First note:
She did not overheat and let all the magic smoke out :beer:
Good on Carvin for getting me one that does fire up and run this time-thanks lots!
Second pre-game note: she's in a GenzBenz 4 space rack (thanks Quad!) with a Korg DTR2000 tuner. Not too big and bulky, but not a real small package either. carried easily enough tho.
OK, so...
Spent about an hour mucking about with it before taking ti to the job. It seems to be much more sensitive about what bass I use that the rest of my stuff...
In other words, the TFB and WT800b don't seem to require much eq shift from this bass to that bass. As I was dialing junk in before the job last night, this seemed not to be the case with this amp. Pretty big shifts seemed to be required to go from P bass to Reverend to 55-02, etc. Not sure what to make of that yet.
What I took to work:
B1500, Schro 410, 1972 DarkStar'd Tele-smooth, big and phat, 1982 G&L SB2 (which is kinda Jazz like, cept the pups are dual coil and a lot hotter), big hot and nasty. Figured a P and a J would kinda cover a lot of testing ground.
The club is a "shotgun," narrow and long, with a big hardwood dance floor/stage at the back, bar and pool tables etc at the other end. Long hard walls.
I typically use the TFB and Henry 8x8 here. The 8x8 seems to do the best job of maintianing a good combination of punch and clarity without getting muddy. No PA support here.
To start with I used the DS Tele. Schro horn at 60% on. EQ on the B1500 flat, drive at 9 oclock, volume at 9 oclock.
The DarkStar is a pup with amazing sonic range, from huge full lows to clear sparkly highs. Very dynamic and really responds to right hand technique-the more you dig, the more it gives.
So, this sounded great on stage. As I said earlier, this was the MO Blues Association monthly jam. One of my bass player friends that came to sit in said it was a bit big down low, and not enough cut in the middle. So, I cut the sub bass a couple clicks, boosted the "mid-mids and high mids" and couple clicks, and he said that tightened everything up nicely in the back of the room.
When I switched to the G&L, I left the eq where it was. The G&L really is nasty. It barks and cuts and slices. Less inherent low end than the DS Tele, it's a meat grinder. It'll play nice if you move your right hand up to the neck, and pup the pup selector in the middle. But solo either pickup and move your right hand to the middle or back to the bridge and it just gets mean. The carvin seemed to like this. I did crank up the drive a little with this bass for a minute, and found the resulting gain in harmonic structure almost made it sound like feedback at points. Pulled it back to about 9 o'clock and left it.
Other bassist brought: early 70's Rick, early 80's Fender Japan Squier P (really nice btw) and an early 80's Ibanez with one big pup in the middle.
They all liked the head well enough; they all would have prefered the 8x8 for that room. None of them messed with the eq other than the Squier P player, who moved sub bass from two clicks of cut to flat.
I'm not gonna go all judgemental on her til I run a few more gigs thru her...but I'm not sure the Carvin and I will be fast friends. This is not really any fault of the amps. I like the amp itself, and it's tone well enough.
Here's what's bothering me at this point:
1) I really don't need all that power. The Carvin does a nice job of letting you know all that power is there by bringing that "solidity and heft" to every note, even at low volume, that only big iron can. That's fine and enjoyable, but, there's a price to be paid for that in therms of weight and size that maybe I don't want. Espcially in the large 4 space rack.
2) The wt800b does that pretty well too. And is a lot easier to manage in it's three space gator soft rack, tuner included.
3) The Navigator/QSC-PLX 1602 does that pretty well, and is a lot lighter.
The other thing these other three have that the Carvin doesn't is parametric eq. The Mesa Walkabout has it as well, and even tho it "only has 300 watts," for most venues I play at, any of these will be enough with the right cab...Para eq has grown to be a must have feature for me since I starting doubling. I just gotta be able to dial the one or two problem frequencies to clean it up and make it clear in the room, or kill that one pesky feedback frequency.
The verdict from one gig, with one cab, in one room:
Nice enough amp, but not sure we'll be long term working parnters.
She did not overheat and let all the magic smoke out :beer:
Good on Carvin for getting me one that does fire up and run this time-thanks lots!
Second pre-game note: she's in a GenzBenz 4 space rack (thanks Quad!) with a Korg DTR2000 tuner. Not too big and bulky, but not a real small package either. carried easily enough tho.
OK, so...
Spent about an hour mucking about with it before taking ti to the job. It seems to be much more sensitive about what bass I use that the rest of my stuff...
In other words, the TFB and WT800b don't seem to require much eq shift from this bass to that bass. As I was dialing junk in before the job last night, this seemed not to be the case with this amp. Pretty big shifts seemed to be required to go from P bass to Reverend to 55-02, etc. Not sure what to make of that yet.
What I took to work:
B1500, Schro 410, 1972 DarkStar'd Tele-smooth, big and phat, 1982 G&L SB2 (which is kinda Jazz like, cept the pups are dual coil and a lot hotter), big hot and nasty. Figured a P and a J would kinda cover a lot of testing ground.
The club is a "shotgun," narrow and long, with a big hardwood dance floor/stage at the back, bar and pool tables etc at the other end. Long hard walls.
I typically use the TFB and Henry 8x8 here. The 8x8 seems to do the best job of maintianing a good combination of punch and clarity without getting muddy. No PA support here.
To start with I used the DS Tele. Schro horn at 60% on. EQ on the B1500 flat, drive at 9 oclock, volume at 9 oclock.
The DarkStar is a pup with amazing sonic range, from huge full lows to clear sparkly highs. Very dynamic and really responds to right hand technique-the more you dig, the more it gives.
So, this sounded great on stage. As I said earlier, this was the MO Blues Association monthly jam. One of my bass player friends that came to sit in said it was a bit big down low, and not enough cut in the middle. So, I cut the sub bass a couple clicks, boosted the "mid-mids and high mids" and couple clicks, and he said that tightened everything up nicely in the back of the room.
When I switched to the G&L, I left the eq where it was. The G&L really is nasty. It barks and cuts and slices. Less inherent low end than the DS Tele, it's a meat grinder. It'll play nice if you move your right hand up to the neck, and pup the pup selector in the middle. But solo either pickup and move your right hand to the middle or back to the bridge and it just gets mean. The carvin seemed to like this. I did crank up the drive a little with this bass for a minute, and found the resulting gain in harmonic structure almost made it sound like feedback at points. Pulled it back to about 9 o'clock and left it.
Other bassist brought: early 70's Rick, early 80's Fender Japan Squier P (really nice btw) and an early 80's Ibanez with one big pup in the middle.
They all liked the head well enough; they all would have prefered the 8x8 for that room. None of them messed with the eq other than the Squier P player, who moved sub bass from two clicks of cut to flat.
I'm not gonna go all judgemental on her til I run a few more gigs thru her...but I'm not sure the Carvin and I will be fast friends. This is not really any fault of the amps. I like the amp itself, and it's tone well enough.
Here's what's bothering me at this point:
1) I really don't need all that power. The Carvin does a nice job of letting you know all that power is there by bringing that "solidity and heft" to every note, even at low volume, that only big iron can. That's fine and enjoyable, but, there's a price to be paid for that in therms of weight and size that maybe I don't want. Espcially in the large 4 space rack.
2) The wt800b does that pretty well too. And is a lot easier to manage in it's three space gator soft rack, tuner included.
3) The Navigator/QSC-PLX 1602 does that pretty well, and is a lot lighter.
The other thing these other three have that the Carvin doesn't is parametric eq. The Mesa Walkabout has it as well, and even tho it "only has 300 watts," for most venues I play at, any of these will be enough with the right cab...Para eq has grown to be a must have feature for me since I starting doubling. I just gotta be able to dial the one or two problem frequencies to clean it up and make it clear in the room, or kill that one pesky feedback frequency.
The verdict from one gig, with one cab, in one room:
Nice enough amp, but not sure we'll be long term working parnters.
