aldude

I used to have this very amp! (Maybe you got my old one? Who knows.....) I quite liked it - the sound was great, and the 12 band EQ powerful and very helpful. I loved the dual band compressor and thought it added a lot to the sound. I never used the preamp tube though, I went solid state all the way. It's a big heavy beast though. It also had some reliability issues but was ok when fixed. I can't remember why I moved it on. I miss it! I do remember that it has a massive toroidal inductor inside for the power supply, probably contributing a lot to the weight, and also when I turned it on it would trip some pubs' circuit breakers, due to the massive current draw to initially charge up those big capacitors inside. It was a real man's amp all right! Also, the best bit was the control on the back for controlling the intensity of the lights on the front

So! I gigged this beast. Aaaand ... wow, I think this is the cab I've been looking for all these years! It has power in absolute spades - it was a smallish pub so I ran the amp through only the 4ohm Super 12T, the Compact was there to give the other cab height but wasn't plugged in. Still, the amp had more headroom than I would ever need (so through both cabs would be ...even more!!!) The sound itself is very punchy - it's great. So easy to change the sound with the simple controls - low mid, mid etc... and if I needed thunderous bottom end then the sub bass control added ridiculous amounts of it if needed. The sound itself is fairly "old school", particularly if you crank up the drive on the preamp tube, which I don't really do. Still I felt I was coming through loud and clear even up at the dusty end and I had a really great night because of it. I would really recommend this amp to anyone! Can't comment on the BX series - 3 EQ stages is a bit mush for me - but I expect them to be great too. If you're on the fence ... go for it!

It sure is loud. Also has a lot more oomph than some amps I've tried. Moves a lot of air, if you see what I mean. I'm running at 2.66 ohms - one 8ohm and one 4ohm cab - so the amp will put out about 750W or thereabouts. It seems that's more than enough! Mind you the cabs are Barefaced so that might explain the volume!

So ..... I got a B1000, and used it in anger on Tuesday evening at rehearsal. And ... wow this thing is loud. I mean, this thing on it's minimum volume seems pretty loud so I would keep the "active" switch enabled or turn down the bass - I'm in a loud band anyway though so it doesn't matter to me! Sounds lovely though. I don't usually use tube overdrive because I don't really like it ... until now! It adds a growly grit to the sound that I quite like and is less harsh than other tube preamps I've tried. The amp also seems very, very transparent. That is, anything that I seem to play seems to come right through - I tend to play a bit percussively when I get excited and that definitely comes through. It's also quite high on the treble side so that needs to be toned back, I usually have to turn the treble up. All in all it seems like a pretty decent amp. We shall see how it fares at a gig this Saturday night!

Aha, this is all good stuff, and Carvin look like a good amp to go for. Discreet, like you it's been a long and difficult route to finding the right amp with the right tone. So far, I liked the tone of the TC RH450 but it was woefully underpowered for my band. A Trace Elliot 500-12 from the mid 2000's (seriously underrated amps imo) sounded pretty close and had plenty of power, but weighed a ton and suffered from reliability issues. If you don't mind me asking, why did you go for the 2000W monster? Would not the 900W of the B1000 been enough? (Though this may not have been available at the time.) I've also been through loads of cabs and you'll have to pry my Barefaced from my cold, dead fingers!

Is that the same as the current B2000? Carvin's web site shows that as being 13lb / less than 6kg. I currently use a Genz Benz Shuttlemax 12.2 (2x 600W) to drive one 4 ohm and one 8 ohm cabs. But for me, it lacks.... something, I don't know, warmth, punch, something that I can't dial in, but I haven't been able to find a sound I'm completely happy with after a lot of fiddling. So am looking for something else that has dual amps or can go below a 4 ohm load. These Carvins seem to provide a lot for the money.

Hi, I'm looking for a bit more info on Carvin amps - the B1000 specifically, it would be great to hear from anyone who has used this or any other Carvin amps? There doesn't seem to be a lot of information out there. Thanks.