and the fan noise. I have the B1500 and the B500 and they both have very quite fans and neither one of them has had heating issues. I ran the B1500 at 2 ohms last night for 3 hrs and I was driving it pretty hard and it was just slightly warm to the touch afterward, pretty normal compared to some of my other amps. I've dealt with Louie from the Carvin ebay store a few times and if I had any kind of an issue he always straightened it out right away.



SMASH said:
Chef, I read this note about the heat, the highs, the fan noise ... and I don't think you got a proper B1500.

Your description certainly bears no resemblance to my B1500 or B500, I can assure you.

Why the fan, if working properly, would be much louder than mine is puzzling. Maybe it was stuck in full-speed mode due to this heat issue or whatever else is the problem?

I've only heard it in full-speed mode for fractions of a second in a quiet rehearsal studio one band uses. It's a very loud band and a very quiet room. Late into the jams, once the gear is warmed-up, we stop quick on a beat and you have enough time to hear the fan immediately shift into lower gear. That goes from a noticeable fan noise - perhaps on par with the Walkabout but it's too quick to really judge - to pretty much no noise, what with it being racked and all.

Active G&L in treble boost mode, highs on amp boosted, tweeter full-on ... you should have lost all your hearing above 15 khz doing that with a B1500. Something's quite wrong, I believe.

Look inside? You must be curious.
Click to expand...
 
#68
Yessir, Louie already has an email from me.
I'll try to talk to him in person tomorrow.
I really want to have one of these that works right, and like it;)
 
#70
Just to pile on, My B800 has none of the problems Chef has mentioned. Mine has a quiet fan,plenty loud and plenty high end. Matter of fact I turn my tweeter off and still have plenty of high end. Hope they get you taken care of soon.
 
#71
i rest at ease knowing that you like your b1500... good success to you.. thanks.. that thing does have some nice headroom too... and like you said even at 2 ohms it does not get real hot.. unless you are feeding it hot air like an outoor summer texas show.

El Whappo said:
Chef, I agree with what Smash says about the heat and the fan noise. I have the B1500 and the B500 and they both have very quite fans and neither one of them has had heating issues. I ran the B1500 at 2 ohms last night for 3 hrs and I was driving it pretty hard and it was just slightly warm to the touch afterward, pretty normal compared to some of my other amps. I've dealt with Louie from the Carvin ebay store a few times and if I had any kind of an issue he always straightened it out right away.
Click to expand...
 
#72
Just opened it up. I'm stunned nothing melted in there.
Smells bad, looks fine.
I imagine a lot of long term life got sucked out of components that got that hot, and from what y'all say about it's "set flat sound" and quiet-ude of the fan, this one's not right-but I see nothing obviously wrong internally.
 
#73
svtb15 said:
i rest at ease knowing that you like your b1500... good success to you.. thanks.. that thing does have some nice headroom too... and like you said even at 2 ohms it does not get real hot.. unless you are feeding it hot air like an outoor summer texas show.
Click to expand...

I'm very happy with the B1500...I think we will be doing some outdoor shows here in Texas this summer so it should hold up as well for me as it did for you. :)
 
#74
So what is the final grade on the carvin? I've been looking at the B800, and really want to know what your over all opinion is on these amps. The price is right, the power rating is right for me, but I really don't know anything about there sound. I play funk, R&B, smooth jazz, and Classic Rock, at any give time I would use it with a Acoustic 301 cab, Peavey tvx 210, or a Yorkville xc15, the Acoustic and the Peavey get used together at times.
 
#76
Chef said:
Well, it's been two weeks since I sent mine back for repairs, again...I've not heard word one from them since.

So, no opinion from me yet.
Click to expand...

Ahh... bummer. Well, thanks for the reports. Keep us posted.

FWIW my B800 worked beautifully at a loud rehearsal: my 8 ohm Epi UL410 kept up just fine. I like it so much that I'm considering a B1500 for gigs. First I'm going to test my B800 with either a 4 or 2.67 ohm load to see how loud it gets, but I rarely get PA support so I'm a little skeptical that it'll be enough. Also, I MUCH prefer my primary gig rig to be enclosed in a rack, and the B1500 is rack-mountable while the B800 is not (not easily, anyway).
 
#77
Chef said:
Well, it's been two weeks since I sent mine back for repairs, again...I've not heard word one from them since.

So, no opinion from me yet.
Click to expand...

Greetings Chef all sound issues aside, I can tell you if it was a Genz Benz GBE 1200 you would have had it fixed or replaced by now at your option. Unfortunately it seems Carvin is not as proactive CS wise. Good luck with your continuing saga.

Funk... out!.
:bassist:
 
#78
Dr Funk said:
Greetings Chef all sound issues aside, I can tell you if it was a Genz Benz GBE 1200 you would have had it fixed or replaced by now at your option. Unfortunately it seems Carvin is not as proactive CS wise. Good luck with your continuing saga.

Funk... out!.
:bassist:
Click to expand...

I think part of the problem is that they're trying to fix a B item that has faults.

Does GB have a place where they sell B units?

Chef just buy a new one.
 
#80
Coupla things:
It was not a :"B unit," it was an in store demo, or one that had been returned inside the 10 day return period. I have a fully functional one year warranty.

Next; I've never been much of a shover. I'll give them some time. Their bench may be full; it may already be in transit back to me.

Lastly; I bought a GBE 750. It did not work up to my expectations, and indeed seemed to have faults in that the preamp clipped hard and early-even with passive basses-resulting in a very dirty and grindy sound. Neither GBE, not the retailer they sent me to were interested in either seeing the amp, checking it out for functionality or repair, or anything. They did however promptly refund my money. Better than getting stuck with an amp that seemed to be non-functional, but Dr Funk-not what you're suggesting might have happened.
 

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