Carvin Guitars

[PBBPaul]

Like most of us I assume, I've been getting Carvin catalogs in the mail for years and have always been intrigued but hesitant to make a purchase based on pretty pictures.

 

Last week I was in the L.A. area and had the opportunity to stop by a Carvin store and play a bunch of them through their 16-watt tube amp.

 

My impressions:

First, I love the amp. It was extremely loud with very useable tones. The guitars overall were exquisitly constructed with beautiful woods and finishes.

 

The California Carve Top rivals my PRS' in every way except clean tone. I found it to be farty in the low end and more difficult to change tones on the fly. For heavily overdriven tones, it was very nice. Construction and finish were excellent as was the playability. It had a brilliantly flamed maple top over a tightly grained mahogany body. This is one of those guitars that I would swap out the electronics on. Even then, at the $1500 price point, it was a decent value.

 

The C980-12 12-string acoustic could be my next guitar purchase. It is amazing for the money. I've been looking at 12-strings for the past 5 years or so to replace my one-of-a-kind Ibanez. I've looked at Taylors, Martins, Guilds, Gibsons and anything else I could get my hands on. So far, the only guitars I've liked as much as or better than my old Ibanez have been the Gibson J200-12 and high-end Taylors. Until now. I picked up the Carvin and it just played like soft butter. Beautiful tones, no dead spots, no buzzing, only big, beautiful sound. I pounded on it pretty heavily and it didn't go out of tune at all. Construction was flawless. My only complaint (if you can call it that) is that it was set up with very light strings - 10's I think. I usually keep mine strung with 12's so the difference was marked.

 

I tried the AE185 acoustic/electric but was not nearly as impressed. It was, again, a beautifully constructed guitar but I was expecting a lot better sound and playability. It had way too much squawk and very low output. In all fairness though, I think the battery may have been nearly dead.

 

I tried two different Bolts as well. The factory finished one was as good as any Strat I've ever played. Bear in mind though that I'm not a Strat guy so many of the nuances are lost on me. Very useable tones though and excellent neck.

 

They also had a Bolt kit guitar that they had slapped together in the store and left unfinished. I was also very impressed with this guitar. The neck definitely needed to be sanded and finished but it played beautifully as it was.

 

I wanted to play more of the guitars especially the Holdsworth but they didn't have one in stock and I ran out of time.

 

So ends my report.

[Danzilla]

Sounds like a fun time!

 

My son has a Carvin DC127, that's mighty nice (in spite of the Floyd Rose). That's probably it's biggest problem- he has a hard time changing strings on it without hte Floyd going all out of whack, even when using all the helpful ints pages I've printed out for him.

 

I replaced pickups on my BC Rich STIII with a Carvin stacked humbucker in the neck, and I think it was an MT22? in the bridge. Brought new life to that axe.

 

I'm glad to hear a good review of the Cobalt 12 string. I'm a bit nervous about buying an acoustic guitar I haven't played, and knowing that the Cobalts are imports. NTTATW with imports, per se; but knowing that they really aren't made by Carvin. Reminds me of the Alvarez and Takamine jumbo 12's, which are nice; so maybe it is all that it's cracked up to be. Same factory, different logo.

[MILLO]

Yup, I've been playing since 1992. From 1996 through 2005, my only electric guitar was a Carvin DC127C. Now I have a Carvin Bolt + kit, which is a rear-routed, 2-humbucker kit. I finished it myself w/ tung oil finish--all mahogany, w/ hand-wound Alnico 2 magnets (not Carvin), stainless steel frets and ebony fretboard. It's a pretty neat guitar, I have to say.

 

I also have their Vai Legacy amp.

 

Nice company, although sometimes they're very stubborn in certain depts. when it comes to design. Also, maybe components are not extremely good.

 

That farty sound... Their C22B has a HUGE magnet. IT's waaayyyy too powerful. It's neat for rock, it's pretty hot, but you see the issue w/ a clean sound.

 

Personally I prefer lower outputs pups.

[miroslav]

I recently got the Cobalt 250S...and I am quite impressed with the quality and the sound.

 

I'm already eyeballin' one of the Jumbos!

And their Vintage 16 amp has been on my mind for a few years now...

[JasonDW]

For whatever its worth, I have a couple Carvins and am a pretty big fan of both of them.

 

SC90:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y107/jasondweiss/weiss-sc90-1.jpg

 

Bolt:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y107/jasondweiss/stupidguitarstuff022.jpg

 

As most everyone seems to agree, Carvins have amazing looks and playability for the price, but the electronics are subject to differing opinions. I personally think their single coils sound great. I bought the bolt because I thought it played better than the Fender USA strats and the electronics were almost as good. On the other hand, the humbuckers in the SC90 sound very good with a lot of distortion but leave a bit to be desired for clean or crunchy blues type tones. That axe hasn't gotten a lot of action since I bought my ES335. I've been thinking of changing out the carvin pickups for Gibson's.

[Bbach1]

That is very interesting Paul. I had owned a Carvin DC127 (sold it last year) and was considering a California carved top as I looked at PRS simply because of the price. I decided to spend the extra money and get what I really wanted, but I find the Carvin to be a great value. The one thing that struck me about the DC127 when I got it, was how well it was made. Quite flawless. Easily built as well as a USA Hamer.

I'd own another Carvin. Not going to be the next one, but down the road a piece maybe.

[MILLO]

YEah, I'd really like a CT6M, w/ pickups similar to the ones I have on my Bolt-Plus kit, but w/ metal covers....

 

by the way, those pups were made by this guy:

http://www.highorderpickups.com/

[Boggs]

Paul, I have been touting the merits of the sleeper 12-string of the planet for years now. When I got my C980 jumbo the first year they came out, I told them that if they only developed a single 12-string guitar, that would be the one to base it on. Boy, was I ever right on the mark!!! My C980 gets more use than any guitar in my fleet and it just blows minds wherever it goes...

[PBBPaul]

Originally posted by Boggs:

Paul, I have been touting the merits of the sleeper 12-string of the planet for years now. When I got my C980 jumbo the first year they came out, I told them that if they only developed a single 12-string guitar, that would be the one to base it on. Boy, was I ever right on the mark!!! My C980 gets more use than any guitar in my fleet and it just blows minds wherever it goes...

Hey Boggs! I knew you'd show up sooner or later.

 

I was really very impressed with most of the guitars. I really didn't like the sound of the CCT but the construction and playability were outstanding and the C980... You are absolutely correct.

 

One day I'll have to get back to your neighborhood and play a Camelback. They look fascinating and your work looks great.

[Greg B.]

I have Carvin pickups in 2 out of 3 of my electrics and love them. Buckers in the Destroyer, and single coils in the Strat. I've had both sets for about 15 years and wouldn't think of changing them. And they were cheap!

[Boggs]

Originally posted by PBBPaul:

Originally posted by Boggs:

Paul, I have been touting the merits of the sleeper 12-string of the planet for years now. When I got my C980 jumbo the first year they came out, I told them that if they only developed a single 12-string guitar, that would be the one to base it on. Boy, was I ever right on the mark!!! My C980 gets more use than any guitar in my fleet and it just blows minds wherever it goes...

Hey Boggs! I knew you'd show up sooner or later.

 

I was really very impressed with most of the guitars. I really didn't like the sound of the CCT but the construction and playability were outstanding and the C980... You are absolutely correct.

 

One day I'll have to get back to your neighborhood and play a Camelback. They look fascinating and your work looks great.

You gotta get back this way again sometime, Paul! I'm having surgery on my left shoulder for the third (and hopefully final) time a week from tomorrow, so I did some fret dressing for a really teriffic lead/rhythm player in town's PRS and when he came over to pick the guitar up, he got to try all of my guitars... He spent just shy of 3 hours getting to know them and just couldn't put 'em down! My wife was sleeping in the back room because she works overnights so we couldn't make a lot of noise so I plugged them into my Genesis 1 modeler with headphones and then into my CigarBox amp also with headphones. It was a grin-a-rama!

 

Since I will be out of commission for a while and I know him from the band and also from work (He works at Xerox in my building as it turns out), I let him take a couple and an amp home with him to mess with on his system for a while. He jumped at the chance!

 

Anyway, he loved the fretwork I did and is happier than a pig in poop... I'd love to have you over too to have the same good time, man. You just say the word!

 

Almost forgot to mention, they are so satisfyingly resonant that we even did some fingerpicking jamming acoustically with them... How many electrics can you do that with and be happy? Boggs

[musicalhair]

I had a similar experience a few years ago, we flew out to Southern California to visit my (then) fiancee's family out there, mostly some cousins she was close to. On the flight over I sat next to a guy that also played guitar, and he said I need to go check out the Carvin store. I didn't even know there was a store backing up the catalog, but he said there was one on Sunset BLVD (I think it is, it was 10 years ago) in North Hollywood.

 

I was really surprised by the playability of the guitars and basses, and really liked the whole place. I've had a fretless six string bass (traded it away later), a sorta strat shaped guitar with to HB's (traded it away later), another six string bass and a holdsworth fat boy (which I put the TV Jones humbuckers in it). Each was/is a really cool instrument.

[musicalhair]

Good luck with the shoulder, Boggs.

[Boggs]

Thanks, musicalhair. I'm a workhorse in rehab from injuries. I don't leave anything to luck!

[Scott Fraser]

<< I didn't even know there was a store backing up the catalog, but he said there was one on Sunset BLVD [i think it is, it was 10 years ago] in North Hollywood. >>

 

Actually the Sunset location is Hollywood, not North Hollywood. Oddly enough, North Hollywood is on the other side of a mountain range which separates Los Angeles proper & the San Fernando Valley. North Hollywood is about 10 miles north of Hollywood.

There's also a Carvin store in Covina, east of LA, & another in Santa Ana, south of LA in Orange County.

 

Scott Fraser

[musicalhair]

Hey Scott, then I was in the Hollywood one-- right across from the Guitar Center.

 

Hey Boggs, physical therapy is something that works wonders for me. Good point about "luck", if I left things to luck ... well what did Albert sing "if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all".

[Scott Fraser]

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I had a similar reaction. Very playable, one of the best tone controls ever, beautifully built, great neck. But it just wasn't my sound, not quite single coilish enough, with too much midrange on the bridge pup. But that's my complaint with every dual humbucker I have or have tried out. I ended up with a PRS instead, but the Carvin was close.

 

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I have one of these & I would concur that probably the battery was going out. I find the tone very pleasant in a 335-ish sorta way. As always, the piezo pickup is brutal & scratchy harsh, but a little mixed in with the magnetics adds a nice ictus to the attacks. I tend to keep it in split coil mode. Nice neck, lovely finish. Only complaint is I wish it had a Venetian cutawy instead of a Florentine cutaway, but that's just visual aesthetics.

 

Scott Fraser

[JeffBecksroadie]

Jason, that is a beautiful SC90! I've been looking at the Carvin catalogs for years and that is the one for me.