Carvin AG100D 112 Combo

This is a follow-up to my review in Jan. 2006. I ordered my AG100D, new, about four years ago. I run a Roland GR33 guitar synth through channel 1, my piezo-acoustic through channel 2, and, sometimes, vocals through channel 3. I do not play out, regularly, but I use this amp for small to medium indoor gigs and for practice. So far the features and power have been ideal.

I use a Brian Moore guitar with humbuckers and piezo-acoustic pickups, which also feed into the 13-pin synth output. I also use an Alvarez electric acoustic. I play a variety of styles of music: electric, acoustic, rock, and Motown or Atlantic soul from the 60's onward. The Carvin is great for tone shaping, since each channel has independent EQ. There is also a 5-band master EQ and a tweeter level pot. You could not ask for more capability in one small package.

After very little light use at home and a few gigs, my AG100D started cutting out at random. I was not willing to pay high shipping and repair costs for an intermittent problem, so I took it to a local amp wizard. He fixed a cold solder joint, but the cut-outs continued so I took it back. He kept it for 4 weeks, unable to recreate the cutouts. Finally he observed the problem and installed a larger heat sink; I just got it back. I am running the amp for hours at a time and testing it when I can, and it seems OK, but I am afraid to rely on it without back-up.
NEW INFO: The amp started to cut out again, and badly, I finally broke down and called/e-mailed Carvin. The service was great,and like other reviewers have said, Carvin obviously knew the problem that I was having. It cost me about $160.00 total for shipping and repair, and I have felt fairly confident that the amp was fixed, HOWEVER, I have begun to practice while running a vocal mike and my electric acoustic, and the amp now cuts out when I hit certain notes on the first or second string of the guitar. The sound will come back after a half-second, but if you strum a chord such as a bar chord on the 3rd fret and above, the amp totally shuts down until you stop strumming. Carvin has ignored my e-mails for the past week. They also deny that the AG100D has had problems, although about 40% of all the reviews I have found point out a poor reliability rating. I dropped off the amp with my local tech, this morning, and I hope he will fix it, After that I am done, and will probably not buy from Carvin, again.

Carvin helped me to get the amp to them for repair, and sent it back promptly. I just can not keep paying shippig and repair bills for an amp that was never reliable, should be working fine, and obvously has design problems. They should not ignore a "valued customer" after all of this. I have other amps-Fender, Peavey, and Music Man that have worked fine for 5 years up to 40 years with no repairs needed other than routine tube replacement or cleaning.

I have been playing guitar for 42 years. I have several electrics and acoustics, and a variety of guitar amps. I also have a big Peavey KBA300 keyboard amp. I love the Carvin's capability and sound flexibility, but the lack of reliability makes it unacceptable.

It's all been said above.

Sounds very clean. I play a Carvin Cobalt C450TS acoustic bass out of it. Sounds awesome.

Carvin rocks. This amp stopped working on me the night before Easter. I had a big gig on Easter and was really worried. I noticed a little cap above the power. Long story short - opened her up. Comes with an extra fuse right inside. Changed it out and we're good to go.

Great design Carvin!

Really good. I work down the street from a Carvin store and they are really good.

Really good amp. Very versatile. I can plug in my acoustic bass, my son's acoustic guitar and my other son's electric piano. We are all in the living room having a great time. Sounds really clean too. It's like a mini PA.

Great Amp.

great features, everything you need, however speakers aren't great; see below

tried every configuration with the onboard EQ and couldn't get a decent sound. then I tried a LR BAGGS Paracoustic DI and the sound was better, but still nothing great. after reading ricky shroeder above, I thought the problem might be with the speakers so I replaced the 12" with a JBL as recommended by a local amp genius. got lotsa bass but the highs sucked. then I talked to a local PA genius and he said try a regular guitar speaker. did that and the guitar sounded better but the mic sucked. I was about ready to sell it on EBAY when I remembered I had an ancient AR ACOUSTIC amp that had 2 8" coaxial speakers. the AR ACOUSTIC is an old company that makes amps sort of like bastard grandads of ULTRASOUND. I plugged the amp into the speakers and IT SOUNDED LIKE SOMETHING I"VE BEEN TRYING TO GET OUT OF AN ACOUSTIC GUITAR AMP FOR YEARS: lotsa volume, "grind" on the top end (not distortion) body...everything I was looking for.

so the problem then was how to get the two amps combined. I took the modular head out of the Carvin (easy, four screws) and took a sabre saw to the AR ACOUSTIC (similar, if not the same chassis as an Ultrasound) and with a fair amount of serious modification to the box, was able to mount the head of the CARVIN on the AR ACOUSTIC box. plugged it in and it sounds unreal; and is lighter than the AG100D.

what does this mean to you? if you are a fingerstylist you might want to find 2 8" coaxial speakers (meaning with tweeter) like an ultrasound or marshall use (I believe) and make your own cabinet or hotrod a twin 8" cab and install the modular head unit from the Carvin.

the difference is amazing. I do some vocals live and the AG100D was better by itself for a mic/vocal sound. but since I mainly play fingerstyle, now the feature is on the guitar sound which was less than adequate before I hooked up these speakers. now its the best I've heard from an amp--especially considering the price.

if you've had problems, have your local tech resolder AC input board and main power supply board rather than ship it to Carvin. this worked for the previous owner of this amp when it was cutting out.

not great, from what I've read here.

I bought this amp 6 months ago mainly because I've owned Carvin equipment in the past and was happy with it but also because I wanted the versatility that an ALL-IN-ONE amp could provide...meaning I could plug my guitar into it plus a mic and my porchboard bass. One amp for all 3 purposes. This amp has 3 channels and each is nicely configured with a good selection of options, features and tonal capabilities. I've been very happy with it.

My acoustic sings through it and I even use an electric guitar with it after passing the signal through a Seymour Duncan twin Tube preamp pedal. It strengthens the signal and warms it up a bit so the electric sounds good. I have also used modeling pedals with it and they sound great as well. This is essentialy a PA...no colored sound here so it works great with modelers. The mic / vocals channel is great as well and sounds fantastic with my harmonizer.

I've had it for 6 months and have had no issues at all. At times i push it to its limits and its never, ever faltered. If there were problems with this amp they have evidently fixed them in the latest ones...like I said...mine is fairly new, about 6 months old.

I only called carvin once about hooking up an extension spesaker and they were great!

Since the amp does everything they claim it does, and it sounds great no matter what I use it with, and since its held up for 6 months of steady use without a problem and since tech support was great I'd rate it a 10 overall. By the way I also own a Roland KC-550 which has 4 channels vs the carvin at 3 channels. I also love the Roland KC-550 but at 65lbs vs the Carvin at 35lbs the Carvin is also a lot easier to haul around. Unless I think I'll need the Rolands 180 watts vs the Carvins 100 watts I'll take the Carvin with me!!!!!

Not bad.

I did not buy this amp for large venues, but I must say it noticeably lacks headroom in the volume department, even for solo gigs at the local restaurant. For that reason I haven't used it much even though it has many more features than my little Crate PA head.

I bought my AG100D in 2001 and for personal reasons did not use it for over a year while it sat in my studio with my other gear. The first time I started using it regularly, it had just gone out of warranty and the external speaker jack was dead. Carvin customer service said sorry buddy but you're SOL. I licked my wounds and went on using the amp without extension speaker as a band practice monitor. Never really used the amp much because we did our gigs with other equipment. Then in early 2006 I began using the amp again as a practice monitor and after two months I started getting snaps and pops whenever the amp was on. I don't think I've powered up this unit more than 75 times in 6 years and so I must be honest... I think this amp is made with junk. And I don't think I'm being too harsh because I'm comparing it to my little Crate PA head which has been used regularly for 15 years and is still running strong.

In frustration I wrote a nasty email to Carvin who then offered free repair to the unit if I shipped to to them. This is the first time that Carvin has behaved in a magnanimous way and I have to give them credit for changing their ways... at least this one time. My prior dealing with them has not been productive so I'm going to average my rating with a 4. They've still got my amp (third week)so I can't report whether the unit is fixed or reliable. But after reading the other reviews, I'd like to believe that they have admitted to themselves that they built a piece of junk and cannot afford to operate a business and not stand behind their product.

Unfortunately, I cannot in good conscience recommend their product nor their company, because there are plenty of other manufacturers willing to do whatever it takes to make things right.

If a year or two from now, I'm happy with the repaired amp, I'll write a more positive review... if I think of it.

I've been performing for 40 years but not much as a soloist. So I haven't owned a lot of sound reinforcement gear over the years. I bought the AG100D as the perfect versatile unit to last me for a long time. Boy !!! was that a mistake. Carvin has a reputation for nice custom designs and top quality, but I think their reputation went to their head and they stumbled into the gutter. I'll go elsewhere for future purchases.

I bought the amp in the new Sacramento Carvin store about a month or so ago. So it's the new version. I bought it because I happened to have my 77 sigma in my car, brought it in and plugged it into the amp, was blown away--that guitar had never sounded so good! (running a fishman rare earth humbucker in it).

I've used the amp at one show so far and really liked it. I was able to dial in a very nice subtle reverb over my vocals, and the amp did will for my guitar also. At this show I used a PRS custom 24 through Line 6 verbzilla, line 6 delay, keeley-modded tube screamer, keely compressor, and Digitech Jam Man (in that order). I also used the amp's onboard delay. It was a lot of fun to layer the amp's delay under the Line 6 stompbox.

In the third channel, for a couple of pieces I ran some backing tracks straight out of a Korg Pandora. I was able to adjust the eq quite nicely, and had a good sound mix going between guitar, vocals, and backing track.

For me the most telling part of how good the gear is, is do I feel comfortable, relaxed, and confident as an artist while using it? If the sound or feel puts me off, my whole performance is affected. I felt very "on" with this amp.

Don't know yet. I did use it without backup, but I hadn't read about all the reliability issues....

I've been playing 30+ years. My rating for this amp is in comparison to running through the board into a PA, which of course is great IF you don't have to lug the whole PA around and set it up yourself. For just quickly setting up a nice system, this thing is great.

I ordered my AG100D, new, about two years ago. I run a Roland GR33 guitar synth through channel 1, my piezo-acoustic through channel 2, and, sometimes, vocals through channel 3. I do not play out, regularly, but I use this amp for small to medium indoor gigs and for practice. So far the features and power have been ideal.

I use a Brian Moore guitar with humbuckers and piezo-acoustic pickups, which also feed into the 13-pin synth output. I play a variety of styles of music: electric, acoustic, rock, and Motown or Atlantic soul from the 60's onward. The Carvin is great for tone shaping, since each channel has independent EQ. There is also a 5-band master EQ and a tweeter level pot. You could not ask for more capability in one small package.

After very little light use at home and a few gigs, my AG100D started cutting out at random. I was not willing to pay high shipping and repair costs for an intermittent problem, so I took it to a local amp wizard. He fixed a cold solder joint, but the cut-outs continued so I took it back. He kept it for 4 weeks, unable to recreate the cutouts. Finally he observed the problem and installed a larger heat sink; I just got it back. I am running the amp for hours at a time and testing it when I can, and it seems OK, but I am afraid to rely on it without back-up.

It is cheaper to deal with local repair service. I never intended to send anything across the US for repairs.

I have been playing guitar for 42 years. I have several electrics and acoustics, and a variety of guitar amps. I also have a big Peavey KBA300 keyboard amp. I love the Carvin's capability and sound flexibility, but the lack of reliability makes it unacceptable.

The features on this amp are well documented so I won't bother repeating them. It's designed to be a basic full frequency amp or small pa, and to that end it does pretty well.

As I just said, it does what it was intended to do pretty well.

The big issue with most every one is...CAN YOU DEPEND ON IT? It seems that most of the users writting reviews here would say NO WAY! Well, I gotta tell ya, I've owned mine now for about three years, using it at almost all my gigs. It has NEVER let me down! I play for a living as a solo guitarist, doing mostly corporate dinner events. I don't play the bar scene so maybe my equipment doesn't get as much abuse as some do. However, I do hump the thing around all over the place and consequently it has it's share of road wear; but so far (knock on wood) it just keeps on going. There is so much negative talk about the reliability of this amp though that, in spite of my own positive experience with it, I still bring a back up...more gear to lug around, great.

I'll never forget the one time I did talk to a Carvin rep about a question I had about the amp. The guy I spoke to was a straight smart-$%#! I've not had a happy encounter with anyone from Carvin.

Regardless of the unpleasent encounter with the rep, I have to say that (at least so far) the little Carvin AG100D has turned out to be a really useful amp for me. It's not the loudest thing around, but for the venues I play, I don't need to be really loud. That may be why mine has lasted so long with no problems; I don't really push it hard as far as cranking up the volume too much. I use channel one with either a PODxt or a Roland GR-30. Channel two I use to play cd's (of me) while I'm on breaks. I 'sometimes' (not often) use that channel for a drum machine, if it's the type situation where I need it. Channel three has been used (again, not very often) for a mic with no problems. I spend most of my time playing dinner music; light jazz, pop and classical arrangments.

I guess I should update this now that I?ve sent the amp in for repair. Not long after I wrote my review, I decided to bite the bullet and send the amp in to see what Carvin could do about repairing it. I first called them to let them know I was sending it, so they could set up a work order. The guy I talked to was nice, but was hard to understand (not sure if English was his first language). He transferred me to the work shop, where I spoke to a tech, who seemed to know exactly what the problem was as soon as I mentioned the amp?s model number. The tech said to ship the amp with a letter that stated that we?d spoken on the phone, what the problem was, and a return address. He also said it?d be about 3 weeks until the amp would be done and back in my hands. After two weeks, I got a call from a guy named Dana (nice guy, had that ?California surfer guy? way of talking :)), who said the amp was repaired and outlined exactly what had been done to it. They basically took the old guts out and put in the 2005 revised components, which cleared everything right up. I got the amp back about 5 days after that, packed in a new box and back to a 100% performance rating, and it?s been fine since then (knock on wood). Net cost to me was in the neighborhood of $160, including shipping. Not exactly cheap! But, all the service guys were nice and professional, and the amp came back pretty much on time and (more importantly) repaired. So, I?ll go with an 8.

This is an almost brand new (last Christmas), full featured personal PA. Features are as noted in the other reviews. My only additional comment is this system could be louder at 100 watts. But what it does, it does very well--when it works. A great system, except reliability is a joke. And if you can't depend on it, what good is it?

Acoustic Guitar sounded great. Vocals were OK (good enough). I never tried playing bass through it, and never played a CD through it--stictly acoustic guitar and vocals. I also used it as a powered monitor during a gig, and it performed well. When it worked, it worked well, altho it isn't particularly loud. It had good sound, and the effects sounded good.

This thing stopped working without warning during a gig last weekend, after only about 20 hours of gentle previous use. That is unforgivable--I should have listened to these reviews before buying this thing. Fortunately I had backup equipment to take its place, so the night was not a total disaster.

I haven't had time to send this thing in to be repaired, but I'm sure they'll fix it up under warranty, and then I'll sell it ASAP on E-bay before it screws me again.

I've been playing for many years and have a ton of gear, altho this was my first acoustic amp and PA. So I'm more than a little bummed that it's built like crap. I've never seen any piece of gear fail so fast. And it sounds like I'm not the only person with this problem. It's a good system idea, but poorly engineered. It's too bad.