Carvin RC210 210 Combo

Let me state for the record that I am a professional player and product reviewer for a national guitar magazine. I have a private guitar and bass instruction studio, I play almost every style of guitar and bass at a professional level, and I take my equipment very seriously. I've always been impressed with Carvin's quality and fair pricing, and I was in need of both a top-notch bass rig and an upgrade for my acoustic guitar amp (I had previously owned a Crate CA-125, a very good unit but just a bit hissy and underpowered for my needs). The Carvin RC210 covers BOTH my bass and acoustic guitar needs exceptionally well. It has powerful tone-shaping tools at every step of the signal chain, from the active/passive inputs to the multi-level horn output. This is the kind of amp that gives you enough rope to hang yourself, so to speak, simply because of its flexibility. Pushing too many controls too far can overload the speakers, and all of the tone-shaping can gang up and cause some nasty tones if you don't watch out. The solid-state tube emulation can be extremely harsh and power-draining at extreme settings, for example, and the compression (again at extreme settings) can throw a wet blanket over your hardest playing. But that's precisely why I love this amp. It's an extremely powerful and well-designed tool that allows the player to fine-tune the response to their own liking. This is NOT a no-brains, one-sound amp.
My only complaints are 1)The amp arrived with a broken speaker cable 2) The logo on the front grille was just a tiny bit loose 3) One knob was mounted off-center 4)The instructions, while very thorough as to the functions of the amp and possible speaker combinations, do not explain specifically how to use the amp with the speakers in the combo format, and 5) The head is only about 10" deep, while the top of the cabinet is about 20" deep, making it hard to see or access the input/output jacks on the back unless you have a flashlight and room to get behind the amp. Not good for futzing with on stage.
I'd rate this amp a 10-plus for versatility, regardless of price, and a 9 for build quality - points 2 and 3 were easily fixed in about five minutes.

I use an Alembic Distillate bass and an Ovation Custom Balladeer through this amp. I will also be using it to review amplified acoustic guitars. It is absurdly quiet. The only sound I've noticed is the cooling fan. Again, this amp delivers a mind-boggling range of tones.

Too soon to tell, but I inspected it pretty thoroughly, and build quality is very good. I don't love the black outdoor-carpet finish, but I suppose it will last a good while. From my years of experience, I'm guessing reliability will be excellent.

I confess that I received a professional discount from Carvin, but I honestly didn't expect it! I was fully prepared to pay their asking price, which is what I've entered below. Carvin's ten-day trial period is excellent. Phone service is always prompt and attentive, although it took a few days to hook up with the proper rep for my purchase. The above-mentioned broken speaker cable is in transit as I write. If only all companies ran so well...!

I've been playing since the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan. Each piece of equipment I own has been chosen because it does something exceptionally well, or because I've modified it to do something exceptionally well. I can't imagine a better product at the price than the Carvin RC210. The ONLY thing I'd wish for would be a nicer looking cabinet (vinyl or hardwood), maybe a more sophisticated front panel graphic, and a little more explanation in the manual about setting up the the RC210. And I'd probably pay another $500 for those few features.

The other reviewer (Mike) seems to have listed most of the features. It's got a variable input gain control as well as a passive input and a padded active input (-6dB, -10dB, I don't know). My amp is the Series II which is a few years old (I'm guessing 1999 or 2000). It has a real 12AX7 tube in the preamp section. I've heard that the newer version, the Series III, uses a "tube emulation circuit" instead of a real tube. The bi-amp feature is why I bought this amp instead of a single-channel amp of similar power. I already own a Carvin PB100-15 which has a single 15" driver. The driver is rated to 400 watts so I use it on the low output, and I use the built-in 2x10 & tweeter on the high output. I now have incredible flexibility! I can use my PB100-15 by itself as a practice amp, the RC210 by itself to play small venues and church, and I stack the RC210 on top of the PB100-15 and bi-amp them to play larger gigs. PLENTY OF THUMP! The head is removable from the cab, and you can put it in a 2- or more space box. However, when it's mounted in the RC210 combo you have to reach into a cavity to access the jacks and controls on the back of the amp because the head is much shallower than the cabinet it's mounted in. You can't really see any of the markings in there unless you have a flashlight. That's why I give it a 9 instead of a 10.

I primarily play an OLP 4-string, which is a copy of the Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray. It has one big passive humbucker with separate volume controls on each coil and one tone control. My backup bass is an Ibanez 4-string with an aftermarket P-bass pickup. I play electric blues, classic rock, some alternative, and also praise music (in church). This is without a doubt the most versatile amp setup I've ever owned. More tonal control options, the compressor is completely adjustable from nothing to way too much, a foot-switchable EQ section so you can move your sound out in front on solos, sweepable mid EQ, and a blend control on the preamp tube. I have only owned this a month or so, so I don't have my "sweet tone" figured out yet. What I want probably has almost as much tube bite as an old Ampeg, but more clarity in the mids and highs, like a Gallien-Krueger. I can get the sterile, all-transistor (GK) sound. And I can get the warmer (Ampeg) tube sound. I just need to find the right combination using the EQ to clean up the mids without stripping the tube sound out of the low end. And to further complicate it, there's a separate level control for the tweeter. The amp is quiet, even with the tube. It's got a noise gate, so if you're playing one of those noisy single-coils you can take out the 60-cycle hum. It's got three tone preset buttons with helpful little graphics showing where the cuts and boosts are, but you're probably still gonna want to tweak the EQ to get the exact sound you want. I'll give it a 10 because it's got a wide range of adjustability and you should be able to get just about any sound you want out of it.

Well, I kinda have my backup built right in, since my low cab has a built-in 100-watt amp sitting there unused when I drive it with the RC210 in biamp mode. This is my third Carvin bass amp and I've NEVER had a reliability issue. And I gig with my gear, so it gets bounced around almost every week. I bought this amp used, and the one flaw was the XLR D.I. jack. There is very little output and it's thin and scratchy. This is no problem for me because I already own a couple of D.I. boxes and this amp has several other places where I can take a 1/4" send. If I get the urge to take it apart, I'm sure it's just a bad solder joint. And I don't know if the original owner received it this way from the factory or if it got damaged when he owned it. I guess that should knock it down from a 10 to a 9, but I'm still gonna give it a 10 because it's a Carvin, and Carvin stuff is way rugged.

This amp was used so there's no warranty. The other 2 Carvin's I've owned have been 100% reliable. I've never dealt with the customer service department.

I've been playing bass since Nixon's first term. I have only played this amp for a few hours so far, so I expect to need a few more hours to get the sound I want out of it. I'm completely confident I'll get the sound I'm looking for because I've been all around it. Maybe it's the curse of too many controls! In the old days (tune out now, youngsters, the old man is reminiscing!) I just plugged the P-bass into the tuck-and-roll Kustom and the sound that came out was what I got. Seriously, the versatility of this amp combined with adequate power (600 on-stage watts should be plenty for just about any gig) and ultra-adjustability makes it just what I wanted. Now, just one more tweak and I'll find that perfect, 72% Ampeg, 28% GK sound. (Gee, maybe I'm being too pick...NAH!!!!) I'll give it a 9 because the D.I. jack doesn't work and you need a flashlight to see the back panel. Those are both pretty minor - I wish I could give it a 9.8 or a 9.9.

Brand new bought in August 2002. RC210 Series III. R600 head built into a 2X10 combo. Features active and passive inputs, two 300 watt power amps (can be bridged to 600W, bi-amped at 300W each, or full range to both amps), compressor, noise gate, low mid and high tone shapers, 3-band parametric EQ with sweepable mids, additional 9-band graphic EQ with footswitchable defeat, XLR direct out with adjustable gain and ground lift, tuner/headphone out, footswitchable effects loop, blendable tube emulation circuit. Bi-amp feature is wonderful, and you can run anything you like on the top and bottom end. The sales rep at Carvin said he uses one with the highs going to the 2X10 built-in cab and the lows going to an external 4X10 and it punches like nothing else. I am looking forward to experimenting with the many possible combinations to see what it can do.

I play a mid-70's Fender Jazz with stock everything, mostly rock with a little funk flair to it. My old amp (early 80's Peavey Databass 450W 1X15 combo) finally crapped out after all these years, and I am so glad it did. This amp can do it all from what I can tell. First gig was at the Ventura County Fairgrounds on an outside stage about 20' X 20', and this amp on 2.5 master volume filled the whole stage with sound. I later discovered that it was not even in bridged mode, so I was only using one of the 300W amps! Bottom end is great... gives you that "my whole chest is vibrating" feeling that all bass players like so much. Later I bridged that amps and cranked it to 5 in a small church building and it scared everyone... even those who were outside!! There is plenty of power, and great punch, and the EQ options make this thing so versatile you can't help bu fall in love with it. I don't use distortion much (just not my bag), so I will leave the assessment of that feature to those who do.

It's brand new, so I can't speak to it's long-term reliability, but I have owned a Carvin SX200D guitar amp for 3 years now and had no problems. This thing is built like a tank, and should hold up well. I have no back up, so I have to go on confidence! Carvin builds sturdy roadworthy amps from what I have seen, and I highly recommend them.

Company is great to deal with, at least on the purchase end. I bought my guitar amp online, and got this amp directly from the factory store in Hollywood. Both were very positive experiences, with plenty of help and information.

I have played for 33 years, 24 on bass. I tend to get an axe or an amp and use it forever or until it dies. I have a mid-70's Fender Jazz that I have had since 1979, a Martin D35 that I've had since 1978, and Strat that I've had since 1998. My bass amp has been a Peavey Databass 450W 1X15 combo since 1989, and got a Carvin SX200D guitar amp to go with the Strat when I bought it. All that to say that I don't but very often, and when I do I have to be happy with it for a long time. A did my homework before buying this amp, and fee like I really scored. When I went shopping I went to the Carvin store first and tried this amp. I the told them I had to comparative shop, and since Guitar Center is directly across the street I went to see what they had to compare. The closest thing was a GK combo with 200W and 2X8 at $750. What a piece of junk that was. It never even got lour before it began to clip and distort, and had no bottom end. I tried the Ampeg combos that ran around $900 and same thing. The only thing I have heard that is even close was a SWR 4540 (?) head through a 4X10 cab that I borrowed a week before, and I think that listed for $1,400+. My decision was easy at that point... half to money for the same sound, and I have all the flexibility I need to expand if I want to. Belive me... anything that is even close to comparable will cost you well over $1000. Why pay more for less??