Carr Amplifiers Mercury 112 Combo

Great range of tones out of one amp. Covers all my needs from rock to blues to jazz. Fantastic tone at low volumes. Wish it had a jack to a second speaker cabinet.

I'm using a Deluxe American Strat with a maple neck and an Ibanez RG570 with upgraded Dimarzio pickups. This amp makes your guitar sound the way it is meant to. The sound is so pure - their is no mistaking which guitar I'm playing with this amp. Previous amps I've owned tended to disguise the true sound of the instrument; this amp doesn't. This amp is very quite and covers the gammit of tones; about the only musical style I can not see using it for would be heavy metal. You can play with the dials forever coming up with a multitude of sounds. Responds very well to my picking; softens up when my attack is light and muddies up considerably when my attack intensifies.

Have only had it for a few months. Seems very solid, very well-built.

Have not had any need for support at this time.

Sounds fantastic even at very low volumes. Creates all the tones I ever wanted plus many that I never knew I would like until I heard them through my Mercury. Excellent all around amp for home use. Worth every penny.

The features have already been stated. A few things I would like to have seen are:

1: An easier to reach speaker jack
2: A second speaker jack to use an additional 1x12
3: A post power amp line out
4: A low boost switch on ch. 2 and 3

The amp is great the way it is, but these added features would rate it a 10.

The amp sounds great with just about any guitar, playing any style from chicken pickin' clean, to mellow jazz, to blues, rock, fusion, metal, it's all there. My only complaint is that some thinner sounding guitars don't quite push enough low end on ch. 2 and 3, and there is no low EQ for these channels.

The amp is plenty loud to play over a drummer when distorted. You may not get the clean headroom in a live situation though. Channel 1 responds very well to pedals if you like setting the amp clean and getting your gain from the floor.

The Reverb sounds great and works suprisingly well at high gain levels on ch's 2 and 3. Most reverb amps distort the reverb when you push the power section. Not the case in this amp.

Ch. 1: From sparkling clean to chunky break up. Get's a bit flabby in the low end when pushed too hard.

Ch. 2: Most versitile channel. Good classic saturation that cleans up with the guitar volume.

Ch. 3: The shred zone. No overdrive pedals needed hear. Tons of buttery lead tone with gain to spare. Lot's of harmonic feedback. Still darn quiet even at full tilt.

The built in power soak is quite usable, although 1/10 watt seems too quiet to be usefull, and 1/2 watt is a bit much for late night wailing. 1/2 watt does mic very well (Royer R121) making this amp wonderful for low level recording.

I've only had it for a year, so am not inclined to rate it. As others said though, it's built incredibly well, with top notch components. I always bring a backup with ANY amp, but I don't bother taking it out of the trunk with this amp.

Ask me in 10 years.

I've got a THD Univalve, BiValve, Flexi, and Fender Deluxe Reverb. I've owned a JCM 800, as well as a bunch of rack gear from VHT, Boogie, CAE, etc. I've always used NOS tubes in anything I own, usually Mullard, RCA or Telefunken. This amp has more WOW factor then any of them EVEN WITH THE STOCK TUBES! It's the amp I go to when I want to just plug and play. At $1500 it would get a 10. At $1900, it get's a 9.

My Mercury was built in late 2005. It has all the features I want bar one - I have added a passive DI box (screwed into cabinet) to give me a line out. This amp is very versatile, and even though it is primarily designed for the studio, I also gig with it. Three different gain structure settings, each one with slightly different eq.

The tone controls only work on the clean setting, which stays clean until about 2 o'clock with single coils. I agree with Steve Carr that the clean setting is similar to Fender blackface. The first gain boost setting is voiced a bit like a Vox AC15 with everything cranked (at least to my ears). The second gain boost setting provides a little more gain & sustain.

There's a cut switch that works in all three gain positions, allowing for good balance if you switch between SC and HB guitars.

Being able to run the amp at 4 different attenuator settings (1/10th, 1/2, 2 & 8 watts), without changing the volume (gain) level is brilliant.

Point off for no line out.

I have owned (and still own) many amplifiers, including Marshall, Fender, Vox, Bad Cat, Framus and quite a bit of rubbish too (never had a solid state though). Been playing about thirty years, doing mostly classic hits and classic rock covers, with a bit of blues thrown in.

As far as my clean sound goes, the Mercury eats most of them. I love being able to take the preamp to the verge of breakup and have the power valve nicely saturated and working overtime. A beautiful, harmonically rich, complex clean sound with a bit of hair around it.

I like the Eminence Kingpin speaker, but I found it too forward in the high mids/treble so have swapped it out for a greenback. Nice. Perhaps if I had spent more time breaking in the Kingpin I wouldn't have bothered, but the greenback was just sitting around.

I use the clean setting almost all the time, using pedals when I want a bit of dirt (usually a Keeley Fuzz Head or a Fulltone OCD for light OD). For gigs I run the line out of my DI box into a delay unit, taking both the wet & dry signal into a second valve amp (power amp in) to set my overall level. The other guys in the band have all said the Mercury's tone is a step up from the Black Cat 30! I agree, although I'm sure this is partly due to the fact that I can run the Merc flat out.

I mostly use a Terry McInturff Glory Custom (usually with coils split), and the Merc seems to love this guitar. I also have a '66 strat a PRS and a Gretsch which also sound great with this amp.

The amp transitions to distortion smoothly, and as I've said. the distortion is very, very tasty. Mine is the EL34 version, and one day I'll try a KT66 in it, but no hurry.

The reverb is good, and very little is required. Usually it's on about 8 o'clock. 9 o'clock is enough for (early) Dire Straits, and anything above 10 sounds like surf to me.

I've only had the amp about a month, and only gigged it three times, but it is clearly of exceptional build quality and I trust it.

I gig with two amps, so I don't bother to take another as backup.

I dealt directly with Steve Carr as part of the ordering process and he answered all my questions promptly and politely. Being handwired and beautifully made, I'm sure that repairs (should I ever need any) will be easy.

I bought the amp through Eddie at Indoor Storm (who also sold me my TCM a year ago) and he is great to deal with. There is now a Carr dealer in New Zealand (Mojosound, who are also excellent to deal with and couldn't be more helpful), and I've just ordered a Carr Rambler through them. I have no worries about customer support.

I've been playing about thirty years and I own quite a bit of equipment. I've had boutique channel switching amps that can really nail some OD sounds (but usually do a poor clean), and many amps that are good for studio work OR live gigs. I'm now using the Carr Mercury for both.

If it were lost or stolen I'd buy another in a heartbeat. Before buying, I tried a bunch of other amps that just didn't do it for. They included Victoria, Sheldon, Hiwatt, reissued Marshall 18 watt... the Carr was a clear winner.

It isn't cheap, but hey if I'd wanted cheap I could've bought a Peavey...

General features are covered many times on this board already. Please see elsewhere or the manufacturer site for more details.

I'm giving it a "10" because it has exactly what it was designed to have to accomplish the goals of the designer. It needs nothing more in my view. And, as the rating number is supposed to represent versatility, it has it in spades; at least with regard to tones.

This is so subjective it's a bit ridiculous. Also, is generally covered many times already. All I'll really say here is that it provides a number of stellar tones at a number of volume levels; many of which are apartment-friendly. It can do just about everything your typical jazz, rock, blues player would need an amp to do. And, all with phenomenal tone. And, again, at a very nice range of volumes. The only reason why I would ever shy away from this amp for serious consideration would be if I needed a ton more volume overall and/or clean headroom at major volume levels. Other than that, it will very likely do what you want/need it to.

Does it "sound awesome?" YES! In fact, I still can't get over how good this little amp is. Easily a "10!"

N/A - I can't imagine having any problems with it considering the components, build quality, etc. But, hey, you never know. No problems to date.

N/A - Don't know as I have not dealt with them directly at all.

Yes, I'm your typical player who has been playing for a ton of years and has gone through a ton of gear. From very high-end boutique stuff to the vintage greats I have owned many, many amps and pedals. I, like so many of us, do not gig out and have been searching for an amp that I can plug directly into and find a variety of tonal possibilities with, at volumes my NYC landlord and fellow apartment tenants can agree with. I am so satisfied with what this amp does I am selling my cherished original TS-808 Tube Screamer. I simply do not need it anymore. This amp "does that" and so much more. I HIGHLY recommend that anyone in similar shoes with similar needs, as well as, the dough ($), check this amp out. As I believe someone else stated, if you can't get phenomenal tones out of this amp, pick another instrument! For what it is supposed to do, I have found nothing else that comes close.

By the way, I never write on these boards. I was honestly compelled to write this as this amp is such a gift for people like me. I have been searching for something like this for too long. Steve Carr has designed an "instrument" that truly fills a much needed space in the market. He recognized this need and came up with a really, really great design. I had to share this with everyone out there. If you have similar needs as I DID, you owe it to yourself to spend some time with this amp.

Amp made and purchased in 2005 (couple of months ago). Distinguishing feature is of course the ability to switch between 1/10, 1/2, 2 and 8 watts. For pre-amp gain, you can switch between clean, and two boost settings. The rest of your gain is added the good-old fashioned way - by turning up the volume! If it gets too loud, you simply reduce the power. Unique and effective. Bass and treble are bypassed in the 2 boost settings. The "cut" switch to roll off on high frequencies remains in effect, though. Reverb is the only other feature, but I still rate this a "10", since there is really nothing missing that should be there, except maybe a master volume. I do not even miss a middle tone knob, while I?m usually fond of EQ-ing.

I use the amp with a PRS Santana III and a Gibson ES-335 VS Re-issue. I used to own a Koch Twintone, which is also a versatile and great amp, but I wanted an amp a) with a more vintage sound (I play mostly classic/ progressive rock and blues rock) b) to be low powered in order to be able to drive the tubes at low volumes and c) ideally, reasonably portable as well. A Fender Blues Junior would fit the bill, but I have played it often, and I always find that the BJ's clean tones lack definition; chords tend to sound muddy, especially with humbuckers. Also, the overdrive in a BJ is nothing to write home about. (o.k., the comparison is a bit unfair, since the Mercury is about 3 times the price of a BJ...). Originally I was looking for a Cornford Harlequin, but it was not in stock, and instead I run into this baby that I had never heard of before. I was immediately sold. The amp has warm, lush, clean sounds in which every single note can still be heard. The bass is full, without being boomy. In the 8 watt setting, there is plenty of headroom for my purposes: small jams, practice and recording. In lower watt settings, the amp breaks up very nicely. Even when running at a mere 1/10 of a watt, you need to push the volume to get solid overdriven sounds, so don?t think you can play heavy rock without waking up the lady of the house. Overdrive sounds are very versatile, from light crunch to heavy saturated classic rock and blues leads. Sustain goes on forever. It remains odd that the bass and treble are bypassed in crunch and overdrive modes, but in practice it does not bother me at all. In combination with the PRS, I can get almost any type of sound I want. The ES-335 played clean sounds wonderfully jazzy, although some people might consider the sound a tad on the ?dark? side. If I want even greater variety, I run a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 in front of the amp, which suits the vintage character of the amp very well. Other pedals will work too, although shredders and heavy metal players will look elsewhere. A bonus of this amp is that my Taylor K-14c sounds great through the Mercury. I couldn?t believe this when I first tried it out, more for fun than anything else. But really, the sound is much more convincing and natural (always the biggest compliment for amplification of acoustic instruments) than the Fender Acoustasonic that I used to own.

No complaints, no suspicions. Looks very well built, but it is too soon to pass judgment.

N/A

This is one of those amps that truly inspires you to play. I could be perfectly happy with just this amp and one good guitar, without any stompboxes or other gizmos. With this amp, less is definitely more. I?d replace it in a heartbeat if it was stolen or damaged. Pricey, sure, but worth every penny.

Single Channel, 3 drive modes. Very easy to use and get a good tone quickly with the channel switch and cut switch. Don't need or want a headphone jack - great tone at very low volume is one of the reasons to get this amp. I mostly use it at home, but is loud enough for small venues. I bought this used - it has the older sytle output tube, but I'll probably get the new style when the time comes.

I use a fender strat (American) and a 1956 reissue "cloud 9" Les Paul gold top. Once again, very easy to get good tones with either instrument. Great for classic rock, blues, jazzy stuff, surf (good reverb). It has more than enough gain and distortion for my tastes and style, but may not satisfy those who play "modern"rock, punk, etc. I can get some very nice break up in the clean channel with the LP and turning the volume up. Same channel is nice for clean sounds with the strat , lower volume knob settings and the power attenuator up. Distorted channels have wonderful tone that only require a twist of the knob (and perhaps a flick of the cut swich). To be honest, the distorted channels are so nice, I really don't care that the tone controls are bypassed.

Can't comment, too little experience.

Can't comment.

Perfect for playing and practicing at home. I got this because I couldn't get a sound I liked with lesser small amps. I can see that it would be perfect for recording as well. I'm definitely sold on Carr amps and I'm thinking about getting a Rambler now.

Single channel, 3 stage output tube selectable gain/distortion, output attenuator, great reverb, solid craftsmanship and classic looks.

This is an 'updated' review in addition to the review (a few below). After finally receiving my Multimeter/tester and testing the Merc's bias I found that my Mercury amp was suffering from a faulty output tube (Groove Tubes KT66) and causing a bit more distortion than normal. Once I replaced the tube with a JJ E34L tube and biased it up to .045 volts DC (Steve Carr's recommendation) I noticed a MAJOR improvement in the amp's clean headroom, the amp runs quieter and the overall tone was improved. I love this amp the more I play it! If you can't make this amp sound great you should consider playing a different instrument.

Well, I can't speak for the Groove Tube company (I hate their tubes, because they are always noisy and unreliable)....but, aside from the tube problem, the amp performs flawlessly!

Top notch a good bunch of guys. I talked with 3 different guys (including Steve Carr) on as many occasions and had all my questions answered.

I have owned and played just about every amp out there! Boutique, production and otherwise. The Carr Mercury is built to last and perform. I will say this is one of the best amps I've owned if not the best, it is on par with my Matchless Lightning 15 and DC30 and Guytron GT100. It kicks the crud out of any mass production amp (Fender, Marshall, Boogie etc...) It does it's thing with major tone! A classic! Worth every penny!

Amp is 2004. Very versatile for what I bought it for: a recording amp. One channel, no footswitch, no effects loop, no line-out, no headphone jack. Don't need any of 'em! Has four-position attenuator, three position boost, volume, treble, bass, reverb and bright switch. Incredible variety of sounds. Use all settings for different songs. At 8 watts, it's a perfect amp for the studio. Never tried gigging with it. I play blues, blues-rock and jazz. Point-to-point wiring. No PCB. One EL34.

I have four Gibson Les Paul Historic Reissues (w/Timbuckers, Rolph 59 Pretenders, WCR Crossroads and 57 Classics) and a Strat. The amp perfectly suits my style which is vintage blues, classic blues-rock and jazz. The amp is very quiet at all settings. The amp has plenty of clean headroom at 8 watts, even at 2 watts (think BF Princeton, Deluxe). At a 1/2 watt it breaks up nicely (think JTM45, tweed Deluxe). The 1/10 watt setting is great for late-night noodling. I have the volume between 1/2 and dimed. Velvety reverb. You have to play with the volume/boost/bright combination to get just the sound you want but, believe me, it's there!

Build like a tank. Only had the amp a few months but it looks very sturdy.

Traded emails with Steve Carr. He was very helpful/friendly and informative. Warranty is for life!

Been playing for 40 years. Professionally for 12 years. Also own a Carr Rambler which is also a spectacular amp but with a very different character. I mike this amp through a Shure SM57 into a Yamaha 2816AW hard disk recorder. I don't use any effects. The amp brings out the tone of the guitars, the amp and most of all, my playing. Sold two Marshall combos to get this and the Rambler. Would replace the Mercury in a heartbeat. I'd like one more attenuator setting between 1/2 and 1/10. I've owned vintage Marshalls and Fenders over the years but I finally found MY amp. The amp expresses what I feel with complete transparency. Pricey but highly recommended.

The reason you buy this amp is because of the flexible features! (duh!) Single channel with 1 X 12 Speaker all tube design with power tube saturation and gain stages selectable. This is the KT66 version made in late 03' but esentially new because the original owner didn't play it much at all.

I'm using a 54' Custom shop Strat with Texas Special PUs into a Budda wah--Keeley 'Baked' TS9--Barber SS overdrive--DLS Echo pedal--Carr Mercury. I like different types and stages of front end overdrive with various levels of delay/echo, I don't like modulation pedals especially while soloing! Lets face it, you can't go onto any stage (well 99.9% of em anyway) and crank up a 50 watt amp (let alone crank up a 20 or 30 watter) sound guys just won't allow that to happen (anyone that plays small to medium gigs know!) stage levels have reduced drastically from the days when I could drag 2 stacks of Marshalls up on stage and crank em' and then run em' through the PA too! those days are LONG GONE! The definition of anxiety is watching a sound guy while you are setting up even a half stack 20 watt amp! Man! he has you turn it backwards and run it on '1' or puts a piece of plexiglass in front of it etc...(I've seen it all!). I had a Matchless Lightning 15 amp and could only run it on '2' and even then the sound guys are whining "It's toooo Looouuud...." bunch o' sissys! Well I've been looking for someone to put out a low wattage version of a well designed amp so I can crank it up and still get the bottles rattling and the tone a' happenin'. I bought a Guytron GT100 amp and it works very good in this way, but, the power section is still too loud (100 watts) and the thing is major HEAVY! (13 tubes etc..) I saw Steve Carr's amp (Mercury) and thought...could this thing make it? Well, it is designed more on the Fender side of tone than the Marshall but it does bring more crunch and growl than a Deluxe reverb cranked. My first impression of listening to the Merc was that it was breaking up too early! even in the 8 watt setting with the volume at 12 o'clock it starts distorting (not alot of clean headroom so this is NOT a good crystal clean amp) this is OK with me because I like a smooth break-up happenin' even on my 'clean' setting. The next thing I notice is how quickly the speaker breaks up (it is still new and not broken in completely yet still a very smooth break-up) it tends to get a little 'flubby' on the bass end of things when really strummed hard on the lower strings (kinda natural with 'Jensen' style speakers as the Kingpin 60 is patterned after, should smooth out after being broken in a bit) still on 8 watts I move into the gain '2' stage and notice a decided drop of low end (because the EQ stage is bypassed and it is all guitar now!) and a nice smooth 'mid' sounding distortion happenin'(gets a nice bite to it when cranked in 8 watts). I move to the 2 watt selection and crank the volume and it is nice and distorted but still decent note definition. I move to the gain '3' stage and crank it in the 2 watt section and get a nice heavily distorted driven sweet compressed 'woman' tone goin on. This amp is cool and it isn't even broken in yet (BTW I notice the amp getting sweeter the longer it stays on, like the tubes are getting hot and saturated..) I go back to the 'clean' 8 watt sound (gain '1') and run some 'loops' with my Boomerang looper and then crank some solos over the loops with different overdrives engaged....Cool! I turn things off and go upstairs and my wife says: That is the best I've heard you sound!...ever! (I've been married to her for 20 years and she has been to countless gigs and recording sessions with me and has heard me through countless EXPENSIVE HIGH END gear!...) She says I sounded smooth and sweet, warm and singing. The 'feel' of the amp cranked through the KT66 tube was definitely inspiring, but, my wife's comment was a first! The volume of the amp is definitely loud enough to play anywhere you are mic'd through a PA and maybe most small venues where you hold your own without PA back-up (not heavy rock though). I felt that the 1/2 and 1/10 watt settings were useless but hey...for screwing around and just practicing what the heck? The reverb is real nice though not very useful beyond 9 o'clock (unles

I expect this amp to hold up over time (hand made, point to point, no circuit boards etc...).

Steve Carr emailed me from the NAMM show so he is a concientious guy, nice and helpful!

Hey, this amp does what it is designed to do and it does it very well! If you are looking for Marshall type of distortion you better stick with a Marshall....If you want a complex class 'A' 'Fender-esque' kind of bluesy vibe going and you don't need to be real loud, this amp rules! It takes front end pedals very well too!!! (no 'effects loop' this is a good thing...an effects loop is a disruption in the signal chain) Remember: THIS IS NOT A CLEAN AMP! even at it's cleanest it has some nice smooth tube break-up, if you are looking for clean headroom try a Fender amp or Carr's 6L6 driven Rambler amp.

Features is where this amp really shines in my opinion. Not because it models 50 million different amps or effects, washes your clothes and burps the baby, but because it gives you something really useful. A GREAT sounding amp at low volumes. Let's face it, there are a lot of GREAT sounding amps on the market, but most of them are unusable for many, many guitaists at home, where they usually play and practice, because to sound good they have to be REALLY LOUD!

Sure you can play them at a club gig or whatever, but you can't use them to practise at home or rehearse because they're so INCREDIBLY LOUD! That has always bothered me. If the tone of the guitar/amp doesn't sound good, I'm less than inspired and tire of playing it. And if in order to sound good I have to CRANK IT UP then I don't get to play it too much or too often because the family, neighbors and animals all go nuts!

This volume problem, I believe, has led to a lot of the modeling amps, pedals, antenuators, and gadgets of all sorts that try to give you an inspiring tone at a usable volume. Unfortunately I've tried all or most of those and they just didn't sound like a great tube amp cranked to me.

The Carr Mercury does. I can now play to my heart's content without any complaints or restrictions. My playing has improved. That's a really good feature in an amp.

The Mercury sounds incredible. This is such a subjective area that I won't go into much detail. You just have to try one. I play an LP, Strat and Tele mostly and it's a tone treat with all of them. In fact, I had put away my Strat because it wasn't cutting it for me, until I plugged it into the Mercury and took it for a spin. Turns out it was my old amp, NOT the Strat!

I did pop in an old 60's Vox Bluebell/Celestion speaker I had around, just to see what the offspring from the two would be. Now, there is nothing wrong with the stock speaker. It's great. But Jeeeeezzz, this amp REALLY likes the Bluebell!

I give it a 9 because there is no such thing as a 10 in this category to me. But, when I tried to find one to try every dealer within 400 miles of me, except one ( Hello HoosierDad's!!), was sold out of this model! And he only had one left! They all said they can't keep them in stock. You think the sound might have something to do with that?

Built like a tank! I've had this for 9 months or so and not a problem or glitch. I shouldn't think there will be from looking inside it.

When I switched out the speaker I happened to strip out a screw in the process. (Totally my fault, not the amps.) I e-mailed Carr and Steve wrote back the next day that he was sending out a new screw immediately and apologized for the problem, even though I had told him it was entirely my fault. God bless him, the screw got here in 2 days by FedEx!! That's above and beyond to me.

The amp aint cheap, but either is the way you're treated by Carr! I've dealt with many, many manufacturers and most could learn a thing or two about how to take care of customers from Steve Carr.

This amp does the tube thing REALLY well. If that's important to you and you want to be able to get THAT sound, and we all know it when we play it, at a volume you can use at home every damn day, then your days will be better if you check this thing out.

You have to really justify spending this much on an amp, at least for most of us. Can you? Well, I have never enjoyed playing electric guitar in my whole life as much as I do now, and for one reason. The Carr Mercury. It has given me the convenience of being able to play guitar whenever the mood strikes me and has rewarded me with just really excellent inspirational tone, everytime. I waited 9 months to write this, even though I raved about the amp from day one, because you have to live with an amp a while to get to know it. Well, the Honeymoon is over, but I'm still just as much in love!