Product: Carvin Soundmate
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted
11/08/1999
at
02:33pm
by
Eric Eckl
Email: none
Features
:
10
The Soundmate is basically a swiss army knife for performing musicians, esp. acoustic ones. It's like the Carvin guys hooked up with those 'have it your way' guys at Burger King and gave me the amp I'd always wanted. (I'll take mine with digital effects and battery power please, hold the high pressure salesdudes and expensive brand name cachet!)
The bonus features that the competion ALWAYS seems to leave out are -- ENOUGH CHANNELS(w/ balanced *and* unbalanced inputs), individual and overall volume control, RCA ins, a clean line-out jack (so I can easily make nice recordings of the gigs), battery power, and the whole thing can be mounted on an ultimate support stand.
Did I mention that I can carry the whole thing in ONE HAND!?
Sound Quality
:
7
The amp sounds good for 10" speaker/tweeter combo, but it doesn't have the presence of a bigger speakers. It is extremely quiet, even when using battery power. Having master & channel volume control is a big +.
On more than one occasion I've played for a few hours before realizing that I was on battery power. However, you should be aware that the batteries crap out suddenly -- you're jamming right along... and then, pzzt...show over. Maybe 2 1/2, 3 hours, probably less if you're really blasting.
The amp is designed for a clean sound without extra color, so you better like the signal you're sending it, 'cause that's what you're gonna hear. It's plenty loud enough for cafes, smaller bars, churches, etc... and I have not noticed any loss of volume or sound quality when all four channels are being used as opposed to just a couple.
A modest downside is that channel one has 3 band eq, the other 3 only have two-band eq. On the plus side, channels 2-4 have balanced AND unbalanced inputs. You have a lot of effects to choose from, but you can't tweak the parameters. You can mix the effects into each channel as desired, though.
Did I mention that I can carry it in ONE HAND!?
Reliability
:
8
I hope that it will be fine... I'm a portability and simplicity fanatic and I use it without backup all the time. Being a self contained unit, there are a lot fewer cables and connections -- the usual culprits in PA situations -- to wear out, come loose, or confuse me.
Did I mention that I can carry it in ONE HAND!?
Customer Support
:
7
I have always had very good experiences with Carvin. I bought the Soundmate to replace the Carvin 100 AG I had been using (nice enough amp, but I just needed those few extra features of the soundmate...)
Did I mention that I can carry it in ONE HAND!?
Overall Rating
:
9
Bottom line, this is the amp I've always wanted -- very portable, extremely versatile, and (fingers crossed) durable. It has the key features that the competition always seems to forget, and it's priced for guys like me who play to earn the $$ to pay for it.
I show up at my gigs with a guitar, one bag of stands, cables, and miscellany, and the Carvin Soundmate. Setup and breakdown time -- 10 minutes, tops. The whole thing fits in the back of a Geo.
If a buddy or two wants to come sit in, I got enough channels for 'em. If we wanna record it, the sound though the line out is very clean. If we want to play on the street or in the woods, we can do that.
Folks, I'm happy to play RFK stadium, but you'll have to provide the PA. Hey, and did I mention that I carry the Soundmate in ONE HAND!?
