Carvin Bel Air 212

2006 Carvin Bel Air,50 Watt, Vintage Wired, Tweed Covered, 2X12 Celestion G12 Vintage 30's, Two switchable Channels with Reverb and Effects Loop. You have to buy your footswitch and cover separately, mine were included by Carvin because I bought two guitars at the same time. The amplifier has more than enough power and I primarily use it to play out. I am not fond of Channel two's soak feature, but I am still fiddling with it, trying to figure out a sound I like.

I play blues, rockabilly, country, classic rock and sometimes hard rock. It fits my styles very well. The clean channel can go from surf style tones and Beatles style ringing tones to Memphis Sun Records style Rockabilly. The second Channel breaks up too easily past 2 1/2 on the soak knob. The amplifier sounds great at low practice volumes and has punch and shimmer at high volumes. The distortion could use a refit in my opinion. It is supposed to sound like a vintage amplifier so, it should not sound like a Hughes and Kettner Warp 7 with a cranked overdrive. Using pedals the possibilities are endless and it sounds great with every pedal that I have used through it.

So far It appears as though all of what I heard, and read, about Carvin is true. This amplifier is built well. I believe that it will last as long as I do with proper care and maintenance.

The sales and Technical Staff at Carvin where very friendly and I enjoyed my experience with them. I did not suffer the hurried rudeness from the folks I spoke with. They answered my questions and were patient with me. No repairs yet, Carvin Standard Warranty.

I have played guitar for 15 years an my equipment list is: Robin Savoy, Fender Mark Knopfler Strat, Fender Muddy Waters Strat, Jackson Soloist SL3, Carvin Bolt-T, Guild GAD-50, Budda Phatman Overdrive Pedal, Vox Wah Pedal, Vox Volume Pedal, Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man, Mesa Boogie Mark 1, Carvin Bel Air. I use Planet Waves Custom Series Cables, Dunlop Ultex Picks, and Hercules Guitar Stands.

This amplifier is my primary gigging amplifier and I would replace this amplifier if it were lost or stolen. I am planning to buy a backup for gigging, probably a Carvin Vintage 16. I compared it to the Crate Vintage 5212, Peavy Classic 50 212, Fender Hotrod DeVille 212,and Laney VC 30 212. All of these Amplifiers are in the same Wattage-Speaker class. The Fender has 6L6 tubes and the Crate has EL-34s. All of the other amplifiers start at about $700.00 to $750.00 new. I feel that the Carvin is a good buy for the money and it is made out of quality materials, Birch Ply instead of Particle Board, and great Celestion Speakers. These other companies could learn a lesson from Carvin on this one. I would have bought any Fender amp because I prefer 6L6 tubes and I am not overly fond of EL-84s but Fender still makes just about all of thier amplifiers, even the vintage reissues (except the 59 Bassman LTD) that are fairly pricey, out of Particle Board. Good amp for the money spent. I don't regret butying it and would do so again.

50 watts, 2 channel (clean and soak), 2x12 carvin 100 watt speakers, you know the rest.

I play an 87 Gibson SG, 2001 Ibanez RG350, Epi Les Paul Custom, Fender Nashville Tele, and a cheap OLP double neck. I prefer Seymour Duncan JB's in the bridge and Jazz in the neck. I play for a modern church praise band. Hard rock/new wave for the kids, traditional/gospel for the old folks. This amp covers it ALL! Clean channel is comparable to a Fender Deluxe Reverb. Soak channel is old seventies/eighties overdrive. NOT distortion. I compared it to my Fender Hot Rod Deville, Line6 FlextoneIII. I also tried out the Peavey Classic 30, Fender Blues JR, Crate V32 Palamino, Vox 2x12 Valvetronics and lots of other tube amps. I SHOPPED AROUND!!!

I have owned other carvin gear and never had any problems. A friend of mine has one of these and it had a humming noise. He took it back and they replaced ALL the tubes free.

Like I said, I own other carvin gear and have had no problems. They helped out my friend and that was a factor in buying mine.

I'm 44, been playing guitar AND bass since the age of 13. I have two carvin basses but I didn't like thier bass amps.(I prefer SWR) I play bass in a top-40 band and play guitar in my church. I had a Fender Hot Rod Deville and a Line6 Flextone III. I sold them both when I got the Belair! I mainly use the clean channel with a Visual Sound Jeckel&Hyde, Boss Super Chorus CH-1, Boss Pitch Shifter/Delay PS-3,Boss Tuner TU-2. Sometimes I use the Soak channel. This amp has TUBE TONE!! I compared it side by side with my Fender. Even my wife and kids could hear the difference! I let my amp push the sound, my pedals do everything else. I will probably be checking out Carvins new line up of Bass amps allthough I am fond of my SWR rig. Overall, I feel these amps are underated and overlooked. The big chains dont carry them so the masses dont get to try them! I spent alot of time searching for MY sound and have found it! If I lost this amp or it was stolen I would buy another Belair or Nomad!

Bought new in 2005 ($599) and it came with the Celestian Vintage 30's. All other features are the same as described by previous reviews and Carvin Website. I also bought it with the matching 2X12 bottom cabinet. So my review is based on this expanded set up. Stock tubes that sound excellent right out of the box. Carvin even threw in the cable. I bought the matching covers (very nice quality covers) and footswitch.

Straight out of the box I plugged my Music Man Axis into this set up and the immediate response was pure tone heaven. Read the owners manual to this amp and Carvin fully explains the electronics set up and how it effects the tonal frequencies and what this amp will project. It meets and exceeds all that Carvin says it will. I hear and "feel" tonal ranges and frequencies that other amps cannot touch. I play everything from jazz, fusion, blues,classic rock and a bit-o-punk and I look for an amp that can give me a good mix of all those styles. This amp covers all the bases, but it has a warmth and sweetness to it. Clean channel is versitile from super clean to a nice crunchy-glassy top end. Distortion channel covers all the bases with a nice warm crunch to it. Looking for the "Brown Sound"? This baby has it and it is as sweet and warm as maple syrup. Top end of the distortion gives you plenty of gain, but warm gain full of tone and body. No thin or big thump harsh "Marshall" tone here. (Sorry Jim Marshall, you amps are great, just not my taste these days). Short of the Marshall, this amp gives you everything else. If you want big half stack thump, go try the Carvin Legacy or the new V3 (You cannot beat bang for the buck with Carvin)

I've only had this in the studio thus far for about 4 months. I have not set sail for a gig yet. However, this baby was in great shape right out the box from shipping, so Mr. UPS man did not manage to destroy it while tossing it about the Brown truck and the highways and biways. This thing is built like a tank, very solid, great materials and craftmanship. This baby will take a toss down a stairway I'm sure. I have full confidence in its gigging ability. Short of the live set up, I'd rate this higher.

When you call Carvin you talk to a person not a machine. I've called their tech support on some recommended set up with the extension cabinet and they are very helpful. The sales staff was informative and they communicate well. So far, so good and I will do business with them again. I've not crossed the road of a breakdown with the amp. Some people complain about getting them fixed and the shipping involved and so forth. With my other amps I've always taken them to an amp tech, there was never a situation where it was shipped out to the manufactuer. Carvin does a great job shipping or replacing parts and walking you through any trouble.

I've been playing for 25 years. Best amp I've ever owned. Every other amp lacked something or did not have the full-spectrum of what I needed it to sound like. This amp gives me the sound and "feel" that I love. The EL 84 tubes, do in fact, respond to the softest touch. This amp interacts with you. If you like to be connected to your equipment and have it respond to what you are feeling as an artist or musician and allow you to express yourself, this is the most connected amp I've ever played. Blows those expensive Mesa-Boogies out of the water! So tube and tone freaks this is one for the record books.

Purchased new in 2005,I play Jazz and Blues also compose for several different theater companies.It is loud enough for me,I bought it because I did not want to use my 1980 Mesa Boogie live anymore.

Prs custom 22,Prs archtop,Carvin Strat style.This amp sounds good when the clean channel is employeed.I use a minimal amount of distorion,I is fine for a slightly broken up sound.

no problems so far

Played for 40 years,Been on national TV,Records,Toured.This amp reminds me of a Gretsch amp I used in the 1960s or an old Ampeg sans vibrato.I like modern gear it is easier to keep up with,That is why I switched to PRS guitars.I have simple needs when it comes to equipment most of the sounds come from our hands

Bought secondhand two years ago so it's probably around four years old. All valve twin channel, one clean (unless you really crank it) and the other with pre and post gain to give you as much drive as you want. Separate and effective EQ on both with a presence pot on the back for the clean channel. Plenty loud enough for pub gigs and would be perfect if the effects loop was switchable in/out.

I use a selection of guitars including Les Paul, 335 and a Melancon Strat for blues with a bit of rock and jazz. This amp has continued to exceed my expectations is all departments and sounds really good no matter what you throw at it.

100% reliable - what more can I say!

Never used them so can't really say.

I've been playing for 40 years and have owned plenty of gear. After I retired my beloved Boogie I bought the Carvin as a stop-gap while I decided which high end, boutique tone monster I would purchase...because at my age I can afford to indulge myself. I can offer no higher praise for this little combo than to say that it has seen off potential replacements costing five or six times as much because, when it came to the crunch (good pun, eh?), most were no better and some were definitely inferior to the Bel Air.

Some honest advice - if you are in the market for a solidly built, reliable, all-valve combo that punches well above its weight then look no further than the Carvin Bel Air 212.

Mine is a 2003 model, with the Carvin GT-12 speakers Carvin now sells this with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers. Other features have been well documented at this point. All the good basic stuff has been included on this amp.

I'm playing several guitars with a variety of humbuckers and single coils, some are hot, others are more traditional pickups. I've played blues-rock and late 70's style hard rock/punk rock with this amp. From the start, I loved the clean channel. I've always thought of the clean channel as somewhere btw a non-master volume Marshall and a Fender, with a bit more of the Fender sound coming through. There is a bit of breakup in the clean channel at some point above 5 or 6, but this amp is loud, and I've used my Bel Air (so far) in small rooms, so I haven't cranked it much about 5 so far. The soak channel (overdrive) took more work. I found that going above 4 on the soak volume resulted in a generally muddy, fuzzy, and mostly unusable sound. I wasn't expecting a "Marshall sound" BTW, I already own one of those! I did find some very useful sounds up to 4 on the soak volume. Some ok sounds for blues-rock, and with a hot humbucker, I could do some sounds that recall late 70's British punk bands like the Buzzcocks. And a decent overdrive pedal (Maxon 808 reissue in my case) sounded great through the clean channels for the syles I've mentioned. Then I made a change to the amp. Just the other day I threw in a pair of Celestion Vin 30s (which Carvin has begun selling these amps with). Not much change on the clean side, which was just fine anyway, but the soak channel improved radically! Almost the entire range of the soak channel's volume is very usable, and the the drive is much smoother, and at the same time, more aggresive. It still does the blues-rock thing woderfully, but now covers some more aggresive hard rock styles also! I realize now what I did not like about the soak channel before the Vin 30 speakers went in: The stock GT-12 speakers made the soak channel sound buzzy and boxy. With the Vin 30's I am really digging the sounds that I am getting! With the GT-12 speakers, I would rate this amp lower than I did.

I had a couple of caps fry after about a year. These things happen. No problems otherwise. I never carry a backup if I'm gigging in town, because I can just run home and grab another amp. Out of town, I always carry a spare amp, no matter what my primary amp is.

Carvin phone support has always been helpful and friendly. My cap repair was not done under warranty, my local tech did the work. Warranty was 90 days for tubes, and one year for other problems, I think.

I've been playing over 20 years. I also currently own a Marshall JCM 900, a 1978 50 watt Hiwatt, and a 1968 Fender bassman. Guitars by Fender, Hamer, and Gibson. Various cabs, and one "effect" pedal, a Maxon 808 overdrive (reissue). This was an OK amp before I changed out the speakers, and now it is great! Very versatile! I don't know why Carvin put in the GT-12s in the first place. They are now selling them with the Vin 30s, which, imho, sound so much better. Others have had equally good results with other aftermarket speakers also. I do realize that some people have not had issues with the GT-12s. I should also say that I really like the fact that it has seperate tone controls for each channel. That is something that is becoming more common, but, imho, should have been an industry wide feature years ago! I would get another if this was stolen, the tone/price ratio is right!

I purchased the Belair three years ago. Other's have listed the features so I wont go into it here.

I play blues and this amp has the clean sound of a vintage Fender. As for the "soak" chanel there was nothing vintage about it...useless for blues but good in it's own right.

I bought this amp 3 years ago and have dropped about $450 in repairs into it and never beacuse of bad tubes. If I had shipped the amp to Carvin whenevr it went down my shippingf costs would have been enormous.

If you'r in California I would imagine customer support would be a concern but if you're on the east coast forget it. I never contacted Carvin for the repairs, I couldn't aford the shipping costs.

I've been playing off and on for 30 years and curently gig 2-3 times a month. If this amp were stolen I would buy a six pack and get over it very quickly.
The clean chanel on this amp is a high spot and the amp's saving grace (that and the tube reverb). I would compare the clean channel to a fender twin with less overhead, very sweet.
The "soak" channel was of only moderate use for me as it was unable to produce a convincing blues tone.
At the time I bought the Belair I wanted to get a vintage amp that wasn't a Fender as I though Fender was overpriced. I had to get rid of the amp, I found myself relying more on my backup Ampeg Jet II (not near the clean, warm sound of the Carvin's clean chanel). Too bad really, I was rather fond of Carvin products.

Sadly, if you gig a lot you should consider looking. If you're looking for a vintage sound look at a Fender Deluxe Reverb or a Vibroluxe, they're overpriced but they are workhorses. If you purchase the Belair I wish you good luck, I would like to think that maybe mine was just a lemon.

It has everything you may need if you want a blues/rock amp. Separated tone controls, volume and drive controls and a very clean reverb.

To get an awesome sound there is a lot of changes to do in this amp. Some are very easy to do and some are not. Basicaly, you?ll have to change all of the stock tubes. They sounds like shit. I replaced the EL 84 power tubes with tesla?s tubes. The pre-amp tubes are the worst thing about the entire amp. Here is how the things work:
Every pre-amp tube has two triodes and every triode is used to amplify something. Knowing what triode amplifies each stage, you will find a better way to change the things you dont like about the amp. The pre-amp is configured this way:
V1 - First stage of clean chanel - First stage of soak chanel
V2 - Second and third stage of soak chanel
V3 - Second stage of clean chanel and efects loop recovery
V4 - Reverb
V5 - Phase inverter

Making changes in this five tubes you will find million of possibilities. I would change the first tube(V1) to a 5751 or a 12at7. That makes the amp less buzzy and the sound becomes cleaner. The second tube may be replaced with a good 12ax7 tube or a tube with lower gain (5751, 12at7, 12ay7). The third tube doesnt need to be changed, only if you want a better tube (other brand). The fourth tube (reverb) is very personal. If you change for a lower gain tube, you will have a better sound coming out of the reverb tank. The best inverter tube ( the fifth tube ) is the classic 12at7.
Changing all the tubes you will notice a real improvement, but it is not all. There is a lot of modificatios that you can do in the circuit the will coast less money and will result in drastic modificatios in the amp soud. The main modification I made was removing the clipping diodes found in the pre-amp. It is used to clip the sound wave and add a little distortion. Removing this diodes is the only way to get rid of the buzzy sound of the amp completely. One thing that is important is to know wath you are doing. If you don?t, please keep away from the circuit. It can kill you before you experience the sound of the mods.
Another change that I did was replace the speakers with alnico speakers.
Here is how a rate this amp.
Before the mods - 5
After the mods - 9

The only problem I found was that the rebverb tank contacts are very bad.

never deal with them

Change everything you can and you will realize that it?s almost a real vintage amp.

Bought this new in '04, as I changed from a grunge band to a classic rock/blues band.
You know what its got. Only thing it didn't have that I wanted was a channel light, but I've fitted one, so now I know whats cookin'.
This amp more than holds it's own in a small-mid sized venue.
I'm giving it and 8, would be a 10 if it had a light.

I use a stock Gibson SG special for work and a '73 SG Standard some times when jammin'. I can get any sound I want with this amp and my Line6 crunchtone pedal except a "sparkling" clean, but I play rock/blues so no problem.
To those reviewers below who don't like the o/d channel sound, one question. Why the hell did you buy a Vintage Tube amp? And perhaps you should have a look at your choice of axe.
Did you know your axe has volume and tone controls? Use them.
This is a excellent sounding Vintage amp.

1 yrs service in a hard working pub band, ( Thats bar band to you guy's in the U.S. ), no problems thus far.

Never had to contact them.

I've been playing 12yrs, the last 10 gigging, and I love this amp.
I don't think it's suitable for bedroom warriors, as it doesn't sing until about 4 on the dial, and thats almost gig volume!
I think it takes about 2yrs to really get to know an amp, and the longer I have this, the more I like it.
My last amp was the opposite.
If it was stolen or broken, I'd buy another one without hesitating.
I looked for a year at all sorts before buying this, and this won because of it's tonal qualities, and I liked the fact it doesn't pretend to be something it's not.
It has a character of it's own, it's not a wannabe.

This amp has the basic standard features, including clean channel, "soak" channel, footswitch, and reverb. All the stuff you need and nothing you don't!

This amp sounds AWSOME!!! I use it at home because it sounds great at low volumes as well as high volumes. The sound is crystal clear. Carvin is famous for their sound.

I don't really know, I haven't ever dropped it or anything.

dunno

Great amp. I would have paid 400 dollars for it, if I knew what it was like. At 350 dollars, I got a great deal! Awsome amp. Great for blues too.