Carvin Quad X-Amp Tube Preamp

Very easy to use. Right out of the box I was able to get the sounds I was looking for. Its set up like any "regular" amp but with 4 channels instead of 1 or 2. The manual is simple and stright forward. Mine was made in 12/92 and is midi-capable; there are other units which are not midi-equiped. (midi is only used to switch channels)

Since I bought mine used, I cant fault the unit for the litle bit of noise that I get on channel 4 (after 11 stages of gain!). A tube change to a high quality 12ax7 is on order. The real problem I have with noise is the reverb. On or off; knob on 1 or 10 the reverb hums VERY bad. When I put a patch cable from ext. rev. send to ext. rev. rtn. the noise vanished. Channel 1 is the "classic clean" channel. I looped an ART Levelar (tube compressor) in and its the fullest, cleanest clean I have ever had....beautiful. Channel 2 is the "warm clean" channel. Since I was so happy with channel 1, I looped a Chandler Tube Driver into ch 2. Now I have this perfect, just breaking up "Fender" type sound. Of course the overdrive is fully adjustable so I go from just a little OD to a Killer bluesy tone. Channel 3 is the "crunch" channel. It does just that. A knob for over drive dials in just the right amount drive. Had to loop in a micro parametric EQ to get rid of some nasty freq's in the 100Hz area. (The "Cloak" wouldnt do it.) Channel 4 is the "sustain" channel. I dont have anything looped into ch 4. This channel kills all by its self. It uses 11 stages of 12ax7 gain and is never past 7-8. Having been mixed by top name soundmen to bartenders, I use the on-board graphic as a solo boost. Pretty much a flat line about 6dB above 0. I'm ALWAYS heard at solo time. The Quad has 2 f/x loops. The serial marked "master" and the parallel is marked "external reverb". (This is in addition to an f/x loop for EACH chanel). I put pretty much everything through the parallel loop to keep most of the sound dry.

This unit is really quite simple. Thus, reliable. Ive only used it for a short time, but never a problem. It is the heart (brain?) of my rig. It has a stereo AND a mono output. The stereo side goes to a Carvin Tube 100 power amp, and the mono output goes to the f/x return on my Carvin Bel-Air 2x12. The Bel-Air I guess is the back-up. In my experience, all Carvin gear is very reliable.

I have talked with Carvin a few times and they're always helpful and friendly. It seems that most of the people I've talked with were owners too. I bought this amp used and without the footswitch. The FS-77 is the only way to change anything on the amp, unless you have a third arm free while youre playing. I thought I could build the footswitch my self so I asked them to fax me the wiring diagram... no problem! (although building the footswitch is cost-prohibitive!)

This is the pre-amp I would have designed if I had the ability. Its so well thought out and made! The tones are rich, full, tubey, killer. It is VERY much like owning a Fender, Marshall, and Boogie...REALLY. I compared it to the boogie Tri-axis and it is so much easier to use! The difference in sound was negligable...especially when you factor in the price. I wish it had the reverb from the Bel-air, but theres no way it would fit (2 rack spaces). Also, if the graphic and the main loops were midi accessable, I would probably go with a midi controller, but its fine without. I think Carvin discontinued it so buy asap.

Upom plugging my guitar into the Carvin I was nailing out Steve Vai like tones in minutes. The tones on the sustain channel were HHHUUUGGGEEEE...and further enhanced by the 5-band graphic EQ at the end. I would recommend this to anyone who suffers from wimpy-tone, crap distortion, flat lead sounds. The manual was extremely comprehensive and easy to understand. The Quad-X boast lots of useful features like 4-channels (2-clean and 2-distorted), 5-band graphic EQ (assignable to any channel, programmable accutronics reverb, 6 FX loops, 9-tubes, midi compatable, boost and bright switches, studio quality noise gate, stereo outputs, miked cabinet emulator (for recording)......And what's even better: IT LOOKS COOL!

The distortion is amazing....you can get literally thousands of different sounds out of just one channel.....bearing in mind there are two distortion channels. My favourite has got to be the sustain channel...it shreds!. Even with the gain on full the amp remained noise free due to the noise gate which can be switched on and off....to be honest, I had a LOT of trouble trying to get a bad sound out of it....they're all cool

Reliable?...well, it hasn't let me down yet and I've used it on gigs all over the country....I just go straight into the carvin with a Midiverb in the master FX loop into a Marshall power amp....hasn't let me down yet.

I haven't needed to get it repaired yet but it does come with 18 month warranty and a check list in the manual for dealing with tube problems....I have dealt with the Carvin corporation and they were very helpful.....I ordered my carvin from The showroom in Esconsido CA and they had it delivered to my hotel in SF within 24 hours...not bad huh? (of course I had to pay for it!)

Well, what can I say? I love my Carvin.....I would buy it again given the choice...if you're thinking of getting one,,,,do it! THEY RULE!!!!