Carvin does it again

[Richard]

I had a Carvin X Amp combo from the mid-80s that I used for a while but ended up not caring for. I later got a Valvemaster combo from the early-mid '90s that I like a lot and still have. I also have a Vintage 16 amp from a couple of years ago that is a great small gig amp of a certain type, though like a number of smallish amps I've tried, it only sounds really good when you get the volume amd the gain past 6 or 7.

Finally, I have a Holdsworth Fatboy, which I adore and consider just as good a guitar, for my purposes, as my Hamer Newport Pro (obligatory Hamer content).

[Brooks]

As for Zappa I have been a fan since the early 70,s. He has influnced my playing from day one. Not everyone has a taste for his style but as far as tone goes he was never afraid to "boldly go where no man has gone before". I guess some peoples taste is all in their mouth.

hey, i'm a fan of some of zappa's music

(esp. apostrophe/overnite sensation/sheik yerboti/baby snakes).

but like some other brilliant musicians, he evolves so quickly that

it's hard for me to like everything he's done

(kinda like miles, beatles, or scofield;

some of their stuff is among my favorites,

other stuff i don't care for at all).

as for the tastes in my mouth, for me

70's gibbons/VH = GOOD TONE;

while zappa/randy rhoads = BAD TONE

(yet i still like the tunes).

INSERT EMOTICON HERE

[kenjones]

while zappa/randy rhoads = BAD TONE

(yet i still like the tunes).

INSERT EMOTICON HERE

Check out the live album "Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life" for some of the most tastful and toneful Zappa guitar solos ever. This was recorded on his last tour and I swear he had gotten so much more melodic as he got older.

[Barry]

Thundernotes! What weak ass stuff in the 80s are you referring to? The X amps Zappa used? Maybe the quad-X preamp which is so highly sought after? The pointy guitars that EVERYONE was making back then (and that still play damned well for pointy '80s guitars)?

As for what Kurt doesn't like about their amps, you know better than to try and engage him. He feels it is his duty to enter something in every post and talk shit in every third. He's just doing his job.

And, for reference, I own Carvin gear. Guitars, basses, amps, and some PA gear. Also, I have played every model guitar and bass they have as well as every amplifier, and I've worked on several of their amps. They get a lot of undeserved crap about the quality of their stuff, and it's happening here.

Their AP11 is a good pickup. Not "for what it is" good, but good. I'd choose them over strat pickups and would have to go to a boutique guy to make it worth chaning them out. The C22s in my DC150 sound a lot better than the JB in the bridge position of my studios and the pickups in my LB70P eat the horrid sounding EMGs in my B12L for lunch, which shows even our revered Hamer chooses pickups that some of us think sound like absolute ass.

Their Legacy amp is anything but sterile, and the vintage amps have a wonderful clean sound and warm up very nicely with a tube change and a rebias. Actually, they sound a lot better with the clipping diodes removed, but they were designed when master volume and distortion at low volumes were all the rage. The MTS sounds no worse than any post JCM800 Marshall and that soak circuit is ostensibly the same diode clipping circuit Marshall uses. Their quality is at least on par with a large number of other commercial manufacturers' amps I've looked inside, and beats the hell out of anyone in the bargain parice range.

As for bass amps -- After having stuck my head in a couple of Ampegs, including their top of the line SVTpro2, I'd gladly buy another Carvin bass amp. For example, that SVT is a highly compromised design with cooling vents perfectly situated so that NO air can go through them and tubes sitting in a position where they stew in their own heat. I've seen such compromised designs from other major guitar and bass amp manufacturers, too, including Marshalls and Fenders -- which cost comparably more than Carvin products even though they aren't manufactured in the USA.

I point all this out because you Hamer guys are currently doing to Carvin what Gibson guys do to folks who like Hamers. Some like them and say so, but a lot have to start talking trash about what they heard or lack of mojo or doesn't play like butter or whatever.

Scarabeus is off the hook. He's so rageful over the black jack thing (and I've NEVER seen a black switchcraft jack, so I don't know why they told him it'd be black) that he should definitely buy small parts elsewhere to make himself happy. -- although, I'm looking online and that jack doesn't look black to me. Maybe they updated it recently.

http://www.carvin.com/products/single.php?...ber=JP6B&CID=EP

Moose is 100% correct!! Ive been playin for over 20 yrs and have owned about everything out there. There PA systems are the best there is out there--regardless of price. I bought a "VAI" Legacy H/Stack and it blows away about every amp ive EVER owned--that list includes Marshall,Fender,Vox,Peavey,Line 6.The new Marshalls are overpriced piles of dung--paid over 2 grand 4 a duel super lead--muddy,toneless--thank god i sold it for 1500--I have an older JCM 800 "1985" that is a great amp--but NO BETTER than the Carvin MTS3200.Dude--if they mad a mistake--tell them and they will correct it--ive spent over 5 grand on Carvin equip and they have ALLWAYS given me the benifet of doubt--even when I blew up my BRAND NEW Legacy Head---my error 100%--they gave me a new one,no question.Customer service is very important--and after dealing with "The big guys" they all blow dick compared to Carvin---form an opinion when your buyin more than a 2 dollar jack plate--LOL Barry