Carvin X60 amps??

[BloodRose]

How were these? Ive read where they were pretty good amps and know Vai and zappa used them.. But, Ive also read they were noisy. They can be had on ebay pretty reasonably these days..

[rog951]

Re: Carvin X60 amps??

Great amps. I'd think very similar to the X-100B but with less power, of course. Although I've never owned the 60W model, I have had both an X-100B head and an X-30 combo and they were very close in tone (preamp controls were identical). Both were very well-built and never gave me any problems beyond the occasional scratchy pot.

The X amps have some of the best cleans I've ever heard. I held onto that X-100B for many, many years just because of the clean channel. TONS of headroom on the clean channel, but not sure if the 60W version might suffer in that regard. As far as the "lead" channel goes, it's voiced a lot like a Marshall. I'd classify it in the "bright" category. Definitely not a high-gainer, but it'll get you from classic rock into the hair-metal era of tones. It took a boost well and you could get some more violent tones that way.

Once I bought a JCM800, I didn't use the Carvin as much for dirty sounds but still felt it was unmatched for cleans. I finally bought a '52 Bassman RI, a Roland JC-120 and an AC30CC. Once I had those three amps, I felt like I could finally sell my Carvin and still have my clean options covered. To me, that says a lot about the Carvin. I feel they're a highly under-rated amp and a steal at the minscule $$$ they're fetching.

[kevlar3000]

Re: Carvin X60 amps??

For me, it was the worst amp purchase I ever made. As good as the clean was, I could never get a good distorted tone of it. Very raspy, poor note clarity and harsh on the top end.... I played one just a couple months ago, I was reminded why I didn't like it.

I was soooo ecited to get that amp, ordered it direct and was really bummed when I got it. Vai's Blue Powder, for me, really conveys how bad the gain is on that amp.

Cleans are amazing.... No issues there.

[rog951]

Re: Carvin X60 amps??

For me, it was the worst amp purchase I ever made. As good as the clean was, I could never get a good distorted tone of it. Very raspy, poor note clarity and harsh on the top end.... I played one just a couple months ago, I was reminded why I didn't like it.

I was soooo ecited to get that amp, ordered it direct and was really bummed when I got it. Vai's Blue Powder, for me, really conveys how bad the gain is on that amp.

Cleans are amazing.... No issues there.

Hey, were the amps you tried out EL34 or 6L6? Not saying you owned the "wrong" one, just curious. Mine was an EL34 model and I've heard several people say they liked 6L6s better in this amp.