Carvin Legacy Head

2-ch, clean & od. Clean ch doesn't have preamp control, which is unfortunate. I've been jamming with this head for about half a yr now & the honeymoon is over, though I still kinda like the amp. For what I play (free metal/jazz) there's only one good distortion setting & that's at 7-8 on the pre, presence nearly cranked, & treble around 1 o'clock.

This amp I feel has the min. requirements for gain to be considered a high-gain amp. I'm using neutral pickups though, & gtrs w/hotter pickups might feel otherwise. It's a fairly clean, tasteful distortion, probably not enough gain for thrash or grindcore if that's your genre. The clean ch. is nice, but again, no preamp setting so it's limited on its own, as it doesn't break up.

I also have a Decatone & would say that the dist ch. on the Legacy is somewhere in the 2nd ch. of the Decatone, although the Decatone's 2nd ch. preamp cranked still has more gain. The Legacy's dist ch I find cannot have the preamp cranked as it gets muddy. That's where the Soldanos are superior - their whole preamp band is useable whereas the Legacy is limited (as I mentioned in Features).

I give it an 8, all things considered, but for the price it's probably a 9. Carvins are bargains & if I was to get another one I'd try the MTS (even cheaper) or the V3, though a bloke had both the V3 & Decatone & returned the V3.

One other gripe - the amp chassis should be more open for better cooling.

You know the features; this amp is a 2004-5 model. I am not sure which. I play covers in a regularly gigging band and use this amp for everything. It is more than loud enough for any gig. Probably sounds best turned up a bit though. Why buy a 100 watt head for the bedroom? I think the amp is wonderfully straightforward and very versatile without losing its character. Some good options on it I like are the 50 watt option switch; the bright switch on the clean; and the footswitchable reverb. I wish that it had a solo boost function that is adjustable on the amp. Many amps have these now an they are pretty cool to use live. Maybe Carvin will add that option one day.

I play through a Les Paul and a 335. Pedal set up is minimal and I don't run any effects in the loop. This amp is a little bit noisy (at least mine was) but I don't mind. The amp itself is basically a clone of the Blue Channel on the Bogner XTC or perhaps the SHiva's dirty channel. I think it is a bit darker and has more gain. For the $ it is a great substitute for the Bogner. the Clean channel is nice and usable. People have said this amp is the poor man's Bogner and it may be. I also think it has a little of its own style going on. I have owned an XTC and a Shiva and I think they cut a bit more in the mix and are a bit more articulate as well, but I found the Legacy's tone to be inspiring to me and I am not a big Vai freak or anything either.

I have heard mixed reviews on reliability and quality in these. I am taking a wait and see approach with it. I haven't had it very long.

n/a

I would give it a solid 8. The tubes may need to be changed but other than that I dig this amp. It is a great find and I plan to keep it around (at least for a little while) haha....

Welly just recently get this amp head with the extension cabinet 2 * 12 carvin, my amp was made in 2006, have two chanels, the lead and the clean chanel, the features are simple but have the funcions of a guitar player need.

Well i use a JS1000 and and ibanez RG350DX with evoluyion pickups, the sound of theseguitars in this amps are great, it's all i need to play almost any kind of music, y recomend this one to all musicians who play all kind of music excep the hardcore, because the lead channelis not to grunch to that kind of music

Well my amp head sounds great, very nice, y just love this sound because it's all can i need to play, and y don't need any kind of acustic simulators or reverb pedals.

when i went to the store they give me all the atention that i need it, the respond to all my questions and i try all the amps to make the righ decision. they guaranty is very good, because they replace or repare the amp if you make someting to it, they just repair it or give yo a new one

i have been playin for 6 years and this is the amp better for me, the sound and the image it's geat, i tink this one sound better than a marshall at all, thisamp, do not need anithing else, just need to be played

Picked this up from the Carvin factory in 2002. I've used it exclusively ever since. Before that I was using a Yamaha T-50 designed by Soldano that had ridiculous gain, but I could never get the distrotion to sound anything but ratty and super fuzzed out. The Legacy has a cabinet voiced out ofr recording, and that was a selling point in addition to the clean and lead channel and the ability to switch between 50 and 100 watts. Plus you can swap the power tubes between el34s, 6l6s and 5881s without having to rebias the amp. Very cool. My amp has the el34s, and I love the tone.

I've played through a number of amps over the years. I used to have a boutique Nomad head made in Berkely that had a great vintage tube sound because it was based on a Marshall 69 plexi schematic. I also used a Sound City for a while which was great until it got fried with a misplaced beer. I've also used a Peavey Deuce, a Laney, a Fender DeVille, a Marshall JCM800 and just prior to the Legacy a Soldano designed 50 watt Yamaha T-50. All these amps had great tone, but none provided me the versatility and ability to dial in a really crunchy, heavy tone that doesn't sound like it's too edgy, ratty or fuzzy from over saturation. Well, that was until I found the Legacy.

This amp has the greatest clean channel by far of any amp I've played. It is nice and smooth and allows you to dial in a tone without being overly harsh in the highs like most amps are. I run mine with the presence boost set and the treble around 6-7, and it just shines. I don't use a lot of reverb when I play, but the reverb on this thing is not cheesy at all. It adds just the right amount of depth without being overbearing.

The lead channel is something to behold. I think the tonal variations from this amp are amazing. Anyone that can't get enough gain out of this thing has some real issues with saturated overdrive. I agree with a lot of other comments. If you need that much saturation, you really ought to focus more on playing better instead of trying to get more gain. The reality is you actually get MORE in your face crunch and smack by turning the preamp drive gain down so that the attack of the string can be accurately articulated by the amp. Otherwise you get a heaping dose of mush that has no definition. And all you guys that crave the scooped mid sound from high gain amps, let me just say this. A guitar is an instrument that is ALL ABOUT MIDS!!! If you take out the mids you basically suck out 80% of your tone. That just might be 80% of your problem!

Anyway, I have never had a problem with not having enough gain. On the contrary, I find myself usually dialing back the drive gain after about 7. It just gets too mushy and ratty for my tastes. I typically use a custom built 3 humbucker monster of a guitar with a Les Paul body containing hollowed out chambers, but I have also used a late 70's Epiphone Genesis, a Carvin SC-90 and a Les Paul Special with P-90s. The music I play is mostly heavy in the vein of old Sabbath, Soundgarden, Tool, Alice In Chains with a bit of classic rock a la AC/DC, Aerosmith and Zeppelin thrown in. My speaker cab is a 2 x 12 Laney cab with Celestions, and I have huge, growling tone.

The EQ is fantastic on this thing, and it is much different from the typical amp. The range is so broad that the movement of either the bass, mid or treble knobs even one tick has a dramatic effect. I have it dialed in now where you can hear every string perfectly, and I have had several sound guys from some of the premier clubs and venues in the Bay Area comment on how great the tone from this amp was.

The only real disappointment for me was the cabinet voiced line out. This was one of the selling points for me so that I wouldn't have to use something like a Red Box for live recording. I don't know what it is, but I found the output from this line out to be completely unusable for recording. It sounded really harsh and did not come anywhere close to sounding like a miked cabinet. In fact it reminded me of the days of old when we used to take the speaker outs from a head and run it through a direct box, like the nasty super distorted guitar fuzz heard in the lead guitar tracks on the Beatles' Revolution, but not as nice. It just sounded awful. I went back to using the Red Box with the speaker out feed, and it sounds great that way. I don't know if it's just my amp, but I wouldn't recommend using this line out for recording.

One last comment for the high gain guys. If you really need that super high gain tone, then look into getting a Hot Plate or a Power Brake to attenuate the output from your head before it hits your speakers. I did this recently so I could run my amp's power stage at 10 but keep the overall volume low so it doesn't blow my ears out. The gain was ridiculous! My tubes were so saturated I thought my speakers were going to start oozing. You can really hear the tubes break up in the power stage, and it is such a preferable sound to the breaking up of the preamp tube stage. What I liked best was running the preamp gain at 7 and the power stage at 8. My God! I needed a towel I was creaming so hard.

The first one I got died after the third time I used it. It had a bad transformer, I think. I sent it back to Carvin, and they sent me a new one. I've used it ever since and have had no problems with it. It has been my mainstay for 3 years now for regular weekly practices and several gigs. No problem. I gig with it and do carry a backup.

Carvin is a great company. I tried this amp out at their factory in San Diego, and they let me wank for an hour in their amp room so I could try out all their heads AND the cabinets in various combinations. Plus they let me haul in my own cabinet to hook up to the amps as part of my listening test. Very nice.

When I had the problem with my head they got a new one shipped to me within a week. Their service and support is nothing short of stellar.

For the money you simply cannot get a more versatile or better sounding amp. Period. You could easily spend 2 times as much and walk away with a far inferior product and even worse a far inferior tone. Carvin is one of the most underrated companies out there, and they really hit a home run with this product. I have recommended this head to many of my friends ever since I got it, and I would rush out to get another one if this one was ever lost or stolen. Kudos to Vai and Carvin as I feel this really is the product to beat at this price.

Basic 2 ch.
Cabinet-voiced line out (haven't tried yet)
Bias setting for power tubes. 50w or 100w setting.

I just got this amp, but I quite like it & will be using it more than my Soldano Decatone.
There's no master vol, but that may allow you to use your gtr's vol knob to roll back the gain a bit better than if it had one.

I've played it so far w/a US Tele HH. I play a fusion of styles from fairly heavy metal to jazz & progressive rock.

I agree w/the contributors below who said you can get more gain out of it by not cranking the gain knob. Cranking it makes the sound too flabby. The gain is optimum at 7.5 when you set the treble & presence high. It's not super-saturated, but strong enough for all but the most extreme metal, which I don't care for anyways.

Carvin has a good reputation for reliability. There's a lot of older Carvins on eBay so you know they'll last awhile

Actually, after shipping & charges for the money order, etc it cost $775 Cdn. Still, that's less than a third of what I paid for a used mint Decatone. Carvin gear is the best value out there. If you want a little more gain, get the Carvin MTS (they're even lower-priced than the Legacy).

I have had this amp for about 3-4 years now and purchased new from Carvin. It can cover most hard rock to less rock sounds. May not be great for metal unless you put an OD pedal in front of it. I wish it had a middle gain channel for the more ACDC type crunch or bluesy sound, but then again you can just turn down your gain quite a bit and use an OD for those time you need a little extra. I have used this amp for over 100 gigs in my hard rock cover band playing tunes ranging from Metallica, Ozzy, Creed, Bizkit, Hendrix, Rage, Van Halen, etc. I use it with the Legacy 2x12 cab with Vintage 30's and a TC Electronics G-Major for flavoring and channel changing.

I love the effects loop and the watt switch is great for certain situations.

The sound of this is like a darker Marshall that can get a little more saturated if the gain is pushed into 7+. Anything past 8 gets a little muddy. It fits rock lead playing the best such as of course Vai, Satch etc. It's a little dark for that commerical rhythm sounds you hear on many rock pop tunes, but great for a unique darker sound like you would here from Collective Soul to Ty from Kings X. It a meaner Marshall, with a little more gain and darker. I sometimes wish it was just voiced the same as the marshall since I like the feel of the sound/amp so much. The Eqs voicings are different than most amps. I don't remember the spec, but the Bass knob is lower in freq and the treble is much higher. I'm not sure I like that since I get the sense their ranges are outside of the guitar spectrum some. You can't beat the voicing of a marshall as far as rock goes. It always cuts through the mix. Don't get me wrong, I love this amp, but just wish it was a tab bit brighter. I use the EQ on my g-Major to brighten it sometimes. I do like that it does not fatique my ears like other amps though.

Since the amp is a little dark it is tough to get great overtones out of the amp. It's hard to explain, you can't this amp to feedback in a good way unless you crank the highs. Good feedback helps with long sustains sometimes for the on fire sound like old Van Halen sound. (His guitar always sounded like it was going to explode soon). Same goes with harmonics. You can get them, but it just takes a little etra work. As far as back feedback goes, it never had a problem when cranked. It's a very quited amp.

I don't understand the hidden Vai feature. All tube amps seem to have the feature of cleaning up when you back the volume down. My Fender Deluxe Start with Lace pickups don't do that well for some reason. Only on my Pandoras box and some old SS Randall. Go figure one digital and one solid state. I wish my guitar would clean up when I back the vol down without getting dark or muddy. Vai's guitar has a special vol pot that increases the treble as you back the vol down. Listen to Tender Surrender at the very end for that little trick.

Overall I love the dirty channel for lead can't find a better amp for it yet. Rhythm is just a little muddy, but still well worth it if you are a lead play.

The clean is great. Simply clean and not sterile. It would be nice to have the option of pushing a little for those blusy sounds, but oh well. Great clean.

Perfect so far and still on the original tubes after 100+ shows. My first week the vol seemed to fade a little here and there, but never happened again. Maybe it was just new tubes breaking in?!?! I am afraid to look at other amp since this has worked so well for me. I don't bother with a back up.

They were great. I didn't like the 2x12 at first, but aparently the vintage 30s take time to break in over the phone. I played the amp over the phone to Customer Service and they could tell the speakers were not broken in. I even A/B'd the cabs with a small marshall cab and they knew with speakers were the Carvin cab (before they were broken in). Very friendly and knowledgable.

Overall this had been a good purchase. I would probably not buy it again since I like most players are always seeking a better tone. I in no way regret buying it though AT ALL!!! I'm not sure I will find my dream amp, but the Bogner XTC is pretty close. They are similar of course, but the one time I played the XTC it was just a little bit clearing sounding. I would maybe get the DSL or TSL, but they just feel cheap these days and I don't trust them for some reason, plus they went way up in price. I like how they sound though.

Not really much to say here. Its a 2-channel tube amp... nothing extra than any other amp

Got some ESP custom guitars, a fender strats. My ESPs all have humbucker in the bridge and this is definitely what the legacy likes the most. The Distortion channel is very rich and warm with a sort of velvety distortion, i wont say fuzzy but really hard to explain just a personal description. The eq is very versatile and takes some getting use to but is capable of almost anything in rock,jazz,blues etc. The Clean channel is very bright and well clean...lol Its got real good headroom and its very nice especially with the bright switch, cant remember what they call (might be presence) but who cares its another option that makes it very versatile. One thing to note was the Strat pickups and the legacy arent to my liking the distortion channel. Its a little to velvety for my taste, but i run a OD pedal on the clean channel and that gives me what i want for my strat. So its almost like a 3rd channel.

Nothing yet has made me question it...used it for a couple years

Carvin is very good. I havent had to ask them anything regarding this amp but have talked to them many times. always helpful..

Played for over 17years. I also have a marshall 50watt plexi, POD, GMAJOR, and to many pedals to list. This guitar amp is very versatile. For what it was designed to do it does it very well. Nice distortion, not a higain distortion but its not designed for that. Very nice clean channel and a pretty good reverb. This amp is fairly loud but what do you expect!! its a stack.. Not designed to play in your bedroom while mommys at home...lol If it was stolen, i dont know if i would buy another one. I am constantly on the look out for a prefect amp but i have never found one. There is so much good gear out there, but really this is a very good amp for a cheap price.. nothing much else needs to be said!!

I'm giving this amp a 10 because it is very versatile. The clean channel is warm, yet has plenty of highs, very crystal clear, but not harsh or piercing. Good character to the drive channel, FX loop and reverb a plus.

All those who gave this amp a poor review is either stupid, can't play, or both. Not one person has mentioned the main goal of this amp. This amp sounds great ON AXIS! It's the only amp I've ever heard that addresses the problem: standing directly in front of your amp is very harsh and way too bright. It's voiced perfectly for standing 10 feet out and right in front of your cabinet. If you play live music and get paid (not in your bedroom), you're forced to listen to your amp on-axis.
Every other amp in the world gets way too bright and looses body. The Legacy is dark and thick enough to sound correct in front of the speaker. Steve Vai is a pro and he addressed that problem. If it didn't have enough gain for you, then you can't play clean enough. This is a responsive amp. If you sound bad playing it, the problem is you. It's very singy, full and round and sounds like Steve Vai. It's only for the good players, though. It doesn't cover up your mistakes, or poor technique.

Great!

Carvin is great. They actually try to talk you out of the Legacy if they get the notion that you just want to crank the gain and scoop the mids.
The Legacy won't let you do that. It has tons of body even with the mids on 1.

The amp is very affordable. Especially compared to an SLO or Bogner.

same features as others, 2 channels, clean overdrive, reverb, channel switching, el34 or 6L6 , 50 watt or 100 watt.
played through a carvin legacy 2 x 12 cabinet with celestion vintage 30's

i play a ibanez jem with evolution pickups, my music style is jazz fusion rock
the amp is fantastic, to me its the best , the overdrive is full rich and creamy, not overkill or mush but you can reach every harmonic on the planet. clean is crystal clear, i'm running it with el34's It's very versital, i've been playing 30 years and for rock hard rock blues jazz fusion . this amp will do !!

no problem here, and if so carvin is here right in california

i had a couple of questions before i purchased the amp, i emailed them and got a response in 1/2 a day, really quick.
i purchased the amp used, had no problems yet,

been playing 30 yrs, i own jems, 1 gibsons, and a strat
if it were lost, stolen i would get another, i found the amp for me.
i love bogners but 2500.00 is too much for me. i've played marshall, i own a sovtek mig 50, i had fender twins, super reverb, i had a mesa boogie mkIV, so, all in all. the above amps mentioned are fantastic, but for the right person,
but with the legacy i found my match. try it

Purchased new from Carvin. 2 channels, all tube, 100 watt, etc. I use this amp at home for pleasure and recording.

I am rating this amp as an 8 for versatility. It is perfect for me and alot of different styles with it's perfect clean channel and great dirty channel but may not be perfect for nu-metal or other types. I actually think more country players should use this amp. I am not a country player but do mess with some twangy old stuff my Dad taught me and it sounds great.

I use a Jem7vwh. My style is everything from hard metal to grunge, surf, 80s, british metal and some old country. This amp is perfect for me. I have always had crappy amps and never had a tube amp. I am very impressed with the sound. This amp is very very loud even on 50Watt setting, but just turn it down to 1 and turn up the gain a little and it still sounds great. I love playing ZZ Top songs on this amp, I think it lends well to that style of classic metal but some heavy thrash might need a distortion petal but the distortion is fine for me and I used to use a Boss MT-2.

Haven't had it long but so far is fine.

There was a mess up with my initial order and they sent me a 212E tweed 2x12 cabinet instead of the C212E Legacy cabinet. But they were very prompt in getting me the correct one and letting me keep the other until I received it and sent me a shipping label to return the wrong one.

I have been playing for about 10 years, play mostly Ibanez guitars, my previous amps were old 70's Kustoms and vintage solid state amps and a Crate 30-watt practice amp. I love this amp and would definitely get it again if it were stolen. I played the Crate Blue Voodoo and a Marshall TSL2000 before I ordered this and I like this way better. I have always been on the fence wondering if tube amps were really that much better and I finally got one and I am converted. I am not a tone freak but really noticed the difference this amp gives. Now, I think I am becoming picky with tone as I am afraid my cheap zoom pedal is impacting the awesome tone from my amp! I love it and will never go back to solid state unless forced. Trust me, give it a try.