Carvin Quad X-Amp Tube Preamp

Channel 1 is a sweet clean channel suitable for jazz or blues. Channel 2 is more of the same but has a Cloaking filter that will subdue your bass notes - I use this channel with a Boss AC-2 acoustic simulator for a really nice bright sound - the cloaking filter keeps the sound from becoming too boomy. Channel 3 is a slightly overdriven distortion that also has a cloaking filter to keep the bass notes down and helps tame the feedback when I run it through a Digitech GSP-5. Channel 4 is an awesome wall of tube distortion that I haven't heard from any other amp - great for heavy rock or metal. Channels 1 and four don't have the cloaking filter so any additional effect I use are done with channels 2 and 3.

4 channels of screaming sound - 2 clean channels and 2 overdrive/distortion channels. I never knew what I was missing until I used the array of tubes in this thing. I bought the non-midi footswitch with this that lets you select between any of the four channels and then there are on/off switches for EQ, Reverb, and External Master Effects loop.

I bought it used through the mail so it's been through the shipping department at least twice. I've had it for about 6 months and have had no problems with it at all. Obviously the person I bought it from didn't seem to suffer from problems either since it was in pristine condition when I got it.

Carvin is really good to deal with. They have a number of manuals available on-line in PDF format - including for the Quad-X amp. They have replied to most of my various question via e-mail.

I run a cheap, solid body Lotus Les Paul imitation into this amp and have a number of effects that I use on the amp's effects loop - A digitech GSP-5 is in the master effects loop, and a Boss AC-2 on channel 2's effects loop. The output goes into a Carvin CX-1272 powered mixer into 2 1584 speaker cabs. This setup gives me plenty of versatility for styles from jazz to metal. Carvin no longer makes this pre-amp (which is a shame) and I was happy to see them trading on eBay for about the same price as they were new (~$400-$500) or less. If you're looking for a tube pre-amp, this is the one to get. If mine were lost or stolen I would cry, then I would run out and buy another one right away.

I use Carvin guitars and have used this for clean to bluesy to ripp your face of gain. My primary style is rock/metal/progressive. My rock style covers every thing from blues to R&B to funk to straight ahead rock. The pre-amp has a noise gate built in to it, and it works very well. with-out the noise gate the (4th channel) sustain channel is a little noisy but remember there is mondo staiges of gain going there (11 staiges I believe for the 4th channel). The clean channel stays just that, crystal clean. the only way it will start to very little break up is if you push in the boost switch (I really never use the boost switch there is alot of gain with out it,... but I have for fun). This pre-amp will cover it all very good. Like I said clean is crystal clean, crunch is like an old tube amp pushed full tilt where you get that nice crunch, almost like an old fender pushed to hard. And the 4th channel (my favorite) is huge fat gain baby yea!!!!

This is a 4 channel Tube pre-amp with 9 tubes and 18 stages of gain. This pre-amp is very versatile. Channel 1 is clean, channel two is also clean, channel 3 is crunch, and channel 4 is sustain (I mean massive). There is also a bright switch and a boost switch which can give the clean channels just a tad of breakup and channel 3 becomes more mean and then 4 is just almost rediculous, but it is there if you want it. There is an effects loop each channel plus a master stereo effects loops and then the reverb channel can also link in for another stereo effects loop. The amount then can be controled if desired byt the reverbe volume know (patching into the reverbs stereo loop bypasses reverb). OH! and then for direct there is the cabnet voiced line out. This is probablt the best cabnet simulator out there, atleast that I have heard and I have heard a few. When I have been in the studio, engineers and producers have just flipped at how good that cabnet simulator works. I use the Carvin tube-100 power amp to power this baby. The tone of this thing is just awsome, fat, three dimentional, huge organically thick tube tone.

I have had this amp since oh I believe 1992 and it has been through lots of live gigs, recording sessions and rehersals and still is rockin. I even had my 10 space rack fall off the back of my hatch-back while unloading and hey everything still worked great. great for everything from blues to rock to funk to metal, oh and as a dirrect recording pre-amp TOP NOTCH,.... (although I still like to mike cause of the way the speakers come into play with the sound). great pre-amp.

Great customer support.

I am 34 now and have been playing since I was 12. I have 5 Carvin guitars and also a X-60 tube head, and combo, sx-15 pre-amp. Snarling Dogs Super whino wah and mold spore wah, DigiTech TSR-24S, voo doo labs Micro Vibe. Digital Music Corp. foot controler. Carvin does not make this pre-amp anymore but you can get em on ebay every once in awhile so if ya see one get it. I think I am going to get another just to have,.... hehehehe.

I'm mostly writing this review to make a note about the midi feature of this unit, that no one clearly mentioned before I bought one, in general this is a very easy to use preamp with straight ahead controls most all of us are used to. very good layout, alot of control w/ very little searching or other confusion.
and now for my rant- if your looking to buy this unit because it has "midi control" then don't, for all practical purposes it doesn't.
the midi control is one of the reasons I wanted to get one, good thing I liked it so much or I wouldn't have kept it. you will have to buy a midi octopuss/mitigator or other midi/relay device to run this in a practical way thru midi. the factory "midi control" is only channel switching(not verb, EQ, graphic, efx) and the channel switching control is worthless in that it sets up a scheme where you have to write a particular chan to a particular patch # which will drive you crazy until you give up on it. so be aware.
THIS IS A GREAT PREAMP BUT IT DOES NOT HAVE USABLE MIDI CONTROL!
look to the bottom for a solution

I use several different gtrs, mostly a couple new godins but a few vintage pieces as well, the boost feature is great w/ low output instruments. the unit is very quiet with typical noise at hi gain settings(the built in gate is pretty good as these things go)
I've tried pretty much everything except a few of the more esoteric or rediculously expensive preamps and I'm using the quad. clean sounds are important to me and this unit delivers tube character cleanly-MOST DON'T!. the quad sustains better than most and I think is one of the best "all around" units and also has its own character. I wanted to only have one preamp in my rack and this is the one that for me pulls it off, if I could afford the rack space, I would add a couple pre's, the quad doesn't cover everything perfectly but it covers ALOT of sonic ground, delivers great clean sounds and also can have a unique sound. it has been mentioned by others that trying different tubes and even having a tech go in and modify is an option and is worthwhile.

I gig w/o a backup and it seems built like a tank- no probs

I've heard they're great to deal with

I play pretty diverse music and use piezo pickups, midi gtr and lots of wierdness, I use a roland GP16(analog side only) in front of the quad and between the 2 I can replicate most gtr sounds and have a huge pallette of my own to draw from, over the last year I've bought most of the preamps out there to try and this is the one I'm using, is it perfect? no, but its damn good, I especially like its sustaining quality, and it sounds real, amp modelling just doesn;t make it live and all the preamps w/ millions of efx(can you say digitech) generally suck large, I brought home a 2120 and my wife walks into the room where I'm playing and tells me I sound like I'm playing in a tin can, I couldn't argue, it did. the quad sounds like an amp, the boogie pre's and a few others have this "presence" many don't.

and to solve the midi thing you can open up the footswitch out, make a loop box and interface it with a midi octopuss giving you total control of all switchable parameters in any midi patch

I really like this preamp but keep in mind when buying the advertised "midi control" is totally out of control

I usally play my "strat" type guitar that I built myself, its a typical strat configuration except I used two oposing single coils at the bridge and can cut one out and can also pull the bridge pickup in with the neck pickup. The Quad-X suits my musical styles fine and i am now running it through a 2X12 bottom as the half stack was just too much for what I needed. As far as noise, the Quad-X comes with an adjustable noise gate that works quite well so when your not playing you dont hear a sound out of amp as long as you have a quiet power amp, I'm using a CARVIN Tube-100 with mine (great power amp). As stated you can get just about any sound you want out of this amp and all the controls are very straight forward, and if you MIDI it with a processor you'll spend the whole evening just on one channel trying to get twenty more sound out of it. One thing I noticed after I had the amp for a while and played through some of my budies amps, the Quad-Xs tone controls work almost too good. The bass, mid and treble controls seem to produce much more gain for their frequencies than a standard tube amp. I had to back off on all of mine. I've really never gotten either of the clean channels to distort unless you crank the individual channel volume almost all the way up, but then you'll have to turn down the master volume to get them leveled with the other channels. To me the third/crunch channel get a little too saturated at full guitar volume, but it does clean up nicely when you roll the volume off on your guitar. The fourth channel can go all the way from bluesy to almost death metal (if you pull the mid range controll down), it's plently of saturation for me (4 - 12AX7s cascaded) but it might not be for you metal heads.

I purchased this amp new from CARVIN in 1992 (I think). I think the Quad-X is extremely versatile for the money because of the four independant channels (though channels 2&3 share the same 12AX7s) and for the MIDI capability. CARVIN was really smart when they engineered this amp, you can switch through all the channels, EQ, Reverb and main effects loop via their own propriatory footswitch or you can user ANY standard MIDI controller to switch through the channels. You can do just about anything with this tube preamp that utilizes nine (9) 12AXT tubes and can be run mono, stereo into a power amp or you can use the cabinet voice "button" for your headphones or to plug directly into your mixer. It has a master effects loop that is switchable, an effects loop for each channel (non switchable), switchable reverb, and EQ. When you utilize either of the foot controllers the Quad-X remembers if you have the master effects loop, EQ and reverb in or out as you switch through the channels. When you MIDI the Quad-X with a good stereo processor (I have a Digitech Studio-Quad hooked to mine) the sounds and presets are unlimited. The first and fourth channels have Bass, Mid, and Treble controls (the fourth also has a gain Control) and the second and third channels have Bass and Treble controls with the third channel also having a gain control. In essance, the first channel gives you that bright punchy clean sound, the second a clean "Fenderish" sound, the third channels is your Mesa/Fender Crunch sound and the fourth channel gives you the full saturated Marshal/Mesa sound. As stated by others on this forum, the second and third channels though useful when cranked lack something I haven't figured out yet. I am in the process of trying some different preamp tubes, like a 12AU7 or something to get a warmer sound on the second channel and a fuller, more Mesa sound on the third/crunch channel.

I used this amp to gig out for about three years, just about every week and had no problems until it fell off my half stack with the front off the SKB case it was in. It actually worked for almost a year after that until two of the pots that hit first finally fell apart. Of course this was NOT CARINS fault.

The only time this pre-amp failed was about a year after it fell off my half stack face first. I had it in an SKB case with my Digitech Studio Quad and the CARVIN Tube-100 power amp which I think probably weighs 30+ pounds. I sent it to CARVIN and ...............

......they repaired it for about $135, however when I got it back it didn't work at all, I called CARVIN they had no idea why it wouldn't work as they rigorously bench test this stuff before it gets shipped back. I got the amp back in about a week and its worked fine ever since, Ive never even had to replace a tube yet. I also own a CARVIN Belair 2x12 a couple of mics and other stuff and the only other CARVIN product I had to have repaired was a mic after I let this kid use it for his DJ stuff. Sent the mic to carvin (out of warranty) and they sent me a new one free.

I've been playing guitar and bass since 1970. My other two amps are a old vintage Gibson Hawk, and a CARVIN Belaire (I bought it used off of E-bay) If any of my CARVIN stuff were stolen I would either replace it with CARVIN equipment, unless I had more money to blow then I might get a Revira or Mesa. I compaired it mainly to the Mesa however IMHO the four channel Mesa preamp is grossly overpriced for its sound. (just my opinion) I mainly chose it for the versatility and the MIDI interface. I love the versitility of the Quad-X but I hope to change the sound charectoristics of the second and third channels, then it would be almost perfect.

If you want to try one (they don't make them anymore, unfortunately) you can probably pick one up on E-bay for under $300.

Very easy to use. Very similar to any guitar preamp, but with four selectable channels to choose from. The FS-77 footswitch makes everything very easy, because you can select channels, turn reverb and effects loops on and off, and turn the Graphic EQ on and off from the floor. One criticism: all the effects loops are "instrument level" with no send or return level controls. So matching signal levels (using only the effect) can get a little tedious on initial setups.

Four channels of tube-preamp heaven ! 9 12AX7s total !
Channel 1: Crystal Clean, Fenderish.
Channel 2: Warmer clean, like other vintage tube amps.
Channel 3: Mild distortion (they call "crunch") that is similar to a wide-open Marshall before they had overdrives. I use the graphic EQ with this channel alot to brighten it a little.
Channel 4: Thicker tube saturated distortion. Much more gain than I ever need. You get to "White Cliffs of Dover", with the drive at about "4". It just gets thicker and fuzzier from there on up !

Just about every sound, distortion and shade on the color pallette is there. The tone controls are active, so small tweaks can make a significant difference. When I first turned it on, I though: "Gee this doesn't sound very warm at all !" Then I realized that I had chosen "normal guitar amp tone knob settings", like treble at 10. With the Active tone knobs you need to start at "5" and make slight tweaks from there. Once i figured that out it sounded heavenly ! The on-board reverb is exceptionally clear, crisp and transparent. Much better than most guitar reverbs. I send the output of the Quad-X directly to the Power Amp In of my Carvin X-100 amplifier. As a bonus, I send the master effects loop through the preamp section of the X-100, so I actually have Six selectable tube Channels available. I tried out the POD and the Yamaha digital modeling amps, and they JUST DON'T give the pick-attack dynamics like a real tube amp. So that renewed my incentive to find one of these.

Looks very sturdy. But it is a tube amp. This one has now been shipped cross the country at least twice and still has the original tubes. The knobs have that "super viscous yet silky smooth" feel that I love on high-quality electronic equipment. I use it with a Carvin X-100 amp from 1979. All Carvin equipment is extremely rugged.

Good customer support, in general, but none with this unit since I bought it used. They still publish the Manual at their website.

Without a doubt, this is the best value in a tube preamp. If you can find one, grab it. Those who own them generally just don't let them go. I can't understand why Carvin discontinued it. I feel lucky to have found one in excellent condition used, with footswitch, all for only $250 + shipping.

This is easy as can be. Four channels: the first clean with a 3-band EQ, a second clean and a 'crunch' distortion sharing a 2-band EQ, and a fourth 'sustain' distortion with a 3-band EQ. Reverb and noise-gate knobs, several effects loops, but they're pretty easy to figure out. SOme buttons.

Mine's been modified a bit. At first, the second and third channels were a disappointment, but I substituted the circuit from a Matchless Hotbox tube preamp pedal, and now it produces Matchless Hotbox tones...a definite improvement. I also had a tech rerout the reverb and the distortion channels so now the reverb is all-tube, and the distortion is now less-extraneous in tube-usage...using 9 12AX7s for a moderate distortion wasn't making very efficient use to the tubes. The sustain channel is where it's at, though it's not a true square-wave as the footswitch advertises, therefore it doesn't sustain quite like a perfect square-wave should. But it sounds great for blues and rock...a sweet heat you won't find in other preamps. The first channel is warm and thick for a clean...perfect. The middle two sucked until I modded, as did the reverb.

Good studio or live effect. If I used lots of pedals, the looping-options would make it perfect for life stage use, providing up to 8 distinct effects paths, depending on channel-loop and master-loop combination. I use it for recording with an RP-20 processor, Godin Strat, and into the power amp of a Matchless SC30 combo. Sweet sounds. I also A/B it into the combo's actual input, so to get both the amp's preamp and the Carvin preamp in there. Best sound there is.

It's easy to get a good sound out of it but, it takes a few minutes per channel to get a great sound. It's all knobs and a few buttons (looks kind of like a Mesa Boogie Mark IV) so it's simple to use. The manual is only needed for MIDI implementation. Press the Cabinet Voicing switch, connect it to the mixer and BOOM!! instant miked speaker tone to tape. You just can't get easier than that.

I use PRS, Carvin, & Heartfield guitars. There is a Digitech GSP21 in the master effects loop (the day I got the Quad I hooked up the MIDI switching so I could use the Digitech footcontroller to change channels). It's run through a Carvin FET 450 power amp stereo into 2 Carvin 2x12s. The noise gate is fabulous (the best setting for it is 4). Channel 1 is a great bright clean sound. I set up channel 3 for optimal sound and use the 5-band EQ to get a useable crunch sound (channel 2 shares the same bass and treble controls as channel 3) then go back to channel 2 and just bypass the 5-band EQ and have voilla...a great warm clean. As I mentioned earlier channel 3 is just useable, I think it could use a little more gain and dynamics. Now channel 4...Liquid Singing Soaring Tone!! Spend 5 minutes with the bass, mid, and treble (don't use the 5-band EQ) and you'll have an excellent airy & dynamic sound. I personally have the effects loop on at all times and utilize the GSP21's EQs and effects to have literally 50 different sounds using the Carvin Quad as the fundamental tone generator. CABINET VOICING rules the universe (Awesome direct recording sound). Remember something though fellow guitarists: 80% of your tone comes from your fretboard fingers and your picking hand. If you sound good with a basic combo, you sound good with anything.

It's never given me a problem other than a microphonic tube but, that's a tube problem not a preamp problem.

Half the salesman know all the answers to any questions you might have, the other half...just hang up, call again and get someone else to help you. They're good with service though, just call them and let them know what's coming and what you need them to do for you. The only downside is that there's only one location for service and support, California (i'm in NY).

I play all musical styles and the Carvin preamp is really a versitile animal. Just the crunch channel could be improved everything else is a 10. I've been playing 10 years and I also have a Fender Deluxe 85 which I use for crunch when recording. If it were stolen or lost I'd buy a used Mesa Boogie Triaxis simply because it's the best and has no channel 3 compromise but, it is $1,400 so that would be finances permitting. I compared the Triaxis and Marshall JMP-1 before I bought the Carvin. The Carvin sounds better than the JMP-1 but not the Triaxis (hmm lets see $569 vs. $1,400). Overall it's great especially as a studio preamp. The cabinet voicing switch is the best direct recording sound I've ever heard. Now if you have it setup the way I have it, it's also awesome on stage because with 50 sounds...you rule. Buy one if you find one 'cause there's nothing in it's price range that can compare.

I use a Tom Anderson Drop Top with the Carvin for Direct Recording purposes only. It is great for all styles of music from jazz to meatal. A great home studio pre-amp.

4 Chanels all tube pre amp with reverb and noise gate plus 6 effects loops. Speaker Emulator, graphic EQ

The internal reverb just stoped working on day... But I have a Lexicon unit going through the Master effects Loop so it has not bothered me. It was a great sounding reverb though... I bought the unit used.... It also runs on 9 12 ax7's

They are great at Carvin. I bought the unit used for $250.00 with the pedal board and I wanted a manual. So I called Carvin and the Fed-Exed it to me the next day at no charge....

It is great for "Late Night" recordings in apartments where you can not crank up your amp at all hours of the Night... I never used the unit unit with a Power amp because that is way too much stuff to take out to a gig. I just bring my combo amp out... The sounds on this unit KILL the LINE 6 POD (direct guitar recording system) A friend of mine picked up a Carvin Quad X pre-amp at Sam Ash for $150.00 used... If you find a deal like this do not pass it up, you can not even by a distortion pedal for that price. Carvin is not producing this unit anymore... TRY ONE OUT TODAY.....

Very easy to use! Just plug in and play. I have never found a use for the effects loops (which I think are a bit more complex and unneccesary than they need to be). And I absolutly hate the MIDI set-up on this amp. But if you just plan to run it straight into a processer and power amp or directly into the mix, you'll find it to be pretty simple to operate. I felt at home with the Quad X in minutes.

The clean tones are really nice on this amp and a BOSS compression pedal can help to smooth and balance them out to utter perfection! Never found much use for the second channel (Clean 2). Channel 3 can render some real sweet tones, but I had to do a lot of tweaking and use the BOSS Compresser again to get the sound that suits me. And Channel 4, the "Lead" channel is good for what you pay, but certainly not comparable to a Marshall JCM series or a Boogie like the Carvin catalog boasts... at least in my opinion. It's quiet at high gain levels, but the "lead" channel just lacked the "tightness" I was looking for.

I've owned it for over two years now and I havn't had any problems and I don't think I ever will.

The only time I was ever in contact with "Carvin" was when I ordered the Quad X over the phone. The person In talked to was very considerate and easy to deal with. For some reason manufacturers can be a real pain to deal with. Such was not the case with Carvin.

I wasn't terribly disapointed, but I wish I had tried it out before I bought it. I wish the overdrive was a bit more smooth and "singing". I honestly felt the "Lead" channel is pretty limited. It didn't inspire me like some amps do. Yet the "Clean" channels can more than make up for the bad Overdrive ( "Bad" as far as my tastes go). Like I said before, use a BOSS Compressor on channels 1-3 and it'll sound like a dream. In fact, it's the clean tones on this amp that sell me and ti why I still have it today. Overall this is a pretty good pre amp. If you like the sound, this would be great buy since it's easy to use in a studio or Live setting ( as long as you don't need to use MIDI). But seeing as how Carvin only sells their gear Factory Direct, you'll have a hard time finding out what kind of sounds you'll get from this amp before you buy it.

Very easy to use...plug in, run a line out to your power amp, select a channel, and play! The footswitch is very nice...a seperate button for each channel, a button for reverb, a button for each channel's effects loop, and a button to patch in the graphic 5-band EQ. I bought mine used, so I didn't get a manual. With 4 channels and 5 effects loops, its perfect for even large venue gigs and concerts (providing your processor has a pedalboard of its own)

This is my second Carvin Quad X-amp. My first one got ripped off at a gig (a church gig, no less!!!!) and I just bought another...I think that speaks for itself. Once you've replaced the tubes (12AX7s, or I use 5 12AX7s and 4 12AT7s) your sound will be supperb. I'm looking for the perfect tube power-amp to compliment it, but right now its going through a solid-state power amp into a Marshall Vintage 4-12 cab. Very good sound! Originally when I first bought it I didn't have the power amp (was just getting out of combo amps) I ran the headphone jack out to the speackers...worked, but VERY noisy.

My first had big problems, but it was also bought used. The first one had some problems. The cloaking cut out at about 6, the reverb was very weak, the noise gate was very anal retentive (either it was all the way off, or it left no room for sustaining fade-outs), and channel 3 sometimes wouldn't distort (about 50% of the time). The only problem with my new one is that the noise-gate is still touchy...I might have it modified.

They're bitches. Not only did they never respond (true, I only sent email, too lazy to call), but I've also been requesting a catalog from them for over 4 months, ad they've never gotten around to sending one.

I play blues and Pink Floyd-type stuff (some metal solos) and this is a good amp. Not much more to say than that. Channel 4 is good for blues with the overdrive set at about 2, once the amp's been retubed, but its an all-purpose amp, really good for most things, not perfect for anything. I play with a Fender Strat and a custom basswood ESP-M2 (both with EMG pickups), an ARY Pro VLA tube compressor before the preamp, an ART SGX2000 Express looped on Channels 2 and 4, and a MESA V-Twin looped on channel 1. Having a tube power-amp is the only way to really get the most from this preamp (a nice compressor before the amp also helps). The number of channels and effects loops, and the ease switching them, makes this a very ideal stage preamp amp. Channel 4 with lots of overdrive makes the perfect compliment to a wah pedal. I bought it twice, and would buy it again. This has been called the guitar industry's best kept secret, and I agree. I just with they were still in production! (hard to find them used)