So my Carvin's on the fritz again...

[B2D]

Re: So my Carvin's on the fritz again...

Man, you've had some bad luck with that thing haven't you? Is it being repaired under warranty?

The first time it was a tube going down that decided to take the rest of the amp with it... I don't think that was the amps fault. I play the amp pretty hard so I guess I just need to be more careful about tubes being changed. I go through a set of power tubes about once every 8-10 months. It gets thrown around a lot in the bottoms of buses and trunk of cars, too, something might have gotten knocked loose. I've had it for almost 2 and a half years now, the warranty's only one year. The 5-year warranty of a Mesa looks good at this point.

i say its a plate resistor on one of the unshared triode sections.

Mkay... would that not affect the clean channel?

I'd say get into another amp with better build quality.

Considering your budget, a secondhand well made production line amp like a Mesa or Rivera would be the best bet. Splawn are also well put together, but I'm unsure what they sell for s/h.

I was looking at getting a Mesa 5:25 Express, but I may just get say F it and get something like a good Bogner or a CAA/Suhr at this rate. No matter what I'll have to get it on credit and pay it off as fast as I can manage cause I don't make that much money at my job. I just got a small raise at work so that'll help.

I've got a certain set of preferences for my amps... so as long as the amp meets the profile I'd give it a test drive, even if it didn't I'd still give it a go.

Now that I think about it I've broken my amps more than I ever did my guitars. I guess thats what I get for playing loud.

 

[J Moose]

Re: So my Carvin's on the fritz again...

Other then the Legacy blowing up once every several months have you been happy with it?

I still haven't played or even heard one in person... but a used one just came into the local shop at a fairly attractive price & I'm tempted to check it out...

Anyway, sorry to hear it blew up AGAIN.

That sucks.

Blowing through power tubes every 8-10 months seems odd in my experience but I guess if it's being used 4 nights a week all bets are off...

Beyond that... probably not a hip idea to toss it around in Greyhound cargo holds & taxi trunks. Best to get a road case if you're doing that kinda thing on a regular basis...

 

[Ascension]

Re: So my Carvin's on the fritz again...

I'd say get into another amp with better build quality.

Considering your budget, a secondhand well made production line amp like a Mesa or Rivera would be the best bet. Splawn are also well put together, but I'm unsure what they sell for s/h.

I have owned many of the Carvin tube amps and in my experiance they have been bullitproof on the road. Actually with the exception of the tweed vintage series amps even more so than the Mesa's and Marshalls I have owned. The Legacy and MTS in particular are normally very roadworthy. I'm kind of surprised to see you having problems this soon with a Legacy.

 

[lastwinj]

Re: So my Carvin's on the fritz again...

Mkay... would that not affect the clean channel?

depends on the topology of the amp. most 2 channel high gain designs share an input triode, then split to the sep. clean and dirty section, then they share the circuitry after their respective channel volumes. so, one of the triodes in the dirty channel can be causing this. the heating up part, and then cutting in and out, then cutting out completely makes me think this. arcing, then total failure, as the plate resistor heats up.
unsure of the build quality of the carvin legacy, but alot of high production makers have been using 1/4w metal film for plate resistors. they are usually junk. (marshall doe sin the DSL and TSL models).

keep us posted.

germ

 

[B2D]

Re: So my Carvin's on the fritz again...

Other then the Legacy blowing up once every several months have you been happy with it?

Yep! At Gearjoneser's suggestion I've been dialing in brighter tones lately and I really like the actual tone a lot. After he saw my band play live at the Viper Room in LA he gave me some advice and I took heed.

I still haven't played or even heard one in person... but a used one just came into the local shop at a fairly attractive price & I'm tempted to check it out...

The thing with this amp is that you have to be running really good tubes (Carvin recommends JJ's) to get the best sound out of it... it's really sensitive to tube types, especially preamp tubes. But i like everything about the amp other than the difficulties I'm having.

Anyway, sorry to hear it blew up AGAIN.

That sucks.

Blowing through power tubes every 8-10 months seems odd in my experience but I guess if it's being used 4 nights a week all bets are off...

Beyond that... probably not a hip idea to toss it around in Greyhound cargo holds & taxi trunks. Best to get a road case if you're doing that kinda thing on a regular basis...

Well saying it blew up this time would be going a bit far. The dirty channel's having problems. It actually sounds great when it works for the first few minutes!

I have the thing at gig-level power for about 3-4 hours about three nights a week and i run an attenuator. I can understand why my tubes would have a short lifespan.

I must correct myself earlier... it's usually the cab that's in the bus hold or the trunk of my Honda, the head usually is on the seat next to me or up in the bus passenger seats. But you're still right, I should probably look at getting a road case for the head.

I have owned many of the Carvin tube amps and in my experiance they have been bullitproof on the road. Actually with the exception of the tweed vintage series amps even more so than the Mesa's and Marshalls I have owned. The Legacy and MTS in particular are normally very roadworthy. I'm kind of surprised to see you having problems this soon with a Legacy.

I run it kinda hard and the amp does see a lot of abuse. Can't really do anything about the power levels I'm using but being more careful (using a road case like JMoose suggested) might be a good idea.

depends on the topology of the amp. most 2 channel high gain designs share an input triode, then split to the sep. clean and dirty section, then they share the circuitry after their respective channel volumes. so, one of the triodes in the dirty channel can be causing this. the heating up part, and then cutting in and out, then cutting out completely makes me think this. arcing, then total failure, as the plate resistor heats up.
unsure of the build quality of the carvin legacy, but alot of high production makers have been using 1/4w metal film for plate resistors. they are usually junk. (marshall doe sin the DSL and TSL models).

keep us posted.

germ

Huh... that makes good sense. Curious... what do you do for a living?

 

[Virtual Kevorkian]

Re: So my Carvin's on the fritz again...

Huh... that makes good sense. Curious... what do you do for a living?

He builds and services amps. :laugh2:

 

[B2D]

Re: So my Carvin's on the fritz again...

He builds and services amps. :laugh2:

Good, i was hoping so because if he didn't do something amp-related with that kind of knowledge, that'd be a **** shame.

 

[B2D]

Re: So my Carvin's on the fritz again...

OK!! Got a call from the Carvin factory this morning... they had to evacuate for a few days due to the fires but they finished fixing the amp on schedule.

Unfortunately by the time I'd gotten the voice mail and called carvin back the techs had left for the day. I talked to a sales guy who brought up the return ticket and said the tech remarked "Defective Tube Sockets" on the repair slip.

Interesting... I'm going to call the tech Monday morning and pick his brain a little bit about what exactly he found and how he fixed it.

I forget if I mentioned this or not... the tubes run a little hotter when I use an attenuator... hot enough to make the red paint on the side of the Groove Tubes EL34s turn to brown. Do you think that this high heat caused the tube sockets to burn out or wear out?

 

[tone4days]

Re: So my Carvin's on the fritz again...

i hope it works out for ya Bren .... lets us know what goes back and forth when you pick the tech's brain

cheers
t4d

 

[J Moose]

Re: So my Carvin's on the fritz again...

I talked to a sales guy who brought up the return ticket and said the tech remarked "Defective Tube Sockets" on the repair slip.

I forget if I mentioned this or not... the tubes run a little hotter when I use an attenuator... hot enough to make the red paint on the side of the Groove Tubes EL34s turn to brown. Do you think that this high heat caused the tube sockets to burn out or wear out?

Tube sockets burning out with the attenuator?

Really doubt it. I'd say your in the clear there...

"Defective tube sockets" sounds interesting though... If they're "defective" then the repair is free no?!

 

[B2D]

Re: So my Carvin's on the fritz again...

Tube sockets burning out with the attenuator?

Really doubt it. I'd say your in the clear there...

"Defective tube sockets" sounds interesting though... If they're "defective" then the repair is free no?!

The repair will not be free, as the warranty on the amp is only 1 year.

The 5-year warranty on a new Marshall and the 5-year transferable warranty on a new Mesa is starting to look appealing.

Like I said, I'll have to talk to the tech to find the whole story. The guy who read the diagnosis was a salesguy who wasn't involved in the repair at all.

 

[B2D]

Re: So my Carvin's on the fritz again...

Ok, I talked to the actual tech who worked on my amp today. He told me that the tube sockets on some of the preamp tubes had come loose and that was what was causing the problem. As a precaution, he said he went ahead and replaced ALL 9 tube sockets (5 pre, 4 power) in the amp, ran it through a test, and the problem was solved.

He said this could have been caused by any number of reasons... lots of roughly-handled tube changes or spending lots of time in the trunk of a car traveling could be culprits of working the sockets loose as well.

Looks like I'll be buying a road case for the head and transporting it more carefully in the time being. In the meantime I've run up a repair bill of $231, as well as a thought to consider: I've had this amp since about July '05... just around 28 months or so. In that period of time I've spent almost $500 on repairs for this amp, both of which occured outside the warranty period.

Now I don't have a problem if the amp is going to suffer from normal wear and tear occuring from a medium-intensity gigging and rehearsal schedule, but I want the manufacturer to have my back on this. Those 5-year warranties of Marshall and Mesa are starting to look very tempting, and the Legacy inches nearer to the selling block.

What a shame... I really do like the tone of the amp.