jazzam Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 Anyone use a Carvin vintage 16 for jazz. Head or combo?
peterbright Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 If it's like the Vintage 50 I had, it has great tube cleans.
barrymclark Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 I still want to get my hands on a Legacy 3. Really wish there was a place for me try one before springing. Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
friendofjaco Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 I have a Vintage 16 and the 50 watt Nomad. Both have a Celestian Vintage 30. Good stock amplifier's, but amazing when modified. Mine have both been modified extensively by a local genius. The 16 has no real volume control. Pretty much full on all the time and they volume on the amp is simply to adjust how much you want to push the power tubes. Control all volume levels from the guitar. Amazing little guy in the right room. Great for jazz tone when the guitar volume is backe off to the desired level. I don't quite get all the technical stuff he did but I love the amp. The 50 sounds even better but it's loud!!!
garyyamane Posted February 23, 2014 Posted February 23, 2014 I owned a Vintage 16 combo for about 6 months---nice cleans but not enough low end for me (probably because of the size of the box). Had plenty of volume and very convenient but not versitiile enough for me. I switched to a Carvin V3M and 2x12 box and that was better but finally ended up with a Red Plate amp and am totally satisfied.
JeffB Posted February 23, 2014 Posted February 23, 2014 I used one a couple of times. The very first time I used it it sounded dry and a bit to middy, the next time it seemed like a real rocking little box. Not enough of a clean amp for me. Fun though.
MrB Posted February 24, 2014 Posted February 24, 2014 I had a Nomad for a few years. Good value for the money, but plagued with poor quality control. In the end, I decided better quality is worth the money, and I sold the Carvin. Mr B
barrymclark Posted February 24, 2014 Posted February 24, 2014 I had a Carvin power amp once. It was from the 90's. It literally shot flames from the back. Had it repaired. Shot more flames from the back. Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
Stringman Posted February 24, 2014 Posted February 24, 2014 I currently own a Vintage 16 head. Had it made in black to match a black Mesa 1X12 cab I own. In quiet situations, it is a very nice sounding combination. Good mids, good low end (because of the speaker cab), good gain, good controls. The reverb works nicely. Gain is ok, but I always use a pedal. It was inexpensive as far as amps go, but I have been fairly disappointed with the amp since purchasing it. My problem is I can't get much volume out of the rig. I called Carvin to express my concern with lack of volume and they said I should buy a more powerful amp. I should not expect volume out of this small head. I was disappointed. Guess I won't be buying another Carvin I've been so disappointed. Just my 2 cents.
DetroitBlues Posted February 24, 2014 Posted February 24, 2014 I had a Carvin power amp once. It was from the 90's. It literally shot flames from the back. Had it repaired. Shot more flames from the back. Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk My bass player had one do the same thing. Put DC voltage through the speakers and caused is speakers to catch on fire....
DetroitBlues Posted February 24, 2014 Posted February 24, 2014 For anyone using this, does the line out cut off the speaker driver or can I run the speakers and the line out at the same time? I've seen a few other amps have this ability, but Fender SCXD cuts out the speaker. I'd like to run the speakers and line out to the Tech 21...
garyyamane Posted March 2, 2014 Posted March 2, 2014 I bought a Carvin 2x12 cab and the Vintage 16 combo would run it and play through the combo speaker. It was plenty loud enough and the 2x12 added the missing bass.
tbonesullivan Posted March 2, 2014 Posted March 2, 2014 They are nice amps. I have the combo, which I bought long before they offered just the head. The combo is nice but it's a bit small for a 12 inch speaker. It will get a fuller sound through a big 2x12. It is a great little amp. It is a bit mid treble heavy though, which is why if I got one now i would get the head, so I could hook it up to a cabinet with good bass response.
tulk1 Posted March 3, 2014 Posted March 3, 2014 I currently own a Vintage 16 head. Had it made in black to match a black Mesa 1X12 cab I own. In quiet situations, it is a very nice sounding combination. Good mids, good low end (because of the speaker cab), good gain, good controls. The reverb works nicely. Gain is ok, but I always use a pedal. It was inexpensive as far as amps go, but I have been fairly disappointed with the amp since purchasing it. My problem is I can't get much volume out of the rig. I called Carvin to express my concern with lack of volume and they said I should buy a more powerful amp. I should not expect volume out of this small head. I was disappointed. Guess I won't be buying another Carvin I've been so disappointed. Just my 2 cents. Thats a load of BS in the extreme. What a lousy response from Carvin. I regularly gig a 15w amp, played about 1/3rd volume and have no issues with keeping up with a loud band. Makes me wonder if it really produces 16w. Or if that is just what they call it.
Dell18 Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 I had a Nomad for a few years. Good value for the money, but plagued with poor quality control. In the end, I decided better quality is worth the money, and I sold the Carvin. Mr B Hmmmm... I too want a Legacy 3 I can A/B with my main amp but that always concerns me. I dig Carvin guitars, and friends/bandmates have been treating their speakers/PA systems like Ike treated Tina for years and they're stilling going strong. But.... I remember a friend getting an X100B? 100 watt head back in like 91-92. It got shipped back immediately. Then got sent back a few weeks after its return. Then got sent back a third time a few months after that. For whatever reason, it seems like Carvin has it together except their guitar amps are hit or miss. Considering the aftermarket prices on an all tube American made, apparently killer sounding amp I may give it a go anyway. I have a friend that is a Hiwatt loyalist but always keeps his Nomad? Or Bel Air? (its tweed and probably 20 yo) and it's been there for years. Sorry about the thread jack.
tbonesullivan Posted March 6, 2014 Posted March 6, 2014 I have 5 carvin guitar amplifiers, 4 carvin bass amplifiers. I've never had major problems with any of them as of yet. I've got an X-100B from the 90s, a MTS3212 from around 2005, an X-100B from 2008, a vintage 16 from around 2009, and a V3M head from about 2 years ago. The only one that did have a problem was the vintage 16, which arrived with a dead reverb tank, and tanks routinely die during the rigors of shipping. They sent out another one and It was fixed. The Vintage 16 is more of a "studio" amp, and IMHO is not really designed as a live amp with the way that the input gain is structured. If you want it loud, you need to pretty much run it full out, and it's not going to be clean. It's not really designed as a clean amp anyway. It's made to get overdrive at lower volumes, and really doesn't have much clean headroom. The nomad on the other hand has lots of clean headroom, as it has a dedicated clean channel that is very hard to get breakup on. I would agree that if you wanted an amp that can keep up in a live situation, the Vintage 16 isn't it. Also the amp is somewhat small, and very directional, so if you want to hear it, you need it pointing right at your ears.
shook494 Posted March 19, 2014 Posted March 19, 2014 I own the Carvin Vintage 16 head and run it through a matching custom 2x10 cab i had built with WGS "10 speakers. I only play at home and I am addicted to pedals so this amp works great for me. I love it.
peterbright Posted March 20, 2014 Posted March 20, 2014 Never had a problem with Carvin amps, guitars or basses. Better with mods and improved tubes.
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