Carvin Mental Hystrionics!

[Cygnus X1]

Ok, not that bad, but here's my deal.
I want a versatile (good clean, good distortion potential) HEAD,
I like tubes, and I'm pushing towards a new Carvin X100B reissue.

BUT, here's my problem. I never buy anything new. Especially sight-unheard.
I'd like to know what kind of tone I can expect if I decide to jump. I don't need insane amounts of gain, but I want a lot more than my Fender Deluxe
Reverb can provide. (Think Jame's Gang Funk 49, it sounds great, but not a
metal amp by any means). I like old metal, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, and 80's Ratt tones. Am I wasting my money? My drop dead limit is 1,000.
NO COMBO's...I have enough combo's, and cab's are not an issue.
Anyone ever had experience with Carvin amps? Are they reliable?
Or the old X100B's?

[thetroy]

Didn't Steve Vai use them along with some other pretty amazing players?

I haven't owned one myself but would have no issues with buying an X100B off ebay. I've never read a negative comment about them.

[Bri]

I have an X-60 combo that I got around '84. I dimed the gain and master volume for 6hrs a day, 6 days a week for about 4 years. Still sounds great. It is basically the same as the X100B without graphic EQ. I used a Boss super feedbacker to give it a little more edge. My tone leaned more towards George than Warren, but that was by choice.

[mjtripper]

I have a 92 x100b fuzzy model that is still my main amp. I've never had a problem and think it's a great amp. Some don't but I rather like the original 100 watt br12 speakers that came with it also. It does have a lot more gain then the deluxe has. There have been a couple different versions of the x amps so if you hear people say it doesn't have enough gain they might be talking about the original 6l6 based version that wasn't hot rodded. The later versions had a hot rod circuit you turned on by pulling out the master knob. The cleans on it, and most carvins, are really good with all kinds of headroom.

[Cygnus X1]

I saw one negative response on another forum, and another guy was saying to hold out for a Bogner, or a Splawn. The neg was about reliability...but I always have heard Carvin was top notch in service.
And I'm not holding out for something that much more expensive. I'm not exactly
a pro musician, by any stretch.
What's a fuzzy model?

Oh, and the one I'm looking at is the reissue, new, 699.

[straycat]

I love my 88 X100B.Mine has the black tolex EL34's/graphic EQ.The fuzzy tolex hot rod model is an 89 IIRC and has 6L6's.
Great amps Cyg.The OD is OK I use a fulltone OCD thru the clean channel for OD.Lots of headroom plus the reverb is very lush too.
Top notch amp IMO.
I paid $300 for the head and $175 for a Carvin 4x12 cab both dead nuts mint.
Neat thing about the old ones you can switch from 100 to 50 to 25 watts.

[skorb]

just buy the thing, it's a great amp and made very very well.

[necrotechno]

My '92 is still kicking.

Wish they wouldn't have put the goofy 80's logo on the reissue, though.

[jgcable]

Its a great amp. I heard that the reissue is even better. The original has as much gain as a stock JCM800 2203. I heard the reissue has much more. It has a great clean channel too.

[mjtripper]

Sorry the fuzzy model was the last model they released before it was discontinued. Instead of tolex it has a grey fuzzy carpet covering the amp. If it has the fuzzy carpet it is a hot rodded el34 based amp. The tolex covered ones started with a non-hot rod 6l6, then went to a hot rod 6l6, then a hot rod el34. Then for some reason they switched from tolex to the carpet. The combos pretty much followed the same pattern but there were a couple different options such as no graphic eq. You will see x100a and x100b on some of them, b models were hot rodded with an extra gain stage. Mine was been a great amp, I purchased it new in 92 and haven't had any problems. The cleans are incredible and it had as much gain as the boogies and marshalls of the same era if I recall. It's the only amp I haven't sold over the years, although since I don't play out anymore I did sell my backup head and combo to fund my sls purchase. I would like to get a modern high gain amp but not if I have to sell the carvin to get it.

[atilla]

A THD Univalve will give you the tones you're looking for if you stick the right tubes in it (I recommend 5751-7025-6V6). And want to talk about reliable? They're built s-o-l-i-d.

[Maximum_Crunch]

If you buy it and don't like it then you can always send it back(i think it's like within 10 days or something) for a full refund.

[lerxstcat]

I had an XV212 (combo version) that I bought in 1981 and sold in 2000 and was very reliable. I just sold it because I preferred heads, and bought 2 X-60B heads with the money because I thought they sounded better. I could push them at a lower volume because they had 3-way power switches as opposed to 2-way on the combo I had. So I could run them at 15 watts at home, which was still too loud.

Great classic rock distortion, with an SD-1 I could do metal just fine. I sold the X-60s in 2003 because I had the Carvin VM100 by then, which is a more modern hig-gain amop. It's the forerunner of the MTS and the Legacy. I'd get a used MTS head for $3500-$400 off of Ebay, frankly. If it isn't for you you can turn it for what you paid, and it's a pretty great head for not much money. But I think you'd dig the X100B for what you describe too.

[Cygnus X1]

Now I have to wait for the bonus to show up.
Hopefully a transmission won't (literally) fall out of one of my vehicles in the
meantime. Meh, I earned it, this one's mine. I can walk.
Thanks, all, and especially hippietim. I'll see in due time.

[hippietim]

Dude, if you get the x100b i'd love to hear how the reissue sounds. I used one of the original ones throughout the 80's. My entire rig was an X100B, whatever 4x12 I had at the time, a Power Soak, Boss DS-1, and a Boss Chorus and Delay if I could afford it at the time.

I used to get guys come up to me at shows asking me where my rack was - these were the same guys that would show up to their gigs with a refrigerator rack full of gear and just sound like ass. I was jealous of their gear but mine sounded a lot better.