NPD: Carvin X1 Preamp Pedal

[tbonesullivan]

So I guess it's "new preamp day", even though it's a pedal. It's a BIG pedal with 4 buttons and lots of knobs. All I can say is, WOW. It IS the X-100B series IV preamp, in a pedal. They were not kidding about that. I have a Series IV X-100B, and a 1990s X-100B Fuzzy EL34 version, and it has that magic sound. Plenty of gain on tap, and just a great rock sound, and possibly into further territory.

I tested it both direct into a 2x12 open back with Texas Heats, as well as through the Power Amp section of a Rivera R-55 into the same cabinet. It gets a little more "roundness" from the tube power section, but not much. Even with just the 1W built in power amp, it sounds great. The switches are all heavy duty latching types, and feel pretty beefy. I didn't take it apart to see what tubes are inside, but I'm assuming Chinese 9th gen, based on most of the pictures I've seen.

 

For functionality, as many have noticed, the one thing it REALLY needs is a p-touch label maker to put larger labels for what each button does. They are just too small on the faceplate to see. Also, I do kind of wish that the cabinet voiced out was balanced / XLR, but it does seem much more intended for headphone use than direct to board use.

 

Other than that, I would say as a preamp it may EXCEED the X-100B in functionality. It has a built in effects loop, so you could easily use it as a front end going right into a power amp. Now, How does one exceed the original? Simple. Instead of a toggle that controls which channel the EQ goes on, you have the good old Carvin Push-Push switches, so you can have both, one, or neither channel with the EQ. The EQ also has a button on the footswitch, so even when it is selected, you can turn it off! ALSO, the BOOST on the drive channel has it's own footswitch, next to the EQ switch. You can hit both at the same time.

 

This means you can go right from the drive channel using the tone stack EQ only, right to the drive channel with the gain boost engaged AND the EQ engaged by stepping on both at the same time. It's almost like a THREE channel preamp in that sense. It definitely has a lot of possibilities, and sounds great! It's also BIGGER than it looks in pictures. Definitely larger than the old boss twin pedals. It's solidly built as well. It's definitely something to look at if you were a fan of the original X-100B series amps from Carvin. Just a great sound.

[JeffB]

Sounds like a cool device.

How loud is 1w turned up full? I guess with the master volumes and gain control it can be as quiet as you want. My 60w amp sounds better at quiet volumes than a 5w amp.

There is no Carvin distributor here right now so I doubt I will get to try one out but it looks like something I wouldve been interested in at one stage.

[Millennium Maestro]

Have you tried it direct? 

[tbonesullivan]

12 hours ago, JeffB said:

Sounds like a cool device.

How loud is 1w turned up full? I guess with the master volumes and gain control it can be as quiet as you want. My 60w amp sounds better at quiet volumes than a 5w amp.

There is no Carvin distributor here right now so I doubt I will get to try one out but it looks like something I wouldve been interested in at one stage.

Sam Ash is selling them I believe, but I don't know if they have any distribution outside of the U.S. anymore.  It can get pretty loud, definitely loud enough for home practice.

I just got in my Mach 100 pedal amp, so now I can push some real air without having to run through a guitar amp.

1 hour ago, Millennium Maestro said:

Have you tried it direct? 

It sounds really nice through the headphones, though I would guess that if someone REALLY wanted to run it direct, they should pick up a Two Notes POwer amp and cabinet modeller pedal, which is a relatively new device that REALLY opens up possibilities for just using your pedalboard on a gig. It's even got a "clean preamp" model built in, so you can just run your pedals into it, select the type of power amp model you want, and the type of cabinet impulse response you want. That's next on my list of strange gear.