New Carvin BX700 amp!

[gimmeagig]

Hmmm, the finish and build on mine is fine. No rough edges and no rattles. Perhaps contact Carvin. Also, I'm pretty certain the graphic eq sliders on mine have centre detents.

I agree with you, it's a slightly dark sounding amp, which is fine with me, I'm not into sparkly zingy top end. Sounds similar to my markbass LMII, but with far more flexible eq.

You're right, the graphic does have center clicks.Somehow I missed those when I first plugged in. You are also correct that it sounds a bit like the LMII. I have one of those as well. I like the Marcus Miller modern Jazz sound. Not enough of the "Zing Factor" on the LMII for me (pretty good for P bass sounds though) and it doesn't go down to 2 ohms, so I'm selling it.
The BX700 has so many ways to dial in the sound, I'm just scratching the surface. Right now I arrived at a pretty simple setting that I like a lot so far. All flat, no contour, tube in, graphic in, slight boost at 5 K and a little cut on 2,5K.

I have some tubes that I tried in my Eden ( they all sounded pretty much the same), I might experiment with those in the Carvin to see if there is a difference.

 

[gimmeagig]

Recently acquired one of these to relegate my old LMII to backup duties. Loving it so far. The two eq sections are a revelation. I use the parametric side to 'fix the room' and the graphic eq to get 'my' sound.

Quick question though. The website states the bass knob being centered @ 50hz and treble @ 10khz. Whereas the manual states the bass knob is 80hz and the treble is 12Khz. Which is right, anyone know?

In my manual it states two different values. On page one: Treble 10Khz and Bass 50hz then on page 2 is says that Bass starts at 80hz and Treble begins at 5Khz.. I don't see the 12 K that you are mentioning.
The rotary treble control sounds more like 5 K definitely lower than 10 K. But the Graphic slider that shows 5 K is sounding like there is a much higher frequency. Could even be 10K. The Graphic also shows 50 hz as the lowest frequency.
Confusing.. I might call them on Monday.

 

[ga_edwards]

I don't know where I got 12k from either. I meant 10k

It is confusing I agree. It seems they mean the bass knob is centred at 50hz but affects up to 80hz due to its bandwidth. Likewise for the treble control.

Maybe the graphic eq bands have a narrower bandwidth. Hence the 5k appears to sound higher then the treble knob.

 

[gimmeagig]

What's up with the Carvin Forum? I posted my fist impression there. Stating that I liked the amp, but also mentioning the the sharp edges and the internal rattle. The result was that I am now Permanently Banned from the forum.I asked the administrator about it, thinking it might have been an error in their system.
But I did not hear back.The board does not have a lot of traffic (maybe they are banning a lot of users?) so it's not a big loss but still, why have a forum if you are allowed to post ONLY glowing reviews?
I have had my amp plugged in and running for days now and no problems. I did find another possible quality control issue.
The speakon jack. I didn't notice it right away. But it is held in place by two screws and they were barely tightened and I could easily wiggle the whole jack assembly. I'm no electronics guy but that doesn't seem normal to me. I tightened the screws several turns and now it feels solid.
I absolutely love the sound of this amp. It took only very few little adjustments to give me the best sound I have ever had.
There are quite a few posts on TB about the reliability of the Carvin BX500. Maybe I'm overreacting because of this.
But I will have my tech open the amp up to to tell me what he thinks about the construction and to look for other possible issues. Whatever he finds, I'll let him rework it. So it will cost me a little extra, at least I won't have to worry about any avoidable breakdowns.

 

[G On Bass]

What's up with the Carvin Forum? I posted my fist impression there. Stating that I liked the amp, but also mentioning the the sharp edges and the internal rattle. The result was that I am now Permanently Banned from the forum.I asked the administrator about it, thinking it might have been an error in their system.

I didn't get banned but the zero tolerance policy for any criticism, even constructive made me leave that forum. At the time I left, I was one of their biggest fanboys, with nothing but Carvin basses, more on the way and a full Carvin backline. And this was even before the new arrogance that took over the company!

 

[gimmeagig]

I want to get a protective bag for the amp. Does anyone here have the carry bag that Carvin sells for it?
I can't tell much from the picture. Is it pretty nice? Or should I get a laptop bag for it?

 

[gimmeagig]

I know this thread has been dormant for a couple of years, but for anyone who is interested in this BX700 amp....
I was using mine for a while and liked it OK, but I also have two MarkBass LM2, an Eden WT550 and an EBS HD350. All great amps, so somehow I got away from the Carvin. A couple of weeks ago I decided to plug it in one more time to see if I should sell it or keep it.
I play active J Basses , Marcus and Jaco is what I'm shooting for ( duh)
Set flat the amp does not get that tone, too dark . But after some heavy tweaking I got it to sound way better than when I first bought it.. What made a big difference this time was the drive knob. Before I did not turn it up at all because I thought is was meant to get distortion, which I don't like. But on a gig the amp was a bit anemic sounding compared to my other amps which Is why I hadn't used it in so long.
Now I have it a 1:00 in active mode and that made a huge difference. To get the zing treble without harshness I have to use the graphic EQ. It seems to go higher than the regular treble pot.
I preamp is on and what made a big difference there was that I changed out the preamp tube with a Sovtek 5751. I'm not a tube expert but i had one leftover from when I put different tubes into my guitar amp and I figured I'd try it in the Carvin. Before there was not much difference in tone between Tube in and Tube out. But now there is a very noticeable difference.
A lot of player just set their amps flat and it works for them. I am using absolutely everything on that amp, Drive Tube, Contour , Compressor,Graphic. I actually took a picture of the front panel so I can remember recreate the settings if I forgot them.
I played a few gigs like that now and it is literally the best tone I have ever had and I have been playing for over 40 years.
I just wanted to post this for anyone who is a Bass Geek like me who has a Carvin and likes reading about this sort of thing.
I will be selling my Two Markbass LM2s and The EBS HD350 and I might get another BX700 just to have a spare.
I'm emotionally attached to my Eden WT550 so that one stays even if I don't use it much.

 

[BassikBrad]

I know this thread has been dormant for a couple of years, but for anyone who is interested in this BX700 amp....
I was using mine for a while and liked it OK, but I also have two MarkBass LM2, an Eden WT550 and an EBS HD350. All great amps, so somehow I got away from the Carvin. A couple of weeks ago I decided to plug it in one more time to see if I should sell it or keep it.
I play active J Basses , Marcus and Jaco is what I'm shooting for ( duh)
Set flat the amp does not get that tone, too dark . But after some heavy tweaking I got it to sound way better than when I first bought it.. What made a big difference this time was the drive knob. Before I did not turn it up at all because I thought is was meant to get distortion, which I don't like. But on a gig the amp was a bit anemic sounding compared to my other amps which Is why I hadn't used it in so long.
Now I have it a 1:00 in active mode and that made a huge difference. To get the zing treble without harshness I have to use the graphic EQ. It seems to go higher than the regular treble pot.
I preamp is on and what made a big difference there was that I changed out the preamp tube with a Sovtek 5751. I'm not a tube expert but i had one leftover from when I put different tubes into my guitar amp and I figured I'd try it in the Carvin. Before there was not much difference in tone between Tube in and Tube out. But now there is a very noticeable difference.
A lot of player just set their amps flat and it works for them. I am using absolutely everything on that amp, Drive Tube, Contour , Compressor,Graphic. I actually took a picture of the front panel so I can remember recreate the settings if I forgot them.
I played a few gigs like that now and it is literally the best tone I have ever had and I have been playing for over 40 years.
I just wanted to post this for anyone who is a Bass Geek like me who has a Carvin and likes reading about this sort of thing.
I will be selling my Two Markbass LM2s and The EBS HD350 and I might get another BX700 just to have a spare.
I'm emotionally attached to my Eden WT550 so that one stays even if I don't use it much.

Yes, the magic is in the Drive control & adding gain with the EQ. If you really want to blow your mind get
the BX 1600, which IMHO is by far the best value head ever. But you have to manipulate the controls to
draw out the best juice & I believe previous owners who belittle this amp never ever found out how to get it working at it's best. This also goes for the BX500.

 

[gimmeagig]

I know, Carvin Amps are not being made any more and just a few of us have these amps. Who knows, someone might be interested in reading this:
When I first got my BX700 I was a bit disappointed about the way it was put together.The ribbon cables in the inside were flopping around making the amp sound like something was really wrong in the inside.A couple of zip ties fixed that. And the chassis had all these sharp edges. Taking the lid of showed even more sharp edges..The whole thing felt kind of cheap ( which it was).
I filed all of that off and put electrical tape on the inside edges of the lid so now it doesn't rattle when you tap the lid. I posted my observations ( many good but some not so good) on the Carvin website and that got me kicked off for life.(oh well)
But in the past few days another thing came up when I was playing my bass pretty loud in my music room. The amp sits on my Avatar 112 cab and when I hit an E (14th fret on the D string) I would get this awful rattling. It wasn't the cab, it was nothing in the room that started resonating and it wasn't the chassis. So I opened the amp up and I found the source of the rattle in there. It was the main circuit main board. It is held in place by coarse thread pointy sheet metal screws (five of them, from the top through the board into the bottom of the chassis). Four of them were stripped and the whole assembly was creating that rattle. Yes, the amp was cheap and I realize that some corners need to be cut. But not like that.That was really bad.
I made a trip to the Ace hardware store, they have a great selection of screws. I went with regular machine screws coming from the bottom through the circuit board, then a nylon washer and a Nylock nut. I also put a little bit of foam weather stripping under the leading edge of the board while it was loose. That board isn't going anywhere and no more rattling.
While I was at it I replaced all the top screws on the chassis with longer fine thread black Machine screws.Now the amp actually feels a little more substantial.
In spite of these issues I'm still happy I bought this amp. This was a really easy upgrade to make this amp just a little bit better.

 

[fenway]

Got my BX700 in the "Great Carvin Firesale" a few years back and just love it.
Anyone know where I can get the rack mount ears (or equivalent) for it? Love the setback so I am less likely to trash something (being an over large klutz).
Once we get back out and playing shows, suggestions for a cheap case/cover would be welcome too!

 

[Jeff Scott]

If you can't find original Carvin ears, any decent machine shop can make you a set. 20 years ago, I had a set made for my (at the time) Gallien-Krueger 700RB, and I had them made deeper (front-to-back) than stock so that the amp face would be recessed about an inch from the rack rails. Besides helping to protect the controls, this also provided space to run a cable from the back of my Korg DTR-1 to the front panel tuner out on the amp.