Carvin MTS 3212

Carvin MTS 3212 Combo Bought mine new in summer of 02. Came with FS-22 two-button footswitch for channels and reverb. Two channels, long-tail reverb, effects loop, presence control, very wide range of sound for each pot (Carvin uses 1 Megaohm pots), tube bias switch (comes with 5881s, can switch to EL34s), 50/100 watt switch (doesn't lower volume any noticable amount, makes power tubes distort earlier). For a basic tube amp with "the bases covered," 10. Compared to a Line6, 4 or 5. With that in mind, I'll say 8 because most amps don't have power select or bias switches, and the presence control is subtle but helpful.

I use an Epiphone Del Rey, suprisingly nice for an Epi, PRS body style, flamed body, coil split toggle, volume treble-bleed mod. I put DiMarzio Evolutions in it, and it's sweet. I play classic rock, blues, Santana, Joe Satriani, modern rock, hard rock.

The amp came with 5881 power tubes, and Carvin says in the manual that these are chosen for their "soft clipping." They sound good, but it's not what most people are looking for. My advice: Change the tubes! People comparing this to a Marshall should be aware that the tubes have a huge effect on the overall tone (The "Marsahll/ Brown Sound" is based on an EL34-equipped amp). I put in Groove Tubes E34Ls (that's what they're called, but it's the same as EL34s). The sound is amazing!!!!!! Crunchy and tight midrange and plenty of bass and the tone controls work wonders! As one reviewer said, great "modified Marshall" sound!

I can't stop playing Van Halen, Santana, or anything that's crunchy and thick and powerful. The amp can be so dirty and at the same time so clean just by playing harder or softer, or rolling down the guitar volume. The clean channel is warm and vibrant, very very nice. Some people say that at high volumes it starts to "break up." Well, that's what a tube amp does, and that's what sounds desirable. Turn your guitar volume down and it cleans up while retaining loudness. Wonderful versatility of sounds, great great tone!

I had one microphonic tube that I noticed a few weeks after I got it. That's all, and it wasn't the company's fault. Very sturdy and solid, should last a long time.

I called Carvin about the microphonic tube, and three days later 3 groove tube 12ax7s showed up on my doorstep, no questions asked! Great service on the phone too!

I've been playing for 6 years. I have the Del Rey, a Marshall Valvestate 265R (which the Carvin replaced), Buddah Wah, Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive, Boss DD-5 Delay, Visual Sound H2O Chorus/Echo, MXR Dyna Comp, and a DOD Stereo Phaser.

I would definitely buy it again if it were stolen or lost. What a great value! $699!!! That's less than my harsh, nasal, trebly, biting, poorly constructed, solid-state-except-for-one-stupid-tube Marshall Valvestate (which is no longer sold, but when I got it, it was available from Musician's Friend for $729. What a ripoff.) Buy the Carvin now!

standard tube amp features...clean and lead channels...seperate 3 band eq for each channel...with presence control for lead channel. incredible spring reverb w/ level control. independent level controls for clean/lead channels and no master level control, but it is not as big a problem as i thought it would be...

ill save you the rest of the features as they've been covered all in previous posts...but over all basic features.

one word: incrdible. this amp sounds just as good as my friends mesa triple rectifier half stack. (not as loud, but we're talking about a combo compared to a half stack here...) the lead channels is very very customizable. the presence control allow me to get an extremely wide variety of overdrive. i play through a budda phatman tube overdrive pedal and the built in overdrive blows it away. anyone want to buy a phatman? haha...

sturday, durable...no problems as of yet...knock on wood...

only had one dealing with them...i had a question about tube compatibility and the help was extremely quick and to the point. very knowledgeable and willing to help despite the simplicity of my problem...

incredible amp...highly recommended. it's pretty heavy (63 pounds) but it's worth lugging around. man is it smooth!! and the overdrive blows me away everytime... if someone stole it i would not hesitate to buy a new one...

I bought this amp used, so I'm not positive what year it was made. I would guess within the past 5 years. For the most part, I play straight-up rock & roll and pop music, with a dash of blues & jazz on the side. It fits those styles pretty well.

All of the other reviews give details of all of the specs, so I'll keep my answer short. All tube (5 12AX7's & 4 6L6GC's), 2 channels with separate EQ's & Volume Controls. There is an effects loop, but no Headphone Jack. It has two 12 Inch speakers. I originally started using this at home, but it is really way too loud for that. I put the volume at 2 and had complaints from my roommates. I took it to our studio and cranked it, and it really put out a wall of sound that I hadn't felt before from smaller guitar amps (Marshall DSL401) or my bass amp (350W Crate head through a Hartke 2x10 and an Ampeg 1x15).

I play a Hamer Archtop Solidbody (LP knock-off) with Flatwound strings and Duncan-Designed Humbuckers. When I crank the reverb up and scoop out the mids, this has a good mellow jazz tone. If I flip down to the bridge pick-up, I can get a great surf-rock sound out of the amp. I really dig this part of the sound. The reverb isn't really long, but it makes everything sound nice, fat & warm.

The distortion on this thing has a pretty good Van Halen sound if you crank it and play a guitar with humbuckers. I tried a single coil strat and it killed a lot of the distortion. Using my Hamer, it sounded like a jet engine anytime I got the Drive (Gain) above 5.

All in all, it has a great sound. I would have liked to be able to get that Fender Texas Blues wail from it, but I haven't been able to get that.

I'm not going to give a rating on this one yet. I bought the amp used for 200 bucks knowing that a fuse had blown and that a power amp tube was cracked. I swapped out all of the tubes and the fuse and it still didn't sound right. Within a day, I had cracked a pre-amp tube and blown another, so I knew something wasn't right. I replaced those and cracked another pre-amp tube while driving the amp to the studio. I took it in to Guitronics (Hal rules!) to have it fixed. Apparently, there was a loose solder joint on one of the floating capacitors that was causing a nasty buzz. Since I got it back, it has been going without any problems, but that has only been a few weeks.

As for the cracked tube issue, I don't really like the way they have the tubes placed. They are placed in two rows with the preamp tubes hidden behind the power amp tubes.
1) This makes it a pain in the ass to swap out pre-amp tubes.
2) The pre-amp tubes are really close to the power amp tube retainers. It exposes them to a sharp metal object. When you have brittle, hot glass tubes so close to a sharp metal object, you are inevitably going to crack your pre-amp tubes.

Hopefully, my issues are just one time things, but I don't know for sure. Right now, I would give this a 5 at best. Over time, I might regain some faith in the reliability of the amp.

I haven't dealt with them. I bought the amp used and had it fixed by a local guy.

I have been playing for about 9 years. I started on crappy solid state practice amps and switched up to a nice Marshall Tube Combo (DSL401) about 3-4 years ago. Comparing it to the Marshall, I prefer the Carvin's clean channel, but the marshall still has a better distorted channel. If it became lost or stolen, I would buy another one assuming I could get a good price and make sure that it worked well. Otherwise, I would probably switch to a Fender Twin Reverb or Tweed Deluxe. I have a good crunchy sound in the Marshall, but I'd like to find something a little bluesier.

All in all, I love the sound of the clean channel and the reverb, but I hate the way the tubes are placed and the fact that it weighs more than my car.

From a gigging standpoint, the one thing I really like is the metal grill covering the speakers. I hate the fact that most amps only have a layer of cloth covering the speakers. Bands play in bars. Drunks hang out in bars. Drunks have poor balance. That combination doesn't bode well for most speakers.

This is a brand new 2002 all-tube combo amp. 2 channels, clean and drive, EQ on both channels, reverb and presence, footswitch with channel and reverb controls. Pretty basic. One things for sure, it's LOUD. 100 watts!

I used the following guitars with this amp: Gibson Les Paul Classicand Gibson ES-135. I usually play jazz to classic rock to some hard rock. I guess you could use this amp for jazz, country, or light rock. Hard Rock is out of the question.

Clean channel was nice, but the EQ was incapable of getting me the sound that I was looking for. It had that tube warmth to it and the notes rang very well. However... even with constant adjustment, I could only get a sound that was too bassy or too screechy. It was not pleasant.

Drive channel was all mud. I understand that a LP with humbuckers has a lot of bass to it, but Jeez... After almost three days (and several pairs of earplugs) of constant adjustment and tweeking, I couldn't get a good overdriven sound. Distortion itself was light, not very heavy.

Although I didn't have this amp that long, I would assume that it is as tough as a tube amp could be. The case was solid wood, covered with black vinyl. It looks really nice! Anytime I would move it, however, you can hear all the little internal sounds of the reverb springs and tube buzzing. But that's a TUBE amp for you.

It appears solid and well-built. I figure I would have to drop it pretty bad to break it and it is HEAVY 70 lbs!

When I called up to order the amp, the guy I talked to was very nice. He politely confirmed their 10 day return policy, but that I would have to pay for shipping if I returned it.

It came with a 1 year warranty, but I certainly didn't have this amp for long enough to test it out.

I've been playing bass and guitar for about 5 years. I directly compared this amp to my Marshall AVT 275 combo. (See the review that I did on it). I sat both amps right next to one another and would play the same passage over and over, switching from one amp to the other.

The Marshall blew this thing away. The drummer, bassist, and my mom :) all agreed: the Marshall had the definite edge.

Although this was a good value for the money, I found that I could not get the sound that I wanted. I am now thinking about taking the money I would have spent on this amp and looking into a Fender Hot Rod Deville 212.

I wanted to like this amp! My sister is a Berkelee College of Music grad and she swears by Carvin. I tried her 60 Carvin tube amp and it was pretty good. But Carvin dropped the ball on this one. I'm sending this one back to get my money back.

I LOVE the clean tone of this amp and the warm tube tone and I HATE the crappy EQ and extremely muddy or extremely screechy sound that I got out of it. I compared this amp with my Marshall AVT275.

After hearing so many good things about Carvin, I thought "A 100-watt all tube amp for less than $1000?! That's f**ckin' fantastic!" But it's really not. I was very disappointed.

As a final note, I further endorse the Marshall AVT275 I have. I still haven't been disappointed.

All tube, 100 watt, 2 channel amp. Reverb. One effects loop. Would have liked to have had a third channel. A configuration more like a Marshall TSL 122 would be nice. Also, the footswitch only turns the reverb on and off. It does not switch between Lead and Clean channels.

I play a Strat Lonestar with 1 bridge humbucker and two single coils. While the clean channel sounded good (although somewhat sterile), the Lead channel sounded horrible. This amp may be good for classic rock but for any kind of rock from the 80's or newer you will be lacking. I found that the amp had a nice sound for crunchy chords but lacked the ability to provide a cutting lead sound. Lead is very fuzzy, very dissappointing.

The amp arrived with bad preamp tubes. A quick call to Carvin and new ones were on the way, free of charge. Only had the amp for 7 seven days so I can't really comment on longterm reliability.

Customer support was good. Very fast response time with my replacement tubes. Extended my 10 day trial period due to the bad tubes. Please be aware that if you send the amp back to Carvin you are responsible for shipping. I just sent my amp back and it is costing me $90.00 dollars. That kind of sucks!

Been playing for fifteen years but don't gig. Just have fun with friends. For my needs I am going to skip the whole tube thing and get a modeling amp. I get a great sound out of my old Fender solid state amp and a POD. THat's good enough for my "bedroom" concerts! I am more intersted in max amount of sounds to tinker with and not have to worry about maintanence.

I was wanting to get a fully functional two channel amp so I tried out the Carvin 3212 used in a guitar shop. I was thinking about replacing my Carvin X-100B with EL-34s. would be more versitile than the older version and has just about every bell and wistle.

For my money I think the older X-100 is an all around better amp. The distortion was "processed" sounding to me, sounded artificial and didn't make the 4x12 resonate at the right frequency. I know Carvin makes a good amp but I like the older amps clean sound better too.

There are always problems with wave soldered curcuit boards. The gentleman that bought this one had to have a tech solder some things up.

The Carvin phone people act like you need them more than they need you. I have delt with them for years and it didn't used to be like this. They may have out grown courtesy. I did have to have a 10" mid driver from my PA system replaced and didn't have any problems there although my idiot Bassist was using a shielded cable for a speaker cable...I got lucky!

I kept the older amp and if given the choice between the older or newer, I'll keep the old dog. Sometimes simple is better. I use a Twin reverb for club dates w/o a master vol controll. But I wish they could make an amp that switches from class B push/pull to Class A rather than how the Carvins do the half power option.

Bought new in July 2002. 50/100 watt 2-channel tube amp. Has line-out jack, 50\100watt output switch, el34\5881 bias switch, presence knob, OK reverb. No master volume. It's well built and VERY compact (smaller than my Fender Ultimate Chorus solid state 2X12 combo). Very loud, relatively light weight. Awesome tube tone. (2) 100 watt Carvin British Series speakers. No casters. Had to buy loose from Carvin, drill 3/4" holes and install them. Also, I wish it had a stereo chorus built in as my previous solid state Fender Amp did. It would add a nice bit of color to the sound.

Using new (2001) Fender Fat Strat Texas Special. Been playing (recreationally) 20 years with almost no gigging. Seeking the all-purpose setup (play 70's & 80's metal on rear Humbucker and Sultans Of Swing on pos'n 4). Not too anal about tone (yet!). I am very happy with the sound in both cases with one exception. The reverb is not that of a black faced twin. It lacks the warmth and is a little buzzy. The buzz/hissing it makes seems to take several seconds to decay when it is only set on maybe 4. Not a huge problem but sometimes a bit annoying. Amp is VERY loud. Clean channel begins to break up at about 6 on pos'n 4 (OK the middle and neck are overwound single coil Texas Specials). I wish it would stay clean as I turned it up.

Amp showed up w/ a bad 12AX7 (V1). It was a bit microphony. Carvin dropped a pair of new tubes on my doorstep with 4 days N/C. Problem solved. Only owned for two weeks now so have not had time for any failures.

Carvin support is great. Have called w/ several questions and spoke w/ very knowledgeable people who were eager to help. Also, amp showed up w/ a bad tube, they promptly sent me replacements w/ no need to return the bad ones.

I highly recommend this amp to anyone. For the money, you can't beat it. I suppose I could drop another grand and buy a Bogner but, why? If this amp was ever lost I would replace it. NOTE: Since these amps are bought via mail-order, you cannot hear it prior to purchasing (unless you know someone who has one). Carvin does allow a 10-day trial period from time you receive it (not when it is shipped) to test the amp out.

Has everything you need, and nothing you don't.

I use a Les Paul running through a handful of pedals (haven't really used the effects loop at all) and this thing just sounds great. Superb clean tone, nice AC/DC crunch, it's happening. The Overdrive Channel isn't great for scooped distortion (i.e. sevendust, metallica). So if you want an amp that can do metal by itself, this isn't it. I replaced the stock speakers (while they had great bottom end, the sound would break up before the amp distorted) and put in a couple G12T-75's. I hooked it up to a Mesa 2x12 3/4 back cabinet (The Black Shadows were weak) which also has a pair of G12T-75's and this thing roars. The amp came with 5 Sovteks in the preamp (which I'm not really a fan of) so I put in groove tube 12AX7's instead. Much brighter sound, and it seems much more.... balanced I guess you could say. Great sound, thumbs up.

I've had the unit for about a month. I bought it used in like-new condition. I haven't really put it through real abuse but it seems quite solid. Tube amps can be quite fickle though so you really have no way of telling. The footswitch is a whole other story. The switches themselves are very quiet, and there's no loud CLICK when you push them in. But it weighs close to nothing, and there's not even rubber feet or what-have-you on the bottom. Something I'll have to work on in the near future I suppose.

I didn't buy it new nor has it coughed on me so I don't really know. I've e-mailed them a couple times and ordered online from them before and I've always been very pleased. Some people have reported bad experiences with Carvin before but as far as I'm concerned they've been very helpful and will continue to get my business.

I haven't been through a ton of amps in my lifetime (all 6 years I've been playing). I've had a couple Valvestates and a Line6 AX212. But for the money, this amp is rock solid and will take good care of you and your sound. Unfortunately if you don't live in southern California you probably can't try one of these out, but I'm very happy with my choice and don't anticipate needing a new combo anytime soon!

This has been listed extensively. No need to elaborate.

Reading these posts has prompted me to write my first review. I've been playing since i was 8 for 26 years. I live near great music stores all of whom let me demo equipemnent extensively and in private. The MTS is the 3rd different Carvin amp I've owned. I also currently own a Bel Air. More on that at a different location. I've owned Laney's, Marshalls, Fenders, Vox 30s, Dual Rectos(which I still have) and demoed many more either at stores or on stage when asked to sit in. To compare this amp to a TLS Marshall, or a Soldano or a Recto (dual preferably) is simply unrealistic. My amp of choice now is the TLS 112. These amps make the MTS sonically challenged. It's not a "bad" amp, especially for the money, but it's not what these owners say it is either and this section is on sonic quality. The clean sound is pretty good, I'll admit, but it lacked something.. oh ya.. warmth of any kind. No matter what guitar/pickup combo i used, the volume in which I played, or the endless tonal adjustments tweeked, I could not get what I would consider a "great" clean sound. Just good. A subtle lack of warmth and texture but there none the less. Souless and a bit brittle. This is no fender clean sound and admittedly, I think that's what I hear in my head. The TLS I have is superior in this department. Now the Bel Air has a much nicer clean tone than the MTS. I'd give the clean sound b/c of its headroom a 6 here. The distortion side is harsh as well. Souless and inherently tweeked at a frequency I don't find pleasing to the ear. Again, cominations and experimenting are a given as I've been doing this a LONG time. It doesn't sound like VH and if you wanted to sound like that you wouldn't bye a 5150 either. You'd by a MARSHALL. This amp has NONE of that brown sound. Plenty of gain, but all put in the wrong place. No comparison to the TLS I have and no comparison to the saturation of a Soldano. I can make my dual Recto sound much more soulful and it's not known for that. The mid driven sounds also lack the roundness needed to pull it off with authority. SRV no...sorry.. it just didn't happen for me. Played in both cover and original bands with 2 cd's out. I love all kinds of guitar oriented music from spanky clean to heavily overdriven and am very critical of these tone shapes and everything in between. The amp should inspire the particular style you're coppin' and if this one does for you, there are a host of others that will truely kill you. It did not inpire me and have since returned it.

Built well but didn't have it long enough for it to crap out. They honored their policy of exchange.

NA

Been playing a long time as I've stated and of course i wouldn't replace it if stolen. FOR THE MONEY, it IS a good value, but just an Ok amp. Sorry for the simple adjectives but.. Just know you're not going to get the browness of a Marshall or the high end cut of a Soldano or the tone of a Dual (Don't like the triples). Nor will it really even get close to a Twin clean. It's bright ya, but not with the Fender sparkle and roundness I think is totally infectious and which puts you in that "zone". I've been more disapointed with Carvin amps than I've been satisfied though I have no ax to grind with them. Gigged with a X-100B for a couple of years but always wanted the drive to go to 13 or something. Some of these guys had to mod The MTS to sound "right" realizing it didn't to start with. Probably the guys with the more critical ears. I don't feel you should have to do all of this and most of you won't if you get any amp so... I think I've given an honest, informed review here but take it for what it's worth. 7 for the price/value.

I purchased this amp in late 1999 new, so I'm assuming that's when it was built. This amp can produce a wide variety of tones. Has 2 channels, reverb, and an effects loops. The lead channel is able to produce a variety of useful tones at different gain levels, unlike some amps that only really sound good maxed out. The 50/100 watt switch is a nice feature, but I've never actually had to use the 100 watt setting as it's plenty loud at 50 watts.

I typically use this amp with a Gibson Les Paul studio with stock pickups. Occasionally also use a Carvin TL60.
Now, this amp has a lovely basic sound. The tones are wonderful. It's rare I find an amp that has both a clean and distorted channel that I like, and this one fits the bill here.

HOWEVER.

There is a major, major problem with it. When I use the distorted channel at a volume anywhere above 3 and have the bass EQ knob up at all, I get this horrible bass feedback. If I play a low E chord and then cut it off suddenly, the amp makes this THUMP sound that's even louder than the original signal! I've talked to several people at Carvin about it and they think there's nothing wrong with the amp, but that's just how it is. Lame. The fact that I play a Les Paul (a rather bassy guitar) probably accentuates the problem; with a guitar with less low end you could probably get away with having the bass control below 5 and not having a problem. I like having the bass control up a bit to get a full, meaty tone, so this makes me quite unhappy. Other than that, I love the way this thing sounds, but that one problem is a pretty major problem! It's also rather noisy... the tone stays good at low volumes but it hisses too loudly for low-volume recording.

I've never had a problem with it, but I've only gigged with this amp a few times, so it hasn't taken too much abuse yet. It barely left my apartment for the first year I owned it. I've used it without a backup and not been too worried about it.

Carvin people are typically pretty helpful on the phone. I've emailed them a couple times and never gotten any sort of reply.

I've been playing for 13 years. I've owned a couple Crates (soundman: "turn down the treble!" me: "it's on 1!"), a Hughes & Kettner ATS120 that I still own (would be my main amp but the clean channel sucks), and a Line6 (good for what it is, but just doesn't have that certain SOMEthing you get from a "real amp"). I will probably replace this amp with something else. If it were lost or stolen, I'd be kinda bummed, but I'd get over it. ;o) As I said, the basic tone is great, it just makes horrible thump sounds when using the dirty channel that make it pretty much unusable unless you turn the bass controls really low.