Carvin Bel Air 212

Amp is an '04 model. Two great channels although not as versatile as a Marshall. Effects loop. Optional footswitch.
Plenty of poke bedroom use small gigs and practices.

Clean sounds awesome with my '04 mex strat especialy vintage bluesy with touch of 'verb and bridge p/up. I play vintage blues,srv, gallagher Buddy Guy classic rock, bach, mozart, punk, and prog rock. the amp handels all with ease. i try to do some Vai or Satriani type runs but this amp is not for metal or shreddidge so don't think it is for that get a Marshall. Not too much hiss or hum even with standard single coils! Drive settings 8-10 will cause a fair din to be unleashed though. Sweet clean with brilliant harmonics, awesome reverb. Drive or soak channell is a bit dissapointing but hey nothing a decent drive pedal will not sort.
Clean channell break up is CRAP but doesn't occur too early, probably because i have been used to marshalls before. If you want a decent break up employ a TS9!

Would use without back up if i had to but i will always try to take my Marshall to gigs as well!

N/A reasonable web site. www.carvin.com

Playing two and a bit years. (still crap!) Marshall AVT 150 and Mex Strat Boss wah ts9 big muff marshall compressor, boss sd1. LOve clean channel and reverb soak channel is lacking in deffinition though not very tight either. Buy it again because cheaper than marshall or fender! (STUDENT!!!) Compared to Fender Deluxe marshall DSL etc. I might shove some celestion units in it soon.
Jimmy Page and Les Paul's are both VERY overated

Purchased New from Carvin factory in October 2004. 2 channel 50 watt combo amp. Loaded with 2 Carvin GS-12-75 16ohm speakers, wired in parallel. Pre amp section has 5 12AX7 tubes. Power amp section has 4 EL84 tubes. Has external speaker out; impeadence switchable for 4,8, or 16 ohms; cabinet voiced line out; effects loop; Accutronics reverb (Nice). Channel 1 has a Presence control. Covered in simulated tweed - looks cool, and is much easier to keep clean than real tweed.

I use this amp at home and to gig with. It's a LOUD 50 watts. Any venue that is too large for this baby to handle will surely have a P.A. that you can mic it through.

Footwitch was $20 extra, but the shipping was free, so I can't complain about that.

Amp has almost everything I need, but I wish that the Soak channel had a Presence control as well, so I'll give it a 9.

This amp sounds fantastic. I play mostly Rock and Roll and Blues, and this amp nails those sounds. I play a 1982 Les Paul and a 1996 '62 Vintage Re-Issue Fender Stratocaster through this amp. The Bel Air lets the individual personalities of these guitars really shine through. I own or have owned Fender, Peavy, Randall, Yamaha, and Crate amps, and the Bel Air can stomp all of them. Against my buddy's Marshall it would be close: Bel Air has a superior Clean channel, Marshall has more powerful distortion channel. (I personally prefer the Bel Air, YMMV).

The Clean channel on this amp is great and could probably handle Jazz duty as well. Quite possibly one of the best Clean channels available on a Combo amp. It starts to break up if you have to push it, but an extension cabinet should give enough headroom for almost any gig. Cleans are very articulate and very warm. Just about any setting of the tone controls gives a useable tone. Fender amps are known for their Clean sounds, but I like the Carvin better than any of the Fenders I've owned. The reverb is not as "big" as a Fender's, but it has a warmer sound. I like just a splash of reverb so that's not really an issue for me. However, there is more than enough reverb for just about any application, even Surf music.

The Soak channel is the perfect type of distortion for me. You can dial in from mild grit to full on "in your face distortion". The Soak channel can get a little noisy, especially with single coil PUP's - but show me an amp that doesn't. I really don't understand where the complaints about the Soak channel are coming from. This is a VINTAGE style amplifier and that is exactly the type of distortion it delivers. I can make the Bel Air sound like Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Stones, Cream, SRV. All of those sounds are in there if you spend some time getting to know the amplifier. I can even get it to sound like Hendrix sometimes (not that I can play like him, but you get the idea). One thing this amp won't do is extreme Heavy Metal, but it wasn't really designed for that type of thing. If that's the type of sound you're looking for I'd suggest looking at a Marshall or a Mesa Boogie (I've heard some other Carvin amps that do Metal well). However, with the right distortion box added to the front end it might be able to do Metal, too.

I think that people who didn't like the Soak channel either play Metal, or did not open the amp up enough. This is a Vintage style TUBE amp. It won't sound very good at home in your bedroom set at 0.5 or 1. You've got to get this thing up in the 3 to 5 range for it to be able to do it's thing. If you live in an apartment or with your parents, the Bel Air probably won't be able to give you the sounds it's capable of - not without a Hotplate or something similar.

This amp is by far the best amp I've ever owned. I love the sound. Others obviously disagree with me, but I have to give it a 10.

I haven't had this particular amp long enough to make this call. It had to be serviced, but that wasn't Carvin's fault (see below). It's a tube amp, so if you're gigging with it you'd be foolish to not bring a backup - or at least a quad of power tubes, a few pre's, and some fuses.

However, I have owned a Carvin Valve Master, and played in bands that owned Carvin P.A. systems. Their stuff is built to last. My Valve Master saw more than it's fair share of Road abuse and always performed.

Based on past performance of other Carvin products I'm going to give it a 9.

Carvin's staff is top notch. I called and asked a bunch of questions when I was researching my amp purchase. They are friendly and knowledgeable.

UPS kind of man handled the amp when it was first delivered to me. The box was a little beat up, but I accepted delivery anyway. I had a couple of tubes fail within the first couple of days of operation. When I called Carvin to request some replacement tubes, they said they would like to check out the amp to make sure everything was up to spec. They sent a call tag, which arrived the next day. It only took a little over a week for my amp to make the round trip from Nashville, out to San Diego, and back to Nashville again. Since then the amp has worked flawlessly.

The warranty on these amps is for a year. SAVE the box the send it to you in. It's the perfect box to pack it in if it has to go back for service.

I've been playing guitar for over 20 years. I've played through and owned a fair share of amps, good and bad, and I put the Bel Air right up there at the top of the heap. The only other amp I've liked as much was my other Carvin (which is what led me to purchasing this one). If it were stolen I'd DEFINITELY buy another one.

If you've got doubts about purchasing a Bel Air, then set them aside (unless you play Metal). Carvin makes a great amp, and you're probably not going to be able to find this much amp at the price they sell them for from any other manufacturer. I'm hooked. I may very well buy one of their other models, too. Like guitars and potato chips, one is never enough.

I am not sure what year it was made in. It has the older VL12 speakers. This thing is pretty versitile. I play stuff like Willie Nelson to Black Sabbath. It has two channels and an effects loop. I wish it had a headphone jack. I use this amp for home use and jamming with the guys. It has plenty of power, very loud at 50 watts. Obviously this is a tube amp combo. I have 4 JJ/Tesla EL84's and 5 Sovtek 12AX7-W's.

I play a Gibson Les Paul Studio and a Fender Standard Strat through it. Both sound great, but obviously the Les Paul sounds more full. The Fender is a little thin sounding. I love humbuckers. This amp fits my music styles perfectly. The clean channel is soooooo nice. Much better than my Ampeg tube amp. The cleans are so sparkly, but without being harsh, with plenty of bottom end as well. It's right up there with the clean Fender tube amp sound. The overdrive channel is great. It has a lot more distortion than I thought it would. Some of the reviews say you can't use this thing for metal, but it gets plenty of distortion for just about anything. However, it really won't do "numetal" (Damage Plan) without a Metal Zone or something. The distortion is a fuzzy distortion, great for stonerrock (Clutch, Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Black Sabbath etc.) Very heavy sounding. I love the soak knob turned up all the way. It getys a little noise when you have the soak knob turned up past "7". But not any more noisy than any other tube amp's overdrive channel. It is relatively quiet. Quieter than my Ampeg. This amp sounds awesome! I would rate it a perfect "10" but I have not heard every tube amp out there. It is one of the best I have ever heard.

It has not failed me yet. I would certainly use it at a show with no backup. No problems.

I have been playing for 18 years. I own a Gibson Les Paul Studio, a Fender Standart Strat, an Alvarez acoustic, an Ampeg SJ-12R, a Jordan 40 Watt practice amp, a Danelectro Coolcat chorus pedal, a Boss Mt-2 Metal Zone, and a Digitech RP50 processor. The Bel Air is a great amp that would suit just about anyone. If it were stolen I would definitely look for another one. I compared it to a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and this Carvin has a comparable clean channel but the distortion is way better on this Bel Air. Plus it was less expensive because you are not paying for the name!!

I bought this amp about five years ago. I like the sound versatility for early r&r, blues, country rock. nice natural overdrive on clean channel - good vintage feel. Distortion gets kind of muddy when overdone. Best to keep the soak at a low level and turn the volume up a bit. I like the reverb a lot - it may be the best feature of this amp. I don't use effects, I like vintage sound and this amp was good for that before it crapped out on me. I would like an amp of this style to have an intensity control like the old Fenders, but then maybe I should have bought an old Fender.

I have used a Fender Strat and Tele with this amp. It is well suited for the music styles that I play(early r&r,blues, country rock, rockabily), I usually have to readjust the setting for each gig to suit the room. The amp is loud enough for outdoor gigs as well as big indoor halls. The effect loop used with a stage tuner will bleed through on the lower strings, I don't know if this is the tuner or the amps fault.

I live in Ohio. I had to return this amp for repair within the one year warranty period-pain in the ass. They fixed it. I used this amp to gig with frequently(two to four times a month)I would always put it on stanby when on break. I hardly ever used this amp to practice with. This amp crapped out on me. The clean channel went out completely, then the distortion started to sound very shitty. The amp is now taking up valuable space in my closet and I can't use it. I would say that if you plan to gig freqently and don't live in California, don't buy it. It's hard to find some one to fix it.

They try I guess. They fixed it on warranty(one year), but I paid sixty bucks to ship it. I won't pay to ship it and fix the damn thing again. This amp isn't worth it. I bought a solid state Peavey Bandit 1x12 trans tube off of ebay for less than what it would cost to fix the Carvin. Solid state I trust without a backup. BTW, I like the Peavey a lot, good vintage sound for a solid state amp.

I've been playing for twenty four years. I've been giging for about fourteen years. I have played a Fender Strat and Telecaster through this amp. I bought this amp for the vintage sound. The sound is fine, but the negatives outweigh the positives for me. I wouldn't recommend this amp unless you know someone that can fix it that is near you. I would like to get rid of it, but I suppose I'll have to have it fixed first. Either that or I'll try to trade it broken. For my needs, the Peavey Bandit does the trick. It's cheaper, has more versatility and will be a lot more reliable to gig out with.

Brand new, purchased in August 2004 from Carvin via website. Two channels with seperate eq's, tube-driven reverb, serial effects loop, "acoustic presence" control, line out, "soak" (preamp drive) on channel two, plywood cab (YAY!), sharp looking "tweed" vinyl covering, extension speaker out, footswitch jack. Extremely pretty amp. BTW--mine shipped with Celestion V-30's. I don't know why, but I'm NOT complaining!

My rating is heavily influenced by what this amp costs--which isn't a lot in today's music gear field. First off--I play a lot of blues, whatever jazz I can do some justice to, and some rootsier style rock, ala Gatton. I usually play Fenders--Strats, and a Fat Tele. I just copped a great Ibanez 335-clone, which I'm bonding with. This amplifier is an EL84 based, faux-vintage style amp with a mind of it's own--and that's a good thing. I have rarely heard such a nice clean channel--warm/bright, with an airy woodiness and chime that brings the sound of the guitars out. I can't find anything to really complain about here--it has great string definition and articulation, as well as mucho punch and PLENTY of power. Loves Strats, works great in the "notch" positions. I would consider this amp worth the money just for this channel, which sits somewhere between Fender and Vox, and kicks it great with a dirt box in front. (I use Visual Sound--Jeckyll and Hyde, Rt.66) Reverb is musical, and nice--but older Fenders (I have one) still own that. The dirty channel needs to be "worked" a little--but it certainly doesn't suck as hard as a lot of these reviews would have you believe. I had a pretty damn nice semi-clean-to scream thing going in about 15 minutes with the Strat---gain at 6/7 or less depending on how high you can run the channel volume. It sounds better loud, just like every other tube amp IN THE WORLD. The tone controls on this amp work--you can get a lot of different timbres happening on both channels, from dark and jazzy to bright and cutting. I actually consider the second channel something of a bonus, and will probably use it as more of a dirty "clean" channel from smokier jazz and fusion sounds. "Brutal" distortion would be a foolish thing to seek from this amplifier. Buy a modern SS Peavey if that's what you're after--now that's brutal! Sorry. This Carvin performs as advertised, in my opinion, and I've been able to quickly dial in some inspiring, pro-sounding tones with it quickly. BTW--I haven't had any trouble with noise or hiss at all, including the effects loop, which I always use for my delay/chorus. Again--V/S--H2O--a great box. I have not found the need to change anything-stock tubes sound ok to me. I'm not a huge fan of JJ's anyway, which everyone seems to have gone all drooly over lately. I leave it alone for now. That's it--the amp sounds pretty awesome!

So far so good. No noise, excess heat, etc. I trust it--but after 30 years, you learn to cover your ass out there, especially if you're getting paid. Bring a backup--for everything.

Can't really give an opinion here--obviously they were pretty nice when I gave them the CC number! I hope I don't need them, unless I want to buy something else. However, I understand that they're very good.

Playing guitar and drums for close to 30 years, pro, semi pro, and all other permutations, including not at all. Hitting it pretty hard in the last 10 years. Things I love: the looks, the excellent cabinet work, the weight--not heavy at all for a 212 combo--the setup of the amp--and finally the great sound. I really don't hate anything about it, but the "cab voiced" line out--let's just say I'll be keeping my direct box. I wish it had a rich, dumb blond attatched to it. Oh well. Bottom line--great amp for the jing--I love playing it. Adios, Amigos!

dual-channels switchable by footswitch 4 12ax7's 2 el84's Big sound lots of headroom great clean channel and if dialed in the 2nd channel can have some pretty wicked tones. I like how the soak knob eats up the power so it overdrives the amp without overdriving the speakers. Also, if your worried about volume because it only has 50 watts dont worry because it will push pretty hard. and If your playin a gig big enough where it wouldnt be loud enough you should be micking the amp anyway.

on the clean channel i like using a humbucker in the neck position but for the soak channel i love the sound of a bridge humbucker. I've been playing my new electra through it and it sounds great and just because its not a big name brand doesnt mean its not a great sounding guitar. The clean channel is so quiet you can't even tell its on.

I have just recently bought it so im not sure but it seems like a solid amp.

n/a

This amp , when dialed in gives me chills these are the tones ive been looking for. i cant wait to take the line out and run it to my dads 2x10 Music man amp and see how that sounds.

I purchased this amp about 9 years ago from Carvin. I play a variety of rock and blues, now mostly rockabilly and roots rock (whiskeytown, the Rev, steve earle, supersuckers, etc..) You can read about the features on any other reviews. I have done lots of club gigs, and recorded with this amp. Very light weight for a tube amp.

I owned a Les Paul standard at the time I purchased this amp and loved both channels with the humbuckers. It was very rich and warm. The reverb is a lot tighter than the boingy fender reverbs, but still sounds strong. I have since purchased numerous guitars (6120 gretsch, 2 american ash bodied strats, a teisco del ray, 1976 Ibanez destroyer and a couple of Danos) and sold the Paul. I love the gretsch through the clean channel but not as defined on channel 2. I got rid of both strats because I couldn't get a good tone out of either of them through either channel and sold them. I should probably retube the amp before I buy anymore guitars since I haven't been having the 'magic' lately with it that I had with the les paul. Channel 1 still sounds great, but I use a fulltone fulldrive 2 for overdrive and don't use channel 2 much. It is a very quiet amp, with the overdrive being just that, not real heavy, just a nice overdriven tube sound. Not brutal by any means.

I had to have it sent back about a month after purchasing because it lost volume. Carvin fixed it and have had no problems since. It could have happened during shipping and just took a while for the cap to come loose.

Unfortunately, I needed to have the warrenty work done at Carvin, so it needed to be shipped to San Diego (from Seattle area). Carvin has always been helpful when dealing with them.

I have been playing well over 30 years and I have owned tons of gear and still have numerous guitars, basses and amps. I have a rehearsal studio on my property and am a gear junkie (I just received a Fulltone TTE today and can't wait to leave work, get home and try it out). I think Carvin puts out some great products ( I haven't tried their guitars yet, but will have to get one and see), I have the bel air, a 600 watt carvin bass amp and just purchased a carvin powered mixer (with the 4-300 watt powers amps). This is a great amp and for the money a phenomenal deal. I will soon have it gone thru, retubed and will purchase the extention cab and update everyone. I think every amp and guitar I've owned has been beneficial to my playing and I believe in taking the time to play different set ups (especially if they are not conducive to your playing style) because diffent tones bring out different aspects of your playing. I think anyone could benefit from this nice product and give it my personal EDITORS PICK AWARD!

has everything you need on a nice 212 combo amp. clean channel with seperate eq, overdrive, or "soak", channel with seperated eq, reverb, precence in the back pannel, effects loop, and it comes with a footswitch. It's like Carvin's version of a twin i guess.

By the looks of the ratings i have put down, it may not seem like i am that happy with this amp. thats not true. I LOVE THIS AMP, BUT I JUST CAN'T STAND THE SOAK CHANNEL!! the clean channel is fantastic, and in my opinion is just as good, or better than a twin. Sparkling clean, with a dark side as well, great for jazz, or any clean sound. the soak channel on the other hand, is attrocious, it just has this weird tone coming through that i cant stand, and i have the jj tubes in there as well. that is why i run an additional marshall jmp-1 preamp throught the signal, just so i can get good distortion sounds coming through the amp. if anyone knows how to get a good distortion sound from this amp, let me know. guitarfrenzy88@aol.com

my tubes started goin recently, but its no biggy. its a tough design, just dont hold it only by the handle, cause it will rip out of the amp eventually, because the amp is so heavy.

i think this amp is great for many occasions. i traded my full stack marshall setup for it, because i think it is more versatile. also it is only 50 watts, but don't worry because, this comes as no surprise with carvin amps, this amp is sooooooo looouuuuuddd. you can have it at 1, and have ur neighbors hear it sometimes. if lost or damaged. i would possibly get another one, but i might wanna check out a mesa boogie nomad as well, cause they also have great cleans. bottom line, even if you know how to tweek amps very well, dont get this amp for distortion, get it for its clean.

This 2-12 model was maunfactured and purchased by my brother in 2004. I heavily demoed this amp in the store and in the studio with a varirty of guitars including a Carvin C-66, DC-127, HF-2 fatboy, G&L Tele, and Ibanez Semi Hollowbody outiftted with TV Jones Pickups and Bigsby type trem set up. I play rock, jazz blues, roots music, whatever since Christimas '75. I'm a recovering tone-freak addict, having owned, played and enjoyed many great tube circuits over the years including Marshalls (Plexi Super Lead 100 watt and various tube and solid state combos) Fender Tweed ('59 Deluxe) and Blackface ('64 Vibroverb, '66 Super Reverb, '64 Deluxe Reverb, Princeton Reverb, Blues Deluxe 1-12) Mesa Boogie (Original '76 Mark I 100 watt, various Mark IIIs) and too much other stuff. I've played many great sounding hand-wired and PC Board Circuits (e.g., Carr, Matchless, Bad Cat, Dr. Z, Harry Joyce, Victoria and on and on... Bottom line, I'm always open and on the look out for anything that sounds good, and to discern what sounds like shit. Anyway, this "Vintage" amp has great basic features 3-Spring reverb, clean and SOAK channel, presence control for clean channel, and seperate eq for each channel. Nothing extravagant but all you need to get clean and overdriven sounds with proper tweaking. Has Effects loop but I never got to it. I enjoyed this amp plenty without any outboard efx. Bottom line, the seperate controls provide enough flex to get any sound you might look for in this Vox-like amp.

Played with both single coil G&L Tele, and Carvin Hums, and TV Jones semi-hollowbody with great results. Great detail in both clean and SOAK channel. I play everything from finger picked clean sparkle to jazzy fusion, to heavy thick driving attack. With minimum tweaking the clean channel easily handled a sparkling, bright sound or darker mellow tone that was very touch responsive with a defined upper mid hump ala AC-30. I even noticed this when I hear someone else play the amp (I didn't even know which amp it was 'til I walked up and looked at it) before trying the amp myself. I could seriously hear the guitar, the pickups and the amp with great clarity, detail and with very little noise. When pushed, the clean channel gets a nice little pushed sound with just a touch of grit, nice. The SOAK channel: HINT - trying to blast away like a 100 watt Marshall is a mistake. Remember this a tamer circuit with EL-84 which do what they do very nicely, which is emphsis of the upper mids with a more subtle and less defined bottom as a EL-34 circuit. Doesn't have the huge bottom end thump of a Marshall , but it's not supposed to. Likewise, the SOAK does best when used in moderate settings. Too much is not needed. This amp definitely has the Vox DNA amp makes a very credible run at that tone, regardless of its modest price. I know I'm very picky when it comes to tone, but for the life of me I can't understand some of the negative reviews this amp has gotten. I dared this amp to give me a shitty sound. Although some sounds are better than others on this amp, overall it has great, highly useable, enjoyable tone that, to its credit (and the circuit designers)doesn't sound like every other Fender/Marshall in its price range. IMHO the Belair 2-12 has much more character and just better tone than a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (I have studio demos of them side-by-side no contest). For a medium-heavy warm rock overdrive the SOAK channel is sweeter than most when you use your own dynamics couretesy of your own two hands.

I don't own. Have demoed it for a period of hours without complaint. I hear no bad reports on this from my brother who owns this amp.

Don't know really. This amp blew a couple fuse. Carvin dealer was nore than happy to replace.

I've been playing for several years. I have lots of amps as stated above and Play a Les Paul Custom and Strat mainly both vintage set ups. I don't own one of these amps but I definitely can recommend it, and I think it would be a perfectly cool amp if you could only have one (deserted island). I think this amp holds its own quite nicely and I think its one of the cooler sounding production amps I've heard in a long time. I'm gonna buy one swap out the stock tubes (which are okay) for something nicer, throw some Weber Bulldog copy speakers in place of the factory speakers (which are okay) and forget about it. Play it into the ground. For $500 it's hard to beat.

2004 Bel-Air by Carvin 50watts, 2x12

I play a 1984 American Standard Strat w/Dimarzio HS-3 in bridge and Virtual Vintage in Neck. The amp is stock and sounds kind of like a Vox AC30 (early Blackmore, Brian May), or an overdriven SRV type sound. No big Marshall sound, but this amp has serious juice. The soak channel can be super muddy at 10 (no need). I keep soak at 5 and crank the volume. Nice and dirty, crisp distortion w/out paint-peeling mids. I also run a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 for boost. Wow.

For the price, you can do alot with this amp. But, if you want the marshall sound, get a marshall. If you want a GOOD tube amp for half the price of a Marshall/Mesa, get the Bel-Air.

N/A - yet to gig with it.

I've had Marshall, Peavey 5150, fender, Roland, and now this. It's really sounding good and I'm pretty darn satisfied. Good for practice and will more than handle a gig. I researched and played alot of tube amps and didn't have a lot of $$ to spend. Decided on the Bel-Air and I love it. Still getting used to it, but so far, so good