A question about Carvin Amps

Steven Black · From: Gahanna, Ohio, USA

Does Carvin make a steel guitar amp? I have seen players use a few of their amps and their steel guitars sounded really great through them, but I do not know what models would work, looking for some advise.

Jim Bob Sedgwick · From: Clinton, Missouri USA

Steven, to my knowledge, Carvin does not make a dedicated steel guitar amp. Their quality is great and some of their models work well with steel. Go to www.carvin.com on the net, and you can order a catalog from them. They are good quality amps and I'm sure you could find one that would work for you. Hope this helps. Their prices are lower than most as they do not advertise too much, but equipment quality is there. They have great customer service also.

Roman Sonnleitner · From: Vienna, Austria

I use a Carvin Vintage 16 combo for lap steel (thats a 15W combo with 2x EL84 tubes and a 12" speaker), and while I like it's thick, but still chimey, and slightly dirty tone for playing rock, blues & alt.country on lap steel, I kinda doubt it would work for pedal steel.
But Carvin does offer quite a few biger amps with more headroom that might work well.

Jay Fagerlie · From: Lotus, California, USA

I purchased a Carvin XV112 from a forumite a few months back. It is the 100 watt model that was modded with a JBL 15".
Killer amp for steel.
Granted, it doesn't have the high wattage output that other amps have, but 100 watts will put out a pretty loud clean signal.
It has become my main amp for all of my electric instruments...steel, lap steel, mandolin, sitar, oud, baritone, everything I have plugged into it has sounded great. The Carvin has a very powerful graphic EQ that lets you dial in whatever you want
I couldn't be happier.

Jay

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

Just to balance the scales a bit...

I've had a couple Carvin amps, one 100-watt SS (supposedly with "tube sound"), one SS, and a (as I recall) 24 channel mixing board. One of my playing partners had a Carvin bass.

The amps sounded really dead - just no life at all. Clear, decent volume and headroom, but no tone. And I had many problems with bad pots and other parts.

The board was a disaster. One channel after another kept having something or other fail, and I finally dumped it cheap.

The bass had to have the truss rod readjusted before every gig; sometimes *between songs*. Either the strings would be 1/2" off the fingerboard or sitting on it, depending on weather/humidity. It was great sounding, but completely unstable. He also had to replace all the pots.

I'm sure some folks have had good success with their equipment, but I'm not one of them.
_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional

John Bresler R.I.P. · From: Thornton, Colorado

I have a Carvin SX-100 that had a British series speaker and I just didn't care for the shrill sound. Couldn't adjust it with the equalizer, either. I replaced the speaker with an eminence Commonwealth 8 ohm and I really like the tone, now. All the headroom I will ever need.

Basically Carvin amps are built for guitar, not steel guitar.

Cool

David Higginbotham · From: Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA

The Carvin amp that Jay referred to was mine. It is the XV-112 that I retrofitted with a JBL K130 and added a new set of JJ/Tesla power tubes. The amp is fantastic with steel guitar and just as good with 6 string. Even with the stock 12 inch speaker it sounded good. This particular amp had EL-34 tubes, but Carvin also put out models that had 6L6 tubes. There are three combo versions of this amp that Carvin manufactured in the 80's. The XV-112, XV-212, and the 60 watt version with a single 12. They also manufactured the X-100 watt tube head that is a very sought after item as well. They are basically clones of the Mesa Boogie amps from that same era.

My experience with Carvin equipment has been very positive and their equipment is well built. As for solid state equipment, I have used a Carvin DCM-600 power amp with my rack equipment in the past and I was also very satisfied with the sound and performance of this unit.
Dave

Harley Morris · From: Riverside, California, USA * R.I.P.

I have been using Carvin amps since around 1968, and have had great performance from all of them. I have a 100 watt model with a 15" JBL that weighs about the same as my Fender Twin with a 15" JBL and sounds every bit as good. I have a 20 year old Carvin with a 12" JBL in it for fiddle. I currenty am using a Carvin solid state with 2 12" Altec Lansings in it for steel, because it's lighter that the other one, but really sounds great. So YES, Carvin makes some awesome amps for steel guitar in my opinion.

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