Carvin Belair 212

[BenPerkins]

Bought a Carvin Belair for $250, pretty cool amp. Clean channel is nice - the Soak channel wasn't that great until I swapped out the stock tubes. Anyone know what tubes sound best in this model? Can it run KT66's?

Thank you.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Carvin Belair 212

I put a set of ruby's in mine.
Tweaked the bias up a tad whilst I was there

The soak channel on mine sounds like a DS1 into the clean channel

Warmer tubes give it a bit more presence

 

[Jeffblue]

Re: Carvin Belair 212

Bought a Carvin Belair for $250, pretty cool amp. Clean channel is nice - the Soak channel wasn't that great until I swapped out the stock tubes. Anyone know what tubes sound best in this model? Can it run KT66's?

Thank you.

KT66 tubes are octal (larger 8 pin) and the Carvin Bel Air uses EL84 which are smaller 9 pin. I have a Bel Air that I mounted octal sockets and attempted to run 6v6 tubes, I have not got it to work. The power output board arced where the output tubes mounted and that is how I received the amp. Used and not working.

 

[BenPerkins]

Re: Carvin Belair 212

The stock speakers are good for clean stuff, but I put a fuzz pedal in front and it sounded like a fart. Any good speakers worth putting in here? I'd like it to still do a nice clean sound, but also be able to handle bass more efficiently. I play a variety of stuff from Surf to Black Sabbath.


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[ehdwuld]

Re: Carvin Belair 212

What speakers do you have in yours
Mine is an older one with the VR series , which I really like

 

[BenPerkins]

Re: Carvin Belair 212

I believe the same, but will confirm. They're the stock Carvin speakers. I have an older Belair 212 with reverb tank.


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[BenPerkins]

Re: Carvin Belair 212

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[MetalManiac]

Re: Carvin Belair 212

Edwhuld I'm sorry, but thats gotta be the worst amps tube I ever heard in my life- couldn't ditch it fast enough.Did the sorry Azz "Hasserel " mod, changed speakers..the whole 9 yards. IMO, a damned Peavey solid state Bandit sounds a lot better.Plus the Bandit is built a lot better-the Carvin is a sorry azz POS when you look at it's guts. Wafer thin circuit board and traces.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Carvin Belair 212

Hmm I see the problem
Mine says VL 12 100Watts
The 70 watt versions of the VL and BR series speakers were when they first farmed them out overseas

Don't know what to suggest
My buddy over in town likes his Cannabis Rex
I would look at the eminence line maybe some mismatched set
Texas Heat and Swamp Thing are said to be a good combination

Jerry
Sorry you had a bad experience
Mine is fine , no mods except rebais
When I crank mine, all the neighbors come outside
No one complained yet

My Belair loves the Joyo Ultimate Drive
Really loves it

 

[BenPerkins]

Re: Carvin Belair 212

Edwhuld I'm sorry, but thats gotta be the worst amps tube I ever heard in my life- couldn't ditch it fast enough.Did the sorry Azz "Hasserel " mod, changed speakers..the whole 9 yards. IMO, a damned Peavey solid state Bandit sounds a lot better.Plus the Bandit is built a lot better-the Carvin is a sorry azz POS when you look at it's guts. Wafer thin circuit board and traces.

Before I drop anymore $$ into this amp, just wondering if I can get more critical feedback. Did you swap the speakers? If so, did that improve anything?

What about the amp's sound (overall) didn't you like?


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[MetalManiac]

Re: Carvin Belair 212

Could never dial the icepick out. Like wring around the collar. YMMV. Like i said, I swapped to a emi, one that was dark sounding, Then I had the 'Hasserl' mods done. Nada.Maybe I got a bad one or something.
I sold it to a specialist medical doctor- like pulling chump change out of his pocket for him.

 

[BenPerkins]

Re: Carvin Belair 212

So I tried using a different guitar (Tele with P90 in neck and SD JD in bridge). Fuzz pedal sounded fine through the amp. Maybe it's the guitar I was using earlier (ESP LP copy with SD PRail in neck and WLH in bridge).


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[ehdwuld]

Re: Carvin Belair 212

Ben
My Belair loves my Tweak Fuzz and that EH fuzz I got a few weeks ago
That I can't remember the name of

Unusable with the soak channel

 

[trevorus]

Re: Carvin Belair 212

I had the Nomad, the 112 version in about 2003, and did the Hasserl mods. I really liked it. It was a LOOONG time ago, though, so it's hard to remember specific characteristics. I can't imagine it would be worse than the Epiphone Blues Custom 30 I used to have (gutted it and built a plexi Marshall in it's casing).

 

[BenPerkins]

Re: Carvin Belair 212

Ben
My Belair loves my Tweak Fuzz and that EH fuzz I got a few weeks ago
That I can't remember the name of

Unusable with the soak channel

I was using a Catalinbread Sabbra Cadabra, sounded great. I found the soak channel to be usable after swapping out the preamp tubes. Think I put Mullards in there.