Carvin Quad X-Amp Tube Preamp

Ease = 8 for novices; 10 for more versed. Give it a 9.

I bought this unit in 1994 along with the T100 Tube amp. I can honestly say that I have NEVER heard a combination quite like this. Is it a Fender Twin? No. Is it a JTM 45? No. It is what it is. A Carvin.

Editing patches is kind of a non issue on the pre-amp. I use a DigiTech PMC-10 and have assigned the Quad-X a MIDI channel and I can go from drop dead Fender clean to over the top Marshall/Boogie scream with the touch of a button (gee, go figure).

The manual is quite good, it's why I opted out of the FS-77 that is "supposed" to run the unit.

Dunno about any firware revision number. Upgraded? Nope, only been thoroughly cleaned and tweaked by my tech.

The EQ controls on the unit are pretty aggressive. Carvin warns in the manual that turning everything up to 10 is probably not a good idea. I thoroughly agree. My EQ (not the sliders mind you which stay more or less flat) rarely moves beyond the 3.5 to 7.5 range on any pitch.

The unit itself is quite quiet. Not as quiet as my faithful old Hafler (Bogner) T-2, but pretty doggone quiet.

I use the Quad-X in conjunction with the T100 Tube amp with 4 matched Groove Tubes. Getting the sound of any of my favorite artists is pretty easy....turn a know or two....change channels and you pretty much have it. Can I sound EXACTLY like David Gilmore or Alex Lifeson? No. But I can get close enough to fool even hard-core fans.

Bought the unit new in 1994, only thing it has ever had done is a cleaning.

Never gig without a back-up (Hafler T2).

no need, so no opinion

This pre-amp is a great pre-amp for anyone that isn't stuck on the "Just plug into an amp and play" mentality. It offers far more flexibility as far as FX routings (via the 4 channel dedicated loops, plus a master, not to mention the reverb loop) than ANY other pre-amp I've seen. Granted, I am a bit out of touch, but I really do love this unit.

I've been playing for 33 years and my rack is basically 3 units (sans the power strip). The Quad-X, The Tube (T) 100, and a tc electronic M-300. The only piece I somewhat lament is the tc - it doesn't have XLR. The output goes to two (Mesa) Boogie 1x12 cabs with EV 200's (L & M). Though I rarely crank the Vol over "4" (about -26 or -24 db) on the amp, I get frequent requests from my wife to "Turn it down!!" (undoubtedly due to my playing).

Lost? Buy another. Stolen?....Dead man.

Love everything about the unit. Best thing is Flexibility.

Compared to Marshall's MP-1 (?) pretty much all other pre-amps available at the time. This one just looked best. Wish I had that kinda luck in Vegas.

It neither helps the creative process nor hinders it. It serves as a great tool to release what I want to sound like. Would Stevie Ray Vaughn like it? Probably not. Same with Jimmy Page and Pete Townshend. Would people who like Alex Lifeson, David Gilmore, Mark Knopfler, etc like it? ABSOLUTELY. The routing configurations and sound quality alone make it worthwhile.

10 Rating
I got this and footswitch used at about $150 and consider it my best find after a Hammond C32, matching bench and Leslie in a dumpster. I use this in studio and out- it is versatile. Solid as a rock and no problems. I run Steinberger guitar and bass through this. Bass is great also on this. And I run a Sequential Circuits Prophet 600 analog synthesizer through it and it sounds fantastic! Ran such through a Leslie (not rotary speaker)and this was unbelievable. I highly recommend this as you can tweak sounds well with all of the features and this is a good teaching technique for sound generation which adds to your knowledge/experience for guitar, vocals, and bass if you use them. I have used all features of the amp at some time except the midi, and all worked fine.

I use a Digitech effects for guitar and synth "reverb." And at times I can run pedals through the individual effect channels. I run it right into stereo PA, so the XLRs out are perfect for this. I have the preamp and effects unit in a small rack type case and used to play thorugh headphones from this. It has midi that I haven't used yet. One problem or advantage depending on you is lack of "memory" so I use my brain to remember the numbers and knobs, which is actually good for both brain and machine.

In studio I can run quickly from bass and synth on Channel 1 to guitars on 2,3,4. The overdrive needs careful setting and may not be appreciated by all.

I play blues, jazz, folk, rock, electronic, acid jazz, whatever. I record into a digital machine. The machine has numerous emulations and ability to layer, but one still needs the warmth, body, and chaos they lack. Especially playing live. I can lay down rythm for a new tune then go to the bells and whistles as my friends pick it up.

The footswitch is full featured, big and easy to see, solid, doesn't slide around, and always responds perfectly.

This is it. I have been looking for a GREAT clean, a GREAT crunch and a GREAT Metal sounds in one place for years. The reverb and effects loops are assignable so just by switching channels you can have effercts or not. I have the reverb set on the clean and loop on for crunch. Graphic for metal (Sustain ch). I can go from (better) Fender clean to raunchy blues to death metal with the click of a switch.
The sustain ch is really good for a sweet bluesy sound with the gain backed off, or crank the overdrive and dial up the mids and down the treble and you have Santana. The Crunch does a great JCM800 sound.

4 channel tube preamp (described perviously). The only thing I could possibly ding this for is not having presets. But, I would argue that this is a good thing. No menus. Every control that I could ever think of (and then some) right on the front, ready to be tweaked. Back panel is even better. How many loops can you imagine? Balanced outs! Rear input! Mono or Stereo. Noise gate! Graphic! Reverb! Hello? Why isn't this available on every preamp?

Mine is the later series that is MIDI controled. Don't believe the BS, the new ones sound just as good as the old ones (without MIDI control). I own both because I bought into that rumor. If anything, the MIDI controled one sounds better. I am looking for another to put away in the attic...

Works perfect even though it is over 10 yrs old. Tubes inside mean that there is a chance of failure, but it would be the tubes fault and not the preamp. I have swapped tubes but never had a problem. I gig with it without any hesitation.

Folks, NEVER, EVER, FOR ANY REASON, play a gig without a backup.

Never had a problem with Carvin. Never had to send it in for repair. However, not having a local authorized repair facility is a minor ding.

I have been playing for over 30 years, in every style. I cannot imagine a sound that I cannot get with this preamp. I have spent thousands and thousands trying to get here, I wish I had found the Carvin sooner. It is a real shame that they don't make it anymore and, they prob won't ever again (rumored lawsuit from Mesa over their Quad preamp?). If you find one, grab it, for the price there is nothing that is even close to features and quality of sound. I will not ever sell mine.

Pretty EZ to use with lots of versatility. Manual is available via a download.

Using a Strat with lace pickups, A Carlo Robelli semi hollow LP dbl cutaway (which really sings thru the Carvin), a Stagg 350 jazz-box, a Jackson Stealth, a Dean Custom, a Kramer Baretta and even a Strat-Acoustic. Get the picture.......very versatile. I've use choruses, a V-amp, reverbs, distortions and wah thru the Carvin into a Marshall rack mount pwr amp. The sound is simply sweet and the noise gate.....what noise? My friends keep asking me if I'm gonna sell it. NOT A CHANCE.

I've had it since 1999. replaced the tubes cause I could, not that it needed it. Not a problem EVER....!!!

Haven't had to use it....very reliable. Downloaded manual from Carvin, tho.

I use it to play everything from blues, jazz, r&b, soul, funk, rock, fusion & hip-hop....live and studio. I've been playing since 1978. Would definetly buy another if I had to. I was going to get a Fender tweed amp....SO GLAD I DIDN'T.

This is an addition to a previous review I did. I recently hooked my rack setup together midi style to an effects unit. I bought a programmable midi controller, so that helps. Anyways, someone review this thing as having an "unuseable" midi option. I don't really know what they expect, but I found the midi to work very well. Sure you can only change channels, and the midi patch to channel number is fixed (ie channel one is triggered by patch one, 2 by 2, 3 by 3, 4 by 4, and 4 again by five.) This makes a lot of sense, because then you have two clean sounds, a crunch sound, a high gain rhythm sound, and a solo sound for the five pedals that usually occur on midi foot controllers. At least that is how I use it. And if I had the option of setting it up however I want, that is exactly how I would do it anyways!!! The switching is as fast and flawless as with the fs-77 footswitch. Note: if you can't find an fs77 for the quad x, look into getting a basic, cheap midi controller and it will do the job. NOTE AS WELL THAT THIS IS FOR THE LATER QUAD X THAT HAS ACTUAL MIDI CONNECTIONS INSTEAD OF 1/4" JACK MIDI!!!! I cannot stress this enough.

I am using this preamp with a Carvin T100 tube power amp and Furman Power Distributor. My 2 main guitars are both Ibanez Rg520's with Seymour Duncan JB's in the bridge and SD Super Distortions in the neck. My style is kinda like a heavier Dream Theater- but in 4/4 lol. In terms of tones- Carvins clean sounds are top notch- and stay clean all the way up. The distortion on this amp is unbelievable! Carvin's bottom end is incredibly tight- they have been doing the bone-rattle-bass long before it was hip. The amp is no noisier than any other high gain amp and with an onboard gate- it doesn't even matter- you won't hear it.

This is a Quad X Amp made in '92. This has enough features to do almost anything. 4 channels- Clean1 Clean2 OD1 and OD2, onboard noise gate and reverb, a weird(kinda useless) thing called Cloaking which pulls your bottom end out.It also has 6 effects loops- stereo or mono outputs and 9 12AX7's!!! Tons of gain on channel 4- more than you could ever need- and I am a gain addict NOTHING ever has enough gain for me- lol. Channel 3 has moderate distortion and it still has more than the lead channel on a Mesa Dual Rec Solo(sold one to buy this). It also has channel memory(remembers Reverb, EQ, and Effect loop setrting from the last time you were on that channel)-so if you want your chorus on the clean sound and not on the distortion- just click it on the clean- then when you come back to the clean channel- there it is again- YAY! Finally! So if you are used to doing the tapdance to get a good clean sound and another to switch back to distortion- this amp is a dream come true.

Well- I just bought this. But Carvin's are beasts. I have been using my X100b head for almost 14 years(gigs, rehearsals, and 4+ hours daily of practice), and, with yearly retubes, it has never failed me. I always brought a backup to gigs and never had to use it(thank God i didn't- it was a Marshall- lol).

I have dealt with Carvin numerous times and they were always helpful- I wrote them a email the other day- a dumb question about the power amp- and they responded within minutes. I am also a guitar tech by profession and have called them about their guitars and they were always helpful.

I have been playing guitar for almost 17 years(geez)- I have a Carvin X100B half stack that I bought when I was 16- I also just recently bought a Mesa Dual Rec Solo head and was disappointed with it- which is why I got this. I chose this because everyone has their own sound in their head and Carvin is really the only company that makes amps for people like me(gainaholics- but it has to be 'good' gain with ultra tight bottom- and a crystal clear clean channel). If it were stolen- I would look for the person doubled over gasping for air and take it back- this rack is heavy- lol. But I would definitely buy another one.

Can be a bit tricky to setup for a live gig after using it for practice. Probably a good idea to write down the settings for each situation or mark them on the unit with a chinagraph/wax pencil.

Obviously the settings will need tweaking anyway, depending on the venue.

Haven't tried to control via Midi.

I am dispappointed that the Channels are different levels - getting a decent volume on Channel 4 means you have to turn down Channel 3 which then loses out on its own sound quality.

However an amp engineer could probably correct this.

Live (rock) I used to put this into the effects return of my Marshall Valve combo, and not use the Marshall preamp section at all. Channel 3 was great for rhythmn and Channel 4 for lead.

At home I feed the output into a Yamaha MU10 synth box, which splits the signal into Stereo Chorus and feed that into my mixing desk. The mixing desk feeds my PC recording gear and HiFi speakers.

I have had it since about 1995 and not had any problem, except the EQ sliders are a bit fragile and I have bent one or two.

N/A. However Carvin won't sell to International customers (you have to go through a dealer). They have lost over a thousand dollars worth of orders from me because of that. My brother's friend ordered my unit for me and he fetched it back to England after a trip. I also bought a Carvin guitar at the same time.

Pretty damn good :)

This is an amendment to my previous review. The high pitched feedback turned out to be my microphonic pickup, so if that was discouraging anyone from getting this thing THE FEEDBACK WAS NOT DUE TO THE QUAD X!!!! THis amp is extremely versatile in tone and setup possibilities (all the different effects loops and everything) If you find one for less than 400 american, jump on it!

On it's own, easy to use. But it has so many functions that it could get hairy. But, that's what I love about it. So many options.

Warmoth strat with JB at bridge, Hot gold lace sensor (mid), Hot silver at the neck. (specially tweeked at the Lace custom shop)> EB Vol pedal,Morley wha> Quad-x pre-amp>carvin tube 100 power amp> 2/2x12 cabs. There are individual channel return/sends in the back. I have a Hot cake and a Baby blue overdrive hooked up to channel 4. I don't like channel 3 so much, but have used it with pitch shifting stuff from a Digitech TSR-24 effects unit, I also use the delays and reverbs from the TSR. The on board reverb is weak, so I use a Lexicon MPX 100 for the overall Reverb/chorus making use of the master effects and master reverb stereo return/sends in the back. They could be assigned to any channel. On it's own it is a tastey, articulate amp. Nice clear as a bell sound to a great brown sound on channel 4. The other added outboard stuff inhance things a little. I mean just a little 'cause it only needs a little. It has a nice direct to board output with cabinet voicing that actually isn't bad. I'm not a fan of direct recording but I have used it with pretty good results. I've played side by side with different players with different amps. I've always been greatly pleased by the sound and never felt my sound lacked.

I've had for over 9 years. NO PROBLEMS. I change tubes once in a while. I trust CARVIN products.

N/A

Rock fusion,blues,a little jazz flavor. This thing has everything I need. Carvin thought of everything. I've been playing over 25+ years and went through Fenders,Marshalls,Peaveys,Laneys,Mesa Boogie,Supro and Danelectro.These are all great amps I've kept most these amps and from time to time use 'em. The ONE that works best for me is the Carvin set up.

I am using a gibson firebird with a dimarzio hot mini bucker retrofit to clean up the distortion sound(bridge pickup). I don't know whether it is my tube setup or what, but channel 1 and two sound exacly the same except for the fact that channel two lacks a mid control. cleans are very responsive and very bright. almost too bright. I play with my treble on 0, mid on 8 and bass on 7. This may sound weird, but you've gotta try the settings before you knock em'. I really like the sound that i'm getting from the clean now. You can feel the notes respond, not unlike a fender twin reverb. volume at 2. Channel 2 shares the eq with channel 3 so i pretty much don't use channel 2. Channel three is probably supposed to be used as a blues crunch channel, but i'm not big into that sound. I use channel 3 for my solo channel because it has a good feel for soloing. Gain at 10, bass and treble at 7, volume at 6. Channel four has unwholesome amounts of gain. I play in a prog rock band and i like my gainy sounds, and this thing deals out enough with gain between 3 and four. after that it starts sounding more like a fuzzbox than a usable overdrive, but with the gain there, i really like the sound. bass on 7, mid on 4, treble on 7, volume on 6. channel 3 is much louder on 6 than channel four on 6. the other guitarist in my band plays through an 82 jcm 800 stack, and the sounds are simillar, but the carvin is a bit tighter sounding. The only problem i have with it is that it feeds back easily at a really high pitch which caused my to use my broadband eq on it. THE BROADBAND EQ IS MY SECRET TO GOOD SOUND! please do not read any further because these are a couple of my most dear personal secrets to good sound...

i use a 10 band grapic eq in the master effects loop of the quad x (my effects go in the parallel reverb loop) with the above settings, here are the main events in graphic eqing. If you are playing more complex chords SHELF OUT (-6 to -8 dBV) the available frequency between 200 and 250 Hz and your sound will be much clearer. 250 Hz is the "MUD" frequency. If you are experiencing the high pitched feedback like i am shelf out 4 kHz (-6 to -8 dBV) this is the "harsh" frequency, it also prevents the undesireable kind of feedback from the quad x. now you can play with the remaining eq as if they were the tone controls in your amp without the mud sound and the harsh high-mid sound that hurts the ears at high levels. (by the way i picked up the eq for $25 at a pawn shop and it was the best thing i've added to my setup)
the noisegate is adequate.
by the way i also play through a peavey cs400 power amp and a classic 412es cabinet.
What i like the best about this preamp is the responsive feel of the notes when i play it. The palm muting sound with overdrive is punchy and clear, perfect. I would give this an 8 3/4 for sound but they don't have that option. great sounding, very versatile unit, for a third of the price of it's peers!
oh yeah, the channel switching is flawless, no pauses!

Four Channels-two clean, two dirty; Noise Gate; assignable spring reverb; assignable five channel eq; cloaking filter; bright switch; boost switch; master reverb loop (parallel); master effects loop(serial); dedicated effects loops on each channel; stereo effect capability; active channel eq...
A good, but pricy feature; every channel has its own dedicated tubes, so if you want to change tubes for a different clean sound, but like the distortion as is (or vice versa), don't worry about it, just change the appropriate tubes and leave the other ones.

haven't owned it long enough yet! KEEP IT IN A GOOD RACK CASE! Because the channels have their own dedicated tubes, if one burns out on stage, you could still use the other channels which would be unaffected, and all would not be lost!

This is a discontinued model, but carvin still answered my questions about it promply and accurately. They even sent me a free schematic of the footswitch (because i didn't have one) so i could build one. i eventually found one though.

I like this thing. I don't necessarily think it is the best thing out there, but for it's price compared to its peers which i suppose is the boogie studio, formula, and quad preamps, soldano preamp, and the engl 250 etc, none of which i tried, it appears to be a real bargain! I've tried the peavey tube fex (more of an effects unit) and the yamaha dg 1000, and this thing kills them both (mainly because they are both crappy, not specifically because this is awesome, though it is really good) but still i haven't tried the mesa/boogie counterparts.

i love the feel, punch of the palm mutings, huge amount of control you are given in the way of eq and effects, and the sound!

I hate that feedback, even though i have figured out how to avoid it almost entirely, it still bugs me that it's there...somewhere...