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New Carvin Micro bass combo amps!

#85
The more I've looked at them all, the more I'm leaning towards the MB15. Yeah, my $300 budget is blown, but the MB15 looks to be a pretty darn substantial combo amp. Without hearing them, nobody can definitively say the MB15 has more thump than the MB10, but with so much more cone area and the same wattage, I think it's a safe assumption. The MB12 seems to be geared more towards a hi-fi sound; ergo the 12/6/1 driver config. But I'm curious about it as well. With these products being so new, there aren't any reviews out there (well, one, anyway.) If "We want to know more about them" then most likely someone else here (besides Craig P) will have to be a guinea pig.

My wallet is screaming "Stick with the plan and buy a 30-watt, sub-$200 practice amp!" but my brain is screaming "For $400 you can get a REAL amp with great features and decent wattage that you could gig with and not have to lug The Big Rig with you!" My wallet and my brain don't see eye to eye on many things.

@Gscroggin: A big part of my motivation is the whole combo thing. I have a Shuttle 6.0 which is tiny and light. My 212 cab however, is neither tiny nor light. An MB combo is a one-hand, one-trip carry.
 
#88
These things are SO new right now that very few people have one. I'd love to see tons of reviews on these things myself. Most likely, the TB forums will be one of the first places reviews will show up. The other most likely place is the Carvin forums. Right now their Bass Amplifiers forum shows one thread on the MB series and it's already been discussed in this thread on TB. Have a peek for yourselves. Invalid Link Removed
 
#90
Random question for those who knowif things work "on paper".

There are no dedicated extension cabs yet, the 15" is said to be very midrange-y....

If it were the same driver as their normal 15" but shoe-horned into a small enclosure, how "should" the largewr 15" match up as an extension cab. I would assume that "on paper" if that is the case, that phase issues probably fall closer to the identical cabs then it does with completely dissimilar drivers, is that correct?
 
#91
The only way to avoid most phase issues is to use an identical driver in an identical cab. IMO, the only thing missing on these amps is a switch to defeat the internal speaker. Though that wouldn't be very hard to add yourself, you'd void the warranty. Without knowing the exact T/S parameters of the 15" driver they're using, it's impossible to recommend the ideal cabinet size/alignment. But the MB15 is roughly 2 cubic feet and unvented. Very small for a 15" sealed enclosure. Still, it's got to have more thump than the 10" and probably more than the 12". I'm looking at buying the MB15 myself. It's great that the MB series offers an external speaker jack; no complaints about that. But fact is that 250watts isn't a lot of power to share b/t two BASS cabs. Still, the most effective way to increase your volume is to add speakers. If I remember the math correctly, adding another cab and sharing the wattage nets you more volume than doubling the wattage into the single cab.


Bmorefoozler said:
Random question for those who knowif things work "on paper".

There are no dedicated extension cabs yet, the 15" is said to be very midrange-y....

If it were the same driver as their normal 15" but shoe-horned into a small enclosure, how "should" the largewr 15" match up as an extension cab. I would assume that "on paper" if that is the case, that phase issues probably fall closer to the identical cabs then it does with completely dissimilar drivers, is that correct?
Click to expand...
 
#92
mikeddd said:
The only way to avoid most phase issues is to use an identical driver in an identical cab. IMO, the only thing missing on these amps is a switch to defeat the internal speaker. Though that wouldn't be very hard to add yourself, you'd void the warranty. Without knowing the exact T/S parameters of the 15" driver they're using, it's impossible to recommend the ideal cabinet size/alignment. But the MB15 is roughly 2 cubic feet and unvented. Very small for a 15" sealed enclosure. Still, it's got to have more thump than the 10" and probably more than the 12". I'm looking at buying the MB15 myself. It's great that the MB series offers an external speaker jack; no complaints about that. But fact is that 250watts isn't a lot of power to share b/t two BASS cabs. Still, the most effective way to increase your volume is to add speakers. If I remember the math correctly, adding another cab and sharing the wattage nets you more volume than doubling the wattage into the single cab.
Click to expand...

If the cabs can take full power, then doubling the wattage is the equivalent of doubling the speaker displacement. Most cabs cannot run full power, so generally you get more, even without a power increease from doubling cone area. In a situation when additional watts are also gained by lowering impedance, the gains are greater. In this siutation, I doubt the extra watts make muhc of an impact.

My questions arrise from practicality.
The 10" combo, will be very hard to match a cab up at all. The "best" bet would probably be to add a 2x10/" which would unevenly spread power to a most likly still "not enough" 3x10", especially isnce in some ways it will act like a 2x10"

With the 12", it would probably be best to make your own cabinet using a "replacement" 12" driver from Carvin. Copying the low pass from the xover would likely yield a darket tone, btu there is plenty of tone shaping and the word on teh street is that Carvin is generally on the bright side of things to begin with.

The 15" if using the same driver, seems the easiest matchup... if a different driver then it's all a crapshoot anyway. I'm guessing I will hear that as an answer even ic it is the same driver. .
 
#95
Why am I getting the feeling that the "bass community" will come up with a "Carvin MB extension cab" complete with Carvin logo and matching grill cloth, before Carvin does? :D
IF the amp in these things turns out to be all it's cracked up to be (awesome tone controls, sweet DI AND it doesn't overheat and/or die) this could be the next big thing in portable bass amplification!
 
#96
> Or for that matter [has anyone] taken one of these to
> a gig or rehearsal?

Yes, to a successful C&W audition with an amplified Fender acoustic and a Telecaster, each through its own small Fender tube amp in the 20-30 watt class. No other instruments present. The amp was able to get loud but, at the risk of repeating myself, there was virtually no bass. It was almost totally lower midrange, along with some traces of upper bass. Note: I did not try to augment the bass with boundary placement. Again, this was entirely predictable. A bass amp can't produce bass if it's built into an enclosure that can't produce bass. This isn't a combo amp and so it shouldn't be expected to do the job of one; it's a mini-amp. Not the same set of rules and so not the same set of results, until you add another cab. Stacking it on top of an external 1x15 in a traditionally-sized box really lets this little guy shine. You can hear good, strong mids coming from the MB15's driver and VERY strong lower frequencies coming from the external driver. It's a great (and unique) combination that you really have to hear to be able to appreciate. Now... a drummer and pedal steel might be coming in sometime next week, and if that happens, then not only will there be more instruments in the mix but also the Fender players will move to Twins. Therefore, I'll really be able to crank this combination, and I'll report back. Sorry it's taking so long, but it's taking a while to get this band together because of the pre-screening efforts and scheduling conflicts.

If this amp didn't have an external speaker jack, or if it didn't have the great tone circuits and compressor and DI, it'd be a total loser at this price point. But it does have all those, and so it's a winner in my book. Carvin obviously thought this one through.

Hope this helps.
 
#97
@craig.p: I appreciate your honest and detailed review. It's got me rethinking the MB15 and that's a shame b/c I really want to love this thing. The total feature set the MB-series has is typically only found on very expensive combo amps or full-sized heads.

I'm curious to hear how your MB15 performs at least as a monitor in a bigger band setting. With a PA you can DI into it (and even keep your tone with the "post switch" in the excellent DI out) and use the MB as a monitor. Please keep us informed as your experiences w/the MB15 continue to grow. Thanks.

Mike
 
#98
Hi, Mike. You know, when you mentioned stage monitor, you touched on something I hadn't thought of. I think the amp would work for that purpose as long as you were able to eq the crap out of the thing to get a tolerable sound. But here's the problem: you wouldn't be able to send that wet signal to the board -- the sound man would kill you. You'd have to send a dry signal instead. Now, if he has all the signal processing he needs back at the board, then no problem.

But here's another thing, and there's bound to be varying opinions on this. When I play bass, I "play my tone." In other words, my style and attack and even where I play on the strings are all directly related to what I'm hearing. So, I could envision myself compensating for the MB's absent bass by playing closer to the neck, but the effect of that out front would be a muddy, undefined sound. Totally NOT what I'd be looking for and totally NOT what the band needed to sound its best. This is why I like to have the stage amp have more or less the same capabilities as the mains rig, just at a lower volume -- not have a different character altogether.

In a stage-monitor application the BR515N might make more sense. That slightly larger ported box could make all the difference in the world. (It, too, would probably need some goosing-up eq-wise in the bass region, but possibly to much less an extent.)

Hope that makes sense.
 
#99
Absolutely makes sense, Craig. I also "Play my tone." I'm honestly not experienced enough playing with a DI-only and that's that. If I can't hear exactly what I'm doing ("in my face") then my playing suffers...and it's not that great to begin with. LOL!

My original reason for searching for an affordable practice amp was just that; I need a small thing I can lug to a friend's house for the weekend so I can practice and said small amp needs a DI in case there's a PA handy. I.E. in my buddies' garage he's got a small powered mixer and a couple of "DJ type PA speakers". I'm no good at DI-only...gotta be able to hear myself. My 212 cab and 4U pre/power setup is not "portable." Of course, money is always a factor. If it wasn't I buy a Shuttle 6.0/12 in a heartbeat. (I use a 6.0 as a pre currently and don't want to remove the head from the rack and it's rack-mount bracket to get "more portable".)

Ah, decisions, decisions. There's ALWAYS "something wrong" with every "perfect thing" you know? :scowl:
 

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