Carvin X100B

OK,
Alot of people are whining about the lack of gain and sustain, so I'll make this real easy.
If you are playing metal, get a good overdrive pedal.

There is no way of telling when these amps were made, regardless of the serial number.
I've had several carvin techs relay that to me.

Unless it has the updated logo('88), or is carpeted, you are stuck guessing!

It came with the original groove tubes 6l6GC's and 12Ax7's, but it was running super cold, so I had some ULTRA hot JJ 6l6's thrown in, and EC883's, to bring up the plate voltage pull.

I picked this amp up used from guitar center, IN MINT CONDITION!!!
They said they didn't have the footswitch, and I was out of luck.

I went back a week later and asked one of the older guys, and 10 minutes later, he walked up with the original footswitch!!!

Talk about luck!

The bias on my amp is non-adjustable (fixed), but they came both ways.
I wish I could get just a tiny bit more pull, but I am super satisfied with what I have!

Super hot matched JJ's will get you very close to the heat and distortion you are seeking.

I play an esp dv8, with a duncan dimebucker dropped in the bridge, fed to an MXR Zakk Wylde pedal, chained to a boss noise gate.

This amp is what that pedal was made for!
It brings out so much clarity and tight, punchy attack, that it'll sound like you have a different amp.

Standing alone, without my pedal, the gain is moderate.
Good for hard rock and some edgy applications, but not for the style of metal that I play.

The clean channel is definitely smooth and silky, and wakes up with a little reverb and some added chorus.

Once I step on the overdrive pedal, it's all over.

I can honestly say, that I would put this amp up against ANY Rivera, Recto, DSL, TSL, Mode Four, and beat ass.

The single note runs are smooth and pronounced as is the thuggish beatdown of power chords.

I carry spare fuses and tubes.
This amp has a fixed bias, so all I need is to drop in a matched quad, and I'm set.

It is built like a tank, but I tend to be very careful with my gear.

As with anything, preventive maintenance, is preventive maintenance.

When I called about the footswitch, they told me I would have to build my own, because they have been discontinued for over 10 years.

No problem there, a common sense answer to a stupid question!

Alot of people, especially us american's, are always wanting to get what they want, there and now.

Get used to the fact that 85% of all returns on defective equipment are due to user neglect and poor basic knowledge of electronics.

They were straight forward and quite pleasant to deal with.

I have 13 years experience with the guitar, and amplifiers.

Luckily, I have tried countless distortion and overdrive pedals over the years and know what works.

Remember that distortion, and overdrive are very different from one another, and that this amp needs a good overdrive pedal for the maximum push.

This amp clearly blows away the JCM DSL 100W, JCM 800, and the clippy blue voodoo.

I think that this amp was meant to run at hot plate voltage levels, and that you should get it suped up with a bias adjustment and some JJ tubes, and then write a review.

Your attitude will be completely different!

Oh, and this particular X100b is covered in tolex, has the old school logo, and has ZERO tears, scuffs or other blemishes.

-100 watts, switchable to 50 or 25 watts
-2 footswitchable channels
-4,8,or 16 ohm settings
-both channels share main, active EQ
-Graphic EQ assignable to either channel
-footswitchable effects loop
-pre-amp out
-footswitchable reverb (one master volume only)
-"hot rod" by pulling lead channel master
Features fit my needs well. I wish the "hot rod" feature was switchable by foot pedal. The only features I personally don't use are the pre-amp out, and the power selector. Unlike other amps I've owned/tried, the tone really seems to get dull when you try to use either the 50% or 25% power reduction. I've also read that in another review, so best to just run it @ 100 watts. Because there other amps out there now with mega features, I'll rate this category accordingly.

Very good sounding, almost awesome! The best thing about this amp is the clean and the distortion are equally as good! No need to a/b two amps on stage (i.e. Marshall for distortion/Fender for clean). Neither channel on the Carvin is as good as the aforementioned amps' strenghts, but I'll take the carvin(overall) over marshall's thin clean and fender's annoyingly middy distortion.

Clean rating:8
warm, but not the warmest;full-sounding, but not the fullest. Stays clean at pretty loud settings.

Distortion rating:8
If all you ever played was '70's rock, this channel's rating would jump up to 9.5! Great sounds for that era! This amp tends to sound best with the mids set at less than 1/2. the mids on this amp were always an issue with me. I wish the mids were a little sweeter. set @ 1/2 you get the '70's rock nailed. Turn down the mids, and you actually get a very good(but not brutal) metal sound. You just can't seem to boost the mids for a nice bluesy sound. There is enough gain for VH,G&R,'90's Grunge, and even can come real close to Metallica. Beyond that, forget it. By the way, I did replace the stock tubes with JJ E34L's and JJ EC883's(high-gain pre-amp), and that helped achieve some heavier distortion sounds.

Bottom line: very nice clean and better than average distortion.
Overall, this amp would be even better with
sweeter mids and tighter bass(on both
channels), and just a touch more gain on the
lead channel.

For anyone who wants to know the equipment I used to help judge this amp's sound,here it is:
guitars-PRS standard, Ibanez RG-something w/JB pick-ups,
Fender standard strat(stock)
speakers-4x12 Peavey w/shetfields,2x12 Avatar w/celestion
GT-75's, 2x12 Avatar w/celestion Vintage 30's,2x12
Avatar w/vintage 30 & celestion G12H(Yeah-I like Avatar)
and all combinations of above.
effects-WHO CARES!!?

I bought this amp new in 1991 and never even had to call carvin once! Not a single issue with this amp, and I've been playing this amp steady for over 13 years!

I've purchased other equipment from Carvin, and they've treated me right. I've been lucky? to not have any major problems, so I couldn't tell you how they'd be if you had a warranty issue.
Rating is based on promptness and friendliness.

I've playing since I was 12(20 yrs. now-WOW!). I've tried really hard to replace this amp(Owned dual rectifier-thin clean sound/no defination, Marshall tsl 601-crappy clean & WAYYY overrated,Carvin Legacy (kinda noisy but BEAUTIFUL tones!). I just keep coming back to my x100B. It's the versatility,quietness, and dependability that keeps me from replacing it. If it were stolen/lost, I'd be sad but I'd move on. I know there's better amps out there,unfortunately it looks like I'd be spending $1500.00+ to find it.

Update on previous review:

This amp finally died on me. It was a problem that would've cost more to fix than the amp was worth. Replaced with a Mesa Nomad 55.


All in all, I have to say that I was satisfied with my purchase of the Carvin X-100B. As a modestly priced amplifier with tone to spare, it should definitely be one to consider.
If I could go back though, I might've gone the route of an MTS or a even a Valvemaster. I guess I just need more than 2 preamp tubes to achieve some of the tones I desire.
I also wish I had the chance to throw some JJ E34L's into the thing to see if it changed my opinion on the crunch channel. As a Hot Rod modified model, it seems like it would be more inclined to this kind of power tube. Given, the 6L6's did AMAZING things to the clean tone on this amp, and given the lack of a footswitch I ran a floor model Mesa V-Twin between my guitar and my X-100B. By leaving the Carvin on the clean channel, I got crystal clear processing of the Solo and Blues channels of the V-Twin, and it only took a quick tap of the Bypass footswitch to go back into shimmering Carvin territory.
As someone who craves versatility to go hand-in-hand with tone, this budget-friendly setup influenced me to go the route of the Mesa Nomad.



Final Thoughts: For the price, it's more than worth at least experimenting with. Everyone has a different ear for tone, and you really can't go wrong when it comes to testing stuff out.
People that desire a more modern tone on a budget, I would point you in the direction of a Carvin Valvemaster or even a Carvin MTS if it's within your monetary grasp. Tweak as I might there were some modern tones I just could not squeeze out of 2 preamp tubes, even equipped with JJ ECC38S (if you don't know, do yourself a favor and find out.)
It might have died on me, but it was still a solid product that withstand more years of use and abuse on this earth than I have...there's no mistaking solid Carvin reliability.

If you can, try before you buy. You never know what amp is going to sound golden until you hear it for yourself.

This is an X-100B that dates to the late '80s, this being the version that has the EL-34s on the output and the dark gray carpeting covering the outside. It has the features that others have described well: all tube, 2 footswitchable channels, spring reverb, an active 5 band graphic EQ, a selector switch for 25/50/100% power output, an impedance selector switch, and an effects loop. With 4 EL-34s at 50% power and run through an Ampeg 4 X 12 cabinet, the sound can be absolutely, brutally loud and I have yet to try it at 100% since I'd likely blow out my windows if I did. I haven't gigged in over 20 years and I'm a bass player who fiddles around on guitar so I really can't compare this to current amp offerings by the major manufacturers. I do know the sound I like though, and the clean on this amp is bright and warm whereas the lead channel with the drive dialed up a bit KILLS! I found this in a pawn shop while I was looking for a tube amp to experiment with after acquiring a couple of Marshall and Peavey SS combos and this has exceeded any and all expectations I had. This is a straightforward amp with big tube sound, clean or drive, with no gimmicks, simple and pure.

Since the graphic EQ is active, there are a lot of sounds to be had by twiddling the dials and fiddling with the slide pots. I'd also suggest taking notes on your settings with each guitar used to minimize the search for "the sound" when changing instruments. I've gotten a lot of great sounds with this setup using a Fender Strat, an ESP M 250, and several other guitars but it absolutely sounds best when I plug in an old Charvel Model 4: the clean can be a shimmering Fender/surf sound while the drive/lead is a lovely, brutal, distorted sound that sounds better than a tube Marshall, IMO. This amp and the active Charvel are wonderfully complementary with no pedals required for a killer sound. For an old bass player who isn't much of a guitarist, they sound absolutely beautiful together, giving me a bitingly clean Ventures-type tone for surf music yet lets me sound like vintage Blackmore, too, when driven and cranked: "the most fun I can have standing up" is an apt description of how I feel playing through this amp.

Since I don't gig and haven't for many years, I can't really say much about its innate reliability. But, it's solidly constructed and I would expect it to require merely a periodic tube replacement and pot cleaning and not much more. If I did gig it, though, I would carry a backup just in case the unxpected happens, like someone spilling a beer onto it. If you gig enough, as I did many years ago, you see the unexpected happen enough times to plan for it. Having a backup amp and/or guitar is just good business sense for a working musician.

Two experiences, one good. I found the owner's manual on the Carvin website and downloaded a copy, good. Then, I sent them an email about the wiring for the footswitch (planning to build my own) but never got a reply. Bad. Think I'll just rate this N/A.

I'm just a bedroom player now, having played my last gig about 25 years ago after 10 years of being in various bands. I've only come back to playing for about 2 years now, having not picked up a guitar or bass for many moons. As I've said, I'm a bass player and I've got more basses than I care to think about and about 15 guitars and 15 amps of various kinds. The only comparable amp to this is a Laney GH50L that is a killer metal amp head but can't come close to this Carvin for clean sounds and versatility. I'm not much af a guitarist, as I've said, but I know what sounds good and this amp is the real deal. Considering that they don't cost many $$$s used, it's a lot of bang for the buck. I dislike the new generation of modeling amps since I'm just a cranky old curmudgeon who believes in keeping the shortest distance between the musician and the sound; microprocessors making virtual sounds isn't musicianship to me. Oh well, I just wish I could be about 16 again and have this amp and the Charvel together...this would be, as Bogart once said, "the stuff that dreams are made of."

This is a Very versatile amp.
It has one channel that can switch between a Clean and Dirty. It has an effects loop with a volume.
It has all the features most club bands need.
I use it in Clubs, Roadhouses, outside bike rallys etc... It has enough power to fill Any stage and Most of the big Bars I play.
It has 6L6 tubes that are just plain Ballsy!... But Sweeten up nicely too.

I, mostly, use an Eric Clapton Strat (Lace Sensors) and a Les Paul Gold Top (P-90s).
It will do all I need to get the "Marshall", "Mesa Boogie" and "Fender" sounds.
It's pretty quiet for the massive gain I can dial up with mine.
The distortion is Brutal when needed.
The tone stack is ACTIVE. This means that a little goes a Long way. It took me a while to get used to them after Years of using Marshalls and Fenders.

I don't like being without a "Plan B", but I Do depend on it. There's usually an amp sitting in reserve in case of trouble. I havn't needed to switch amps with this one. It's built pretty well.

I've played Carvin equipment for many years and they're always eager to help, when I need something. Didn't need repair... They don't let other shops do warranty work on their amps. I guess that would be a weak point.

I've been playing guitar since 1964ish... Electric since 1967ish.
I'd replace it if it were lost. These things are a steal these days.
I like that it's so versatile. Don't hate anything about it.
I've A/B tested mine with several other amps. Marshall, Fender, Mesa, Bogner. This will convince you in a blind sound test.

Purchased in 1993. Three excellent features with this amp -- (1)Power. Tons of it. (2) Footswitchable effects loop. Quiet. Works well with my G Major. (3) Reverb. Huge sound. Not so good feature -- graphic equalizer. Ruins the tone. Prevents the clean channel from overdriving when pushed. Best avoided.

I use a variety of guitars -- Les Paul, Junior, ASAT, Strat, Firebird, Ricky 12. Run it at 100% power. Lower settings adversely affect the tone. Don't use the EQ. It sterilizes the tone. There is a living tube amp under there if you avoid the overbearing EQ. The distortion is sufficient for rock 'n' roll, though perhaps not for thrash. I don't know, I haven't pushed the amp that far. The amp has potential with the right tubes. I really wasn't satisfied with the sound until I replaced the stock GrooveTubes EL 34s with Yellowjackets. These added high-end shimmer and more bottom. In stock condition, it makes a good bass amp.

Extremely reliable. Has never broken down.

I once thought I had a problem with it. It turned out the trouble was with the guitar. I would have had to ship it to them, since they had no authorized service centers. This would have been rather costly, so I had a local guy look at it.

I have been playing guitar for 20 years. This amp in stock condition was ok until I got something better. After swapping out the tubes, playing it full power, and avoiding the EQ, I now have a gigable amp for when I want to use effects. Would I get another if lost or stolen? Perhaps. They're cheap.

Same as all the others listed 2 channels, high & low inputs , effects loop , ect.

I use a Les Paul Classic and a 80's Charvel with active pups. The cleans are amazing! Crystal clear and excellent note deffinition. All you could ask for in a clean channel. Then theres the lead channel. All I can say is ROCKIN FREAKIN ROLL ! Who ever said this amp was not good for metal must have already fryed their ears! Blows Marshall JCM 800 away! Massive bottom end! For all those who said this amp sounded bad heres a hint...TURN SOME FREAKIN KNOBS! This aint no Line 6 or those other amp modeling pieces of shit! This is the real deal! And about the power of this amp, 5 is deafening. More headroom than you will ever need . And the best part--- $300 used! But you are going to have to tweak on it to find the tone, but once you do..look out!

Twenty something years old and works perfectly , no scratchy pots or funny noises. Enough said!

Any time I have called them they bent over backwards to help, which is rare nowadays.

I have been playing seriously since early 80's , have played all kinds of styles of music, been through more amps than most people been through pairs of shoes and for me this is the perfect amp. I would gladly trade a Marshall for one and know I got the better of the deal. I play 80's Metal and it nails it! Very quiet , first rate amp. But remember this is a tube amp and what tubes it has in it makes a hell of a lot of diffence. For my money its Svetlana EL-34s and EH 12ax7s.

I BOUGHT MY CARVIN X-100B BACK IN 1986 AND I SOLD MY MARSHALL,BECAUSE MY CARVIN BLEW IT AWAY. THE TONAL RANGE IS GREAT AND I HAVE NOT LOOKED BACK SINCE. THE KEY TO UN LOCK THE AMPS POTENTIAL IS EXPERIMENTATION AND PATIENTS, YOU'LL BE REWARDED WITH GOOD TONE.

I USE JACKSON,KRAMER,GIBSON AND HOME MADE GUITARS(I USE DIMARZIO EVOLUTION,FAST TRACK 1 AND 2,X2N,LAWRENCE X-500,L 250, FENDER 69 CUSTOM SHOP FENDER PICK UPS,TEXAS SPECIALS, AND DUNCAN SCREAMING DEMON), I PLAY BLUES, 80'S SHRED,80'S METAL,THRASH,FUSION,AND CLASSIC ROCK.THE CLEAN CHANNEL SPARKLES BUT GETS A LITTLE BRITTLE WHEN PUSHED, THE DISTORTION IS THICK BUT IT GETS A LITTLE CRACKLEY. I USE THE AMP FOR GIGS,PRACTICE AND SESSIONS.

THE AMP ONLY NEEDED SERVICING ONCE, BUT I'M HAPPY.

THEY TREATED ME OKAY,BUT SINCE IT'S DISCONTINUED, THEY DON'T CARE.I WISH I COULD FIND ANOTHER FS-36 SWITCH!

GREAT AMP, COSTUMIZE AND IT ALL THE AMPS YOU'LL EVER NEED. LET'S PUT PRESSURE ON CARVIN TO BRING BACK THE X-100B OR PRODUCE A X-100C!!!!.......DREAM ON BOWINKLE.

Gone over already. But my model in particular...

-100w power, all tube
-2x12AX7 and 4x6L6GC
-shared parametric EQ
-assignable 5-band graphic EQ
-selectable ohm rating (4, 8, 16)
-25%, 50%, and 100% power ratings
-gain boost and "bright" clean push/pull switches

There's some good and some bad here. As far as good goes, the 5 band graphic EQ is absolutely amazing for dialing in just the right tone, especially on the clean channel. I've gotten this head manuver through any type of clean sound imaginable, from sparkling bright to dirtier blues or jazz tones, and I attribute it largely to the 5-band graphic EQ.
Secondly, the selectable power rating (25%, 50%, 100%) is great. Sure, this feature is nothing new on tube amplifiers, but the beauty of the X-100B is, while most amps simply cut power by the tube (i.e. 50% only runs through 2 of the tubes while 100% is all 4, etc.) this head simply uses all 4 tubes at a lower level. This is one of many great ideas the people at Carvin had, as not only does it make maintenence less confusing (no confusion as to which tubes have run their course) but it just simply sounds better when 4 tubes are working to produce the output of 2. In fact, I rarely ever played this head on 100%, it was mostly kept on 50% just because the sound was that much better.
Both of these features are really great ideas from Carvin, and I often wonder why more amp companies don't take the hint. It's perplexing why we have to buy out of production, vintage equipment to get features more modern than what we find at the store. =/

Anyway, the bad parts of some of the features. This amp was big in the 80s, so of course it has the same problems of most electronics of the era; it's both ugly and huge. In size I'd compare it to a Marshall JCM900, but maybe slightly heavier and longer. It stretch past my AVT Marshall 412 cabinet (go ahead and laugh) and the edges still hang off the edges of my current Mesa 212. Also, I got one of the models with the gray carpeting, and personally I reccomend trying to find a tolex covered model that runs on 6L6GCs if you have the option. This stuff is just ugly.
The effects loops does what it should, but it's a shame that you need the (rather elusive) FS-36 footswitch for it to be functional at all. At worst you can still just daisy-chain up any of your pedals, but it would've been nice to have it functional.
My least favorite aspect of the amp is the shared parametric EQ, largely because of how much more tweakable the clean tone is as opposed to the crunch tone. Sure the 5-band graphic EQ is assignable and makes up for it somewhat, but in most cases it's going to give a boost to whatever channel it's assigned to.

All in all, the Features on the amp have their shortcomings, but the postive aspects more than make up for it.

I have played this amp through all sorts of guitars with plenty of pickup configurations, the story is always the same for most of them.
The crunch sound is..."nothing special" I guess is the word for it. It can out-Marshall a Marshall, if that's any real accomplishment. Not that it's bad, in fact if you're a solo guitarist in a thrashy band I honestly reccomend the crunch mode, since scooping the mids on the graphic EQ can give you one of the better 80s thrash tones I've ever heard, but it just lacks versatility. It seemed like everytime I tried to bring something up it become too noisy, and when I brought it down a little any real presence just kind of died off. The crunch channel can be hard to tweak, but given the value of the amp it's not a bad choice as a backup.
I said it before but I cannot reiterate it enough; the clean channel on this amplifier is beautiful, easily the best I've ever heard. There's enough features with the amp (graphic EQ, bright switch, etc.) to literally dial in any sound with almost any guitar. My primary guitar was a Spirit model Steinberger with an H/S/H configuration of EMG Select pickups. They're not the best you can get by any means, but with that configuration and this clean channel I had no trouble finding any sound I wanted. One of the few amps that with the right configurations you can get as damn close as it gets to an older Fender amp, minus the reverb.
Speaking of which, the reverb on this amp seems kind of tacked on. It's not nearly full enough and usually sounds pretty artificial, but it gets the job done.

While the crunch and reverb on this amp could've used some tweaking and improvements, I stand by the clean channel on this amp as being one of the best I've ever heard, and well worth the price of admission on it's own.
Crunch - 7
Clean - 10
Reverb - 6

I didn't have the amp long enough to take it out on the road for any period of time, but I bought it used with plenty of battlescars. I could tell when I saw it it had seen more than a few days on the road, and every aspect of it was perfectly functionable.
One good part of the heftiness of the amp is it is built like a tank. I have given it it's share of "tests" over the past couple months and I'm convinced that Carvin spares no expense when it comes to making sure their equipment can handle whatever kind of abuse you can dish out.
If it's your main amp, carry along some extra tubes (always a smart idea with even the most durable amps) and feel confidient about playing without a backup.

I give it a 5 average, I tried to contact Carvin about where I could find an FS-36 and they never got back to me. The next time I tried to get a hold of them was about replacement logos, and the response was prompt if a little informal. One positive experience, one negative one.
I think their customer service is hit or miss, as I've heard plenty of good stories, too. I imagine if you get a hold of them at the right time with the right rep, they'd bend over backwards to help you out.
I wasn't so lucky.

Definitely one of the better amps I've played for this price.
As a bit of a Carvin afficiendo I trust their products more than most companies, and I highly reccomend this head as a backup.
However, if you're running seperate heads for different sounds, I would pick one of these up immediately for the clean channel. Words can't express the versatility of it, and if you wanted a better reverb it might be possible to extend one through the effects loop, but that would also require you to go through the trouble of finding an FS-36. =/
If I had the money to spare, I would keep it just for the clean channel, but otherwise it's still a decent amplifier overall for the small price you'll have to pay for a used one. Just keep an eye open for that footswitch.

This is a small 2 channel,tube, 1x12 combo made in 1984. It has a footswitch which features a middle switch that, when activated, provides a 6 db volume boost, handy for leads.

I play all styles and use Strats and LesPauls. I use a variety of effects with this amp. I've owned this amp for 20 years and it has been great. I've played a few larger outdoor venues and have had players come up to me wondering where my big rig is and looking in disbelief when I show them my tilted back X 60 with a 57 stuffed in front of it. These are great little underrated amps. One big improvement I've made lately is to replace the supplied Celestian G12 M 70 with a Celestian G 12 75. The 70 can be a little high end and brittle,but can it ever take a pounding, like it has for 19 years.A tough speaker. Excellent clean channel and very warm,grunge gain channel.This thing sounds even better through a 2x12 or 4x12 cab.

Hands down, the most reliable amp I've ever owned. This amp has been gigged constantly and just keeps pumping out the tone. It is a true tube tone that doesn't hide much or soften up fretwork mistakes,but who cares anyway. Play the way you play and get it down on a CD the way you play it.That's what originality's all about. Fuck smooth polished,overproduced and processed pablum. Thats for the talentless ones. OK OK enough preaching.......

Good people to deal with.

This is the best small combo you can buy.Very reasonably priced used. Remember the G 70 speaker is a bit Ho Hum. Get a greenback or a Celestian 75. I also have an X60 head with the 5 band EQ. Excellent as well.Tube tone is the best and always will be, and lets face it, there's nothing better than the 'Hum' and the site of those 'Blueorange'glowers in the back.....