Carvin Bel Air 212

I think my Bel Air is one of the 2007 models, but I am clueless. I bought it from a friend who bought it direct from Carvin and used it at a Contemporary Church service for a couple of months then found a good deal for a Boogie on eBay and never touched the Carvin after that. So it was about a year old when he sold it to me for a discount because I knew him personally. I got it for $350 and I love it. It has 2 12in Carvin speaker, Carvins take on the V-12. It is great for blues and old school stuff. It has an effects loop and a 2 button footswitch. I use it for that same Contemporary service and it is 50 watts which is too much so I have to keeep the volume low for mic'ing it. It uses 5 12AX7s and 4 EL84, it has a volume, bass, mid, treble for clean channel and a separate, volume, soak, bass, mid, treble for the soak channel. and an acoustic pres for channel 1 and a reverb knob.

I use an Ibanez Artcore semi-hollow and an Epiphone SG. I like alot blues and classic rock. I also play contemporary christian music at my church. It is great for all those. There is a slight very slight hum but thats probably just a tube thing. It sounds great the clean channel is amazing, everyone always knocks the "soak" channel but I love it it is great for alittle overdrive and then you can add on to it with effects, but by its self, you can get it pretty dirty too. The clean stays pretty clean through the volume it does get alttle dirty when it is turned up high. The reverb tank does rattle alittle bit, not much,with some of the high notes, you can mess with it for a temporary fix what I do is just put beanie babies on the tank and it muffles the rattle with out messing with the reverb, I think the tank covering is just alittle loose.

I feel like I can depend on it, it took a hard fall in the back the car the other day when we went up a hill on the way to a gig, it landed, all 50 pounds of it, on the back. The tubes were fine and I had no problems with it after that.

I havent had to do any repairs at all so I dont know, the warranty I also don't know about, since I bought the amp from my friend I think the warranty is void, but i havent had any need for a warranty yet.

Ive been playing it now for 2 months or so. If it were lost Id porbly buy another. or buy the head and a seprate cab, the same version as the combo just in a halfstack form. You can also buy a 212 cabinet that goes with the belair perfectly from Carvin which I plan on doing. I wish it had 2 inputs, as a guitar teacher that is very helpful.

I am 56, and have been playing guitar for over 40 years now. My first serious rig was a 69 Marshall 50w head with slant 4 celestion cabinet used in my 70's band. Since then, I have had several amps. I mostly use tube amps, no effects, just reverb. I play blues, classic rock, rockabilly, oldies.
I had a Fender Hot Rod Deville, nice amp, heavy as lead, and the tone variations weren't that great. I then went to Peavey amps, Classic 30 great little amp, Crate Vintage Club 50 1x12 a good amp also, then the Valveking 50 okay, but a little too bright, and then a 4x10 Classic 50 nice. the major drawbacks of the peavey classics is the pre and post adjustments. You can get many tones by varying them but while playing it is hard to keep adjusting them. Then someone told me about the Carvin Belair. I researched in and then went online. found one right away on ebay and got t for $350 with cover. It is fairly new and in excellent condition. I have had it for 2 months now.
Let me tell you in all my years of playing, this amp blew me away immdiately. I played it for about 6 hours the first day and was amazed at the sound. the 2x12's are great. I used both channels and the reverb. I couldn't find any reason not to love it. I play semi pro now, gigging when my band can, older dudes, so we have families, etc. I would definitely trust it on a job, but always would like a backup in any situation just from experience especially with tube amps.
I paid $700 for the Hot Rod Deville and over $400 for the peaveys and this was a steal.
My main guitars right now are a Mex strat special edition with flame top and texas specials, sperzel tuners and cts pots. I also have a tele 62 reissue custom w/humbucker at neck and texas special at bridge, strictly vintage, maple neck, vintage slotted tuners, seafoam green..I just got an Ibanez AR 300 double cutaway with dimarzios and now this combined with the Carvin are incredible..
I will keep this amp a long, long time only to add a Fender blues deluxe to my gear eventually as a second choice now.
I don't know what all the negative feedback is about? maybe the older models had issues, but the quality of this amp is very good indeed in all aspects.
I would recommend it to anyone, especially those on tight budgets like most of us these days..

Not a Marshall, or intended to be one. It is a vintage copy amp, period and it is true to it's claims as such..much nicer than any other tube amp in it's range. period. Only reissue 59 tweed bassmans and old twins or mesa boogies can rank with this one. even peavey classics which are good amps also fall short.
Blues, great sustain and tone. Classic rock with growl distortion, not AC/DC, or Metallica screaming wall of stack sound but what the old blues guys got out of their silvertone tubes and whatever they could find back then.
ZZ Top songs like LaGrange sound perfect. even get the squeak when tweeked right..Billy uses a variety of amps, lately Crate, and Blue Voodoo's etc, even old Champs and I can copy him well..
Doors, Clapton, Stevie Ray, Roy Buchannon, Lowell George, Stones, etc. can all be copied with the Belair..very versitale.

I haven't had it very long, but judging from the overall quality and features, I think with proper care, it should last a long time. maybe replacing tubes is about it.

I haven't had the opportunity to contact Carvin. I know people that have had various other Carvin amps and they all liked them and no one ever told me any negative things about the company, etc.

I started playing at 11 and I'm 56, do the math!
I would definitely replace it if lost or stolen.
I simply enjoy playing through it everyday for hours sometimes, all my guitars..Better than the other tube amps I've had
Love all the features, even found a 2x12 matching cabinet, empty and am going to get matching speakers soon, can't wait to hear this mini stack in action.

I have the earlier version with the Carvin speakers instead of the Vintage 30's. All the features have been listed previously so I won't really go into it.

I don't know why some people knock the overdrive in this amp. I believe the Carvin folks make a number of other amps(Legacy, MTS, V3 etc) that offer up much more gain if that is what you are after. This is a vintage style amp. The clean is god like. That ultra high impedance input stage is wonderful-lets you put pedals into the front end without a lot of signal loss. The issue people have with the gain channel is rediculous. Yes, the overdrive is muddy after about 3 on the preamp volume, but that is what is cool about this amp. Set the gain for just a touch of grunt and then if you need more hit it with a tube screamer. It rips!! Sustain, chord definition is there if you don't overdue it. By the way, I find that single coils sound a bit better through this amp just for the plain fact that it doesn't hit the drive channel so hard.

Don't know about reliability. This is an older one and had an occasional volume drop when it was played for a long period of time. I swapped out the first preamp tube and the problem went away, hopefully that was it. I opened it up to get a look around, well built unit with good quality components throughout. The only thing that makes me leary is the tubes are mounted directly onto the circuit boards. There was some discoloration/residue on the tube pins at that point, don't know if the heat buildup caused this or what. I would watch that even though the amp is class a/b instead of a and doesn't burn as hot as say an AC30 amp.

They are a big company and do better than most. I like the fact that they stay in the USA.

Seriously, consider buying one of these. I got this off of ebay for $150. That's right, I know it sounds unbelieveable. The guy said it had an issue with the amp humming but he had no reverb tank in it and the level for it was set high. Duh. There's your hum problem. You don't get reverb without a tank in line. I just spent about an hour this morning playing through it with my USA Strat. Very inspiring, and I have a huge stable of amps in my basement at my disposal. For what it does and the cost involved you can't beat these for the price. You could gig with this and with a few pedals cover just about anything musically with the exception of say Cannibal Corpse/Slayer/Coal Chamber. Those type of bands wouldn't be seen with a tweed amp onstage anyway. I really like this one, and am keeping it until it or I die.

Mine is an earlier model,before they started using Celestion Vintage 30's in them.I've had it about 7 years.It has 2 channels: clean,and distortion.It has channel switching,as well as effects (reverb) switching.These are great tube amps,IF you are intelligent enough to understand these three little words: "vintage tube amp".It has all the features I need,which have been thoroughly described previously.I use it at home,at church in a praise band,and out at public performances playing old and original rock n roll.I've never been able to take the volume past 3 1/2 reguardless of the size of the venue.

Ok, here is where I'm gonna love telling you about this amp.It sounded really good with the Carvin speakers.I use LOTS of different guitars,each of which has it's own nitch with this amp.I have Gibson Melody Makers,USA Washburns WM4,WM3 prototype,CTS (best sustaining guitar I have including some amazing vintage Gibsons.Read my review on it here)Vintage Hagstrom Swede's,yada,yada,yada, all with humbuckers,that sound good thru this amp.I have vintage and re-issue Fender Strats and Tele's,that sound really good also.Some home built Strats that have SD hot rails,59,and JB jr's,all of which sound good with my Carvin.The clean channel (as stated MANY times before) is as good as it gets.Stays clean till you hit 7 1/2 to 8 on the volume,then you can get some usable minor distortion.But I cant feasibly go past about 3 !/2 without blowing the windows out of ANY size building.This is a great,clean,shimmery,VERY Fender-y sound.Now for the distortion channel.You cant really appreciate the full spectrum of what this channel can sound like till you get to about 3 on the volume.Set the "soak" (gain) knob at about 3 to 4,and you've got some wonderful vintage sounding distortion.Above about 4 1/2 and it starts getting a little muddy.It gets muddier,the higher you go.I never get above 3 1/2 any more,so it's not an issue with me.In church,and small venues I can barely get above 1 on the volume,without blowing everyone else away,volume wise.NOW HERE THIS!!! I was seriously concidering doing the Hasserl Mods to this amp to 'Open it up,and let it breath".It would also eliminate the upper volume/gain muddiness.But I cant play that loud anyway.It's just TOO LOUD!Then one day I brought home a Les Paul Melody Maker re-issue,with the dog ear p90 in the bridge.That guitar and this amp were made for each other.I hit a power chord,volume at three,soak at 3 1/2 and DAMN NEAR **** IN MY PANTS!!!! LOOKED IN THE MIRROR,AND LESLIE WEST IS STANDING THERE!!! AMAZING SOUND,INCREDIBLE CHORD DEFINITION!!! Every string sounds fantastic!!Needless to say,I would cut anyone's **** off who tried to modify ANYTHING on this amp.
Now just one more note: you wont get 80's metal crunch with this amp.I have to laugh my *** off at the idiots who ***** about this "vintage tube amp" not sounding like it's made for metal.IT"S NOT SUPPOSED TO YOU ****** IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh yeah,just one more thing.I have had LOTS of other guitarists ask me how I'm getting that great sound.They will have a whole slew of pedals and effects processors,which have to constantly be re-adjusted,and try every new this or that.I really **** them off when I tell them that I dont use effects,and that if I needed effects to sound good,It means I cant really play guitar worth **** anyway.I also recently changed the speakers to Celestion Vintage Thirty's,and the amp sounds even better.Now,with that change,I can give it a 10

I've never had a problem with it.I just retubed it.It will get noisy if you leave the old tubes in too long.I always use it with no backup.I would never do that with a guitar.

I bought it used on Ebay for $375.00. I have bought other Carvin products direct.Whenever I needed support,Carvin has always been helpful.I will say that more than two or three amp repair shops have said that Carvins are built a little differently than other amps,and therefore,these shops are not familiar with the repair procedure.But any of the well known guys who have stellar reputations have said repairs would be no problem.

I cant play guitar.I've owned one for 35 years,but I still cant call myself a player.When I can play like Stevie,THEN I'll be a guitar player.Till then,I'll just be some guy who figured out how to create appealing sounds on a stringed instrument.If this amp were lost or stolen,I'd kill the ****** ,then set his dead body on fire.Then **** on what was left.Then I'd get another one,even if I had to buy it new.I'll never sell or trade it.I bought it before I ever saw any kind of reviews on it.I had a DC 127 guitar,and an AP11 loaded pickguard,both of which I thought were great quality.Thats why I bought this amp.

I purchased this amp in 2000, and have been using it exclusively for the past 8 years. I play a mixed bag of music, but mainly somewhere within the classic rock and/or alternative style. It has 2 channels (clean/crunch) with spring reverb and an effects loop. I play in a three piece band with drums and bass, so cutting through is definitely not a problem. I should mention however, that even if competing with multiple guitars in the mix, there is plenty of power and volume to spare. There is not an overabundance of features which lends itself well to its vintage appeal, and has a very straight forward layout. I don't use the effects loop nor do I use the crunch channel.

I use several different guitars including a Carvin SC90 with passive electronics, and humbuckers w/ coil splitters (neck/bridge). A Carvin DC150 with active electronics, again with humbuckers/splitters. And finally, a Gibson SG classic with P90's. This amp is equally adept at producing consistently warm and dynamic tones with any of the aforementioned guitars while allowing the individual tones of each of the instruments to be both heard and felt. The clean channel on this amp is simply fantastic. I have an array of effects and overdrives/distortions that I place in the signal chain in front of the amp which it seems to thrive on. My signal chain is as follows: Crybaby 535Q > guyatone ST-2 compressor > Pigtronix OFO disnortion > EH little big muff > EH Graphic fuzz > Rocktron nitro booster > Ernie ball passive volume pedal > guyatone NS-2 noise gate > EH small clone chorus > Akai headrush delay/looper. The amp has just enough clean headroom with a hint of breakup depending on how hard you hit the strings. If you desire more clean headroom, you can easily swap out the 1st of 5 preamp tubes in the "V1" socket with an ECC81 (in lieu of the 12AX7/ECC83 which I did experiment with for a while, but opted to go back to the original configuration to try and keep the volume down. I have changed out all of the tubes a couple of times over the course of the past 8 years which I purchased from Bob Pletka at Eurotubes...which made an outstanding sounding amp sound even better. (Kudos to Bob...thanks). The clean channel is clearly where this amp is "alive and breathing", which I feel is far superior to the crunch channel. I mentioned that I don't use the crunch channel on this amp. That is not to say that this channel doesn't sound good, but is probably better suited toward blues and I find this channel to be a little dark/muddy for my taste.I much prefer the sound of overdriving the clean channel over using the crunch channel. So much so, that I probably haven't even used the crunch channel in 5 or more years (the clean channel is that good). Also worth mentioning is the spring reverb which is very good, and unless you've got Dick Dale fever, should never leave you wanting for more.

As mentioned, I've been using this amp for 8+ years, and have never had a problem with it, and have never had a backup plan.

I've never had problems with any of the Carvin products I own, but have called with questions in the past and have found the staff to be very helpful and courteous.

I've been playing for about 25 years, and did much research prior to purchasing this amp. I haven't had the luxury of owning a multitude of amps over the years, so I can't provide comparisons in that way. But, I have consistently gotten positive feedback about my tone from other musicians, and I have certainly been pleased. If it were lost or stolen, I would definitely consider buying another, but after 8 years of use I'd probably be inclined to try something else (and would probably live to regret it). You'd be hard pressed to find any product better than those offered by Carvin...especially at the price they are offered at!! I have come to trust Carvin to produce high quality products at good price, and will continue to be an advocate for many years to come!!

Tube amp with stock tubes and two Carvin 100 watt V12 speakers. I have several guitars but usually play a Gibson ES-135 w/ P90 pick ups on it.

Rated 8 because: (1) Amp has a clean channel and a dirty channel with a toggle swith to go between the two. (2) One input jack for one guitar. Wish I had a foot switch to switch channels and it had one more guitar input.

It is a good looking amp. It is lighter in weight that I thought it would be. I use it for practice and have it sitting on top of a book case about ear level when sitting on a chair. Looks good in the room, kind of like an old radio (BIG old radio).

Rated 9: I heard more bad then good about the sound but I'm looking for a jazzy/bluesy kind of sound. I'm not planning on changing the tubes.

The amp sounds good with my ES-135 and P90s. Clean channel is very clean and the dirty channel is okay for me.

I don't crank it up. I did once just to see what would happen (it didn't blow up), it's friggin loud. Plenty good for a gig in a night club.

My opinion is it's not a amp for heavy metal types. It's great for the blues, southern rock, jazzy stuff.

Rated 10: Again I heard mixed results. It has to warm up and cool down properly. Hey, tubes are great!

Being a tube amp, don't recommend turning the thing off/on several times in a day. That would have to be a killer for sure at some point.

The cabinet is built well. The handle strap on mine is either pleather or leather, can't really tell. It's not a plastic strap/strip type thing though.

And, like everyone else, I recommend you carry this thing with two hands on the bottom. It's got TUBES in it! Of course, the tubes come out and are properly stored when transporting from gig to gig right! yeah ................ I know ............. good luck with that.

No opinion since nothing ha gone heywire yet!

Okay a 10 it is. This one has a permanent home with me.

As far as features are concerned on the plus side the amps clean channel is very clean and the soak channel has enough gain for general applications though not metal, etc. The extra speaker out is good for expanding the volume with a ext cab for larger venues or when you play with a drummer who just plays only loud, etc. I have the matching 212E exp cab from Carvin to play larger venues and or outdoors where the sound just goes out and falls off. I find this very usefull that I can use just the combo up to medium venues and can drive the amps volume up to 7 to really use the tubes, and when I need more I can then add the cab. (I've been frustrated in the past when I have had an amp that has enough power for the loudest venues, but can't turn it up past 3 or so for the average venue and can't drive the tubes enough for it's best tones) The adjustable ohms selection makes it easier to select from various ext cabinets. The line out is also good sounding to a PA system where the signal easy to work with. It also has a standard effects loop. On the negative side I do wish the amp had a 2nd input and the presence nob was on front with the other controls instead of the backside.

I am very eclectic with what I play. Blues, punk, country, folk rock, alt rock, gospel, so a good tone basic tone to build from was my main focus. The clean channel tone is in the Fender vintage camp though not quite as greasy. The drive on the soak channel is reminds me a lot of classic Who crunch. In short, the tones are quality and even a fellow guitarist listening will not notice it is not a real vintage Fender amp on the clean tones unless he or she really focuses. I am finding this amp to be a very good match for my Reverend Jetstream 390 guitar, a P90 3 pick up guitar. The tone controls on each channel have a wide sweep and are easy to work with. On the clean channel by adjusting the presence from 5 to 7 with the treble around 6 or 7, the mid around 3 and the bass around 4 I can get some Tele like twang. When I drop the presence down to 3 or so I can get more bell like Strat tones. Rolling off the presence to 0 gives the punchy P90 tone. From there when I roll up the bass contour on the guitar about 1/4 of the way and roll the tone nob on the guitar back off the treble a little, I can get a decent PAF immitation, (though a single coil guitar is never sound exactly like a humbucker or vise versa). The soak channel is about the same, though it has more of a Vox AC30 crunch than a Fender growl due the the choice of power tubes, EL84's. The reverb is effective but hides in the background more than most amps I've used, (been playing 25yrs or so, have owned Crate, Fender, Peavey, Marshall and Vox amps). I find this amp to be very versital sound wise without being complicated and find the sound tones of both channels to be quality vintage tube. The clean channel does start to break up when pushed on the volume at around 7 or 8 or so. Finely, it is relatively quiet hum wise, even with a single coil guitar.

The amp is very solid. No problems to report after using for practice and a few gigs. Too early to give it a rating in this catagory.

So far so good. Haven't spoken to Carvin yet about anything but their web site I find very user friendly. 1 year warranty.

I have been very pleased so far with everything about this amp and nothing has dissapointed. It has every thing I was looking for, quality vintage tones, solid construction, easy to use, flexability, volume levels that fit my uses, This is the first amp I can say if it were lost or stolen I would go get another one as soon as I had the money and wouldn't see it as an oportunity to look at others, etc.

Made in 2008,Great amp 4 rock and blues.clean channel and overdrive channel,effects loop,line out.Plenty loud for me to play with almost any band.

I plugged in a 335 copy,nothing special,and it sounds like what I was hoping for....A cheap guitar now sounds like an expensive guitar
very quiet amp even turned up half way I did not hear any hum or noise on the clean or overdrive channel

only pulled it out of the box today. Looks like it is a tank
so far so good

1 year warranty, shipped on time ,I ordered white covering it took 3 weeks to get to me

Ive owned a mesa boogie subway rocket<killer amp>line 6 <disposable>
fender 65 twin<great amp,very heavy> poly tone mini brute<plain jane
cool for jazz>
I love the bel air would replace if it were stolen

it was a bel air or a new gibson amp I was messin with at the music store I work at.The price of both was about the same I think I saved
50 bucks ,But most of all I got vintage 30 speakers and groove tubes
it sounds as good as the gibson or maybe a tad better.plus direct out
effects loop and a drive channel

2 channels, soak and clean, w/presence (excellent!) on the clean channel. Reverb on both channels, fx loop, ext cab out, etc. Plenty of features for me.

Ok, so this is where things got interesting...
For the first couple years I owned this amp I loved the clean channel but was not at all impressed by the soak channel...it was noisy, growly, overly distorted but not musical, and generally really muddy sounding. I play Gibsons as well as Fenders and they all sounded aweful on the soak channel. I picked up an Electro-Harmonix English Muff'n (great tube powered pedal) and this remedied that situation, but the reverb would still feedback at anything above 3. This was highly annoying and swapping out the tube (#4 12ax7) helped a bit, but not enough.
Then, after reading a bunch of reviews on various tubes, I swapped out all of my 12ax7's for Tung Sol 12ax7's (it had Ei's in it originally).
OMFG!!! What a difference!!! It is now a completely different amp. I no longer use the English Muff'n. The soak channel is now rich, creamy, thick, and beautiful.
I would stack it up against just about any other amp now. Even better since I also have a Carvin 212 ext cab in tweed that is loaded w/Eminence Governor and Private Jack speakers. I would have given it a 10, but for the crappy tubes that were in it before.

I've only had one problem, with the exception of those crappy pre amp tubes that were in it originally. The circuit board had a melt down once. It was not a major issue and my amp tech did a fine job (for not much $$) repairinf it. Other than that it has been a workhorse. BTW...it is very loud! Plenty for any gig that I'll have up to a good sized club.

Carvin has been very helpful every time I've contacted them. I bought the amp used w/o any paper work and they emailed me everything I needed (schematics, etc.)

I've been playing 30+ years and have owned quite a few amps, all of them tube with one exception (little practice amp). If it were lost or stolen I'd consider another one if I found a great deal, otherwise I'd look for a point-to-point handwired amp for the added reliability.
As for sound, I'm very, very pleased with this amp. The clean channel is bright, crisp, clean ala Fender, but if you crank the clean channel, you get a beautiful distortion, too.
Bang for the buck, I don't think you can beat this set up. It is a quality American-made product.

Very vesatile amp, two channel, footswitch for channel and reverb. Great sounding reverb. Plenty of power at 50 tube watts.

Sounds great. I absolutely love the cleans and the soak control allows very nice distortion after tweaking it for awhile. The reverb sounds excellent. I am using a MIM Fender Strat with a humbucker in the bridge. Sounds fantastic with the humbucker. Suits all kinds of country to classic rock. Not sure about jazz or new metal stuff. Great for classic music.

Amp seems very solid and high quality construction throughout.

Carvin is a great company. Amp is built solid...If ever a problem I am sure Carvin would take care of it.

I think this amp is just great. I have been looking for this sound for many years. I like Fenders and I think this is up there with the best.

mine was made in 2007, I bought it new from the Carvin location in San Diego. I was drawn to these amps for several reasons. the faux tweed is lacquered which gives it a more convincing vintage look. the controls are front mounted which i prefer to the top mounted ones since I like to tilt my amp back. and they are super cheap for an all tube amp made in USA. the Bel Air is 50 watt, 2x12, two channel amp with independent eq for each channel. it also has a tube driven, three spring tank reverb which is really warm and subtle, but can be dialed in pretty thick... but not fender twin thick. the cabinet is made of actual poplar plywood, not partical board which is a very nice feature. 4 EL84 power amp and 5 12AX7 pre amp groove tubes. there is an acoustic presence adjustment for the clean channel which enhances the highs. and , at 50 lbs, it's quite manageable to cart around to gigs. also has an external effects loop and a cabinet voiced direct out which is nice.

first and foremost, it's important to realize that this amp is designed around the idea of vintage type tones. those looking for a modern "scooped" sound will be very dissappointed. it's hard to believe that anyone would see the look of this amp and then buy it expecting heavily saturated metal tones. that is to say the look of this amp is NOT misleading.... it looks vintage, it sounds vintage. however, if you are of the classic rock / blues school of playing, you'll be in heaven. dial in Jimmy Page, Angus Young, Eric Clapton, Joe Perry, Billy Gibbons, Peter Green, alex lifeson ect. if these are the tones you're after, you will find them here. don't let all the reviews from users who expected to find modern distorted tones scare you off. anyone who bought one of these with those tones in mind should have done some research. again, with respect to the overdrive channel, if you are seeking tones simillar to the ones produced by the players i mentioned above, you will have no trouble finding your sound.the "soak" adjustment (basically the same as a gain adjustment) lets you go from a gently broken up, singing lead tone all the way to Angus and Malcolm approved crunchy open chord riffing. the clean channel is equally impressive. a couple of people here have metioned it sound like a cross between a Vox AC30 and a Fender Twin Reverb. I can certainly hear their point. it really has it's own warm, round tone though. from darker jazzy tones to fat blues with a bit of reverb, to sparkling country tones, it's all in there. the amp has plenty of juice to cut through the mix and the clean channel headroom keeps it clean until the very highest volume settings. for blues or classic rock, there is NO WAY you won't be able to find tones you'll love. I am granting this amp a 9 based on it's ability to produce vintage style tones as designed.

I have owned Carvin gear in the past without problem. this amp seems really well made and I can't imagine it falling apart on me. time will tell, but i have a good feeling about it.

Carvin is a direct sales manufacturer, but I live just a short drive from the San Diego location. I have found all the guys i've spoken with there to be super friendly and helpful. 1 year warranty.

these days there are a LOT of amp choices out there, many very reasonably priced. I think in selecting an amp, it's vital to know the sound you're after and make sure you're looking at amps designed to reproduce the sounds in your head. there are so many so called "modeling amps" out there that claim to sound like the vintage plexi, or the Mesa Triple recto, or the vintage Vox or Fender amp you can't afford. but, the truth is, no solid state or hybrid amp will sound and respond like an actual tube amplifier. the Bel Air is a great offering from Carvin that allows the average player to be able to create some really super, vintage type tones without breaking the bank. it got awesome vintage styling and awesome tone. and, made in USA!!! do yourself a favor and check one out if your a crusty old classic rocker like me.. or a young guy aspiring to become one!

Ok, much has been stated about the O/D side of the Bel Air, and it's obviously a love it or hate it sound. but here is the thing. this amp is designed to emulate "vintage" overdrive tones.... but, how were those vintage overdrive tones first made? one word... VOLUME!! we all know that when you crank a tube amp wide open, it will start to break up, right? but, how many of us actually PLAY in situations where we can open a 100 watt Marshall PLexi all the way up? I had a 50 watt plexi that I couldn't even turn up half way before the volume was deafening. this is why so many of the low wattage tube amps like the Fender Deluxe and the Vox AC30 are so popular. that nice, broken up tone can be had at more manageable volumes. but, even these amps have to be very loud to get them singing. I personally do not use the overdriven tones of this amp, however they are not bad at all and many players may be able to dial in an overdriven tone that they would be more than thrilled with. realize, however, that it's not going to give you any hint of a "rectified" distortion. It seems there are people who bought this amp expecting to get heavy Marshall or Mesa type sounds from it which is does not, and was not ment to do. I bought this amp because the clean channel is insanely good. especially when you consider the price ($599 brand new) and that it's made in the USA. the blackface reissue twins and Vox AC30 reissues I've played through don't sound any better. they may sound different, but not better. and considering that those blackface twins and VOX AC30's are twice the price makes the Carvin all the more worth looking at. but, don't dismiss the 2x12 Bel Air as a clone, because it's got a sweet voice all it's own. I saw here where on reviewer stated it was sort of a cross between a twin and an AC30, and I would agree that it does possess properties of both. I use a fulltone fulldrive in front of the amp to get the singing, overdrive tones i'm after, because I play venues (and with band members..) that don't accommodate 50 watts of cranked tube amp. I suspect there are a lot of players out there that are in the same boat. If you are looking for a great, warm, well rounded clean valve tone that you can add effects to, this is a great choice and worth serious consideration before throwing down $1200 or more on a blackface twin reissue or Vox AC30 reissue. It's got a really great vintage look and vibe, wonderfull tone and made in USA. if you're in the market for a vintage voiced 2x12 tube combo, make sure to put the Bel Air on your list of candidates.

Not Sure what year made. I think it's an older one, it's got Carvin speakers.
Two channel. I love the clean one.

Effects loop seems to work fine.

Reverb is nice and subtle- not overpowering like some spring reverbs on other amps. It sort of blends in and you dont notice it's on unless you turn it off. Not a traditional surf or country twang reverb.

The line out is noisy. Carvin said I might need to move the wire around in the chasis to find a better placement for it, but I have not tried yet.

LOUD in a good way.

Fairly portable for a 2x12. Slightly smaller and lighter than a Twin.

One of the best clean channels I've played. It's like a Twin, but smoother and easier on the ear. It's like an AC30, but not as much sag.

The "Soak" channel I havent used as much. I am always changing stuff around, but so far I feel I can get a better "soaked" tone from my Blue Tube and Tube Screamer.

I use single coil Stat and Tele.

It's great for my music- jangle pop.

So far not the slightest hint of a problem. I can tell it's built very well. I have a Carvin bass head thats seen many gigs and much abuse, is 20 years old and I suspect it will work forever. Hopefull the Belair is of the same caliber, and it appears to be.

Ok. I'm pretty sure no one has better customer support than Carvin.
Try them- email them a question. They wont even care if you own Carvin. Ask them how loud the BelAir is. Someone will personally email you back in a few hours- from America.

Awesome.

How long have you been playing?

20 years

What other gear do you own?

Fender tube amps, various tube amps and Fender guitars.

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?

Not sure. I would want another one. I might try something else just for a change.


what do you love about it?

The clean channel

What do you hate?

Nothing really.

Did you compare it to other products?

Maybe old tube amps like Fender Vox etc.

Which ones? See above

Why did you choose this one?

Always liked other Carvin gear I had. Saw it used for a good price.

Anything you wish it had? A working line out.

Anything else you'd like to share? Chicken butt

If you are thinking about getting one of these you probably realise that you don't need a huge array of features. The bel air has all the features that you'll need to get nice warm tones and that fantastic vintage sound. Has everything I need!!!!

As most people would say the clean channel is great, and they aren't wrong the clean channel is faultless, the soak channel is somewhat under par compared to the clean....however I changed the tubes to JJ tesla tubes and it made a world of difference! Now I rarely use the clean channel as all the sound I need is achievable through the soak channel. If you are looking for that Pearl Jam, Chili Peppers sound you can get it with this amp! I play a Maton Mastersound and a Strat through it and both have great tones through this amp and can get that real Mike McCready sound without blowing the budget. The reverb isn't as good as I would like, I am currently trying different tubes to get a better reverb sound, that would be the only complaint that I have

Only had it for approx 8 months and no problems at all, I did get it second hand and they reported no problems with it too.

In all my 12 years of playing I have finally achieved my perfect guitar, amp, pedals mix. This amp matched with my Maton electric is the exact sound I have been trying to achieve. If my bel air was stolen, without a doubt I'd get another one!

For anyone interested, Eurotubes @ eurotubes.com makes customer matched tube upgrades for this amp (and other popular low-cost tubeys). For $60-100 you can upgrade the tubes in the Belair 212 according to the sound you desire or need.

2006 model. features are coverd here, I did get the foot switch. Effects loop is noisy, clean is amazing soak is lackluster.

I play mostly clean with effect through channel 1. Morley Wah, TS808 overdrive, Boss chorus, . I use a variety of guitars, from a 86 American stock strat to a 2000 Gene Baker B1, a 96 LP Stadard, ....The clean matches any Fender I have ever owned and the spng reverb is tight as well. They really need to fix the Soak chanell, but since I play clean the tone is great

Have owned 3 Carvin guitars never a problem and never encounterd a problem at all. The amp seems to be built like a tank, I have no problem gigging wit it

Carvin has great customer service, I have owned 3 Carvin guitar's and whe I had a slight problem they were nice and fast! Hard to find these days

Playing 34 years, through all kinds of tube amps , modeling amps, simple slid stater's. this clean is amazing I bought the extension cab so I'm pusing 4 12's. Do wish it had a better overdrie channel. This amp hold it's own wth some BIG Boys!

Read features below or carvin.com made in 02

It has it's own sound but the tube configuation is the same as AC30 not Fender or that other big name that gets compared all the time. Tone, it's subjective...I have several amp options that cost alot more and my choice is the Carvin. Love the clean, you can find useable OD if you take time with channel 2 tho with the right pedals you can get almost have any sound you need. My choice of tubes are Tung-Sol in V1&2 JJ's 3-5 and JJ power tubes.

Well lets see a band member managed to trip over it knocking it backwards on the pavement while it was right next to the truck after a show although he wasn't too drunk, at a recent show it was knocked from the back and came down face foward with the amp stand, a little dent on the fake tweed that's all!!! I really don't want to do a side fall test, no more crash tests!!! Thank you! Guess I really don't need the two of these that I have.

Talked to a few of the guys there two tech types were great, why would a salesman be a moron a-hole to a customer?

What you get for the price is amazing no doubt if you're here you see poor bastards paying 3x for junk BTW made in USA.

My amp was made in 2004. Has standard features of a 2 channel amp - separate master for each channel, spring rvb, all valve etc. Definately had enough power for any situation except a stadium where im miced up anyway - but I didnt find this a particularly "versatile" amp, but its good in its own right. I wish it came with a footswitch, and i wish the pre-gain knob wasnt called "soak" - what the hell does "soak" mean....
It also has an "acoustic presence" control, but for some stupid reason this is located on the back. i dont know if its just Presence in general, but it only effects the clean channel - and being on the back on the amp is a real pain.

This amp is a VINTAGE SOUNDING AMP. and thats exactly whats its marketed and designed as. The clean channel is wonderful - altho it breaks up a bit too easily. The distortion channel is a very 60's - 70's style distortion. people complain about it - and i did too for a while, but the truth is - as many have said - you cant really use this channel for modern sounding stuff - it just doesnt cut through enough particularly in a band situtation. Ive replaced it with a Fender Deville 4x10 and did extensive testing - reducing variables using A-B switches & a loop recorder - and the Deville was the amp i should have bought in the first place. I also put it up next to a Vox AC30 - and the Vox had the distortion sound similar to the Fender - clear cutting in your face screaming valvy goodness - whereas the Carvin will give you a thick, creamy kind of almost murky sound which i found frustrating after a while.
I got around it by using a pedal on the clean channel - but whats the point in having a second channel you cant trust? you shouldnt have to mod an amp to get the sound you want - buy the right amp. and no - EQ wont fix this - the EQ's are particularly useless on this amp. you get above 1 on any pot and it stays the same all the way through to 10.
its Vintage - thats all there is to it. For what it is - its fantastic i did a brief classic rock set and used the channel successfully for this - but for anything else - good luck.

never had any problems although i look after my gear extremely well - but its been pushed alot and NEVER let me down

never needed it

Been playing for 14 years, and this amp is good - as a vontage sounding amp only.
I love the look (although dont be fooled its NOT real tweed!) - its compact size - compare it to a AC30 which is much bigger for the same size/speaker setup.
I dont like the knob being on the back - what the hell were u thinking Carvin ? - its almost as bad as the AC30's controls being written upside down! and again - wheres the footswitch?
other than that - a pretty good amp overall - just not my cup of tea anymore. A word of advice. always try amps properly before you buy them (doh!)

I bought mine used but pretty new. All tube, two channels - clean and soak, reverb, fx-loop, line Out 2x12 Celestions. Pretty heavy. I give it 8 because the features are the standard. If you want a ten for features, take a look at Mesa Lone Star Special, which is also missing MIDI but this is a classical amp so the 8 in features doesn't mind this amp is bad - far from it! This is a great amp, see below.

It is an all tube amp, well known in the States but not that much used in Europe or Germany, where I live. So, for me it was an experiment buying it. But at the end and after about three months testing and working with it I'm very happy with the sound. The clean sound is just terrific. Simply perfect. The dynamic and headroom are awesome. Round, warm, mellow and crisp at the same time, three dimensional and very sonor. You can control the loudness with the attack and hitting it hard gets loud to blow you away. But the sound never looses it's precision, at any loudness. Fantastic! The Soak channel wasn't usable for me for a long time since we do pretty hard rock. But once I tried a few SRV riffs and thought: "wow, just like on the record!" So you can imagine where this channel goes. Driving it higher than 7 causes quite a hiss but is still usable. I'm about to use a booster or a tubescreamer with the soak channel but didn't find the right creamy sound I'm looking for (Richie Blackmore, Gary Moore). For that, I have the TubeFactor and Damage Control Womenizer which both sound great with BelAir. The reverb is also working very good. You notice it when you turn it off. It is very discreet but essential. It gives a another dimension to the sound. I give it a 9 here because sure there are better Amps, but they usually cost three or more times more (Victoria, Lone Star Special, Soldano, and other). So keep cool, and if you can test this amp you won't be dissapointed. It gave me the possibility to experience a high class sound for less money. Forget many other roundabout 500Euro cheap (but expensive) amps: Buy Carvin for almost the same money and heve the sound which ist far more than 1000Euro worth. You'll love it and you'll finally know, what a good sound is and how to get it. One more thing: Using Carvin I found out, which components of my Setup are bad. You notice it immediatelly when you plug in your guitar directly to the amp: Pure feeling and sound you've heard on thosands of records. As soon as you take a "cheap" guitar or a "cheap" component - it sounds "cheap". So I now use G&L guitars (Legacy and Classic), Haeussel pickups, good Sommer cables and different picks to get different sounds! It's that easy - get five sounds for five dollars: buy five different picks and playing Carvin you finally hear the difference. Now you play and form your sound with both hands. That's seldom, believe me.

No probs so far. I have it only three month, can't say.

No need so far...

Great amp for the money. Tons of sound for less. Buy it and end your search for good sound. I give it a ten here because for the money it is a fantastic values. Sure there may be better amps, but AFAIK not for the money.

2 channels - Clean & Soak!
My Amp has a mod to reshape the Gain channel.

Clean channel is almost Fender Twin Reverb Clean.
Very Nice Clean channel.

The Gain/Soak channel is why I bought this amp.
The mod that was done makes this amp sound like Marshall/Vox
Dream amp. It has a gain pot on the back of the amp that
boost the gain/volume output. Killer Smooth Gain. Tight,
Round & Fat Warm tone.

I have played through a stock Nomad (same guts as the Bel-Air) &
I really wasn't sold on the Soak channel. It did have its
own unique thing going on. Stock they don't sound bad, just
not as good as the

Great Amp!

Carvin has good customer service!

They always have.

I'm tired of hauling around 4x12 cabs so I got this combo.
I'm very glad I did. It has a great mod & 2 Celestion G12H-30's
that sound killer. I would buy another in a second. Even a stock one!

THESE AMPS ARE LOUD! It is as loud as my 100 watt Heads.
For Hard Rock, Punk Rock or Power Pop these combos can do it all.
I'm very happy with this Carvin product. I'm glad I gave this amp
a try. I have a feeling it will be around for a while.

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.

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

Hi Kids! I have been playing the guitar for many many years and have owned ton of gear! Carvin guitars are my choose these days! I use a Fender Prosonic 2x10 and a Matchless Lighting 2x10 as my main amps. I started reading about the Bel-Air 2x12 and could'nt understand way there were so many negitive comments about it! I called Carvin and ordered a Bel-Air from them. When the amp came in I fired it up right out of the box, after about thirty minutes on channel one, I was very pleased. This amp would stand up to any in my studio! Lots of power for fifty watts!

Okay! We talked about the clean channel of the Bel-Air 2x12......Now lets go to channel two, this is where all the negitive comments are coming from and for good reason! The drive channel on this amp was one of the worst I have ever heard! I retubed the amp with JJ's like everyone raves about! It made a differance but nothing to jump up and down about. I called Carvin and spoke with Joah, he knows Carvin amps in side and out! After thirty minutes on the phone I took the amp back to the stock tubes and replaced the V-1 preamp tube from a 12ax7 to a 12au7........That's all it took!!! The amp purrs like a kitten in the drive channel! One thing to remember here is that this amp is a Vintage Tone Amp! Also in reading comments I see players giving the amp a thirty minute triout then boxing it up and sending it back! Not everything sounds great right out of the box! Just like buying a new guitar, you have to set it up for your playing style and tone! Im going to keep this amp! I like it so much that I am using it in place of my $1100.00 Prosonic for Blues and even Jazz styles! Don't sell this amp short! Take the time to learn and understand what the amp was made to do............For those of you who gave up after just a few minutes, you missed an awesome experience!

I would take it anywhere without a backup!

The staff at Carvin are wonderful! They will spend as much time as needed on the phone..........And will allow returns with no problems! They stand behind what they sell!

For the money...............You simply can not beat Carvin! I would even buy Carvin gear at retail prices!

50-watt, two-channel, all tube amplifier with reverb, effects loop and master reverb. Footswitch available ($29.99) for channel switching. Separate passive bass, middle and treble controls for each channel. Acoustic presence control for the clean channel only. Great looking too, with bone-white chicken-head control knobs and vintage tweed cloth covering.

Agile LP-2000 Flame Top > 12' patch cord > Carvin Bel Air 212. Very disappointing. Passable middle and lower end, but amplifier is almost totally lacking in the treble range. This is rather surprising to me, since in the owner's manual Carvin details a number of steps taken to preserve the high frequencies. The ceramic humbuckers on my Agile guitar put out a TON of high end, but you'd never know it from this amp. Even with the bass and middle set to zero and the treble and acoustic presence controls maxxed out, this amp had no zip to it at all. Now I know why they call one of the channels "SOAK." This amp sounded like it was under water. Clean channel is useless for anything but be-bop jazz, and the overdrive channel was noisy and dull.

I have no opinion on this. Within ninety minutes of receiving this amplifier, I was on the phone with Carvin, asking for my money back.

Carvin's customer service rep was terrific on the phone. Took the amp back with no questions asked.

Totally disappointed with this product. I didn't think an all-tube amplifier could sound this bad. I've got a pair of little Marshall transistor amps that sound better than this.

Purchased the amp in 2000 and kept it for 2 years. Like so many other reviewers, the 2 channels are great as well as the versatility of the rear controls. I know its not cool but I still wish manufacturers gave you more than one input on the front.It seems that when you get an effects loop in the back, they feel they gave it to you. By the way, the effects loop is not a strong point with this amp. Used the amp for some Band Reunions I did in 2001 and 2002. Loved the looks of the amp and the solid wood construction.

Ok, I have played real Fender Strats and Carvin SC 90 through this amp. The clean channel is awesome. Great tone via reverb etc. My only complaint as you have heard is that the Soak or overdrive channel is weak. Hell, I can get great overdrive through most Fender Amps and today's rendition of Fender is pretty bad. However, This baby doesn't cut it. In my book that makes it less than versatile and was the reason that I sold it over a year ago. I like all kinds of music and have played for over 25 years off and on. I know what a Marshall sounds like and I know that I didn't buy this thinking it was a Marshall. But hell, Marshalls and Boogies give you more flexability than this puppy. One bright spot folks, this conbo turned me onto the Carvin Speakers VL 12's. These are made by Eminence and I have them in a guitar cabinet that I got cheap when MARS Music bit the dust. They really handle the load and frankly are better than the Celestion speakers being put into most Marshall's today. The upper end Marshall's still use the better Celestions, but the lower end products use low end Celestions. You might try the Carvin speakers. They made a believer out of me.

The unit never went out, but I always had an upper frequency hiss when using any effects that boosted the Pre-Amp. Another reason I think the amp is weak on Soak/Overdrive functions.

Hell, who gives support these days. Frankly, they are no better or worse than any of the manufacturers out there today. Did call them about the hiss and received little help even when it was under warranty.

Look, when I got back into things a few years ago, I went back to what I knew Manufacturer wise. Marshall, Fender etc. The Bel Air was a disappointment for me. I wound up buying a custom rig and using an old Marshall 800 50 watt head. With the new advances in Rack Pre Amp design, I can finally control the volume and still get great tube tone. But alas, it would be nice to go simple. The Bel Air was not the answer.

Made in 1995-1996. Got it used for a good price. Go to Carvin.com for features.
Soak channel - 10/10
Clean channel - 10/10
EQ for each channel - 10/10
Carvin VL12 speakers - 9/10 (always thinking to try Celestion, but so far so good for my needs).
Power - enough to keep the tone great your neighbours angry :o)
Other features that are usless for me: effects loop, voiced out, speaker out.

Ibanez RG 1550: bridge,neck-DiMarzio Evolution, middle-DiMarzio HS-2.
Fender Strat Deluxe: original configuration.
Very sensitive to articulation and picking at any setting, shows every nuance - very rewarding.

Soak channel provides very usefull and versatile overdrive:
- lead tone soloing at Soak (drive) pot settings at 5-8: clean, not too sensitive to reveal pick/string interaction noise, sustained long enough to keep notes solid and full until you mute. Settings above 8 give endless sustain and sensitivity that needed playing legato passages without picking or when using tapping.
- rythm crunching or overdriven chords playing Soak pot at 3-7: firm, full and again sensitive to your articulation: everything you need when in the rythm session supporting a lead player, bluezzy at lower values and good rock sound at highs.
- country style, fast picking arrpegios using bridge position set Soak between 1-4 and see your audience WOWing!
Overal about soak channel: useful and reach overdrive sound, no external overdrives needed to keep me happy.


Clean channel is "a must have!" for anyone:
- deep reach and melodic sound of humbucker in neck position when playing chords, intervals or melody - great jazzy sound;
- sharp and briliant sound of 2nd and 4th position of strat guitars.
Overal about the clean channel - clean, warm and sensitive.

Spring reverb: great for gigs, for recordings avoided to give room for engineers' toys.

Effects loop: noisy, never used.

Voiced out: 4 out of 10 if compared to the sound that comes from speakers.

JJ tubes are selected over the time of the ownership for preamp and amp group.

Played every day a few hours. Never thought of a backup.
Since 1996 it was bumped a few times when loading in a track - nothing happened still works. Tubes are replaced several times.

Had no reason to deal with.

Owned it since 1996. Have bought/sold a lot of amps since than, had Crate, Vox, Fenders, Marshalls (not tubes). This one still stays, mostly for its sonic individuality. Last few years it's been played almost daily 1-2 hours, still turns me on. Also used in recording sessions and gigs.
Good value.

- Made '04 I think
- 2 channel, clean and dirty, reverb, seperate EQs, Presence (clean only).
- In theory, this amp has all you'd need.

- Nice clean sound, I thought that it broke up too early though.
- Overdrive sounds like a wasp in a jam jar, fizzy and thin; like the sound you get when you run your guitar through a 'metal zone'and then into your Hi-Fi.
- EQs are about as unresponsive as they come.
- for me there were no GREAT sounds, just an O.K clean channel.
- Pedals made no difference at all.

I took it back after three days of frustration trying to find a useable overdrive sound, so I can't comment on reliabillity. But it seemed to be built O.K.

Carvin deal through a company called NEVADA MUSIC in the U.K, so I never had dealings with Carvin themselves. NEVADA are great though, nothing was too much trouble for them they did everything they could to help me out, that meant a full refund - consequently, I bought my Hot Rod DeVille from them later.

That said, apparently NEVADA recieved a whole batch of these (mine included) and Carvin had not bothered putting the logo on the front of any of them. In addition, mine came set to the wrong speaker impedance - well done Carvin, good job I checked first!

- I'm sure no-one cares how long i've been playing, but I've been playing long enough.
- I've owned a couple of valve amps, JCM800, 900 and I used a fender deluxe everyday for about 2 years (even though it wasn't mine!). All of these amps were better than the Belair.
- My advice to anyone thinking about this amp? shell out the extra ###s for a Peavey Classic 50, Messa F30 (if you can afford it), Laney LC50 or my personal choice the Hot Rod DeVille - simply because they are way better. The DeVille was only #100 extra, it came with a footswitch and a cover, AND IT HAS SOUL.

I WOULDN'T ADVISE ANYONE IN ENGLAND TO GO FOR THIS AMP, BECAUSE THERE IS ONLY ONE DEALER, AND IT STILL COSTS ALOT OF CASH - IF WE GOT IT AT U.S PRICES IT WOULDN'T BE SUCH A BAD DEAL.

This Carvin is a 2001 model I believe. Two channels and most regular features of a combo.The accoustics presence control works well on the clean channel.Very nice with a strat.Wish it could be applied to the gain channel or the gain channel had a presence control.A very versitile amp for all styles, plus it looks great. I get lots of comments when gigging with it,not only about the tone but the appearence of it.

Very warm tone and an excellent clean channel. I really didn't like the gain channel at first because it had no presence control. I found it a little too mid or bassey.After working with the tone knobs a while I started to really like the tone on this channel.Crank the treble,it's calibrated different than most [same goes for other tone knobs on this amp], a little higher on the Mid as well. You have to remember this is a VINTAGE TONE AMP, not a Marshall or other high gain amp.It does have a unique tone. I tried a Fender Bassman reissue amp [which i would compare this to], and I like the Carvin over the Fender. If you want a more gain/crunch tone don't worry,the clean channel works very well with effects. Just try any pedals;Metal Zone,DS1,Blues Driver,etc..they all sound great through this channel.Then,if you choose, you can bypass these and use the vintage,grunge sound of channel 2. You get the best of all worlds.

Very reliable so far. Easy to cart around to gigs [nice and lite],but still packs a punch sound and volume wise.

Good so far...

A very nice amp.Good tone and very versitile.Looks great!! Spend time on channel 2,don't give up and you will find the tone you like.If you want more high end on this channel,try the old reliable Boss GE7 EQ to add some.That works!Remember,VINTAGE AMP/VITAGE TONE.A 2x12 ext cab sounds great.

Not really sure what year this was made...bought it used...based on reviews and Carvin ads...The amp now is very vesatile...notice I said now.I think all the feature have been covered in other reviews.I have Parker Nitefly and with the acoustic presence...it don't sound bad.I do wish it had a light on the footswitch or on amp to tell what channel you were in...

I have use Parker Nitefly, Hamer Sunburst early model with Dimarzios and an old '71 Tele. I really feel this amp does it blues, classic rock, light jazzy feel....Amp is not noisy, clean channel is wonderful and the lead channel is blues and warm...

I have had this amp two years no problems...mostly used for church gigs.It has not been roughed up..

Never had a dealings with them....

I've been playing off and on over thirty years bought my '71 Tele for $180 in 1972...Glad I kept that one! I have an Ovation Legend Larry Coryell Model Cutaway..it sound good through the Carvin. If lost or stolen I'd have to have another one. I really love the warm tones I get...Now for the bad news.....I had to work to get the sound I wanted...Years ago I had a Plexi that burned up with an Altair..
But that was in my younger days when power and portability didn't matter.I have used a Fender Bandmaster but had to constantly drive it with a blues setting distortion unit..So the Carvin try..Very disappointed when I got it! I swear my Vox practice amp sounded better fatter in the distortion setting...The clean channel on the Carvin was great as noted in all reviews but the amp besides being wy Loud and I me LOUD,The SOAK Channel was just too gritty, like an old FUZZ Box and it would get there quick! Frist I pulled tubes to cut the power. That help with loudness a tad...then I changed to different tubes, sounds crazy but I bought some at a Flea market and just started swapping. I end up finding sound Telefunken 12ax7.
Well to make a longer story longer...In the preamp section from left to right Position 1 & 2 GE 12au7, 3 & 4 Telefunken 12ax7 and Last 5751
I also ended up with Vintage 30 speakers,,,I've never really like sound of the Celestion sound...but these two with the Carvin really cook...My son has a Peavey slant cab with G-12 which I hook up for fun.
Overall I'd agree sounds like a lota bull...But guitarists dabble...thats what we do tinker and play with our sound! Any Questions feel free to write...

Beautiful 2x12 Tweed combo. I bought this amp used, after researching the Carvin catalog for about 6 months. I love the layout of the front panel, and the on/off and stand-by switch on the back dont bother me at all. I've never had a problem reaching them, just reach over the amp and there they are! It isnt like they move around.

I play U.S.A Strats, and a Les Paul, and they ALL sound good through this amp. Here is a little secret for some of the people who have left a review for this amp. If you use crappy guitars with crappy pick-ups, you will most likely have crappy tone, no matter what amp you use. Imagine that. I play Blues and Rock, and this is one of the best amps I have found. I just sat here and played a Fender Blues Deluxe, a very well respected Marshall all tube 1/2 stack, and the Bel Air. Guess what??? The Carvin won. The clean channel on the Bel Air has so much breath, so much air. On the neck pick-up on a good Strat it is nice and open and bubbly and smooth!!!!! The reverb is simply very musical, adding to the tone of the amp without coloring it. Beautiful. The "soak" channel does just that. If you have ever used a vintage amp through a power soak, then you know what I mean. Full, round, warm, clarity, harmonics, aahhh!!!!! Put this amp through a Marshall 4x12 and stop searching. This is also a very quiet amp. Some people just dont understand that a little noise, hiss, hum, is inevitable whenever you use any type of overdriven sound. Make it work for you!!! Ever heard of Hendrix??

I use this amp almost every day, and have never had a problem. As with any amp, it is man made and eventually some things may need replaced. Also, to those of you who dont know, an amp must be run at the proper ohm load. I suspect some of you will throw it on any old extension cabinet and never change the ohm switch, which Carvin very thoughtfully included on the back of this amp. It is there for a reason!!

I have called Carvin a few times, and I agree it depends who you talk to as to the quality of advice you will get. However, I have had this happen at other amp manufacturers, also. If you have a trusted amp guy, stick with them. As I stated earlier, I bought this amp used, so there is no warranty. I have a feeling that as long as I use the amp in the manner for which it was designed, my problems should remain minimal.

I have been playing guitar for 30 years. Of those 30 years, I have been paying attention to things like TONE for over 20 of them. It isnt complicated. Trust your ears. Listen to other amps and guitar combinations, listen to other players. The key is to LISTEN. I love the warmth and life of this amp. It adds to the music, not detracting from it. It is MUSICAL. If it were lost or stolen, I would get another one

This is a pretty straight forward tube amp. It has 2 12in speakers and runs 50 watts. This amp has 2 channels as well as a knob on the back for presence. It also has a knob for dialing in reverb.

The clean channel is totally awesome!!!! Good crisp clean tone with plenty of warmth. The overdrive channel sucked wind for lack of a better word. To me the distortion was WAY too harsh and downright gritty. I play a Carvin dc127 with a zoom 9002 processor. When I bought this amp I was expecting the warm overdrive that a tube amp usually has but couldnt get that out of this amp. The reverb was pretty decent and the presence gave it a nice shimmer, so that is definately a nice plus for this amp.

I have only owned this amp for about 8 months now but havent had any problems whatsoever from it. Would probably use on a gig without a backup.

Havent had to deal with customer support.

I have been playing for 22 years now and play mainly neoclassical and classic rock. It can cover classic rock but lacks a really warm sweet tone that I want for neoclassical. If it were lost or stolen I wouldnt replace it. I plan on pulling the tubes and changing them from EL34s to 6L6's and rebiasing it to warmer. I'm giving it an 8 overall because with a good processor and/or pedals this could be an awesome amp. One thing for sure is it is LOUD!!!

This is a follow up to the review below mine. Please ignore everything I wrote, I really don't know what I was thinking or why I had the sentiment I did. I love this amp, period. For its price, I think the only amp comparable is the Peavey Classic series. The clean on this amp is beautiful (despite what I said below), and it's great for all types of music, space/indie/post rock included. The drive channel I still dislike, but with a tubescreamer it really sounds great. It's just a totally great amp, especially for the price and features. Sorry Carvin about the lame review I gave below!