Carvin Legacy questions

[JacksonUSA]

anybody got the chance to play both the Mark IV and the Legacy ? I was wondering how smooth the Mark IV is compared to this amp ?

I'm either going to buy a Mark IV or a Legacy and add a quad preamp and some sort of loop switcher so I could use the other preamp. I need the heavy tones a la Petrucci and the smoothness of Vai let's say.

 

[Russ]

I found the Legacy rather bland. It would sound great with a bunch of crap layered over it but by itself to me it sounds stale/sterile. The Mark IV is hands down far superior to the Legacy. It is definitely way smoother to answer your question. You might try a Mark IV running EL34's in the outer pair instead. You can keep the 6L6's in and still get that JP Mark sound. Or you might try running a switch in your Mark IV's loop to send to a nice EL34 power amp so you can switch power sections and tube types on the fly. For much less money than the Legacy you could try the Carvin X100B. That amp seems pretty versatile and was also used by Vai. For how cheap they are you could get a used Mark IV, an A/B switch and a used X100B and be ahead of the game. There again used Legacy's are easy enough to come by for pretty cheap too. Just more fuel for your fire.

 

[Rocco Stiletto]

I tried a Legacy Combo and Carvin had to ship three units out until one worked correctly. I was overall disappointed with it and sent it back. The build quality varied from unit to unit. The sound was good, but not great. The reverb was horrible. The customer service was ok. It took three weeks to exchange units. I was tied up with it for around 10 weeks and nothing but hassles. The shipping materials were used over and in poor condition. I'd stay clear of Carvin (IMHO). Nothing but Mesa for me. The Stiletto Ace kicks it's butt.

 

[Russ]

Carvin is about 2 miles from my father's house. Even though I could go there in person I don't.

 

[JacksonUSA]

this is one of the clips that got me inteterested in the Legacy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPn2lAuMZ9E

this is pretty close to the lead tone I want. I might use more gain but this would be pretty close to what I want. That's why I was asking compared to the Mark IV because I'm obviously a Petrucci fan but the tone in the clip is closer to what I want. I can't describe the tone perfectly but the bass is very smooth and the highs aren't harsh whatsoever. Also, as far as setting goes the guy might have used more gain than Petrucci on this one so that might be the only thing that seperates them but let me know what you think.

I'm looking several ways at once but can't decide on what I need ... Mark IV, Legacy, Soldano, Splawn ... or wait and gather money for an XTC ... or something else I might not be aware of like Diamond or Elmwood or whatever

 

[sixstringmonk]

Did you buy an amp yet? I'm a long time Legacy user who just got a used Mark IV yesterday. It'll probably be a few weeks before I can compare the two. I really love the Legacy, but it has a degree of flabbiness/muddiness to it that can't really be dialed out. This is what got me wanting a Mark IV. The low end seems to be much more focused, at least in the recordings I've heard.

 

[devilrob1979]

Sup Monk! Welcome. I feel at least partially responsible for the fact that you got a Mark. Hope you love the thing. The Legacy's cool but it's no Mark IV. I might still have it if I could afford to have one set up in an A/B/Y setup but the Mark's a better amp overall.

 

[ToneAddictJon]

The legacy is a cool amp, but designed around having many MANY pedals in the chain.

 

[JacksonUSA]

Did you buy an amp yet? I'm a long time Legacy user who just got a used Mark IV yesterday. It'll probably be a few weeks before I can compare the two. I really love the Legacy, but it has a degree of flabbiness/muddiness to it that can't really be dialed out. This is what got me wanting a Mark IV. The low end seems to be much more focused, at least in the recordings I've heard.

nope not yet ... right now I'm looking at amps with power-scaling device, I want to know if it's any good for rock/metal

 

[sixstringmonk]

Devilrob - you definitely helped me get up to speed on the Mark IV quickly. Thanks for pointing me to these forums. After I heard the new Dream Theater album I knew there was another amp out there that I simply had to try.

I've put in about an hours worth of tweak time on the Mark IV. I'm luke-warm on it at the moment, but since I dug through this forum before buying it I kind of expected not to absolutely love it right off the bat. I've had a Legacy for 3 years now, so I've really learned how to dial it in. That's a lot for an amp to compete with right off the bat.

I really like the Legacy. I own two of them. However there are couple things that are inherent in that amp that I wanted to get away from. These being: too flabby of a bottom end, and not enough focus when the gain is turned up to the sweet spot (somewhere in the 7-8 range). I do love the general voicing it has, its amazing dynamic response, and the amount of swirl it has when hitting chords.

So far I've found the Mark IV to have a tighter bottom end, and definitely more focus in the high gain territory. However it lacks a little bit of openness and swirl to my taste. Hopefully I'll be able to dial these in somehow. I just got my retube kit from eurotubes with 2 E34L. Hopefully I'll be able to nail the tone I'm hearing in my head.

I will say that I am liking r2 the best at the moment. I used to have to use a pedal on the clean channel of the Legacy to get that kind of crunch.

 

[sixstringmonk]

nope not yet ... right now I'm looking at amps with power-scaling device, I want to know if it's any good for rock/metal

In that case, one thing you might want to know is that the Legacy doesn't really start performing until you have the volume at at least 4. Most people think it sounds best at 6 or 7. Even in 50 watt mode, 4 is too loud for most club gigs. I never play a gig without my Hotplate and it's usually dialed down to -12db.

 

[crestwood1972]

i'd go for the mesa mark IV.

as far as amps go, carvin makes great guitars.

before you commit your funds though, check this out:

http://www.masottiamp.it/audio.html

 

[devilrob1979]

nope not yet ... right now I'm looking at amps with power-scaling device, I want to know if it's any good for rock/metal

In that case, one thing you might want to know is that the Legacy doesn't really start performing until you have the volume at at least 4. Most people think it sounds best at 6 or 7. Even in 50 watt mode, 4 is too loud for most club gigs. I never play a gig without my Hotplate and it's usually dialed down to -12db.

What kind of cab are you using Monk?

 

[sixstringmonk]

Amp: VL100 Cab: C212E (Vintage 30s)

 

[markivChris]

hey, I thought I'd chime in as a former owner of both amps. I owned a legacy head for a time. It was actually my first tube head, not a bad deal for $450 used. My first run through I was NOT, I repeat NOT impressed. I was using an ibanez rg 570 w/ tone zone and air norton added. It was kinda...blah. With a ds-1(mij) it woke it up and it didnt sound half bad. It was definately not a high gain amp by any means. I then tried it with my ibanez prestige 3120 w/ tone zone and paf pro. The mahogany made a vast improvement. The guitar had a resonant, thick character. If you want to play metal, and dont want to A: use a distortion/boost pedal or B: mod the amp, go with a mark iv. I'm glad I had the amp, as it fit my needs at the time, not playing metal for one, and it's very responsive to your playing. I imagine with a gain mod (maybe even just a soldano hot mod tube it would've been a great all around amp)