Carvin SX-200

The amp puts out 150 watts. It uses two of Carvin's British 12" speakers that are rated at 100 watts each. There are two channels, one which has a selectable overdrive (on/off). So you have the option of two different clean channels or a clean and an overdriven. It has the option for a pedal that switches channels, one that turns the effects loop on and off (or if nothing is in the effects loop it is a -10 dB attenuator), and one that turns the built in reverb on and off. There is also a headphones jack.

My main guitar is a older Ibanez JS with a EMG-81 humbucker in the bridge. I have a pretty heavy tone just using that guitar, this amp, and a BOSS DS-1 distortion pedal. I rarely use the built in distortion, but it does sound good except it's pretty damn noisy. With my Strat the clean tone is excellent. I don't get any kind of noise at all even with the DS-1 on. Like someone said in another review it is a little bass heavy. But the EQ can fix that in a hurry. It's LOUD as hell but still sounds good doing it.

I really don't think there is much that could hurt this amp. It's built like a tank. It's never let me down.

Never had a problem with it so I can't really say.

I've been playing around 8 years. I've played a few other amps but see no reason to switch. This amp does everything I could ask for. There really isn't anything I don't like about it.

My amp is only about 5 months old, and it has served me well. I play mostly heavy rock and blues. It has two channels with separate inputs and a foot switch that switches between the two channels. I would like it if it had stereo operation so that I wouldn't have to use a Y splitter, but that's no big deal. It has an effects loop that renders my Zoom 505 useless (more than it already is) with feedback if it isn't set to the tuning mode, I don't know why. I hardly ever use the headphone jack, although it comes in handy for occasional late night playing. It has four effects; Reverb, Echo, Chorus, and Flange. Flange and Echo are pretty much useless, but I wonder how I ever lived without Reverb and Chorus. And the intensity dial for the effectiveness of the effect is useful. The power of this amp never ceases to amaze me. Whenever I go to band practice, I never have a problem of being the loudest. 100 watts goes a long way. Since it's solid state, I don't have to worry about weight or longevity

I use a Samick SG and a custom made SG. It sounds best with the Samick because my custom made SG has single coils, which don't work well with this amp. Humbuckers sound fantastic through the tube simulation distortion, and the bass control can make every power chord shake the floor. This amp is best suited for heavy rock, due its natural high volume operation. I wish it could clean up a little better when I turn down the volume control on my guitar so I could do Black Sabbath's Children of the Sea a little better. But that's what the Tony Iommi Laney amp is for. The operation is surprisingly quiet, even with a wah pedal. The clean channel sounds pretty good, turning the bass control all the way up can make single notes shake the earth, making it excellent for doing Bassically (the intro to Black Sabbath's N.I.B.)and sounding like a bass.

Well, the electronics are very sturdy, and will probably go forever. The speakers are Carvin British series and aren't showing signs of ratting out yet, although I don't play loud too often. I had a problem of the speaker cable jostling around causing the sound to fade out occasionally, but some duct tape took care of that problem. If I were to gig with it, I would probably get a technician to look over it and catch any problems early since this is my only amp.

I haven't had to deal with them much. The only time I've ever had to contact Carvin was to buy the stuff in the first place.

I've been playing for two years, this is my first "reliable" amp. My other amp blew out the speakers after playing at full volume only once. If this amp were stolen, I don't know what I'd do. I couldn't afford another one for quite some time, and by then I'd probably try to get something else. Not because I don't like the amp, I do, but just for something different.

2 channel, solid state 100 watt, 2x12 combo amp with efx loop, headphone out, preamp out, extra spkr cab out. This is the older one with gray carpet type covering.

I use mine in my garage and in churches with up to about 600 seat capacity. always have plenty of volume without cranking it. cabinet noises are non-existant. I have never had noise (hum) problems.

I mostly play clean electric and acoustic thru it and the clean sound with a strat is just stunning. I frankly don't care much for the distortion circuit unless I crank the amp. It kind of reminds me of AC/DC from the BIB era. I use an efx box for all processing anyway.

I use mostly the front humbucker on my Yamaha Tele for a bright clean sound with this amp. The amp is almost silent by itself and most of my gtr playing friends have commented on this. It does have a broad spectrum of eq possiblities with the four band eq and boost/cut switch. Both channels can be clean and do not distort easily. I have to crank it to about 75% to get loud enough to overdrive the amp/spkrs. It is deafening at about 50% volume anyway. I actually bought a second SX-200 to get stereo and found that running both at just under 30% volume gives me all the volume i need, or at least enough to drown out the drummer in a large room while i am standing next to the kit and the amps are 6' away pointing at the room and not me.

I've already banged it around quite a bit and never a problem.
No backup amp needed. you can get these used on ebay for under $300.

never called 'em. don't have a warranty. doubt if i'll ever need one.
the only thing that i could predict is that if you find one used and it does not sound right, have a tech clean it up and maybe, just maybe you might want to order 2 more carvin british 12's if someone else has abused the spkrs.

I've been playing for 15 years. I've had Fender amps and used many others. If this amp were stolen or lost I've already got another to replace it. If both were gone, I don't think that I would rest until I got another. This is the cleanest (and uncolored) sounding amp that I have ever used. I even got rid of my Fender after I tried them both out for a while.

this amp was made in California & shipped to my house in NY is about 3-4 days, thats all the way across the country in 4 days!!!

im using a 1972 Telecaster Custom, it only has 1 neck pickup & a humbucker for bridge, usually the neck pick up would be weak but this amp helps it out alot & you can't tell thats it only have 1 pick up!

well i only dropped it twice so far <it wasn't my fault either> and it still works fine.

when i ordered this amp it came with a free FS-2 footswitch & when it came the footswitch didn't come with it, so i called Carvin & it came a couple days later!

this amp is not gunna blow its speakers, each speaker can go to 100 watts each but they're set at 50watts each so they'll never blow & it will always be loud enough.

Very easy to dial in. No complaints. Manual is OK, but the amp is pretty self explanitory.

Great little amp! I have used it at low volume while practicing, and cranked it up in a full auditorium, and everything in between. Sound is superb at all levels. For solid state, you can't beat the distortion. I used to play through a Fender solid state, which had terrible distortion. This one is not that way at all. I am very impressed, and the only reason for using outisde distortion pedals is if you want a little warmer sound. Clean channel is very clean. The amp is advertised as dual channel, allowing multiple instruments (i.e. electric and acoustic) to be plugged in at once. This works fine, but when the overdrive is turned down on the distortion channel you lose all of your gain. This is my one and only complaint with ths great little amp, and the only reason I didn't give it a 10 for sound.

Never had a problem in the year that I've had it. That's really not long enough to comment though, so I will pass for now.

Again, I've never had problem, so this is hard. I did lose my manual, and Carvin has a web-site where I downloaded a new one with no problem. Based on this, I will give them a 10. I like Carvin's web access... all the info you need is right there. You can even shop online with the best prices I have seen.

I will give it a 10 overall. For the money, this is one of the best amps I have seen. Very solid, and worth every penny. And it looks sweet too (tan vinyl with black accents).

Ok...older SX-200...carpeted...no DSP, just a reverb...3 button footswitch w/LED's...switchable effects loop...100 watts...POWER!

I use this thing with a mongrel Kramer focus 2000 that has a different neck and a duncan Stacked Strat in the neck, and a PAF of sorts in the bridge. This guitar sounds HEAVY through this amp. It's like a Marshall, only so much better...this thing has bottom end that Marshalls can only dream of having...and it's loud as all hell, too! And the clean channel...whoo...loud, sweet, defined, and DEEP...

Tough-ass amp. I bought it secondhand from a friend who bought it used, and it was in great shape when I got it...a little dirty, but so what? I would NEVER gig without a backup just simply because I'm not crazy!

Carvin was completly out of the loop on this one...but I've dealt with Carvin before and they are great.

I've been playing guitar since before I was in grade school, and now that I'm a Sophomore in HS, I'd tend to think I've been around this stuff for a while. This amp was a killer deal, and I'd do it again any day of the week (assuming I had an extra $120 lying around). This amp compares with any 2 channel Marshall at any price. It's that good. I've had solid-state amps before, but nothing else even comes close to this!

BUILT IN 96 & 97. (I OWN TWO)

CAREFUL. IT WILL BREAK.

QUITE HELPFUL DURING THE SALE BUT WHEN IT FAILS... I REPAIR MY OWN EQUIPMENT. THIS DOES NOT SEEM TO PLEASE THE MANUFACTURER.

PRICES ARE GREAT AND ALL THE CARVIN PRODUCTS I OWN ARE WORTH WHAT I PAID. BUT, IF THEY ERROR IN SHIPPING (PRODUCTS MISSING) YOU LOSE. IF IT'S DAMAGED IN SHIPPING YOU LOSE. IF IT BREAKS YOU PAY BIG.

This is just a note, not a review:
You're gonna have to wire your own footswitch. The footswitch jack on the amp is a male XLR. Assuming you got a Carvin footswitch with the amp (I got mine free), here's what you do: Cut off the 1/4" jack from the footswitch cable and strip the leads. Connect it to an XLR female connector so that when hooked up the ground goes to the left pin on the amp, the red lead to the right pin, and the black lead to the lower pin. The guys at Carvin said that the footswitchable effects loop doesn't work.
All trial and error...

Features 150 Watt RMS output - Dual 12" BR12 Series Speakers, 2 Channels - A - Lead Channel and B - Clean channel, Footswitch available for channel switching, Effects Loop, Low cut switch for lower level playing. SX - Tube Technology - Solid State Amp

THIS AMP SOUNDS AWESOME. I USE A FENDER STRAT WITH SINGLE COIL PICKUPS AND THE CLEAN CHANNEL IS JUST THAT. CLEAN. ON THE OTHER HAND FOR SOME SERIOUS DISTORTION THIS AMP IS THE WAY TO GO. SOUNDS BETTER THAN A TUBE AMP IF YOU ASK ME. CARVIN HAS MATCHED THAT TUBE DISTORTION SOUND AND MADE IT BETTER. FOR PUNK AND FAST HARD MUSIC, THIS AMP IS FOR YOU.

THIS THING IS BUILT TO THE HILT. WEIGHS IN AT ABOUT 60 POUNDS. NOT TO HEAVY AND NOT TO LIGHT. VERY DEPENDABLE AND TAKES A GOOD BEATING. ONE THING THAT COULD BE BETTER IS THE HANDLE. SOMETIMES I'M AFRAID THAT ITS GONNA SNAP. BUT HEY CAN'T HAVE EVERYTHING!

THE GUYS AT CARVIN WERE VERY HELPFUL WHEN I WENT TO PURCHASE THE AMP. THEY LET ME TRY IT OUT FOR HOWEVER LONG I WANTED TO ( AT THE STORE, OF COURSE) ANSWERED ALL OF MY QUESTIONS AND FITTED ME WITH THE PERFECT AMP FOR MY STYLE OF PLAYING.

I COMPARED THIS WITH FENDER AMPS, MARSHALL AMPS, AND FOR THE AMOUT I SAVED I COULD BUY ANOTHER FREAKIN' GUITAR. THIS IS THE BEST THAT YOU WILL GET FOR YOUR MONEY. I PLAY THIS AMP LOUD AND HARD AND HAVEN'T HAD A PROBLEM YET. PURCHASE THE 2 - 12" EXTENSION CABINET FOR SOME SERIOUS NOISE, AND THE BRITISH SERIES SPEAKERS (BR12) THAT CARVIN USES IN THIS AMP SOUND GNARLY. I EVEN PLAYED MY BASS THROUGH IT AND IT SOUNDED GOOD. NOW THERES A GOOD AMP. I WOULD DEFINITELY BUT IT AGAIN, ON THE SPOT!!!