Carvin MTS 3212

Read the reviews or Carvin's website for the features. Lets just say you get a nice variety, good solid features. Could use two inputs, but other than that...

Sounds so awesome. Get it! I've used 4 different guitars through it now, SG, LP Jr., Strat, Blueshawk. All sound great. Distortion is superior to the Rat II 3-way Keeley distortion I had been using with my old setup. Huge range of sounds are possible with this thing, and it all sounds f-in' great!

don't know yet, so far so good sitting in my living room!

Amp arrived damaged, bad UPS shipping job. Carvin's people went out of their way to rectify the situation (although they should just dump UPS, the worst, slowest, and most expensive shipping comany that exists!), and they gave me $50 credit to buy extra toys, nice!

I've played guitar for about 16 years. I've had a Peavey, a couple of Fenders, a Sunn concert lead, this thing makes them all sound silly by comparison. It has the best range of features, best sound in its price range, I can't think of anything that seems like a better deal. Love it, spent way more than I should have on it and don't regret it one bit!

2004 MTS 3212 combo. This suits my music style to a T. I like Van Valen, AC/DC, good hard rock. I would like to see a light on the reverb channel so when using the foot switch I could glance and see if the reverb was on or off.I use this amp at home, at music practise with the band as well as gigging. I also have the VL212 2x12 extension cabinet, this really adds to the amp's tone. I highly recommend the extension cabinet.

I use play a 2004 USA Strat as well as a 2003 USA Tele, and a 2004 Epiphone Les Paul Standard. I must admit I love the sound of both Fender's however I think the Epiphone sounds the best with this amp. The knobs to adjust the sounds this amp can produce work great for me. I get all the different sounds that I like. The distortion (gain dial) can be adjusted from clean to over the top. At setting 5 the crunch is wicked. The clean channel is excellent as well.

I have only owned the amp for about a month, no problems as of yet. I choose not to rate this reliability catagory.

Dealing with Carvin was a pleasure. The amp was promptly shipped as promised and arrived from San Diego to Canada in only 4 days!

I have been playing since I was 9 or so, currently I'm 33. Would I replace this amp? You bet, this is a keeper. I have perviously owned Fender tube and solid state amps, as well as peavy. So far this is the best I have played. I chose this amp based on the feedback I have heard from other Carvin amp owners. Carvin has a great reputation. I mail ordered this amp without ever seeing or playing a Carvin product. I never doubted my decision. Carvin rocks, around here in Canada it's rare to see one. One of the best kept secrets out there.

This has all been covered by other reviews and well. In short though, 1 clean, 1 ovedrive channel with separate tone controls. Clean channel has a bright switch but no presence knob. Overdrive channel has a presence knob. Optional footswitch controls which channel to use, and reverb. Effects loop, but no bypass for it. 100w/50w switchable (50w uses 2 tubes instead of the four), switchable biasing if you change out from 6L6 to El34 power tubes. 5 12AX7 preamp tubes. Manual tells mainly which is for which. V1 is input, V4 is reverb,etc.

First off, I LOVE the sound of this amp. I bought this used, it has 5881 power tubes installed. The sound is fantastic. That said, I don't like the EQ knobs here...I expected from reviews and the manual that I could get tons of different sounds, that they used 1M ohm pots so you could really tweak. Well, I don't notice that it is as responsive as other amps I own and have owned....but the main sound is fantastic and I am getting used to it still. I have owned this for almost a year now. I play mostly blues, I use it with a strat, telecaster, and ES-335 and I love the sound from all of them.

Note to anyone thinking about getting the VE212 speaker cabinet! Make sure it matches the impedance of the built in speakers! My built in speakers are 2 8 ohm speakers in parallel, giving 4 ohm impedance. I bought the 2 x 12" cabinet, and it sounded terrible. Looked closer at it and found out that they sent me one with 2 16 ohm speakers parallel, which means 8 ohm impedance. ( for a total load on the amp of 2.6 ohm impedance...but they state that the 4 ohm setting will handle 2 ohm loads also). Problem is the speakers are lifeless, and have way less volume than the built-in speakers. Put your head near the cabinet speakers while playing and you STILL hear the built-in speakers more. This makes sense as there is about 3/4 of the power going to the built in, about 1/4 going to the lower cabinet.

Contacted Carvin where I live and they are going to trade out the speakers for me. Send me two 8 ohms, I pull out the 16ohm'ers and send them back. This ought to work.

Since owning this amp it as always been noisy (see solution in the next section "reliability") with buzzes and static-like noises.

Still, I love the sound. I have become really attached to this amp. My previous "big" amp was an Ampeg VT-22 with 4 10" speakers.

Here's the thing. Since I have had this amp (bought used a year ago) I hadn't used it much til I joined a blues band some months ago. Used it some, but it really isn't a bedroom amp. No master volume, etc.

AS I wrote above, was a noisy amp though I liked the sound. All the time I've had it, makes buzzes, etc, also the clean channel volume control I thought was going out because it was really scratchy when I turned it...not always at the same place though (this was a CLUE...if the pot was bad it would be bad at the same points in the taper!), also when I switched over to standby it made a huge POP that was unpleasant. Didn't happen every time, but I got used to wincing when I turned it to standby. When I bought a GE-7 the noise became an issue (for more on this see EFFECTS->BOSS->GE-7 in user reviews for my review) because that pedal is self-noisy but at acceptable levels in other amps, but in mine it was so bad it was unusable.

SOLUTION: If anyone else has this problem, or similar, here's one possible answer. I changed out the preamp (12AX7A) tune V1 which is the guitar input tube (well...the one half of it is).
V1 is located: If you turn the amp upside down, lookind into it the first small tube (back row) on the left. I put in a Sovtek tube.

VIOLA! My amp is like new! The noise went WAY down to practically nothing even at higher volumes. The noise with the GE-7 is now okay. The volume pot on the clean channel makes NO NOISE when I turn it. And so far (fingers crossed) no POP when I go to standby.

If you are experiencing any problems like I described, try that.

I am seriously considering trading out the 5881's with EL34's but will wait on that. This was great! It made a world of difference.

2002 all tube 100 watt amp.
I use this amp in my living room, so it has plenty of power.
I usually play with all the controls of equipment to get a feel for the performance envelope. I am pleased with the EQ and the gain of this amp. It has a characteristic tone (as all amps do) that is prevelant throughout the settings, but I like it. Of course the last amp I had that I liked was the Carvin X100B stack. I rate ten for versitility in a guitar amp providing the user knows how to set up sounds.

Rock/blues/jazz/classical styles mainly with humbuckers here and there, single coils here and there, and also my Ovation! It has an occasional hum that I think comes from the wall outlet. I dont think it has a polarity switch. Very crunchy gain and very powerful clean sounds without mud available through the EQ's. It sounds good to me. Honestly I dont know what all the hubbub is about Marshall, well maybe its because I dont have a need to sound/look like someone else. They do sound fine, but for that price, it better play the guitar for me. This amp will do just fine thank you.

I am confident in carvin gear and so I dont worry about it breaking down.

Carvin seems to be overall agreeable to deal with however can be smug at times, but they're in San Diego California so maybe the moody guy wanted to hang ten and shoot the pier instead of going to work or something. The warranty is about a year. So I guess that means I'll be doing my own repairs. Im thankfull to have had an old retired Air Force electronics guy teach us tube theory in high school, because colleges do not teach that stuff anymore.

Played for 22 years. I own and use the following: Ibanez RG570, Ovation Elite, Yamaha Motif ES8, Boss GT-6, and thats the big stuff. Over the years I have owned many other items, like the X100B noted above, but for this unit it is comparable to most anything else, that is until you get into the muti effects, bells and whistles modeling fluff thats out there. I am happy with this purchase. I would probably get another if stolen. I really wish it had a line filter or power regulator built in. For that price, you cant touch another brand new 100 watt all tube 212 amp with fancy chromed metal knobs!

Got this amp in 2000 and it has the "British Series" speakers that I don't think are even made anymore.
2 channels, reverb, cabinet voiced direct out, 100W tube, 2 x 12
Many newer amps have more features, but it's always stuff that I'd never use. I give this a 10 for features because it works for me.

I use this with my Carvin AE185 to play blues/jazz/funk/rock/punk & bluegrass.
It has the most ballsy clean tone I've ever heard. Spanky and tight with great bass response. Picked notes are big and articulate. Playing with my fingers, I get a great "snap" to my doublestops that gets non-guitarists excited. My Tubescreamer really makes the clean channel sing when I'm soloing--lyrical and expressive.
The dirty channel is outrageous--really more grind and distortion than I need. I am, however, a minority amongst guitarists my age and I get the feeling that heavier players would have dust settling on their distortion stompboxes if they were to purchase this guy.
The 5% of the time that I need a big, heavy sound, I step not on the TS-9 but on the channel select of the FS22. After a bit of tweaking (read the other reviewer's comment about turning the gain down), I found a tight, chunky sound that I really like.

I don't even own a suitable back-up amp, so I trust this beast to come through at showtime. That said, I have had a few issues.
-the first amp they sent me took a crap on me. despite my recently expired warranty, they sent me a new one in a big hurry...free of charge. how cool is that?
-I later had to change the tubes when it went schizo, but I guess that's normal for an abused tube amp
-one day I noticed that the center cap of the right speaker was inverted--completely concave--and making ugly, unwelcome distortion sounds. Damned if I know how it happened, but I just unplugged that speaker, adjusted the impedance, goosed the bass ever so slightly and havnen't concerned myself since. It's been two years since then.

These people went well beyond what could be reasonably expected or unresonably demanded. They turned my problem into an opportunity to make a customer for life...and they have one.

I've been playing almost eleven years. I am completely dependent on this amp to achieve my sound. Everything else seems anemic to me. I have many friends with "it" amps (Fenders, Marshalls, Peavys, Mesa Boogies). I can tell by their faces that they're silently cursing themselves: "$700? I could have had a backup guitar AND a better sounding amp for what I paid!"
This is a great amp. Although most reviewers praise its dirty channel, this amp trumps all comers in terms of clean sound. Your bassist's rig could short out and only the soundguy would be the wiser.
It only misses the perfect ten because of the aforementioned reliability concern.
I don't care if I had to fix it once a week, I'd still use it.

I bought this amp direct from Carvin about 3 months ago. I played through it first at their store in San Diego, and was really impressed, so I decided to take the leap and have it delivered to me in Phoenix. 100 LOUD, I MEAN F****** LOUD watts!!! (Did I say it's loud? What?), switchable to 50. Switching to 50 watts doesn't really affect the volume more than about 3db, but it does allow much more saturated sounds at low volumes. It comes with 5881's, which have their own charm, and was really a cool thing to play with for a while, but I'm always experimenting, so I'll switch out to EL34's and try that for a while too. I needed an awesomely-voiced tube amp, with reverb, direct out, and clean/gain channels. Got all that. Seperate inputs for the clean and dirty channels would have been really cool (I like to blend channels with a volume/pan pedal), but it's pretty easy to see that would be an oddball item for most users. The Direct Out is a little noisy (see later in this review about the fiasco THAT produced), but this is one spankin' amp!

I use a Gibson Les Paul Studio, Two Brawley A-122s, and a 65 Gibson j-50. My effects vary depending on what I'm playing, but I usually run a Digitech GNX3 (effects only, no amp/speaker modeling), and a variety of analog stomp boxes (MXR, Boss, Danelectro). This is an incredibly versatile amp, giving me everything from slash-and-burn modern grind to blues grit and country twang. This amp is without exception the best sounding clean channel I have ever heard! The tones are fantastic, which is the reason I bought it (Duh. After 25 years as a writer and performer, this ain't exactly my first rodeo). I was a little surprised by the versatility of the tones in this amp. Adjusting the master volume has a HUGE effect on the overall tone of both channels, and they are all musically useful. I have yet to hear a sound out of this amp I did not think was really impressive. This is by far the best-sounding EQ I have ever found on a guitar amp. One piece of advice: I bought the VE212 cab to put under it, and that increases the swat of this amp ten-fold! It is so unbelievably fat with 4 12s, it's amazing. The tone of the speakers is fantastic as well. It's a high-gain amp, so it gets a little noisy when you're right up against it (especially with the Brawley), but nothing that would deeter mee in any way from using the amp in any situation.

This is a stout amp, with excellent craftmanship. But, being a "plan-B" kind of guy, I still make sure there is a route to the board with my Digitech just in case. The reason for the rating here is due to my short time having the amp. Nobody gets a glowing benefit of the doubt.

Here's where Carvin is gonna take a few swats on the nose... Their customer service folks are really exceptional, but I question some of their decision making in the shipping and packaging departments. The first amp had a badly humming Direct Out, so I returned it. When the replacement showed up, the box was badly damaged (I'm thinking maybe the UPS guy's girlfriend works for Fender or something), and the clean channel did not work at all. After three amps and two weeks (they were at least very prompt), I finally got one in great working order. Since working that out, I have been happy as, well... something that's really happy! Overall, Cravin's customer support was great, but their choice of shipping vendors (as well as really inadequate packaging) draws blood in this case.

This rig replaced my Marshal JCM900/Fender Showman multiple amp rig. I would replace it immediately if I had to. this amp is MY SOUND, and it just SPANKS! Great amp. Real heavy. Casters (locking would be cool, as would the ability to request what tubes it ships with.

This is a 2003 model I picked up to day at the San Diego Carvin Store. You guys read the other reviews so you know what this thing has. I was mainly looking for an amp that would get a good dual rectafier sound without spending the cash on a boogie (which was also too big - needed a combo). This thing has power to spare.

Holy shit! 600 bucks for a new combo that can crank a boogie rec sound (among the myriad of other sounds). For the heavy sounds back off the gain. Listen up - all these guys that say it doesn't have enough gain are either deaf or completely f*** up the controls. This thing has more gain than I've ever played. In fact that was the problem at first. I'm used to turning the gain up at least 3/4 when i want to play something heavy (godsmack for example). For a half hour I played and messed with the eq and gain before i got the sound i wanted. Heres the deal, the brutal heavy sounds require you to turn DOWN the gain. No shit - turn the gain down to 1/2 and then scoop the mids and back of the presence to just over half to darken it a little and I swear this little combo is unreal the bass is the tightest bass I've ever heard in a high gain amp. Before i figured out how to dial in the rectified sound I was jamming on some old EVH riffs and this puppy sounded just like it came off "1984" - awesome plexi sound. I looked at a lot of amps - marshall mode 4's, jcm's, dual recs, etc. and regardless of the price this thing matches them all. I have an amp that sounds as good as a f***ing boogie or marshall and i paid 600 bucks for it NEW at the carvin store. Dont listen to the snobs that say this thing cant put out some tone. Ive heard that some guys put in el34's and soften up the gain - dont cheat yourself the gain with the stock 6l6 tubes is unreal. Just play with the settings a while - this thing has so many sounds in it that it can take some time to dial in the one you want.

Dont know just got it.

Very friendly. It has a 10 day return policy and 1 year warranty.

10. Kicks total ass. Ive never played a combo i liked as much, and the only amps ive played i like as much cost 2 and half times more. The gain is super versatile and gets a great recto and plexi sound which is what i wanted. I'd definately do it again. For the price there is no alternative.

Our new guitarist in my punk band just got this from a buddy of his. Now feature wise, this thing is pretty nicely set up for a 2 channel amplifer. Channel 1, clean... very wide range of tones on the eq. Shimmering highs all the way to gutsy blues lows. The reverb is very smooth, not choppy at all. And it has great depth on it. Now, my favorite part. Channel 2, holy crap. Easily the most versitile amp on the market for distortion. VERY DYNAMIC EQ
Tube set up... 4 6l6's.. 5 12ax7's. Can be set for EL-34's and power setting from 100 to 50. 4-8-16 ohm output jacks, line out, you know the basics. Really great amp.

I was using my Fender Fat strat through it, but i also did manage to use my stock fender strat as well to see how single coils ring through it. It really shows what kind of guitar you use and the type of electronics. It isnt noisy at all.. if you have a quiet guitar... as in your guitar doesnt feedback. It didn't feedback at all with my fat strat. It did with our cheap dean we used though.
Now mind you, i dont own this amp. I have a sovtek Mig-100.. which they say sounds like a marshall. Well the carvin replicated my amp to the bone. No doubt it gets that great marshall high gain. But it doesnt stop there. Im sure some of you have heard System of a down, well its the same amp he uses. Not on stage, but in the studio. This thing gets beyond recto low end. Id say the recto low end hits in when you turn the bass nob somewhere around 6-7. It gets even heavier to the point where, i dont think its safe to put that much low end through guitar speakers. And for all you fender fans, yes i've owned fenders before... It hits them right on the button.

We can't say for sure... its a few years old and no problems.. but we haven't gigged with it yet to find out.

Can't say.. never dealt with carvin... But i've heard great things.

I've been playing for 8 years. I own a sovtek Mig 100 that runs through the matching cab.. and I own another Sovtek Mig 100H that runs through a Peavey XXX cab. I have also owned a Fender Hotrod Deville, a Sunn T50C, and an Ampeg VL501. All great amps. This Carvin is by far the heaviest of them in tone, and also the cleanest in tone. I would buy one if i wasnt broke from buying all the other stuff i have. It would be nice if id had a 3rd channel.. but you know we can't always get what we wish for.

See other reviews... I wish the footswitch had indicator lights - in a loud stage I can't tell if the reverb is on or off.

Awesome marshall like sound once I changed the tubes to Electro Hamonix el34s! This thing is loud. The clean channel is great - one of the best I've heard on any tube amp. But the lead channel (with the new tubes) can't be beat for the price. Don't waste your money on Marshall. Get it right here. Buy this amp! (then change the tubes!)

No problems except fs22 footswitch - they sent a new one in 3 days!

The best in the biz as far as I'm concerned!

As I said... buy this instead of the extremely overpriced Marshall, change the tubes and rock on!

I believe this amp was made just a few years ago. It doesnt have the British series speakers. It has the 16 Ohm Gt12's. It is a 2 channel Amp which really isnt cool. I wish 3 channels. I guess i will just have to get a overdrive pedal or something. THe style of music i play is in the emo rock - to more of a screamo. I like bands like The Used, Glassjaw,Poison the Well, and of course Thursday. But mostly we lean towards more a Taking Back Sunday sound, But with a Thursday Influence. It works ok for my style of music.

I use this amp with a Schecter C1 elite w/ seymour duncan Pickups. I have A duncan distortion and something else in it.(I bought it used and i cant remember). Like i said i play screamo emo stuff and it works ok for that. Its really got a "mesa" sound to it. I bought it used and i looked in back at the tubes and sure enought there mesa tubes. 6L6's. It got really deep low end and it works real good for that modern distortion. Which is cool. And the Clean Channel is PIMP. I love the clean channel. That is really good clean. And it comes with reverb and it gives a nice crisp sound. I really like it.

Yea i guess we will see.

I emailed carvin and they had nothing to say to me. I guess since i bought the amp used. Screw them.

This amp is an overal good Amp. I mean there is nothign absolutely special about it. It puts out a good modern distortion which doesnt suck, and it puts out a good clean. Nice for all those emo pickin moments. I really wanted it to sound like a marshall, but its a carvin so i guess i get what i pay for. But i think that it can get me by with a decent tone until i can upgrade to something else. And if it were stolen i would by one again. i mean its cheap, and thats a good thing for a poor white kid like me.