How would you rate Carvin

[Stackimo]

Hail Lowdowners,

 

I am always in search of possible additions to both my own equipment and my band, therefore, I have recently taken a closer look at the Carvin website. I was quite impressed with the vast variety of equipment and the prices seemed quite reasonable.

 

As I have no experience with this equipment, I was interested in finding out what your impression is of the company, in general. Are some aspects of the company better than others? Are they comparable to Yamaha or Peavey? Has anyone been impressed with the live equipment or basses? This is the kind of input I am looking for.

 

Thank you.

[jeremy c]

Off the top of my head I would say that the sound equipment is comparable with Peavey, generally I think that Yamaha sound systems are better, but then they are more expensive.

 

The instruments are an excellent value for the money.

 

I own an LB-76 (six string bass). It's blue.

 

Of course, these are opinions and I have no scientific facts with which to back them up.

[57pbass]

A friend of mine has a Carvin PA - its also blue.

 

It has not given him any trouble in three years and he uses it on a regular basis.

 

He purchased the whole package for about 700.

Also Bob Babbit used a Carvin Combo in the Standing in the Shadows Of Motown movie and it sounded great...

Thay have been around for a long time which is a good indicator..

[Gruuve]

I used to have two Carvin Redline 410 cabs. They were good, just not great. A little shy on the really low frequencies (although two of them with a big amp will crank out plenty of lows), crunchy sounding in the mids, and the highs were a little on the harsh side (but you can turn them down with the attenuator). I replaced two Carvin 410's with one Berg HT-322, it's as loud and sounds better IMO. I can't speak of the newer series of bass cabs though. The specs look good, but we all know about the level of interpretation that you must put into specs (ie. they're almost useless).

 

Oh, and none of the Carvin bass cabs come with a 4ohm-to-8ohm switch either.

 

Dave

[chromos]

I own an LB-70F (4 string fretless), the R600 series II head and an RL 410 cab at the moment. I've had this stuff for about five years at this point. I'm sold on their basses. Should I ever need a new bass, they're the first ones to check out on my list.

 

The sound equipment is a great value for the money, but seems to be middle of the road in quality from my experiences. Currently looking to downsize my rig, and I doubt I'll be going back to Carvin for options. I can't say I've had any problems, but the sound in my head is not in this setup.

[Danzilla]

Don't own any basses; but have wnated one or more. Maybe someday. I've played several and thought they were fine instruments, especially if you like a "modern" active sound.

 

I do have a Redline 1000 watt head; love it! Lots of features, great DI, plenty of power. The bi-amping isn't quite like I thought it would be; but takes some time to get it set just right. Pretty quiet, too. Had a minor problem with it, and their servicing department was quick and efficient. When I got this head, I also bought a 2x10 and a 1x15. The tens were ok, but as Dave said, could be a bit too bright/harsh. I ended up selling that this summer to make way for some other gear. The 1x15 is great; the best 15' I've ever used. Nice thunder without getting floppy. I still have this.

 

As to PA, again I've had great experience. A friend of mine has had a microphone for almost fifteen years now; IMHO as good as a Shure SM58 and naybe a bit hotter, too. My church bought a 16 channel board and several mics from Carvin 2 years ago, and they have been very reliable, clean, and versatile. Lots of features for not a lot of cash. And I use a Carvin 900 watt stereo power amp for my band. This isn't as powerful as I thought it would be, but not bad; and good clean power at that.

Biased? Maybe. Good experiences? Yes. Want more of their stuff? Oh yeah.

 

Oh... and I put some Carvin pickups in my BC Rich ST guitar over a decade ago; brought that guitar back to life!

[shandobass]

I have been into the Carvin Showroom several times. Their basses seem OK for the money. There cabinets and heads are not close to what I personally like in my sound. That being said, I would like to try the basses through other heads and cabinets.

 

Great music stands!

[bottle12am]

My Carvin report card::

 

Basses -- "A"

I have a fretless LB70F lefty that I will trade only for Kathy Ireland's cell phone number. Still amazed by the craftsmanship

 

Electronics/ pickups -- "B"

Not mind-blowing, but not bad at all. A lot of guys trade the pups for Barts for some reason

 

Amps -- "B+"

Newer RedLines suffer from heating issues, etc. The BRX series is incredible, though. Just expect a very transparent sound that you'll have to shape from the bass or effects pedals instead of the amp

 

Website -- "F"

Only because they allow peeps in their forums to rag on each other and other companies, but say one little sarcastic remark about their BBS design and WHAM! (oops)...

 

Also, there is NO on-line customer support online... send an e-mail to their customer support and then write down the same question in Navajo on a napkin, stick it in a bottle, toss it in the river... see which one gets answered first

 

Phone support -- "B"

Phone support is hit or miss there. Find a good sales rep and stick with him/her. Be their friend. Send them Christmas cards. This guy will be your lifeline, and can usually get a favor or two from the Don if you need it.

[Stackimo]

From what I am gathering, it appears the basses are worthy, the amps and cabs seem to be getting some mixed reviews leaning towards the negative end, and although the reports on the live equipment is limited, the results are pretty positive.

 

Thank you. Keep em coming.

[butcherNburn]

I have a LB75F (5 string fretless). I must say, for about $1,100 bucks, I got an instrument worth much, much more.

 

I've had 1 PB150 amp for aout 12 years ($229- 150 watts, 10" speaker) for what it is.. class A all the way. The speaker blew 7 months into ownership and I did the swap via UPS without hassle (I installed and sent back the speaker). After about 11 years of hard use the amp portion died. I'm still waiting to have it fixed. When I contacted customer service, the said they can't service it but sent me the scematics for a willing tech.

 

The only downpoint is, unless you're in southern CA, or buying used, there is no real try before you buy (though you can return). I never feel like I get a real good impression of equipment while in store anyway. You can't play at desired levels and often are using a foreign (to you) amp or Bass (and it may not properly setup at the time either).

[g.]

Dave Sisk: I used to have two Carvin Redline 410 cabs. They were good, just not great.

 

I'm with you up to here. They looked better 6 or 7 years ago, for the price especially. But the market is now more competitive and variegated. But--

 

I replaced two Carvin 410's with one Berg HT-322, it's as loud {...}

Dave, Dave, Dave. I shake my head at seeing someone who is generally so on the ball and righteous saying something like this. Let's just take the tweeter (and port boost for the lower octave) right out of the equation and consider the woofers.

 

You have a driver here that is conservatively rated at 94.7 dB 1 watt/1 meter and seems to meet the 200 watt RMS figure honestly as well. If you have TWO of these that gives 97.7 dB 1w/1m, FOUR (as found in one 410 cab) give 100.7, and EIGHT gives 103.7. And that boosts the RMS figure for just the woofers to 1600 watts.

 

Using the maximum output = (log RMS wattage * 10) + sensitivity you get 135.74 dB (1w/1m). That's just for the woofers with no industry-wide speculating on what the tweeter actually contributes ; } ... just drivng one 410 cab would give a max RMS SPL of 130.33 SPL, which is a pretty conservative figure compared to waht other bass cab manufacters state.

 

Of course this doesn't take into consideration power compression as voice coils heat up, or the fact that mutliple woofer cabs always comb filter and have multiple point sources many of which are at foot or knee level. But get out far enough to hear the entire polar pattern and I assure you there are not too many woofers that three of will make those kind of SPL even after porting effect is added in.

 

I'd say the advantages of the Berg is

(1) very nice crossover compared to most 2-ways

(2) tighter polar pattern when in close because of less area of point sources (this can sound a little more focused too, which makes a given SPL easier to hear with clarity)

(3) a little heftier low end from a 12 which has a better design than most tens on the market.

 

I won't speak of specs, but the drivers used in the Berg are Eminence that roughly match stock Eminence drivers of the same weight class and there is no way they are the most efficient speakers ever devised ; }

 

Just a GET REAL wit' you bad self from me ; }

[g.]

The guys making the PA comments, I'd say without getting into it too deep, that within each price range they serve Carvin manages to be better than "middling". They have several tiers and they definitely can hang with the companies mentioned and then some until you get into considerably more expensive stuff.

 

Are some of these anecdotal summaries actually based on a wide sampling of properly used gear from equivalent levels? Because I'm talking for product lines for the past 10 years or so and at all market tiers they have equivalnets in common with those other companies mentioned... Actually their mixers are better than that even, in each tier they service. Great reliability and specs that actually seem to bear out in use. It's only in cabs that they are roughly the same (though sometimes a few models are maybe more affordable for that level or performance).

 

Yamaha, Peavey, Carvin, they all better watch out for all the cheap upstarts that cut corners {like actually designing their own stuff and hiring design engineers;} and at first appearance seem to be as good to the unexperienced and the cash-strapped. Because the low tier seems to be where a lot of the market share for these companies exists, and the competition up high is plenty fierce and innovative.

 

Don't forget Yorkille either - they are doing some fantastic stuff at the club, and affordable touring and installation levels. So are a few others.

[Gruuve]

GB:

 

I ain't righteous bro! In comparing one HT-322 and the two RL-410T's side-by-side in my music room using ears only, I could tell very little appreciable difference in overall volume between the two different ani-mules. Volume at any particular frequency was a different story though. The Berg was much louder period than a single RL-410T, and had much more low end. With two RL-410T's, the Berg to my ears appeared just as loud (or very close), but with less bottom-end (vs two RL410's) and more prominent, throaty low-mids versus the more gritty mids of the Carvin's. I think the Berg really cranks some low-mids, and that would probably explain the perceived approximate equivalence in volume to me. One RL-410T by itself was just too mid-rangey (as in high-mids) for my tastes...two did the trick but that's a lot of weight and bulk to accomodate, and the mids and highs still weren't that satisfying to my ears. Put another way, one HT-322 seemed to have equivalent or better output in the right frequencies than two RL-410T's. Maybe the specs wouldn't lead you to this conclusion, but my ears did. That however is something that's based entirely on personal taste and preference.

 

Now that said, one of the things I have to put some extra effort into is working up tones that work well through the church PA only. Something that sounds about perfect through the SWR/Berg rig doesn't sound the same through a house system...sometimes it's minor and not much of an issue, but sometimes it's quite glaring. I generally do a final check at home through studio monitors and a studio sub. For that reason, I'm again seriously giving some thought to displacing the Berg with an Acme or something else with a relatively flatter response. I might even consider an Accugroove if they can find a way to make that 4ohm/8ohm switch also hunker down to 2ohms.

 

Dave

[Bass_god_offspring]

my opinion as a carvin owner:

 

I have a Redline R1000 series II amp......

 

It works amazing....Lots of power....Amazing tone shaping (i tweek my sound a lot and have a very specific tone...and that thing has LOTS of features to get me to that.

 

I also have a carvin 4x10 cab. It sounds pretty darn good...and it is very sturdy...my only complaint is that it is VERy deep (19 inches) so it is hard to move without casters on.

 

 

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND carvin. They are very reliable pieces...but then again...its just an opinion.

 

good luck

[Danno]

I own a Carvin DCM1000 amp and a Carvin LB70 bass and both are above average IMO. I'd buy again, no question.

[Tim C]

my dad has a nice carvin stack (two 4-10's and a head) and its really nice i like to turn it on and play zeppelin for the whole neigborhood to hear. they're probably getting sick of JPJ by now if that's at all possible. he also has a beautiful pearl finished carvin all out of one piece of wood with gold tuning machines and he says it's his best sounding bass. comsidering that he has a mockingbird, a gibson explorer 5-string, a les paul, a rickenbacker, some nice ibanez basses and an incredibly rare black john entwhistle gibson among many nice others and he's been playing for about 15 or 20 years i'd say he is a credible source. so in summation of this ramble i would say that carvin gear is really good quality stuff and to go for it. buy carvin gear until you're up to your neck in it.

[_Sweet Willie_]

I have a Carvin LB-70. It's a great bass. I did replace the pickups and preamp w/ Bartolini and I like it even better now. Since I got mine, I believe they've tweaked their on-board pre and done something to the stacked humbuckers (unless calling them H50S p'ups rather than H50N p'ups is a change in label only).

 

I have very little experience with their other gear. A friend had one of their 15" bass combos. I didn't like it, but that might simply be a matter of my taste and not Carvin quality.

 

Peace.

--s-uu

[ClarkW]

I am seriously considering a Carvin for my next guitar purchase. I would also consider actually WORKING for Carvin, since they are located in San Diego (family there). That's how good an opinion I have of their attitude towards production and marketing of their wares.

[lug]

I have an old LB40F fretless (mid 80's). Great quality.

[Swed_bass]

Those Carvin bass-building kits look like a great way to get your hands on a personalized instrument for a reasonable price. Especially outside the US, if you have to pay taxes and customs fees for the imported purchase. Of course a possible custom paint job needs a little special skills, but the other upgrades they offer could result in a nice instrument. I´m fiddling with the thought of maybe building an active fretless, after the pleasant experience with the Cirrus FL last week. Abyone here "built" one of them Carvins? (Maybe the topic needs a new thread)

[saxofunk]

Swed,

 

Have you seen the gallery of kits at the CARVIN MUSEUM . Scroll to the bottom for the links.

 

Good question - I've been around this forum for quite a while, but I don't recall if anyone has a kit.

[_Sweet Willie_]

Originally posted by Swed_bass:

Anyone here "built" one of them Carvins? (Maybe the topic needs a new thread)

LizzyD built a Carvin guitar. From what I can tell, it came out great. I think she may still have a photojournal of the experience on her website.

 

Peace.

--SW

[Mark Horne]

My experience with Carvin goes back to about 1980 when I bought a 6-channel powered mixer for my band. Being in southern cal at the time, I was able to visit the factory, and later the retail stores when they came out. I've purchased quite a bit of Carvin gear over the years including two basses, a guitar amp, bass head and power amp. These are all still in service today (not the powered mixer however - it weighed a ton!).

 

Having played numerous Carvin guitars other that my own, I would characterize them as having excellent action, versatile tone-shaping options, and a very high build quality. Their figured woods and finishes make for some truly beautiful results if you pick the right combinations.

 

Since they sell direct, the value is high for an American-made product, but they are by no means cheap.

[lug]

Originally posted by Matt W:

Swed,

 

Have you seen the gallery of kits at the CARVIN MUSEUM . Scroll to the bottom for the links.

 

Good question - I've been around this forum for quite a while, but I don't recall if anyone has a kit.

My LB40 is in that gallery.

[g.]

Hey, you two - get a room!

[Warlock1016]

I've got an R1000 head I bought of E-bay...

 

Frankly, I love it. More than enough power (I'm bridging it into an Avatar 4x10) for pretty much any big gig I do. Plenty of bells and whistles if I feel like playing with the sound, and the noise gate has been a life saver.

 

I can't speak for the cabs or PA gear.

[Mighty Thumb]

I have an R600 head and an older 1x15 cabinet. Both have been very good to me. The head runs a little hot though. I am looking at replacing it with the BRX212 combo (anyone had any experience with this combo?). The older I get the more I want things to have wheels. The 1x15 cabinet has been a workhorse and will be in my possesion until I or it dies. Never owned one of their basses but have played several. Some of the older ones are as heavy as a tank, but all of them have played nicely.

[a1bassguy]

I own a Carvin BB-75 - Bunny Brunel 5 string and it feels really nice. High quality, American-made, and a good deal. It has the wide-spacing and offset countoured neck which feels very comfortable. I also like the wide range of sounds that I can get from the pick-ups, coil split, and active pots. The neck-through and string-through features add alot of sustain.

 

I bought it based on my previous experience trying a Carvin guitar, which was a very well made instrument and left an impression on me.

[Drewfus]

I played a LB20 for years. Still have it. I will not part with it. Play a Lakland 5 now for the most part.

 

Play thru a Carvin 600 watt 210 combo with the 18 sub. This rig rocks!

 

I've had other gear from Carvin and have been please with everything except a direct box which wasn't very durable IMO.

[lug]

Originally posted by a1bassguy:

I own a Carvin BB-75 - Bunny Brunel 5 string and it feels really nice. High quality, American-made, and a good deal. It has the wide-spacing and offset countoured neck which feels very comfortable. I also like the wide range of sounds that I can get from the pick-ups, coil split, and active pots. The neck-through and string-through features add alot of sustain.

 

I bought it based on my previous experience trying a Carvin guitar, which was a very well made instrument and left an impression on me.

Just bought a BB75 last week off of Ebay, lovin' it!