Carvin LB40 Bass

Just the regular neck through, active electronics. Esy to play ebony fretboard.

I have two sons that play bass. They have both and I have heard them play many basses on stage and through sound systems. Here are some comparison. Fender Jazz- Geddy Lee and precision basses. Active Bertolini Jap basses, Smith, Ibanez and G&L. The Carvin is the best sounding from the audience than any of these basses. Playing them if you dont like the sound, then get something else. From the audience they always have sounded the best.

As good as it get

They never break, need adjustment every 6 mo to a year.

They ar vry good.

They are the best at this price. You cannot do better for playing and sound. Will they get you the girls? Yes!!

Made around 1989 this is a 4 string bass with 24 frets and an ebony finger board. It has two single coil picups and a pickup selector switch. It also has passive electronics with 1 volume and 1 tone knob.

I usually run it directly throuh a Drawmer Compressor and a Carvin 1/3 octave EQ. I occasionaly will plug it into a Peavey TKO 65 with the Drawmer. The sound is good, but it requres tone enhancement. It's a little to flat without it. I prefer to run it wide upon with both pickups. It seems to sound better for most apps that way.

Action was crap from the factory. Way, way too low. Too many buzzes. However, with my last purchase from Carvin in 96 the factory set up was perfect, so they must have gotten better. I set it up and it's great now. No, flaws in this instrument. I usually don't expect a good set up from factories or stores anyway. Finish is black glossy. Very durable.

It usually takes a quarter of a turn in the truss in the spring and fall just like all my other axes. I've had no problems with this thing. It's very well built. Neck through body construction is a beautiful thing.

If one was a tone freak they might be looking for more. Active electronics seem to be the order of the day these days anyway. This sucker is totally reliable and it plays great. It must have been manufactured very well for it to have set up and play this well for this long. It is the perfect bass for me. I could not have done better. I've played a Fender jazz that sounded maybe a tadd better, but I still prefer my Carvin.

This bass Has good pickups with a wide variety of tonal features.
I was playing it through a trace - elliot amp with a ten in. speaker.
it has active electronics and a great sound. I bought it used for $500.00! It came with a hardshell case too. It has twenty-four frets and an ebony fingerboard. I don't know what the body was but it seems to be a heavier wood. I was impressed with the sound but thats also my amp. If I were playing it through a crappy peavey micro-bass, the sound would not be as good.

The sound is great, but once again that is my amp. I play mostly jazz and blues and it suited me well for that. It is a very versatile bass!
you can do many things on it. I can go from very trebly false harmonics to the bassiest blues ever!

I did get this bass used so I don't know what the action was like when it came out of the factory, but it was pefect for me when I got it. There were no flaws in it. The pickups were perfectly adjusted.

It has great reliability and I would use it without a back-up. Everything on it is solid. Plus it has a great feel to it.

Never dealt with them.

I have been playing forever and this is the best bass I've had yet!

The LB40 is a 4 string electric bass; Eastern hardrock maple neck and body, ebony fingerboard, 21 frets same scale as Fender Precision. I purchased the bass new in August of 1984. Price included a hard tolex covered case and delivery to my door. The color is white. It has one humbucking pickup, a vol and tone control and a coil splitter switch. The electronics are passive. Simplicity is a great virtue.

I love rock, but I get asked to fill in on bass in a country band now and then. It is played through a Carvin VTR2800 tube amp and a Carvin 150B solid state bass amp. The only effect is reverb. This bass has a rich sound I would call "woody". I like the humbucking pickup for bass. Hardrock maple must be a very good wood for bass guitars. The sound is deep and full but not muddy. I feel the MAGIC FREQUENCY for bass is 380-400hz. I cut the bass, cut the treble, set the parametric eq to 400hz and turn it up 80%. This gives a very full deep sound, yet is not muddy and cuts through the mix. I don't like clickey-clak sounds so I use half roundwound d'Addario strings. The bass is not noisy, but turning up the vol control full will overdrive any amp to distortion. I used to wonder if the right pickup had been installed. The tone control is very useful for bright to deep. The coil splitter switch just cuts the vol; I don't use it much. I like to play hammer harmonics eg hold a "D" with your fretting hand a hammer a harmonic 1 octive higher. Vibrato is easy, great action.

I put on lighter strings. Being a guitar player I wasn't used to tusslin' with big bass strings. I play pretty hard with both a pick and fingers, so the action needs to be a little higher. The neck is set in the body and the only neck-to-body joint you see is the paint line. It is built like a single piece of wood. The paint job is mint 15 years later. The single pickup is positioned about the middle between the end of the neck and the tailpiece, a little to the treble side. I like the simplicity of one pickup with the tonality offered by the single tone control. No adjustments have ever been made to the pickup, only neck adjustments. The tone cavity is lined with copper foil. The bass is dead quiet. The nut is brass.

I don't have a backup for any piece of equipment I own. This bass has worked without fail since August 1984. I did replace a noisy imput jack several years ago. The finish looks mint. The hardward is not pitted and has not lost any shine. The strap buttons are solid and it stays in tune very very well. It is not heavily played because I mostly play guitar but I have no fears of breakdown. If I thought I needed a backup I wouldn't use it in the first place. I have nothing bad to say about this bass, resulting in a "glowing review"

Carvin has always been helpful and friendly. Other Carvin equipment needing repair under warranty has been handled fast and to my satisfaction. I think the warranty period back then was 5 years.

I own one bass. All Carvin basses now come with 2 pickups. I like the simple one pickup approach. I did own a two pickup version called the LB50 but sold it to a friend. I feel the LB40 sounded the better of the two. I would hate to lose it since the model is discontinued. I would probably search the "for sale" ads for another one. Bottom line; this bass has a wonderful full rich sound with loads of sustain. I am not looking to replace it. Carvin is the Gold Standard.