Carvin MTS 3212

Pretty nice, separate eq's for each channel, reverb, drive, presence that I did not find too useful, etc. 100 watts, but not that loud for so much power. Plenty of tubes.

I have an Epi LP standard. I play mostly hard rock/edgy stuff, and I found a lot of different sounds that I liked by messing with the channels and eq. It had a tiny hum when turned on, but was really pretty quiet. The clean was pretty nice even at high volumes. The distortion was a little harsh, but not bad. Overall I thought it was a bright amp. The big problem that I had was that for 100 watts, it was not very loud. I had it side by side with my Fender FM 210r 65 watt solid state, and you could tell the MTS was a little louder with the right settings, but not as much I expected (note: the MTS did have better tones at high volumes). At practice, I had a hard time hearing myself over the drummer, singer, bassist and other guitarist, even when cranked. The other guitarist has an old Peavey Duece that is a similar setup to the MTS, but the Peavey is louder and just has a more powerful sound. I admit we could turn down a bit, but we like it loud, and I want an amp that can be loud when I want it to, and can stand alone if a PA is not available. That's just the way I roll haha.

It seemed very well built, and I would have no worries about the reliability, but I only had it for a trial period. However, I worked it pretty hard and nothing broke.

Well, I returned it, but they were very nice through the whole process.

I liked a lot about this amp, but it was not for me. It seems to me that a 100 watt tube amp should be louder and have a more powerful sound than the MTS (I realize that this is sort of subjective). I like that I was able to check it out for 10 days and send it back. I have to give it a 6 because I thought that compared to a few other amps I listened to in this price range, the MTS had similar tones and options, but just did not get to and average score for me.

100W, all tube, 2007 model Carvin MTS 3212 2x12 combo amp. It comes with Celestion GT1275 speakers, 5 12AX7 tubes, and 4 6L6 power tubes, with a bias switch if you want to use EL34s instead. It has 2 channels, Gain and Clean, each with a Volume and 3-band EQ. The clean channel has a presence (bright) switch, and the gain channel has a presence knob that ranges from muddy and dull at the bottom to ear-screetchingly bright at the top. It has a spring reverb, an effects loop on the back, a speaker out with a switch for 4, 8, or 16 ohms. The FS22 footswitch has a channel switch button and a reverb/effect loop button. What it really lacks is a master volume, and it could really use 2 separate knobs for low and high presence on the gain channel. A headphone jack would also be nice.

My main guitar is a Caparison TAT-II. It is a neck-thru strat type with a maple neck and alder body. The pickups are the stock Caparison PH-F and PH-R. It's a generally bright sounding guitar. I generally play jazz fusion, in a similar style to Marco Sfogli or the new Kiko Loureiro, or I play straight up jazz. I also do a decent amount of shredding where necessary. The amp is awesomely responsive to pedals, of which I have a Visual Sound V2 series H2O Chorus/echo pedal, a dunlop cry baby original wah, and an ISP Decimator I don't need as much as I used to with this amp.

Clean channel: The clean on this amp is phenomenal. It's really noiseless, super loud when you need it to be, ultra responsive with sparkling highs and really rounded lows, and has some awesomely spectacular sounding breakup around 4 or 5. It will be super loud by the time it breaks up, but it's worth the ear pain, seriously. It's not the absolute best I've used, but it's up there. Clean channel gets a 10/10, which I'm very happy with as I go clean 95% of the time.

Gain channel: Ugh, this is the letdown of this amp. If you're into nu metal and downtuned nonsense, you'll love this amp. Try as I might, I absolutely cannot get a good solo sound out of this amp like I want. It's not super noisy, but it's extremely muddy, and if you turn the presence up it just makes it twangier and AC/DC-er. Even on the best setting I've found, sweeps get ultra muddy in the middle and just sound nasty all around. The best setting I've found is about 6 on bass, 4 on mids, and 6.5 on treble, with the presence being about 7. The gain can be all the way up or around 3 O'clock. Even on the most ideal setting, it still doesn't cut through the mix, which it should, and the channel is so quiet that playing in groups means you have to crank it and really push out the muddiness. If you know how to help this, please e-mail me at schmitzel88@gmail.com . Gain channel gets a 5/10.

Haven't had any problems yet, but it seems to be pretty reliable.

No problems yet, haven't needed to contact them yet.

I have been playing for only 5 years and I'm only 17, but I already teach at a store and have a somewhat steady job as a studio musician at a local recording studio. My other gear is a heavily modded Gretsch G5222 5W tube combo, a Line6 Spider III I won in a solo contest and am trying to sell, a Marshall MG250DX, and a fender 15W solid state I started on. My guitars are the Caparison TAT-II, a Schecter Gryphon, a Warmoth custom VIP, a Gretsch G5120, and a few custom strats I built. The guitars all have the same verdict: clean is awesome, gain is muddy as hell. A master volume would be awesome. I'm considering getting it re-biased and swapping out all the tubes, but it might be easier to just sell it and get a Mesa Lonestar or a Carvin V3. I got this for $350 lightly used on ebay with the footswitch and cover included, and I couldn't pass on a deal like that so I somewhat bought it on impulse. I'm glad I did for the cleans, but the gain channel is so muddy that it's almost not worth it. If you're like me and play clean a lot, get a carvin Vintage series. If you play a lot of distortion, get a Mesa Lonestar.

Just got this amp from Carvin a week ago, so I'm guessing it is a 2008 model. Great amp for the money. Very versitile, many sounds and styles of mucis can be achieved. I play heavy, doomy rock (FuManchu, The Sword, Black Sabbath, Bongzilla, sHEAVY, Orange Goblin, Mammouth Volume, Sleep, etc). The amp has two channels with seperate EQ's. Came with footswitch that switches the reverb on/off and changes the channels. It has an effects loop. But no headphone jack. That would have been nice. I rarely use the reverb because I like a real clean and punchy sound. I down sized to this amp from a Sunn halfstack. The Sunn had a better clean channel, but nothing beats the overdrive channel. Plenty of power at 100/50 watts. I have mine set to 50 watts. Very loud amp! It's got 6L6GC power tubes and 12AX7 preamp tubes. You can also put in 5881's or EL34's in for the power tubes. Just have to change the bias if you use one of these other sets of power tubes.

I am playing a Gibson Les Paul with a 57' Classic Plus pickup in the bridge position and a 490 in the neck position. Also play a Fender Custom Limited Edition Telecaster with DiMarzio humbuckers. It has a set neck and is all mahogony. They both sound extremely good through this amp. Not much noise with this amp. It is the quietest tube amps I have ever owned. It takes pedals exceptionally well. I pretty much use only Electto Harmonix. My Double Muff and Phaser sound great. I have a Bad Horsie Wah pedal that is great too. If I hook all my pedals up, I do use a noise reducer. But it is still not that bad as far as noise goes. The distortion is brutal. When cranked, it sounds similar to a Boss Metal Zone. I back down the Drive knob to about 2 or 3 and stomp on the Double Muff and it has the sweetest sound. Such creamy and sustaining distortion. Love it!

I feel I can rely on this amp. I have owned other Carvin amps in the past and they have never given me any trouble.

The salesman I dealt with over the phone was very friendly and helpful. My amp came with 6L6GC's but was advertised as having 5881's. So I emailed Carvin and told them I would like to have the 5881's, as was advertised came in the amp. They are sending me a free set of 5881's. So now I have two sets of power tubes. Can't complain about that. Plus, I got a free footswitch ($29.99 value). They are great at Carvin!!

I have been playing for over 20 years. I also own a Marshall VS230 amp and a Jordan practice amp. I own a Gibson Les Paul, a Fender Tele, and a Washburn acoustic. I own a EH Double Muff, an EH Phase Shifter (phaser), a Morley Classic Wah, a Morley Bad Horsie Wah, and a Behringer Noise reducer. If it came up missing, I would certainly go buy another. Well worth the money! I do wish it had a headphone jack, but not very many tube amps do. You will not be disappointed with this amp. It is a great amp at a great price from a great American company. How could you go wrong???

I like that each of the two channels has its own eq. That really helps to maximize the use the clean and the distorted sounds. On amps with only one eq, you always have to compromise between them. Not a problem here.

I was expecting this amp to have a good distorted sound, but I was really surprised at how good the clean sound is! It is surprisingly full, and really sparkles. The distortion channel is what I expected--more than enough gain. It goes from a bluesy overdrive to new metal, and anything in between. It also has plenty of bottom end.

I've never had any problems with it. Take care of it and replace the tubes and I think it will be fine. It's really sturdy, and NOT made from particle board! Cheers to Carvin for using real wood (baltic birch I think) for this amp.

Never needed it because the amp never broke.

I've played and owned a lot of amps (several all-tube Marshalls and one Mesa to name a few), and I've been playing guitar for almost 15 years. I know my equipment, and this amp cannot be beat, especially for the money. I strongly recommend this amp.

MTS 3212 with 212 extention cab.

I recently purchased this amp from a friend looking for something to use as an OD/Gain amp with my Fender Twin. Didnt really expect much from Carvin but the price was right and I figured I could get what I spent for it if I needed too. My initial thoughts proved to be correct. The Clean channel was actually pretty good better than I expected, but the Lead channel was poor. The gain stage was dark and had some strang harmonic overtones. Not at all musical. I tried the amp with a Strat and Charvel Preditor. The strat brightened things up a little but the humbuckers sounded horrible. After this I went on the internet to research reviews and other info about this amp. I found several reviews talking about tube and speaker swaps. Most said they had significant improvement with these changes. The most helpful suggestion was to rebias the amp. Appearently Carvin biases these amps low or cold by default to prolong tube life. I measured mine and it was about 110 ma across the standby switch. The mts has a bias adj inside. I researched and found that a better setting would be between 150-190ma across the standby switch. I adj mine to 180ma. The result was definitely noticible. The lead channel is much more dynamic. More musical/usable. I DO NOT RECOMMEND rebiasing your amp on your own if you dont know what your doing. Better to take it to a qualified tech. There is a lot of danger in there if you are not careful. Anyway I would definity say this is a good amp with potential with the right setup. I want to try some EL34 power tubes next.

No experience with this amp, but past experiences havent been good.

Have been playing 30 years or so. I would not buy this amp new from Carvin but if you find a good deal on a used one its worth a try.

I bought mine brand new back in '98. This was my first tube amp, and I was full of hope. Boy was I wrong. It's a 2 channel 100W all tube amp with reverb. Wish the presense control were a knob as opposed to on/off.

The dirty channel is very bad. The sound is everything that you don't want from a tube amp. It's scratchy, rude, and has very loose feeling to it. It lacks dynamics, and I don't know... It just doesn't sound right. I tried to like the dirty channel for 5 years. Never could do it. I've gone through stock tubes, JJ's EL34L tubes, and the 6L6G tubes. They helped, but still wasn't good. There was no subtley, and there was no in-between sound. BUT! The clean channel is very good. It has smooth highs and rounded lows. 99% of the time, I used the clean channel with a BOSS DS-1 in front of it. Did I already say I didn't like the dirty channel?

It was alive and kickin' til the day I sold it. It's heavy, and it's realiable. Carvin builds them like tanks.

I emailed them a couple times, and they wrote back. Helpful people.

I've been playing for about 10 years. This was the amp I grew up with. I wish it weren't part of my life, that's how much i hated this amp. Again, the clean channel is fantastic, but I didn't buy the amp for the clean channel. :(

From the Carvin Site:
MTS3212 COMBO
Reverb???both channels
??? Dual channels (clean & crunch/sustain) with separate level controls
??? 50 /100 watt output switch for tube saturation at lower levels
??? Bias switch for your choice of 5881(matched Groove Tubes???), 6L6GC's or EL34 power tubes
??? Tubes: four 5881 matched Groove Tubes???
??? Five 12AX7 preamp tubes for high gain (V1& V2 Groove Tubes???)
??? The cabinet voiced line output jack delivers the natural ???mic???d??? sound direct to your mixer
??? A 4, 8 or 16y?? switch allows your choice of speakers
??? A normalized Effects Loop is featured for foot effects as well a rack effects
??? The optional FS22 foot switch is for selecting channels and reverb
??? Hand crafted 7-ply poplar wood cabinet
A basic setup that is open to you for modification. There are many options for you to change it up utilizing the tube bias switch, speaker bias switch, effects loop, etc. It is an open canvas.

Alright, this is one person's opinion.
Clean Channel:When I finally played through this amp, I enjoyed the clean channel, but some issues arose. I use a Les Paul and I like a fat warm clean with as little break up as possible. This amp is designed for breakup, and with a high-output low end guitar like an LP, I would start getting overdriven sounds early at about 3 or 4, and any higher would be quite distorted. It was somewhere around concert volume before it broke up, but the fact that it does distort made it not my type of amp. I will say for those who like break up, it was great sounding light overdrive that was not at all unpleasent-it just simply did not suit my style. But people should know what this amp does before they buy it. I didn't rate it low because of this channel. The clean before break up was magnificent-less bass then a fender twin, but nice and fat with much clarity. When I put a Tubescreamer in front of the clean channel for crunchy rhythm, it sounded incredible, nearly perfect.

Distortion Channel- Now this is where I think this amp is weak. I could not get a satisfactory distortion out of it. It has a very deep thunking metal tone that wasn't necessarily a bad tone, but messing with the eq and gain wouldn't get much change. It was really deep and kind of muddy to me and when I tried using it in the context of my band, it WOULD NOT cut through. I just kept cranking the volume up until near the maximum, and it was too muddy to be heard through the other four guys. I couldn't get a nice light crunch with good mids, nor could I get a creamy overdrive. It is a deep harmonically rich metal channel that I did not find to be very versatile.

The first amp they sent me was damaged by UPS-of course. The amp rattled horribly everytime I played a note. It wasn't the tubes, so I had to send it back. UPS SUCKS- They damaged the first carvin my friend ordered(Bel Aire, a great sounding amp, all the tubes were smashed, the cover was jammed inward. They are a very unprofessional company imo. The second amp worked well, however, I only kept it for a few days before I realized it wasn't for me, so I can't comment on reliability.

Carvin is known as a company that is great to their customers. I had a coorespondence with Jason Golden throughout my UPS ordeal, and he helped me and instructed me through the whole thing until I finally decided to send it back. They are a fantastic company. I should note that they do have amzing products- the other guitarist in our band uses an AE-185 and a Bel Aire 2x12 and sounds great. This amp just didn't get along with me I guess. I decided on a fender twin 65 reissue and am happy I reconsidered.

The clean channel on this amp wasn't for me, but I could tell it was of high quality. It broke up too early for me and my LP though. The distortion channel was flawed for me however, and I couldn't make myself heard when I used it, and this is supposed to be a 100watt amp man... I couldn't stand the thought of having an amp with all these options, and only playing on the clean channel below volume level 4. The amp was sturdy, compact, not too heavy (compared to the Twin, holy crap!), I am sure it would last a very long time if you care for it. Try it yourself, dont take my word!

2005 or 2006 manufacture, standard Carvin MTS3212 tube amp.

This is the interesting part. I ourchased it in eBay and when it arrived I tried it out, clean sounded pretty good but lead was metal-suitable only. I swapped out the G12T-75s for Vin30s, also cahnegd the 5881s for SED 6L6s and put EH 12AX7s in the preamp stage. It helped, so I started using oit for rehearsals instead of my Hot Rod Deville, just to see what it could do. I could not get a good smooth lead sound out of it - even with the drive almost to zero I would still get a raspy, odd-order harmonic-rich sound which I just could not get rid of no matter what I tried. Our bassist even said that it sounded OK, but not as good as the HRD. So, I was looking at the schematic last night and it turns out that some genius put two pair of stacked 1N4745 Zener diodes between the second and third preamp stages in the lead channel (D1 through D4), connected opposit to each other so as to handle both phases. They are obviously there as clipping diodes. A 1N4745 limits at 16V, so two in series limit to about 32V,which sounds like a lot, but the gain of the preamp tubes is such that at that point a 0.01V signal would end up being over 50V, which would defintiely be limited to 32V - it would end up being a square wave, whcih is NOT tube distortion. Tubes distort slowly and don't yield square waves unless they are saturated. Anyway - the point is that someone tried to put a hard clip circuit in there, for Lord only knows what reason - it does NOT exist in any Fender or Mesa products that I know of (and I have some of both). And since the gain is so high it starts working at low input levels into the amp. Anyway, I am am reserving judgement on this until I remove those diodes from the circuit, then I will be able to get and give a more acurate idea of what it should sound like. In the meantime I will go back to the HRD, and I would strongly recommend to Carvin that they take the little hard clip diodes out, I haven't yet tried it but I expect it to sound quite a bit better after the diode removal.

N/A

N/A

Based solely upon removing the diodes - about a 2 or 3 for the lead channel. Clean is nice, 8 or 9 (almost as good as my Lonestar). I'll get back to you on this...

This is a 2005 Model.
I ordered it back in July, haven't reviewed it yet, so here it goes:
This amp has 2 channels...you can get a footswitch that switches channels and turns the reverb on and off. Has an effects loop as well.
Its features are perfect except for a few small things...I wish it has a master volume, I wish that the footswitch had a led to tell which channel you were on, and that is about it.

This is 50/100W of full tube power.

This is flat out a ballsy amp. This thing roars. It works well with all pups. This amp can get anything from shimmering cleans to screeching leads. Very versatile. THeir is a huge variety of sounds.

THe distortion is incredible. And by turning the drive to about 1/2, and the volume cranked way up, you get that tube overdrive AC/DC tone. I love that...it sounds so great like that...anyway, this amp tweaked the right way can cover just about anything.

This amp is built like a tank. I feel 100% comforatble giggin w/o a backup. It has never broken down, however the tubes that were shipped in it, were not perfect. Because it was shipped from California to Boston, one of the tubes had internal problems, but htat was a quick fix

Did not have to deal with Carvin on this purchase

I love it. Great amp...

and can you beat the price?

$700 for a 100W tube amp? THat is unheard of!

All in all awesome deal!

This is the 50th anniversary edition (or so it says on the front) made in 04 or 05. It has two channels (footswitchable) and reverb (also footswitchable) This is a straight up rock and roll amp with no extra crap - other than a bias switch (changeable 6L6s to EL34's) and a Power cut switch which changes the amp from 100 watts to 50 watts (4 tubes - 2 tubes in the power amps section) This sucker has an armload of tubes in it and it comes in a nicely compact 2X12 package (smallest 2X12 I've ever seen) very nice work on the engineering of this little beauty.

This is where this bad boy shines. If you read in any other review that this amp doesn't have a good lead gain sound, you are being misinformed. From the moment I plugged in my 94' Les Paul Standard I was blown away by the sheer power of this little atomic reactor. The lead channel is blistering with the gain at about 11 o'clock, and when you crank it up it just keeps getting nastier and narlier. I have never been so impressed so quickly with an amp - and I've owned a 5150 II and a Mesa Triple Rectifier (I got off the stack idea after having to haul them around every where). Carvin has super value in a box with their MTS 3212. The clean channel gets loud in a hurry, and at about 1.5 it is already at concert volume. Once you start cranking the volume level, the clean will start to break up (because we're not dealing with a Roland Jazz chorus) but that is of no concern to a rock and roll player such as my self - Clean electric always needs a little "personality". For the price of this amp, I refuse to believe that you can find a better unit - With 4 power amp (5881's) and 5 12AX7 preamp tubes, 2 Celestion G12T-75's, and its compact size - This is the apex of 2X12 Combos. Sure Marshall, Mesa, Bogner, Soldano, Tophat, etc. all make great products that kick ass in the tone department - but the Carvin holds its own - and at a 1/2 to a 1/4 of the price as some of the others, why look anywhere else. Besides, this one is made in the USA!!!

I have only just got my amp, but it looks really solid and well constructed. I always try to bring my pod just in case I lose a power amp tube, but I really have no concerns in this area at all

I ordered the amp through carvin on the phone. Customer service was very friendly and knowledgable. Shipment came before they said it would - Perfectly packaged and ready to rock.

I've been playing for about 13 years and have owned a variety of amps in my day, tone has always been an issue until now - convenient size for gigging and a tone beast at that. If this amp was lost or stolen, I'd take my home-owner's insurance money and buy another in a heart beat.

If you want a killer amp with distortion to spare at an affordable price - GET A CARVIN MTS 3213 combo!!!!

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.

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.