Carlsbro Nu Tone Head

Not sure of the year, but Im guessing made between 2001 and 2004.

250 watt solid state, 2 channel head.

Channel 1 is a dedicated clean channel with a 3 band eq, crunch setting and reverb, Channel 2 is the gain channel with a 5 band eq and reverb.

This head also has an effects level control on the front pannel, footswitchable master levels and reverb control. It has a brushed aluminium grill, and covered in a carpet like material, as opposed to a tolex. 2 speaker output jacks, footswitch input jack on rear.

I am using this head with the matching 2x12 600watt and 1x15 400watt speaker cabs, again with the felt like covering and brushed aluminium grills.

So, with this pretty heavy duty speaker configuration in mind, its time to discuss the sonic attributes of this amp.

Firstly, this amp is very very loud - running both cabs at 4 ohms means you get one hell of a rumble, clean or dirty.

The clean is very clean, but as with all solid state amps it is very brittle. This can be overcome however with the addition of reverb and adding a little more bass and less top than you might usually dial in - usable, but nothing special.

The crunch feature is foul at best. I think it is meant to emulate EL34 crunch, but quite frankly, it sounds like a fart - forgive the crass description but there really is no other word for it.

Channel 2 is a high gain channel. Very high gain. It does this and does it well, loud and rumbling - sadly, I feel that it sacrifices tone for volume and bottom end responce. I use a Gibson SG Special, Gibson Les Paul custom with EMG 81/85s, a standard strat and tele - and this amp sapps all the character of each guitar away - there does not appear to be a difference between the sound of the strat and tele, or SG and Les Paul (clearly single coils do cut a little more, but there is no subtle nuance between the guitars).

I think Carlsbro attempted to create an amp that would rival the Mode Four as the premium British, high gain, high output solid state amp - well they sure got the volume, but no tone - sterile at best.

The worst aspect of this amp - over heats after about 40 mins, will cut out and continue to do so would not trust it at a gig, practise or anything else.

Never dealt with Carlsbro

Been playing for 17 years abd I like to think I can spot a good amp from a bad amp - trust me, this is a BAD amp!

Yes, it looks menacing, all the LEDs glow blue and it looks like it means business - and if all you want to do is make a noise, then this amp is fine, but if your looking for an amp that can give you a wide range of tones and cross a few genres, then forget it.

I traded my JCM 900 halfstack for this amp - I have no one to blame but myself! :-(

But it is ok, because I also have a Mesa Dual Rectifier Solo head with an Orange PPC 4x12

Think this amp was made in 2003/2004.
Clean and Distortion channels. Crunch button on the clean channel. Active 5 Band EQ on the distortion Channel. Footswitchable master volumes. Reverb. Effects loop. 250w. Solid state.

Fairly flexible amp, better suited for heavier styles though, would have liked the reverb to be footswitchable.

I'm using this with the carlsbro Koolcab (4x12") My guitars are a Schecter Tempset Custom with duncan designed pickups and an Ibanez SZ520QM with Duncan Custom in the bridge and a 59 in the neck. I play emo/metal/hardcore and some heavier punk stuff. This amps sound suits my style pretty well.

The Cleans are very bold and deep but can sound quite bright if you mess around with the eq, pressing the crunch switch brings in a very solid state sounding breakup, not good enough for tone freaks but alright for me to mess around on classic rock riffs occasionally.

The distortion is good too, its very easy to get a decent emo/hardcore sound (think Finch/FFAF) This amp has alot of bass so you can get a huge rhythmn sound out of it, overall its actually quite flexible for any rock stuff as long as you know how to work your eq.

The only problem I have soundwise is that once the gain control goes above halfway on the distortion channel you get a huge statci fizz coming through the amp. Even with the input muted by switching on my tuner pedal, I dont know if this is a fault in the amps design or if its just my particular amp.

For a 250w amp it isn't very loud, in fact, my 2x12" 150w Marshall valvestate combo is ALOT louder.

This is where I ran into serious problems, after about a month I went to a gig with this amp and it died during soundcheck. Luckily i had a backup. I took it to get it repaired and was told the output transducers needed replacing. I bought this amp second hand so I dont know whether this is a design fault or if its because of neglect from the previous owner.

Also this amp has no cooling fan, it gets very hot and as a result if used in a warm environment it switches off after about 45 minutes. This isnt a problem if you put a fan behind it but this kinda thing really shouldnt happen.

I have deal with Carlsbro and they're very quick to reply to emails, however, getting hold of the guy a needed to talk to on the phone was a bit of a nightmare. He did try to call me back but by that time i had already left for work.

I bought a footswitch from them as the amp didnt come with one, when it arrived it didnt work but they were very quick to repair it once i sent it back. Shame these guys have never heard of quality control.

I didnt have a warranty as my amp was 2nd hand and they wanted #40 an hour for labour plus parts for any repairs. I decided to get it fixed locally instead.

I've been playing about 3 years now, I will admit I am not the best player in the world but I know what I like in a guitar tone. This amp had it but the problems with reliability and the noise on the distortion channell really put me off. If I could get this amp without these problems I would certainly buy it again but for now I'm going to sell it and get a valve amp, maybe a Crate Blue voodoo or a Marshall DSL.

If you like the sound of this amp get it from a reputable dealer and try it out at practices in a hot room for extended periods of time before gigging with it, and take a backup to any gigs if you can. Hopefully you wont have the same bad experiences I did.

Email me if you have any questions...