Carvin MTS3200

I think it was made in 99(not sure). I play everything from hard rock to italian wedding music and this amp has been perfect for all. two channels dirty/clean both of which are as good or better than marshall/mesa/fender,,,you name it. an effects loop which I use always but it would be nice with a loop bypass. it has no head phone jack which a lot of users complained about but what I don't get is,,,why buy a hundred watt amp for your headphones???? I wish it still had the graphic equalizer like the XB used to because that was far more effective that the usual parametric equalization. I never use the 100 watt 50 watt switch because to be honest,,,, I couldn't really notice any difference.

I use an oddysey and a carvin guitar both with carvin SD22 humbuckers. the amp(as I've already said) has not disappointed me playing any kind of music. it is totally quiet at all times but I did have a problem with the reverb spring picking up vibration and making the amp feedback but once I figured out what was causing it I was problem free. this amp can be as clean as clean gets or as dirty as anyone with over 15 with ear drums could possibly want. I have not had this amp up to 10 in either channel and can't possibly imagine when or where I would need to. this amp is ??ucking loud!!

I've had this amp for close to 5 years and just today as a matter of fact I replaced the jack for the effects loop send. considering its had cords in and out of it a million times, thats not bad,,,AT ALL!!
other than replacing the 5881's with EL34's, and this was only cause I wanted to try the EL34's, the amp has had zero problems!! ZILCH!!
the other guitar player in my band uses fenders pretty much exclusivly and has had his amps in the shop on a steady basis. In fact,,he borrowed my old carvin XB60 once and loved it!!

I have been dealing with carvin for over 20 years now and customer support is second to none!! the employee's are knowledgable friendly and very generous with thier time, I've never had to sit and wait on the phone cause all operators are busy!! over the years I've bought from carvin,,a guitar,,XB60 amp,,mts 3200 amp,,XS200 amp,,2 mics,,mic stands,,tuner,,chorus pedal,,sperzel machine heads,,6 channel PA system,,12 channel PA,,numerous SD22 pickups and probably other things I'm forgetting!! All shipped up to canada and delivered to my doorstep, cheaper and QUICKER!! than my local music store!! As for the warranty?? I'm sure its quite good but honestly I don't know!! Carvins gear is built so damn well I've never had to use a warranty.

I've been playing guitar for over 33 years and in that time I've tried just about every guitar amp there is out there. of course there are a number I haven't tried, mostly cause they are very small and localized company's and next to impossible to get where I live.
ie DR Z,,bogner,,univalve etc

and whereas there are plenty of amps that can be as good, and maybe, just maybe even a little at some things, that certainly doesn't come even close to justifying spending three or four, even five or six times as much money to get one!! if my mts 3200 was lost or stolen I wouldn't hesitate to buy another, only this time I would probably go for the steve vai legacy model!! :-)

Two channels, sweet cleanest of the clean, with a presence on off button. dirty channel, basic high, low, mid, with a lead presence. Effects loop i haven't used. foot switchable reverb.

The clean channel is sweet and tasty, as good as it gets from a stack. Enough said.

The dirty channel i feel gets a really bad rap. Mainly from kiddies who think peavy bandits sound wicked and reckon Korn rocks.

I originally wanted a 5150 but bought this baby coz it was so damn cheap. Like half the cost if the peavy. Loved it in the shop then took it home and was less then happy. To may ears it was ok for 80's metallica but not for the mega gain stuff of today. I got an SD-1 which saved the day but then i got sick of running a pedal into the front-end of this amp. Of course at this stage i hadn't been able to play the thing cranked!!! What a revelation.

These are the most important things to remember when tring to get a brutal sound from this baby.

Leave the reverb on but turn it to zero. The shitty buzzy tone comes from switching the reverb off with the footswitch. Leaving it on kills the buzzy stuff and gives it some mid range push. nice.

Run the EQ conservativly. A big mid scooped, high bass, high treble set up will sound like ass. When its cranked i find that this works well

Presence - 3/4
Treble- 6
mid- 5
bass - 5

this will still have a big low end but with a meaty mid range

Get some hardcore pickups. I have a cheapo jackson Ps-1 with EMGS and they do the job nicely. The MTS isn't as high gain as some other amps (but still has plenty) and a high gain pickup will help the tone no end.

You really don;t need to hit this thing with a tube screamer for anything other the a volume boost for solos.

All in all this has a wicked tough guy hardcore sound and pick squeals will leap of the neck.

Never had a problem, theres a consensus that it prefers some types of 12Ax7s to others but im not the guy to ask about this since my amp is stock.

theres a really big online family for carvin stuff. lots of helpful people on the message board. I live in Australia so I don't know about the factory support but the place where i bought mine were really good to deal with.

If it were lost or stolen i'd look at other options (whole wouldn't take the chance to spend some time perving at gear?) but would glady get another one.

This amp is one of those Bang for your buck champions of the world.

two channels, all tube, 100w or 50w output switchable between 4, 8, and 16 ohms. nothing out of the ordinary. effects loop, foot switch, emulated output. as allready mention the footswitch only toggles the reverb and has nothing to do with the effects loop, not a drawback really but did they really have to tease us by writing "effects" next to the switch? I play alot of rock/metal type stuff and really its all I need in a head.

I play either a jackson sl-3 soloist that has a duncan distortion at the bridge or a godin lgxt which has a duncan custom custom custom, or so they call it. Overdrives beautifully with the gain all the way up and the volume at 80% about. emits a hum at this volume, hum eliminator should fix that. i play it through a marshall 1960 cab and it sounds really great.

the distortion is somewhat of a british/californian bastard child type tone, slightly different then what you'd expect but i dig it in a big way. really crunchy for the drop-d type licks but spongy enough for a nice lead, one of the few amps out of the many i've tried that does a good rythm and lead tone. sustains nicely but not over-saturated like alot of tube amps, very responsive to the touch.

clean channel is a bit odd, maybe mines broken i'm not sure. for one, it's pretty kick-you-in-the face for a clean channel, not what you'd expect. its also way louder than the overdrive channel, which kinda sucks if your trying to set up a dynamic volume type effect between the two (ie nice pretty clean riff followed by something sinister and brutal).

in all its not exceedingly versatile but it gets the exact tone i want, and that's all i could ask for.

reverb has acted funny since i got it. if i have it turned up at all i can hear it echoing over my tone even with it switched off. other than that its real sturdy, just as good as any other amp if you ask me.

I've called them up a few times, and I gotta say I was pretty impressed each time. Every time I've called i've gotten some one on the phone ASAP, no hold no wait. They were able to answer my questions and willing to take the amp back in a second if there was any reason to suspect an issue. No stores i can go to to get service done locally, but i'm willing to bet its faster sending the thing out than dealing with the locals, and their guys really know their stuff.

For the price it's simply impossible to beat. With all the money I saved I got a pile of stompies. I've compared it right up against several randall heads, the peavey xxx and 5150ii, and the marshall tsl100. this thing could beat or keep pace with all of these and for half the price. 'nuff said.

Made in 2001. Works for my styles which ranges from classic rock, hard rock, but mostly grind/death/black/thrash metal. It works for all of these for the most part, but after its modified it can do it all. The effects loop is a nice feature, but its completely useless to me considering there is no way to bypass the loop as mentioned by other people here. I suppose this might be nice if there is one thing like a parametric equalizer or noise eliminator/filter you keep on all the time. The FS22 pedal that comes with it has a button that says Reverb/Effects on it, but it only turns off the reverb and does nothing to the loop.
=====My #1 piece of advice=====, replace the power tubes to EL34s. If you check out the review of the smaller combo version of this amp, just about everyone in there says this too. This was the best thing I ever did

For some reason, mine didn't sound good at all with the stock Sovtek 6L6 power tubes, the distortion had way too much of the high frequency "sizzle" and scraping and when the presence and high frequencies were turned down to get rid of that raspy drive sound, the amp no longer had any balls; no crunch, just a generally bad feeling playing on it. It only sounded good after I played it for hours with drums and bass so my ears were already somewhat tired and damaged so that I couldn't hear the "sizzle" anymore. Since I didn't have any money this is what I had to settle for, but to me it was still better to play this way than to use a pedal. However, 900 dollars for the half stack, 58 dollars for a new set of power tubes, 70 dollars for shipping, and you are still spending less for an entire setup than you would for a single 100 watt marshall or mesa head. So get a carvin half stack, modify it, and use the extra money you saved and buy a sweet guitar or some better pickups for your existing one. Or for that matter, buy another carvin half stack and an output switcher to make up for the fact that it only has 2 channels.

One important observation is that when I have the EL34s in there I still have to turn the presence almost all the way down to get rid of that sizzle, but when this is done, its beautiful.

I think it is amazing that everyone had exactly the same reaction as my first impression of the amp when I first played a note through its clean channel. This is the best clean channel I've ever heard!! Its true; this amp is just worth it for the clean. So yeah, you might say death metal doesn't really need it, but guitar isn't my only instrument and I definately appreciate the response and feel of the clean channel. It just glistens like a violin in Carnegie hall! Well that might be extreme, but you get it. It reminds me of the shadows' guitar sound although they used fenders.

I can most definately depend on this amp. I've dropped it once, and gigged it many times, never even had to replace a tube because of a defect. I've had this amp for over 2 years now and have used it mercilessly at full gain almost every day.

Independent of tubes, this is the BEST made tube amp I've ever seen. The wiring and tube sockets and electronic work inside is so clean and precise, nothing half assed about it. I'm not surprised that its lasted so long and taken so much punishment.

They responded to me quickly and answered my questions honestly. They didn't try and lie to me about common problems and complaints they've had which is something that is very important to me.

Despite not having 3 channels or not having a very useful foot pedal when it comes to the effects loop, or having a terrible stock distortion sound and feel, this is easily offset by the fact that you can put better tubes in it that change the sound dramatically, and coax the sound you want out of it. Oh yeah the price. So you only get 2 channels, well for the price of a marshall or mesa, get 2 carvin half stacks and a line switcher and get 4 channels and a full stack out of it. I'm not joking or exaggerating about this. A JCM800 on musiciansfriend.com costs $2099 US, and 2 carvin MTS3200s would be 1800 dollars, add 70 for shipping, 120 for 2 new sets of power tubes, then add in the cost of some cables and a line switcher, and you are around the same cost!! Fantastic value is right.

Tube 100W head switchable to 50W, 5 preamp 12AX7A tubes with either 4 EL34's or 6L6GC power tubes with switchable bias. 2 channels: 1 clean (with a great gritty sound with the volume turned up), 1 overdrive (with gobs of gain). Accutronics spring reverb, 1 input, an effects loop and a line out - everything one expects in a quality tube head.

I use an ibanez ax with a Dimarzio super distortion and PAF pro and 1meg volume and 500K tone pots. My band plays modern rock and this Head fits the bill perfectly. The cleans are nice and bright and the overdrive is thick and smooth with an amazing full sound that allows the guitar to play itself. I can describe it simply by saying the sound is alive. I use Sovtec 6L6GC power tubes and electro-harmonix 12AX7A's. The head has a great modern sound with the 6L6GC's. I use it with the carvin legacy c412t cab which is a slant cab with vintage 30's. It is the perfect match! I was thinking about the marshall 1960A, but the GT75's sound too brittle to me and the Mesa recto cab is out of my price range. The c412t cab sounds every bit as good as the recto for distored guitar and better for the clean. I use a Marshall supervibe pedal and a Guyatone MD3 pedal in the effects loop and a boss tuner, morley pro wah, and marshall jackhammer (for a "3'rd" channel sound) before the input. There is only a normal tube head amount of hiss that isn't even noticable unless it is the only piece of gear on. This head is LOUD! I only ever use it at the half power setting.

I've played it out a few times and practice with it regularly with absolutly no problems. It is built solidly and I would only expect to change tubes every now and them.

Don't know

I am the vocalist/guitar#2 in the band and have played guitar for 4-5 yrs. I care about tone and this head/cab combination provide it. Carvin is a great US company. I would not hesitate to buy this amp again if anything happened to mine.

What everyone else said

Well I picked this baby up yesterday used for dirt cheap with the matching cab. I played at the guys house and it sounded kinda weak. Cleans were good, but distortion wasn't too saturated. I play heavier music ala AFI, NOFX,... so I wasnt too sure, but it was still a deal so I was going to go for it. Come to find out the guy was actually a bass player and was given the amp. It hadnt been played for over a month. So, when i got it home i cranked it and after about 10 minutes of playing it started to wail. This baby screams and is loud. I play it through my american strat with jb jr in the bridge through a 5150 cab and i love it. I would consider the distortion the cross between a marshall jcm 2000 and a rectifier, sweet and smooth with just enough grit. the clean of course is amazing. Turn back the gain and volume and you can also get great crunch as well. It doenst quite have the balls of a marshall dsl (which i used to own before it was stolen) but for the price c'mon. i would have paid much more for the head alone. Also, don't listen to the guys who say the distortion is weak on this amp, because its not (crank gain to 9 or 10 and youre way over the top). I was afraid of this before i bought it and im extremely pleased now.

so far so good

This actually does compare to the marshall dsl like i said above, with a sweeter clean channel. Nor for metal definetely, but every other kind of rock is covered. Reverb is weak but i usually lay off the reverb anyways. I dont know what else to say, but if youre considering this amp, its an incredible deal for a remarkable amp.

All tube 100w (can be switched to 50w) head with 5881 power tubes (6L6's) Comes with a footswitch with reverb and channel switching ability. L O U D. 2 channels (clean, lead) with independant eq's for each. Master reverb for both channels. I would've liked seperate reverb for each channel too...so a very solidly built and designed amp loses a few points there.

I play this through a Carvin 2x12 cabinet and with an Ibanez USA Custom guitar. That's it. I love the gain (drive) on this head. If you ever read a review by some know nothing that says this cannot get a brutal distortion...laugh it off. I can get the brown sound of EVH on "4" on the drive. (4 also seems to be a good level for many nu-metal bands such as the Vines and the heavier White Stripes songs)I can get a BRUTAL Testament sound on "8". The clean channel is AMAZING. Better than the Mesa Boogie F-50 imo. Having an independant eq for both channels really helps as I like more mids in my clean...

Made with plywood not particle board. Steel reinforced corners. No plastic anywhere except maybe the led lights. Seems very durable but I haven't dropped it so.... :) Will be used as my live amp w/o backup.

N/A ... amp arrived in perfect condition.

I looked at the Marshall TSL 2000, Mesa Boogie F-50 (both head and combo), Carvin Legacy, Marshall JCM 900, and a Classic 50 by Ampeg*(*I belive...this was the worst..that much I rememer) Of all those amps I'd say that the Carvin MTS 3200 is closest to the Mesa Boogie F-50 in sound...but for more than $400 less. I'd definately recommend this amp to anyone without hesitation. Tubes are where it's at and this head represents the most bang for the buck.

The amp features are nice, I like the fact that there is no Master Volume knob, and the tube clipping from 50w to 100w for those late night practices. The amp plays all styles that I go from, from classic rock, to 80's metal and Nu Metal. Some people don't like the 2 channels on the face, but why do you need more than that? Both are easily switchable by the footpedal. I use this amp around my house and I take it to gigs as my primary...with no back up. But to sum it up, GREAT features!

I'm using a Zakk Wylde Les Paul this this. And that is it. The amp totally is in competition with Mesa and the 5150. My favorite sound setting from this beast : Presence-10, Lead-Treble-9, Lead-Mid-0, Lead-Bass-4, Lead-Gain-10... The amp gives great rock sound, even with stock tubes! Just play around with the EQ, and you can get any kind of sound you want basically!

Since I bought it, its been my primary.

Buy this amplifier! If you want that pissed off sound, or clean peaceful sound, or anything in between, you can get it with this amp!

Features are good. Amp is sturdy and well built. Knobs are heavy. Switches are fine. Footswitch works. Options like 50/100watt switching, 6L6 / EL34 capability is nice.

Like everybody says... Clean channel is beautiful. Shoot a preamp through it for overdrive and it sounds good. Dirt channel sucks bigtime. Would have been nice to have 2 clean channels instead... or... of course useable drive. The high EQ is very extreme as it goes from nothing to shrill crappy noise very quickly. I keep it close to zero all the time. Bass and Mid have good shaping qualities.

2 weeks into its use, the high pot started to piss out on the clean channel. Whatever... so what... it was a bad pot. I didn't want to hassle with sending the amp back so Carvin sent me a replacement pot for free and said it wouldn't void my warranty if I installed it myself. It was kind a pain in the ass to do so, but it's done and the amp works fine. It gets very hot which spooks me a bit... but such is the nature of tube amps.

Carvin was very cool when the pot problem arose.

Not sure what year, but it's the 50th anniversary edition. This amp is EXACTLY what I needed and wanted when I got it, and still is after almost a year of owning it. I play guitar driven rock, or heavy alternative I suppose, even though now days that's kind of misleading as a lot of Nu Metal is termed that as well, so I guess think Foo Fighters, Catherine Wheel, Sugar, Therapy?, Swervedriver, etc... and ya get the idea. The crunch channel is perfect for what I need it for, thick, crunchy, and pushing lots of wind so to speak. The clean channel IS cool too, though I've never been a "clean freak", the tone is great, even more then probably what I need.
Of course it has a switch pedal that also controls the reverb ( decent reverb too ), and I wish it also had the option of a bypass for the effects loop, but no biggie, I'm not much of an effects guy anyways, just the straight amp sound with a chorus, delay, etc. is pretty much what I like. There's no headphone jack, BUT, a cool feature is the direct line out that's 'cabinet voiced', which is great for house sound at a gig, or even for recording. I use this amp at practice, for shows, recording, and to annoy my neighbors! This amp is plenty loud enough, I rarely get up past 3 and usually it's cutting through with the band at 2, so it rocks. I give this amp a 9 with the only drawback for me being the deal with the effects loop, if ya had the option of a bypass, then it'd be a 10. And no, I'm not concerned about a danged master volume knob, I find those annoying, and prefer my channels as they are, with individual volume control.

I'm mainly using an Epiphone Les Paul Standrard, along with a couple other Epi's ( which in my opinion, are, when made right, better then the modern Gibsons ), with the stock pickups, which I got lucky with, cause Epi pickups can sometimes be a crapshoot, but these rock. The amp suits my style just fine, whether it's the ol' quiet/clean thing, or the straight ahead rock tunes. The amp is pretty quiet, not a lot of hum, even around them pesky florescent ( think I spelled that right ) lights, & not even radio signals when doing shows round here, where there seems to be a lot of radio towers near the part of the city where a lot of clubs are as well, go figure.
Ok, to sum up what this amp is and isn't I'll put it like this.... The clean channel is great, even at loud volumes. The crunch channel goes from almost clean to waaaay heavy, depending on the gain setting, I keep mine at around 7. And to give an example, here's a bit of history. I had a Marshall 50w jcm800, which I had wanted for years! And finally got one, a mid 80's model in fact, which is what everyone I know considered to be the poop. Well, it was ok, but not THE rock monster that I'd been lead to believe it to be, it didn't have the balls I needed for the music, and was limited with just one channel. So after owning it for about a year or so I went looking for something else. Around this time the main lead player for my band got a Carvin Legacy, which I was greatly impressed with, and also around this time I happened upon the mts3200 in a shop used, so I did a straight across the counter swap and I be a happy man today! And just for the record, everyone that heard the Marshall all thought it was what a Marshall was supposed to sound like and thought I was a fool for doing the trade, until hearing the Carvin, then they shut up lol. So mark it down to personal taste, as I can get a sound quite similar to the jcm800 but go way past it as well ( and I keep it in the 50 w setting as opposed to the 100 w because that's all I need out of it ).

It's very dependable, and I HAVE used it without a backup before, even though I know that's not the best idea, the amp's given me no reason to worry.

I haven't dealt with them as of yet, but my friend has, and they were great according to him.

I'been playing for about 20 years or so, granted, a lot of that time was playing bass, but always playing guitar as well, I just got tired of playing with guitarists that have that horrid thin, overly bright sound, and decided to do it myself, pushing some low end while running through an old Acoustic 4x12 with plain ol' emminance ( hope I spelled that right as well ) speakers. I also own a Crate djx112 as a practice amp/backup if hard pressed, and a Korg toneworks ax1. I would replace this amp without a second thought if it were to be lost, stolen, destroyed, etc..., then hunt down and seriously hurt the person who caused the loss. I love this amp beacuse it's what an amp should be, no hassles and 300 knobs to fart with, and like other reviews have said, it takes a little time to dial in "your" sound, but once ya have it, BUTTUH! The only reason for the 9 again, to recap, is for the effects loop prob, but it's pretty minor really, so I dig it baby yeah! And yes I'm a goof, but it's better then reading a stiff, boring, or worse, grumpy review. Slainte.