Carvin pickups

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Inflames626

New member
General thoughts?

I've never played a Carvin axe, but I've used a lot of amps and gear, which I find to be very good for the price on the used market. Their stuff also seems to be used by a lot of solid touring musicians--the pros behind the pros sort of thing.

I'm mainly interested in their M22SD, which I understand was their high output ceramic before they launched an active line.

I imagine they're probably not worth getting unless you're getting a Carvin guitar or bass, as they're probably good enough to not merit a replacement by an aftermarket, but not good enough to justify purchasing on their own. Don't know too many people who buy a Jackson or ESP and then order Carvin pups for them.

Thanks.
 
Re: Carvin pickups

I find my tones using mostly Seymour Duncans. However, there are MANY players that leave their carvins stock and some folks even buy them as replacements. There is nothing wrong with thier pickups, its just a matter of what your ear likes. I know a coupla builders that even put Carvin puts in thier builds
I had a couple of carvins with one of those pups in it and it was quite a bit of fun. Really hot. One of them was all maple and I thought the pup was alittle bright in that guitar, but in the other one, I probably would not have changed it had I not sold the guitar.

Really going to depend on the guitar and what you are looking for .
 
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Re: Carvin pickups

I've got a M22SD in an Ibanez Roadstar ll. I put it in back in '88, making it a one pup axe. Though it is split with a mini toggle switch. I love it! I guess I'd compare it to a Dimarzio SD.

Funny thing, when I ordered the pickup, they sent me two. I gave a friend the other one and its still in his old BC Rich.
 
Re: Carvin pickups

I had a Carvin M22SD pickup years ago. As I remember it was powerful enough but was bright and just felt sterile to me.
 
Re: Carvin pickups

ThunderLizard said:
I had a Carvin M22SD pickup years ago. As I remember it was powerful enough but was bright and just felt sterile to me.
Click to expand...

I felt it was sterile due to the amount of compression it had. I thought it would have been a great pickup except for the compression. I do like their C and M series pickups that aren't wound as hot. They remind me a bit of a darker Gibson pickup combined with a Bill Lawrence.

The M22SD is kind of a one trick pony like the Dimebucker. It does one thing really well, but that's about it. It's great for high gain, but sounds lifeless with anything less than high gain.
 
Re: Carvin pickups

I dig Duncans too. I came to Duncan after swearing I would only play EMG. The Blackouts remain my favorite all round pickups for detuned metal.

My problem with SD is I find that their passive pickups seem to have big spikes or dips in the EQ curve. For example, everybody seems to love the JB and the Distortion but I find the first to be flabby and the second to be scratchy. It's good that they all sound so different from each other, but I'd rather be doing something else than changing pickups all day.

EMGs do color your sound due to their being mostly midrange, but, for better or worse, they are consistent, and your guitar will sound like an EMG no matter what kind it is. With Duncans, I feel like the tone of the guitar itself is just as important.

The thing is, with most of my guitars being bolt poplar/alder/maple/rosewood Floyded imports, none of them is going to have a great tone like, say, a mahogany neck thru.
 
Re: Carvin pickups

Love your quote by Joel Dantzig, BloodRose. A $200 Chinese Hamer Scarab XT is one of my best sounding guitars.

Really hated to see Hamer go.
 
Re: Carvin pickups

Swampy said:
I've got a M22SD in an Ibanez Roadstar ll. I put it in back in '88, making it a one pup axe. Though it is split with a mini toggle switch. I love it! I guess I'd compare it to a Dimarzio SD.

Funny thing, when I ordered the pickup, they sent me two. I gave a friend the other one and its still in his old BC Rich.
Click to expand...

Swampy, I'm thinking of trying an SD. The JB was okay but I am looking for something more aggressive. A friend tells me the SDs are scratchier and more aggressive in the mids than JBs. Is this true?
 
Re: Carvin pickups

I've used a couple different models, one single coil, the AP-11, and the C22 bridge humbucker. The AP11 was decent enough, the C22 was quite decent.
 
Re: Carvin pickups

Here's the bottom line: Carvin pickups are as good as any Duncan or Dimarzio. Whatever Carvin does, they do with integrity and don't compromise on quality. Their pickups will do what you make them do, so most of the criticism towards them are probably mostly a matter of people just having it in their minds that they should be upgraded. I had a CS4 and tried several Duncans, Gibsons, and Dimarzios in it, but in the end, I couldn't find a superior replacement for the S22 set that came with it. I had a M22 set that came in a DC127 and I ended up using a Norton + Paf Pro, but after experimenting a lot, I could have stayed with the stock pickups. They're really good, but don't serve all purposes and output needs. Fortunately, Carvin makes a big variety of pickups now so you can find yourself an excellent set of pickups for very reasonable prices. They lack absolutely nothing in quality or tone.
 
Re: Carvin pickups

My impression of them goes along with UberMetalDood. I think people are biased against them due to relatively few endorsements and that they sell direct.

I use an MTS3200 that I had rebiased hot with a JJ integrated quad set by Bob Pletka/EuroTubes. It's every bit as good as a JCM800, with probably superior cleans. Their amps are a good deal.

Used, they are a steal, but even $1000 for a guitar is a bit steep for me. And, many of the used specimens I see don't have all the options I'd have on one if I custom ordered it.

Bargain custom shop for sure relative to ESP/Jackson, etc. And the fact that so many session musicians find them to be of good quality comforts me.

Newer custom shops like Halo may give them a run for their money, though, as far as metal players like me. I'm still hoping for a neck thru all mahogany OFR with EMGs or Duncans sub $1000.
 
Re: Carvin pickups

Here's my experience with Carvin's passives (haven't tried actives yet):

C22B - Hot bridge pickup, can recommend without reservation. Probably the Carvin pickup that is changed least.
M22SD - Old School distortion pickup. Nice for high gain. I eventually replaced this in my DC127 with a Duncan Distortion and missed it a little, although the DD is superior overall. Expensive to change since it required routing to fit Duncans in the 127....not sure if the new Carvin guitars still have this problem...
M22V - Bright, thin. Failure as a neck pup for leads unless perhaps you have a heavy, thick-toned guitar that needs clarity. This does NOT describe Carvin neck-thrus, which have extreme clarity and tend to be lacking on the bottom end.
M22N - Improvement over the M22N, but still not thick enough for me.
C22J - Best neck pickup Carvin makes (very nice with the active bass and treble tweaked on Carvins that have it), but still falls short of my benchmark, the Duncan '59N. The '59 was head-and-shoulders above the M22V in my DC127.

Carvin would have to release its stranglehold on its marketing strategy to allow aftermarket pickup ordering options, but I have no doubt it would increase their overall sales. Generally any Carvin neck-thru will have clarity for miles, but really needs some low end oomph, which most Carvin pickups don't deliver (although again, their optional active module can overcome this.....maybe this gives them a false sense of security...).
 
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Re: Carvin pickups

I had a M22SD for a long time and it finally fell apart when the epoxy got brittle. Bright, loud, hard, and resonant. It has a real strong attack and isn't as smooth as other pickups. What I liked the most about it was the two rows of adjustable poles and the ability to angle the pickup in the mounting ring. Their stacked singles were dark, dull ad bloated sounding.
 
Re: Carvin pickups

MkIII, you don't think selling through dealers is a bit silly anymore? I think Carvin has a brilliant strategy in that they cut out the middle men.

They would have been at a disadvantage 20 years ago when you would have had to order through a catalog or going to a Carvin shop instead of picking them up at your local dealer.

The same thing is true with Lace and Wilde Pickups. Some of their pickups direct are $60 vs. $80-100 for DMZ, SD, and EMG.
 
Re: Carvin pickups

I just realized something, their pickups use 3 mounting screws instead of 2. I imagine replacing them with Seymour Duncans, DiMarzios, or anything else would be difficult, especially on their guitars with scratchplates. Right?
 
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Re: Carvin pickups

UberMetalDood said:
Here's the bottom line: Carvin pickups are as good as any Duncan or Dimarzio.
Click to expand...

Oh, I wouldn't go that far. They're good, well-made, but not great PU's. One drawback is that you can't swap magnets with them. Last I knew, the only alnico they used was A5.
 
Re: Carvin pickups

Inflames626 said:
Love your quote by Joel Dantzig, BloodRose. A $200 Chinese Hamer Scarab XT is one of my best sounding guitars.

Really hated to see Hamer go.
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Thank you! It really resonated deeply with me as Ive been guilty in the past of thinking I needed bigger and better, only to learn I sound about the same on whatever I play. Plus, I have a great deal of respect for Joel and the work he has done.
 
Re: Carvin pickups

MkIII Renegade said:
Carvin would have to release its stranglehold on its marketing strategy to allow aftermarket pickup ordering options, but I have no doubt it would increase their overall sales.
Click to expand...

While I do think that Carvin pups are decent, I'd like to see them offer non Carvin pup options. I know Gibson and Fender don't do that, but Carvin does present themselves as a custom builder of sorts. I agree that it would help their sales.
 
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