Carvin Club Master 112

Seems like these were only sold in 1995. 2 channels, one clean, and one for distortion. FX loop, Direct out, Switchable from 50 to 100 watts. Has a bias switch for 6L6 or EL84. Lots of other great features, which is why I bought it.
I bought this to have a small tube amp for gigs. It never worked right from day one. When the speaker would vibrate the amp too much, god-awful crackling noises. Better when used with an external cab, but still dicey, like a bad ground connection.

Using it with a Warr Guitar (touch guitar), on the guitar side only. When working properly, fantastic clean tone. Distortion side is good, but I recently performed the Hasserl diode mod, and need to spend some loud time with it to decide if I really like it. Seems like with the master volume at lower settings, the distortion channel is a bit flabby. Once it gets louder, it sings.

Again, this amp never worked properly from the get go. Took it to Carvin for a warranty fix, but that lasted for less than a month. Took it back again after warranty, and had a similar result after around $100 spent. A few years pass. I take it to one of the known repair guys in San Fernando Valley, he claims it's tubes, and after another $100 or so, I still got the same problem. A friend offered to look at it, and I almost lost it when he moved to Vegas, and took it along. Still no fix.
Finally, I get into it myself recently, and long story short, I find a bad solder connection on one of the big 500v capacitors that seems to have fixed the problem. Actually used it on a gig without the extension speaker for the first time recently. I guess everybody else was too lazy to take it apart that far. Inside, the PCB was covered with flux. I cleaned as much as I could, and replaced some 'lytics, since it's now about 13 years old. Sounds great, and is more quiet than it used to be. Sorry Carvin, I have to give a low rating for this category. As well as you sorry bastards who pretended to fix it.

The manual for this amp was really cool. It's part of the Valvemaster line. I recently found it online at Carvin.com, (after losing the original) as well as a Valvemaster schematic, which has proved very useful.
As mentioned above, it was "repaired" under warranty, and then I was charged for another "repair" by Carvin after the warranty expired. For this reason, I have only bought small ticket items from them since then.
Since the online support and info is so good, I'll give 'em 50/50.
It's my own fault for picking the one from the store that I chose. Seems like mine just suffered from a lazy solder tech at the factory.

As for me, I have played touch-guitar for years, and own (and have owned) several guitars (as well as 6-stringers), and many guitar and bass amps.
The clean tones on this amp are superb, and I bought it as a gig amp for medium size rock and jazz venues. Using it with an extension cab, I recorded some live tracks that made it to CD. It is my only tube amp, and if it continues to work properly I will gladly stay with it.
I hope I manage to put some miles on it now that it is working properly. If I needed to replace it, I would try to find something of a similar size and wattage rating. Carvin would have to give me a good deal to try a Nomad, but I've heard good things...
It hasn't really been worth all the expense and trouble over the years, but now that I seem to have fixed it, I'm glad to have it, as they seem to be rather rare.

from 1995, i think. great amp. classic features, but have the advantage of tonecontrols on both channels. great.
i have used it for a lot of gigs, and the power is amazing. it cuts through the mix.
check the other rewiews for the features.

i mainly use a strat, and the sound is terrific on the clean channel. it is clear, and the speaker copes with both trebly and bassy tones at all volumes. it`s quiet, too.
the reverb is better than on most amps, pretty powerful and not too noisy.
the lead channel is not as good as the clean. it`s good for soloing, but not for chords. it sounds best with little gain. then u can get
pretty nice break-up sounds.

i rate the clean channel an 8 - not as sparkling as great fenders, but very nice, indeed.
lead channel: 5.

no problems for me. have used it everywhere, never failed me.

hmm.
they were happy when i bought it...

been playing for 10 years or so.
this is a great amp. but a little heavy.
would have bought a smaller amp if it was stolen,
because i mainly gig in small clubs nowadays.

2 channels, volume, treble, middle, bass, gain on the lead channel and reverb which cannot be adjusted individually for the two channels.
the best you can say about this amp, is that it`s loud. incredibly loud, in fact, i have played conserts outdoors with the volume on 3-4 (the clean channel) and no mike infront of it...wow.
but the amp is not especially loud on the lead channel, and it sounds
crummy, too.

i have used tele, strat and les paul. it sounds best with tele when playing clean. i have played both country, punk and grunch on it, and it works best for punk, when only using the clean channel and a distortion pedal for that cool punk sound. i tried to play punk with the inbuilt lead channel, and it stunk!
the treble control is rather noisy, but the reverb is quit and ok.
i think carvin should have made this a 1 channel amp. because the clean channel is nice, but the lead is no good. it sounds much better with any dist pedal i have tried. this amp is a good all round amp with one channel too much.

there is something wrong with my amp, i think its the the trafo - it jumps up and down in volume. pretty annoying.

been playing for about 10 years, have owned 2 marshalls (jcm 800 and valvestate - great distortion, lousy cleans), the carvin and a fender blues jr. the blues jr is the cheapest amp i have owned, and the best. it doesn`t play anything near carvin with regard to power and can`t compare with it in the lower frequencies, but it is much more sensitive and dynamic, which i think is more important.
the club master is very heavy.

2 Channels clean/lead. spring reverb,effects loop knobs and switches.
Previous to owning this amp ,i had a marshall jmp-1 rack setup(quadraverb GT, ect..) this amp is far superior buit to last i've gigged it every weekend for the past five years and it has'nt let me down ONCE!!!

I plat a tele de-luxe, I don't use any effect any more (except a wah-wah now and then) the clean channel is crisp and punchy, with neck pickups it's warm and jazzy middle settings (with a bit of guitar volume tweaking) i can get good strat sounds, the lead channel is smooth and rich tons of distortion no need for a pedal, i can't fault it in any area.

as i said above, not once no crackles, squeeks, pops, i can't say enough about the value for money this amp gives

i've never had to speak to them as i've had no complaints

I've been playing for about 15 yearsand have owned loads of guitars from strats,les pauls, ibanez rg 550, 335's, amps: fender, marshall, hi-watt, vox but the current set i use is a tele de-luxe(humbucker,single coil) and the carvin club 112, i tried the amp in a shop and felt for the money it offered performance fender and marshall can't give at twice the price, it is truley the bst amp i;ve used sell you marshall,fender and get one soon.