Carvin MTS 3212

This is a 100watt 2-channel tube amp. It is somewhat basic in construction. Has line-out jack, 50\100watt output switch, el34\5881 bias switch, presence knob, good reverb, and 1 imput. Doesn't have master volume. It's well built and very compact. Very loud, relatively light weight, and has a good black and silver look. It has a great tube tone, and I can play just about anything on it, however, this amp really kicks in the lead soloing stuff. More than enough power. 2 100watt Carvin British Series speakers.

I'm using a Mexican Strat with stock pickups. This amp is solid at just about everything. It doesn't have tons of bells and whistles, and it doesn't need them. The clean is clean and warm. The distortion is versatile. Good blues sound, light rock, heavy rock, lots of sustain. Great for Steve Vai, John Petrucci style of smooth high gain distortion. It packs a nice bass punch, but the truly impressive part is the highs. This amp sounds incredible past the 12th fret, I think they designed it with a very high frequency handling, and it shows. The sounds are very smooth, detailed, and responsive. You can play anything on this amp. If you're going for a harsh sound you can get it, but in that case something less warm would suit you. This amp can produce a sounds like Van Halen's Eruption and Steve Vai's For the Love of God. You can smash power cords on this as good as anything else, but it's lead sound is exceptional. The clean has never broken up for me, although I think I'd hurt my ears if I got to that point, I don't think it would break up unless your making your own ears bleed.

It is very well built. The tubes are protected and it is solid in construction. I would gig without a backup. Of course, I can't afford one, so I have no choice. But it has worked fine for me without any problems. Time will tell though.

I've heard people complain, but from talking to them they were very friendly and did a good job. It has a warranty of one year. Have never needed any repairs.

I haven't been playing to long, only 2 years. But I've played Mesa's and Marshall's and I researched ALOT before I bought this amp. Right now I don't own much other gear. I've got an Takamine acoustic guitar and a CA30 crate acoustic amp, which sounds good despite it being a crate, and a Dunlop wah. I'm not into effects, solid distortion does the job for me. I'm not some kid who plays Blink 182 all day and thinks he's a rock star, I play alot of things, and I know a good sound. This amp is comparable to anything you can buy, and for the price it is a great deal. If it was stolen I would get another, if I could afford it. The lead sound can't be beat, and everything else is rock solid. It sounds like something twice it's cost. If you need a good tube amp with power and tone, I'd look into this amp, I'm very happy with it. It's more than you could ask for for the price. I'm not saying it's the best thing money can buy, but I am saying that it's the best thing a reasonalble ammount of money can buy. You'd have to at least top 1000 to get something this good from another company.

This is a review of a 2001 Carvin MTS3212 Combo. Basic two channel setup w/ 5 12ax7's and 4 5881's. Has an effect loop and reverb. Got a free footswitch (Channel Select and Reverb On/Off) from an online order promotion. Otherwise Carvin Charges 22 Bucks. After going from a thousand amps (it seems) including Silverface Twin, Marshall VS102R, Roland JC-120 (First Series), Yamaha's, etc... I must say this Carvin is absolutely incredible! The Clean channel is pristine and extremely glassy. The Distortion Channel absolutely pumps! Blows away anything I have worked with before. With 100 Watts of Juice (Switchable to 50 Watts with a minimal 3dB Loss) this amp is plenty loud. Also You can change out the Main tubes with a bias change. Took a chance on Carvin (Direct Order Only) but am sure glad I did. Now I know why they have been in business for 50 years. This is a clean striped down amp; no frills, no built Digital Effect. For my work, this is perfect. The versatility of this amp will work will most everything.

I play a '83 Les Paul Standard and a '79 Strat (3 Bolt). Play a variety of stuff from Jazz standard, motown, R&B and Classic Rock. This amp covers everything very well. One nice thing about the amp is that is is QUIET!...extremely. Clean Channel doesnt distort, albeit slightly,at high volumes. The Distortion channel is absolutely incredible....Goodbye Pedals. Covers everything from Delta Blues to Hard Rock without a pause. Both channels are very smooth and silky. sustain is incredible.

Can't really say. This AMP is new and hasn't been out much. From what I've read these amps are extremely reliable.

Haven't had any problem with it as of yet so no need to call. Warranty is only one year (bummer) and to get replaced means sending back to the factory in California. All transactions were done through the web, so no human contact. Extremely quick shipping tho'!

Definately would replace this amp, especially for the price. For me, this amp covers everything I do, its loud, its clean, it screams, and its small (smaller than my VS102R) and its Light. with Carvin's 10 day return policy, I recommend you take a shot on this amp. Its well worth it.

Carvin really hooks it up. They gave me a free footswitch with my mts. the reverb is one of the best that I have ever heard. This amp has two channels, each having their own Bass, Mid and Treble swithches. Both channels are nothing short of AWESOME.

This is probably the best sounding amp I have ever played. Before buying this amp, I also checked out the Marshall TSLs and Fender's Hot Rod Deville. Neither the marshall's nor the fender sounded nearly as warm and smooth as this amp. The gain channel on the fender sucked. The Marshall's gain sounded good, but after playing the MTS, I would never buy the marshall. MTS has a great and versatile gain channel. It seems to growl more than the Marshall did.

The clean channel is probably the best that I have ever heard. The fenders and marshalls could not hang with this tone monster. it is very smooth and glassy.

I play all kinds of music. I have a punk band (you know I need lots of gain), I play lots of blues and classic rock, and I play worship songs at my church. the mts fits all of these styles. It doesn't do metal very well, though. just buy a pedal (Marshall Jackhammer is a good choice) and you'll be fine.

I just bought it about a week ago, and haven't gigged with it yet

haven't had to deal with them as far as repairs go. However, the techs at the Carvin store are ver knowlegable and friendly

If you love warm tube tones, THIS IS THE AMP TO BUY. It can fit any style, except for metal. At 700 dollars, it is a great value. However, even if it costed as much as a marshall of mesa bogie I would still buy the amp. For those of you who don't live in california, and don't have the opportunity to test them out, order one. YOU WILL NOT BE DISSAPOINTED. THIS IS A GREAT TUBE AMP AT A VERY LOW PRICE.

Before I say anything...I just wanted to restate from my last review about the Combo that I'am now keeping it. I was stupid for not giving it a chance in the beginning without a fair evaluation. I'm so glad I did...I will explain more later.

Let's get down to business first....this is a no frills amp ....just just your basic two channels... clean and distortion along with reverb, which is just great for me. I could get into the details but other reviewers have already got it down in a nutshell, so there will be no need for me to explain any further.

I play mostly alternative hard pop rock... Like Goo Goo Dolls, Foo Fighers, U2, Collective Soul, Blink182 and The Cure. This amp can handle all those styles and some more with ease....except for heavy to death metal....which this amp wasn't design for. It is an exceptionally versatile amp for anything else. With 100 watts of pure tube power, it has more than enough juice to handle just about any situation..if you need more sound dissipation just hook it up to a 4x12 cab, but more importantly is that it's loud enough to handle your band rehearsals against hard hitting drummers! No problem here!

I use a Fender Deluxe Strat with Noiseless pickups, This guitar sounded great with either channels! When I first got this amp it sounded ok....the clean was the best i've heard from any amp I've tried, it was quiet as hell and when you turn it up higher it doesn't break up like a fender would..until you get around 6-7.....the distortion had alot of gain but was kinda grainy and sterol sounding...that was my biggest hang up and most of all I thought it sounded lackluster. That's why I was going to return it, because it didn't sound as good as I thought it would. But before I was going to return it I wanted to take a gamble to see how much of a difference would changing the tubes make.......I've never own a tube amp so this was the first and I was skeptical about replacing the power tubes because it was pretty costly and biasing would be an additional cost...so I said....let's try the preamp first and if it improved the sound then i would certainly go for the power section next.

I ordered some sovtek LPS and when they arrived I replaced all 5 12ax7's and powered her up for a test drive. When I strummed my first chord...this amp sounded so much better. There was less graininess and the mids was smoothed out . There was also a sparkle in this amp that i had no idea it had.....I said Wow!! The Clean was just blissful!! I couldn't stop playing this amp now! Imagine how much better this baby would sound if i changed the power tubes....and I did!! I replaced and rebiased them with JJ EL34L..it sounded fantastic!!! It was thick and creamy!! with more midrange....sounded like a modified marshall with a different attitude! I tried this for an experiment ...changing the BR12 speakers to Celection Vintage 30s to make it even better sounding......bad idea. The cleans broke up sooner than it did before and it was kinda muddy sounding as well..but i will say that the distortion of the Vintage 30s sounded great!.....after changing them back to to BR12......I was in love with the amp again!

I'm giving it a 10 now because of changing the tubes....if it was stock...i would give it a 7.

Hard to say for now but I've had no problems whatsoever with her....so far so good.

the warranty is 1 year....that really sucks cause alot of companies now are offering 3-5 year warranty. They provide great service if you are buying the amp but if you want to speak to a tech for repairs or returning it back....you would have to wait a bit.

I have been playing guitar for 5 years but i know what sounds good and what doesn't. After spending many weeks researching, playing and test driving manys amps out there and at home... I have found what my ears wanted to hear. I've brought home a Line 6 Flextone II....sounds excellent in the store at low volumes but when you take it home and crank it up to about 4 or 5....it sounded thin and artificial......I returned it after 2 days of tinkering with it. Then it was the Fender tube family......you name it i've takened it home for a test drive...the Vibrolux, Twin, Twin Reverb, Blues Deville and etc...the cleans sounded pretty good but it breaks up too soon....IMO..not rich sounding compare to the carvin. I think the clean from the Carvin sounds way better than the Fender!!!The distortion wasn't anything to brag about...except for the prosonic but I was still wasn't impress. Then came the Marshalls....their distortion sounded kicked ass as would expect!! But their clean sound was lifeless and thin.....I have to note that the AVTs are excellent amps!!! I love everything about it except that it wasn't loud enough and also the affects aren't very flexible to tailor your sound......If they had a 2x100 watt combo that is suppose to sound as loud as it should...I would definitely get it! Mesa Boogies sound great but just too pricey .....i would consider owning one...but not anytime soon.. For sheer value in quality, sound, performance, and price. The Carvin is clearly a real winner!! I would lost it, I would certainly get another one!
Everytime I play through this amp....I have always have a smile on my face

I will make this short and simple...this is a Fantastic all tube amp for the features, quality, sound and money. Unfortunately, the Carvin is not the sound I'm searching for. I will need to do some more soul searching before I buy another amp.

I'am selling one for $650.....brand spankin new! Had it for one month and rarely used! It's all in it's original box, paper work and receipt.

Go see www.carvin.com for the features, for the price, its a great deal for a solid tube amp.

I mainly play rock, fusion, jazz, funk, a lil blues here and there.... this is amp is versatile enough to cover all of them, and i've been quite satisfied with that. i dunno what the whole deal with the 5150 comparison is, i've never played through one... anyhow, the gain channel for lead playing is great, very focused, and sustains incredibly well. Its articulate and detailed, and goes from petrucci esque type of tone to a nice mellow santana tone to a very lovely overdriven tone that sings...the fusion enseble i play with at school were VERY impressed with the tone for lead. for rhythm playing, its also great, it cleans up well with the volume rolled down along with the tone (i use a les paul dc studio) and its clear enough that you can hear the notes of a complex chord very well, and can take from a heavy chunk to more of a 70s hard rock kinda sound...the only problem is that if you want to go from a very high gain lead to a significatly cleaner gain sound, its pretty hard to do(i intend on getting a volume pedal to solve this problem), but overall the gain channel provides a very nice crunch and very nice lead voice tones. The clean channel is great too, i can play funk very well on it, and to my pleasant surprise, the amp provides a very nice jazz tone as well... it took me a while to find the sound i was looking for, but i finally did, and the amp's clean channel is definetly a winner.... the reverb is kinda weak, but it does provide decent amound on "fattening" to your tone that works... the presence control is useful as well in higher volume situations.

Well... one of the volume pots got bent, so i got kinda scared about that, only cuz the car hit the breaks very suddenly and the amp hit a metal edge on the car...other than that, it seems to be built like a tank, very solid, and the tubes seem well protected... i've used it in gigbs and it asn't failed me at all, very realible...

Carvin guys are very chill, and pretty helpful... i asked them about the volume pot problem and they were helpfuly about giving me information about repairs.

Its definetly a stela for what i got it at (used) but even new its a damn great price for what you get, i recommend it if you are in the market looking for a tube amp that delivers great lead tones and clean tones as well.

Brand spanking new amp, just got it in the mail a couple hours ago. A 2 channel all tube 100W amp. Two independent EQ, presence, and reverb. It's a real nice amp. Controls are Lead Volume, drive, bass, mid, treble, CLean volume, bass, mid, treble, LEAD Presence, Master Reverb. The back panel has Speaker out 1 and 2, Impedance switch, 50W/100W switch, 5881//EL34 bias switch, Cabinet Voiced Line out, Footswitch, Effects send/return.
This is plenty for me. Very very versatile, lots of gain, and still has a very pristine clean channel. I play pretty much everything, but my main bag would be metal/punk. FOr punk, these 5 12AX tubes are just perfect for me for the sound. But for metal and hardcore, you might wanna use a pedal, like metal zone or something.
I am very very pleased with the amp, but one thing i wish it had was a head phone jack. This amp is a monster, it's really really loud, one of the loudest 100W i've ever heard. I usually play it with only 2 tubes on (50W), but still real loud for my room, but for gigs, you won't ever get buried. This bad boy can scream loud, you can actually drown out the drummer, hee hee.

I have a Fender 50's reissue and an Ibanez RG with dimarzio TONE ZONE and PAF. What can i say? The guys at Carvin really know what they're doing. Clean channel will tell you what clean is meant to be. Very clean with my fender, but the ibanez with the tone zone pushed hard, kinda gets a little fuzz at the top volume. Distortion channel is a bad ass too. Real fatty distortion, none of that paper thin crap you'd hear on crate stuff. I think this amp is one of the cleanest i've ever played. Cleaner than Marshall JCM800, Fender hotrod, and crate blue voodoo. But if you crank up the Lead 1 Presence, it does get a little noisy, but not a big deal at all, 'cause it only does it at high volumes. Amp is very versatile, you can play country to hard hard rock. the only thing you can't do it heavy metal and hardcore.

Looks very sturday, but the amp gets pretty hot, i already put a fan on the back. But carvin guys are usually real good with their stuff, so i'm not worreid about it at all.

I heard there are some pricks there, but i think they fired all the pricks, 'cause i've called carvin about 7 times since i placed an order to check up on my order, and everytime i called, they were really nice, and very patient with me. Warranty's one year, but this bad boy will last you. One bad thing is that if there's soemthing wrong with your stuff, you gotta send it back to San Diego, CA =( I live in IL

I've been playin' for about 6 years, my band usually plays punk and metal. THis amp is perfect for me. I compared this to a marshall jcm 800 half stack, and to me, this carvin sounded nicer and louder, so go figure. If it were stolen, i'd probably buy another one right away. I love this amp, for the sound and for the quality. Carvin is a very good company, i trust em. One bad thing about em is that you can't really test it out before you buy it unless you live in CA. But take my words for it, these are quality amps.

I just have to say that everyone here who THINKS that the distortion channel on this amplifier sounds and feels like a Peavey 5150 has got to be kidding and needs to stop right now! I do not understand how anyone with even remotely musically attuned ears can say such a thing. My guess is that people are just swallowing the hype that Carvin catalog ad tries to make for it and I beg those people to listen to what they are comparing it to. If you need a distortion channel, the one supplied by this amp will probably do for most people. But noone should say that this amp has a 5150 type gain amp. The two are not even close!

Please read the other reviews, or visit Carvin's site.
I use it mainly for Rock and Blues.

I use a Yamaha Pacifica 1421 (great guitar) and a Carvin (DC-400 I think) made of Koa. Sometimes I also use a Strat. The amp is clean, and the amp is LOUD. I love both channels. I was impressed by the clean channel, and the lead channel is also very good. I sometimes use a TS-9 reissue and/or a TS-9DX, both modified by AnalogMan (Excellent work).
On the last band I was on, we played stuff from Zeppelin, AC/DC, Queen, John Cougar, Whitesnake, Dire Straits, Tom Petty, and a bunch of others. I wish I had this amp at the time. It is versatile, and gives you great sounds for different types of music. It has great bottom end, without sounding muddy. I haven't really played it at volumes past 4 (the neighbors wouldn't like it, and I am currently not playing in clubs), but I can get a wide variety of very pleasant clean and dirty sounds. I can only imagine how this would sound at higher levels (and someday I'll find out), but trust me, 4 (even 3) is pretty loud (or maybe I'm getting old). Currently I am not in a band, so the actual loudness that I perceive might vary when you take into account bass, drums, or other instruments playing together, but still this amp is LOUD.

Bought it 6 months ago, and waited until now to give a more objective review. This last couple of days I started playing a little louder (went from 3 to 4) and got a nice feedback going on. Unfortunately, the feedback turned ugly, and didn't go away. I could not fix this, and today I called Carvin. In a couple of minutes they told me what to do and the problem is gone. (I just had to switch a couple of tubes). So far it hasn't given me any trouble, other than the strange feedback issue. Tube amps are delicate beasts and require care. They can be temperamental, but so far I am very pleased with the MTS 3212's performance.

I've dealt with Carvin before, and I am very pleased with their products and their service. Since I am living in California, I went to the factory, and played a couple of amps for maybe two hours. The salespeople were friendly, and let me really explore the sounds and give the amps a good try. Also, as I mentioned, customer service was great with the feedback problem.

I've been playing for 13 or 14 years, and this is one great amp. I sold a Marshall JCM-800, since it was a hassle to carry it around. I was looking for a combo and checked Marshalls, Boogies and Fenders (all of them make some great amps, and Fender has the sweetest clean tone), but considering the price of the Carvin, and its features, I think this is a great buy. It is not the best amp in the world (if there is such a thing), but it represents a great value, and I would definitely replace it. I might change the power tubes, but for now they'll do. Also, I would want a light indicator on the footswitch.

I'm not going describe the features in detail, just read the other submissions. It's a 100 watt amp with two 12" Carvin British Series speakers. This amp is quite powerful, and is louder than I think I will ever need it to be. I play a lot of different styles of music, ranging from jazz to metal. This amp is quite capable of covering most of those styles, with the exception of hard core and metal. The distortion just doesn't fit the heavier stuff. So, I just use distortion pedals for those applications. The amp has 5 12AX7's and 4 5881's. The amp came with Sovtek tubes and I replaced them with Groove Tubes because I'm very fond of their sound. This amp is cool because you have the option of using 5881's, or you can flip a switch and replace the 5881's with EL34's. Overall, this amp fits all my needs.

I run a Les Paul Custom and a Strat Standard through the Carvin. Both sound great, especially the strat. The clean channel in this amp is absolutely astounding. I haven't played an amp yet that beats out that great clean tone. I can crank the clean channel and it doesn't break up at all. Some of the other reviewers said that their MTS 3212 made a lot of noise but mine is dead quiet. Either I'm lucky or they were unlucky! The distortion in this amp is quite nice. It's great for almost all rock applications, but as I said earlier, it's not too good for metal. I really like the effects loop, which is a big statement for me because I usually hate effects loops. For some reason the effects loop on this amp just sounds a good deal clearer than any other amps that I've tried out. The reverb is quite good too. There isn't a huge amount of reverb on this amp, but that's fine with me because I don't use a whole lot anyway.

I've only owned this amp for two months so I can't really speak for its reliability. I play it often and at high volumes and it has held up fine.

I've dealt with Carvin before, and most of the time they are pretty friendly and helpful. However the guy that helped me out with my order was downright rude. But my amp arrive at my house right on time so I guess I don't have too much to complain about. The warranty on this amp is 1 year limited. The problem is that you have to pay to ship the amp back all the way to the carvin factory in california to get it serviced. I've never had to do that, but I can imagine that it would be a pain.

I highly recommend this amp to anyone, no matter what their budget. I've played through quite a few amps and I am really satisfied with my carvin. If this amp was ever taken out of my possession, I would definitely replace it as soon as possible. A word of caution: since you can't try this amp out before you buy it, carvin allows the buyer to have a trial period to test the amp out. Do just that... test it like mad. Put it through its paces to make sure it satisfies your needs. If it does, I'm sure you will enjoy it.