Carlsbro Stingray

I picked up this amp 2nd hand in the late 80s for #100-#150 (I was about 14 at the time) as my first 'big' amp but I think it was made in the late 70s (if the other reviews are anything to go by).

As far as I'm aware it's a Carlsbro Stingray Lead (it says so on the front) with 2x10" closed back cabinet and 150Ws.

I never got the footswitch and it certainly doesn't have chorus or tremelo effects. It does have the parametric EQ and suzz on channel 1 and I've heard many reverb effects that fall far short of this one.

This has been my favourite amp for over 15 years but the closed back cab and twin speakers make it very easy to fall out with your neighbours. Mind you, this works out quite well when your trying to compete with drums in a noisy rehearsal since it really belts out the sound. It rarely needs to be turned all the way up to 11.

The parametric EQ does take a lot of fiddling to get just the right sound but it does give a pretty broad range. I love the suzz effect, fuzz and sustain (incase you hadn't guessed from the name) is controlled by two pots. One for the amount of suzz and one for the gain.

Wheels! It's a spledid idea to fit wheels on this thing because it's a beast to carry any distance. Like one of the other reviewers I've also ridden the amp down hill, great fun until you need to stop :-)

I played my Strat through it for a while and it really emphasises the jangly tones but it's not super clean. Start to crank up the Suzz and it develops a sweet overdriven noise thats great for blues. Push the Suzz all the way up and things start to go wrong (or right depending on your point of view). I think theres too much treble with the Suzz at max and you get a lot of extra noise...but that might be the Strat.
My Epiphone 335 Dot sounds a little bit boomy, but again with a little bit of Suzz and the hard-to-find parametric EQ settings you can sort things out.

Appart from all the pots being really dirty & noisy when I got it I've never had any problems with it. This includes spilling drinks all over it while playing. The only damage was a big stain on the top where the finish was discoloured.
In a three hour practice session it gets pretty hot and that's led me to turn it down or off before it causes any damage. The amp is at least as old as I am so a little TLC is to be expected.

I've never contacted Carlsbro

If it was lost or stolen I'd love to get another one but would probably get something with a bit more range that doesn't require messing about with parametric eq (Mode 4 Marshall half stack does look very tempting, but what a price tag).

Dunno wen it was made, im only 18! But it is great for alternative and rock styles, and the fact it has 2 chanells with 2 inputs on each, what else do u need? I dont have the foot pedal though. It has FX loop, Head phones + seperate line out. I use it at gigs in moderate size halls, normally miced up to a PA to get the extra umph, though the dual speakers go bloody loud anyway! its transister powered, has two 10" speakers and is the perfect forge for a tune-smith, THE REVERB, OH THE REVERB!!! the wheels are usefull cos it is also *&^%ing heavy, and it came with a black suite.

I just find a nice trebal/midle clean sound and use boxes for everything else. Un-fortunatly, my first channel (with all the effects i dont use on it) is noisy as a deamon from the depths, changed the transistors, think annother component has gone (Back to Criklewood electronics, theyr great for old IC's).

cant lie here, its down now and went there pretty easily. Have only had it a couple of years, and i treat it well, unless there is a ramp on stage...

never tried to contact carlsbro, but i am trying to fix it myself, and i seem to get a little further each week. (lets hope i get it fixed for that gig on the 30th)

Great!!!

Bought new in 1978 or 1979, can't recall the price but it was value for money. The amp has served me for all those years I'm still using it yet to play vintage 60's music involving the classic fender strat twang. The amp has two cannels one being the lead guitar path which includes reverb, distortion and tremelo all of which are ideal for an authentic 60's sound. The other chanel is a straight amp without effects and is ideal for my backing track mini disk player. For the sound and style I play this amp has been ideal for over 25 years.

Using a USA fender strat and a (would you credit it?) a WEM Copycat echo chamber. The sound is ideal for my style of 60's nostalgic music. The only downer of the amp is that in certain environments the UV lights cause a hum but all in all amp delivers adequate power and performance for my needs.

What can I say. I've used this amp since the late 70s, it's been around the continent and all over the UK and never has failed.

Never needed to deal with the company

I've been playing for about 37 years and about 23 of those with the Carlsbro Stingray amp head, Carlsbro 2 x 2 horn columns, a WEM Copycat and a USA Fender Strat. Ilove the sound and have never felt the need to upgrade.

Yay.. a blast from the past! and a mighty blast is is too. Built sometime in the decadent eighties, this beast of a tranny combo amp boasts two channels, a 'suzz' effect (sustain & fuzz), as well as a chorus, reverb and the wierd and wacky vibrato effect, all acessable by a dedicated four button footswitch with its own status led's that plugs into the front of the amp. It's a bit like getting an amp and multi-FX in one! Sound comes courtesy of two 10" 150 watt speakers.. and very loud they are two. There are some great ideas built into this amp.. it's one of those why did this not catch on? moments really. For example, the closed back design of the cabinet means this amp is HEAVY, so Carlsbro, in a rare fit of common sense, stuck four wheels on it.. yeah WEELS.. you can practically ride it to practices. It also boasts the once popular 'parametric' EQ system. For those not familiar with this layout, you get bass and treble tone knobs as per usual, but the midrange can be adjusted by changing the gain and frequency of a band pass filter.. it sounds complicated and, to be honest, is an absolute bugger in use, you have to tweak for AGES to get a usable sound! However if you want one of those 'half cocked Wah pedal' sounds without the wah pedal..No problem! You get the feeling you can get just about ANY sound if you're prepared to tweak long enough wich, of course, most of us aint. The chorus and reverb are quite good (well the chorus is, the reverb on mine seems to be knackered), if noisy, same goes for the suzz effect, which is great for filling out the solo sound. You certainly don't need any effects with this amp.. you can set up clean, dirty and lead sounds all on the one amp with no extra pedals! The 'Vibrato' effect however, is just plain silly. I think its supposed to be an early 'Leslie' type modulation effect, but it sounds as though its based on a sawtooth waveform rather than a sign wave. It's great for making stupid noises though.. you can get some really sstrange, unearthly noises from this amp...

Talking about unearthly noises! The closed back construction I mentioned earlier certainly gives you a kick in the ass the first time you crank it up in the mornings! Whatever happened to bass response in guitar amps!? Oh yeah, everyone started playing thrash. I don't think this amp could be said to have a 'Clean' sound per se.. more of a 'Less overdrive' sound.. the OD is pretty good though it has to be said.. with LOADS of sustain in there, they seem to have gone overboard building compression into the desighn of the pre-amp. A bit of chorus helps patch things together too, and the pre-requisite fiddle with the EQ (something you eventually develop a sort of love-hate relationship with). One thing this amp does best is sound BIG.. you can get some really good fat tones from this thing if you know what your at.. if you like a REALLY dodgy eighties goth chorus sound.. its great! It's hard for me to review this amp in terms of modern amps.. it's all so different somehow. The stingray is an abomination, a Frankenstien of an amp that surely epitomises the excess of the early eighties and the thirst for novelty and 'forward thinking' those times represented. I love it.. although it's only used as a back up nowadays. If you ever see one knocking around (that still works) for under 200 quid (or $300), get it.. they make great back-up amps.. the Bass player can even go through it no probs and it still does the business. It was the first BIG amp I ever bought.. it was the cheapest in the shop at the time.. apparently it had been sitting there for months 'cos no one wanted to carry the thing out of the shop! I first fell in love with it when i realised I could make sounds just like Tony Iommi on Paranoid (well, I thought so at the time), I liked the way I could drown out everyone else with it too!

Well.. it's on it's way to the great stage in the sky. At the moment it's on backup duty though, ready to put it's big size ten in in case any of the young upstarts in our live rig give way during a gig. It has been misbehaving of late though.. I think its the age of the pots.. I keep replacing various bits.. but it's still not very reliable.. ahh well, I'm emotionally attached to it. I don't think it's neglect or anything.. it's just old.. I don't think there's a lot wrong with it that replacing all the controls and re-wiring the electrics won't fix.

I've never dealt with carlsbro.. this amp is really VERY old.. every time I buy a new component for it, it's about twice the size of the component I take out!

I've used this amp for about 4 or 5 years.. it served me well. If it were stolen, I'd be surprised anyone would bother. Actually, it was stolen once.. the guy was so P***ed off with the weight, he took a taxi home, the next day I got a call from the taxi company telling me where who he was and were he lived.. ! Needless to say.. I got the amp back! In a way, I wish I'd got it new.. these amps are probably quite rare these days, they tended to be used and abused and discarded for something better. I suspect most of them ended up in skips. They do look like items of furniture though.. maybe they all ended up as coffee tables?! Mind you.. take the amp bit out and you've got a really good,sturdy, two by ten extension cab.. mmm