Carvin PB-500H Pro Bass Head

1991 Purchased new from Carvin.
Mostly classic rock, this amp has been a trouper for 17+ years. Two 250W amps that can be bridged for 500W, or bi-amped with the internal crossover. Effects loop, headphone jack and balanced line-out. It also has a noisegate and compressor built in.

I played a Charvel 3B for years and recently bought a Carvin ICON4WP (I went Carvin because of this amp). Both guitars sound great, this amp has plenty of power for a basement or small club, I've even played some outdoor gigs with it. The amp doesn't have any noise (I thought it did, but it turned out to be the Charvel).

I never had an issue until two weeks ago, the protect light went on about 20 minutes in. I shut it off and turned it back on and it ran flawelessly for another hour and a half. Go figure. After 17 years, all I've ever done is blow the dust out occasionally.

The only problem with Carvin is it's hard to service locally, and I've heard they no longer service this amp at the factory.

If this amp were stolen (or I hit the lottery), I'll probably upgrade to a new Carvin. I wish I had purchased the foot pedal back in 1991, they're impossible to find now. I also would've loved to have a mute switch on the amp. You can't ask for too much more than 17 solid years of service. I paid >$500 new, if you can find one for $150 in good condition, I'd consider that a steal.

I use this amp with a 4x10 cab, and it is plenty loud for what I play (punk, rock, etc). Has a super beefy tone with my Fender p-bass. Almost too many knobs to twitter about, but if you spend time with it you can really dial it in. The built-in compressor and noise gate are handy too - no need for an external compressor. Many options for bi-amping and alternate speaker configuration. I'm guessing this is an early 90s edition.

I've never tried turning it up ridiculously loud - usually by about 5 I'm blasting everyone in the room. Defintely can get a ton of sounds out of this thing.

I never bring a backup. Its solid state so the potential problems are limited.

Bought used, never dealt with Carvin direct.

Solid, reliable amp. Been playing for 15+ years, have owned a number of amps, like this one the best. Good mid-range budget amp.

Bought the head along with a 410 cab and a 115 cab new from the San Diego store in early 1991 so I'm assuming it was built in 1990. I've used all the features of the amp throughout the years and have like what was available. The only feature I haven't used consistently is the noise gate. No real need to use it.

I've used this amp exclusively since I bought it with no real need for a backup until July of 2007 when something inside overheated and and fried a transistor. (17 years of running perfectly. What more can a person ask for.) I use the amp for gigging in clubs and it has always been powerful enough for my needs.

I use an old Washburn Axis bass with Jazz style active pickups on the road and a Fender American Jazz as my backup. Both basses sound great through the amp.

The amp itself has a little "hiss" to it but then again it is 17 years old and has never been cleaned. Thousands of gigs in smokey bars plus hundreds of beers spilled on it and it still sounds decent.

I coundn't ask for a more dependable amp. Like I've mentioned before. It's never been cleaned. Plus I've abused this thing to no end and it still performed great. Here are a few examples of the abuse this thing has taken over the last 16 years.

1994 - Fell out of the back of the van when the back door popped open at 70 mph. Damage- Just a few scratches and dings.
1996 - Chucked off a second story balcony into some bushes by a pissed off wife - No Damage
1996 - Left outside in the rain for a week in Seatle - No Damage
1998 - Ran over by the Box Van when the soundman forgot to put it back in after changing a flat tire. - No Damage
2000- Drunk climbed up on stage and tipped over the entire stack - Damage was just a couple scratches. set it back up and kept plugging along fine.
2004 - Automobie accident that totaled the van - Damge: Broken knob
2007 - Transistor fried and the thing died. Trying to find part to fix the amp.

I've never had to deal with Carvin on customer support until recently and so far they seem very helpful in getting the amp fixed. Just waiting to find out how much it is actually gonna cost to fix the thing before I get it fixed.

As far as over all rating I'd give this amp head a 10. Never had any problems with it until recently and have gotten 16 great years of used out of this work horse. Hell, it's lasted longer then two of my wives!

Everyone has features covered already.

I am the third owner, I think, and everything still works.

I play a Carvin BK4A and a fretless Ibanez Musician through this amp, and biamp to a vintage Alembic (now BagEnd) 1x15 cab with a JBL KH-140 for the lows and a homebuilt 2x8 with Carvin drivers for the highs, crossed over just above 200Hz. I could run everything flat and get a pretty nice tone, although my favorite settings are: bass boost in, mids +3 (or more) dB around 400 Hz and the highest slider on the graphic EQ lowered just a tad. I really like the clean, sweet, slightly warm sound of this amp. Not sure why some people call it sterile. Mine isn't.

Never had the slightest problem in the 3 years I had it. I always play without backup. This amp must be well over ten years old and everything works just fine.

Carvin has first rate customer support if you call (don't email). And their BBS is second to none. However, I never needed support for this amp, which is even better.
I have ordered or bought at their store a fair bit of other Carvin equipment. It's always been a very pleasant experience.

I've played bass on and off since 1982. Owned various combo amps. This is my first 'serious' bass head and I am very happy with it. I've checked out the RL series amps at the Carvin store and prefer the sound of my PB500. (Not that the RLs sound bad...)
You get a lot of value for your money with a used PB500.

Used - at least 8 years old and for a measly $125.00 this was a deal. The amp by itself is very versatile with lots of power, eq, compression, headphone jack, and effects loop. Lot of knobs to tweak which can be good and bad. Plenty of power here with 250watts per side @ 8 ohms. I use it to drive a monster Ampeg SVT 8x10 cab.

I was not too impressed with the tone until I hooked up a Tech 21 Bass DI and what a difference! I can get that ballsy and meaty Ampeg tone and a variety of other tones. The Pro Bass is pretty quiet even with the fan. Right now I am using a Fender 75 Jazz RI and have used a Fender P as well as a number of Yamaha TRB-4P series basses. Pro Bass by itself gets a "6" but I have to get it a "10" with the Bass DI in front of it let's split the differrence and give it an "8".

The amp looks damn solid and weight like a ton too. WHat is there to service since it is solid state? I haven't had any problems since i bought it about 4 years ago. I use it every weekend for gigs without a backup and it just keeps on going without a wimper. Maybe I got the oddball unit???

The only contact I had with Carvin was after I purchased the amp I called them for a manual. They were pretty nice and sent me a manual for absolutely nothing.

Overall, the Pro Bass 500 is a solid performer and what a bargain at $125. I see quite a few of them around town and they all sound pretty decent. You can get a great sound and flexibility just by using a Bass DI. Plenty of power to spare and they seem to be pretty reliable. If it was stolen I would probably find another one since they are so cheap and nobody seems to want them.

Great features as writen by others

Sounds great maybe a bit dry at times when I Bi-amped it with 4-10's and Carvins original 18" (the new one has a 4" voive coil instead of the old 3" -may be punchier) Now run it briged at 500 watts into a solid JBL 12" driver I swapped into the 18 cab and tuned the port by the JBL specs. These 15 and 18 cabinets are too small to tune below about 60 cycles. The bottom "B" on a 5 string is just about 30 cycles so you don't really get the full depth. To my amazement the JBL goes smoothly and effortlessly down very low. All I need to pick up the very bottom end. For the punch and top end I come out of the Hi output in back from the crossover and pre-amp and run it to a Marshal stereo slave tube amp I picked up from an ad for $125. (I think the girl was being mean to her old boyfriend) I run it on a 4 ohm load per chanel each to two of the 10's in a Carvin 4x10 box. This set-up is very loud, strong deep and punchy with a wide range of flexability in tone and color. Very happy.
Use a washburn 5 and Carvin fretless 6 string both with active pickups.

Been very reliable, did have a problem with the fan circut and it was shutting down so instead of a costly repair a picked up a 120 volt 5" fan from Radio Shack and direct wired it to the switch and bolted it outside over where the old fan was. Great air flow, never had a problem since.

Carvin has always been there on the phone when I have called for tech support friendly and knowledgable

Bought it used with the 18 and 4x10 cabinets about 8 years ago been very pleased. Scheming on getting the new 8x10 Carvin cabinet sometime -for $700 it is one sweet punchy deal.

After doing more research (above), I found out my ampeg 4x10 cabinet had a problem, which was making the head cut out. Since I fixed this, the head worked great.

you can get what you want from this amp , the only one big minus is that you can't use the graphic EQ without the footswich .

I have pushed this amps often to the limit , NEVER had problem with it .well it is not a SVT but for the price , I didn't find a better value .

5 years of hard work ( and tons of dust !!! ) , the puts are abit noise ( the one that I am not regulary use ) but after cleaning , every thing sounds very good .

never tried them ......... never needed .

I still have to mention , THIS WILL NEVER BE OR GIVE THE SAME SOUND AS A 2000$ AMPS , BUT ,I bought this amp in 1996 , and played often with only one 15" box (350W) .this set up was enought for me to get some super lows for every thing from dub till rock & roll .If you get a clean amp ( not to dusty ) , buy it , it's a monster on sale .

Solid state 2 x 250 watts into 8 ohms, bridgeable mono 500 watts into 8 ohms. Onboard crossover, noise gate, EQ with semi-parametric midrange plus graphic EQ (footswitchable), effects loop (footswitchable),Cool Volume boost feature for solos (only available via footswitch), headphone jack, and many patching opportunities via jacks on back panel.

I mainly play a Tobias Growler 5 with bartilini pickups, and I play a Hip Hop-Hardcore-Metal fusion (kinda Limp Bizkit, Incubus, etc) with a weird emphasis on low end rythmic licks. I think it's quite a cool complement to the versatility of my bass and I've got almost every sound I've wanted from it. Zero noise (except for the obvious if you plug it in a non-grounded outlet).

I've gigged quite several times with it and with no backups, and it's never broken down, so I think It's quite reliable.

I've emailed Carvin so many times... never had and answer.
Customer Support SUCKS!!!
Too bad they make so good amps, but don't support the ones who buy them!

Cool punch (although this also depends on the bass you use), Extreme low end, awesome loudness and mind-blowing treble. I will not sell this amp ever!

The only problem it has is the Customer service!!!

Solid state 250wx2 Bi-amp, or 500wx1 mono, crossover, noise gate.

Well, I like a brutal, punchy, crunchy, clear, big bottom, and I found it!! Bought this head used, traded my Hartke, 2 days before a gig. Took it to the gig, fired it up, adjusted a few things (3 minutes tops), and began to pound away. Many comments from folks came my way, mostly like this "Jesus, where the hell did you get that tone?" To which I replied "I'm not Jesus, and I am not sure, but I like it!!" The thing was brutal, tons of string brilliance and crunch. My main bass is a Peavey Dyna Bass from the early 80's, the cabs I use are the world's ugliest Peavey 1810 (1 18" Black widow and 2 10" Scorpions, and a Carvin V410 (4-10" woofs and a compression horn. This conglomeration makes a great setup for hard rock and metal. The only bass hitting harder is in the trunk of my car!! Bass tone very much like the band Tool (AWESOME BAND!!). If you are looking for brilliant punch with a mean bottom, and no clankiness (if that's a word), this amp should do it.

Haven't had it long, but the gig I used it at was outside on a VERY, VERY hot and humid day. The amp was quite warm in the back ate the heatsink location, but it never acted as if were bothered about it. And my experience with Carvin equipment has been without flaws.

Well, it seems kinda hard to get a manual for this thing, it's not yet on the website, and it is out of print for good according to their tech support.

Well, I love it, it has the perfect blend of brightness and punch with a well defined and big, brutal bottom. I think I will stay here a while!

Solid state 2 x 250 watts into 8 ohms, bridgeable mono 500 watts into 8 ohms. Onboard crossover, noise gate, EQ with
semi-parametric midrange plus graphic EQ (footswitchable), effects loop (footswitchable), headphone jack, and a plethora of patching
opportunities via jacks on back panel.
I never used the compressor, noise gate, footswitch, or any of the bi-amp features.

It's been fairly difficult to find "the sound" from this amp. It takes a LOT of toying with, but when it's finally tweaked, it has sounded really sweet.

I bought this amp used, and it worked great for a while. I am not sure whether the previous owner had any knowledge of the problems I have experienced or not. The pre amp has been overheating, which has progressively gotten worse. Initially I could run the head for about 4 hours straight with no problems. It now cuts out after about 10-20 minutes of playing. This all took place within about 1 month. The amp in does allow for bypassing the pre amp, allowing me to still use the head.

Carvin has been very helpful in my conversations with them, i.e. sending a new manual and answering my questions over the phone.

A great amp, very clean and a good price for the features, but maybe not quite as good as GK or Ampeg.

Solid state 2 x 250 watts into 8 ohms, bridgeable mono 500 watts into 8 ohms. Onboard crossover, noise gate, EQ with semi-parametric midrange plus graphic EQ (footswitchable), effects loop (footswitchable), headphone jack, and a plethora of patching opportunities via jacks on back panel.
I never used the compressor, noise gate, footswitch, or any of the bi-amp features.

The amp worked for me while I used it because I was playing in a rock band in clubs where the soundman could negatively affect my sound far more easily than I believe the amp did. It never sounded bad, it just never sounded right. The amp is probably capable of a variety of tones but I and I think most people look for one good one and stay with it, and I never really found it on this amp.
The amp is clean and loud, but also rather sterile and cold. It makes me think of air conditioning: it's supposed to feel comfortable, and compared to certain conditions it can do that, but it's always rather stale and never quite satisfying enough.

The protection circuits shut the amp down twice in practice due to overheating: the cooling fan armature was stuck in magnetic no-man's-land on power up and failed to turn. All I had to do was bump the fan to start it turning and wait for the amp to cool. That was a year ago and it hasn't happend since.
It was blowing fuses for a while, but I was putting the wrong ones in. Dork.

I've dealt with Carvin only once:
In Carvin's catalog, the amp is billed as "RACKMOUNTABLE!", while it comes in it's own cabinet. I removed it with plans to rack mount it but there is no cover on the bottom of the chassis - electronics are exposed. I called and asked what this was all about and I was told that they don't come standard with bottom covers, that I would need a bottom cover to mount it in a rack, and that bottom covers are $10 extra plus shipping.
I put it back in its cabinet.

The features and power / price ratio on this amp is quite favorable. If you try it and like it, go for it.
The PB500 was a huge step up from the antique Peavey combo I was using previously, and I used the Carvin exclusively for a couple of years. It was the right amp at the right time for me, but it is no longer the right amp for me. The longer I play, the more I become attuned to how I want an amp to sound and the Carvin isn't it anymore.