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The Carvin B40/B50 Thread

#26
My B50

Went with a simple build. A tad lighter then 9.5 on a bathroom scale. Crappy pics with a crappy camera.

B50.jpg



B50body.jpg
 
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#30
pin_head_47 said:
How do you like the big mm style pickup on that model? I noticed that they moved them a bit further towards the bridge than on the lb series.
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I like it! I can dime it and dig in and it just growls like a dog.


did you go with standard gloss finish for the body or is that tung oil?
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Tung oil! I wanted something different then all my other basses as far as finishes go
 
#33
KayCee said:
BTW, I was just messing around on the B50 with a rhythm track over Donna Lee changes, and decided to upload it.



I probably won't leave it up long, but since there aren't many clips of the B50 in action, I thought some might be interested.
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If your goal is to send me back to the woodshed, it's working!!! Do it, Andy!!!!


A Groove is a Terrible Thing to Waste! :cool:
 
#38
Hey Andy, I've had a look at your Live It Up video on YouTube:



Great tune! Great video bio as well. I couldn't help but notice the various basses you've played over the years along with your chameleon-like change in style and look. It appears you've played a couple of different Carvin neck-thrus in the past including a single/humbucker LB75 with a killer amber quilted maple top and a double humbucker model in blue. I don't know if either bass were equipped with the newer 18v preamp or the old 9v one. Anywho, I was wondering how those bases compare to both the SB5000 and your current B50 bass. That is, what’s the story with the playability, tone, string spacing, weight, and all that good stuff. Do you still use those old LB75s? Your B50 is pretty straightforward regarding options. Do you find all the fancy whistles and bells with electronics and highfalutin exotic tops to be over rated?

Thanks!
 
#39
dgce said:
Hey Andy, I've had a look at your Live It Up video on YouTube:



Great tune! Great video bio as well. I couldn't help but notice the various basses you've played over the years along with your chameleon-like change in style and look. It appears you've played a couple of different Carvin neck-thrus in the past including a single/humbucker LB75 with a killer amber quilted maple top and a double humbucker model in blue. I don't know if either bass were equipped with the newer 18v preamp or the old 9v one. Anywho, I was wondering how those bases compare to both the SB5000 and your current B50 bass. That is, what’s the story with the playability, tone, string spacing, weight, and all that good stuff. Do you still use those old LB75s? Your B50 is pretty straightforward regarding options. Do you find all the fancy whistles and bells with electronics and highfalutin exotic tops to be over rated?

Thanks!
Click to expand...


Hey dgce,

I appreciate you checking out my songs. Thanks for the kind words!

I have certainly been through a number of basses and hairstyles through the years...it looks like a witness protection program, doesn't it? :p

All of the songs on last year's "Midway" CD (the songs use the CD cover as the "video") were recorded on the blue Carvin LB75P. It has the 18volt with the HB's both bridge and neck. You can hear it well on songs like:
My goal with the SB was to cop all of the good Fender stuff, but improve a few things like the neck feel and bridge quality. It succeeded in those areas, but I didn't care for the weight.

The B50 body feels a whole lot like the Fender body, and I'm really liking that. The tone is killer. However, I'm toying with the idea of trying out the H50A pickups to avoid dealing with the noise in maybe one-third of the venues that I play. Haven't decided, though.

Yes, I've had a couple of basses with more exotic tops, like the Warrior Isabella fretless you see and the fretless Carvin. My opinion at the moment is that I'd rather hang on to my wallet in the future and not spend so much money on something purely cosmetic. And, I find the swamp ash with honeyburst very good-looking in a non-coffeetable way.

Though I've owned a lot of basses, I've never collected them. It's really been a process of letting my sound find me (and don't forget how much of your sound is in your fingers!)

My current recipe: 34-inch scale, bolt-on neck, maple fingerboard, swamp ash body, P-styled body, bridge that will adjust as low as needed.
I consider the bolt-on and the maple fingerboard to be the most important elements to the tone. The reason that I like to have some active tone controls on the bass is that I'm singing all night long, and can make subtle adjustments without turning for my amp.
Normally, I'll go through an entire gig without touching the amp after I power it up.

I hope this helps and answers your questions to some degree.
 
#40
Thanks for the info, Andy! The reason I brought this up is because I'm still toying with the idea of going with the XB75 with the asymmetrical neck option (ala Bunny Brunel model). I recently tried the MTD Z 5 string bass again and really liked the neck more than anything. I figured the 35.25" scale along with the asymmetric neck option would be an excellent combo for a killer low B with enough room on the board to slap. You mentioned you're were not crazy about your LB75s' tone above the 12th fret. Sounds like a physics thing. Hopefully this phenomena would not be an issue with the XB75 because it has 22 frets rather than 24 as with all the other Carvin neck-thrus.

Still, I really like the bolt-on models. In addition to the great price, I like that you still have a functioning tone control when in passive mode unlike the other Carvin models. My only other concern is the J99A pickups. Everyone raves about the tone, but you in particular have voiced concern about the single coil hum. Yes, there are the H50A stacked humbucking pickups to fix this problem, but how much of that magic single coil tone would be sacrificed?
 

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