Carvin Series II Valvemaster/Stagemaster

Mine is a 100 watt tube 2/12 combo using British Series Speakers. It came with 4 Sovtek 5881 power tubes and 5 Sovtek 12AX7 preamp tubes, two channels, reverb, 1/2 power switch, tube bias switch (6L6/5881 or EL34), effects loop, and cabinet voiced line-out jack. Chicken head knobs (very cool), Fuzzy black covering, and a red jewel light (I changes mine to blue). In our band we play pretty heavy Sabbathy stuff (Stoner Rock/Metal lol) and my Carvin pulls it off great.It has a warm vintage chunk on the lead channel by itself, but needs a little push to get it to an all out crunch. I use an Ibanez Metal Screamer distortion, a MXR Phase 90, and an Alesis Quadreaverb rack for everything else. This amp can be very loud and I have no trouble being heard over the drums. I run it through a 2/12 Laney cab w/ Celestions which really spreads out the sound. Sometimes I unplug the amps speakers and just use the cab for a closed-back darker sound. The clean chan. is amazing, loads of head room and a sweat haunting reverb.

I use Gibson Firebird and a BC Rich Bich most times and they go very well with the amp. It is responsive to light and heavy picking. It's controls are also very responsive, giving many tone variations throughout the dail. Solo's really cut through the mix with this amp.
I searched for a long time for a mid-priced,loud,crunchy amp. I tried a Marshall valvstate (which I hated) and even a Mashall 50 watt 2/12 combo, nothing stood out. Sure a Triple-Rectifier or jcm 900 would have worked but they are way too pricy! So, I ordered the Valvmaster sight unseen from the Carvin catalog, (cost $699)I have been very with it. It has a vintage yet modern look.
The amp is very noisy though which I don't like, even with nothing plugged into it, it will sit there and buzzzzz... Sound guys hate it, I have heard, "who's buzzing up there?" a few times! Maybe I live too close to power lines or something lol. Also, I wish the preasence controls were on the front, (they are on the back panel in the middle now) I forget they are there and could use them more often on the fly if I could get at them easier.

This amp has been pretty reliable over the 6 years I have owned it. One major breakdown was caused by me though. I would lean the amp back on a padded chair during practice and this caused one of the effects loop jacks to pull out of the circut board. Of course I did'nt know this and was very upset by the meltdown. The guys at Guitar Resurection in Austin Tx fixed it up for me. wheeew. Just recently it died again but after panicing all over, I opened it up and found that two fuses on the circut board had fried. I replaced them and it was back! I have retubed with Soveteck 6L6, but I would like to try EL34's sometime.

Ii have called the company twice. Once for the noise problem which they told me was normal (hmmm if they say so...) And again after the meldown which they had no idea. Both times Ii spent a long time on hold.

I have been playing for around 16 years, this is the first tube amp I have owned. I did play though a Creat G600 Stack for a long time but was really burned out on the solid state sound. I have many old effects laying around but I don't use that many, just the above stuff plus a Bad Horsey wah. This amp has been very good to me, I would like to buy another one and run them both! I would really love to have one of the new Carvin Legacy amps or a Mesa triple rectifier. Hope this review helps out. Thanks!

This is an all tube U.S. made 100WATT combo amp with 2 12" Carvin British Series Speakers. It features 4 Sovtek 5881 power tubes (I changed mine to Groove EL34Ls), 5 Sovtek 12AX7 preamp tubes, two channels (clean and distortion), bass/mid/treb/presence for each channel, accutronic reverb, 100/50WATT selector (50W for 'early power tube clipping' at lower volumes, tube bias switch (6L6/5881 or EL34), effects loop, 'voiced' cabinet out, two Carvin British Series Speakers, and muck more! Only thing I wish it had is a master volume control but other than that it has pretty much everything I want in a combo amp.

I'm using Ibanez Flying V with stock neck pick-up and Seymour Duncan 'Distortion' Trembucker bridge pick-up and a Carvin DC145 with two stock pick-ups (two humbuckers and a single coil in the mid). I play mostly hardrock/metal and blues. This is a very versatile amp with a KILLER TONE! The clean channel is a 'lush' sound with a lot of head room. Yes, you can get that 'Fenderish' sound but I would say that you can even get more bottom than Fender! The overdrive channel is very impressive as well! I can get that Hendrix sound with signle coil and the overdrive on 1.5, AC/DC sound with the over drive on 3 (humbucker), and Metallica sound with overdrive on 7 to 10! The key to getting great tone is to reduce the mid and treble below what you are 'visually' used to. I changed my tubes from stock Sovtek 5881 to Groove EL34Ls. Just my personal preference. As with any other tube amp, be sure to have your bias adjusted when switching power tubes. It makes a difference. I've played Mesas/Fenders/Marshalls and this Carvin actually sounds just as good as anything else on the market. I'm so happy with this amp I'm looking to buy another one just so that I can have one at the home and at the office. This is the second Carvin guitar amp I've purchased (I also have a X60 combo amp I'm extremely happy with) and I'm looking to buy other models.

I picked this up about a month a go so I can't say too much about reliability but my other Carvin amp has been giving mo no problems is the last 5 years. Since this is a stirdy amp with electronics layed out cleanly, I would expect it to be highly reliable.

Believe it or not, this is where Carvin comes to their own! Although I purchased this amp used, Carvin support staff (using the 800 number) still treated me as I just bought it new! They even gave me the original purchasing date (I gave them the S/N) and sent me a manual (they have most of the manuals in PDF online but for some reason they did not have this one...). They are extremely friendly to deal with. As far as authorized dealers go, if my amp had problems, I can either send it in or I can take it to a local amp tech. Most competent amp techs should be able to service this amp (I had my amp bias at a Mesa Boogie shop).

Needless to say, I EXTREMELY happy with this amp! I'm one of these guys that do a thorough research before I buy any product. I even look into the company, talk to employees and make sure that this is a company I want to vote for (yes, I said vote. Everytime we consumers buy or click someting, we are voting with our money and our mouse). I love the amp, the company, their business model (they are like Dell in the computer industry) and I got a killer deal!!! If you are considering this amp, I would strongly recommend it!

This amp is a 1995 2-channel all tube 50/100 watt do everything for you amp.It is extremely versatile since you can change tubes from 5881/6L6 T0 EL84'S, and switch wattage from 50 to 100 watts.There is an ohm switch for 4,8,or16 ohm speakers. It has a line out jack and acoustic presence switch for each channel in the rear.This is similar to a treble but has more clarity.There is also an effects in and out jack. The second channel is high gain overdrive .This channel has a push-pull mid boost on the vol that adds a driving gain to the sound in the out position and more of a glassy speaker breaking up sound in the in position.I play mostly at home and don't need to shake the walls ,but it's nice to have a high power amp to fool around with

I use a fender strat with single coils and don't find it noisy. The louder you play the better it sounds. This amp has tone forever. The 5881 tubes give it a softer feel. I play blues and 60's rock , but feel any style can be played.The clean channel is clean through and through and I don't play it loud enough to distort. The overdrive channel sings with sustain.I would recomend this amp to any one who plays rock or blue or country. It has stock carvin british style speakers that are made by emenince.Most of the amp co's use eminence made to their specs. I changed them to Celestion G12M75 and you can tell the difference in the quality of sound.They used to come stock with Celestions but don't any more.

The amp has never broken down, but would recomend to anyone to always use a back up when using tube amps.A tube can go out any time your playing. I maintain my gear well to avoid breakdowns.This amp is engineered well and built with no ic's for a pure tone. It takes a little getting used to and patience to dial in the right tone. I own the vintage 33 and appreciate the developement that went into these. They are top quality !

I have called the company for manuals and they are very helpful.They are located here in Calif. and I have 3 stores in my vicinity. I t wouldn't be a problem to have them repaired. They don't use middle men to sell their product which keeps the price down, and probably difficult for them to get endorsements for better sales. If more people knew of their product and took the time to study how they are built ,they would most likely become a little more known. Their guitars are beautiful instruments also.

I have played for 32yrs and these amps were replaced by the Carvin MTS3212(Master Tube Series).They redesigned the cabinet, but it's baically the same amp. You can still find them used ,as I did accidently,and when I did and woke up to Carvin, I thought I'd really missed out. I've played many different amps in 30 yrs. ,and this is one of the best. This co. has been around as long as Fender and is one of the originals. They didn't just fall off the turnip truck.One problem for people that don't live in Calif ,is they can't try them out. I own a Fender Vibrolux ,which is one of the best and has 2 -10 inch alnico speakers. They are in 2 different catagorys and can't be compared. Amps are subjective beasts that need personal scruitiny to best fit your needs.