Carvin DCM1015

1000W Stereo Two Channel Power Amp. Two 15 band 2/3 octave equalizers into a 2RU package. Each channel delivers 225 watts at 8 ohms, 350 watts at 4 ohms, and 500 watts at 2 ohms. Purchased in 2009, but believe these have been around for a few years now. Basically the classic DCM1000 with dual 15-band equalizers. Great setup for use as a guitar amp for a larger 400W+ stereo cab with rackmount preamps or a digital modeler like the Line6 Pod.

I use this amp with a B-52 480W 4x12 cab, feeding from either a POD XT Live or a sizeable pedal board I own. It sounds amazing...stereo makes such a huge difference in your onstage sound. It allows you to keep overall volumes lower and not bombard yourself or your listeners with tons of brutal mid-range just to keep yourself heard.

I know...1000W seems like too much juice for your standard gigging guitar rig, but you have to think "dual channel/stereo." Cut the wattage in half, and then start to factor in the higher ohm values you typically get with guitar cabs, etc. When you're running a stereo cab at 8 ohms with a Solid State Amplifier pushing 225W per side max, the 1000W it doesn't seem that out of place for small to medium gigs. Definitely not a bedroom/dorm-room amplifier, but perfect for medium/large bar gigs and outdoor stuff where you need abit more headroom. You also have to apply the rule of Solid State Amps - you don't want to clip a solid state amp (sounds horrible!), so you generally want plenty of volume knob left above your standard playing volume.

I use this amp with Gibsons - Les Paul standards, an Explorer, and a mid-90s '67 Flying V Reissue. Pickups in these guitars are a mix of the 496T/500Ts and DiMarzio Super Distortions (DP100). This equipment is used in a live, gigging band where I play 70s/80s/90s rock, heavy metal, and a spattering of 60s classics to ensure someone's pleased some of the time. I use it in a regular gigging live band, and it sounds great. It's super quiet, but the shining feature of this thing is its dual 15-band EQs. Quick EQ changes on the fly are a piece of cake, and the best part is that all I have to lug around is a single 2RU poly case to carry both the amp and EQ (at ~25lbs).

I'd definitely gig without a backup. My band's PA rack has a DCM1000 and DCM1500 in it that have taken a serious beating for about 10 years now and they're still going strong. This thing is just a DCM1000 with dual 15-band EQs...so I expect the same reliability.

I replaced a Rocktron Velocity 120 with this amp...the Rocktron sounded great, but would only last through one set of music (50 minutes) into a gig before it'd overheat and turn itself off. It just needed a fan and abit more power so the volume knobs wouldn't have to be taken to 1 o'clock position just to push some big sound...hence cue the Carvin DCM1015.


I've had it for a month now and played 3 gigs with it. My sound has improved quite abit.

Dealt with them before...personable, reasonable people...but if you screw up your equipment as pure fault of your own, don't expect any sympathy.

I have been playing guitar for 25 years...gigging hard for 10 years. I've finally found a relatively lightweight and portable guitar rig that has beautiful, big sound with lots of headroom.

There's not much left to want with this thing, but if I could give Carvin one suggestion, it would be to allow the EQ of the two channels to be set to parallel, so you only had to tweak one EQ when you're running stereo and have them both set the same anyhow.