Carr Amplifiers Mercury 112 Combo

No FX loop, no easily accessible speaker out. No footswitchable channel or reverb. No tone controls on ch. 2 or 3.

This is a killer sounding amp. I'd give it a 10, except the clean channel doesn't have the sparkle of many other boutique amps. On the other hand, the clean channel handles pedals wonderfully, and can actually be driven pretty hard. Channel 3 is where it's at though. It's got sustain and character for days. The power scaling works well too. Better than a HotPlate. Even 1/2 watt setting doesn't kill the character of the amp.

I've had the amp for maybe 5 years now. I've not gigged with it, but have halled it out to many a practice or a jam session.

This is a great little recording amp, and will even keep up with a drummer for practice (I put it on a stand at ear level). Doesn't do modern metal, but will do everything else: blues, rock, 70s/80's metal, and shred. I've got some other really nice amps: Bogner Shiva, Tone King Metropolitan, THD Flexi and Univalve, Fargen modified Deluxe Reverb Reissue. This amps stands up to all of them, with the exception of the Tone King's clean channel, which is just other worldly, but partly because it's 40 watts and has the headroom. As sparse as it is featurwise, I really wouldn't change a thing, and yes, if it were stolen, I'd buy it again, because it has tone and character that is all it's own.

manufactured in approx 2007 ( i think ) - the EL34 version with the red white and blue patriot speaker.

I absolutely could not resist buying one of these. I love tele bridge PUs and my favorite amps previously ( still have them ) are a Gibson GA15 goldtone and a Vox. I learned the magic of the triode 7.5 watt setting TURNED UP in small - medium size clubs ( also small-medium size dives if you know what I mean. ) The 8 watt mercury was calling to me and the reverb quality reputation of the Carr amps is strong. Here is where I went wrong - I realize that what I love is EL84 class A high end sweet trebles, chime, etc. I am lucky enough to also own a mint 1965 AC 10. I had no business buying an EL34 amp - I tried everything and Steve Carr really tried to help. I went to a lower bias ( 42 ) and tried 5-6 other tubes - I even picked up a $100 Sylvania NOS 6L6GC. No matter what I did the tone was brutal and 'flashlight like' with no sweetness in the trebles. I gigged with it once and it certainly is loud enough on 8 Watts but I quickly went back to my EL84 amp after the first set. I was disappointed with it with my tele, ric 360 , strat and Casino. It might not be fair to criticize it because you can't compare apples to oranges - but I also don't think it competes with any of the small blackfaces - DR, princeton , etc. One thing for sure tho- The reverb is absolutely stunning on the Mercury. It is also one of the quietest amps I have owned ( has a ground switch that is really useful ).

The workmanship is some of the finest I have seen.

I am really impressed with this company. Extremely helpful - I think they would have done almost anything to help.

I have played 40 years and owned hundreds of guitars, amps and toys over the years ( like any gear addict ). May favorite sounds are single coil bridge PUs into the right EL84 amp - cover band for past 8 years playing all the campy stuff people dance to. My heaviest addiction is that bridge tele PU into a treble booster then straight to that 45 year old AC twin 10 into the EF86 preamp channel cranked. punk , The Who, Kinks, AC/DC etc - but the goldtone is pretty good also. I bought my Carr six months after I hit on the magic of this 12 Watt Vox and the Mercury really never had chance - also can't come close to my Goldtone. Maybe a lower wattage speaker would help. Maybe for a different style player this would be the right amp - also maybe for humbuckers ( I don't know - humbuckers are not in my world )
I had heard that this amp is the ultimate small blackface tone - but I also disagree here - my old DR is sweeter in the highs and not so harsh. However, I'm sure many people love this amp and like I said - the reverb is astonishing.

By now everyone should know the features of this amp so not gonna list them. Mine is a 2006 model. For what I use it for I give it a 10

Well my amp is a El34 model but swapped it out for a KT66. Major improvment in tone! I also added a Celestion Blue and now this amp sings. I still wonder why it doesn't come with this speaker stock. I work second shift so by the time I get home the wife and kiddies are in bed. That's where this amp comes in perefectly. I can play with good tone and not wake anyone up! The Mercury has a very good clean sound and the reverb sounds great too. I used to use alot of different overdrive pedals but don't need them anymore with the exception of my Analogman BC108 Sunface. I don't play in clubs so couldn't justify having a 40/50 watt amp anymore. Glad someone out there is looking out for us hobby players.

I bought mine used and have had it for only a few months so I can't really comment on it. I have opened it up and it looks solid. Nice handwiring!

Never had to contact C.S and don't think I ever will.

I would give this a 10 overall because it is the answer to my prayers.I can play at home at anytime and not wake up the family or bother neigbors. Don't get me wrong at 8 watts this amp is loud enough to do both of those but using the attenuator takes care of that nicely!

This model is the El34 model. P.Ad, this amp will gig easily. You cant switch between the three channels or the reverb from the floor. All the pushed power amp tones produced by this amp are available at lounge-room volume, allowing you to play over top of the TV if you want. It is surprisingly light and compact, making it very easy to cart around.

The stock valves sounded great, but I swapped them out for NOS valves, resulting in a little less focused, more open sound.

The amp comes with an Eminence Patriot, Red White and blues speaker, rated at 120W.
I found that this speaker was too bitey, tight and twangy for my taste, so I changed it out for a celestion blue that I had on hand ??? a big improvement tonally. HOWEVER, the Eminance speaker was brand new and totally unbroken in - so I really cannot comment on how the stock Eminance speaker would have sounded down the track. With the stock speaker, I???d give the amp a 7 ??? a 10 with the Celestion Blue.

Another thing though???I was a more than a little disappointed that they???re cutting corners, putting a so-so cheap speaker in a high end amp. What???s more, this Eminance ???Red White and Blues??? speaker is rated at 120 watts, where the amp produces only 8 watts - so how is the speaker supposed to break up and ???work??? with the amp? Steve Carr should have a long, hard think about this, as the Mercury is not an amp for the tone deaf or people chasing a cheap amp ??? it???s for tone-nuts chasing great tone at low volumes who don???t mind paying for it. This amp is let down by this crap speaker! My tip, stick in a great quality, low wattage speaker such as the Celestion blue [rated at 15W] and experience the huge tonal improvement of the speaker working with the amp.

In summary, 3 points off for a crap speaker, and 1 off for the lack of foot-switchability.

I am reviewing this amp with the Celestion Blue Speaker mods, and the NOS valves mod. Without these mods, I???d rate the sound at a 7 out of 10 ??? still very good, but not exceptional. With these mods, the amps tone has certainly been improved.

I play a Tom Anderson Atom though this with little/no effects. I play a range of styles from rock, country, folk, jazz to 80???s metal. For a do-everything amp, the mercury covers all of these styles exceptionally well.

Channel 1: Classic Fender tones. The clean tone is wonderful. With humbuckers it breaks up beautifully from about 10 o???clock. It does get quite flabby from 2 o???clock onwards with humbuckers, but lovers of fuzz distortion will love the effect. Treble and bass controls are very effective in tailoring a wide range of sounds. The sound is thick enough for single note leads, and lovely for chords. The reverb is beautiful and fendery on channel 1, and gets cut back when you change into the gain channels. Surf sounds are easy to achieve with this reverb. I am achieving the best bitey-clean and break-up tones I have ever heard at this volume level.

Channel 2:
Volume low: Rolling Stones edge of breakup,
Volume middle: ACDC ???ish, Led Zep, rocking blues.
Volume high: 80s hair metal.
Broadly speaking it I???d liken this channel to a Marshall JCM 800. There is no eq on channels 2 and 3, but I haven???t missed having them at all. As with channel 1, I have never heard tones to rival this amp at this volume.

Channel 3: More compressed and more gain than channel 2. Cranked it???s similar to a Hot Rodded Marshall/ 80s Mesa [not 90???s] sound. Middle volume it does the Van Halen thing wonderfully, and fully cranked with a high output bridge humbucker, Metallica???ish sounds can be achieved. It does not get to the rectified-mesa sound.

This amp coupled with the Anderson Atom guitar covers a huge range of sounds and styles exceptionally well. All sounds from clean, gritty to dirty are of exceptional quality, and never leave you wanting something else. I used to have a range of great overdrive/distortion pedals [Hotcake, Barber TonePump, Tonebone], but I have sold them as this amp has made them obsolete.

Hint: Experiment with the amps bias to hot via the knob at the back. Altering this makes a huge difference to the overall character, tone and attack of the amp. Hotting up the bias will give you a more sparkly and snappy clean tone, a more punchy rhythm tone and a cranking filthy high gain tone. If you are demoing this amp, be sure to alter the bias control.

Built like a tank. When I swapped out the speaker I was amazed at just how much work and detail had gone into the box. Even the bits you???ll never look at are impeccably finished. Steve Carr and the guys are real perfectionists. Lucky I???m in Australia, because if they knew I???d taken a drill to their handywork in installing a larger speaker, I???m sure they???d want to kill me.

With the speaker mod, it???s the best amp I???ve ever had. At bedroom volume, the best clean tones I have ever heard, the best gritty tones I have ever heard and the best dirty tones I have ever heard. Very versatile, with a great reverb, that won???t damage your hearing. If you play mostly at home and/or at small venues, and you never get your amp above 4 [or lets face it 2!], then this sell it and buy this one and run it on 10 all of the time! I have owned many amps and this one is the only one that I have had no issues with. So do yourself a favour and buy one, but change out the speaker!!!

Read the other reviews for features. Not feature heavy but it has what it counts.

Here's the story - I had a Mercury years ago when they first came out and I raved about it (one of the first reviewers on HC for this amp). Financial reasons made me sell the amp and I regretted it ever since. I just got one off of Ebay (a nice Forrest Green model) and I'm in love all over again. This amp has the most beautiful clean sounds and with the right tube in the power section, the amp really sings. I'm not a high gain freak but more of a cranked blues type of sound. With a JJ KT66 (the best to my ears for this amp)in the output stage the sound is strong, smooth, and punchy. I generally don't use the boost settings. I keep the bass low (around 9oclock) and the treble high (3oclock)and punch up the volume to get my overdrive sound. This keeps the tone stack in place, the mids dropped a little, and I get a great smooth Fender / tweed type of grind. Very touch sensitive, organic, "crumbly", and just plain fun. For my clean sounds. I keep the tone controls around 12oclock w/ bass slightly lower. This is just a great all around amp for touch sensitive players. Not for the thrashers but for those who appreciate what a really good amp can do.
The amp takes pedals VERY well. I use a Indyguitarist Pinnacle2 distortion and a Barber BurnUnit when I want outboard drive.

TRY THE JJ KT66. IT SOUNDS REALLY GOOD IN THIS AMP. NOT AS MIDRANGEY AS THE EL34 IN THE BOOSTED MODES. BETTER LOW END AND SMOOTH TOP END.

If your looking for a low powered amp, are not a metal head / thrasher, and have been playing long enough to know a good amp and tone...this amp is for you. At 8 watts, its plenty loud for practice. You can always mic up the amp...which you should do anyway if you play gigs. Its great to get true power amp cranked tones at various volume levels. I wish the jump in volume from 1/10 watt to 1/2 wasn't so drastic. It really could use something in between. Any thoughts Mr. Carr?

Overall a really fun amp. Expensive, but once you play it and really explore what it can do...you'll agree .

Most people reading these reviews already know the specs. Single channel amp with variable wattage, 3-way boost, high-cut on/off, volume (no master), bass, treble, and reverb. No foot switches, tremolo, effects loop, or aux speaker jack. I, like others, would like to see some of those features, especially a foot switch for the boost. Since this is mainly a home or studio amp I suppose the idea was that foot switches are superfluous. I tested a new Merc at a local shop and fell in love with the amp but not with the $2200 price tag. I bought mine used on eBay and am unsure of the year. Doesn't matter because it's in pristine condition. It is the perfect amp for home use. I used to have a Fender Princeton Recording Amp which has an attenuator built in, but after playing the Mercury I could never go back to the Fender so I sold it.

This amp is primarily a distortion amp. With the boost off, it is dead quiet. With the boost on you do hear some slight background hum, but it's minimal and no worse than a premium distortion pedal. I find myself using the 2W setting the majority of the time. If you want loud clean tone, I'd suggest the Rambler (which I also have). It's about the same price. As with many of Steve Carr's amps, the Mercury loves single coils. I have an American Strat w/ stock single coils, a PRS Customm 22 Artist with tapped Dragon II humbuckers, and a vintage Gibson LP Custom. Humbuckers sound a bit dark, but if you tweak the controls you can lighten it up. Would be nice to see a lower impedance input for humbuckers though. With the volume at 10:00 and below, you can get sparkling clean tones. Above 10:00 the amp starts to break up nicely. For distortion, I usually leave the boost control off and use a Fulltone OCD. It's just a matter of taste...there's absolutely nothing wrong with the boost circuit. I gravitate more toward clean tone and use pedals for tone shaping. I also run an Analogman analog chorus and a HBE Mimic analog delay through the Merc. The amp takes pedals quite well.

Seems to be built like a tank. Biasing the single EL34 power tube is easy and the procedure is clearly explained in the manual. The test ports & bias pot are readily accessible. Steve Carr uses top of the line caps and resistors so it's built to last. Based on that, I'll give it a 9.

I emailed Carr Amps customer service once with a question and received a nice reply the next day. I feel that they stand behind their products.

I've been playing for about 30 years but don't play professionally. I was looking for a top quality boutique amp that I could use around the house for practice and I think it would be difficult to find a better amp for that purpose than the Mercury. If someone stole it I would definitely get another.

2007 Carr Mercury.Very versatile.One channel.I use it for recording

I use a PRS Hollowbody Spruce.It is not noisy and don't use overdrive very often

I love this amplifier.I can get a wonderful,almost piano like sound from my guitars with Carr Mercury.

I've played for 41 years.I own Breedlove,Martin Aand other PRS guitars.I've played with several artists that are Iconic figuers in Modern Music.

Not sure of the year of manufacture. It's got the EL84 tube and the Red White and Blues Speaker. The rest of the specs are covered by other reviews and at the Carr website.

I can't believe I'm writing one of these reviews....

I agree with the wish that it had a footswitch for the reverb and gain stages. The built-in attenuator is magic. Reverb is excellent. The boost/gain stages work really well. The cut switch does actually make a nice difference when you want to mellow the tone a bit.

I haven't used the amp in a band setting with a drummer, so I don't know how well it cuts through a full mix. I use it at home and with friends, jamming at relatively low volumes.

The sound is mostly transparent, you really get to hear what your guitar sounds like, but there's also a nice, classic Fender sound in the mix.

Perfect amp for anyone looking for natural tube distortion at reasonable volumes. It can very nicely hover on the cusp of clean to distorted, or it can be kicked into pure overdrive.

I play blues and blues-based music pretty much exclusively, and in surroundings requiring a relatively low volume. For my purposes, the Mercury is an absolute gift from the amp gods.

No issues so far. Build quality appears to be excellent.

I hear good things about Carr's customer service ethic, but I have not first hand experience.

An amp that sounds like a wet dream at low volumes is exactly what I needed and with the Mercury, it's exactly what I got. The amp can also get really loud for an 8 watt rating, but I'm a bit skeptical that it would cut through the mix of a full band with a drummer. If I ever find out, I'll update the post.

points deducted here because there is no option for footswitchable reverb, overdrive, etc. i realize that these were design choices, and i'm comfortable w/that or i wouldn't have bought this amp in the first place. i just couldn't rightly give a 10 for features on a simple design like this...i had to deduct SOMETHING. the amp does gain alot of points for other features such as the selectable output wattage, versatility in the fact that you can experiment w/different tubes, (which you can bias yourself w/out taking it apart) and it's cool looks.

this is way too subjective so i'll try to keep it short. all i'll say here is that up until buying the mercury, my current and favorite amp was my zinky designed fender prosonic. the only problem is that it needs to be turned up a bit in order to sound good, just like all tube amps. enter the mercury. i A/B'd the two amps and was amazed to find that the mercury made the prosonic seem almost sterile sounding in a transistor-ish way. (on the clean sounds) what also surprised me was that even though the mercury doesn't use a tube rectifier like the prosonic, it had a more "bouncy" feel to it than the prosonic. if it had more clean headroom at gig volumes, it'd be perfect. the overdrive sounds are incredible as well. my previous "small" amp was a carvin vintage 16. when i first got the mercury, i was a little nervous to compare it to the 400 dollar carvin which i was relatively happy with at the time. what if this $2K amp doesn't sound like it costs $1600 more than the carvin?!?! man, i'd be pissed cuz i'd feel like a sucker! well, i A/B'd the merc and the carvin and i literally laughed out loud when i plugged into the carvin after playing the merc. the carvin sounded like it was made of cardboard. you really DO get what you pay for. BTW- the carvin went on ebay a few days later. anyway, i realize i haven't really described tone too much here. again, only because it's too subjuctive a topic and you really need to HEAR an amp to know for yourself. this is the first 10 i've given an amp in a review here on HC.

built like to last a life time. steve carr used nothing but the best components. for example, the french made capacitors in this amp are designed to last for up to 150 years, and are used by the european space agency for their satellites. i would have no concerns bringing this as my only amp to a gig. of course, i WOULD bring backup tubes. the inside of this amp is like a piece of art. all point to point. i took a few digital pics, so if anyone is interested in seeing what makes one of these tick, shoot me an email and i'll send some your way.

i love the fact that i can call, or ask a question via email and get friendly a reply from steve carr himself. while i wish steve continued success, for my own selfish reasons i hope he never gets TOO big. customer support like this just doesn't happen at the corporate level.

there is no perfect amp out there. everything is a sacrifice. to me, this amp would be perfect if: it had more clean headroom at gig levels, it had some foot-switchable functions, and an effects loop would be nice. the thing is, if it had an effects loop it would likely sound different. if it had more clean headroom at higher volumes, then it would need more wattage. these things would then make this a DIFFERENT amp so.... see what i mean. in closing, i'm very happy w/this amp and can't see myself ever parting w/it.

My amp was made in 2006. It is extremely versatile, with all the features I need. As a Blues Player who doesn't like pedals, I need to be able to get a great tone at any volume with the perfect amount of 'hair' on it. With the Mercury, this can be achieved very easily by switching between four different output levels & gain settings. The reverb is also great.

The amp is quiet enough for studio use. The tone is amazing with a surprising amount of clean headroom at 8 watts. Clean to Marshall-like crunch can be dialed in at each volume setting. The individual characteristics of each guitar are not lost in the signal. I'm using it with 2 Strats - one with Seymour Duncans, one with Fender custom wound pickups by Abigail Ybarra, a Tele and a semi-hollow custom made guitar with Seymour Duncan humbuckers (not sure exactly which model as they are a prototype set for a new pickup design). I play mostly Blues, plus Rock and Jazz styles. This amp works in all situations. One thing that I was very pleased with was how great it sounded for a brand new amp straight out of the box.

This amp is built like a tank. I have owned it for less than a year so I have no idea how reliable it will be, however I expect it to be very good based on the build quality.

I have heard that Steve Carr's support & customer service is excellent but have never used it.

I have been playing for over 25 years during which time I have owned many amps icluding an original Marshall JTM45, Bad Cats, Victoria Victorilux, Deluxe, Twin, Champ, Tone King Meteor 2, Mesa Boogie Lone Star Special, Fender Deluxe Reverb, Blues Junior, Dr.Z Maz Jr. Divided By 13 9/15 & FTR 37. This amp is definately a keeper. I'd buy one again if lost or stolen. (The amps I know I'd never sell are the Divided By 13's and this one). The price is quite steep for a low powered amp but I believe it's worth it if you want an amp of this quality. The build quality is awesome. Each amp is built by hand with the best components. I chose this amp for it's awesome tone at low volume. The only thing I wish it had was an 18 watt power setting so I would only need one amp! Besides that, the amp has everything I need for lower volume applications.

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!

Let me start by saying that when I first heard this amp, I did NOT like it. I could not get a clean tone from it. The guys at the store did not take the time to show me the ropes. they were more interested in forcing me into a sale. Nearly $2k for a 8 watt amp? Just did not seem right. This is a LOUD 8 watts. Carr amps must be power rated quite conservatively.

Then I realized that for an amp around the home, anything above 20 watts is too much. Thanks to Jason Barker's "Steelbender.com" site, I became a fan of this amp. Jason Barker does the sound samples for Carr Amps web page.

I own a Carr "Slant" 6V and a Carr "Rambler", and love them all. So I am highly biased toward Carr Amps.

This amp is what I have been looking for...a perfect studio amp that sounds great clean or saturated without waking up the neighborhood. Classic rock and blues are my styles with a will to learn some jazz guitar. This amp covers them all.

I wish it had one more input.

Single channel, one input, no foot pedal, no tremolo...those are the negs. But, I do not use these features except for an occassional need for tremolo.
On the upside...it has 3 levels of saturation, 4 levels of power (1/10, 1/2, 2 and 8 watts) settings, a "cut" switch, spring reverb that is adjustable, and that famous Carr TONE.

Perfect for the studio or any room in the house/apaartment. Could have enough power for gigs. Very portable and 35 lbs.

You get alot of amps in this little package.

Tone is why Carr Amps are becoming famous.

I use mostly G&L Legacy (Strat) with single coils, PRS McCarty (Humbucker), G&L Bluesboy (single coil/Humbucker), G&L Comanche (single coil/Humbucker). To my ear, this amp love them all. I use the cut switch to roll of some treble for different styles.

The clean setting sounds like a Blackface Pronceton with a 12".
The second level sounds very Vox like and breaks up nicely with midrange 'bark'
The third setting is more Marshall like...quite heavy saturation at low volumes.

The clean channel at high volume 1/10 watt breaks up very smoothly

I own several Carr Amps and have had no problems yet. Always carry spare tubes and fuse. I have spoken directly to the Owner and Founder, Steve Carr and found him to be a very modest geniud, professional amp builder who is willing to give great advice.

See above...you can't get better than talking with the owner.
I believe the warrany is "liftime" to the original owner.

Been playing about 30 years as an ameteur. Been told that I have a good 'ear' for tone. Before I discovered Carr, I have owned mostly Vintage Fender Deluxe Reverb amps. I A/B these to any vintage Fender, and found Carr amps to sound better tan the Vintage Fenders on the 'clean' settings (that's my criteria).

These amps are pricey, but they are worth it and hold their price in the used market.

I wish Carr amps would include at least one more input on their amps.

If stolen, I would replace (if insured). I could not afford to buy another on my own.

The amp has an excellent combination of features that make it uniquely suited for playing in venues ranging from one's home (even late at night!) to small club settings. The attenuator switch allows you to play full volume (and thus experience the overdriven sound of an excellent tube amp up full throttle) while sending anywhere between 8 to less than 1 watt of sound power to the speaker. Also, the reverb is among the best made. A dial-in-setting provides three variations on the fullness of the overdrive.

I play a 1954 telecaster and a 1957 LP goldtop with P-90 pickups. The amp shines with both. With small adjustments of the treble and the overdrive switch (enables overdriven effects that range from mild all the way to british blues) I can get the tele to sing in that over-the-top Roy Buchannan ear-piercing way and the LP to produce full, bluesy, sustain. On the clean setting the Carr chimes -- good clear treble (though not as bright as say a Matchless) and full base.

I have had it a little over a year (it is serial number 1, so I guess it necessarily has the best clean track record of all Carr Mercurys) and not a thing has gone even slightly amiss.

I have talked with Steve Carr by phone on two occasions (for info on amp and settings) and he has been a perfect gentleman -- giving of his time and expertise.

I have been playing since 1965. I have owned an abundance of amps over the years; everything from 1950s Fender Tweeds, to 60's Marshalls (an interesting red one formerly owned by Quicksilver Messenger Service stands out in my mind), Matchless, to the truely odd (Ampeg Colossus). The Carr Mercury stands out among them. True it is not a big-gig machine (unless miked), but the tonal qualities are superb, the reverb wonderful, and the versatility exceptional (my wife cannot hear it at night. And this from a woman whose sensitivity is such that if they rewrote the story "the princess and the pea" based on her life it would be renamed "the princess and the molecure". If lost or stolen it would be replaced.

2004 model purchased off ebay. The amp was basically brand new, still in it's original packaging from Carr. Quite the deal (thanks to a friend who caught it an hour after it was posted). As mentioned in prior reviews, the Carr Mercury is a very unique amp with a couple of interesting twists to the 1x12 theme. The built-in, 4-stage power attenuator really makes this model extremely versatile and allows for exceptionally satifying tone at very low volumes. There's also a 3-stage gain control as well. Unfortunately, the gain control is not foot-switchable but is a great feature in itself.
No effects loop (thankfully), tube reverb and EQ for the clean stage only. Strangely, the EQ is totally bypassed in the two higher gain stages. While this may seem problematic, it isn't, as these two gain stages are very accommodating to both humbuckers, single coils and P-90's. There's also a Hi-Cut toggle switch that's very funcional as well. One feature that totally rules is the ability to change power amp tubes and then easily bias it with the user friendly bias adjustment. Very cool! I have to confess I haven't tried any other power amp tubes in the Mercury because the KT66 sounds so damn juicy, but there's always that option down the road. The "features" are somewhat limited in regards to the lack of EQ in the 2nd and 3rd gain stages, no footswitching and no extension speaker jack but other features like the built-in attenuator, ability to switch power tube types, convenient bias adjustment and particularly effective Hi-Cut switch more than compensate for my needs.

I play with a few friends who have a Mercury, Slant6 and 1x15 Rambler. After listening to and playing the Carrs', I knew I eventually needed to get my hands on one. The Mercury in particular caught my ear with that single KT66. The clean stage sounds like a BF Princeton, but fatter with a richer midrange and a tighter bottom end (especially when the volume is turned way up). There isn't a whole lot of overall volume in the clean channel, even with the attenuator on 8 watts. With 1/10, 1/2, 2 and 8 watts available you would think the amp is a studio-only affair, but the watt ratings are pretty misleading. It's far louder than you think but still will be the best sounding amp you'll ever hear at really low volumes. It's a big, 3-D sound for a little 1x12. The second gain stage is my favorite when I play straight into the amp without my pedal board. On the 8 watt setting with the volume at around 2:00 and the Hi-Cut swith up playing a Reverend Slingshot with P-90's, I had no problem cutting through a noisy jam session with 3 guitars a bass and a heavy-handed drummer with a full kit. That middle gain stage is magic with all my guitars - really sensitive and dynamic to your string attack and you can dial in the breakup point by simply playing with the volume. Great sustain, balance and feel - although it's a pretty quick playing amp with that solid state rectifier in there. Very little sag or sponginess, it's more of a sports car than a luxury sedan. The third gain stage I really haven't explored all that much but find it useful when I'm playing at the 1/10 - 1/2 attenuator settings. You can get ripping pinch harmonics and even a tight little chunk going at conversation levels! When I want more flexibility, I just plug my pedal board into the amp on the clean setting and use my clean boost to get the volume up where it needs to be. My pedals never sounded better than running into the front of this amp. The 2nd and 3rd gain settings seem to run on the brighter side of the fence (to my ears)and without EQ controls I usually flip the Hi-Cut swith down. However, a few of my "warmer" sounding guitars sound great with these additional gain stages. I've found that jangly Strats, Tele's and other brighter single coil guitars prefer the Hi-Cut swith down and Humbucker models like it up. Just my opinion. Overall sound is very complimentary with a wide variety of guitars and the whole package runs silently with hardly any hiss at high volume levels. This is a really inspirational amp to play and most of the time I just plug straight in and go.

Very solid contruction with a beefy cabinet. Nothing rattles, buzzes or vibrates. If there's ever a problem, I'm sure Carr would respond in a favorable manner. This amp is solid and sees quite a bit of travel in the back seat of my car. So far, so good and the KT66 seems to be a tough bottle with a longer lifespan than a 6L6's.

Haven't dealt directly with Carr but my friends have with positive feedback. The Carr website is very informative and explains the esoteric design of the Mercury in detail. There's also some good sound samples available as well.

I've been playing for a few decades now and enjoy a wide variety of musical styles from roots/surf to blues/rock and beyond. While I don't gig for money, I play out quite a bit so I've heard this amp in quite a few different mixes and rooms. This amp just flat rules for any clean to lower gain styles like surf, roots, blues, country and with a few select pedals in front rocks with authority too.

The Mercury is a well-built, versatile, fantastic sounding amp that seems to bring out tones from my guitars I've never heard playing through other amps. It's complex in regards to the sheer number of tones and volume(s) that are available and the size, weight and portability are welcome features indeed. Worth every penny.

This is the current ultimate evolution of the small Fender amp combining three versions in one box by virtue of the three mode settings. Like another reviewer mentioned, in the clean mode it reminds me of a great BF Princeton or Vibrolux while modes 2 and 3 move into brown tolex and tweed territory. I play blues, classic rock, country rock and fusion. This is a superb recording and practice amp because of the attenuator.

The bias pot and jacks for a meter for rebiasing (and revoicing within the acceptable bias setting range) a major convenience, every fixed bias amp ought to have this.

This is one of those amps that you probably will just plug straight int without ever feeling like you need an effect. I have a strat with Fender CS Fat 50's, a CS tele, and a LP Classic P+ and there's not a bad combination among them. With the strat I can get all those Clapton/Champ tones from the Layla album, Robbie Robertson, SRV(clean and dirty), Walter Trout, Robert Cray...
The tele blooms magnificently, from clean country twang to Muddy and Albert Collins, I've never heard my bridge pickup sound so good, think Angry Eyes by Loggins and Messina.
With the Paul I can get LZ, Cream, Reverend Gibbons, and not lose articulation even at extreme saturation levels.

Construction on par with the best.

Haven't needed help yet but all reports are that Steve Carr does it right.

I wish that the tonal circuitry could be switched in and out in modes 2 and 3, and that the cut control was a pot instead of a switch, but that's just me wanting more to fiddle with and does not detract in any way from this amp's ability to deliver the goods.

This is a loud 8 watter, but as has been mentioned it can get lost in certain rooms by itself. But there is an answer for small gigs that makes this amp sound huge. The Enhancer. I don't think they are in production anymore so you might have a hard time finding one. I have the medium size that I bought for use with my MAZ-18 Junior. It works great with the Z but it blew me away with the Mercury. The Mercury takes full advantage of the Enhancer's capabilities and will allow the Mercury to gig in rooms up to about 100 seats.

My one gripe is that the cabinet does not come with nor can one add amp corners for protection because of the styling and angles of the cabinet design. Granted the thought behind this amp was to be a home/studio tone machine, but amps like this are why God created microphones and PA systems. Guess I'll have to get a road case since it looks like I'll be gigging this amp next to the Z. I consider this to be a features issue as well and it is the only real fault I find with the amp for my needs, that's why I rated features an 8.

2004 purchase. Single 12" 8 watt class A amp with reverb tank and a built in power attenuator, fully discussed below. Clean and Two gain settings. Beautiful blond tolex.

I have a Les Paul '68 Custom Reissue with burstbuckers, a '60 LP special, '62 strat reissue, ES-175, and PRS custom. If you can afford this amp, buy it. Lovely clean tones full of depth and flavor breathes amazing life into a jazz box, absolutely heaven if you want to play blues and get a little dirty. I suppose it would not be a good choice for metal, but I'll never know.

Haven't had it long enough to have a firm opinion but it appears impeccable constructed and was wonderfully packed from the factory.

Called before purchase to get some info and they were very nice.

I've played guitar since 1971, had every thing from Marshall stacks, to various Fender deluxes and Bassman amps, Mesa Boogies, Riveras et al. I only play at home and with friends now and this amp is perfect, tone to impress your pickiest friends, and you can get it at low enough volume not to drive your wife and kids from the house.

Single 12" 8 watt class A amp with reverb tank and a built in power attenuator. See other's below for more detail.

I tried several Strats and a PRS Custom 22 through this amp. I also connected the Mercury to several different external speaker cabs including a 1x12 Weber Blue Dog, 2x12 Celestion vintage 30, 1x12 Eminence something (can't remember). I also had two other guitarist over to participate in this eval. The two overdriven channels did not interest me at all. Carr has shaped the tone on these two channels to tighten up the bass response and the tone controls are removed from the circuit on both. I compared both channels to the clean channel with a Keeley mod'ed Boss Blues Driver on and consistently liked the clean channel better. My perception was that there was too much midrange hump and loss of wide open power chord sound. Even the humbuckers in the PRS just didn't give enough wide open low end feel. The clean channel was definitely the most interesting. Very natural, clean tube sound. Not as icepick in the ear as a Deluxe. The highs were open without being piercing. The low end was better when using the 2x12 cab. I'd guess the built in Eminence speaker would eventually break in (as well as the KT-66 tube) and give a bit more wide open amp. I was really hoping to hear the KT-66 output tube begin to break open as I drove it harder. I ran the clean channel to about 8 and some of that output tube warm started coming through but not enough for my taste. I'm comparing this to my Dr Z Route 66 which has a pair of KT-66 output tubes where I can easily saturate the output tubes to get a thick, bluesy tone, then roll back to volume on the guitar to about 8 to clean things up again. I never accomplished this on the Carr. Again, I thought the PRS humbuckers would push the tubes to that stage of warmth but never accomplished what I was looking for.

The built in attenuator is probably what will sell this amp to many. Although there is a very big volume gap between 8 watts and 2 watts. And since I had to run the clean channel on 8 to get close to the sound I wanted I was stuck with a particular volume. For this amount of money I like my THD Hotplate better (and cheaper).

The reverb is beautiful but I run very light reverb. The best reverb I've ever heard was on a Mesa Boogie Subway Blues I owned. This reverb does not match the one on the Mesa but is still very open and natural sounding.

The amp construction is absolutely beautiful. I can't imagine a better build. Attention to detail is superb. Size, weight, component choice. I'm sure this amp will be very reliable.

I only had the amp 3 days but I did email Steve Carr and he responded kindly and very quickly. I'm sure his customer service is top notch.

I know everyone else is giving this amp 10s all over the place. I'm really comparing this to my Dr Z Route 66 (incredible amp) because it also uses KT-66 output tubes which I love. But more head to head I'm comparing it to my current favorite small combo, an Orange AD-15. When I first purchased the Mercury I hoped it would be my scaled down version of the Route 66 and would replace the Orange. Consistently, all three of us who evaluated chose the Orange. The Mercury just never had that out front, in your face punch that the Orange produced, and the Orange AD-15 is less than half the price. I'm trying to be critical here of a very fine amp and am comparing it to what I already own. For the money I definitely recommend you check into an Orange AD-15. If you need absolutely apartment volumes add a Hotplate or better yet just get a POD and a pair of headphones.

See below. This is my second review after spending more time with the amp. I typically get "new equipment syndrome" whereas I submit a good review too quickly. You have to give the equipment time to settle in and your ears to develope. Also, you have to root out the possibility of that what you think sounds great, could be just that it sounds "different" and not necessarily "better".

Ok. The sounds are even more incredible now that the tubes have broken in (power tube, I changed the preamp / drive / phase to NOS). Folks, do yourself a favor, get this amp. My brother, who is a die hard metal freak and suffers from what I like to call "tone deafness" (he likes music store amps, whereas I hate most of them), was floored by this amp. He came by to show off is Epiphone LP custom that he got at a bargain price. I cranked it up in the amp and he thought it was the best sound he ever heard. And that was semi clean ! He usually likes to hear everything in total super crunch OD mode. The more I play this amp, the more I love playing it. I look forward to plugging in, that says A LOT about the sound. The distortion / overdrive is so thick and harmonically rich with so much punch that only an overdriven output stage can develope. The Cut switch is so handy. If the sound is too forward, I hit the switch, and its so beautifully blended back to a more neutral sound. I thought that the abscence of tone in the boost modes (the tone stack is defeated to offer more gain) would be a bad thing, not so. The guitar sounds so wonderful and pure. My high end audio equipment doesn't have tone controls, and for a reason...it "mucks" up the sound and the overlaps in frequency cna sometimes sound bad when overdriven. If there was one amp I could take to a deserted Island (with electricity of course), it would be this amp...no questions asked. Trust me, this amp doesn't do a bad sound. Imagine crisp but not harsh cleans sounds that will rival any Matchless amp and distortion sounds to rival any Marshall JTM or Plexi from semi gooey crunchy to all out vicious power amp drive. And guess what? You can decide how the distortion sounds! The stock KT66 is very mid punchy and thick, change to an EL34 and you've gone totally British with more upper harmonic chime..just like a Marshall on "11" !!

Seems to be very well built but I've only had it a short time.

Steve Carr answers all his emails and is very friendly and helpful.

I've been playing over 20 years. I'm at the point now that I want high quality amps that go with my guitars and playing ability. This amp "forces" you to really play, not shred or show off...but "feel". Its such a wonderful sounding amp, it picks up all nuances of your playing. If you're sloppy, watch out. Its very tight and defined. If your into all types of music, this amp will cover it. I've used it for heavy metal (old school, Marshall style 80's) and it will do it, better change to an EL34 though, works better for that type of music. I think it has the best overdrive / distortion sound of any combo I've played. Even the semi overdriven sounds are stellar. If your lucky, you'll get an amp that has a great clean and heavily overdriven. You usually can't find an amp that does the in between sounds well. This amp does it all very, very well. As I said before, this amp "inspires" me to play. My rating has gone up dramatically since I've owened it. Who cares if it doesn't have channel switching (cleans up well though with guitar's volume), or an effects loop, or whatever. The amp makes you play and you don't miss those "frivolities", isn't that what's important?

Very simple amp but high quality throughout. I'm an avid audiophile with top of the line equipment for listening. This amp first struck me by its construction: high quality capacitors, resistors, fast recovery diodes, and hollow oval speaker wire that is mainly used in high end stereo systems!! That's quality folks and it shows up in the tone. There's volume, bass / treble (defeated in boost modes), 3 way boost, luscious reverb, power settings,high end cut switch, standby, and power switch. Class A amp with user adjustable bias. Tube switching from KT66, 6L6, KT88, 6550, and EL34. I personally like the EL34 in the amp. I can't give it a higher than a seven since there aren't a lot of features to the amp, but what it does have is top notch...including the built in power attenuator and a totally usable high frequency cut switch.

The clean is absolutely gorqeous. Better in my ears than any Fender or Vox. Its crisp but not biting, thick but not muddy, all with a slight "sponge" to the feel. Put the attenuator on 8 and adjust the volume for clean, boost on normal, reverb up, and play away. This is the first amp that I've owned in which I find myself really enjoying playing clean. I'm more of a "drive" kind of guy. Now I think its because most amp's clean sound sucks. The overdrive is killer. Not heavy metal, shake the walls, loosen your bowels type of drive, but articulate, harmonicaly rich, and thick. There is plenty of gain though, just a different sort. The attenuator allows you to vary the overall volume of the amp (after the power tube) and you can drive the amp via the volume control. The three way boost allows you to push a hotter signal into the amp, pushing it further into distortion. This isn't your typical, buzzy, thin, anemic preamp distortion, but full on amp overload. The 1/10 watt setting is very quiet. I find myself using the 1/2 more, but its still plenty loud. You'd annoy anybody in your vicinity with that setting. The speaker is very nice, but a tad too "American" for my tastes. Supposedly the speaker is modeled after the Jensen c12n but with more body and less annoyance. I might upgrade to a Weber or an Alltone. I think this amp would do good with a Reverend in it. In summary, excellent clean and amazing amplifier overdrive.

Seems to be built very well.

Don't know. The folks at IndoorStorm where I purchased it are great though.

I've been playing for a LONG time and I'm at that stage where I want a high quality amp to go with my PRS guitar. I sold off a few of my PRS after realizing its better to have several different amps, then to have several PRS guitars since they sound very similar. Amps are a different story, they can sound very drastic and feel very different.
So far the best amps I've owned and tried are:

1. Rocktron Egnater Tol100 and Vendetta - great production amps, bridges the gap between "boutique" and mass produced / corporate amps. Clean wasn't anything to write home about, but still pretty good. I little too much of the mass produced compressed tone, but better than new Marshalls, Mesas, Peaveys, etc. Lacked some punch, a little too smooth. This should be carried in all music stores since it outperforms any new Marshall or Mesa. Great amp (the Vendetta) for the money. Bogner type of distortion.

2. Fuchs OD 50 head - a great amp that will be my main gigging amp. Very versatile, lots of punch, great clean, massive overdrive, and lots of options. Small, lightweight, and built well with great customer service. I'm keeping this one, unless I know I'll never play out again and I need the money. Can go from country, blues, jazz, rock to all out metal with ease. Not Rectumfier type metal though. More like super high gain 80's type of hard rock. When amps had tone.

3. Matchless Clubman - this is a good amp, but very limited. The master volume is worthless. Too low and the amp is all buzzy. Turn it up a hair and your blown out of the room. Turn it up more, and it doesn't get louder but starts to mush out. At 35 watts, it barely hung in with a loud band. Eats tubes for lunch, not very versitle. This sucker does have tone though. Sort of a Marshall Plexi / Vox in one. This is going back to the dealer. Not my cup of tea. I need more from an amp...but it does have tone!

I can't give the Mercury amp a super high rating since its so limited, but the tone and quality of the amp ranks it high enough that people should check it out. All I know is that I couldn't stop playing it when I got it and I was late into work this morning. I did go to sleep, so I'm not that hopeless. That's what matters the most, does your amp make you play or do you make yourself play? This amp teases you from across the room to plug in and enjoy yourself.

ELEGANT SIMPLICITY.
This amp does ALOT with very few controls! It has an attenuator to bring it from 8 Watts to 2 Watts to 1/4 Watt to 1/10 Watt. This is not a VOLUME control - it actually changes the amp.Volume, 3 position Boost switch (for overdrive), Treble, Bass, Reverb, Cut Switch and Standby - that's it. What more could you really ever want?
Very tasteful design - vintage without being derivative. Mine is a cream tolex, nice silver inset trime around cabinet and round speaker grill offset from center, chicken head knobs on simple straightforward top control panel, single KT-66 Tube (but can work with 6L6, KT-88, 6550 and EL-34 with rebiasing.

This 8 Watt amp ROCKS.
Do not let the wattage fool you - yoy could play at 1/4 or 2 watts and drive your neighbors crazy.
You can go from LOUD CLEAN to SOFT OVERDRIVE and everything in between. 60's American, Surf, Warm Clean, Mild to punchy to British overdrive to all out Screaming Blues and Heavy Modern all by adjusting the Volume, boost and Reverb - then with the attenuator YOU decide how loud you want to be. The 1/10 Watt is fantastic for living room when everyone is home or apartment living without being evicted.
I have finally found THE ONE - great for at home and studio.

It is brand new and I have no long term experience, but the amp is straightforward, well built, hand wired point to point - at this price I can see where much of the money went - into the high quality of the materials. I am a tube amp veteran and, yes, tubes are more tempermental than solid state and you have to change tubes every so often, but I am old school and to me, nothing beats the sound. I would gig without a backup - no question. The amp arrived extremely well packed from the factory - and fired up right away.

This is one manufacturer to call even without a problem - just to tell him what a phenomenal amp he has designed. I am confident based on reputation that if should there ever be a problem, it will be handled promptly.

I have been search for TONE all my 33 years of playing. I have used a Mesa Boogie for 15 years and I love the Mesa sound, but it sometimes seems that every guitar I play through it has the same sound. This amp allows the character of each guitar to come through. I love it. I am confident that I could gig with it - it is THAT LOUD, but I am comfortable staying at home and getting the sound and tone I have always dreamed of getting. Is it expensive - very. But it is the last amp I will every buy, so I can amertize it over my lifetime and it makes perfect sense to me.

My Mercury was buld in 2003. I play blues, jazz, funk, and some rock. This amp is very, very veritile and can bring you some great tone from quiet volume levels to quite respectable volumes. I've gotten a THD Univalve and a 1959 Fender Champ to try to achieve the quiet power tube overdrive sound. This is much more versitle than both. The Champ is a great one trick pony and I find the Univalve nice but limited in its clean settings. Also, the power attenuation of the Mercury is more "realistic" than the THD. It's really tough to find features that are lacking in such a temendous and original amp.

I pricipally use vintage guitars from Gibson's ES line (335, 345, and 175D). Ocassionally, I'll use a vintage Strat or one of the several Gibson Historic Reissue Les Pauls. This amp sounds great with those guitars and with my Super 400! It's the first of the 15 or so amps I have that sounds great with single coil Strat and p-90 pickups as well as humbuckers. A plethora of sound comibinations are available...an there's a great reverb to boot.

The amps construction and design is top notch. I've only had it a short time though, so I won't give a rating. See also below.

I casually sent an email to Willcut Guitars (from whom I purchased the amp) asking why, on two of 24 or so combinations of drive, wattage, and cut settings I got some noticable volume drop. Within an hour and with no further action on my part, I got an email from Steve Carr himself identifying the problem (a bad KT-66) and sending me out a new tube. I've had some great service from boutique amp companies...this has to be the best.

I own numerous vintage amps (64 Vox AC30, 59 Tremolux, 59 Bandmaster, 62 Super, 73 Super Lead, 69 Park 75, 65 Deluxe Reverb, 59 Champ, Marshall Lead 20, THD Univalve, and Blockhead 18 Watt Bluesbreaker). They are all great in one way or another, at one volume or another, and/or with one guitar or another. This is the only amp that sounds great with all guitars, every day, on every setting. In a world of "vintage" and "reissue", its really nice to see "original" - in tone and design. If you've been thinking about this amp because the reviews have intrigued you, you need to get one...you won't be disappointed.

This amp is made in 2003. Best low wattage amp I've ever played. I'm a bedroom player and now for the first time, I know what total all tube saturation amp sounds like. Will get rid of all my other amps and just keep this one and my, soon to come, Kinsley Deluxe 1. Just one channel, no effects loops, no headphone, no line out. Just a simple great sounding amp with no frills! Power is just right for me.
Never new amp could sound so good.

I play rock and blues with Les Paul and Strats mainly. This amp suits my style perfectly. Fender clean to high gain rock. NO Metal distortion though but a little pedal and you're there. I love the 4 attenuation settings which allows me to play at home in the middle of the night to perfect volume level during the day.

Just bought but I don't expect any issues since it's so well put together.

Have not had to use them yet.

Been playing for 25 years and have owned and tried just about everything. Since I don't have any more need for big power amps, I've been frustrated trying to find a low power tube amp that sounds great and I found it. I love everything about it. It's pricy but so what. You get what you paid for. This amp will out last me for years to come. There is nothing else on the market comparable to the Mercury.

This is the most complex lush sounding low wattage amp I have ever heard! The FOUR volume settings, THREE built in gain channels and SUPER THICK Reverb all on an 8 watt amp is Fantastic. It is a Loud
8 watts!

Everything I could Possibly ask for in a small amp! I have coaxed beautiful clean Fender sounds, sparkling Vox sounds and full out Marshall sounds from this little beauty; however I must say that the coolest sounds from this amp just may be the unique sounds that it can create that are all it's own! Steve Carr is incredible. There are all these little nuances that this amp can provide but at the same time can jump right up and get in your face! I currently play Les Pauls. 1956 w/ P-90's and 1958 w/ Buckers both from the Historic shop and both Tone Machines!
This amp is perfect for me. I play Allmans, Peter Green, Keef Riff ect..This amp can Hit the Nail on the Head if you have it in your fingers! Remember "With The Power Of Soul Anything Is Possible!"

#001 Had it for a couple months. With Steve Carr's amps, and I mean all of them this category is a joke! Cream of the Crop!

Steve Carr is a gentleman and a genius!!!
Eric at Willcutt Guitars is one of the Coolest Cats in the business, He will spend as much time w/ you as you need and knows TONE!!! I recommend him as your dealer without reservation or hesitation. Eric is the Man!

If you like Versatility in a low wattage amp; look no further. I can play house parties w/ this amp with no problem. I have a small child and can still fire this bad boy up and let rip without even disturbing anyone. My Wife says "It may be the most sensible money I have ever spent on a piece of musical equipment!" I know there are some of you folks out there that are hip to that! Tone Box!! I Love it! Thanks Steve!

A great new model from Steve Carr. This is the perfect studio or apartment amp..or any application that requires a cranked amp sound at a reduced volume. Amp is only 8 watts, but a loud 8 watts..has a step down power attenuator to step the output down to 2, 1/2, or 1/10th of a watt.. great Carr reverb.

This amp sounds like a fat princeton reverb to me in the regular mode..there are 2 boost modes that offer a Marshall type crunch and a Boogie/Dumble type tone..However..this amp I feel serves a defined purpose..Dont expect it to be loud enough for a gig..although on the full boost mode and the 8 watt setting it can cut a rehersal volume..for gigging you would have to mic it..It really excells as a studio quality amp or for anyone who has a need to have a full tone at bedroom levels...let the baby sleep and you now can have a great fat blues or rock sustaining sound.

Carr amps are built with the highest quality..they are expensive..but you get what you pay for..

Very friendly service..I have spoken to Steve and Tim a few times...both are very eager to help with any concerns..they care about what they produce..and they care about you being satisfied. Emails are always returned in a timely fashion.

35 years of playing different amps..I have owned everything over the years..although I have always favored a good Blackface or brown covered fender amp until now..now Carr has it all..If you want a great blues amp that kills a Deluxe reverb..buy a Carr Rambler..if you need more versitility..but his Slant6..if you just want a great little Studio amp..check out the Mercury..very cool little amp