Carvin Amps

[srf399]

I picked up a new Legacy II this week and have been A/B ing it with my Stiletto Deuce II for 3 days now. I have to be honest and say that I will be selling the Deuce. The Legacy is a lower gain amp than the Deuce and it took me awhile to dial it in. It is very simple but the range on the pots is amazing. These are some of my observations. Remember...sound is subjective.

The first thing I thought was this amp is kind of flat sounding compared to the Stiletto.... volume was low and the Stiletto sounded better. but then as I started to turn the amps up it was like the Legacy came alive.

The Clean channel is pretty good.... not lonestar good but good. not better than the Stiletto...just different. more like an Orange Rockerverb clean but smother and not as brittle.

The Boost Channel is nice and you can get a really nice Hendrixy plexish tone with nice breakup.

The Lead channel is not really high gain but is voiced really nice.... Boosting with a BB preamp it is by far the best lead tone I've ever played. Fat, big, smooth, articulate. Very nice. Mercury Magnetics Tranny in it as well. Build quality looks every bit as good as my Mesas.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

The amps themselves are built really well. I'm not a fan of their 'British Vintage' speaker though.
Made in America, which is a must for me. I'm tired of cheap import crap.

I've had my eyes on a Belair for a while now. I want to get a beat up one and soup it up. Sleeper amp!
I'll walk in with a tweed amp and melt the paint off the walls!

 

[srf399]

I like the sleeper amp concept! Go to a jam with that thing and quickly serve notice that there is a new standard in place for guitar tone! Love it!

 

[srf399]

Just a further comment on the Legacy II.... It has a very similar lead sound to that of the Boogie MKIV that I owned. Just as smooth if not smoother. Very similar amps sound wise on that channel but diametrically opposed as far as how you adjust the amps to get the tone. The Mesa was a billion knobs and everytime I turned the amp on it was different sounding even with the settings untouched from the previous session. The Carvin is simple... and sounds the same every time. I was very apprehensive playing live with the MKIV because I would get surprises every time... some good some not so good. Just my opinion.