Carvin MTS3200

Good standard features. One gain, one master volume, plus the usual volume, treble, bass, and presence controls on a 2-channel amp

I gave an earlier review whose specifics I would like to clarify. The amp sounds fine, although it is somewhat low-gain. In order to solve this, I use an attenuator, and suggested that all 3200 users do the same. But folks, be very careful using it or you can damage the power tubes.

In most amps you have two controls: the gain, affecting the pre-amp tubes. The other is the overall volume control, affecting the larger power tubes. Different companies label them differently, like "Distortion"' or "Master Volume", but they both accomplish the same things. By setting the gain up and the volume down, you can have lots of distortion in low-wattage situations, like a small club or bar. But since the 3200 is so low-gain, but powerful, it needs a second level of gain in order to get it to sound a bit more modern and responsive, yet quieter and controlable. The attenuator does this by putting a dummy load between amp and speaker, allowing you to crank up the volume control to add an additional soak of the power tubes.

What I meant to say before in my previous critique was that you need to be careful not to set the overall volume of the AMP above about 6 or 7 tops, or you could be sucking your power tubes dry, and they'll blow early. Once you've plugged in the attenuator, the knobs on it become your overall volume controls, and you can adjust them anywhere, according to taste.

The use of an attenuator is common among bands who need the flexibility of turning down or up, depending upon the venue's acoustics, using the same amplifier for both bars and stadiums, and/or have a low-gain amp, like the 3200. Of course, if you have a decent P.A., you can mike any size amp and get it to sound like a stack, so there are different ways to do it. This is mine. Again, BE CAREFUL!

Built like a tank

Ups and downs. Overall, ok....

Ok, for what it is. It works, and sounds good.

Standard tone controls plus one master volume control. Versatile enough.

I set the distortion on 7 to 8, but it does get fuzzy as it goes up. I can make it sound ok with the controls, very mid-heavy, but it doesn't have much in the way of gain. It needs a second volume control, like an attenuator. Get a hot plate or something similar, and watch this amp come to life! Don't set it too high or you'll squeeze too much juice and blow your power tubes. I put it on about 6 or 7, but no higher. With this set-up you'll match up to most other amps in terms of gain--very responsive, finally, and the attenuator allows you to calm the beast down for lower volume levels. Of course, a hot plate will set you back about $400.00. So much for saving money....

Built like a tank.

I've had an up-and-down relationship with Carvin support over the last 30+ years, but as long as you don't ask too much of them, they're ok. I'm sorry, but there is a certain level of dysfunction among the staff.

As long as you use the attenuator, the amp will do pretty much whatever you ask of it. I have yet to see a Carvin mainstream amp that didn't need to be tweaked, added to, or modified in some way to get it to do what I want. Nearly every stock Carvin guitar amp has a sort of signature mid-range tone--ok for tweeds in a blues bar, but not so great for serious concert work. I wouldn't pay over $300.00 for one, and for that price, there are new amps out there that are way more versatile (Believe it or not, my Behringer 2x12 combo amp sounds way better for less than $300.00, but it has its drawbacks, as well).

Not sure the year this was made... Two channel (clean and lead) all tube amp (a total of 5 12AX7 preamp tubes and 4 5881 power tubes), independent EQ for each channel, reverb, presence, switchable effects loop.

Instantly sold on the sound. The clean channel is fat, responsive, and three dimensional. Takes pedals well, but it's a little bit less forgiving on distortion pedals than my solid state amp was... in other words, switching to this amp was like a magnifying glass on my pedal chain... and poorly dialed in sounds on the pedals will be easier to spot than with a cheaper amp. A couple of minutes of tweaking later, and I was in business. Great sounds out of the clean channel, and the EQ is very well designed and more effective than other guitar amp EQs. By that I mean that it's more than subtle, but in a good way. Also, the Mid control is centered on the right frequency for heavy roack. It does a lot more than just cut or add honk. Very impressed with the tonal qualities of the EQ. Also tons of clean headroom on this amp, even with hot pickups (Duncan Customs). Loud? Yes, loud.

The lead channel is surprisingly good. This amps lead channel uses clipping diodes to introduce gain, as opposed to more tube designs that rely only on tubes for overdrive and distortion. Seeing as I regularly use clipping diodes in my signal path (distortion and overdrive pedals) this was no big deal to me. Fortunately, this amp exceeded my expectations in the gain department. Massive heavy rock gain. For those people who claim this amp to be too fizzy, it's all about the presence control. With the presence at 12 o'clock, yes it starts to get on the harsher side. But tone it down to about 10-11 o'clock, and you get a powerful roar that I was not expecting. If you need more gain than this, an overdrive pedal between the guitar and the amp will get you there. It will get buzzy with the volume low, but you gotta crank it to smooth it out. That goes for most tube amps anyway. The lead channel does have a ton of low end, but this can be tamed quickly with the EQ. Those who have given this a bad rating because of poor sound must have gotten a bad apple or had bad tubes. Because I'm getting nothing but goodness out of this thing.

I would gig without a backup, but then again I just got it.

Not yet. Hopefully won't have to.

Overall, a killer amp for little money. Couldn't ask for more.

Carvin MTS3200 50/100 watt head. All tube two channels amp with one input, two line outs,voiced cabanet for direct to sound card or p.a. and effect loop. It also has 50/100 switch and a bias switch so no need to pay a tech to bias for you.

I " was" useing it with a gibson 335 humbucker. I was looking for a tube amp with power but didnt have the money for anything in the 100 watt range so i got lucky when i bought this on ebay. I all ways thought of carvin as cheesy guitar low end amp company, but this amp suprised me. The clean channel is the super star here. Its not only loud but it has tone to boot! THe amp came with mesa power tubes so it kinda sounds like a mesa/marshell amp. The overdrive is ok for me but if you play metal and just use the amp as your drive i would look else where, but if use a metal zone or any other pedal you can get the sound you want. I play alternative rock and punk and this amp works great for me.

Like with any tube amp you have to handle with care, And you never really know when a tube will go out on you. So put some new tubes in it and you wont have to worry about it for a while. Thats the stuff you have to put up with to get that tube sound!

N/A

I sold this amp 4 or 5 months ago and im writing this review now so that should tell you i miss it :( Its a good amp I bought mine for 450 with the cab but like i said i got lucky. I sold just the head for 325. If i where buying this amp head again i wouldnt pay over 350 for it. if i was buying the head and the cab nothing over 500.

The features can be looked up on the Carvin web site.

I mostly play 80s metal. I have had this amp a few years, and I am doing my final review. Overall, I have not been very happy with this amp. When I set the knobs two 12 as a reference point it is just not a very good sound. As a standard rock amp, it might work, but as a metal amp it just won't get it done. At 5, the drive is a nice rock drive, but the trouble comes when you move the drive. past 7. In order to get a good metal drive, it must be set at least 8. If the drive is set past 7 this amp gets a terrible hum. It is basically useless after about 7. I already put new preamp tubes in it. Secondly, the sound of the amp is more of a fizzy type of distortion. I prefer a more throaty growl. The other guitarist in the band uses a Eganator Rebel 20, and it definatey outshines the 3200. The clean tone is great.

Pretty good except for that darn humming afte drive is set past 7.

1. Good for 70,s rock, not metal.
2. Fizzy style distortion, needs more growl and bite.
3. Horrible hum after drive is set past 7.
4. Beautiful Cleans
5. This amp is loud but does not really cut through when playing with a band.
6. Softer overdrive rythms ok, but no good lead tone; doesn't sing and scream.
7.Notice how many people instantly change to the EL34s. This could be an indicator that people do not like the amp's tone out of the box and are trying to find ways to make it sound good.
8. I really wanted to love this amp. I think Carvin guitars are absoulely aweseome.

I have a 2006 model and play mostly rock and indie. Two channels, footswitch selectable. The two features that sold me on it were a) 100/50 watts selectable and b) the ability to use 6l6s or EL34s. I don't use the effects loop, but it does take pedals very well.

I mainly play a Gibson SG Firebrand, but have played a variety of Teles through it. And I run it into a custom 1x10/1x12 cab, with an Eminence Ramrod and Eminence The Governor.

Clean Channel: Enough can't be said about the clean channel, loads of headroom with power to spare. It takes every pedal I plug into it and just sounds amazing. Delays, overdrives, chorus, phase, always sounds exactly the way I want it to.

Dist. Channel: I like the dist. channel on this amp, with my set-up. With the gain set between 4 and 5, I get a nice driving dist., great for rhythm or lead. It does get a bit noisy with a treble booster in front though.

This amp has been around quite a bit. Never had a problem with it, and have gigged countless times since I got.

I've only dealt with Carvin once. Emailed them to get all the info on this amp I could and they were nice enough to send me the manual in pdf form, even sent me a link to download the schematic.

I've had my amp for the better part of 2 years now and would def replace it if stolen, broken, or lost (even though they're discontinued now).

Bought the amp about four years ago on Ebay. Had a severe problem that can only be described as microphonic crackling that came intermittently on and off with use. Even after changing tubes (GTs 6L6 and AX7) the problem remained. Tried EL34s also, but same problem. So the amp basically sat in my closet for years. Recently a friend of mine borrowed the amp and resoldered the input plug. Voila - problem gone! So I can finally start playing the amp. Many reviewers have noticed the shoddy wiring on these Carvins. Just resolder some joints.

2 Channels - clean and distortion, effects loop. 100 watt tube head through a Cavin 4x12 at 16 ohms (wish the cab were 8 ohms).

The clean channel is phenomenal and versatile. Takes pedals well. You can use it solely on the clean channel with distortion pedals and get a great sounding amp. A TC Electronic G-Major on the effects loop sounds awesome. Loads of head room here and can get really loud without distorting. The spring reverb sounds great on this channel. I have a 73 Fender twin silverface to compare and must say it is a different sound. Not as trebly and widely diffused as the twin. Probably on account of the closed back cab also. Overall, I'd give the clean channel a 9.

The distortion channel is serviceable. It's not as loud as I sometimes need (when playing in a band with other 100 watters). It can sometimes get drowned in loud bands. The distortion channel is way too bassy. Sounds nice at low volumes (under 3), but gets really muddy and unclear at higher settings. Roll the bass off under 2 at higher settings and you'll cut through much better. From there, playing around with the controls, you can get a range of dark to trebly sounds. Pedals make the distortion channel noisy, so be aware. The Tube Screamer can give an extra lift to solos even if it gets a bit noisy. It a decent enough distortion channel, but I sometimes prefer pedals on the clean channel to get the sound I'm looking for. This gets a 6.

Since resoldering the joints, the amp is very reliable. I haven't had a single issue with microphonic crackling anymore. Played in band practice and jam sessions and it sounds pretty nice. Keep in mind, my band is serious about dynamics and spacing of instruments, so we don't play at extremely loud volumes. This helps the amp cut through with the proper setup. If you're in a loud band, you'll probably get lost in the mix. The circuit board and wiring are shoddy and you can end up getting an amp with major problems. If changing tubes doesn't solve that, trace some of the soldering and it may fix the problem. Without the wiring issues, overall, it is very sturdy and built like a tank. Should last a long time. It's a 5 because of the shoddy wiring.

n/a

Fender American Strat with Lace Holy Grail single coils. Pedal board has a Morley wah, Ibanez tube screamer, Boss distortion (the cheap orange one), Boss EQ, Boss Chorus, and Ibanize analog delay. G-Major on effects loop. I play everything, jazz, fusion, classic rock, worship...

I've been playing some thirty years. Mostly single coil Strats, PRS and Gibsons. ES-333 sounds awesome on this amp. For the price I paid on Ebay this is a tremendous value (so long as you can fix it and set it up properly). The clean channel is phenomenal. The distortion channel is useable. Just wish the EQ had been set up different. Don't get me wrong, at low volumes, it works just fine, but way too much balsy, muddy bass at higher volumes. The bass rolloff (around 1-2) is finnicky, but once set up nicely, you can get a very good sound.

Not sure when this one was made, I bought it used and the guy before me had it for a couple of years. The amp is pretty versatile, not as much as a 3 channel head, but for metal, this is all I need. 2 channels, switchable with a button or footswitch, effects loop, reverb, you dont need to hear all this again. I wish is had a separate reverb for each channel. I use everything this amp offers. It really is great for what I need. I mostly use this thing in my apartment, but I also use it to jam with friends. Certainly has way more power than I will ever need.

I am using this amp with a see thru grey Ibanez SZ720FM with a set of Seymour Duncan Dave Mustaine active livewires, and of course, a Boss NS-2 running through the effects loop. Running it through an Avatar 4x12 with eminence legends. I changed out the tubes as soon as I got it for a full set of high gain JJ's from eurotubes. This thing is a beast. It really does sound amazing. The sound I am going for is similar to Killswitch Engage and All That Remains. This amp nails it. Gets really tight on the OD channel. The clean channel is literally the nicest clean I have ever heard with the most headroom I have ever seen. Since you can pick this thing up cheap used on the bay, its worth it just for the clean channel. You really have to crank it to get slightly dirty overdrive on the clean channel, so if that is what you are after, but you dont need that volume, I would say go with something else. I dont use the reverb that much, but it sounds really nice, especially on the clean channel. The louder you crank it, the better it sounds. I did some test recordings with the volume on 1, because thats as loud as I can play without getting in trouble from the neighbors and my girlfriend, but take it somewhere else and crank it up loud, loud, loud, and BAM its even better...which is hard to believe in the first place. Excellent lead channel for metal. Can even get some nice lower gain, classic rockish tones...but I dont play that very often. Responds well to pick attack and rolling off the volume cleans it up nice. Gives you different tones with different guitars and different pickups. Sounds good at low volumes, but really shines when cranked. All in all, this amp is pretty damn good for the 350 I spent on it. Actually its really damn good for the 350 I spent on it.

I would take this on a gig without a backup. Carvin makes some tough stuff. My cousin has had come PA speakers from them that have taken a beating. They are at least 10 years old. Amazing stuff there. I would trust this thing without a backup, but I would probably take one anyway.

Talked to Carvin once when I ordered a new footswitch. They were pretty cool. Took them freaking forever to ship the footswitch though.

I have been playing for about 11 years. I have owned tons of gear, nothing super fancy. I Love this amp. The only 2, maybe 3, amps that I would choose over this are a Carvin V3, Peavey JSX (I am not even sure about the JSX over this one, now that I have had this baby), and a Mako MAK4, which doesnt even exist to the public yet. For 350, I would certainly replace this if it was stolen. I was ticked because I saw one go for 265 the week after I bought this one. Maybe I should have waited, but whatever...this is definitely worth it. I love everything about it, minus the global reverb. I do wish it had a master volume too. Would be a nice feature, but the V3 has one. I wish I would have heard about this before I bought my Crate Blue Voodoo 4 years ago. I bought that stack for 600 bucks. I got this head for 350, and I found the cab at guitar center. They sold me the cab and a Peavey XXL head for 400 dollars. I sold the head on the bay for 400...basically got this kick ass Avatar cab for free. Cheapest tube stack I have ever seen and it sounds absolutely amazing. Compared to the Crate, which was in a similar price range, this thing completely levels the crate. Its lighter and I would trust it more as well. Features are pretty comparable, other than the wattage switch and the option for different tubes on the Carvin. I was looking to get back into tube amps from a samson power amp with an effects pedal, and this was the cheapest one I saw. It had good reviews, I talked to some people on the Carvin forum, then I decided on this. I cant afford a Mako or a JSX, so this seemed like a good choice...I was right...it certainly was.

I bought this amp in 2007. Features are 2 channel (clean, distortion), and the others listed on this page. There is an effects loop, and a footswitch is an option but must be bought separately. 100W tube amp for a pretty low price, so you can't argue with that. The channel switching is very loud; chalk it up to the wiring issues I've seen highlighted by negative reviews of the amp. I hear a loud "bang" when I change channels either manually or with the footswitch. There is reverb and it's decent. The EQ is good, and I don't have anything bad to say about it. Very basic setup, but the channel switching is **** because of the very audible sound it makes.

I don't know who "Steve" is, but he's obviously just an idiot and is probably trying to bash Carvin by giving everything a 1. Go run a Crate with a Metal Zone through it if you want a bunch of distortion and no tone. Anyway, the clean sound on this amp is very good. Crystalline even. It doesn't break up until you jack up the volume past 7, and that's even with a Les Paul. Great stuff if you use single coil guitars or wish to have great, clean, clear projection. It also doesn't get in the way of a distortion pedal. The clean channel is kind of a blank pallet really, so you can do what you want to it to get good tones. The distortion channel though is a tad tinny and trebly for my tastes. 80s rock distortion comes to mind whenever I use it. Thus I use a distortion pedal (VS Jekyll and Hyde) for my dirty tones.

I haven't used the Carvin very heavily to rate its dependability. Based on that loud channel switch sound, I should have it looked at by a tech to fix that problem. I'm gonna have the tubes switched out due to regular maintenance, and because like most reviewers here I feel it would help a lot. Who knows what'll happen if I start using it more often.

Haven't dealt with Carvin's customer service. Heard they are good, and I've heard those who didn't have such luck. Based on friends who've owned Carvin gear, I'm leaning on the side of good. I can't rule out idiocy on the part of the customer, as most musicians are really, really dumb.

I've been playing for 14 years. I play rock, metal, and whatever. I like the Carvin because it was a cheap tube amp. I also wanted to try a Carvin product and see what they were like. It's not bad really, but I would like to have either the Peavey Valveking or Mesa/Boogie Stiletto.

Clean channel, distortion channel, reverb, presence, EQ for each channel, etc. Effects loop, power switch (50 or 100 watts), 5 preamp tubes, 4 power amp tubes. The amp is not at all versatile enough for me because it doesn't distort much at all. I can get more distortion out of a pedal!

This thing barely has any distortion at all. I can get more distortion out of the average pedal. I actually retubed it thinking that the tubes were old but alas same conclusion just a really crappy amp. To add insult to injury the clean channel doesn't even have that much shimmer to it. Sometimes ppl love amps that can only do 1 thing well like a good clean channel but this thing can't do anything well at all! Plus it's a 50th anniversary model. You would think that they would do something special for that but alas it's a dud. It was terrible. I had to return it immediately!

I've had numerous problems with Carvin products so I would think it wouldn't have been reliable at all if I didn't return it. I had a Carvin guitar fall from a guitar stand to the floor. Not a big fall at all and not with much force. The headstock came off and shot right across the room! Carvin wouldn't help me with that at all. They just told me to throw it in the garbage! Then I had a mini pa from them die on me after only 2.5 years of seldom use! Plus they don't play ball like local repair people. They'll never ship anyone a part because they want all the repair work themselves. So imagine you have a crappy product die on you and then they want a flat fee no matter how small the problem and you have to eat shipping time and costs to and from CA. Do yourself a big favor and avoid Carvin!

They never deal with local repair ppl and they want all the repair work for themselves. When my guitar cracked in half they told me to throw it away. These guys are horrible!

Hardly any distortion at all and a clean channel without much sparkle at all. All in all it was as useless as a solid state amp from the 80's.

Here's a nice 100 watt tube amp for mid to pro level players. It can do a wide variety of sounds with minor tweaking. Mine came retubed with Groove Tubes. I like the 5881's, have yet to try it with EL34's. Two channels, clean and scream. Effects loop. Onboard reverb is kind of neat, different from most spring reverbs I've heard and is Carvins own creation I have heard. It is a loud one, lots of power and you can drop to 50 watts if you want but only decreases the DB level by 3!! That's right, and if you know anything about wattage to decibel ratios it makes total sense, but the people who say when you switch to half power it is half as loud are not really understanding that concept. Anyway, this ain't electronics or physics class, it is music and this thing can be pretty musical.

Sounds are very good. Cleans are very clean, very little breakup at high volume on the clean channel. Overdrive channel is a lot of fun, the best place to start is turn the master all the way up and bring the preamp volume up SLOWLY!! The grind at the lower end is pretty Marshall like, sort of like a plexi in a way. I say LIKE because I have a couple nice older Marshalls and that sound is very evasive in other amps. This can get close and that is what Carvin does best, covers bases. The more you bring the volume up the gainier it gets, and I really like the gain at about 3 o'clock-Recto time! Sustains like a mother, hope your pickups are potted or you will be treated to bad feedback as opposed to good. Can get grainy but is great anyway, just sit back, palm mute and chug along to the metal hits!! Fun abounds in this amp. The lead channel is not as loud as the clean though, that seems odd. That's okay though, lots of volume/headroom to work with. Wish the effects loop had a level select like my Marshall 6100LM though, it is nice to run pedal effects through the loop without distorting the input level. This amp sounds great, gotta say it. I can't quit playing it!

I had a 3200 I bought from someone who forced the power tubes in without lining up the pin guides! Fried a few resistors was all. My tech replaced them and voila! Fired right back up!! That is impressive! That one got sold a while back. I found this in the used section of our local Guitar center, in new condition with a new set of GT tubes in it. Got it for $190, no kidding!!! Thanks Nate, I thought I would ebay it but have had so much fun playing it I am keeping this one!!

Carvin are decent people. They have to make money as well though, so cut them some slack. They try to take care of their customers, and do a very good job. How long have they been in business??? LONG time!!

I have everything a player could want-vintage Marshall, Fender, HIWATT, you name it. Every guitar group covered as well. Sometimes you come across one you really have fun with, and that is why I play music. It doesn't grind like my plexi does, but it is close and does high gain sounds really well. Great rock and roll amp with the capability of playing any other musical style. Love everything but the looks of it, that powder coated white chassis is just not right.

First off I'm guitarist of 26 years! I bought this used as backup for the guitarist in my blues band which I play bass in, I changed the tube to matched set of EL34's and re-bias the amp, only mode I did was change the LED on the clean channel to yellow!
other wise it has the same features as the rest...

The clean channel is clean smooth very versatile; the drive channel is good but was designed for metal hard core! Over kill!!
<p>
I was using Ampeg SVT-3Pro head but wanted that Ampeg SVT classic all tube tone, for the heck of it I tried my Fender USA bass with EMG J-bass pickups pluged into the MTS3200 running into my Ampeg 4x10 BXT cabinet WOW!!!, I also tried it through my cheap BSE4x10 and did it come alive!!!<p>
Yes it's only 100 watts RMS all tube amp but compared to my 450 watt @ 4ohms SVT-3pro it just blew it away!

time will tell!

great people very helpful

I have owned more equipment then I can list over the years and carvin is no better or worst then the rest as every manufacture has there good bad and ugly. I have carvin PA mains TR1502 ad the are fantastic I also had RL600 bass head which sorry carvin but lack tone as it had it's own sound which is good for originals but not for cover band as you will lacking the tone needed. Sorry but Ampeg bass amps such as V4b and SVT classic to name few are the driving tone that made history! and yes the MTS3200 guitar tube amp used as bass amp head can reproduce that tone! Now if Carvin would get in the running with Traynor who makes 200 watt all tube bass amp head, and produce 200 or 300 watt all tube bass head using some of the MTS3200 circuitry and make the tone stack suited for bass they would be ahead of the game.

great features as listed by others!

Tone is versatile and as any amp head it also depends on the cabinet you play it through not all amp heads or cabinet sound the same???through Marshall with V-30 sounds great through Marshall with seventy 80???s not so great??

still going just changs your tube as needed...

very nice people!

just all out great sounding and well built amp!

The features on this head have been goe over a million times. No need to do it again

I own several heads. 3 Marshalls and a 5150. Picked this head up from a friend for 300.00. I tried to talk him out of it but he has his heart set on a 5150 lol. This is a 50th anniversary edition and already has good Russian EL34's installed. The clean as mentioned by everyone else is amazing rivaling my Twin. The dirty is mean but I back it down a tad to sound more Marshallesqe on steriods. Absolutely love this head. Would ad will take it on a gig

Only owned it for a day but my friend got trouble free service out of it.

Never needed them.

I have been playing for 28 years in numerous cover and original bands. I already mentioned most of the amps. I own several more along with about 18 guitars. I would prolly by it again if one crossed my path. A lead boost would be nice.

dual channels with seperate EQ, footswitchable channels and reverb.also has effects loop. USA Made,more power than I'll ever use

Clean is to my ears as good as, Maybe Better than fender. Overdrive will go from mild breakup to all out metal. I sold my JCM 900 for this and still prefer it. The JCM wouldn't give me the sparkling, punchy clean that the MTS does. I play in s christian southern rock style band and in the worship band at my church,therefore I need versatility as the worship tends to be less intense. this amp covers both bases well. If you get one be sure to get the British series speakers, they are carvins best. check out the reviews.

Never had a problem. some other reviews have complained about sound quality, but some of them bought used amps, maybe off EBAY. and the tubes may have been changed. You start messing around like that then its no wonder that you have trouble. They come stock with 5881's although it does have a bias switch to use others.I gig my equipment but I also baby it.

OK this is the only downside to owning any Carvin..If it breaks then your gonna be out shipping to California. they dont have any local repair centers. still I'm ok with it. My AG 100D messed up once and they had it for about a month. they were very friendly and courteous

playing 36 years. ownlots of gear.definatly would replace Usa made all tube amp for around $700 what a deal

The features have been noted before. The footswitch was optional, which I purchased. This is a basic amp that doesn't have too much to it. 1 channel is clean and the other one is dirty. The Presence control on the clean channel is nice, but that'll be covered in the Sound Quality section. Compared to most modern tube amps with 3-4 channels with multiple settings on each channel, not to mention features like individual EQ's, reverb, presence and so on for those channels, the Carvin is simple on a 2nd grade level. That's one of the reasons why I bought it. I didn't need much more than just 2 channels, and so that's what I got. The only feature that sucked was the footswitch. It's noisy and there is a very loud pop when going from one channel to the next. Very bad.

The clean channel is very crystalline and sparkly. Adding presence is actually a little too much for my taste, as I prefer a warmer, rounder tone. But if you must have absolute clarity for your notes the Carvin delivers on the clean side of this amp. Add a Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive or any other OD that lets you blend the distortion with the clean channel and you'd have yourself a very articulate set-up. The highs get spiky at worst though, so back off the treble a bit or it will kill you.

That feature carries over to the distortion setting. I found the gain from the amp a little tinny and I had to trim back the treble to about 2 o'clock to rein it in. With an A/B selector to another amp, the Carvin was very noisy at higher gain levels and volumes. I think there are reasons this amp is so inexpensive, and it goes beyond being sold direct and the reported quality of its wiring and insides as stated by other reviewers.

Carvin has started putting Groove Tubes in its amps instead of Sovteks or whatever unknown tube had been in there before, so that is an improvement. The 6L6's give it the more, "American," sound that helps with the clean channel and is probably what makes the distortion channel a little light on the low end. Through a Marshall cab the Carvin beefs up a tad, but through the 2x12 available in the catalogue, which is open-backed, it is very bright. Not being a fan of that tone I started playing with options and found that running the amp into both the Carvin and Marshall cabs created a balance. I also started running a Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde to create distortion. I didn't want to do this as I'd prefer using the amp's gain, but for my taste the Carvin didn't deliver the midrange and bass I desired. On the other hand, that's not to say the tone of the gain channel is bad. Some might like a brighter tone. It's just not my cup of tea.

I've only had the amp for a few weeks. I have no idea what could happen to it other than damage from moving. I don't have a band at the moment so stage abuse isn't a factor currently.

I haven't dealt with Carvin.

I've been playing for 13 years, and the other amps I own are a Peavey Classic 30 and a Marshall MKII with a JCM900 2x12 cabinet. If the Carvin were to be lost I'd probably just save up and get a Mesa Boogie, or possibly a Peavey, or maybe even that new EVH head. I like the simplicity of the amp and its clean channel. It's very easy to operate and that's all I wanted for messing around. The footswitch sucks and the distortion is just okay. If I compared it to other products I'd say the Carvin is up on the level of Crates and some Peaveys. It's a little better than Crate but not as good as the recent Peavey models. It does not compare to what Mesa Boogie has been putting out lately and even Marshall's getting back in gear with some stuff. The Marshall AVT series is about on the level of this amp. If you're serious just save up and get a better amp, but if you don't feel like dropping a lot of cash and want to fuck with a tube amp you can shape with some stompboxes or preamps, then go with the Carvin.

This is a follow up to my earlier review called " What's that noise."
I have to eat some crow. I had originally thought that the amp could not cut through. I replaced the preamp tubes, but it did not make much of a difference. What made the difference was the cab. I usually play thorough a pawn shop peavey, but after plugging it into a brand new mesa cab, holy cow, this thing unleashed. So looks like I have to buy a new cab.

Even though I was able to get it to sound great through a mesa cab, I still had some hum and noise. My friend thought it was normal, but I thought it was a little excessive.

This model was made around 2005, before they came stocked with the groove tubes. 2 channels, and is pretty pretty versatile, compared to a jcm 900. Good for old style metal, but not good for super distortion style metal. The distortion is very smooth, almost like a suped up tube screamer, but does not have much bite.

The clean channel is very good, and will probably reflect the instrument you are playing.

Here, is where the problems start.
The amp has a great distortion, but very bassy, with little or no presence. No matter how I adjust the knobs, the eq does not change much.The reverb only slightly changes, also. Same with the presence knob. I get a decent tone, but do not cut through the mix. Leads get totally swallowed up.The sound just seems stuck in the speakers. I am going to start trying other cabs, but can not afford any right now.I have tried with a cheap epiphone, and a 67 reissue gibson v. The 4x12 is an old peavy with sheffields, that I picked up at a pawn shop.

After very little play, I had to replace a tube because of a very loud glass breaking sound. Now, I have out of control hum. The amp also picks up a staggering amount of noise in my apt. It sounds like a waterfall. At first, I was excited to have a Carvin because their guitars are such high quality, but I am not so sure about their amps.

Carvin support has been great, but the warranty is only a year. If able to, I probably would send this head back.

I have been playing about fifteen years and have had a jcm 900 and a 5150.(Not sure if that amp had original tubes.) This head breaks up alot nicer and the lows are tighter than the 5150. Way more versatile and probably more gain than the 900. At first, I really bragged up this amp, but I am starting to get tired of all these noise and sound issues. At this point in time, I probably would not buy it again if it was stolen.

Can't determine manufacture year. The Carvin MTS 3200 is very versatile. I have read reviews here stating otherwise, in that the user claims to be getting little or no variety when tayloring the amount of distortion with the DRIVE pot. The only thing that i can think of that may cause this, is the use of EL34's in the power section since they have a propensity for being "hot" and high in the mids. I find the eq very responsive and since I use some 5881's in the power section, the DRIVE is very responsive as well. It can go from slight clip to full on saturation and anywhere in between.
Power? It's loud enough for two amps. I play it at 50 watts usually.

THis amp is pretty capable of making any sound I can think up. I really like it. I play this over my '65 Showman, and a Hiwatt head..
It sounds enough like both of those amps if I want them to, plus it has a beautiful and full, long tailed reverb.
The distortion is very sweepable. From just a touch of grit when attacked with gusto, to that heavy metal bottom heavy chunk. It'll do whatever you want it to.
I don't play any certain style of music. I just play whatever I want.
THis amp is versatile enough to cover me whatever tonal or stylistic road I choose to take. I notice some noise when playing single coils. but that is expected.

I just bought it, so I have no idea as to this unit's reliability. But, Carvin has a good reputation for solid engineering, and good builds. I suspect this amp will last a long long time. Feels very sturdy.

I have played for 20 years. I own lots of gear.
If it were lost or stolen, I would buy another. It's a great amp especially for the price. SUpposedly, it lists at around $1100.00, but is available from Carvin at around $700.00.
THat's a deal for what it is capable of. Lots of volume, controls that work very well (eq and presence), Options (choice of bias for EL34's or 6L6/5881, voiced line out, and effects loop).
Nice amp.

This amp was made in 2005. Nice sound on clean, ripping sound on lead channel. Has a good effects loop. I wish I had held of and bought a V3 for the extra versatility, but I can wait another 6 months. I use this amp for practice and gigging...one badass cranker. I have to give it a 10, because it has all the features one would expect from a 2-channel tube amp. Plus reverb...oh yes and a bias switch to go between EL 34's and 6l6's. Very nice.

Snarly distortion that covers most of the rock realm and an excellent shimmering clean tone. I play rock, metal and blues and can pretty much get the sounds I need from this amp. Also it's pretty quiet.

All my guitars are equipped with EMG's, so that may be why I get such excellent distortion from this thing.

Hasn't broken down yet, so far so good.

To Eric down below...you said replace the tubes with EL 34's and re-bias the amp? It has a bias switch on the back! You mentioned that your tubes keep frying...maybe you need to flip the bias switch to match your tubes. That's the ONLY thing I can think of that accounts for you frying tubes in a couple of days.

Nice guys. I haven't had to get any customer support per say, but when I ordered the amp, they were very helpful and professional.

I've been playing for about 25 years. I own too much shit to list. If this amp were stolen, I would buy another since it is so cheap, OR I would spend a few hundred bucks more and get the V3. Either way, I would need to get this sound again.

Same features as described already. Clean channel, distortion channel, reverb, presence, EQ for each channel, etc. Effects loop, power switch (50 or 100 watts), 5 preamp tubes, 4 power amp tubes (EL34 in mine).

Nice features, though I wish it had a master volume. The effects loop works great!

I love the sound and am hugely impressed with the quality of this amp! Mine has EL34 tubes in the power stage, and is still using the factory GT tubes. I have heard that the sound is improved with replacement tubes, but even without having done that I'm impressed.

I am playing a variety of Es-335 & Les Paul guitars with various pickup types. I play either straight into the amp, or with lots of effects depending on the day. I am running the head into a 1960s Fender bassman 2x12 cabinet with new Eminence speakers (Ragin Cajun & Redcoat Patriot).

The clean is the CLEANEST I have heard, beautiful crystal clear bell like tones even when cranked. It outdoes the 1969 Twin Reverb I had, as well as my Hotrod DeVille, Peavey Classic 50 etc.

The distortion channel can produce a variety of tones, and is VERY sensitive to the EQ settings you use. You can drastically change the sound with a tweak of the bass, mid or treble. With full drive it reminds me of the Marshall JCM-900 Jubilee EL34 model amp that I had (but the clean channel on the Carvin is much nicer). Nice saturated distortion with a heavy bass thud when muting the strings. Beautiful sustain and feedback. An Ibanez ts-9 or Boss DS1 with drive turned down works GREAT before the amp for a little boost.

I play music along the lines of: U2, Trail Of Dead, Social Distortion, Interpol, Minus The Bear, etc. This amp is fantastic for any sound I have tried to get out of it.

So far so good.

n/a

I've very impressed. I've regretted selling the JCM900 EL34 amp that I had, and none of the other Fenders, Marshalls or Mesas I played had a sound that I was happy with. This Carvin is just what I've been looking for!

I've been playing since the late 80s. I've owned about 150 guitars, and close to 50 amps including 69 Twin Reverb, Fender Twin, Peavey Classic 30, Classic 50, Marshall JCM900, Hotrod DeVille, Deluxe, Pro-Sonic, Blues Jr, etc. I have played on many, many more as well.

Good features for a Tube amp 2 channels reverb impedance switch etc. very good for price.

Using carvin DC-127 with Dimarzio evolution pups play metal and hard rock suits styles perfectly. only noisy when cranked way up (expected) gates take care of that not a crap load of variety available like a modelling amp or whatever but for what it is I think it could cover just about any style music without sounding bad at all. clean channel has massive amounts of headroom even at highest volumes. Distortion is the Sweetest ive ever heard the only thing i can say is its all in the tubes pres and powers especially pre tubes for distortion this amp gives a very clear and true tube tone.

1998 model never had a single problem changed tubes in the power section once to E34l's and liked them a bit better although i think the 6l6 sound is a bit more suited for metal rhythm especially when cranked up loud. The 34's sing when playing leads really nice.

only dealt with them on the phone with questions about other products seem very kind and knowledgeable though.

been playing for 16 years own a peavey transtube 2x12 with built in effects and a schecter diamond series gutiar, would definitely but it or a Legacy or V3 if it died or got stolen or lost. Carvin really rocks never seen or heard anything buy them that looked or sounded bad.

Made in 2000, 50/100 watt 2 channel tube amplifier.

I've owned this amp for almost 6 years now, and it still amazes me with the amount of features for the price of this amp. It has 2 channels-clean and lead, effects loop, external bias switch (to choose between using 6L6GC/5881 or EL34 tubes), footswitch, 2 speaker outs, reverb, and a switch that changes the amp from 50 watts (using 2 of the power tubes) to 100 watts (using 4of the power tubes).

I'm playing a Fender Custom Tele with 2 DiMarzio humbuckers.

I'm gonna start from the top...

Clean channel - the best clean tone I've heard from an amp that costs less than $2000! I'm serious I bought this amp in 2000 when i was in 8th grade, and I still use it on every recording I do for clean tone. the clean channel has bass, mid, treble, and volume controls, and also has a presence switch that makes the clean sound brighter. The channel has very little breakup even at high volumes, and the eq on this channel is very sensitive, allowing you to customize your tone to however you like.

Lead channel - here's my only beef with this amp....basically you'd buy this amp for the clean tone. Don't get me wrong, the distortion channel sounds really good ESPECIALLY for an amp in this price range, but it just lacks personality in my opinion...just kinda boring sounding-lacks any brightness. The eq on this channel isn't sensitive at all, the distortion basically sounds about the same no matter where you put the knobs. A plus to this channel is that it has VERY little hiss, even for a high gain amp. Again, for the price, it CAN'T be beat!

I'm giving it an 8, because of the distortion tone. Still a very good amp, but the distortion just could be better.

Now this is the best part of the amp in my opinion...THIS THING IS A FREEKIN TANK!!!!! I've had it for 6 years now, its been on 2 us tours, and played many MANY shows, been tossed around, jossled in a trailer, dropped....AND IT STILL WORKS THE SAME AS THE DAY I BOUGHT IT!!!! If there was a higher score than 10 for the reliability of this beast, i'd give it a 12309498!

The customer support has always been very kind and returned my inquiries in a timely manner.

I've been playing guitar for almost 9 years now, I've owned countless heads, but I've always had the Carvin...it was my first head, and I'll never sell it! If it were stolen, I probably wouldn't buy another one, just because I have a Framus now, but I'd be pretty pissed. I'm gonna give it a 10 even with the mediocre distortion just because, at the incredibly, rediculously low price, you won't find a better amp...PERIOD!

A lot. See the features in other reviews.

The clean channel is the best i've heard!
The distortion channel is killer!
Man, I love this amp!
I just plug my Ibanez and play...
Sounds good with Les Pauls too.
The tone of the MTS 3200 is warm, smooth and has rich harmonics, it brings out the best of any guitar.
This amp is pretty noiseless, no hum or hiss.

I use a few boss pedals (a DS-1, hehe).
The reverb is a very good reverb.

Reliable? Totally, if take good care of it
No problems in 3 years.
It's a tank.

I don't know. Who cares? I don't live in U.S.A.

I've been playing for 10 years, and I've owned a Peavey 5150, and a Marshall JCM 2000. I've found this amp beats em' all.

This is a 100W monster.
I suggest you have a practice amp as well and use this for gigging and for practicing once in a while not every day.

Did i mention it is good value for money?

Brand new 06, This is my 3rd 3200 and I love them. I spent days trying to justify buying a new amp. I played boogies,kranks and marshalls and overall I just love the way this amp sings and grinds. The el-34 s sound better on the distortion channel but the 5881's are the best for clean. I wish the front was vented from the factory for better airflow but I modd my own. I play at home alot in a big jam room so its perfect.

I build my own guitars and worked at warmoth for awhile so strats and prs type of stuff. They all sound good on this amp. Clean is awsome, the distortion is sweet sounding and can get brutel. I use a 2x12 with v30 and a Marshall 1960a with 75 watters in it. Both sound great. Once again I love this amp and I just sent back a DSL 50 Marshall because it sounded thin cranked and the footswtch when going from clean to dirty dropped off the volume right when I needed it or it clicked and I cant tolerate that, thats crate stuff but my old JCM 800 is still god to me but they are hard to find and most are all chopped up from hacks.

NEVER HAD A SINGLE ISSUE WITH ANY OF THEM.

Never needed them

Been playing for 22 years. I own a Krank rev 1,Marshall JCM 800 and lots of guitars and 2 other Carvin mts3200 with different tubes and one has the voodoo mod. Not needed though. I bought the Carvin because way back I was being crusified by the IRS and was low on money so I bought one and loved it. Some amps take forever to dial in but the Carvin just comes right it. It aint the best at anything but its killer at everything. For the money its so worth it. Even my die hard Marshall freak buddy loved it. He's like that thing is BROWN BRO and he is a complete TONE FREAK. They are cheap off ebay but beware because alot of punks buy these and abuse them and think tube amps and solid state are the same and just mess them up and put tubes in that are not biased properly inn the right range. I know, I bought one off ebay and it had el 34's that were idling at 61 ma, total frizoid man, I set them to spec and the amp sounds killer to this day. The new ones are cheap and sound killer.

This is the 50th anniversary edition of the Carvin MTS3200 head. I play various types of metal and some jazzy stuff when I'm in the mood and this amp can take it all! Has none of that unneeded effects and knobs and you can dial in a tone you love right away.

Wow. This is where amp rules. The cleans are amazingly glassy clear and the distortion just rules. Even with the 6L6's it's amazing. If you're going for a more pure metal sound though, I recommend getting some EL34's and re-bias the amp.

I don't know about this one. I mean I love the amp and all but for some reason the amp kept getting messed up. The stock tubes in there getting going bad within days, and that's something that should never happen. It's happened with my previous head and I got another head in exchange but the problem happened with the tubes again. I don't know if it's the head or maybe Sovtek produced a batch of bad tubes and they happened to go in there.

Exceptionally good. They helped me out with everything, no questions asked. I would definately deal with Carvin again.

Overall, I gave it a 9 because of the reliability problems. I chose this amp because I've always heard such great things about it and when I tried it at NAMM '06, I fell in love with it! This is the first tube head I have ever owned and I can see why everyone loves that clear tube sound. If it was stolen, I would find the guy and destroy him! Nothing will keep me from having this amp. :)

2002 model, pretty straight foward, two channels, 3x eq on each channel. 100 watt model, I only run it on 50, plenty loud enough. Stock 5881's. I like simplicity, this amp is like that. I wish they would come out with a three channel version, I'd give a 10 if it had the third channel, a lead boost channel. Nothing a SD-1 won't take care of, it seems to like the Boss SD-1

I don't know why people aren't kicking down doors to get this head, Carvin got it right with the MTS 3200. Like all said before me, this is one of the best, if not the best clean you are gonna find. I let my Super go on Ebay a couple years back cause the Carvin outcleaned the Fender, hands down. Great reverb, good bass on the clean. Very workable. The distortion channel is great as well, I generally run it between two and four, great classic overdrive ala ACDC, Stones etc. Drive it above four and you pretty much can dial in any metal tone you're after. Very harmonic and responsive to your playing. To my ears this amp works well with the Boss SD-1 for a lead boost, tend to lose a little bottom end with the Boss but its the best matching I've found for a lead boost with the MTS. I use it with a Gibson Les Paul Standard DC with a JB bridge and 59 neck, bootiful. I also use a Gibson Les Paul Special DC with P-90's and a 40th Ann Fender Strat with Lace Sensors. If you can get past the hum of the P90's you can dial in perfect Stones in the 2-3 o clock postion. This head is damned near perfect, if it had a third channel I'd give it a ten. It has pretty good low end thunder as well, but I goose it just a little bit with an MXR Blue Six in the effects loop. Whatever your style, you can make this amp work for you. Someone a few threads back pointed out that this amp will bring your flaws foward and thats very true, it is very articulate and will expose you, especially with the Duncan JB and 59. I guess you get out what you put in. Its as good as anything out there, cept maybe the drake drive early 80's Marshall 2203's, thats tonal heaven. Oh I almost forgot, I use a Marshall 1960a cabinet with the MTS.

Hadn't taken a $%^& yet, I'll give it a ten.

Havent had to deal with them on any issues except getting me the head, hopefully I will never have to.

I've been playing 23 years now, been around and played thru alot of amps, Randalls, Marshalls, Fenders etc. I'm not gonna say its better or worse than any of the others, tone is subjective. I will say it can't be beat for the price, you will find the tone you are looking for with this head whatever your style, and you wont have to drop 2000 for a Mesa to get it.

Great little head... bought it to have as a "knock about" amp and it is turning out to be a real favorite!! My other amps are Marshalls so I liked the idea of 5881's as a change... but soon got sick of the "sloppy" sound so checked in a set of EL34's and WHAM... very Marshall :-) Plenty on features for a real guitarist... clean and dirty... there's more? Can plug into any speaker box, inject any main valves into the head, quiet FX send and return, simple and quick lay-out, solidly built!

My three main gigging guitars are my beloved Ibanez JEM 77FP, Gibson Les Paul Junior Special and an Ibanez Roadstar... I can dial up almost any sound/ style with this amp from jangly clean rhythms to full blown death metal with the big bottom thump. I mainly play blues/ hard rock and this is the "ducks nutz"... Even at extreme volumes it's not noisy and it stays clean all the way up! The distortion can pierce ears at 100 meters!

Although this amp doesn't appear to be as industrial as Marshall amps it still is going... I have absolutely flogged it at a jam with some friend out on a farm where I played bass through it into a 4x10" box where I ran it on "8" for seven hours... and when the 4x10 box crapped out we hooked up a 4x12 box and on it went... this was into the middle of an Australian summer (bloody hot) in a tin shed :-) Then the fatal error of running the impedence @ 4ohms instead of the required 16ohms... it god hot... very hot... but it is still going... being gigged every week end.... that's pretty reliable in my books!

Not very helpful... from the US side when I emailled them and asked about converting a Belaire to 240 volts... and the local blokes had no idea what I was tlking about when I contacted them about the same issue... they couldn't remove a 110 tranformer and replace it with 240 volt version :-) I've worked with amps since the late seventies and they would let me do it so I wouldn't kill myself :-) So no support really!

I've been playing live since 1975... I own Ibanez JEM's, Roadstars (a personal weakness for the upper models) and a Gibson LP Junior Special... I have a series of Marshall 50w combos (jcm800/ 900/ TSL 2000) If it was stolen I'd track the bastard and break his legs. I like this amp because it's a great live amp in any venue, sweet to grind tones, good reverb, LIGHT WEIGHT! (for a 100w head) I picked it up at a Cash Converters secondhand shop for 500 bucks and it has been money very well spent. I use it with a 500w 2x12 JBL AXE box and it can be heard at ALL times :-) All I wanted was a cheap loud amp and picked up a diamond of an amp!

Bought new in 11/2005. I feel this amp is versatile enough for the styles of music I play. I am in a cover band and also an original band.Features are just what I need simple and to the point.I thought that it sounded great right out of the box.

I have a Gibson Les Paul Standard, Carvin SC90 and a Jackoson soloist. I think that they all sound great with this head. I play Rock to hard rock. Nickelback to 80,90's metal.I was blown away by the sound of this amp. I thought that it had the compression of a Mesa Boogie and the tone of a Soldano. I am not saying this amp sounds like them but that the tones I got out of this amp are that good and I didn't have to go broke to get a kick ass amp.

I have only had the amp 3 months no problems yet. I would gig with this amp without a back up.

Any time I have spoken with them they have been friendly and helpful with my questions.

I have been playing guitar since 1986. I own some Boss effect pedals,Morley wah and Ernie ball volume pedal. If it were stolen I would get another one. For the price paid and the tones available from this head it's a great deal. Unless I got lucky with the one I received I would replace it for another one.

2 channels with separate EQs and vols for each. I found the knobs to function just as described in the brochure - the function of the presence knob and button are cool and useful just as designed. The clean channel stays clean all the way up. the drive channel is very versital. Mine was fitted with Mesa 12ax7s and 6L6s prior to my purchase. The 100/50 what switch is usefull. It has all the features a working guitar player needs and non that I don't see me using. Perhaps one nice-to-have-but-not-necessary addition would be a separate effects loop for each channel.

I play 2 Schecter CETs one with singles one with humbuckers - high output versital quality guitars. I play Rock, Blues - Deep Purple to Eric Johnson (well, I try). I had been playing a HR DeVille but was never happy with the clarity and punch. Was looking for a used 65 deluxe but to cheap to purchse. Found this used at GC and even-traded the DeVille. The clean channel could produce the fender sounds I was looking for, and then some. The drive channel gets all kinds of please rock lead tones. I spent 3 hours at the store experiementing with the head and comparing it to others and was never dissapointed. I find it hard to get a sound from the amp that I can't like and be inspired with - at quiet and loud volumes.

Down sides: Compared to the 65 Deluxe (which is what I was doing) The reverb is great, but could be deeper. The bass response on the clean channel is great, but could be deeper. I am happy with both these feature nonetheless, and really only is apparent in side-by-side testing. I have a Vintage JCM800 2203, and it can't quite nail the crisp clean-distortion, but not an issue for me. The distortion can have that clean top-end note definition though. The drive channel can get noisey when drive/volume/presence knobs are pushed - but I think this is what pushed-tubes do and does not degrade the usefulness of the drive channel.

Playing for 35 years. Have a nice but small vintage fender and a vintage marshall. I feel this amp is in the same league as these with its own unique sound and features. I plan for this to be my all-around workhorse amp because of its sound, features and construction. I hesitated getting one of these because I could not physically try one out without ordering it, even though the price was alluring. My chance to check it out at Guitar Center sold me. I love this amp.

This is a 50th Anniversary Edition head which I think came out somewhere between 2001-2003. 50/100w switchable, ohm selector 4/8/16, auto bias switchable EL34 or 6L6, dual channel single input (footswitchable), 2 cab outputs, cabinet voiced direct out, effects loop, footswitch jack. From left to right on front panel:Master Reverb (spring)(footswitchable), Lead 1 presence (unusually useful); then Clean Channel controls: Treble, Mid, Bass, presence push button, volume, channel button; Lead Channel controls:Treble, Mid, Bass, Drive, Volume. This amp has everything a player needs, nothing fancy..just very well thought out and useful.

My main guitar is a Godin LG with Lindy Fralin P90s, TonePro bridge, Sperzel locking tuners and graphite nut. I also play a 77 LP Custom stock and a stock 59 Melody Maker. It is plugged into a 8ohm 4X12 cab with an X pattern of Celestion G12-60/G12-80. I plug straight into the amp.

Once I found the right tube combination for my tastes: Sovtek 6L6WXT quad (these are great tubes..don't let the "Sovtek" fool you) with a full set (5) JJ ECC 83S preamps, I was extremely pleased. Tone is full, creamy, piano like tones that respond extremely well to your pick attack, probably the best response to pick attack I have seen, and felt, in my 40 years of playing. If you've ever felt the sound through your fretboard you know what I mean. This is a very stimulating amp. The clean channel is astoundingly pure and bell like with great push when you attack it. The presence is actually useful and gives a true sparkle to all notes. Fender has nothing on this amp when it comes to clean.
The lead channel..wow. Anyone before me on this database that says this amp has no drive must be seriously challenged. Goes from clean (near the clean channel) to very strong brutal drive that remains totally articulate, you can hear every string tone in a power bar chord. Capable of anything I can throw at it, and just because I'm one of those "old timers" doesn't mean I don't understand or can't play music from this century. This amp will do what you want, whatever that is. Of course you might actually have to play the guitar, if you rely on your amp to cover your inabilities then this isn't the amp for you. It will output the sweetest (or dirtiest) tones you've ever heard but you have input them first.

Also can produce some VERY pleasing blues.

Switching out the preamps with Jan/Philips 12AX7 tubes and an AT7 in the power drive spot (#5) gave a more relaxed type of drive that some people might prefer. I haven't found a quad of EL34 tubes that I like for this amp yet but when I do I'll let you know. They, of course, will give it a more British type of tone. The Sovtek EL34WXT set had a strange overtone that might be a faulty tube and a set of Groove Tubes just didn't do it for me. I'll keep looking.

Hard to say at this point but Carvin makes pretty solid amps. It is very well made.

Don't know

Like I mentioned before. I've been playing a long time. I've owned a lot of amps from Fender, Marshall, Peavey and many others. Mostly vintage tube amps but also some tubeless. This amp compares very well to brown and blackface era Fender amps when it comes to clean, it totally blows them into the weeds with it's drive. The drive is sweeter and can be more brutal than a Marshall tube amp. Hard to describe the difference but it's smoother, creamier and more capable of responding to your picking than either. Understand that I plug straight into the amp and am comparing them in that manner. I would think that a good tubescreamer into the clean channel would be extremely sweet, I just don't own one right now to try it.

This amp is fairly versatile, though it lacks a third (or fourth channel) for the different sounds, but based on its two channels, the uses are infinite. I do wish it also had a master volume control, and also a pair of earplugs to go along with it, but i'll definitely sacrifice those qualaties for an amp that is loud enough for any venue, any situation.

Oh how pretty the sounds are that come through this amp. The stock tubes are not the best, but they will get you some pretty amazing tones. Put some better tubes (JJ's) in and this thing will purr like nothing you've ever heard. Absolutely pure cleans, great, thick blues tone, great rock tone, and metal that will melt your face off. The best I've heard any amp ever is a standard tele in middle pickup position through the clean channel. Makes me want to cry. I play mainly metal, though, with a 7 string ibanez, and believe me, this amp will do metal like you want it to. Personally, i've got it hooked up to a legacy cabinet, and I like the vintage 30's with it a lot. It doesn't sound like any other amp out there, (it sounds better) and it has a character all its own.

This thing has ridden many a time in the trunk of my car, and rattled around with toolboxes, drum hardware, and who knows what else, and it hasn't even got a dent in the covering. The innerds of the amp are like a fortress, too. This baby will take your punishment and love it, though it's always best to take care of your equipment.

Carvin is always very good and prompt in delivery and help. Their online forums are a great place to get advice about your gear.

To give this amp any less than a 10 would be a freakin' shame. I've had mine for about 2 years now, and I wouldn't trade it for anything else. Couple it with an eq pedal for lead boost, and this thing is perfect. Again, I do wish it had a master volume control, but perhaps a THD hot plate would work better anyway. I like this MTS better than any marshall I have ever played, and its versatility puts it above all but the Mesa Road King head, which costs vastly more. For the money, and for the tone, there is no better amp.

super versatile! epiphoneSG korina thru this AMAZING head with 6L6's in it into a marshall 1960 cab with vintage 30's. between neck/bridge pickups and a little tweaking i can get any tone from jazzy clean with good reverb,attack-sensitive crunch,hear-every-note-yet powerful distortion, all the way to balls to the wall metal type distortion.
i like to keep it simple:guitar-cord-head-cab. nothing in between, no noise or hiss,not even fully cranked up. feedback when i want it,otherwise quiter than a mouse. useful 50watt switch. i like the full tone/power better tho.
only feature i wish it had is a master volume.

i play in a punkrock band, no chugchug, mainly good clear distortion, sometimes darker bluesy-QOTSA tones for leads,sometimes crunchy open chords.
i like to play everything tho. i can get into a jazzy chord progression or switch to screaming metal with just a bit of tweaking. this thing does it all,granted that you got a decent guitar and good speakers and,well know how to play. the clean breaks up at higher volumes but then again it's VERY sensitive to how you play, which is key in a good amp. stays clean for arpeggios and then breaks up nicely in a warm creamy crunch tone...
if you're into hardcore-metal tones (not really my thing) you can get those too no problemo, but for MY tone i don't scoop the mids by all means (wouldn't make much sense to have vin30's and then scoop the mids no?) they're actually just as high as the treble and keep the drive between 2.5 and 3. then crank the volume to 10. you gotta hear it.

bought it used, never had any problems yet. it's heavy and sturdy (is that a word?) backup is always nice if it's an option. it's not for me and i don't go to sleep thinkin "what if it dies on me?" i go to sleep with my ears having mutiple orgasms. if you're on tour just bring an extra set of tubes. i give it a 10. it's a tube amp. tubes WILL need replacement but that's no reason to complain.

bought used,so..

been playin guitar for 11 years,piano for 6. this beast has the tone,the volume,the gutshaking tone i had in my head, plus everything else i might want. i have this grin on my face as soon as i plug in, it just makes me happy. when and if i have the $$$ i'll buy a lespaul or a 335, don't need any FX,racks,preamps,screw all that i don't need anything else. screw paying 4 times as much for a name. like i said keep it simple with quality gear. if stolen i'd buy TWO more. try one if you get a chance, i recommend a 4x12 cab with celestion vintage 30's. you won't be disappointed. btw,i'm not payed by carvin, i just happen to be enamored with this damn thing so much i wanted so show some LUV.
talk about value? you just can't beat this.

-50/100 Watt Switch (I personally prefer the 100 watt)
-5 12ax7a Preamp Tubes (Sovtek's Stock)
-4 5881 Power Tubes (Made in China, but are switchable for 6l6GC's and EL34's <--Marshall Tube Amps use the EL34's to the best of my knowledge, but I'm too lazy to google that in.)
-4/8/16 Ohm Speaker Switch (2 Speaker Inputs)
-Footswitch input/Effects Loop (Goofy in my opinion)/Line out
<-Power-->Standby-->Master Reverb-->Lead Presence<-->Treble-->Mid-->Bass-->(Presence Switch for Clean Channel)-->Volume<-(Channel Selector Switch)->Treble-->Mid-->Bass-->Drive-->Volume<-->(Guitar Input)->
I own a 2005 Model of the Carvin MTS3200 Head and am still constantly tweaking knobs in search of a sound that I like for more than 10 minutes. I play a lot of different artists music and am always able to achieve their sound if I play around with the knobs enough, guitar volume/tone, speaker types, my hands. If you know how to manipulate all of your equipment, yes even your hands, then there shouldn't even be a complaint about this amps "versatility", maybe just about your playing ability.

Playing a Gibson Les Paul Junior Special Plus with a 490R in the Neck and '57 Classic Plus in the Bridge. This guitar angers me to no end but I love it nonetheless. Some days we get along and other days I just want to quit play all together. This amp sounds pleasing to my ears especially on the clean channel and this is before I've even changed the tubes. Currently have it mickey moused up to a solidstate Marshall 2x12 cabinet with some sort of celestions--vintage 30's or greenback's but some less known model. The amp still sounds great but the wattage on the speakers is only 25 watts a piece and they're both connected individually so there is a lot of early breakup that annoys me, but that will be fixed when I plug it into my cabinet with Eminence Legend 125's. Cheap speakers but what's the point in paying $100+ for celestions when you can get your own sound through a different less popular brand. I paid $160 and have no complaints besides the fact that I don't even know how good they could sound if they were in a real cabinet rather than one I made myself. I play every style of music that my brain can transfer to my fingers. This amp does fine with it all.

I've only had the amp 2 weeks so I don't know about reliability yet. I hope to rely on it and not have to send it in for repairs. I want to keep it in pristine condition. Might hook up a fan to blow on the tubes to increase air-flow and just cool the electronics down.

Never dealt with them. 1 year warranty. Hope I don't need to use it.

I've been playing for 10 years and hate that gear costs so much damn money. How the hell did Townshend, Clapton, Page, Vaughn, Hendrix get all of their shit. They either bought it cheap as hell back in the 50's, 60's or had it handed down to them. I would do anything to be able to live when all of the great music was being made and just watch some of my favorite bands play and watch them to help learn how to refine my abilities. Unfortunately music today is disappointing to say the least and all I can say is that it's only going to get worse, until it inevitably rises to an extreme high like it was back then. I hope I live long enough for hear the change in people's opinions of what good music is. So overall this amp is going to be my tool to try to recreate music that is soulful and moving like it used to be.

I bought this one off ebay its a 2001 model, However it is my 2nd one that Ive owned the 1st was new in 2000. I got the bright Idea that I always wanted a Marshall, so I sold my carvin and got a JCM 900, What a mistake. I owned the marshall 8 months and then went back to carvin. Awsome and I mean AWESOME clean channel and reverb. 2 chanels clean and od make operation simple. It will do country, jazz,blues,80's style. rock duties very well .I dont know about metal ( new Metal) though.(possibly).

use fender, prs,wolfgang,axis also kramer and carvin guitars. I play christian praise and worship these days and its clean channel will just shimmer especially with a strat. Its not as noisy as my marshall was and some of that is just the nature of tube amps. I actually prefer the distortion channel over my line 6 modeler

NEVER had any problems.

Once I had an AG 100 D acoustic amp and it was solid state .It had a part go bad in it and had to be sent back to carvin. they were on it imediately and were professional and curtious.. The only down side to owning a carvin is.if you need it fixed You have to ship it to california and it will cost you shipping both ways. I emailed them and asked why they dont set up stores in dallas / denver,/nashville / atlanta or some where where the east coast and midwest could have better access to them. they said it wasnt in their plans.

I have played over 30 years and owned several makes of both high end and cheap guitars and amps. To me Carvin is KING. NO one has a better value for your hard earned $. Especially their guitars, they blow away PRS and Gibson. If youve never played one an Ibanez Wizard is probabally the closest neck feel that I can describe. Yes I am A CArvin user for life...

Bought new in 2005. I play 80's shred and heavy metal. 2 channel amp with loop and a killer clean and killer distortion channel. The amp came with Sovtek 5881's and Sovtek ecc83(12ax7). The amp has a bias switch so you can use either EL34 OR 5881'S. I bought Groove tube EL 34's but they sounded wimpy so I tried Svetlana's from my Marshall dsl 100. The amp sounded killer but a bit dated for me so I put the 5881's back in and all the beef came back. I also put JJ 12ax7's and the sizzle was there. The amp really responds to tube upgrades. I also removed the front face plate and cut it out and added a open grill to increase airflow. It serves two purposes, cool factor to see all those valves glowing and to cool the inner electronics and tubes.

I use a Fender HM that was signed by Greg Howe with A Gibson humbucker open coil from a Les Paul classic and a Warmoth strat with dimarzio pickups. I play the shred is dead stuff and some newer music such as Tool and Disturbed. My Krank handles the later of the two better but not much especially on the leads, this amp has a killer lead tone with tones of harmonics that literally jump off the neck. You have to play with the knobs alot to tighten up the bass but just crank it up and it starts to smolder. The amp rally blazes. The clean channel is killer with a single coil neck pickup. Very responsive and alive. However with the EL 34's it looses some of the fenderish tone but to be expected they are brit style tubes. The distortion is really nice but next to my Krank rev 1 the brutality factor of the 3200 goes away but for lead playing and nice fast riffing the Carvin hold ground.

No problem other than a hum at idle that was fixed when I swapped the v1 1st gain stage preamp tube. It all works fine and the channel switching is quiet.

I have dealt with Carvin for 15 years and have never had any problems. They aim to please and offer killer bang for the buck.

Been playing for 30 years and have owned Marshalls,boogies,tophats,soldano's and Laneys. For the money this amp wins hands down, it has alot of features and good tone. It also has a internal bias pot so you can tweak it in perfectly. I ran the tubes a tad hotter and the tone just got better so if you want to tweak you can just make sure to ground everything cause things can kill ya.Check out Gerald Weber tube amp basics and bias meters, they taught me all I needed to know to tweak on amps and do minor repairs and tube swaps. The only thing I did not like at 1st was the hum and the flubby bass but new tubes fixed that.

Bought new in '04. 2 channels yada yada. Built in reverb but I use my G-Major for all my effects. I have only used in 50 watt mode (more than enough umph since I always mic it) I play rock. Everything from the Beatles to Alice in Chains and Metallica. It will do all of this and more. Changed the all the tubes to JJ's and use E34L's.
Play all types of venues. Last weekend we did a huge Harley store grand opening for bikers and such, packed up, drove accross town and played a show at the double tree inn for 250 blue hairs. We went from Man In The Box to Stand By Me in 40 minutes and the Carvin did it all.

My main guitars are a '76 les paul custom and a '91 prs with stock p\u's. I run a '76 crybaby and a TU-2 tuner in front and a TC Electronics G-Major through the effects loop. My cabinet is a straight front Carvin Legacy with Celestion Vintage 30's.
First of all I bought this head after reading the reviews here and did as everbody said and changed the tubes to EL34's. That made this amp a hot-rodded Marshall with more clarity. Then after going to eurotubes.com I took Bob's advise and changed all the tubes and went to E34L's. Now this thing just rocks! It really has it's own voice. I can't really describe it but it IMHO is the perfect sound, the one I have been looking for. Now tone is like cars, there is an ass for every seat. But my ass loves this seat. Great clean channel. The gain channel goes from dirty to nasty and everything in between. I don't really try to copy the tones from the artists we cover, but I do need a amp that can chunk and scream and this does this. I can play Johnny B Good with the gain at 3, then kick some Guns and Roses with the gain at 6, and then rock some Enter Sandman with the gain at 8 without changing the eq and never losing clarity, never getting muddy in the mix, and always great musical tone. I have played everthing from small crowded bars to the big stage opening for major acts with this head and it never does anything but impress me and everyone else. I even played a gig last weekend for a convention that the average age was 50 (what were they thinking?), turned the volume down to 2, gain to 2, and with my PRS in the single coil mode, played Beatles and Brown Eyed Girl type stuff very quietly and we sounded like a lounge band. Wow. Now they want us every year. Let's see you do that with a Mesa.
I owned a modded 5150 and a Marshall JCM2000 DSL when I bought this. Both great amps but didn't nail that sound in my head. When I got done with the tubes in this, I played a weekend show. Monday the 5150 went on e-bay and I sold the Marshall to my bass player. This cut through the mix so well that even this ego driven guitar player couldn't complain about the guitar being buried in the mix (well maybe every once in a while lol). And the tone, well you know.
Noise has never been a problem.
Now this amp will not hide shitty playing. It will stick out. This is a very articulate amp. That's probably why Vai plays Carvins. This doesn't have the Mesa mud to cover up flaws. I cuts through the mix so if you screw up, not that I ever do lol, it sticks out. But that isn't a bad thing. That to me is part of the reason I like it so much. If your chops are honed, it sounds like it.

I don't gig with a backup and probably never will. Solid as a rock for this weekend warrior.

Haven't had a problem but I have purchased pa speakers since because of the helpful service. The guy I talked to really helped us with getting the perfect speakers and amps for our arena. Now we have the best pa in town. The sales reps are musicians-big difference

Been playing for a few years. I have owned all kinds of effects and amps.
I have never played a Framus or Bad Cat or whatever else, but I dare you to put any $2000 amp up to mine and justify the difference in money. But until I'm rich and famous, who really cares.
If it were stolen, I could take the insurance money and have another at my doorstep in 5 days, and I would without a doubt. I do wish this amp came with roadies lol.

OK, everybody knows what this is by now... 2 channel all tube, reverb, bias switch, 50/100 watt switch etc. It is LOUD though, in a studio, I had it on 50 watt and couldn't really crack it over 2. Granted the only time I used 4 recording we were playing heavier stuff and that sounded good. But it neds a good amount of volume to really saturate it.

Lets get this out of the way first... I work in a very large music store. No that does not make me better then everyone else but I have had constant bombardment of gear for 2 solid years now. Tube heads are like sports cars. Stock, they're good, tweaked out a little bit, they can get real nasty! I have had a chance to play Soldano's, Bogners, tons of Marshall Mesa, Peavy, VHT, Bad Cat, Top Hat all these "boutique" amps that cost stupid amounts of money, and I do tell you, the Carvin is a GEM when it comes to a damn good platform. The stock tubes do make it a bit fuzzy, el84's sound better; I like 6L6's in mine. Personal Preference. DONT SCOOP YOUR MIDS!!! Sounds shitty no matter what you do, what amp you play, what guitar you play, etc. my eq is like B:8 Mid:6 Tre: Varies. Just roll it up from the bottom until your sound opens up. I use an Ibanez SZ w/ gibson p/u's (490, 490T), A old Gibson explorer, and a RG, and I can easily get that sweet singing sustain, just need a little volume nudge. Oh, the clean is sweeet out of the box too.

It's Carvin, kinda like Peavey.... Drop it off a building, it'll work.

Dealt with them once on a PA Cab. Left a message, they got back. Went well.

This amp best compares to a XXX or a 5150. It doens't Compare to those platforms like a PittBull, or a Tri-amp, but it's not meant to. It kicks a Mesa's ass. Anyone ever actually heard those things...? They really rely on their name! Anyway, always remember that you can tweak it to get any sound you want out of it, and that being said, it's a true badass.

The MTS3200 I have is used with EL34s tubes in it. The two channel all tube head is all I really need. I was thinking about buying a Peavey XXX, but I am in love with Carvin equipment and a die hard Carvin user. A third channel would be a bonus (I have ask Carvin to consider this on their next head) since our band does covers I need a less distorted crunch tone to go along with the full distortion channel, but I make due turning back the volume knob on the guitar. A lake of a master volume doesn't make me regret buying this head. I plug in a GNX3 (using it just for effects)into the fx send and return of the amp and use the output level on the GNX3 for a master volume and this works wonders.

Playing thru many guitars (loaded with Carvin C22 pickups...best sounding pickups ever used) the MTS3200 is oooozing with some the best sounding clean tones and warm, chuncky, thick distortion. Put the distortion channel gain between 6 and 7 and this will turn any bad day into a sweet, I can't put the guitar down even though the wife is screamin and the kids are turning dinner into some type of floor art... type of tone!!!! I was thinking about buying a B-52 head, because of the price, and a third channel which is almost useless (from what I have read) I decided to stick with my boys at Carvin and pay almost $300 less than a B-52 for a quality built head that sounds as good or better than a $1200 Marsh... !

I can only say that all of my other gear from Carvin has never failed.

Never had to use the support.

I have been playing guitar for about 15 years and I have owned almost every piece of Digitech and Peavey product out there (minus any Peavey tube head). I use to play through a Digitech 2112 (another great peice of gear)going into a MosValve amp and that was an awesome sound. Now, the MTS3200 simplifies my life buy not having to carry a rack full of gear to try to get the ultimate sound. I can tell you all one thing...I will never own one of those big company name tube amps. I love Carvin for what and who they are. I can only hope that Carvin doesn't go and get big heads and think that they can sell something just because their name is on it.

Holy s@#t! This thing could power (4) 4 x 12 cabs easily! I got this MTS used off of ebay and I couldn't be happier. I have been wanting this head for years. The distortion is as good as anything I have heard. I play in a cover band and I add alot of fx here and there. The fx send/return input/outputs help out in this department.

I play though a Carvin Tele with humbuckers and Epiphones Les Pauls. The amp only wants to feedback (at my choice) at extreme gain settings. I have a Peavy Classic Chorus 212 and this is uncontrollable at high gain settings. Just go to the Carvin site and listen to the samples.

I just got this amp so I don't know how reliable it is, but I can tell you that every Carvin product I own is as good as they claim. I own subs, and guitars, and many DCM amps that Carvin makes; they all make me a very happy user of Carvin products.

I never had to use the support.

This is pretty much explained in all other posts. Its a 100 watt RMS all tube driven head with outstanding tone and sound. It has two channels - clean and crunch, reverb, normal ther settings and truly exceptional gain. I play it through a matching 4x12 Carvin Cab. Feature I really like is the ability to switch from 100 to 50 watts....gives tube saturation at lower volumes. Don't believe the negatives you might hear on that feature. The amp is still loud but the saturation comes at noticibly less volume.

The sound is great. The clean sound is very good and it goes all the way to simply brutal distortion ( a good thing!) I read some folks did not think it was loud or had enough gain. Unbelievable...the amp is pro quality and sounds fantastic.

I play a Gibson Les Paul DC Standard, Mex Standard Strat and a Ritchie Blackmore Signature Strat through it right now. I also have a Carvin DC 127 and EVH Wolfgang that I have not tried through the amp yet.

You can play any style through this amp. I compared this amp to a new all tube Marshall (which was twice the cost) and a more competitively priced 100 watt solid state Marshall and this amp blows both away - no comparison. I was originally after a Peavey 5150 but this is just as good at half the price.

NO Issues...I've had a week and the amp worked perfect out of the box.

No issues...amp arrived on time as promised.

Can not beat this amp. I hate to say for the price because it is truly as good or better than the pricier marshalls or peaveys. Bottom line is this is a world class pro qulity all tube driven amp that is solid, versatile and has great tones accross the entire sound spectrum. It is a great amp and the price (about $1000) for an all tube american made half stack is awesome. In comparison...I tried out the 100 Watt Marshall solid state (new) half stack ($750)and it is a good amp but when I evaluated it against the Carvin I immediately took it back to Guitar Center - no match.

I also own a Line 6 AXS 212 combo...Bought it new 8 years ago. Thats a good amp and I've been happy. Again, no match for the carvin - this amp is at the next leval.

I've been playing seriously for 8 years. I play hard rock and metal mostly - Deep Purple Family( Purple, Whitesnake, Rainbow), Led Zep, GNR, ACDC, Scorpians, Van Halen Pink Floyd, Bon Jovi etc...and this amp easily delivers.

If stolen I'm calling Carvin for another the same day!!

I love the sound, the killer looks, and the quality of this amp. Nothing beats all tube power - don't kid yourself and this baby is the most affordable.

One last point: I like buying quality and most of the gear I own sounds good and does what the manufacturer says. For example, that solid state marshall I compared to the Carvin did sound good and worked well...same with the Line 6. The Carvin just sounded better. The sound improvement is worth the additional $200. I read in amazement how many really negative reviews I read about amps and top quality guitrs like say a Gibson les Paul Standard. So be careful when reading reviews....many of the real negative ones about the sound come from hackers who can't play. Likewise....watch out for the infactuated buyer who says all is great.

I?m writing this review in Portuguese to brazilian guitarists.
Amp de 2004, anniversary edition, comprado diretamente na loja nos EUA. Comprei usado o cabe?ote e a caixa 4 X 12. Confesso que comprei totalmente sem conhecer o som desse amp pois o pre?o estava imperd?vel (mesmo!). O amp ? vers?til o suficiente para v?rios estilos. Eu diria at? que ? vers?til para TODOS os estilos. Tem todos os recursos que eu procurava num cabe?ote: 2 canais com equaliza??o independente, footswitch (? opcional de f?brica, mas o meu veio com o foot), loop, chave 50/100 W (eu uso em 50W), chave para 6L6/5881/EL34.
Usa 5 v?lvulas de pr? e 4 de power. Reverb de mola tipo "tail" (pelo que eu pesquisei ? um tipo de reverb mais longo). Tem ainda uma chave de presen?a para o canal lead (que varia os "mids" para mais grave ou agudo)

Inicialmente o som deixou um pouco a desejar. Eu gostava do clean. Bem claro e limpo, principalmente com strato. Testei o canal lead com strato (american standard) e les paul (Epiphone standard). Testei com pedal, testei com pedaleira e n?o me agradava. Embolado demais. Graves demais. Sei l?. Troquei ent?o as 5881 que vem de f?brica por 6L6 (pretendo colocar EL34 mas ? que eu tinha essas 6L6 de outro cabe?ote Giannini). A? a coisa mudou! O som sujo ganhou mais defini??o e punch! S?rio! S? posso pensar 2 coisas: ou as 5881 que vem com o amp s?o muito ruins ou as 5881 n?o s?o o tipo de som que me agrada. O amp n?o faz muito ru?do nem com o ganho quase no toco. A distor??o ? brutal, por?m eu me arrisco a usar at? o n?mero 5 mais ou menos. A equaliza??o ? muito sens?vel. Uma mexidinha de nada no bot?o de agudos e fica agudo pra kct. Ele tem muito TUDO: Muitos graves, muitos agudos. Coloco por exemplo os graves quase no zero e ainda assim sobram graves. Isso ? um problema, a dificuldade de timbrar. Mas a partir de um momento que voc? acha uma configura??o confort?vel fica tudo uma beleza. O canal limpo N?O distorce com volume alto (talvez quando eu colocar as EL34 ele distor?a um pouco). Eu dou nota 6 com as 5881 e nota 9 com as 6L6. Espero poder dar nota 10 com as EL34.

N?o tenho como ter um "backup" e acredito que para a maioria dos m?sicos brasileiros, ter um outro equipamento pra servir de segunda op??o caso ocorra algum problema com o equipamento principal, ? quase imposs?vel. Os impostos e a falta de vergonha na cara das lojas aqui (digo falta de vergonha na cara pois mesmo quando o d?lar est? em baixa os pre?os de instrumentos mant?m-se altos e ? muito comum nessas ?pocas de baixa do d?lar os bons equipamentos ficarem em "stand by" pelas importadoras, ou seja, guardados at? que o d?lar suba e eles possam colocar a venda e obter lucro maior).
O amp nunca deu problema comigo (estou com ele h? duas semanas) e pelo estado geral eu diria que nunca deu problemas algum com o antigo dono, j? que nenhuma pe?a foi trocada da configura??o original de f?brica). Me parece ser muito bem costru?do. Bastante s?lido. Tudo em compensado e pe?as em metal. Me passa mais seguran?a que muito Marshall por a?.

N?o sei. Moro no Brasil.

Toco h? uns 10 ou 12 anos. E j? tive alguns valvulados: Laney, Giannini. E alguns transistorizados: Meteoro, Peavey. Esse sem d?vida o equipamento mais profissional que j? tive. N?o poderia comprar um Marshall cabe?ote e caixa que aqui no Brasil sairia, usados, no m?nimo uns 6000 reais (um JCM 900, que nem ? l? essas coisas). Portanto fico extremamente satisfeito de ter tido essa oportunidade de comprar um amp americano em estado de zero, por um pre?o muito em conta. E, ainda por cima, de excelente qualidade sonora e de constru??o. Recomendo.

Se fosse roubado o cara teria que vender esse amp pra outro pa?s, simplesmente porque n?o existem muitos Carvins por aqui e eu reconheceria o meu facilmente. Se fosse roubado eu n?o poderia comprar outro porque teria dificuldades de achar. Aqui nas lojas brasileiras ? oito ou oitenta: Ou s? tem solid states ruins ou hibridos. Os valvulados, em geral s?o cabe?otes de 8000 reais ou mais. N?o h? uma pol?tica de mercado aqui que valorize o m?sico com renda de classe m?dia. Ou voc? compra um solid state barato ou s? vai encontrar um cabe?ote car?ssimo. Ou um combo valvulado mas com pot?ncia baixa e ainda assim caro. ? por isso que os hand mades aqui tem se proliferado. E eu desejo boa sorte a todos os hand mades. Eu mesmo vou encomendar um hand made personalizado em 2007 (o cara tem tanta encomenda que o meu amp est? agendado pra ser constru?do daqui a 2 anos!)

I have a 2001 MTS 3200, Which is stocked with sovtek tubes(I checked). I bought the amp before I ever had used one, so I was taking a gamble. I was shocked by the clean channel. I know that can be a bit of trouble on some tube amps. I must say the lead presence on the head works great for getting the spanking clean I love to use. and being able to disengage it from the clean channel is great for my style. I do like the fact that each channel has its own EQ. Im glad there is no preset resonance. It has enough bottom end for me. and then some. I play through a cab loaded with Vintage 30s. I would love to see the amp have a low and high mid knobs. But I will say the midrange and all setting on the EQs of both channels work great, no extreme volume or gain jumping like some older marshalls do. I would buy another one if I lost this one. I have not replaced my original tubes, they sound great to me and I will when the old ones die, put groove tubes in the preamp section Electro Harmonix tubes for power, I am very happy with the features on my head. I sound like MYSELF and not trying to copy anyone else. I gave up the hero worship when I was 18. I do not run my effects loop, only for my decimator. I am happy with the features of my amp.

I use a range of sounds, I like the fact I can back off and get a sort of JCM 800 sound, but the amp has more gain than most Marshalls I have played through. I use a MichaelKelly Patriot Phoenix, loaded with a seymour duncan Jazz neck and a Screaming Demon(hate the name) in the bridge. all of my guitars from my Telecasters are loaded with duncan customs and a 59 at the neck, a tele with emg tele pickups and a korena explorer with a dimarzio Norton at the bridge and a PAF Joe in the neck. I have had no problem with noise out of my amp. Ive rarely used the decimator on my head. I play alt rock and metal as well as some classic rock, and I can get all the sounds i need out of my head. I learned from my 18yr old days. of not jacking the gain, you loose definition. I run medium gain pickups, then I can kick in the gain a bit and come up with a better sound. no chainsaw here, but you can get it from the head by jacking the gain all the way up, its versital to me, Ive never had my clean chanel distort at high volumes. And after 5 years of owning one Ive tried them all. It may not be for everyone who wants to sound Scooped, but if you want that horrible bedroom metal tone with no mids. You can waste a good head doing that with the MTS. Recorded, the amp is full of bite but nice and smooth through Vintage 30's Its has the snarl, but it is a totally diferent beast when recorded, dont be fooled. Im very happy with the sounds, I get, Im running a line 6 MM4 only for modulation effects. and it works great. I let my head do the work, like anyone should instead of a processor. I have never needed to use a distortion pedal with this amp. its has the balls you need.

I have not had to have my amp fixed yet. When I do play out I keep A Vamp on for backup. its never given me any problems. Im sorry if it seems to be that good , but Its never been serviced and I have used this amp for some pretty long marathon sessions. But I must say I am VERY careful when transporting my head and taking care of it. So I have had great success with reliability. and I have loaned it out many times for people to use as a backup and when there heads are down, seem to make them want to buy them.

I have only had to deal with carvin once, they sent me a legacy booklet with the amp,but I found out if you put el34in the head it basically is a Legacy and thats coming from a Carvin tech. my head had the one year warranty. but I work with a guy who is an engineer he fixes all the amps in our area. so I do not have to send it off to be repaired. alot of people in West Virginia play tube heads, and our guy can fix them all. so I never have sent it off to Carvin, but thier Customer Support is great and they are very patient with me. When I have dealt with them.

I give the amp a 9 overall. if it was stolen I would buy another one in a heartbeat. It is the only amp I own, besides the Vamp. I chose the amp for price for once but doing my reasearch, it was worth it. I wanted a 5150 back in the day and a marshall, but now im glad I found another company that was as good as Carvin. I have found my tone, Im not trying to copy Zack or Randy or Eddie, I wanted my own tone, guess it comes with age but get over the hero worship and play for yourself, you can buy your favorite players gear down the the last pedal , I wont make you as good or sound like them, its in thier hands. and for God sakes, Scooping out your MIDS SOUNDS HORRIBLE, as well as cranking your gain, doesnt make you heavier, just an ass. use your ears. PLEASE

Mine is the 2003 Aniversary Head.
5 12ax7's
4 5881's
2 channels the regular for the head.

I don't play metal, but this amp was good enough for me to buy.
Played on tour with a friends, and loved it.
Out of the box the tone was kinda tame.
The power tubes would not let the amp sing like it wanted to do. IT was frustrating to get it to the full 100 watts, no headroom

Changed the tubes to this.
1 EH 5851 in V1
3 EH 12AX7's in V2 - V4
1 EH 12AT7 in V5

4 power tubes JJ 6l6's

now the amp sounds like a mix between a vintage fender, and marshall.
it's amazing to get those high gain tones with a vintage tube screamer.

One thing that i love about this head is the reverb. One of the best amp reverb i have ever heard.
It was noisy, and microphonic when i got it... but i changed the tubes and all teh problems went away.

Never had trouble except the tubes.

never had to use.

I've been playing for 8 years or so. In a few bands touring and not.

I'd definately recomend this amp if you're willing to put some time into finding an excellent tone.
With some tweaking, this amp is lovely.

IF it was stolen, i'd buy another.

Mine is a 2003 50th Anniversary Edition.
It is an all tube amplifier. (4 power @ 5 preamp tubes)
This amp suits my styles of playing extremely well. I play classic rock, jazz, contemporary Christian, and heavy Christian rock. This is a two channel amp. Clean and Lead channel. It has a switch on the back so that you can use either 5881/6L6 or EL34 power tubes. It also has another switch to change it from 50 to 100 watts. Very versatile. I tried several other amps before purchasing this one.
(Mesa's, Fender's, and Marshall's.) Each one had it's strong points but over all the Carvin just covered it all. It has a very sweet clean like the Fender is known for and a distortion that I feel is much more soaked and sustaining than a Marshall or Mesa.

This amp sounded very, very nice right out of the box. Carvin did an excellent job when they designed the MTS3200. I did however make a change that made an incredible difference in the sound of this amp. Like so many major amp companies do, they also used a less expensive tube in their amplifier. I changed the power tubes to Svetlana ("Winged C") 6L6's and the preamp tubes to Electro Harmonix 12ax7's. I know music is so subjective. What one person loves in sound, someone else doesn't. I am just giving this information to try and help. I tried so many different combinations of tubes. I mean countless. When I tried this combination, it blew me away. I have had so many people comment over how sweet this amp sounds, clean is distorted.

So far I have had no problem.

I have called Carvin for several things over the years from guitars to amps to sound equipment. They have always been very helpful and courtious.

I have been playing for about 25 years. The guitars I use are a Taylor 410 CE Acoustic and a Fender American Series HH Strat Hardtail. My effects consist of a Boss CU-2 tuner, Boss CH-1 chorus, Boss Mt-2 distortion ( Modded by Keeley ), Boss DD-3 delay, and a Boss NS-2 noise suppressor. If it were stolen I would definately buy another.

I bought this amp used on Ebay, according to the seller it needed new tubes, but was in over all good condition. its your pretty standard set up 2 channels, reverb, etc.

its Rebiasable which is nice, it can use EL34, 6L6, or 5881 type tubes, i put in a pair of E34L tubes which are cleaner EL34s with more bottom end, and it plays them fine in the EL34 setting without needing a manual bias job.

it can switch from 4 power tubes at 100 watts to 2 power tubes at 50 watts as well if you want.

ill give it a 7 because i feel its about normal for an amplifier as far as features go.

im not sure how it sounds stock with the 5881 tubes but from what i hear it has a lot of bottom end and a really good clean with those tubes (people say comparable almost to a fender twin clean)

like i said above i put in E34L tubes which are EL34s with approx. 20% more headroom and a tighter bottom end.

My band plays our own style of laid back Alt/Rock with songs requiring a glassy clean and a warm marshall esque crunch as well.

This amp feels like its inbetween a Marshall and a Mesa...more bottom end than a marshall but not as much bottom end as a Mesa and a bit higher gain than a marshall but not as high gain as a Mesa.

As far as the music i play goes, it falls in pretty perfectly with the sound that i wanted, i play it through a Hartke 4x12 cabinet with Celestion G12H80 speakers.

The clean is really good sounding, really glassy with a lot of headroom and the crunch can go anywhere from Weezer (around 3-5 gain at about 3 volume) to 80's shred metal (high volume high gain, but back off the bass knob a bit)

over all the sound with the E34L tubes is what you would expect from a boutique amplifier, that costs 3 times as much.

it seems solid enough, was gigged a lot before i got it, inside was dust free and clean, very well built, tubes are held TIGHTLY, TIGHTLY, TIGHTLY took me forever to jiggle them out.

it seems like a very simple amp on the inside, pretty basic and probably pretty easy for a tech to fix if it ever had problems.

I've dealt with Carvin before having bought from them a lot over the years, although i wouldnt deal with them online or over the phone unless you have to. if you live in california and have the luxury of going in person you will probably get the best customer service.

if i ever had problems with it and lived in another state, id probably just take it to a local amp tech instead of ship it cross-country to get looked at.

great great amplifier, from what i hear though change out the Sovtec 5881's that it comes with for a better tube type, its easy and i hear that people like the sound a lot better. I'm using JJ ECC83s in the preamp and JJ E34Ls in the power amp, sounds great.

I'd recommend this amp to anyone who is looking at buying one used in good condition.

My buddy brought his Soldano over yesterday and we jammed for most of the day and he thought the amp was a killer deal at $300.

If i were to put its worth alongside other amps, id put it next to a marshall JCM 800 and Mesa Dual Rectifier. It really is that good.

Bought used on a pawn shop I don't know the year it was made. Features were already described here. But anyway, it's a 2 channel amp with reverb.

Clean tone is very good, very clean and bright. Overdrive is a little fizzy and thin with the stock tubes (5881). I hope EL34s and a rebias helps it. Good for nu-metal tones, but not much else.

I don't know yet. It looks reliable. No opinion.

I never called the phone support. I checked their website and it's scary to say the least. They have a discussion board to ask questions..but you cannot say anything negative about their amps or mention other products or they kick you out. It's just praise, praise praise...LOL A nazi company. I was there for one day and my comments were deleted because I said something about the distortion being really thin and shitty.. they didn't like it LOL ... how about making a better amp then???

If I ever have a problem with this amp I will take it to my local tech in NYC. I wouldn't want to ship it cross country to CA anyway..

The amp is pretty good. It needs some tweaking, probably some new tubes. I bought this to be a back up for my Marshall 1987.
I won't even bother comparing it to the Marshall it doesn't even come close but the Marshall costs over agrand. This is more of an entry-level amp, for nu-metal kids who want to rock. LOL The legacy is more of a real amp. The X100 is very good also.

I use it with a Marshall 4x12 and a Guild SG copy. I'm trying to get a 70's heavy rock tone like old Sabbath, but so far everything coming form this amp is too scooped and thin. Maybe EL34s will help. The clean is great and the reverb is good too, so hopefully I will be able to tweak the distortion or I may just add a pedal to the clean channel.
Great for the price, but buy it used, save some $$ (they sell for real cheap used) and avoid dealing with Carvin at all costs.

So here's the bottom line about this amp:

THIS AMP SOUNDS GREAT CLEAN BUT THE DISTORTION NEEDS MAJOR IMPROVEMENT!
IT IS NOT A MARSHALL KILLER, MAYBE EQUAL TO THE 900 BUT A REAL PLEXI WILL EAT IT FOR LUNCH!! EVEN A 2000 WILL BE BETTER.

oh and also:

DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE AT THEIR ONLINE BOARD. IT'S MANIPULATED BY THEIR EMPLOYEES BUYERS BEWARE!!
GO THERE AND TRY IT IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME!! THE RUDE CARVIN EMPLOYEES WILL KICK YOU OUT.
WAKE UP CARVIN, THERE ARE OTHER PLACES WE CAN TELL THE TRUTH
THANK YOU HARMONY CENTRAL

this amp is really clean, and the distortion gets mean!! i crank the gain to full, scoop the mids to about 2, put treble at 8 or 9, and put bass at 8 or 9. without a boss ns-2 though it gets pretty noisy at high levels. but the noise supressor solves that. and this amp can wail. kinda wish the clean channel would break up a little bit. but all aside from that its pretty damn sweet

i use a gibson sg standard with stock pickups and the amp sounds sweet and i also have an old 80s kramer beretta with emg hzs in it which are slightly less noisy but it really doesnt matter with a noise supressor. anyone who doesnt have one should get one they are the greatest invention since slice bread. i play mainly hardcore/metal so i would really say im kind of biased on the variety cause i pretty much just crank this thing. but sometimes ill play along with metallica and the clean sound they have is easy to acheive with a little reverb on the clean. the presence switch also makes the amp sparkle but i feel its a bit much, cause ill hit low e and its pretty loud, but as soon as i hit a high e the volume seems to double which is somewhat unnatractive, but who cares i hardly ever use clean. honestly lots of people look for the sparkly clean and this amps clean is definately crystal clear, but i would like some breakup

i would never use any amp at a gig without a backup, especially a tube amp no matter how reliable, thats just asking for it... but ill say ive never had to resort to my back up... thank god... its a crate blue voodoo 120. i have literally had no problems and ive been a proud owner of the amp for about a year and a half now. carvin seems to make quality products. especially PA equipment. and their basses are sweet too. however i would probably never purchase a carvin solid state head.

only time ive worked with them is to buy stuff, and of course they are friendly... they want my money right? when i ordered this head though they accidentally shipped me a 300 watt club loudspeaker. that was supposed to go to someone in texas, he probably wasnt too happy with carvin... supposedly the only way to get stuff serviced is to send it to carvin... so hopefully tube maintenence is the only service itll need, cause i dont wanna pay that kinda shipping since i live in georgia

ive been playing 8 years. i own a gibson sg standard and an old 80s kramer berreta and i used to own an epiphone les paul standard (sold it too my other guitarist) i also use a shure wireless, a big muff pi ( too bring out solos) a dunlop crybaby wah 535q, an ibenez delay pedal, and a boss ns-2 noise supressor, and a boss tu-2 tuner, however im seriously thinking of going all rackmount, and just using the wah, and maybe the big muff for extra volume/gain. i love the distortion on this amp, and the fact that it brings out notes, instead of hiding them like other high gain amps. this amp is real sensitive, so boys, if you buy this learn how to work the intonation of your guitars, and dont play sloppy cause both are pretty obvious. i only wish this amp had a master volume. but the 50/100 switch kicks ass cause tube saturation at low volumes helps a bunch when writing songs in the bedroom. this is a solid amp to buy new, and i hear that on ebay you can find some pretty kick as deals on them as well.

mts3200 1987
no.style Ray von van halen pop metal 80 rock
2 channels switchable, effect loop, line out
effects loop input pod to control the volume so
effest don't effect over all out put volume.
tube amp. I have two diods burnt out on preamp
which gives me no volume and breaks up at five on master volumes



need to fix before I can really tell if it will work
for my needs

can't tell yet

ebay

30 years.
many out board gear, old ada 2fx, me-6,beringer delay
zoom gfx 707
i need to find out rating on the diods that blew up to
replace them.

I posted a review before...many have listed the features. It could still use a master volume...perhaps a 3rd channel...nothin' a boost won't take of though. The reason for the repost is that I changed the tubes.

I replaced the 5881's with JJ E34L's. This amp is much better than I thought it was before. With the E34L's the amp warms up big time. Seriously a huge difference. The sound is somewhere between a Mesa and a Marshall...seriously! I love it...unique, with tons of gain and growl. If you love rock and roll...try some E34L's in it. So good for leads.

tubes!

People at Carvin have always been good to me.

If you like a JCM you'd really love the sound of this thing E34L's.