Carvin SX-100

I purchased my first sx-100 1x12 amp direct from the factory.I use it mainly for low volume jazz gigs.Channel switching,distortion,etc.The effects I don't really use except for the reverb once in a while when I don't want to bring my pedal board.I've found over the years that most built in effects such as distortion,chorusing ,etc.usually are inferior to any pedal I might have in my arsenal.

The sound of the amp is ok for low volume jazz.You can get a nice warm sound if you really 'fiddle' with the settings.It really seems to be setup as a rock amp to be used with lots of distortion.The speaker seems a little flat sounding to me.I might change it in the near future.It does seem to distort at higher volumes(clean channel)I use mainly archtop guitars with built in humbuckers or 335 guitars.I really don't use the built in distortion.I have a nice 'boss'pedal for that if I need it.The amp is very quiet(if you have a bad cable or noisy guitar you'll really notice it with this amp)

the jury is still out on this one.This is my second amp from carvin.The first one developed a 'clicking' noise so I sent it back to the factory and they sent me a new one right away.Luckily it was still under warranty so there was no problem with the exchange.It seems to be made fairly well but not as 'solid' as my polytone or fender 'de ville' or old roland cube 100.

The customer support was very good.When I had a problem with my original purchase ,they were helpful and authorized an exchange right away.

I've been playing for over 30 years and have many amps and guitars for all types of playing situations.I originally bought this amp because I thought it was small enough and powerful enough for any jazz gig I might run across.I've found after using it awhile that while it might be an excellent amp for a funk or rock gig or record date,it's not that warm sounding as a jazz amp.I don't hate the amp but am realising that it's real potential is clear when used in those higher volume settings.

I own 2 of these amps. Both produced in the late 1980's and identical except one is a 60 Watt amp and the other is 100 Watts. They are the early SX-100 amps minus the built-in digital effects. Bought one NEW and one on EBAY. I play mostly restaurant style music which means just about everything except for highly distorted teen rock stuff. I run them in stereo using a Yamaha Magic Stomp Box. The amp has the "simulated tube distortion" which is "just OK" if you really get serious with your adjustments, but I just use the distortion of the Yamaha effects box. One feature I really like in the AMPS is the fact that the Treble, Mid & Bass controls can ADD OR SUBTRACT 15DB from the guitar contour making it possible to easily customize your sound. LOUD? These things are amazingly loud and clear. The Reverb & Effects loop work just swell. The 2 channels switch quietly. With the Yamaha stomp box tuned to DEATH METAL I sometimes pretend that I'm 17 again and "simulate" the music I hear on Thrasher Radio. This amp will really bark & bite. It's very aggressive & bright with a good effects box. It's also very responsive to tapping & harmonics. Amplifies "Scooped" tones very nicely. Yes Mabel, 61 year old guitar players can tap, get harmonics and say the word; "scooped". The Standard 12 inch Carvin Speaker has a nice full sound with sparkles on the highs. The amplifiers are quiet.

I use mostly a Strat on the Neck Pickup for mellow sounds. The amplifiers deliver nice jazz tones with plenty of clean headroom. Moving to the other pickups and utilizing a Stomp Box, the amps will amplify crazy-clean chorus, phase & flange tones as well as distorted versions of those effects. With the MagicStomp I have total versitility with the amps. The chorused strat sound on the bridge pickup in stereo is remarkable. I just use the amps as clean amplifiers & depend on the Stomp Box for effects. The amps produce all sounds true to what's delivered to the input. I wouldn't use the built-in distortion though. It's just a little wierd & solid state sounding. The reverb tank is very Fender-like and works well. The amp reminds me of a clean - really clean Fender Combo. Just be sure you have a versital Stomp Box. With the combination of the amps & the Yamaha Stomp Box I can play at quite low levels and still get some "kick" to my playing. The Sounds are quite live and non-sterile even at low levels. The blues tones makes you think Super Reverb.

The only problem I've had on these amps was that one of them developed an oxidized RCA jack going into the reverb tank and the reverb quit. I cleaned the jack and it's just fine. No other problems.

Never had a reason to deal with customer support.

I've been playing in bands since 1961. Owned 1960's Fender piggybacks, a 1965 Fender Super Reverb, a 1960's Ampeg 1x12 tube amp, an 1970's Acoustic Brand 4x10 combo. Except for the class-factor of owning the big-time amps, the little Carvins have been every bit as fine as the others and in most cases weight a lot less. I wish the SX-100 had Fender Tilt-Back Legs. This amp works swell for jazz, pop, country & distorted rock but you have to supply your own effects. The stock Carvin speaker seems to have the capacity to be a "little dark" delivering wonderful lower end guitar tones and still has some "sparkle" on the highs. It's simply a great CLEAN CHANNEL amp. You see the older SX-100's on the web for $100-200. (The newer one's don't go for much more.) It's not a beginners amp. It's worthy of gigging. It's worth noting that I treat these amps very "kindly", playing quiet gigs and I transport them with great care. If you're a 200+ Decibel Thrasher who carries your equipment loose in the back of a pickup, it may be different for you.

Yea, I'd buy the SX-100's again.

Bought mine back around 2000. Controls have a nice layout and are easy to dial in. I would like to have had a gain on the clean channel though. The cheap plastic knobs are a problem - mine started breaking and falling off almost immediately.

The clean channel is sparkly, and the dirty channel is completely controllable - it will do whatever you want.

Constant problems with this amp. There's a short somewhere in there and it cuts out. My local shop says it's a design screwup with a heavy capacitor in there and they've not been able to resolve it for more than a couple months at a time. Gotta give it a good whack when it cuts out.

Carvin makes TERRIFIC, WONDERFUL, AWESOME guitars. Got two Carvin guitars and absolutely love em. But this quality of this amp sucketh. I even called Carvin about a year after buying it, and tried to make a deal with them to exchange this amp a Bellaire and a reasonable few bucks but they wouldn't work with me at all.

The tube emulation is very realistic and I like the amp when it works, but it has severe design flaws internally.

This was made in 2002. This amp is versitile it has 4 really cool effects (echo/delay, reverb, chorus, and Flanger). It also has 2 channels. Channel 1 is the dirty channel which I found to be okay but the distortion was really weak causeI play ska/punk/metal so the distortion to me sounded weak cause Im a distortion freak. But Channel 2 which was the clean channel was excellent. I always use a Boss Metal Zone so I needed a good Clean channel to Eq the distortion. I just wish Channel 2 had better distortion. This amp is footswitchable and effect switchable which is awesome. I have used this amp on several gigs, I've played at SOMA in front of a crowd of 2000 people and this thing was so loud that I didnt need to be miced into the PA system. But my other guitar player in my band who plays a marshall half stack is always being drowned out by my 1x12 Carvin. I dont have to turn this sucker past 2-3 it is fucking loud.

I use a Fender Stratocaster with single coil pickups I play on the bridge pickup. I run my guitar through a Boss Metal Zone, a Boss Noise Suppressor, and a Boss Tuner. This thing suits my needs perfectly. I always play with distortion on so I use the amp as a way to EQ my distoriton. It sounds great. This thing is not nnoisy at all I love how quite it is even at high volumes. this amp can do punk, metal, and rock prettty much anything you want. The clean channel NEVER distorts NEVER not at any volume!!! Well the distortion built on the amp sucks. So I would reccomend a metal Zone and your set. Amp distortion sucks anyway.

I can depend on it. I have used it on my first gig last up to the last one cause it's my only amp, but it rocks. Amp has never broken down at all NEVER!!!!

Ive been playing for 3 years. I own 3 boss pedals and a strat. If it was stolen Id but another one, I love how loud it is (plent yloud) I just hate that the built in distortion sucks!!! I compared too a few others but all in all it turned out the most reliable. I just wish it had a better distortion

I got the amp in 2001 so its the older sx 100 it is a solid state amp
it has the two chanels clean and overdrive, effects loop, auxilary out, head phone jack, and the footswitch came with it i believe.
the effects that come onboard can't be changed other than the level that they are coming in at. the amp is 100w enough power to shake a whole house(I know i've done it before)

I have a Epiphone Les Paul with an EMG-81 and also an ibanez grx20 with an epiphone pickup at the bridges
i don't use any effects b/c the amp sounds so incredibaly good
i've found the sound is better than any stomp box distortion i've heard, it also sounds better than most solid state amps

i've never had any problems with the amp at all

i ordered the amp through a catalog so and i've not had to deal with customer service

Overall this is the best sounding solid state amp i've ever heard and if mine got stolen or anything like that i would be pissed b/c you can't buy the one i have anymore. but would definatly recomend the amp to anyone looking for a good sturdy solid state amp

I bought this new in at the beginning of this year, so it's a 2003 or late 2002. It's solid state, two channels with a blues switch on the dirty channel, independent digital effects for each channel, a headphone jack, a line out, and an effects loop. And, of course, it has 100 (loud) watts of power, which is really enough for anything. This could power a halfstack without breaking a sweat.

My signal path is a Carvin DC135 --> Danelectro FabTone --> SX100. There's really enough versatility here to cover any style, except for the most extreme metal.

Channel 1 is the dirty. I normally run it with the distortion on 2 for a good crunch, but there's quite a bit of gain on tap. It gets a little noisy at high gain, but hey, if you can't take some noise, don't play at high gain! The blues switch is also great for a cleaner, midrangey crunch. Extremely good sound for solid state, kicks the collective butts of other solid state amps.

Channel 2 is the clean. It's not a perfect, tubey clean, but it's crystal clear with an incredible amount of headroom.

The EQs on both channels are very responsive, and allow for a wide range of usable sounds, from jazz, to country, to punk, to classic rock, to some metal. There's also some massive volume in this thing - volume 3 is a good way to get kicked out of your apartment.

The effects are mostly very good - The reverb is a strong digital reverb, the chorus is extremely nice. I don't need a chorus pedal, because I have this. The delay is strong, though it's a bit tricky to get the precise timing you want. The flanger isn't something I use, and I can't make it sound very good. Overall, though, very good effects for having them built in.

So what's the disadvantages? It could use maybe a little more clean warmth, and the line-out isn't very good for direct recording - major EQing would be required to go from live sound to direct-out sound.

I'm giving this a 9. It blows away all the solid-state competition... except for the Carvin SX-300... ;-)

Hasn't broken yet. It's light and sturdy, and I'd trust it on a gig without a backup, though I'd always rather have a backup. It would take effort to break this.

Carvin has some of the best customer service around. I've seen complaints about them, and I have no idea what the cause is - the only way I could understand it is that if you treat them badly, they will respond in kind. If you want to see great customer service, just check out the Hollywood store - some of the nicest people around.

I've been playing for almost 4 years now. If it was stolen, I'd either buy a new one, or some other Carvin amp...

When I bought it, I looked around at other amps in the price range, and this one owned them. Carvin is about the only company left where $300 can get you something really amazing.

This is the new 2002 Black Tolex version of the amp. Wow, this amp is small! Quite a bit smaller than my old SX and lighter too. Same power, smaller package = good thing. The cabinet is poplar plywood with black tolex-style covering and metal corner protectors. The chassis is aluminum, and internally the power MOSFETs are mounted directly to the bottom of the chassis so the whole thing serves as a giant aluminum heat-sink. Much better than the finned heat-sink of my old SX that used to draw blood on a regular basis. The front panel has a plastic overlay indicating control functions, etc. There is another small plastic overlay on the back around the jacks there ? footswitch, ext. speaker, headphones and line out. The power cord is no longer removable and the speaker isn?t connected with a ?? jack anymore. The GT-12 speaker looks damn near identical to a V30 ? the ribbing, the dust cap, the magnet, the basket. Inside the amp, the circuit board is TINY! This is probably due to that fact that with SMT components you can use both sides of the PCB. The PCB is maybe 6 inches long and two inches wide. The work inside is very neat.

I fooled with the SX in the living room for about an hour, then it was off to band rehearsal. I don?t know why, but I was a little worried about the SX not getting loud enough to cut through since we have an aggressive drummer and 5 members. Stupid concern, this amp is a little brute and quickly put my fears to rest before I was even half way into the volume. I set up with the dirty volume at 4 and the clean channel at 3 and cut through the mix loud and clear.

Clean: First, the clean channel is LOUD. With the volume on 3, I had to make full use of picking dynamics to prevent stomping on everyone. The amp is sensitive to playing dynamics so it makes volume control and attack very easy to manage. As far as the tone is concerned, it was all right there. It sounds very full and thick, but still has great sparkle and jangles nicely with single coils. It can get almost too thick with ?buckers, but it is easy to EQ out. The active EQ makes for a very broad range of adjustment. It stays completely clean up until 7 on the volume ? beyond that, I don?t know because my kidneys were bleeding and I had to back it off.

Dirty: This is where the SX gets to strut its stuff. The new SX has a whole bunch of gain in there, but the news isn?t the amount of gain ? it?s the way the gain control works as you turn it up. At low settings, it is a nice fat distortion ? not thin or buzzy at all and has a good breakup. From 3 to about 7, the gain fattens even more and becomes more liquid, especially with the mids bumped. Then at about 8 and up, something totally different happens ? the gain boosts dramatically and gets an edgier, more aggressive sound. With the gain dimed, it felt like I was playing through a little Boogie Dual Rec. Scoop it and you are in nu-metal nirvana. Not my thing at all, so the gain went back to 7.5, the mids got bumped, and I was happy. The amazing thing about the dirty channel though is the TONE ? incredible for a SS amp. Good enough so that it probably would have fooled me if I didn?t know better. It was fat and thick, yet defined and aggressive. The way it has that juicy mid-range sustain and the way the notes burn just like a high-gain tube amp is amazing. It feeds back controllably and beautifully when you want. I don?t know how they did it but this is a damn fine amp. With the gain and/or treble dimed, there is quite a bit of hiss, but since I never run the amp that way it makes no difference to me. Like the clean channel, the range of EQ adjustment is very broad and there are a whole lot of great tones hiding in there.

Effects: The quality of effects is good, although they create a lot of hiss when the level is turned up past 6. The digital reverbs are passable but I still much prefer a good spring reverb. The choruses are lush and thick, and the delays are pretty good too. You can turn the effects engine on and off from the footswitch but can?t change effects. The main enemy here is noise. Not really noticeable at rehearsal levels, but somewhat distracting.

Too early to give an accurate assement, although I had my previous SX for close to ten years without so much as a hiccup, and some of that time was spent in very abusive conditions. With this new SX having SMT construction, I would guess that it will be at LEAST as reliable as my old SX...in other words it will last until I'm dead and gone.

Very good on all the occasions that I've talked to them.

Everyone in the band has made unsolicited remarks about the great tones coming out of this amp, and I have to agree. This is a huge step above previous versions, and any other SS amp I can think of for that matter. It really does sound very much like a great tube amp! However, it doesn?t ?feel? like a tube amp?most of you know what I mean, but I can?t describe it. This isn?t a bad thing; just a fact about having glowing bottles in your amp (or the lack thereof). The only thing I can pick on are the noisy effects, but I will rarely use them anyway. The volume and headroom are staggering for such a tiny amp, and I just can?t see anyone needing more amp unless the members of your band engage in volume competitions. This is the perfect amp for someone like me ? small, light, loud, and toneful, with SS reliability to drag back and forth to band rehearsal twice a week in crappy weather. I highly recommend it.

I bought my Carvin SX-100 in 1988, so it's been rockin' for 13 years now. The two channels, one with overdrive if desired, and the other clean, provide good versatility for all styles from clean strumming to hard rock chunk and leads. It has a stereo headphone jack which does not automatically disable the built-in speaker, an effects loop, and a direct line out (1/4 inch). I also opted for the 3-button footswitch which controls channel selection, reverb (on/off) and the effects loop. The amp does not have the built-in effects like the newer Carvin SX series (SX-100D, SX-200D, etc) but I use pedals anyway. The only feature I wish it had was a foot controller for the bass cut feature on the overdrive channel.
I use this baby every week at rehearsal in addition to live gigs. At live gigs I run an extension cabinet (another 12" British Series Carvin speaker plus a 12" subwoofer) off the second output jack. This amp has more than enough power for rehearsal and for gigs like bars and small clubs. In fact I've never had to turn the volume past 4, unless I want to rattle peoples fillings. The amplification comes from solid state MOSFET circuitry, 100W rms.

I play mainly heavy distortion using Ibanez guitars with Powersound pickups through a Boss Metal Zone pedal. I am able to achieve thunderously heavy power chords as well as screeching harmonics and bright leads, much of which is due to the Metal Zone. The tone knobs on the amp (bass, mid, treble and presence) have a wide range of control as well. The built-in overdrive is not really suitable for heavy metal.
I also plug in my Squier Telecaster when I am jamming with friends, in which cases I generally run straight in and use the amp's overdrive. I get nice response in all frequency ranges.
The mechanical spring reverb sounds good and is very controllable from ever so slight to sounding like your playing in a racquetball court.
The only improvement I would like in tone is for the equalization to remain unchanged from low to high volume. I guess any amp/speaker combination will sound different when driven as opposed to low volume. The difference isn't huge but is noticeable.

This amp has never let me down. I specifically sought a solid state amp as opposed to tube because of the reliability. Frankly I have never heard a tube amp that had tone I liked without effects, so why pay more just to say I have a tube amp? As I said before, this is my rehearsal and gig amp, so I trust it as the only amp I travel with.
The only maintenance needed was cleaning of the knobs, which I did myself with electronics cleaner. Worked like a charm.
Even with the extension cabinet running the amp never gets too hot to the point I am concerned.

I've never had to deal with Carvin with respect to this amp. No repairs, no warranty work, so I can't comment on that. There is a Carvin outlet really close by and when I go in for other things they are always very helpful. They seem to put my satisfaction before the dollar amount of a sale.

I've been playing guitar for almost fifteen years. When at home I practice through a little Peavey Rage practice amp. In a bind, I could use the 50W Peavey Head that has been used for about 5 hours over the last 10 years. The main reason I chose Carvin was the experience my friend had with his full stack (envious). The price was very competitive for a 100W combo.
I love the reliability, power, and versatility of this amp. It is pretty compact and lightweight compared to others. I also tried amps by Crate, Peavey, and Mesa/Boogie. This one did what I needed for the best price.
If this amp were ever lost or stolen, I would first bust heads, then I would probably go to my local Carvin store and buy another SX. I might opt for the SX-200D, which is essentially an SX-100D in a 2x12 combo.
The only other feature I with this amp had was a way to coltrol the overdrive level with the footswitch, but I don't know if any other amps have that capability either.

This is the new Black Tolex SX-100 2002 version. It's a 2 channel 100 watt solid state amp with 1 12" speaker. It's a versatile beast that gets great clean sounds and a whole gamut of dirty ones. It has a lot more fire than the previous versions of this amp. The overdrives are way more viscious and way more versatile. The drive control on the "hot" channel not only increases the overdrive but also adds bite growl and gnarliness depending on where you set it. The old version just seemed to have one basic distortion character that increased to saturation. This one has many different attitudes as you crank the Drive control. The footswitch works well. It's quiet and instant. No "fallout" while waiting for switching. Drive Channel has Drive, Bass, Middle, Treble and Volume controls. Clean has just Volume. Bass, Middle and Treble. These are active tone controls that greatly vary the sound. The FX section has Select, Adjust and Level knobs. It has only one input and footswitchable channel-switching. There is a direct out and Headphone out on the back as well as an ext. speaker

I am using the amp with a Godin LGXT and a bunch of Boss stompers. I run real quiet and "mike" the amp through the mains and monitors. The amp performs well, but it does have a high end "digital" hiss to it. This increases if you use the Effects. I EQ it out at the board, but it could be a problem if you used it with the amp cranked. The effects are slightly hissy, but better than the old version. You can tweak the Effect by rotating the Select knob and then further tweak by turning the Adjust and Level knobs. This gives a tremendous amount of different FX possibilities. The Chorus is particularly good. The reverb and Delay are also good, but the Flanger is, to my ears, a bit overdone and quite noisy. The are no Presence controls in either channel and this is the one thing that they seem to have left out. Other than that there is more to this amp than before. For Classic Rock, Jazz or Blues you can't go wrong with this amp. If you play Death-Metal you'll probably go elsewhere anyways. Although with a Boss MT-2 hooked up to the front end this puppy screams amazingly well. If it weren't for the hiss I'd rate this amp a 9.8 It does sound "Tubier" than many tube amps and has that low end thump and crunch that defined an era. I think Carvin has once again outdone themselves. For the PRICE>>>>WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Carvin is really dependable stuff and if you have trouble they will help you out. I'm probably going to gig without a backup and keep a POD in my suitcase just in case. Too early to tell of course, but my get feeling is that this amp will last. The construction is solid and the cover (get it) is real nice canvas style vinyl. This amp is only 36 lbs. and is taking the place of an 86 lb. Twin. My back will last longer also.

I've dealt with Carvin many times and their techs are superb. They will solve your problems. Their phone sales have been lacking severly in the past, but lately I've had no problems. I have a mostly Carvin PA system that is fantastic and have bought numerous products from them.

I've been playing for 30 years. Wow, I'm old, but our band does everything from Nickleback all the way back to Jerry Lee Lewis and this amp does it all. I use stomp-boxes to get most of my sounds, but this amp reacts to these the same way my old Fender Tube Amps did. WELL DONE CARVIN. If you could get rid of that little hiss problem I'd let you marry my daughter. You're almost perfect.

WOW! It's been around 10 Years since I bought this amp..boy how time flys..This amp has been around the block more than once.

I bought this amp after trying out about every SS amp I could get my hands on. This one sounded the best..but back to features..

This amp has two channels one clean and the other with tube emulated distortion which also has a bass cut feature that's very handy when jammin' with a bass heavy band.

One nice feature that may have been overlooked in the other posts is that you can play through channel one and hook up a drum machine or CD (with the right chord setup) into channel two and play without one channel snubbing out the other.

Also because the two channels are so discreet I've been able to take this to small jams and use channel two (clean) as a makeshift PA and play through the other channel with good results.

The reverb sounds nice but not Fender excellent but for a SS it does mighty well.

I like the back panel features where you can use the FX loop and different speaker hookups for different situations.

Features are basic but cover a wide territory..

When I first got the amp I used it for the Tube style overdrive which is very convincing to an old tube fart like myself..I've rocked with this thing used it for Keyboards and vocals and just have had a great time with it.

Now I'm playing blues, Older Rock and some country.. the one thing I've found out over the years about this amp is that the sound and tone depend totally on your ability to listen and be subjective. The tone controls are active and as such can go over the top in either direction, which is a good thing.

At first I used to crank the EQ to get more bass, mid, treble or what ever, but over time I realized that cutting back on the mid can give up great Fendery tones and cutting back on bass when jammin' will allow the amp to really cut through a thick mix.

I usually use channel one with the overdrive engaged even for my clean tones..I just barely have it on for clean country and set it about 9:00 for blues and 12-3:00 for rock.

I have a bunch of old tube amps but for jammin' and playin' I take this one for the versatility it offers and I'm not tearing up a collectible piece of history.

Note With the gain cranked and the bass cut engaged you can get some reall heavy distortion, but I wouldn't say this is a Metal style amp.. all the other styles it does well..

Someone said that it had mediocre tone..well NOT TRUE although tone is subjective..Run this baby throught different cabs and speakers and you get an idea of what she can really do.

Running just the single 12 supplied with it you just get 50 watts but ad an additional 8 ohm speaker and look out! Now you're in the 100 watt terrritory..

BTW after 5-6 years I finally blew up the stock speaker..When I took it out the surround was in threads. I litterallly ripped this speaker up over the first 5 years or so..did I mention that I've also tried playing bass through this unit?

OK, I had to replace the speaker, which I was partly to blame, but also It really was a crappy speaker and I had never thought about replacing it because it was passable..big mistake..as soon as I started auditioning speakers it became apparent that I should have replaced the speaker years ago for the great tone some of them displayed with this amp.

I ended up choosing the Mesa Black Shadow 150 watt Monster..what a difference a good speaker makes!! It opened up this amp in a way I would have never guessed and made it so much more usable and realistic in the tones it gives up.

My .02 worth of advice, change speaker before ditching amp.

Overall nice sounding amp with lots of tone options

Well after all this time I've had no problems except the speaker..see above.

I bought this amp when they first became available and had to wait 6 months to get it in my hands as they were just comming up on the production line..totally reliable and I've hammered this thing time and again for years..cudos to Carvin

They've been really nice on other products and were helpful when I purchased this amp..never had to send any of their products back for service

Playing over 30 years, I own around 18 other amps all of them tube amps this is my only SS.

If it were stolen would I buy again? Yes

I love the versatillity and Tone and the fact that I does many things very well.

I compared it to every other SS I could get my hands on and still do and it still comes up a winner..even over the new batch of Fenders, Peaveys, etc..

If you have low bucks and great taste get one..I haven't tried the ones with the digital effects but if the basic tone is there and all else being equal I would bet they are great!