Carvin Legacy Question

[Guitar Guy]

While reading about the legacy on the carvin boards someone mentioned that the legacy had a lot of noise on the lead channel when they got it to sound "right" and furthermore that the right sound was impossible to get because either the treble and prescense controls either make the amp too muddy or too ice pickey. I'm not really sure what they meant by the right sound anyway, but i think that it is sort of the vai solo sound when he uses a pedal on top of the lead channel. If this is so, than i understand it that they could get it to sound good , but to get the vai solo sound w/out a pedal than it is impossible??... So confusing....for some reason the whole thread made me kind of angry........:why:!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways, i'm kind of rambling here, but the point of this thread is to find out if any of you have had a similiar experience with the amp. I'm concerned that i wont be able to get a good sound out of the lead channel.........although if i need a pedal to get the vai solo sound, thats fine because i have a keeley
ds-1 ultra, which is what vai uses anyway.

This is the trouble when trying to research for new equipment (especially amplifiers) on forums because someone can say one thing and someone else can say the complete opposite. It makes it so hard to get an idea of what an amp sounds like. :grumble:

Any opinions would nice and would help to clear up some confusion i'm having. Thanks.

 

[BluesGuyJ]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

Vai uses the Keely DS1 for rhythem playing and then turns that off and turns on the Keely TS for lead work... that is what I have heard. There are sound clips of Vai playing the legacy on the Carvin site with no pedals, check them out.

 

[Guitar Guy]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

Vai uses the Keely DS1 for rhythem playing and then turns that off and turns on the Keely TS for lead work... that is what I have heard. There are sound clips of Vai playing the legacy on the Carvin site with no pedals, check them out.

Well i wasn't quite sure which pedals he uses for the lead, but that sounds about right. I did listen to the sound clips of the carvin site along with some off youtube and they mostly sounded good to me, i was just kind of worried about the muddy/icepick tones that were discussed.

 

[Karmadog777]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

Legacy amps look cool and Steveie V is my hero , however I play a totally different type of noize , Ive seen some good prices on those amps . I wonder how they would be for crunchy downtuned stoner doom type stuff.

oh and Im pretty sure that the key to sounding like Vai is having green pickup covers (seriously, every clip over at the DiMarwhatever site sounds like steve)

 

[Stratman]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

What?

I was able to tune-in my tone so, so easy with this amp, when I tried it in the Carvin store in Hollywood.

Like in about less than 1 minute, for various different tones.

 

[Guitar Guy]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

I've heard mostly good things about the legacy, i thought it was strange to hear such a bad evaluation.

 

[SFW]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

I have owned my current Lagacy for a little over three months. It is one hell of an amplifier. I play hard rock, and the amp excels at this type of music. Quality tubes make a huge difference in the way this amp sounds. I use my TS9 to goose the gain during solos, but that's about it. With the right tubes it has more than enough gain for metal. I usually run my presence and treble higher on the Legacy than I have on other amps, but it's a darker voiced amp. It sounds really good with Greenbacks, but V30 can get a bit muddy if you are not careful.

 

[Guitar Guy]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

bump

 

[B2D]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

I've been playing a Legacy for about 2 years now... the trick with this amp is to use good tubes that will let the amp retain its full, thick, bold bottom end and midrange while keeping the top well-defined. I use Groove Tube Gold Series 12AX7R and EL34R and they sound great in this amp. The sound was a dramatic improvement to my ears over the Sovtek pres and EH power tubes that it shipped with (which later went to very good use in a Marshall that needed a retube). I believe Carvin ships them with GT's now, as that's what steve is purported to use on the road. Smart move either way, IMO. I'm told by the Carvin shop guys that JJs in the pre section really make the amp a monster.

I've had no complaints with the difficulty of dialing in a really even, balanced tone with the amp. Carvin uses 1M-ohm sealed pots in the amp, and they claim that this makes the tonal control wider-ranged and prohibits the tone controls interacting with each other like they do on other amps, especially older ones. This claim seems to be true, from my experience. Individual flavors of OD pedal are really distinguishable, as well. I prefer a Fulltone OCD.

 

[Guitar Guy]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

From most of what i have read, it sounds like what i'm am looking for. I like real smooth, kind of dark, mid heavy distortion and thats what the legacy is all about. I was wondering how much clean headroom the legacy has, though?

 

[B2D]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

From most of what i have read, it sounds like what i'm am looking for. I like real smooth, kind of dark, mid heavy distortion and thats what the legacy is all about. I was wondering how much clean headroom the legacy has, though?

If you're looking for that kind of distortion you mentioned, the Legacy is a good choice.

The Legacy has LOTS of clean headroom. I can only get it to break up at stupidly high volume with REAL hot pickups.

 

[BluesGuyJ]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

Is $900 for a Legacy half stack a decent deal?

 

[Guitar Guy]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

If you're looking for that kind of distortion you mentioned, the Legacy is a good choice.

The Legacy has LOTS of clean headroom. I can only get it to break up at stupidly high volume with REAL hot pickups.

Thats good to hear. The problem that i find with my hot rod sometimes is that it has a good clean sound but it starts to breakup when playing with a heavey hitting drummer.

 

[B2D]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

Is $900 for a Legacy half stack a decent deal?

If you have to ask...

I paid like... $1000 combined for mine and they list for $1300 so i guess that's a good deal. Push for $800 though.

 

[Guitar Guy]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

One review i read about the legacy said that they actually like the fender hot rod better, which does concern me. I wan't to upgrade not down grade. Although i do realize that everything is subjective, i find it hard to believe because there are quite a few people out there that hate the hot rods.

 

[B2D]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

One review i read about the legacy said that they actually like the fender hot rod better, which does concern me. I wan't to upgrade not down grade. Although i do realize that everything is subjective, i find it hard to believe because there are quite a few people out there that hate the hot rods.

I've played both... they're different styles of amp to begin with.

 

[Guitar Guy]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

I've played both... they're different styles of amp to begin with.

Well, what would you say are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

 

[B2D]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

Amps rarely have strict advatages or disadvantages, as an advantage to you might be a disadvantage to me and vice versa, both in the tone and the features department.

Having more experience with the Legacy I can say this:

Pros:
- Tone controls work very well and make the tone very malleable.
- Amp has a thick, full, bold, expressive tone and a natural compression that makes it cut very well.
- EL34/6L6 options add to versatility
- Takes different flavores of overdrive pedals very well.

Cons:
- LOUD, even on 50w mode. Use a 4x12 with caution.
- Very finicky about tubes, especially pre tubes. It'll sound like crap with the wrong set.
- Easy to over-dial in bass and mids, preventable using judicious settings.
- Classic/vintage tones can be tweaked in, but are not a hallmark of the amp.

The Hot Rod is easier to dial in vintage-flavored sounds on, from what I remember but people who don't like them say that it's too loud and honky for their needs. People I've talked to that like it do so for the exact same reason. :laugh2:

 

[Guitar Guy]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

Amps rarely have strict advatages or disadvantages, as an advantage to you might be a disadvantage to me and vice versa, both in the tone and the features department.

Having more experience with the Legacy I can say this:

Pros:
- Tone controls work very well and make the tone very malleable.
- Amp has a thick, full, bold, expressive tone and a natural compression that makes it cut very well.
- EL34/6L6 options add to versatility
- Takes different flavores of overdrive pedals very well.

Cons:
- LOUD, even on 50w mode. Use a 4x12 with caution.
- Very finicky about tubes, especially pre tubes. It'll sound like crap with the wrong set.
- Easy to over-dial in bass and mids, preventable using judicious settings.
- Classic/vintage tones can be tweaked in, but are not a hallmark of the amp.

The Hot Rod is easier to dial in vintage-flavored sounds on, from what I remember but people who don't like them say that it's too loud and honky for their needs. People I've talked to that like it do so for the exact same reason. :laugh2:

As far as tubes go, does it work well with the groove tubes it comes with?

Also, can you get some vintage style distortion using a tubescreamer type pedal on the clean channel.

 

[B2D]

Re: Carvin Legacy Question

As far as tubes go, does it work well with the groove tubes it comes with?

Also, can you get some vintage style distortion using a tubescreamer type pedal on the clean channel.

I'm not sure what type of GT's come stock in it now... probably just the regular ones. I use Gold Series and it sounds very good that way. I'm told by the Carvin guys that JJ's in the pre section will really make it take off.

The clean channel is very good at letting the personality of individual OD pedals shine through. I wouldn't call it a vintage tone per se, but the clean channel + a good pedal is a great platform for some killer overdrive tones that will do classic rock nicely.