Carvin X100B

The Crvin x-100B is a 100 watt, two channel, tube head with reverb and a five band graphic eq. It uses the same bass, midrange, treble and presence controls for each chanel. The eq is switchable between the lead and rythm chanels. It uses 4 6l6GC output tubes(curently sventlanas) and 3 12ax7 preamp tubes. Power is switchable between 25-50-100%. I have put a mullard in the predriver position, which improved the tone.

The only guitar I have used with this amp is my Epiphone g-400(SG), with the factory humbuckers. Lately I have been tuning down a fifth. I use a Carvin 4X12 with Carvin speakers. I play Hardcore Punk and Sluge Core. I have not played this amp for more than 10 minutes with out the either full distortion or the use of a pedal. With the right eq I can get a very thick, brutal tone, that works great for bar cords. I have had problems EQing out an undesirable "poping" distortion in the upper bass. I have also had poor luck getting a good sound with a distortion or multieffect pedal. By the time I have the amp EQed to sound good for what I play(almost full midrange cut) it is just barly loud enough to play with a moderatly loud drumer.

I have replaced all of the tubes with in the last 6 months and can depend on this amp.

I e-mailed Carvin to ask for a schematic because I wanted to give the amp a good check up and consider some modifications. They where friendly and sent me a photocopy of the manual, but they left of the page with the schematic(I got doubles of anouther page). I have not goten around to asking for another copy

I have played for abought five years. I traded in the Peavey transtube studio pro that I was using as a head to buy this. In some ways the 65 watt Peavey actualy outperformed the carvin. I am looking for a solid state head with very high power output, I would like to have two half stacks

This was an early 80's head with the script logo. The same head that was used by Frank Zappa and Steve Vai during this period. My head had EL-34's in the power section, some have 6L6's. See the previous reviews for the rest of the features.

I've played A Jackson Dinky Strat with Hot Rails in the Neck and Jeff Beck in the Bridge and a G&L S-500 with the magnetic single coils and then after I upgraded hot rails in the Neck and cool rails in the Bridge. It's hard to classify a style of music that we play except ORIGINAL. We hit nearly everything from blues, jazz, funk, fusion, rock, metal, no pop or country. Anyway, the amp is very versatile with a wide variety of FAT tube distortion sounds on the lead channel. You can go from a Vintage Fender "clean" sound to Marshall easily, but not quite up to a Soldano distortion.If I had to pick the closest, it sounds much like the new Fender Pro-Sonics distortion. The Clean channel is almost too clean (which is ironic since that is one of the reasons I bought the amp). Full and warm with TONS of bottom end. On 100% thru my Rivera 4x12 with Celestion G12L-55's it doesn't break up. With the power setting on 50% it breaks up more, and with the power setting on 25% it gets a muddy Mesa Dual Rectifier (with the tube rectifier being used) type of sound. I also played this head thru an open back 2x12 with Kendrick GreenFrames in it. In this set up, the speakers distorted even on the clean channel. This I would venture to say would be a more sought after "clean" sound for most guitarist, but the bass had to be turned way down to keep the sound from being "floppy". My opinion of this amp is that it is more suited for a rythm guitar player because of it's HUGE bottom end and FAT tone. But it does well for lead with a tube screamer.

Solid and dependable. Lugged it around everywhere for about 6 months with no problems.

I called to ask a representative questions concerning their speakers and speaker cabs. Either the representative I talked to was having a bad day or was tired of dealing with idiots all day and was rather rude and not very helpful. Who knows. I never called back.

I've been playing "seriously" for about a year. I've played on a wide variety of amps and gear and do have quite a bit of knowledge of the various tonal characteristics of most of the well-known manufacturers lines of equipment. If I had to complain or make a suggestion, I'd make it a 3-channel amp. One for the awesome clean channel and two distortion channels so you could change by footswitch from a lower distortion setting to a higher one. I tried out quite a few Fender, Mesa, Rivera, Marshall (to name a few) amps before I decided on this one. For the price, I don't think it can be beat. If you can find one, it's definately worth checking out. I just sold mine two weeks ago for money to buy a Rivera R-30 combo amp so I'd have something to play at home(Review to come after a few months). I sold it to a friend who will hopefully sell it back to me when I get some more money saved up, I already miss it.

This Head is A Series Three Carvin X100-B made in Early 80's. It has two Channels(Clean and Lead) with a bright switch and a volume boost switch for lead channel. 5 band Eq switchable from lead to Clean. It is all tube, 100 watts with a 100%/60% switch. Preamp out Power amp in slave amp out

I use the apm with a Custom Jackson and an Ibanez S series Guitar connect to a marshall 1960B cab. I play a wide range of style blues-pop-metal. I feel the lead channel has let me down. All I can get out of it is a fuzz tone type distortion. The clean channel however is one of the best I heard. When I got the head I knew I would be let down on the distortion side. I plan on using a boss metal zone on the clean channel to eleveate the crappy distortion problem. It is no big deal I used a metal zone on Marshall JCM900 50 watt Head for years. I always like the metal zone through the clean side of most tubes heads. The distortion on most amps are lacking the sounds I like. I believe the amp performs well at most ranges of volume levels. It seams to really shine cranked up. As most tube amps do.

I pretty sureI can depend on it. It has just been gone over and many caps replaced along with the tubes. But as always I have something just in case of problems.

I havent really had any problems with carvinfrom stuff I bought in the past. This amp however (x100-b) has so many changes during the years of thier production. The year of the head it had somthing like four revisions. It took several time to get the correct schematics for it from carvin and the preamp section was never the right one. Maybye this is why the distortion channel sucks so bad. They could never get what they were looking for. I have heard some late 80's ones that had a much better distortion channel but then they switched to the selling 3200 master series amps.

I have been playin for around twelve years now. If it were stolen I would probably try to look around to see what else I could find but that doesnt mean I wouldnt by it again. For the money it is a very good tube amp with lots of power. The distortion just sucks on mine. I have owned Marshall JCM 900 50 watt head before. Various rack gear.Currently I primarley using My Digitech 2112 with a Mesa 2:90 Power amp. Although I love the sounds my rack gear produces nothing gives you the sound or feel of an all tube head cranked.

There are many solid features included with the X100B. For instance, Two channels, primarily clean and distorion, a five band EQ with control over 75Hz,150Hz,500Hz,1500Hz and 3000Hz. The footswitch allows you to use the effects loop, change channels and activate the built in spring reverb. I use the middle button on the footswitch (the effects loop button) as a volume cut/boost.

I play 3 guitars 1. American Strat with the stock single coil pickups, 2. An Ibanez S Series with a Humbucker and single coil. 3. An American Strat Hotrod with a Dimarzio Humbucker in the bridge position, a Lace Sensor in the middle and the stock single coil in the top position. I use the latter primarily and play 60's 70's and 80's Rock in a Local Cover band.

I would have to rate this very high. As I stated earlier I play in a Local Cover Band and we play about 100 shows per year. Thats 3 sets per night, 1-hour per set. I have owned this amp a little over 2 years and bought it USED to-boot. It has groove tubes (ho-hum) it still sounds very good.

I have dealt with customer service 1 time and not with a problem just buying some other stuff. The service person was very curteous be did not seem to know what products were available much less any "JUICE" on there stuff.

I am 32 yrs old and have been playing since I was about 12. Wow thats 20 years. I have played several Tube Amps and some Solid State. I am primarily a 1/2 Stack Player and have played Marshall JCM-800, Marshall JMP (Pre-Amp), and Blackface Twin Reverbs. Of all of the amps in this category I have to say that the Carvin is my favorite and here is why, The Carvin clean sound is phenominal, I use slight Chorus and Delay for my clean sound and it sound great. I actally have tried celestion "greenbacks" with the X100B and I have to admit the dirty sound may have been slightly better that the Carvin "British" speakers, but the Celestions can't produce the clean like the Carvin CAB. For the dirty channel I play it straight with no pedals. It is not a crushing distorion but for those of us who know what it takes to have a "cutting" sound its just right. The only feature that is a little weak is the Reverb it tends to get a bit microphonic at times. Its a feature I don't use.

Many good features including footswitchable effects loop. This eliminates the problems many effects have with draining the signal coming from the instrument even when pedals are off. Also has power attenuator which is a good thing because you should rarely need to run this puppy at 100%, it's that loud. 5 band EQ assignable to clean or overdive channel. Effect level switch is a plus for some effect units. I don't really like the gray 'carpet' covering but looks ain't why I bought it. I can't think of any other features I wish it had that it doesn't already.This head is built like a brick shithouse and it weighs about a ton and a half so you better do a few 12oz. curls before loading it up!

I have used this amp in heavy metal bands with the addition of an effects processor for a bit of dirtiness on the distortion end. I have used it in an alternative band pretty much as is with only a chourus pedal. The clean sound it awesome the distortion is too but it's not a real hot hyperdistortion. If you want a great tube distortion this it will do nicely. The 5 band EQ is a great tool for shaping your sound. The active high, mid, low contol knobs are very effective also. I usually run my distortion with the 'hot rod' on to get a better sound.

No real problems. I had to bend a pin on the footswitch to make the connector work when I first got it but no problems since. Tube amps = maintenance. But it is worth it for the tone.

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If it where lost or stolen I may not replace it becuase I have been using a fender princeton chorus now for a whlie and it's alot easier to lug around than a half stack. If I wanted a tube head though I would definately consider the Cavin x100b its sound and features are a great deal.

It has 100 all tube watts, a EQ, 2 channels, effects loop, a switch to give you either 100%, 50%, OR 25%, a foot switch,and 2 inputs

I use a standard strat and i play hardcore/new school punk. it is very loud and is great for hardcore. i use a huges and kettner cab which give it more bass and sounds allot better than my old marshal. the clean channel has not distortion as high volumes. the distortion sounds just like a million dollar amp, it is the best i have ever heard period.

I've had it for a year and had no problems.

I've been play for 5 years and playing shows for 4 of the 5 and went trough many amps and i must say i dont think i'll ever sell it. whiel at the store i compared it to a mesa boogie and the sound very similar personally i would rather have the carvin because it sounded alot better.

To me this amp is a boogie knock-off. This is a good thing. The EQ is great for getting just the right amount of sizzle and punch without going on a tone safari. The effects loop is switchable. In -10db mode you can have two volumes for the lead and clean channels controlled by the foot switch.

I play a 1985 Gibson V with a kahler tremelo. The only mod. is an Ibanez pickup in the bridge wired in reverse. I play classic rock and blues covers while my own style resembles Smashing Pumpkins. I have no problem getting any sounds I want, but I do use a Peavey Classic in conjunction so a blending is happening. The amp does have the ability to sound good however the knobs are turned. At full power the clean channel is clean till the drummer starts throwing stands at you. At 25% power the clean channel gets a great Stones-ish break-up and the lead does the Steve Vai if you add some wah. The 50% power setting gives you everything in a club/rehearsal setting as far as volume.

This amp seems to run a little hot. I bought it used with a burned tube. I don't know the circumstances of that, but I've blown about four fuses at bad times. This seems to happen when I'm fuzz-facing the lead channel cranked. Go figure! But the Peavey never dies. So four Peavey zero Carvin. I do worry about it dropping out so that is a negitive.

I called the company once and to get some specs. No complaints there.

I'm 31 and I've been playing since I was 12. I've had a few good amps but this is the best. I'd definitely look for another one.

2 channels. Bass, mid, trebble. Assignable five band eq.(choose either lead or clean channel). Eq is active. Presence,reverb. Effects loop. 100/50/25% power switch. Foot switchable. Four 6L6 and three 12AX7A tubes. The four twelve cab is loded with Carvin British series speakers.(I may go to Celestion Vintage 30s in the future). Bought it in 1985.

I am using an American Strat with Texas specials and a Lone Star Strat with two Texas Specials and a Seymore Duncan pearly gates humbucker. I play blues, rock(50s-now), surf, psycedelic. This is a versitile amp with a tight punchy sound, the clean channel is VERY good and it can be turned up to about 8 before it starts distorting. It's a loud clean too. The distortion channel works well to. (I have assigned the graffic eq to the lead channel). I have gotten sounds simmilar to marshall plexi(EVH) and boogie. It is not a full on metal rager but could probably do it with a stomp box in front of it. The sound I go for is more of a blues or classic rock style. I have not noticed any niose that would be out of the ordinary for this type amp, it runs faily quiet for what it is. All in all I think this is a great sounding amp, it just doesn't have the big name.. A real good choice if you're on a budget. This a solid rocker. The amp sounds better using a Marshall Power Brake than the 100/50/25% power cut switch on the back of the the amp. Just for reference I do have two Fender amps I predominantly use for gigging only because they are smaller and easier to lug around.(they sound good too but aren't as versital).

This amp did burn out a resister in the power amp tube section and I ran it that way for a while not knowing any thing was wrong. I have had it repaired, no trouble since then. I haven't gigged with it much. (it's too much amp for what I've been doing recently and I'm between bands right now too). It's hard for me to be accurate in this catagory but every time I used it it worked.

My amp was long out of waranty when I had it repaired. I have delt with the Carvin poeple in person (the factory is 20 min. from where I live) and they have been friendly. As for waranty work I don't know how they are. They did do the repair on my amp, and I have no complaints. I paid to have it repaired since it was out of waranty.

It's hard to say whether or not I would replace it because at this time I don't nead an amp as powerfull as that,(if the price were right I would). I would deffinatly miss it if it were lost or stolen. I think the thing I like most about this amp is it's good tone, it can be made to sound Marshally and it can sound Fendery and the clean channel is one of the best around. I started playing around 1967 so I'm not exactly new to the game. If you are thinking about buying an amp try to find one of these they will probably be a bargain. Close your eyes and open your ears and judge for yourself.

2 channels, effects loop, 25/50/100% power cut switch, 4/8/16 ohm impedance switch, 5-band EQ switchable from clean to lead channel, bass/mid/treble tone controls, presence control, 3-way footswitch (channel, FX loop in/out, reverb), preamp out. Lotsa goodies; as versatile a setup as I've ever seen.

(3 12AX7's, 4 6L6GC's; currently tubed with Sovteks.) Nice sound for what I play -- basically rock with classic and alternative overtones. The clean channel, in particular, sounds great. Lead channel should probably be called "dirty rhythm;" it crunches real nicely, but just doesn't cut it for singing leads. Put a stomp box in front of the clean channel for "normal" leads, or in front of the lead channel for nasty-gnarly leads. Clean channel breaks up at about 8, but this is only usable at the 50/25% power settings, or else it's WAY loud. The EQ gives a nice range of available tones. The reverb is a little mushy, and very sensitive. Overall, though, it sounds great.

Warning! The tubes aren't locked in. Had one jump out of the back while loading into a club one night. The handle broke, too. Other than that, it's reliable as hell. Had it about 18 months with no breakdowns, and I bought it used. I use it without a backup.

N/A.

That $300 in the price is an estimate; I bought it with a Peavey 4x12 cabinet for $500. It's a great amp for what I do, but is probably a little overpowered. I drop it to 50% power and leave it there. Great clean sounds, but like I said, the lead channel leaves a little to be desired. (It's easy to mod it to use with a preamp, and that's what I'd suggest.) I got lucky; I bought it when I didn't know anything about amps. Dunno if I'd buy it again, but that's prolly because my tastes are changing. (Looking at a Bassman or Super Reverb now.)