I couldn't find any owners clubs for Carvin amps so I thought I'd throw one up and see who else on here loves their Carvin amps. I'm using a x100b series IV (reissue) 100 watt head through a oversized 2x12 with EVM-12Ls as my main gigging rig. I'm about to buy a Carvin Legacy (still shopping between the original and Legacy 3) to use in my regular rig. I absolutely love the clean channel on Carvin tube amps, it's hard to find a amp that does both clean and OD channels well.
My x100b does a great JCM800 type OD tone but I've never played a JCM800 that could touch the cleans on it. It comes close to my Twin Reverbs cleans. The Legacys OD reminds me of a Bogner XTC for 1/4 the price. They are amazing sounding amps, made in the USA and built like tanks all for an amazing price. It's just hard to find one to try before you buy unless you're in Southern California.
I wish I'd have tried one years earlier. I had one of the Oak X-100's for a few years. It was OK but was lacking something.
As with other Carvin gear, the first, and most obvious, detail to look at is the logo on the amp itself. The earliest Carvin amps had the same logo as was found on guitars, basses and other instruments, shown at left. This logo appeared on all Carvin amps from 1954 (and possibly earlier) through 1960.
I found a '66 Super Reverb for a good price and the Carvin became the backup amp.I still have a Quad-X rack preamp that was the heart of the rack rig I had in the '90's with two Carvin vertical 2 x 12 cabs. I got a lot of use out of that. I used a Carver power amp and an ART Multi-Verb Alpha 2.0 effects unit.
But it was a lot to move around, so I sold the cabinets, built a bass rig around the power amp, put the ART in the PA rack and bought a Rivera S120-210. It probably weighs as much as the rack rig (two 60 watt power amps in a tube combo), but at least it's compact.But, yes, Carvin gear has served me well. (I'm copy and pasting this from a post I put in the wrong place)-I've had a yearning for a MTS head for a modding project amp. They have that great clean channel Carvin is known for, which is worth the $200-250 I've seen them occasionally show up for. I have heard one with the clipping diodes removed and replaced with resisters and that was a huge improvement by itself but I think they have tons of potential. I enjoy tinkering around with amps and a MTS seems like an affordable project for a amateur to hack on and I feel certain you could end up with a great, versatile amp by just removing the diodes, adding a post PI master volume and maybe trying different values for caps in the tone stack.
I have also heard of them being converted to the same drive channel as the Legacy. Just a little update on my Legacy 3 head.
I've been running it through a pair of 1x12 cabs stacked with a EVM-12L on the bottom and a Mesa/Celestion MC-90 on top (Mesa's OEM version of the G12-80/Classic Lead 80) and I absolutely couldn't be happier with this rig. The cleans are amazing, especially when you compare it to other 3 channel heads. It will do country or jazz as well as my Twin Reverb. The drive channels are very similar to a Bogner Ecstasy, it does blues/crunch on channel 2 better than I expected it would, I did put a 5751 and ecc803s in the preamp along with 2 ecc83s' (all JJs) which made the lower gain crunch tone even better. I'm getting a great classic rock/high gain blues tone on channel 3 as well.
I'm not a high gain guy in terms of what is considered high gain now and the Legacy 3 is an amazing amp, I don't think I've ever been happier with the sound of any single amp than I am with this.BTW, the x100b reissue I have is also a pretty great amp, I've got mine loaded with 6L6s and the cleans on it are amazing. It's drive channel does a really good JCM-800 style crunch and drive. It's a great classic rock amp as well as a great country and jazz amp. The Carvins I've had were well worth the money just for the clean side alone. I wish I would have tried Carvins 15 years sooner than I did. I would like to join and show off my Carvin x60A's (I have two, both mint, loaded with Boogie tubes and breathing fire), EL 34s, best clean sound ever, decent overdrive, Celestion G1270 speakers, birch ply cabinets, Hammond 3 spring reverb, Made in USA, both date to late 1989. Zappa used these and raved about them.
I put casters on one for easy transport, the other is my backup, should I ever need it. Kinda the ultimate cross between Marshall and Fender, I call it the ultimate Deluxe-on steroids. If you get a chance to grab one of these, do it, they are pretty rare.
Welcome Geargasm! I've always thought the X60As were cool amps. You can run a EQ pedal in the fx loop and get the same effect as the 'B' models too if anyone wanted to.I'm thinning out some stuff I don't use and I want to pick up a XT112 which about the same thing as the X60B but has a built in GEQ. I'm a big fan of the X amps, the clean side gets remarkably close to a blackface Fender once you get the tone controls down and I have been getting a drive sound that's pretty close to a older JCM-800. It's hard to ask for more out one amp. Welcome Geargasm! I've always thought the X60As were cool amps.
You can run a EQ pedal in the fx loop and get the same effect as the 'B' models too if anyone wanted to.I'm thinning out some stuff I don't use and I want to pick up a XT112 which about the same thing as the X60B but has a built in GEQ. I'm a big fan of the X amps, the clean side gets remarkably close to a blackface Fender once you get the tone controls down and I have been getting a drive sound that's pretty close to a older JCM-800. It's hard to ask for more out one amp. Click to expand.Yes, I love the clean sound on Carvin XAmps, its got its own sound, but with the active eq you can approximate a BF, Tweed, or early Plexi, most people don't realize your dealing with 1-5 for traditional EQ settings, past 5 it's active and radically changing overall tone. I'm mostly using a maple neck strat, and with my guitar volume knob I can get just about anything out of it, and if you pull out the Lead Master knob for 'HI LEAD' mode and switch to bridge pickup simultaneously, your in the zone.with and extra boost available at +6db if needed, I'm surprised Carvin hasn't re-issued this amp, it's the closest I've been to 'the perfect gig combo'.
![Carvin x100b head settings chart Carvin x100b head settings chart](http://forums.carvinmuseum.com/userpix/837_metal1_1.jpg)
Carvin has reintroduced one of it's most popular guitar amps, the X100B. It originally debuted in 1982, and was later offered during a stint in 1994.' The original X100B was a mainstay on stage and on MTV, having been used by such notable artists as Steve Vai, Craig Chaquico, Warren Cuccurullo, Frank Zappa and many others,' says Carvin's website.'
Steve Vai also played through X100B amps in the 1986 film Crossroads, starring Ralph Macchio. This colorful history, as well as requests from customers, has prompted Carvin to design an all-new X100B, the Series IV.' According to their site, Series IV is offered in several versions: the X100B head, the XB412 half-stack, the XB812 full-stack, and the X212B combo. All models produce 100 watts of power, switchable to 25W or 50W. It has a clean and lead channels with master volume switchable to boost mode and a 4 button footswitch with LED indicators (Channel, Effects, Reverb, Boost). X100B HEAD/COMBO FEATURES:- Dual channels: Clean & Lead- Master volume with switchable boost- Bass, Mid, Treble, Presence and Reverb controls- 5 band graphic EQ assignable to clean or lead channel- 25/50/100W output switch- Bias switch for 5881, 6L6GC or EL34- power tubes (supplied with EL34)- Cabinet voiced XLR balanced output- Foot switchable Effects Loop- Four–EL3 4 & 3–12AX7A- Vintage Carvin logoYou can buy it direct from Carvin for $700US.For more information, please visitRelated News. I owned one and played it through a 4x10' Marshall bottom and a Mesa Dual rectifier bottom with 2x12' Celestion Vintage 30's.
The back of the speaker bottom is removable for open back, or you can seal it off. Thus: 'Dual' rectifier.These 2 speaker bottoms were perfect for the Carvin 100 watt. Of course I used EL34's.
What a great amp.they call it 'the poor man's Marshall'. I like the tone more because it's slightly different than any Marshall. Everyone has a Marshall. If anyone has one for sale: let me know. Paul Dyckman [email protected]. First off I just want to say that I think the X-100B Re-issue is the best Amp out there. Second I would like to mention a few things on the topic of the volume with the X-100B re-issue.
Ok, here it goes, there is not a lack of volume issue with the X-100B re-issue. It has plenty of volume – you just got to understand the amp. The EQ on the X-100B re-issue is on the power-amp side. Now, the Graphic EQ has 18dB of gain – that’s 18dB. There is only a couple dB difference between 50 watts and 100 watts. The Graphic EQ has 18dB – that is a lot. So, if you find yourself having to crank the X-100B more than what you would like and your graphic EQ is set around the 0dB area well then push that graphic EQ up – there is 18dB of extra gain there.
That = VOLUME. You can keep the same EQ setting but push those sliders up and you will notice you will have a lot more volume (This will also make people happy that have mentioned that they think the clean channel has more volume than the over-drive channel.
You will find with the Graphic EQ pushed up on the Over-drive side will make it more equal to the clean channel volume).I use my X-100B with my band and we are loud and I have plenty of volume to spare. My other Guitar Player uses a Mesa MK IV mostly and I am usually the one that has to turn down. So, I do not think there is a volume issue with the X-100B re-issue at all.
You just gotta understand the amp and just what a GREAT amp it is. There is SO MUCH Tweakability with the X-100B that it is a total Tone Lovers dream. The one thing nice about being able to really push the X-100B is that sweet spot is easily attainable. All TUBE Amps have their sweet spot, and in order to find that sweet spot you must push the amp. This means crankin it up. Now with some amps that are ridiculously loud at 1 this is hard to do without using some kind of compensation (power soak).
The X-100B Re-issue does not need this as you have not only endless tone Tweak-ability but also Volume Tweakability. You can dial in just how much you want to push that power-amp. The X-100B = TONE! I've got an original MKIII X60-B with the tolex and 6l6's.
I spent the last few weeks hunting for the ultimate amp and was about to buy a $4000 hand built PTP, class A boutique amp. Then I found this Carvin in a little 2nd hand music shop and it blew my head off! These amps are absolute sleepers. The clean is better than Fender clean, the Reverb is the equal of any Fender reverb I ever heard and the drive channel is like an 800 Marshall but different, more open and a bit looser. I LOVE IT!These MKII's are incredible. Best amp I ever played and I chose THIS over a huge array of high end boutique amps; that tell you something?