Carvin R1000 Bass Head

This is a Series 2 model 1000 watt head. Lots of great features that would be wonderul if they were worth anything. The compressor sucks and so does the noise gate. Having a headphone jack is great along with all the effect loops but the overall product is kinda poorly made. I can't even play it at rehearsals anymore since it has started to die out completely now. Their amps always seem to have a short life. I only give it a 3 because it actually has features, although they're worthless.

I use many different basses with it and it doesn't sound too bad, although it can be a bit muddy/clicky. You seem to be stuck with either one or the other. The old PB300 I had from them was much better sounding. There's a blend between the tube and solid state that is pretty useless. There's hardly any difference in tone between the two sides.

No offense to Carvin, but this amp sucks. It's darn near dead. They apparently made improvements with the third series of this amp but I know for a fact that those get returned even more than this series did. It works great until you try and actually push it a little. If I play it with a band it cruds out since I try to put the volume past 3. The power amps on it clip out too easily. It's the lowest powered 1000 watts I have ever heard.

They're not exactly the friendliest bunch. The salesmen that do care don't seem to last too long there. Heaven forbid that you should go out of your way to help a customer and send them home happy. I think the heads of the company have become so apathetic towards their customers because they complain so much about the poor quality of the products. There are some nice people there but their hands seem to be kinda tied due to the insensitivity of the higher-ups. Expect to get charged a fortune for repairs and shipping back and forth. You pay for it all if the warranty is even a day over. Most other companies even have a longer warranty period.

I wouldn't purchase their amps if I were you. Lord knows I won't ever again. I'm going for broke and replacing my whole Carvin set-up with a Mesa/Boogie one. Sure it's a lot more money but you get what you pay for. There's a reason that Carvin's products are so inexpensive and it's not just because they're factory direct. The guitars and basses actually aren't bad but they seem to really lack with the amps. The sad thing is that the really old ones sound and work great. What happened along the way, Carvin? Maybe they should concentrate more on what they were known for as opposed to DJ and lighting gear. Too many irons in the fire has caused their product quality to sink.

Maybe too many features but it can be dialed in with work with almost any application. Make notes of the settings for the sound you like as you may never find it again.

Compressor varies widely between the series I & II. The gate is useless on both Series I & II. Good tone however across the board.

Hundreds of gigs and it's toast. It was never pushed hard and was well maintained. I don't trust their products any longer. Not my first Carvin problem.

WORTHLESS! TAKE THE SALES PEOPLE OUT OF THE LOOP! THEY DON'T CARE! I COMPLAINED TO THE VP OF SALES AT NAMM ABOUT THEIR POOR SERVICE AND THEY DID NOTHING BUT LOOSE ONE MORE CUSTOMER.

Great value but poor reliability and even worse service. What's the point?

My R1000 is a Series II with the real tube. I bought it new in 1999, promptly removed it from its case and put it in my SKB rack (what can I say, I'm a child of the 80's... I gotta have a rack).

This amp has loads and loads of power. I've run it in bi-amp and full range configurations and it's been a real trooper.

The versatility of the effect loop configurations is pretty good but I would have liked to have the split frequency preamp sends switchable as well (only the mono loop is swichable).

This thing has three versions of EQ on it: low, mid, and high boost; parametric; and foot switchable graphic. I never use the boost buttons so they are wasted on me. I set the parametrice (which is very good by the way) to tune to whatever room I'm in, and I set the graphic in a swoosh shape for lead boost. Very much a set it and forget it operation. I probably haven't moved an EQ setting in two years.

The crossover is great if you bi-amp (which I do) and that really highlights the need for two separate power amp controls (which it has) so you can match your cabinet volumes. Good call.

The direct out is fine. It's the only one I have experience with, but I've recorded direct to digital with no problem. The new Series III's have theoretically upgraded this section.

The compressor is very high quality, but I never use it. The noise gate is not good though. It cuts abruptly and is slow to disengage when you try to pump a signal through it. I have a widely dynamic style so I have to leave it off all the time just to get all my notes through.

Bottom line: this is a versatile amp, but I don't use half of what it does. However, if you simply must bi-amp and run split frequency effects, I don't know of another amp that will do it.

I play a wide range of music styles by may approach is all fingerstyle and I handle all my dynamics by touch rather than effect. I've also experimented with different tubes and found that I like a 12AX7WB best. I have never had a complaint about the sound of this amp, but I like a very clean (unless I specifically choose otherwise) type of tone.

It went funky on my about six months ago. There is something in the pre-amp section that is creating a buzz when you hook an instrument cable to it. I've tried a lot to debug it and it's still a mystery. Unfortunately, it's bad enough that I've removed it from my rig and am using my 1966 Kustom head.

Until this buzz appeared, it was a tank. Do note however that the tube pre-amp is not 100% consistent. Sometimes it sounds divine, other times less so. That appears to just be a fact of life when dealing with valve technology.

Carvin will do repairs for a set fee, which is expensive, and you pay freight both ways. Or you can trade in your Series II for a brand new in the box Series III for about $100 more than repair cost. This sounds like a great deal until you realize that you are essentially paying for the same amp twice. I'm seriously considering doing this trade-in upgrade though, to get away from the tube inconsistency and to get a new warranty in place. The amp was wonderful when it worked.

They've been stellar. I'm an engineer, and I've talked directly to their bench techs a number of times in trying to debug my noise problem... essentially to the point of receiving about an hour and a half of FREE detailed tech support over the phone. They were there when I was trying to initially set up my effects loop configurations, and have always answered my questions. I don't have a single bad word to say about them.

I've been playing bass for eight years and have had the same (though progressively modified) Washburn 5-string the whole time. The only thing original on it now is the wood. I ran the R1000 off a Furman PL8 conditioner with an Aphex Aural Exciter Type 102 (not the "Big Bottom" version) in the split frequency effects loops to give it a bit more sheen and enliven the harmonics.

The R1000 is the best amp I've found for my unique needs, up to and including Ampeg, Trace Elliot, GK, Eden, SWR, and Peavey. I am disappointed that it developed a problem after only a couple of years of service when I treated it very carefully. It's a good design and a good company.

This thing is packed with features! Got EQ options for days and the amp can be either used mono or stereo, full range or biamp, and can even have the 2 internal power amps bridged so you can get the full 1000 watts out of it. Also has a built in compressor and noise gate. To summarize the EQ options it has 3 preshape buttons (bass boost, mid shift, and high boost), a parametric EQ with low, mid gain, mid frequency, and high knobs, as well as a 9 band graphic EQ. It also has a tube emulator control (I have the Series III model) which dials in a sort of overdrive tone. The head accepts standard 1/4" speaker cables and Twistlok speaker cables, and also has a tuner/headphones out, effects loop, and direct out (XLR) with pre/post switch as well as a ground lift switch. The head also comes with a footswitch to turn the graphic EQ on and off as well as turning the effects loop on and off.
This amp is pretty much feature packed! Check out Carvin's official site for more details. www.carvin.com

I use the R1000 with a Carvin RL410 cab. Now with this many EQ options it's obvious to say that there's probably no sound this thing can't get. I haven't really sat down to see what kind of sounds it can get but I'm sure it can tackle many many styles of music. I've spent most of my time tweaking it, tweaking it, and tweaking it some more to find "my" sound. And I must say after about the month I've had this thing I've finally come up with a good sound. I will say I really don't care for the tube emulator sound too much but since it can be turned off I'm still giving it a 10. I would love to hear what the Series II sound like with the real tube. But honestly, to me, the R1000 sounds warm enough without the tube emulator (with the help of some lows and low mids that is =) ). The noise gate works well to eliminate hum from my Steinberger pickups and the compressor can really squash the sound for you.

No problems yet. I normally do tests with the amp to see if it can take the abuse. Usually my tests involves playing straight for about 15-20 min. The amp kept on trucking. No shut offs or anything. Construction on the amp appears to be pretty solid.

All Carvin products have a 1 year warranty. Overall I've only talked to the people at Carvin when I ordered this thing. They seemed really nice, friendly, and very helpful.

Ever since I've gotten Carvin magazines in the mail I've been thinking about giving their gear a try. So this was my 1st attempt at it and I'm very satisfied. This is by far the biggest rig (in terms of power I mean) I've ever played through since I've mainly used combo amps most of my bass playing life...and let me tell you, this thing is LOUD!!! I have played through a few brands (SWR, Crate, Peavey, and a few small Ampeg combos at local music stores) and I am very happy with the Carvin's sound...and power! As for any complaints in regards to the head I've got a couple small ones: 1st one of course is the tube emulator sound 2nd is an improvement on the instruction manual (make it more detailed and maybe even throw in some suggested settings or something in terms of EQ...as the EQ is about as powerful as the power amps in this thing!) In closing, I'd like to suggest to anyone considering this head to take it slow with the EQ options...to keep it simple let's just say it's amazing how good it sounds when you DON'T try to turn all the knobs =) Other than that it's a fabulous amp.

Bought new in April of 2001..has all kinds of sounds..i play in a cover band, we do blue-eyed soul to funk, to country to rock. The active/passive inputs are handy, i play a bunch of basses. The footswitch lets you control the EQ and Effect loop, and it has lots of patching options on the back. I use the on-board compressor, some, and the noise gate most of the time, both are "ok"..Amp has lots of power, when it works, and has cool bi-amp features, and is very light weight.

I have 4 and 5 sting Fender Jazz basses, Washburn 5 strings, a couple of Ibenaz 5 strings and an Acoustic/Electric, and the amp does a good job for them all..(i also play Guitar/Midi/and Acoustic guitar thruit with good results) After having it, it is loud, but will bottom out on the 5 string "B" if you are not careful with how the EQ is set. Has HI, LOW & MID shift, which can get you into trouble with the added EQ and normal tone controls.

When I bought the amp, I sold or gave away all my old gear, because all the reviews said it was reliable. But it is not. Mine "shit the bed" within 9 months, i had to go out and buy another amp (bought a used Peavy, which i will keep forever now) and will NEVER trust the Carvin again. Now you have to box up the amp, send it back and wait. Plus by the time I get it back, it's outta warranty, so now I'm fighting over what will happen the next time it quits. Carvin won't ship you any circuit boards, you have to ship the entire amp. I'm on the east coast, cost me $50.00 shipping by the time it was over. My R-1000 was in the Carvin case, never dropped, never got wet, and treated like it was glass. If a real roadie would have handeled it, it would have probably fell to pieces.

Carvin Sales answers the phone on the first ring, and is happy to sell you something, but will become very rude very quick when they realize you are not buying awything. Then after you call back, and stay on hold forever, if you don't get put into voice-mail (I left 11 messages and no one has ever called me back), you may get someone to tell you "bummer dude" and give you the address to send it. Took me 12 requests to get a schematic, even though sales promised it when i bought the amp.And i was blow away when i was told they don't have spare modules to swap. Why build a modular amp and brag about it if parts are not inter-changable.

I got my first Sears guitar when i was 7, played in my first band at 12, and i've played ever since!!!I have pro sound pa gear & do this stuff for a living. I have 30 or so guitars and basses, but after buying a new house, decided to get rid off all my old amps and buy a new one. Looking back, I would have bought anything but the Carvin. It looked good in the ad's, and no one had a real review at the time. Maybe becasue I am the ONLY playing musician who has one. Most reviews i read were by people who had the amp, but didn't use it for real. And Carvin must think that too. When I asked about a loaner, they said "we don't loan anything". I think they are going after a market of people who want "a pretty amp". I needed someting that would not let me down, i really don't care how it looks. If it were stolen, I would use my insurance money to buy anything else!!! But i give their marketing department hi reviews, they suckered me into buying one. You can not ever tell me that the musicians shown in the pictures using the Carvin gear would ever put up with what i have gone thru trying to get my amp fixed, or better yet at the gig's when it quit. Maybe truth in advertising should say "We recomend when buying this amp that you have at least 2 spares"

i think everyone else has pretty much summed up the features.

im playing an ibanez soundgear 5-string through this amp into a carvin 8x10 cabinet. it sounds great. any tone i want i can dial it in with its wealth of pre-eq and 9band eq

cant say. just got it. i plan to use it with my old peavey tko as a backup so im countin on it to work

very very good! one speaker was damaged from the factory, i simply called up an they were happy to send me a replacement no questions asked. every other time ive called them about products or orders tehy were very friendly and told me exactly what i needed to know

ive been playing for 4 years and i own just this setup and my TKO. the peavey has worn out on me an i really need something alot bigger nwo since i play bigger gigs and with a larger band. this carvin fits the bill and i knwo ill enjoy using it for a long time to come

This is a Series II head (from 1998), so it has a real tube (one 12AX7) preamp. This head is very versatile because it comes with so many features. But the range of sounds is limited by the range of the individual controls, and the overall quality is only average. I give it high ranking for the set of features, but drop it a little for the quality.

Here is the set of features for the head, as listed on their site:
R1000 Power: 2ohms: 500/500w, 4ohms: 350/350w, 8ohms: 225/225w Bridged: 4ohms: 1000w, 8ohms: 700w ? THD: less than 1% at 1k Hz, ? Freq. Resp: 20?20k Hz ? Dual speed high-duty fan ? Active and passive inputs (-10db) ? 3 pre EQ FILTERS; +6dB @ 100 Hz, -7 dB @ 400 Hz or -12 dB @ 125 dB and + 6dB @ 6k Hz ? shelving tone controls: BASS ?12dB @ 80 Hz ? MID ?12dB sweepable from 200 to 2k Hz and TREBLE ?12 dB at 8k ? Bi-amp CROSSOVER sweepable from 200 to 2k Hz ? COMPRESSOR with variable RATIO control sweepable from 1.3 to 1 through 5 to 1 ratio ? NOISE GATE 30db quieting (including effects loop) ? 9 band GRAPHIC EQ ?12 dB @ 50, 80, 125, 250, 500, 800, 1.3k, 2.6 and 5k ? GROUND lift switch ? 12AX7A tube ? Two unit rack space 3.5" H x 19" W x 10"D, WT: 30 lbs

Because this head has so many features, it can take a while to dial in the "best" sound for whatever music you're playing. I have used it exclusively in a bluesy guitar rock band, playing grooves with a Pedulla Thunderbass ET5 (with custom Bartolini soapbars). I spent a day with the amp, figuring it out, and developed two distinct, unique tones. I haven't heard other amps push the warmth that this thing can generate, but that much warmth can be a little limiting for the style which I was using it.

This is a very reliable piece of equipment. I used it for over a year without backup, and the thought of it dieing on stage never occurred to me.

I've never had to deal with Carvin customer support.

I've been playing for abut 9 years. I own a Pedulla Thunderbass ET5 bass and a Fender Prodigy bass, a Fender BXR 100 combo amp (for home use), and an Eden DC-210XLT Metro. I bought the Metro to replace Carvin.

I wouldn't buy another Carvin bass amp -- the extra money for a high-end amp is worth every penny. Carvin makes solid middle-of-the-road stuff, but I feel that I have outgrown the vanilla tone of this amp.

Tons of features. 9 band graphic EQ running from 50 hz to 5k hz. Mid-sweep semi-parametric EQ knob, a low knob and a high knob that boost/cut at 100 hz and 8k hz respectively. 3 pre-shape eq buttons that boost/cut at various frequencies. A compressor, noise gate, and a biamp crossover. Tube preamp with a 12AX7 tube, which lets you blend in a bit of tube sound. 2 solid state 500 watt power amps. You can run them in bridged mono for 1000 watts @ 4 ohms, or in biamp for 350 watts a channel @ 4 ohms. Active and passive inputs. Comes with a footswitch that you can use to turn on and off your graphic EQ and your effects loop.

My main bass is a Tobias Killer Bee, with jazz-style pickups. With this amp, I can get any sound I want, provided I want to mess with the amp. The thing has such a versatile EQ, that with a 4x10 cab w/ a tweeter, and a 1x15 or 1x18, you can get ANY sound you want. I still haven't found a sound I can't get. There's just one catch - it takes for ever to get those sounds. There's so many options with this amp, you can spend all day tweaking the damn thing, and still not get what you're looking for, but trust me, it's there. I can do smooth jazz, grinding metal, gutter funk, whatever the hell you want. I even decided to screw around, and hook some other stuff up to it. I tested out vocals on it with a crappy drum-mic, and it performed admirably. No distortion whatsoever, pure voice. I hooked a keyboard up to it, and could radically alter the tone of the keyboard by using the EQ. I miked some bongos, and after a bit of tweaking, I could get some great jungle sounds. Whatever you want to do with this amp, it can definitely do it. It lacks any sort of sound bias whatsoever though, so set flat, when you're recording, doesn't have any "oomph" to it. It produces sterile, un-altered bass sound. That can be a good thing though. I give it an 9 for versatility, but no 10, because it just doesn't have a bias. It's really freak'n loud to boot. What drummer? Guitarist? I run it into a 4x10 and a 1x18. Awesome bang for the buck. (Less than a dollar a watt.)

I can't really vouch for it's reliability, I've only had it a month or so. Seems pretty tough, I'd probably be more worried about the speakers. It'd fry weak speakers in a second. I set the volume at less than '1', and it still shakes my entire house. I turn it up to 3 to match the drummer, and if I ever turned it to 10, I'd start bleeding from my ears, if I didn't blow the speakers first.

Can't vouch. Haven't had any problems yet.

Good amp. Loud. Versatile as hell. An excellent bargain. I took a chance at buying it mail-order -- Carvin only sells direct -- but it only cost $700 for such a massively powerful amp. They offer a 10 day return policy though, so if I hadn't liked it, I could have returned it and only gotten burned for the shipping.

The amp is packed full of features - variable x-over, 2 channels, bi-amping ability, variable compressor, bridge mode, pre/post, XLR jack, and some very specific parametric-shaping knobs/sliders. This amp has 'top-end' features - not much use to the beginner and will involve some head-scratching. You need to separate the controls into groups in your head and work gradually on each in turn. It can be frustrating when trying to quickly dial in a chunky bass tone - but the amp is clearly not desingned with this primarily in mind. I decided I would have to give the amp some time. I have some comments in later categories that may shed light on my frustration. Read on!

I use a Carvin LB70 and a Fender 1975 Jazz Bass. I play rock - everything from Creed to The Police. The amp certainly had bags of power and was plenty versatile in the sound department. It is such a versatile amp that I would say it doesn't have a 'voice' or a 'sound' bias (like, say, the SWR Workingman's 4004). It is hard to say what it suits. My amp developed severe problems with the output circuitry and I felt that this always accounted for a sound that did not exceed my expectations and, on many occasions, did not even match them.

It cut my gigs, at least for 6 months, and then everything started to go tits up. Then XLR jack (D.I) started sending heywire signals and was unreliable -I had to use an external D.I. box. I was at rehearsal and it went absolutely ballistic with no warning - some massive short on the output circuit board or something and everything was red-lining. Smelled ominously of electrical burn-out. I was not even playing at the time. I live in the West Indies, so I thought I was well and truly stuffed. Reliability is key out here as repairs just don't happen. This amp was not reliable enough for my liking. I feel that the fact that I was never 100% happy with the sounds from the amp may well have had something to do with the output board problem. It always felt as if the amp was not working exactly as it should.

Carvin were cool about repairing it. They actually said the output circuit boards (which were actually taken straight from the lower-rated R600) were giving trouble in the R1000, so they said to send the Output circuit board, they'd repair it, tart it up, re-wire it - and see how it went. They were prompt and made no fuss. All done under warranty. Warranty 1 year - standard stuff. The amp appears to be working as normal.

I have now a SWR Workingman's 4004 - straightforward and great, meaty tone and dead easy to use as a result of this experience. I am wary about the R1000 at the moment. It will have to re-earn its trust with me. I am concerned about taking it to gigs without a backup. Carvin's admission was disconcerting but their candour was much appreciated, too. If it were stolen or lost, I'd have a long, hard think about getting another one. I chose it as part of a concert stack deal, and bang-for-the-buck it was great with all its advanced features. However, there are some noticeable design omissions - a dedicated tuner input; The knob levels (indicated, rather daftly, by a small black dot!) are impossible to read in low light conditions. A small LED or even a white dot would be much, much better. I've had master volume disasters beacause of this; A speaker 'off' switch would be nice for tuning or some switchable mute feature. These omitted features, I feel, are more important than the variable noise gate (draconian in sensitivity) and fiddly-compressor controls, large parametric EQ's. Buyers please note.

Carvin Redline 1000 bass amp. Stereo bass amp 500w ch/2 ohms, 350w ch/4 ohms, 225w ch/8 ohms, bridged 1000w/4 ohms or 700w/8 ohm. Separate gain and volume, blendable tube and solid state preamp, pre shape filters for low boost, mid shift, and hi boost. Shelving EQ with low, sweepable mid, and high. Graphic EQ (switchable) with 10 bands. Variable compressor with threshold AND ratio, noise gate with threshold control, and a crossover for bi-amping. 3 effect loops, active/passive inputs, XLR direct out, footswitch (graphic eq/effects), and switches for ground lifting. Chock-full of features at around 33 lbs.

First off, overall, this amp sounds great. It's loud. It's relatively low noise, although I do hear a little hiss from the high-end, but no more than SWR or GK and much less than Harkte or Ampeg. There are basically 3 EQ's. First, the preshape filters (low boost, mid shift, and hi boost) are switches (ala-GK). With everything else flat, I crank the gain and switch these three on and I get a GREAT slap sound. The rotary 3 band with sweepable mid (ala-Ampeg) helped me dial in a great low-end club tone. Fiddling around with the graphic EQ (ala-Hartke) can help you achieve almost whatever tone you're looking for. You can get almost any tone out of this thing. The compressor works well, and you can adjust and tweak to suit your tastes. This amp is very "growl-ly", which is the popular tone of late. Sounds great with new roundwounds. If you like a more subdued tone, just back the gain off and blend the preamp mixer to the solid-state and away from the tube and get that thumping, bassy, tone.
The only drawback is that the noise-gate is HORRIBLE. It really sucks the attack out of your first note. I've read other reviews that mention that the noise-gate makes popping noises, but I haven't heard any. It does suck though. However, since the amp is relatively quiet, unless you have a noisy bass, this shouldn't be a problem since you can turn it off. In my opinion, however, if you do have a noisy bass, the best cure is to get a quiet bass, not a noise gate.
Right now I'm using this amp with an Ampeg SVT 4x10 cab. Sound great, but the Ampeg cab can't handle the 700 watts. I've heard mixed reviews about the Carvin bass cabs. They're pretty affordable, but I'm thinking about buying an Acme B-2 for this head.
It doesn't sound as good as an old Ampeg SVT or a new Eden, but it's pretty close, more versatile, and the price is a fraction of those two amps.

I think I'd gig without a back-up on this one. It looks pretty well made, and Carvin really pushes to let you know it has a ton of safety features.
I had a problem with an older Carvin power amp before (F600), but it was minor, and only one of the two (stereo) channels when out, and the other continued to work find. Carvin fixed it pronto.

I've dealt with Carvin to fix a power amp, and they were great. Really willing to work with you.

Like I said above, this amp sounds great, it's loud, has a ton of features, and it's light-weight. Aside from the crappy noise-gate, it's a winner. I was on a quest to find a good-sounding, loud, light-weight bass amp for under $1,000. Feature list I looked for included a variable compressor, at least 500 watts @ 4 ohms, tube pre-amp with gain control, and a good EQ. The Carvin has all that plus at a great price. It really looks like they took the popular features from Hartke, Gallien-Kruger, Ampeg, and SWR and blended them into one pre-amp and slapped a moster of a stereo power amp in a 2U rack chassis. As far as bang for the buck, this is by FAR the best buy. Sure, I think an Ampeg SVT tube amp sounds better, but look at the weight, price, and features. I also think the Eden heads sound better and have comparable features and portability, but I'm not going to drop $1300 on a head to play clubs. Great buy.