Carvin Vintage Series...

Re: Carvin Vintage Series...

I had a nomad 50 for a long time, and eventually traded up for a fender HR deville. Almost immediately, I found the tone to be very midrange-treble based, and almost devoid of bass. This really helps you to nail that "sweet spot" in EQ that helps a guitar cut through a band REALLY well. I found the clean channel excellent in this respect, so that would nail your funk sounds. Again, this is not a bad amp, just one that I found is voiced really differently than your typical fenders, marshalls, etc. It handles pedals really well. I eventually traded it because I needed something with more speakers. But this sucker was loud!

So I loved the cleans on the amp, and it served as a great slate for all my effects and such. I wasn't as fond of the dirty channel, but I mainly go for heavily distorted sounds.

I hope this helps. Happy amp hunting!
 
Re: Carvin Vintage Series...

I have the Vintage 16 and in my opinion it's......okay. If I had to do it over I would'nt buy it. Could use an overall shot of presence because something in the treble lacks. You're never going to get a Fender kind of clean out of it. However, when I use it I plug a Line6 AM4 amp modeler into it and use the Tweed 4X10 setting and get a great clean tone. I don't care for the OD on the amp at all.
I will agree with Twoface Pimp about the Nomad 50. Actually I tried the Belair which is the same amp but with 2-12's. Did'nt care for the "Soak" channel (which is why I sent it back) but the clean channel was fabulous!! One of the best clean channels I've ever heard, especially with my Strat.
 
Re: Carvin Vintage Series...

Well I'm really looking for a small (quieter than the Classic 30 that I found to be much too loud) tube combo for mostly playing at home, recording, and jamming with friends. Like I said I play blues/funk/jazz mostly so the clean channel is pretty important. Gain channel isn't as important as long as I can crank it to get some tube overdrive. The other amps I'm considering are...

1. Traynor YCV20
2. Fender Blues Jr.
3. Crate V1512
4. Carvin Vintage 16

The Carvin is the only one that I cannot really play before I buy it, so I was just wondering what people thought of it. (but now that I mention it, should I go out of my way to sample any other amps that cost ~400?)
 
Re: Carvin Vintage Series...

FWIW...I've found that the Carvin speakers kinda suck and the amps sound ALOT better when plugged into something else. I haven't tried that amp so I don't know how it'll stack up...but based on years of wrangling decent tones from Carvin amps that people brought in to record with I'd suggest leaving some tacos in the budget for a new speaker.
 
Re: Carvin Vintage Series...

I just looked...it's got a V30 and those are decent speakers. Maybe it would sound better with a mellower low wattage speaker in there like a Greenback but that's a taste thing.
 
Re: Carvin Vintage Series...

Carvin switched to vin 30s sometime recently for their Vintage Series amps. I have a 3 yr old Bel Air (which came then w/Carvin 100 watt speakers), and while the clean channel was great, the soak channel was limited. A few weeks ago I threw in some vin 30s that I had laying around, and man, what a difference! The soak channel improved dramatically. I realize that the search for the perfect amp is eternal, but for the money, my Bel Air has turned out to be, IMHO, a pretty good amp. Because of this speaker changing experience, I may be trying out the V16 myself.
 
Re: Carvin Vintage Series...

Twitch, if you want a tube amp with enough clean headroom to keep up with a normal drummer I would suggest raising your wattage a little. Strangely enough, this is one of the situations where more wattage is a good thing. The fender blues jr. breaks up pretty fast. Heck, my HR deville breaks up pretty fast. I haven't tried the traynor or the crates so I can't say what their headroom is like.
 
Re: Carvin Vintage Series...

The Crate V1512 does not have headroom. I love the amp and I own one and love it but believe me, for your uses (lots of cleans) it really isn't the right thing, it breaks up SOOOOO easilly. It is one of the most touch sensitive amps I have used for a while, almost to a fault. if you hit a note hard, it breaks up, if you crank the volume, it breaks up. It also has tons of gain on tap, 12 oclock or below is ACDC crunch territory in the preamp. You cannot get a loud clean tone but it would work if you don't need a whole lot of volume. I would personally reccomend the Blues Junior out of your list, its a great little amp with a reasonable range of tones (although it doesn't have as much gain and versitility as I personally like) The V1512 might be the right amp for you with a set of lower gain tubes though, I'm going to try putting some in soon and see if that changes anything. The great thing about the Fender or the Crate is that they are so affordable that there might be money left over for a new speaker for the Fender or new tubes for the V1512 (it needs them, the ones that came with mine were highly microphonic)
 
Last edited:
Re: Carvin Vintage Series...

Don't know if it was mentioned, but the Fender Pro Jr. is a good little amp!

The Fender Blues Jr. is as well, both can use a little better speaker and stuff but still both are good amps!
 
Re: Carvin Vintage Series...

+1 on the Pro Junior.

I've played gigs with that amp (mic'd up), and an overdrive and a wah wah pedal, and it sounded RIDICULOUSLY good. Its like a mini marshall in a box.

Very easy to coax those tubey inbetween crunchy sounds, and with a great pedal, its very versatile.
 
Re: Carvin Vintage Series...

I played the vintage 16 recently and thought it sounded pretty good. Not holy grail good, but a useable, nice sounding amp. Very useable for blues, funk and jazz. Compared, the blues jr has a much brighter, more aggressive tone, which I find appealing for a while and then wearying after long periods.
 
Re: Carvin Vintage Series...

I'm assuming the "soak" control is gain. I think I'll go try one out up in Sacremento when the Carvin store opens there.
 
Re: Carvin Vintage Series...

look around for a reverend goblin, great sounding little amp which needs no modifications or upgrades.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

belensky
The Humbucker Archive: DiMarzio, EMG, BKP, Suhr & Duncan Tested – My Notes & Comparison Samples (Long Read)
2
Replies
31
Views
832
freefrog
freefrog
Gstring
MY LATEST .AMAZING QUAKITY BUDGET CHINESE STRAT TYPE.
Replies
8
Views
609
ehdwuld
ehdwuld
ebagjones
NAD - Never have run into anything that less for me
Replies
5
Views
593
ebagjones
ebagjones
B
Speakers...
2 3 4
Replies
71
Views
5K
jeremy
jeremy
M
Tone Gurus Please Advise! Buzz issue. All info/pictures/diagram included.
2
Replies
29
Views
2K
GuitarDoc
G
Back
Top