Carvin 112-Nomad

Basic 2 channel tube amp. Seperate eq per channel. Gain (Soak) on ch 2, effects loop. Presence control on back for ch 1 . line out, footswitch for channel select and reverb toggle. Light- 40 #, Compact and pretty.

I bought this amp used with Hasserl mods (Clipping diode removal, and tone stack mod on soak channel) and a Texas Heat speaker, so I cant rate the stock tone, but the tone as I got it is perfect for the small club work I do (Country and Oldies band). When I first tried amp at home, I thought it might be too mid-rangey, but it sounded perfect with the band. Very well defined in the general mix from where I stood. Many favorable comments. I used a 50th Anniversary strat, and an Ibanez SZ360 (2 Duncan HB's). Both sounded good. This amp delivers a real tube feel, and inspires your best playing.
The clean channel has a characteristic I feel Carvin should emphasize. Withe the bass control at 6 and below, clean channel has a mid rangey quality (good for rock). Kind of woody or barky. Set the bass at 7 or above, and this seems to roll off mid rangyness,in favor of a smooth round(and bassier) sound, more like vintage Fender.
Very usefull for ballads, abd Jazz. This was a bonus I didnt expect.
I can see that this amp may not be suited for very loud rock, or Metal, but distortion sounds great to my old ears with my Boss ME70.

Not enough time to judge

Have not contacted.

This is the best gigging amp I have used yet(30 years gigging), and Ive owned a fair amount. This replaced a Traynor YCV40, Which performed well, but felt a little lacking in the sound quality I was looking for. I have used Fenders(Twin, Blues Jr, Cyber Deluxe, Super Champ (XD), and Vox AD50VT, and Roland Cube 60, Legend Rock & Roll 50, and probably some others. TheCube 60 is the best solid state I've used, but doesnt quite have that nice tube feel.
I would definitely get again if neccesary.
While shopping, I tried Vox AC15 and 30, Fender Super Sonic, DrZ Maz 18, Budda, Bogner, and Egnater. I think I could have been happy with any of those. They all sounded good, But the Carvin offered the best mix of features, sound, and Price (far cheaper than any others I tried)

Purchased new in 2009. I had read all the flap about the nomad and it "Muddy" problem. I figured with all the harping about the muddled sound in overdrive, Carvin would have done something about it. Never ASSUME anything! They still have the SOS with the new ones. So, I had a new Eminence Legend speaker laying around, so I popped it in. Amazing difference already! Then, I did some reading and thought I would change a tube or two. A matched set of JJs in the power section helped a little more. Then, I decided to go a little deeper into this madness. Replaced the Pre-amp tubes with JJs, too. A little snarly! Took out #1 and put the Solvek Groove Tube back in. I think I love it now. You shouldn't have to experiment with a NEW amp, but I am very pleased with the result. Every player has a sound they are looking for and I found it.

I play Contemporary Praise and Worship music. Some of it rocks, so I need to blow it out now & then. After the mods, I can get most every sound I want with a little knob tweaking. I used a Godin Solidac, a couple of Telecasters, a C-1 Schecter, and a modded Aria with 3 gray bottom overwound single coils. All team up well with the Nomad, except for a slight buzz from the pickups on the Aria. That is the guitars' problem, I'm sure. I can get "chimy" on the clean side and "gritty" with class on the O.D. side. The "soak" feature usually serves best at about 50% with the changes. Just enough distortion to stand out. Any more than that and it starts to "MUD-UP" again. I never turn up above 3 or 4, so I have all the power I can use at my disposal.

New - Don't Have An Opinion.

Haven't had to deal with them.

I have been playing for 35+ years. You're never too old to rock and roll - don't ever stop!! There is always a gig somewhere. I also play a 314 Taylor through a Genz-Benz Shenendoah. I like a moderate degree of quality in my equipment. I take good care of my gear and would be really pissed if any of it were lost or stolen. I would replace everything I have with the same stuff. Stolen ???!!!?? I would summon the "Wrath Of God" down on that person. I use it for His glory and I don't believe He would take too kindly to it being stolen. I have played, experimented, tried every new thing that came out for the last 20 years. I finally have all I need to get every sound I want. This Nomad was the icing on the cake.

This is an update after a couple more years of use. Like most other users, I have experimented with tubes and speakers. I bought a second Nomad, also Hasserl-modded, which I keep at our practice space.
After trying out more than a dozen different speakers, I went with Hasserl's recommendation, and now my gig-Nomad now has an Eminence Tonker. My tube lineup is:
V1: Groove Tube 12AT7
V2: JJ ECC832 (12DW7)
V3 UOS (used old stock) Amperex 12AX7
V4: JJ ECC81 (12AT7)
V5: UOS Amperex 12AX7
Power Tubes: Matched JJ EL84s

I usually run it at half power. I pulled two tubes out of my practice amp, and my gig amp has a 25/50 toggle switch installed to cut out two tubes. Since my band mics everything, it rarely goes past 3. For big shows, I run it at full power with a matching (Lopoline) closed extension cab with a 12" Eminence Neo.

Cleaner cleans with nice breakup, in part due to less gain from the preamp tubes. Both channels handle pedals well, and I cascade a Keeley mod TS9X, a Boss Deluxe Reverb pedal and a lot of other stuff to get a variety of OD and distortion sounds - some with Ch 1 and some with CH2.

The infamous "Carvin rattle" has been all but eliminated. If you have one, try bagging your reverb and for God sakes get those stupid retainer clips off the tubes. They won't fall out, and 9 out of 10 Carvin players have found them to be the source of tube rattle.

Nothing original has ever broken, and I bought both my Carvins used, and schlep them around. A lot. However, one of the resisters used in the modding process went bad and knocked out my overdrive channel. My amp tech figured it out right away and replaced it.
Keep decent tubes in it and you should have no problems.

I dunno -- I hear stories, but the only time I ever called, I got a friendly guy who knew his stuff.

I'm a Geezer who has been gigging since the 60s and don't plan to slow down anytime soon. This is a great amp for around 500 clams. I have played better, but they all cost more than $2,000. I can get my sound from a Nomad without turning it past 2, so I'll take two and keep the extra grand.

I just purchased a Carvin Nomad and matching extension cab used for $400-US, mint condition. Wow! What a deal, and what a great amp!It's a 1998 model. Great looking on stage and great tone! 2 channels clean, and gain [soak].The only feature I wish it had was indicator lights on the footswitch and on the amp telling you the current selected channel. Maybe it would look less vintage then so I'll cut Carvin some slack here on that issue. It looks very vintage, and the tweed tolex is very cool.

Sound quality is fantastic!I owned the 2X12 version of this amp the Bel-Air, at one time, and sold it [a mistake I think!].Anyway, glad to have this amp back in this set-up of a single 12 amp stacked on a matching cab.If you buy a Nomad new or used, I highly reccommend you also purchase the matching cab. It looks great on stage and also gives you a bit more low end and elevates your amp for better tone projection for yourself and others on stage. This thing has a great clean channel, and the 'soak' channel is pure vintage grunge when that soak control is cranked.Playing Cinnamon Girl at a gig the other night, that amped cooked sounding just as good as Neil Young's Fender Champ in my opinion.A very versatile amp that works well on the clean channel with stomp boxes or processors as well.

Very well laid out and constructed. The amp weighs in at around 40 lbs and the matching cab at about 24 lbs. Lite, portable, good looking, and great tone.First gig out absolutely no problems.

Carvin has always been excellent to me. My current Carvin roster---Legacy 2X12 Combo--V3 head---XT-112 Combo----Carvin X-60 single 12" combo's [2 of them]----Carvin Nomad and Cab---Carvin RX 1200 mixer.All are excellent products. Carvin builds great gear!!

You know what, this amp is an incredible deal new or used, like most Carvin products.I mean, come on! $549 new for this great little amp, and only $240 for the matching cab?? I've tried Fender amps, re-issue Bass-man's and Deluxe amps, and I'd put this thing up easily against any of those.This amp is 1/4 the price and 100 times better because of features, tone, and the added Vintage Soak Channel.Much more versatile than those other vintage amps.Carvin can not be beat especially with the quality at the reasonable price asked.I highly reccommend this amp. Get the matching cab if you can.It gives you the option of using it for bigger gigs or whatever, or just taking the easy to move amp, solo, to more cramped gigs.The amp alone will be more than fine for any situation, but the two together look and sound awesome! Buy one, you won't be dissapointed!

Bought the amp new in 2002. It is a 2-channel amp that you can actually use either of the two channels. Every style of music from country to classic rock, jazz and blues. I wouldn't suggest it for Pantera type music though. Came with a footswitch and has effects loops etc. It is used daily onstage or in the studio. At 50 watts it has more than enough power. All tubes, 5 preamp and 2 power tubes (EL-84's). This is the amp I used when our band won the 96 Rock House Band competition in Raleigh in 2008. See/hear it at Reactorband.com

I use many different types of guitars and pickups but my main axe is an old strat with Seymour Duncan Jr's in it. Rich full bodied tone even at lower volumes (of course it's better when cranked but how often can we do that these days?) Very touch sensitive which I love! Not many amps truely are but this one is! Clean channel is rich and clean at any volume and the gain channel is clean and all but silent until you turn the gain above 7 but then again my gain never runs above 4 so it's whisper quiet. The overdrive is very smooth and adapts very well with pedals if that's your thing. I personally like pedals so that was important to me.

In 25 plus years of playing professionally I have used many amps including Marshall, Hiwatt, Hughes and Kettner (Triamp) and this amp is every bit as well made and dependable as any of those. I have used it many times without back-up and was perfectly comfy with it. It has never let me down and I don't think that it ever will.

Carvin has kept me in the best gear since the 1980's and they were then as they are now top of the line when it comes to customer service! I've never had to have it repaired but have had it retubed annually and the man who does the work for me has said it is very easy to work on and very well built. The warranty was for one year but that ran out 5 years ago and I've never had trouble with it. The X amps from Carvin I've had for 20 years and still have done nothing but retube them!

Ive been playing for 30 years and have been using Carvin amps forever now. I loved the X-100B so much I bought the Nomad. Loved it so much I bought the MTS-3212 combo and now I also own the Carvin Vai Legacy. All wonderful amps. I would absolutely buy another Nomad if anything ever happened to it. I bought it because I needed a small easy to move top of the line sounding amp for quick set ups for smaller shows and this one won out. I tried all the Dr.Z's and all those "boutique" amps and I bought this one because of the tone! I had the cash so that was not a determining factor. The fact it costed a fraction of those other amps just made it that much sweeter.

Update!

I just got a Marshall 1965-A 4X10 cab for the Nomad. What a differents a 4x10 cab makes. The Soak channel is no longer mudy it's more opean and the EQ is usefull now. The clean channel can be a bit ice picky but the tone control on the guitar fixs it. I'm now splitting my signal in to two volume pedals runnig one to a Fender Super Reverb and the second to the Nomad/Marshall cab set on the dirty channel then blend or back off one amp then put the metal to the pedal for 8x10's blasting . I stop useing OD/distortion/Fuzz pedals and I can fit both amps plus the marshall cab that wieghs the same as the carvin and my three guitars in my car. Thish is the best set up I have ever had.

see last review

see last review

This amp is versatile little combo that can wear many hat's. The add 4x10 cab helps alot but still sounds great as a signle 12 combo.

For this price you do get a lot of amp. Effects loop, two channels, 50 watts, reverb, and seperate controls for both channels(footswitch option should be included)If you ask, usually the salesperson will through it in at no cost. But it should be offered as standard with the amp.

I wanted to get smaller tube amp for a while. I have an older Carvin X100B head and 4x12 cab and it's just to big for the house and jamming casually with others. My old practice amp is a solid state peavey that's just OK. So I looked, looked and looked and kept coming back to the carvin as far as features for price. I also looked at the Fender HRD and some others but the carvin just seemed to beat it in all it's features. Also these are still made in the USA and that did sort of sway me.

I happen to live on the east coast so I can't just try one out. Like lots of folks I ended up spending hours reading reveiws coming to the conclusion that Clean channel is great Soak channel is marginal. Still I thought with a pedal things would be okay or the famous hasserl mods would make the soak channel better. So I went ahead and ordered the amp almost expecting to do the mods soon afterwards.

I've had it about 4 months and found that the clean channel is all that everyone says. Very warm, tons of headroom. Fendery reverb that doesn't get too sappy. No complaints. The soak channel was also somewhat similar to reviews. Nice classic crunch up until 5 on the dail and then becomes muddier and muddier. I figured I'd just use my OD/Disotrtion until I did the mods. But a funny thing happened.

A lot of people complain about the mid range on this amp. But occasionally you'll hear someone comment on how well it cuts though the band mix when you're playing out. When I was practicing at home at modest volumes I had that subjective tone critizim going on in my head. But when I got together with a drummer and cranked it up the sound really did cut through. The drummer kept saying that the amp sounded sweet(the amp not me that is). And it really did. I had it set no louder than 5 and I could hear the guitar over the drums easily. While the soak channel does sound muddy over 5, at 5 with some volume you get a great classic distortion sound. Think James Gang, and great blues overdrive. Really great. So now I'm not so sure I want to do the mods just yet. I can still us my modded rat pedal for heavy stuff. But this amp really does sound great in a band mix. And while the soak can get muddy it still sounds great at modest settings and can be modded or used with a pedal. BTW pedals do great with this amp. I also would suspect that running the nomad through an extension cab would really deepen the bass up considerably. It is a bit mid-rangy. But not too much so.

As a point of reference I has a '57 strat reissue and a MIA standard strat. Both are s/s/s. I also have a H/s/s G&L but haven't played it thorugh the amp enough to evaluate.

Carvins are built like the old Peaveys in that they are rugged and hefty. While it's not a featherweight it is easy to tote around for a 50 watter. The covering is not real tweed. It's a tolex simulated tweed but still looks cool and is pretty scuff resistant. If this thing is built like my X100B it'll last as long as I own it. All the electrical components seem well put together and the amp is very moddable and not as fragile on the pcb as some others. No plastic switches(except rockers) or jacks. Everthing should hold up very well.

I found out that some of the reps at carvin are great and some are not so great. Keep calling back until you hit one that you like and you can work with and keep his extension. The rep I used was friendly and knowledgeable and very easy to work with. The guy gave me the footswitch for free so that was cool.

I would rate some of these guys as 5's and some as 9's so I sort of settled on a 7 overall.

I'm giving this a 9 based on sound/price/features. If it were stolen I'd be pissed but probably try someting else. Not that I don't like this amp. I do. But I might try to go for a botique amp. At this price range though I'd be tempted to get anther. You get great cleans, lots of options and an amp that can be modded down the road should you want to experiment.

I love the clean channel and the soak channel is growing on me but I still think it should smoothen out over 5 rather then get muddy.

I tried a couple of the crate products and the Fender HRD. I'd say that the carvin holds it's own with the latter. The crate has a good clean but it's od channel didn't impress me either.

If there was one thing I'd change(and I might) it would be to clean up the soak channel just a bit after 5.

However, it's hard to knock this amp for the price. Made in the USA too. If you considering the HRD, Crate, Peavey offerings consider the Nomad. If I were to go anywhere from this amp it would be to a botique point to point amp. For now this one will suit me fine for quite a while.

This is a basic 2 channel amp, one clean the other overdriven. It has a very nice reverb and an effects loop. The channels and reverb are footswitchable with the optional fs-22 footswitch. It is a very atractive amp with faux tweed covering. Both channels have bas, mid and treble controls and the clean channel has a Presence knob for added sheen.

Stock this amp is very versatile with a strong midrange. The clean channel is exceptional, the overdrive or soak, channel was a little too muddy for my tastes when I first got it. The clean channel is also extremely friendly with overdrive pedals. I decided to do some of the Robert Hasser mods and recommend them highly. This amp is now amazing! I did all of the stage one mods, the attitude mod and the master volume mod. I would say it is now a little bit old Fender Deluxe and Vox AC30. But there are many other sounds in between. It does a good job of handling just about every sound I need.

This is the third Carvin amp I have owned and they have all been bulletproof. I worry about the mods sometimes but if they fail that is my bad, not Carvin's.

The warranty is only one year but I have always found Carvin to be very helpful.

The amp is very good and LOUD stock and would handle everything except the hardest rock or shred. With the mods it is amazingly versatile with a ton of great sounds! I would not hesitiate to use with any type of band or music!

This is an update on features I have change from my last review I wrote Three years a go on my Nomad: I replace the the speaker again with a Emince Texas Heat and change V2 to a 12AT7 .

Going to a speaker with a high wattage I have more head room and all distortion is from power tubes in the clean channel or from pedals.The second channel has always been on the muddy side changing V2 from a 12AX7 to 12AT7 gave it more dynamics.The volume control guitar became more usefull on that channel and there is still alot of gain their for todays Blues,Rock and Country.I have also change out all my pedals my from my last review three years ago : Tonefactor Nebula> Aramat Mojo > HBE Germania > Fulltone Soulbender > Budda Wha > MI Audio Crunch Box > MI Audio Blues Pro > Nick Greer Sonic Boom > Nick Greer Black fuzz> Ernie Ball JR. Volume > ToneFactor Mobius Feedback loop with a old DOD FX 90 Delay in the loop for true bypass. I still have my Nashvill tele and 335 got ride of the '70s strat and got a Schecter Banshee.

Well the Channel changing feature stop working . I have not taken it to my amp tech and it wound not be first,second or third time it has been worked on . But, considering I have had it on the road for five years and work at every gig not bad but not great.

They suck!

I use this amp at practic and as a back up for gigs .I'm using a Fender Super Reverb RI as my main amp .For five years this amp has been good to me and I still find ways of improving tone. Not that it sounded bad in the first placeand also thinking of getting a ex.cab for it. I still love this little amp and I'll rock it to it's grave.

It's a 2005 Nomad 1-12" (Celesion Vintage-30) with Groove tubes.
It's a two channel w/ EL-84's (Clean and Overdrive channel)
It has effects loop, tube driven accoustronis control & 2-spring tank reverb. 50-watts is more then enough power for any size club, I only wish it had switch for 15 (bedroom) watts, it has a master volume knob.

The clean channel lack bass response and the overdrive channel's gain sounded like a jar full of Bee's. So I had Mike Ramey of Whittier, CA do some major mods to beef-up the bass and tighten up the clean channel...........AWESOME JOB MIKE! It sounds allot like the Fender Super Deluxe that Howard Dumble modded for Robben Ford.
The overdrive channel was trunned into a Monster full blown Soldano Hot Rod 50 after Mike bye-passed the clipping diodes, sounds so dawn fat and sustians like the no other Carvin amp I've ever heard.
I'm so luck to know Mike Ramey and have him mod my Acoustic G-100T, my Carvin Valve Master 1-12" combo and now my Nomad. You can contact Mike at: JCVessel2@msn.net, The best in the business.
When I used my Fender Strat is sounded full with the John Suhr V-60's, but the best damn sound I heard was my 70's Yamaha SA-2000 with WCR pickups (The Fillmore set) It ever out performed my Les Paul. Oh! by the way the amp went from Noisy to quite.

I believe Carvin makes good quality amps but cuts corners, they should take more time in there design stages, even if they have to charge a little more for it. (Take note Carvin)

Never had to deal with Carvin before.

I've been playing for 37 years and know my stuff when it comes to sound. I seldom ever leave anything stock because of the many options there are out there. From Pickups to wiring it better then stock anyday. If it were stolen I'd by another and again have Mike mod it the same way. If you own a Nomad (or) Belair take note if your interested in turning a vintage sounding Carvin amp into a true DR. Jeckel and Mr. Hide amp. If you play semi-hollow bodied guitars like Benson, you too will love the shit out of Mike mods because of the deep tight bass with a little bit of mid and treble make for clean like you have never heard before.
What helps me get that tight sound is my ported 1-12" extention cabinet I use with a Jensen Alnico, and the deep sustian (ala Carlos Santana) from the Vintage-30. THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS.