Good user video of the Carvin X100B reissue

Jbird

Jbird

Kick Henry Jackassowski
This is why I loved mine :) Though the old ones had spring reverb & didn't have the 'High Gain' switch.



I think his in this video is an EL34. The old ones were 6L6, which you can get the new ones in, also.

I sold mine to a friend after owning it for 19 years. Just wanted something different, and I was looking for something with just a bit more gain to it. I guess in retrospect I should've just bought a pedal to go in front of it, aye?
 
I have one of the later 'carpet' covered models from the early 90's. Mine has a lot of gain. I think the volume pot of the dirt channel has a pull boost to get some pretty high gain sounds. I don't have all the mini toggles that the demo amp has. I can get well into metal land with mine, and beyond that with a bit of clean boost. Mine is about as good of a hot rodded marshall sound that I have heard in any amp. I also really dig the ACTIVE eq on the head. You can boost and cut frequencies, and this really makes for an amp you can really tweak for the sound you want. My only complaint about mine is the GIANT size of the head case, and the stupid XLR plug footswitch (impossible to replace easily). I scored mine used with a celestion 4-12 loaded carvin cab for 275 back in 2002 or so. I don't think I'll ever sell it.

Never tried, or even seen, one of the reissues. I kind of wondered how these would sell, as you see decent used originals on the local craigslist for not very much money. Not all that often, but I see a few a year.
 
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The original ones with the carpet covers were higher gain than the older tolex covered ones, like mine was. Mine had a pull out gain knob too, for a 'bright' tone on the gain channel. You pretty much left it pulled out to bright or it would sound a bit muddy/dark (by design). The carpet covered ones had an extra gain stage, or just more gain built in. The Tone King has a video of a carpet one, somewhere in the myriad of videos he has up on youtube.

I think the reissues have a bit more gain than the old tolex ones had, making them more similar to the carpet ones. idn_smilie
 
I love the X100-B. Mine is my main gigging amp. I have 6L6s in mine. I put it right there with my old JCM800.
 
Jbird said:
The original ones with the carpet covers were higher gain than the older tolex covered ones, like mine was. Mine had a pull out gain knob too, for a 'bright' tone on the gain channel. You pretty much left it pulled out to bright or it would sound a bit muddy/dark (by design). The carpet covered ones had an extra gain stage, or just more gain built in. The Tone King has a video of a carpet one, somewhere in the myriad of videos he has up on youtube.

I think the reissues have a bit more gain than the old tolex ones had, making them more similar to the carpet ones. idn_smilie
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I didn't know they were different (the carpet versus tolex versions). Anyway, if the reissue captures what is in my amp, it is bound to a be a winner of an amp. It does the marshall thing really, really well, and the cleans are way better than a typical marshall amp. I kind of laugh as people always ask for a great marshall sound with good cleans on forums, and I have suggested the x100B to a lot of people, only to have people tell me the x100B doesn't really sound like a marshall at all. :messedup:
 
I've never actually heard one of those in person. I need to watch the video when I get a chance.
 
Hi, and welcome. :). Nice video, it really captures the amp well.

I still have my carpet covered model. Cool feature I learned since then is that these things have 110-240V power supplies built in, so when I moved to Europe all I had to do was swap out the plug lead, the transformer was fully compatible with 240V power. For my other amps they needed a power transformer to work safely, but the Carvin just worked.
 
Tiltsta said:
Hi, and welcome. :). Nice video, it really captures the amp well.

I still have my carpet covered model. Cool feature I learned since then is that these things have 110-240V power supplies built in, so when I moved to Europe all I had to do was swap out the plug lead, the transformer was fully compatible with 240V power. For my other amps they needed a power transformer to work safely, but the Carvin just worked.
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Nice. and Thanks. I've really been thinking more and more about another one. I miss that one. I run a recording studio in the North Bay area now and would love to have it back. Just a great sounding amp. So versatile too.
 
One time I wanted to love a Carvin x100b but UPS killed it.

Bob411 said:


The Carvin has arrived and it's DOA. On Arrival, not Or Alive.

On Off switch is broke, won't turn on. Head shell is broke in one corner, I think that's what took out the switch. The box it came in is perfect. Maybe somebody took a sledgehammer to it, mummified it in bubble wrap, and sent it out.
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I had the Tube preamp..... but it was noisy and didn't have half the balls of the Mesa, so it got ebay'd.
 
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